People of Grace in the Amazing Race
Hebrews: Jesus is Greater • Sermon • Submitted
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Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
If you went to the doctor’s office for a routine checkup and the doctor told you that everything looks good with the exception of your knee - you would probably want to know what’s wrong with your knee, wouldn’t you? Suppose that you tore your ACL and are in need of corrective surgery or else you run the risk of further complications in your knee and throughout your entire leg. Not only do you have the possibility of further injury, but without surgery, the doctor notes, you run the risk of permanent damage. You would likely want the doctor to immediately schedule you for an upcoming procedure to fix your ACL so that you don’t run the risk of lasting complications. We all know people who are stubborn, though. People who think that either the doctor doesn’t know what they’re talking about or they think that they can just “tough” it out. What happens whenever we try to tough things out? Sometimes we’re able to tough it out and we get better on our own! Other times, though, we struggle and we exhaust ourselves before we eventually go back to the doctor once again!
Sometimes we like doing things on our own first before we seek help from someone else. This is a natural human tendency as we like doing things our own way and trusting in ourselves. Does the same thing carry over in our relationship with God? Sadly, in my experience, it does. As human beings, we like to trust in ourselves and in our own ability before we dare trust in someone else or go to someone for help. Why do we need help in the first place? The Bible shares that we are sinners and that God is holy. This is quite a dilemma and we need help to alleviate this problem! Even as Christians of years and years, we can struggle with thinking that we know the answers and that we have it all figured out. Whenever we think that we have if all figured out, there can be a temptation to stagnate. If we know it all, why do we need to run the race? The short answer is that we are called to run the race and grow in Christlikeness because we don’t have it all figured out. There is room to grow! Because of this, we must be people of grace as we run in this race. Just as we don’t have it all figured out, other’s are lost, confused, and blinded as well. Even though we don’t have all the answers, this book shares with us what we should do. We share the Gospel hope as we run this race. We share grace with others, even when it’s hard. Even in the midst of the struggle, we persevere and run with endurance, knowing that God has a plan.
12 Therefore, strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees,
13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated but healed instead.
14 Pursue peace with everyone, and holiness—without it no one will see the Lord.
15 Make sure that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no root of bitterness springs up, causing trouble and defiling many.
16 And make sure that there isn’t any immoral or irreverent person like Esau, who sold his birthright in exchange for a single meal.
17 For you know that later, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, even though he sought it with tears, because he didn’t find any opportunity for repentance.
Our Charge: Run the Race (12-13)
Our Charge: Run the Race (12-13)
How many of you have ever watched or heard of the movie Forrest Gump? It’s a classic Tom Hanks film about a man who is a little bit slow in the head and it’s his perspective through major US events in the 1950s-1980s. Forrest grows up and has these bulky braces on his legs because of a spinal problem but one day they fall off as he is being picked on by a group of older boys. His lifelong best friend, Jenni, said, “Run Forrest, run!” As he began to run and the leg braces fell aside, he quickly realized that he was able to walk and run without their assistance! As the movie continues, Forrest learned that he was a great runner. He never would have knew this had he stayed in the leg braces.
Likewise, many people, as we talked about last week, live with their focus on something other than what it should be. They either live with a mask over their eyes or they live with braces on their legs, spiritually speaking. They hinder themselves from what they are called to be doing! Why on earth do people do this? Because they’re not running their race. They have stopped running altogether or they are still blinded by their sin and they haven’t come to know Christ as Lord. Friends, may that not be true of us. Let’s continue to run the race before us!
The preacher of Hebrews opens up our text with a therefore. What must we do with this? See what it is there for. The therefore is in reference to the discipline talked about in verses 4-11 as we discussed last week. The Lord disciplines those whom He loves and this should lead us to rejoice. Because of this, therefore, we should be strong in the Lord. What we see in verse 12 is actually a quote from Isaiah 35 in which Isaiah noted,
3 Strengthen the weak hands, steady the shaking knees!
4 Say to the cowardly: “Be strong; do not fear! Here is your God; vengeance is coming. God’s retribution is coming; he will save you.”
Some of the people in this congregation were feeling discouraged and the preacher was encouraging them to strengthen one another. Be encouraged today because, as Isaiah 35:4 says, God is with you and He will save you! Church, if you are discouraged today, fret not, be strong and do not fear. God will save you, trust in Him!
How many of you were ever in choir or band? I still have memories of my band director instructing us to not lock our knee’s during pep band performances. Lindsey heard this from the choir director as well. Why did they tell us to not lock our knee’s? Because if you lock your knees and stand for a long period of time, your knees will weaken and you’ll fall down! Often times people will point and laugh at you as well. Why does this happen? Because of your weakened knees. Weak knees are an illustration of being fearful of something. Just as locking your knees can lead to you falling flat on your face, having weak knees will lead to you not standing strong in the Lord. Continue to run this race and be strengthened by our faith in God and know that He has a plan and purpose for each one of us. In moments of discipline it can be easy to throw in the towel and give up. Let that not be our legacy as individuals or as a church, instead, trust in God’s plan in such times knowing that He is molding us to be more like Christ.
Verse 13 is interesting in that it tells us to make straight paths for our feet so that we can be healed. We’ve all had moments in life where we thought that our path was straight and cleared but there were some obstacles in our way. Just as we don’t like stubbing our toe whenever it’s dark in our room, runners don’t like there being obstacles in their way! If you are going to run your spiritual race, you’ve gotta clear your path. What must we clear it of? We must clear it of any obstacles that would distract us and tempt us into sin. Remember what we talked about last week? What must we do as followers of Christ? We must fix our eyes on Jesus and lay aside the sin that so easily ensnares us.
As we clear our path and as we follow after Christ, we see that what is lame will be healed instead of dislocated. What does this look like? Have you ever seen a severe injury in a football or basketball game? Sometimes 2 people collide and one or both players suffer catastrophic injuries. Why does this happen? Because they ran into something that they didn’t expect to. Whenever our path is not straight or when a leg doesn’t land how we expect it will, bad things can happen. There can be dislocations or even broken bones in such moments. Instead of this being our future, we clear our path and focus on Christ so that we can experience restoration and reconciliation rather than rejection and separation.
Our Challenge: Be People of Grace (14-17)
Our Challenge: Be People of Grace (14-17)
So how can we do this, how can we clear our path and help others? We extend grace to others in their time of need as well! In the coming verses we see that we are called to pursue peace with everyone. Why is peace so important for the Christian? Does Jesus talk about peace? Yes! Look with me in Matthew 5
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Later on in the book of Romans we see Paul talk about peace
18 If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.
This is what the preacher of Hebrews notes in our text. Pursue peace with everyone. Notice, though, it doesn’t say “achieve peace” but to “pursue” peace. This should be what we strive for in our relationships with others. The Christian should be known as a peaceful person and this encourages others along the way. Sadly, our country and world right now is not very peaceful. Michael Green talks about how otherworldly peace can seem sometimes
Picture a massive hurricane raging over the ocean. On the surface of the sea the violent winds whip the water into giant waves and create a scene of havoc and chaos. Yet, a mere twenty-five feet below the surface, the waters are clear and calm. The fish there go on living their lives totally unaware of the thunderous tumult just above them.
When there is “depth,” there is peace. So it is in the Christian life.
Some people in our world right now see chaos, confusion, and conflict. You and I don’t have to fret. We have peace because we have hope. It’s not like we don’t see the confusion and chaos going on around us, we see it, however we are able to properly view those things as followers of Christ. We see the big picture and as a result, we are called to pursue peace and holiness. In the Greek the word for pursue is diokete and it is an imperative command. This isn’t optional, this is a command from God for us to do! The command is simple - do this with our family. That’s the command, right? No? Pursue peace with some people? With people who vote the same way that we do? No? Pursue peace with everyone and pursue holiness. Without peace and holiness it is impossible to see the Lord.
To be holy is to be set apart. God is holy and we see this theme all the way back in the Pentateuch
45 For I am the Lord, who brought you up from the land of Egypt to be your God, so you must be holy because I am holy.
God is holy and you and I are called to be holy as well! Sadly, many people don’t understand what it means to be holy and they don’t get why Christians are called to be holy. We are called to look differently than the world around us. We pursue holiness because our God is holy. How can we help others do this? Extend grace and, as verse 15 says, make sure that no one falls short.
We are apart of the family of God and we are responsible to make sure that others are encouraged and growing as well. We receive grace and we extend grace as followers of Christ because we don’t want bitterness to spring up. If we are supposed to be holy as God is holy, it means that we have to love the things that God loves and hate the things that He hates. Does God love sin? No, He hates it! Therefore, we must hate it as well. Bitterness and envy should not be found in the house of God because it can take root and lead to serious problems. Just as a root is primarily underground and continues to grow before surfacing after becoming much stronger and destructive, bitterness can be the same way. It can simmer under the surface and eventually fester and grow and cause severe trouble in the church.
Verse 15 says that the result is that people are defiled. Al Mohler puts it well when he says, “Bitterness is a deadly contagion and a sign of serious spiritual trouble. It’s an on-ramp to the way of sin.”
Don’t give in to this, friends. Fight against it and be people of grace. As we do this, don’t make light of our call to share the Gospel, make disciples and live a holy life. This is the 5th warning passage in the book of Hebrews and the warning is found in these final verses as we see another reference to Esau who sold his birthright in exchange for a bowl of soup back in Genesis 25:33. Have you ever been around someone who does something absolutely mind-boggling? You have no idea why they did what they did, but nonetheless you witnessed what happened and you’re speechless. We see people who value the lives of dogs and cats more than that of fellow humans and we, rightly, say that those people are fools. Why do we say this? Because human life is more valuable than that of an animal because God ordained it to be so in the Garden as man was created in the image of God! Someone who says that animals are more important is a fool because they overvalue animals and they do not properly respect God’s plan and the intrinsic value of human life. Esau, like the person who says that animals are more valuable than humans, was a fool who sold his birthright for a bowl of soup. Friends, don’t be like this person! Esau overvalued food and traded away what belonged to him. As one commentator notes, “This shows that he was disinterested in the holy things of God.” We see this in Genesis 25:34. He should have received the blessing and responsibility of carrying on the family name, as we talked about in Hebrews 11, this was given to him by God simply by being the firstborn, yet he went his own path and rejected what God had done.
Mohler is helpful in noting rightly that, “What Esau did was unthinkable. It was a crime not only against his family but also against Yahweh - the One who bestowed the birthright on Esau.”
What will you do when you are left with a choice to either trust in God’s plan or to go rogue and trust yourself and follow your hungry belly? This is a warning for us, friends! Don’t trust in yourself, trust in God because He has a plan and He knows best. Verse 17 tells us that Esau wanted the blessing but was rejected because he didn’t truly repent.
Have you ever been caught red handed doing something blatantly wrong? Whenever I was in Jr. High, I got caught playing hide and seek on the roof of FBC Ozark. I was sorry and had tears, but I was more or less sorry that I had gotten caught than anything else. I regretted my action because I potentially put someone else in a dangerous situation, but there is a difference in being truly sorry and just being sorry for getting caught. Repentance is acknowledging that you did something wrong and correcting that decision and turning from it and not doing it again. Many kids get caught being on their phone at school and they’ll say that they’re sorry and that they won’t do it again, yet 5 minutes later they’re back to texting a friend or playing on social media. They’re not repenting, they’re sorry that they got caught!
What is the point here? The point is that Esau traded away his birthright willingly for a single meal. Commentators are divided as to the salvation of Esau in this text and if someone can fall away to the point of being outside the realm of repentance due to the hardening of their heart. A good thing for us to remember is that God never rejects true repentance but repentance is not the same as regret. We all have things that we regret, but we don’t always repent of those things. True, Biblical repentance requires a deep hatred of our sins - this is deeper than mere tears.
We must be people who repent, place our faith in Jesus Christ and live a holy life of obedience as we follow Christ every day of our lives. This requires us to be people of grace and to look, act, and think differently because we are literally new creations.
Conclusion
Conclusion
Heed this final warning passage this morning. Consider Jesus Christ and what He has done for us. Consider what path you are walking on this morning and what your eyes are focused on. Are you in Christ and following the Holy Spirit’s guidance or are you doing what is right in your own eyes and rejecting Jesus Christ? If that is you, I beg of you, turn to Jesus today. He is the cornerstone and the only one who can truly save!
If you are already in Christ, how are you living and walking? Are you pursuing peace with others? Are you living a life of holiness? Are you extending grace to those around you? How can you do a better job at these things this week? Only you can answer that question, but we all have room to grow and we all must seek the Holy Spirit to convict us and illuminate those areas in our life where we are falling short.
Don’t allow bitterness to grow in your life and in the life of this church. Let us strive to be people of grace as we run in the amazing race and seek to live lives that bear witness to what our Savior did for us and what He offers those around us today. Share the Gospel, remove these obstacles out of your life, finish the race and encourage others as they do the same!