Friday, April 29, 2005

It's All About Him: Hebrews -- Lesson 22

To start at the beginning of this series, click here.

Tasting and Feasting (3)

One of the reasons why believers in the USA--I cannot speak for places that I have not been--might be particularly troubled by the issues raised by Hebrews 6:1-10, is that we tend to think of salvation in binary terms. By this I mean that a person is either saved or he isn't. This is why we try so hard to get people to recite the sinner's prayer to secure his soul. The Scriptures do not contain a "sinner's prayer," and we bandy it about as if it were a binding contract between man and God--a legal instrument of grace.

The Scriptures are not binary on this subject. Jesus has this interpretation of his parable of the sower:

And He said to them, "Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables?

"The sower sows the word.

"These are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown; and when they hear, immediately Satan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them.

"In a similar way these are the ones on whom seed was sown on the rocky places, who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy; and they have no firm root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away.

"And others are the ones on whom seed was sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful.

"And those are the ones on whom seed was sown on the good soil; and they hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold." (Mark 4:13-20, NASB 95)

If we look at the growing plant as emerging life in Christ, then there are those who will receive the word, but will not let it take root sufficiently to last. Others will have a choked life. Others will have a productive life. Others have no chance of life at all. It is interesting to note that Jesus' parable immediately follows his words about the "unforgivable sin." I made the connection between that concept and this message in Hebrews 6. Of further interest is that our Hebrews passage also makes an appeal to soil:

For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. (Hebrews 6:7-8)

Here is an interesting parable. As I read it, the rain is all that the Writer has just talked about: enlightenment, the heavenly gift, the Holy Spirit, the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come. When such things come along they have a way of revealing the heart of the hearer. The heart will either produce praise to God or will reject God and produce something ugly.

If I were to draw a single application from all of this, it would be that we pay attention to soil preparation as we take our message to a lost world. The Word is a seed and we must preach it. But every rock I remove from rocky soil, every weed that I see and pull out, and every bird I shoo away helps prepare a receptive soil.

I do not think that I am done yet with this passage, but I have to go.

Test everything. Cling to what is good.

Thursday, April 28, 2005

It's All About Him: Hebrews -- Lesson 21

To start at the beginning of this series, click here.

Of Tasting and Feasting(2)

This continues the thoughts on this troubling passage in Hebrews 6:

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame. (Hebrews 6:4-6, NASB 95)

The last post presented the example of the Jewish leaders who rejected the ministry and message of Jesus while not being able to refute His works of power--but rather ascribing them to the powers of hell. In coming close and rejecting, they committed an "eternal sin" that could not be forgiven. Other examples would include the first generation out of Egypt, who saw the plagues and experienced the power of God in parting the Red Sea, the provision of Mannah, the display on Mount Sinai, etc. When brought to the edge of the promised land, they balked. Like many in Jesus' day, they saw the power, heard the good word, and fell away. The important thing to note is that although they fell away from the truth, they had never believed. Is this not what the Writer has already said about them:

For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who were disobedient? So we see that they were not able to enter because of unbelief. (Hebrews 3:16-19)

For the Writer of Hebrews, obedience and belief are two sides of the same coin--as are unbelief and disobedience. In terms of our current passage, this is what the Writer has to say about those reading this letter:

But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. (Hebrews 6:9-10)

In short, Hebrews 6:4-6 does not describe a state of salvation, but the state of someone who is brought into a knowledge of the truth and rejects the salvation that is offered.

I have still more to write on this, but I must again head off.

Test everything. Cling to what is good.

Wednesday, April 27, 2005

It's All About Him: Hebrews -- Lesson 20

To start at the beginning of this series, click here.

Tasting and Feasting

The next section of Hebrews is seemingly troubling to those who hold that our salvation, being the free gift of God, is something that we cannot lose:

Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. And this we will do, if God permits.

For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame.

For ground that drinks the rain which often falls on it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned.

But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you will not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. (Hebrews 6:1-12, NASB 95)

The Writer declares as elementary the teaching about repentance, faith, ceremonial washings, the resurrection of the dead, and the judgement of God. These are the foundation upon which he wants to build good doctrine that directs the heart and mind and trains the senses to discern good and evil. There is something about his audience, however, that seems stuck on the basics. For me it brings to mind those Christians who proclaim the day they "said the prayer" and got saved, but whose lives show little evidence of knowing their Savior and a relationship with the living God. The elementary things are important, but there soon comes a time when you need to move on.

The next verses are the troubling ones. The Writer declares that those who have:

  • Have once been enlightened
  • Have tasted the heavenly gift
  • Been partakers of the Holy Spirit
  • Tasted the good Word of God
  • Tasted (or perhaps experienced) the powers of the age to come

... and then have fallen away--you don;t want to think about it. The falling away is permanent. There is no hope of renewed repentance. Eternity is cast and the one who has fallen away is doomed and those of us who know the truth have no hope for him.

What do we make of such a concept?

I can suggest two good resolutions. The first is to consider those leaders in Israel who so rejected the ministry and person of Jesus that they attrributed his miracles to the powers of hell (Mark 3:20-35). They had "been enlightened" by His words and ministry. They had "tasted" the heavenly gift of His presence and character. Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit and the leaders must surely have sensed the Spirit's presence. They had heard the words that Jesus taught. They had seen His miracles and the power of the age to come. Indeed the miracles were so evident that they had to ascribe them to another power. But for all their tasting and experience, they chose to promote a lie rather than accept the person. They came, perhaps, to the very brink of faith and then fell away. These leaders are an example of what the Writer is here saying. The falling away is a falling away at the brink of faith--not after faith has been born. Note these words in Mark:

"Truly I say to you, all sins shall be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"— because they were saying, "He has an unclean spirit." (Mark 3:28-30)

Note that a person who has fallen away with no hope of repentance and a blaspheming that is an eternal sin are identical concepts. Therefore the leaders who had a personal encounter with Jesus and failed to see who He was and believe fell away to an eternal state of sin.

This is a busy week--and I must leave to pick up an out of town co-worker that I am training. Regretfully, I must leave you hanging and pick up this thread tomorrow.

Test everything. Cling to what is good.