Sermon Tone Analysis

All Stressed Out

Origin of stress

pressures - work, home, holiday, family, friends

worries outside of our control - political battles, medical diagnosis,

why is this time of year so stressful

Lack of time

lack of money

commercialization

external expectations ( Christmas cards, gifts, generosity).

How do we typically handle our stress?

numb it with distractions or unhealthy habits

sleep it away (which really only makes it worse)

gut it up and press on

ignore it

schedule away any margin

Get angry at those closest to us.

For our first century brothers and sisters, they experienced stress as well.

Christianity was not publicly recognized or endorsed by the government - essentially it was unlawful to be a believer

Their Jewish friends and relatives were pressuring and shaming them back into a sacrificial system that, because of Jesus, was obsolete and in just a few short years would be irrelevant because of the pending destruction of Jerusalem and its temple.

As the writer of Hebrews brings his letter to a conclusion, he offers up a prayer or benediction that seems to encapsulate so much of what he has covered.

As we conclude our study, let’s reflect on two key elements of this prayer.

First, we get to see that...

God is the God of true and lasting peace

This time of year, we want to talk a lot about peace.

We want peace on earth.

We want people to get along.

We want an absence of stress.

While we may end up with moments of tranquility, that peace ultimately does not last.

In this prayer that the writer of Hebrews prays, he packs it with a great deal of substance that is truly worthy of meditation.

Hebrews 13:20 “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,”

Think about this for a moment.

God is the God of peace.

Is that how you view God?

Why did Jesus die?

Why is it important that God brought him back from the dead?

He did that to bring peace between us and God.

When it comes to true and lasting peace, the ultimate source of our stress is our sin.

Now we may not always think about it that way because we’ve become so accustomed to our sin nature.

But when it comes down to the eternal consequences of our sin, apart from Jesus, we are without hope!

beyond just eternal consequences, our sin has very real consequences today.

The Psalmist writes:

We may have a tendency to rationalize our sin, but ultimately we can’t escape from the pressure that mounts up within us as we “waste away” from the rot.

One way that God brings peace is by dealing with our sin - not just for a moment, but for all eternity.

Sure, we will still sin.

We will still mess up.

In fact, it’s likely a daily battle within us.

But because of Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection, we have no reason to fear judgment.

God judged Jesus on our behalf - if we would only receive His salvation by faith.

In the Jewish sacrificial system, they had to regularly go and address their sin.

The covenant was conditional on their ability to maintain it.

But through Jesus, we have an eternal covenant.

Let that sink in for a moment.

(give some examples of sins that we may commit, that have been covered by Jesus)

The Psalmist continues, reflecting on the health of confession:

Not only does God bring eternal - true and lasting peace through Jesus, but because Jesus is the great shepherd, there is perpetual comfort.

He knows us, he knows our needs, he knows our concerns…

Jesus not only knows that stress of our sin - after all, it cost him his life - but he knows our present stresses.

As our shepherd, he knows what we need.

He knows what needs fixing.

He’s got this!

the frustration for that broken relationship

the financial stress when that unexpected bill comes up - he knows

the relationships at work

the health concerns that worry you

But, because God is the God of true and lasting peace, the next thing we get to understand about God in this prayer is that...

God equips

Hebrews 13:20-21 “Now may the God of peace … 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.”

The word that we have translated as “equip” has with it the connotation of supply or “to make someone completely adequate or sufficient for something” (Louw-Nida).

But, elsewhere in the NT, that word is rendered to “‘restore’, ‘repair’, or ‘mend’.”

The commentator Raymond Brown notes that this word is used of the disciples as they were mending their nets.

He continues...

“In equipping his people with everything good, our God is able not only to supply what is necessary, but also to repair what is broken.”

Ultimately, what God has repaired is our broken relationship with him, our corrupted sin nature.

But when we look at the substance of this prayer, we are equipped or repaired in order to do his will.

God equips and prepares us internally and spiritually, but I believe he also does that in community.

When we can cast our burdens on God and share them with one another, we get to experience first hand the restoring/equipping power of God through each other.

(story of confession, asking for help…)

We saw a few weeks ago how the OT saints provided for us a testimony about God’s faithfulness as they sought to live by faith (Heb.

11).

They experienced shame and disgrace by human standards, but got to experience the fulness of life as they followed God obediently.

We also saw that in light of their testimony - we should run with endurance the race or the life that God has ordained for us - recognizing that it will be challenging and difficult, but it will be worth it as God works in us to perfect and sanctify us (Heb.

12).

But our running is not running alone - we saw that Jesus ran that race for us.

He too endured shame, but kept running for the glory of God.

We also got to consider how the true sacrifices or services we should render to God entail

love for one another - which implies that God has given us a community within which we get to live,

love (hospitality) toward outsiders, and

love toward the persecuted (Heb.

13).

We also got to see how individually we should work toward contentment - trusting God’s good wisdom and provision.

God equips us to run the race, to love, to live in community, to grow toward holiness.

The apostle Peter helps us to understand it a bit more:

There is so much that we could unpack there, in fact it may be worth taking some time to meditate on this passage later today or this week.

Closing Thoughts

Receive that peace that God has purchased for you through Jesus - stop trying to earn your salvation.

Allow God to mend and restore what is broken in you - repenting for trying to shore that up on our own - trusting in the community in which he has called us.

Walk in obedience to all that God has called you to - in community and in the world.

I don’t want to trivialize the peace and equipping that God works in our lives, but I do want to give us a bit of an analogy to understand this a bit more.

I want to tell you about our dog Dakota.

I know I’ve mentioned her before.

She’s a small, 8ish pound mutt.

She has lots of energy and likes to play.