- Hebrews is full of little gems of positive direction about growth.
- Today we collect them together and see a strong and clear theme emerges about how we grow, or not grow as we try to Run the Race.
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Video cover image by Capstone Events Unsplash
- Hebrews is full of lots of little gems of positive direction about growth
Goal
- Hebrews tells us to “run the race”
What does it tell us about spiritual growth?
1. Sins can seriously hold you back from growing as a Christian
- I’m going to work through some verses in Hebrews, especially chapters 12 & 13
- We are going to hear what God is telling us in these verses
- Athletes
- Why do some athletes give up and some keep going?
- I am going to suggest three reasons from this passage
Three reasons runners fail
- Trying to carry other stuff which makes it hard to run
- Ignorance about running—how to train, how to run, where the race is going
- Not enough commitment to this race or strength to run it
Hebrews 12:1–2 & 12–13
Spiritual Growth
- Sins can seriously hold you back from growing as a Christian
- Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus by following Hebrews’ teaching on:
how to grow as runners, the route & destination - Rest in Jesus strength so you can do all this and endure
- First we are going to look at what Hebrews says are the “weights and sin which entangles”
- Some of them make you have doubts from the start because you are worried about their motivation:
- What is the problem with this guy
- If his number one motivation was to finish the race, what would be different?
- Imagine this guy has entered for the high-jump in the cat-O-lympics
- But the idea of putting any effort into it, hasn’t even crossed his mind
- Example of me wearing more and more stuff to go running
- Here are those same two points in Hebrews 12:
Hebrews 12
- Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin which entangles,
- and run with endurance the race set out for us,
- keeping our eyes fixed on the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, Jesus.
- The enemy is sin—like heavy clothing that is dragging you down
- see it for what it is!
- see the long-term damage it is going to do you
- There is not much specific detail about sins or extra weights in Hebrews, but there are two very specific verses:
Hebrews 13 -
Sex & Money/Possessions
- Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
- Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
- So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
- But that was 2,000 years ago, in a very different culture. Can it still be the same?
2. Keep your eyes fixed on Jesus, by following Hebrews teaching on how to train, run, where to go
- Where NOT to run is a huge emphasis in Hebrews
- trying to grow spiritually through external regulations
- Two errors were just beginning to hit the church right then
- I feel such a bad person inside, what can I do to punish myself? —I must be harsh to my body
Hebrews 13
Harsh disciplines
- Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings,
for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace,
not by food issues, which have not benefited those devoted to them.
Platonism / Neoplatonism
- The idea that there are two realities, physical and spiritual
- God is pure light, totally spiritual
- To get close to God, we have to deny the physical and bathe in this mystical light
- This teaching, unfortunately came into the church in a huge way.
- Idea: Physical self-denial makes you more spiritual
Asceticism: 1 Tim 4:1–16
- Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons,
- through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared,
- who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth.
- For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,
- for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.
- Tragically this Greek philosophy began to make terrible inroads into the church, and if you read the writings of the church fathers you might be shocked.
- Even Augustine, who was one of the less contaminated of the fathers, said:
Augustine Confessions
“As often as the song gives me more pleasure than do the words that are sung,
so often I confess that I sin grievously.”
- So make sure you are not enjoying the music!
- Imagine constantly trying to make sure you don’t do this
- In reality, both the music and the words should glorify God—they are not opposed but work together
- Sadly these ideas became embedded in the Catholic church, and even more so in Eastern Orthodoxy, for over 1000 years
- Just about all of have a condemning inner voice that points out our every mistake
- Martin Luther, who earlier in his life was a monk, felt so guilty that he would collect snow from the hills and spread it out in his room in the monastery, and try to sleep naked on it to punish his body.
- For all his weaknesses, once he was saved, he became a very careful Bible scholar
Martin Luther 1483–1548
- All forms of art are expressions of the image of God in us
- Music does not have to have words to please God
- Instrumental music was now legitimate, and J.S.Bach and many others changed the history of music
- Why is this important?
- This is why Hebrews spends so much time on Jesus work being finished, and we don’t have to atone for our sins by works.
- But some of the ideas are making a comeback today through new-age ideas getting into the church
Hebrews 13:9 & 12:13
- Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings,
for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace,
not by food issues, which have not benefited those devoted to them. - and make straight paths for your feet,
so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.
- So how does Hebrews define spiritual growth?
- Just about every positive command in Hebrews is about loving other believers
Hebrews 6
- For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.
- Hebrews 12 & 13 describes “Straight Paths”
Hebrews 12 & 13 “Straight Paths”
- and make straight paths for your feet...
- Pursue peace with everyone...
- See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, that no one be like a bitter root springing up and causing trouble, and through him many become defiled
- Let brotherly love continue.
- Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
- Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
- …Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
- There is one more verse which I believe is probably the most important spiritual growth verse in Hebrews
- I’m going to leave it to the next and final section
3. Rest in Jesus strength so you can do all this and endure
- And now an incredible verse —I hate to jump ahead because this will be part of a future sermon
- But it is like a summation of the whole book
Heb 13 The Power for Spiritual Growth
- Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,
- equip you with everything good
that you may do his will,
working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
- How do we get it? —explicit and intentional trust and rest:
Heb 4 – Rest in Jesus’s strength
- For the person who has entered his rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from his.
- Let us, then, make every effort to enter that rest...
- I can’t do this without you Jesus!
- And now for the verse I promised as the most important spiritual growth verse in Hebrews
Hebrews 10
- And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
- Can be translated as:
- Let us very carefully observe one another so that we will be able to be as sharp as a surgeon in stimulating love and good works.
- not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
- This is about growth by deep encouragement in the community
- Paul says something very similar:
Ephesians 4
- Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ,
- from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
- I plan to preach more about what this means in practice
- But I can leave you with the image we started with:
Heb 13 – The Power for Spiritual Growth
- Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,
- equip you with everything good
that you may do his will,
working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ,
to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
