A Heritage of Reverent Obedience

Transcript

This transcript was generated automatically from the audio and may contain small errors.

If you would, please open your Bibles to Hebrews, chapter 12. We're going to be starting in verse 12 today. We're going to be covering the second half of the chapter of Hebrews 12. We've been talking a lot about heritage. We all have a family heritage. Each of us has a family heritage. We've grown up in that heritage. We've learned from that heritage. We've been shaped by that heritage. There are things that we do, both individually and as a family that were given to us, that were handed down to us. Some of them are serious. For example, how we handle conflict, how we spend money, very sober things. Some of them are very fun, like learning how to dance or how to sing or how to play games. In my house, we have a love for board games. If you love board games, come on over to the Capertons because we love playing some board games. who were playing a board game last night.

But there are certain rules, whatever you were playing board games with us, and that one of those rules is you cannot get your feelings hurt when somebody plays cutthroat with board games. Somebody's playing cutthroat with board games, if they're like going for the win, if they're trying to eliminate you because you're the toughest competition, just take it as a compliment and move on. Just take your loss and keep going. that culture, that heritage in our family, you know, with board games, something very simple, that shapes who we are, that tells you a little bit about our family. Maybe you don't want to play board games with us now. That's okay. So, all right, if you're too weak, just stay home. Last week, we defined heritage as a collection of essential things handed down, a collection of essential things handed down. And that's really important. We're going to be kind of returning to that definition very often

because that's these essential things, these fun things, these serious things that I was talking about. These are the essential things that are handed down. And through our heritage, we have a worldview. This worldview shapes our values. Whenever you are born into a heritage, it does affect how you see everything else. And it's difficult to see your own worldview. It's It's typical to understand the lenses through which you see everything. But let me just try to give you an example. Let's say you grew up arriving 20 minutes late to everything. Anybody grow up in a late family? Yeah, thank you sister. There was two of us. Good grief. Okay, there's two of us. All you guys are on time. Okay, all right. I grew up, man, I grew up being late to everything and it just, you know, my mom was habitually late. She still kind of is.

But this shaped what you and I consider to be on time. Right? How you were raised determines what you believe is on time. Now, I'm pretty sure I'm going to butcher the expression, but the expression is something like, you know, 15 minutes early is on time and on time is late. And I don't remember how the rest of it goes, but some version of that, right? So yeah, so you crazy time police people, you guys know how that goes.

So when I was growing up, we were late for everything and so it was not a big deal for me to be late, but then I'm in my 20s and I'm late for something, maybe even just five minutes late for something. And then I am genuinely surprised and annoyed when somebody criticized me for being late. Because in my worldview, I wasn't really late. Right? Like, how I grew up, I wasn't really late. You know, they're just being the time police, right? They're just being uptight. You see this in weddings whenever there's two different cultures that are coming together. And I've heard this from a number of sources, and it makes me laugh every time, that if two families were coming together in a marriage where one of them was German and the other one was like, you know, Brazilian, okay? Well, just culturally, Germans tend to be on time, just culturally speaking. Brazilians tend to not be on time, like for anything.

And so when the wedding starts at 9.45, at 10.45, the Brazilian family's still gonna be trickling in, right? But the German family has been there since 9 o'clock, just to make sure that they're early. This isn't because some cultures are, you know, that they take classes on being on time. This is heritage. These are things that have been handed down. And it's also why it takes tremendous effort to change that behavior. If you're going to engage in, for example, healthier eating or arriving earlier, or if you're going to change how you talk about something, that is difficult to change because it is embedded in your worldview. And it means it's going to take something very strong to change it.

Now, people who follow Jesus should be very interested in heritage because Jesus' parting command has everything to do with a heritage, with an essential thing that is handed down. Whenever he's saying, go and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded, right? That has heritage written all over it. Churches exist because followers of Jesus promise together to follow Jesus and make disciples. I don't know if you know that's what A church is not just you and a guy and, you know, another person just out somewhere praying together. Sorry. I mean, I get it. That's a spiritual thing. That's not a church. A church is a group of people that have promised together to be a spiritual family and to engage in their relationship with the Lord together. Okay? There's a covenant involved in a church that is missing when it's just you and two other

people in the woods praying. I get it that you can still pray, and that can still feel very spiritual. it's not a church. Churches are people that have come together as a family and they must ask the question about the heritage that they engage in. What are the collection of essential things that are handed down? What are we given and what are we giving? What are we handing down? So this is our second week on a higher heritage and we are answering these questions. Last week we talked about a disciplined endurance. That one thing that we hand down to the people that to the next generation, to the people that we are investing in, okay? I don't mean just children. I mean people that you're investing in. It is a disciplined endurance. We saw how discipline was training and correction and nurture. That it was all three of those things combined. That the Lord disciplines those He loves. That discipline is part of the plan.

And that the goal of discipline is to become more like Jesus. And that's across the board. This week we're going to build on that and we're going to move into the second half of Hebrews 12. And at this point of the letter of Hebrews 12, this is after he has spoken about the discipline of the Lord and he begins addressing their lack of passion directly. So read with me in in Hebrews 12 verses 12 and 13 it says, therefore, so anytime you see a therefore you got to ask what it's therefore and it's it's recalling the previous few verses that we've been talking about, about discipline being something that you must endure. So therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees. Make straight paths for your feet so that what is lame may not be put out of joint, but rather be healed. So the church that is receiving this letter is spiritually faltering.

Okay? Their hands are drooping, their knees are weak, their paths are crooked. And last week we talked about this, last week we said weariness and faint-heartedness are normal. That is a normal part of the Christian walk. That is something that everyone endures, everyone goes through. That is a pain we all experience and we don't need to be ashamed of that. We actually need to be honest about it so that we can actually hand that information down. How do I fight against laziness, against frustration, or not against frustration, against yelling whenever I'm angry. How do I fight against those things? Because if I don't talk about it, we don't know. Okay. So you can see even from the previous places that we've read in Hebrews, these people have been plundered, they've been abandoned, they have been falsely accused, some have been brought into jail. They're tired, they're frustrated, they're weary.

And to this, the writer of Hebrews says, "'Lift your hands.'" And he keeps going next two verses, verses 14 and 15 of Hebrews 12, Strive for peace with everyone and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God so that no root of bitterness springs up and causes trouble. And by it many become defile. So he's saying, push against fatigue, work toward peace. Push each other toward grace. Protect each other from the root of bitterness And he says, see to it in verse 15, it begins, see to it. That see to it continues in the next two verses, 16 and 17. So see to it that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. For you know that afterward when he desired to inherit a blessing, he was rejected. For he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.

So again, you see here protect against sexual immorality. Protect against deadly ungodliness. The tone of verses 12 through 17, which is what we just read, it is progressive. It's saying, okay, lift your hands. All right, all right, push toward God's grace. Okay, yeah, protect against unholiness. It's almost as if in verses 12 through 13, he's saying, okay, wake up, wake up. 14 and 15, wake up, wake up. 16 and 17. Wake up! This is the tone of verses 12 through 17. You get the sense that the preacher in Hebrews has had this conversation before with the church.

And that that conversation did not go well, that it kind of ended in a collective eye roll, where the church is listening to these verses, you know, you say, he said to them, no one's sexually immoral and holy like Esau, and they're like, yes, yes. I'm sure it's very deadly. Yes. I imagine that the church views the preacher like a highway patrolman with no car, right? The highway patrolman with no car is standing at the edge of the highway and he's wagging his finger. Don't go too fast. You're going to regret it. You better slow down. And they don't respond to that, just like you and I would not respond to that. because they don't view it as serious. There's no teeth to the threat. There's nothing going on. And the church misses the dire consequences of what is happening around them, and they don't, as a result, they don't strive for obedience. They don't see the danger, so they don't take care.

They're listening to verses 12 through 17. It doesn't happen. It doesn't click. It doesn't register that this is a big deal. And this is where our life, our real life, meets this text, that because we all go through these seasons where we wonder why do this at all? Why should we do this? Why should we go through all of this? When we believe it to be a losing battle. For example, like, what, look, Drew, why don't we just accept that we all sin? Why does this have to be a big deal, right? Why lift my drooping hands if they're just going to fall again? Why strive for peace with the same people that are causing disruption on purpose and seem to enjoy it? Why fight sexual immorality or unholyness at all?

So that when even scripture says to you very clearly, It says, don't persist in spiritual negligence. When scripture says Jesus has put people in your life for you to disciple, we respond internally with a frankly, I am too tired to care. Have you seen my work week? Have you seen the kind of pressure I'm under? Do you know how frustrated I am? Do you know how sick I've been? I'm trying to deal with 50 other things that are on fire in a given week, and worrying about my holiness is just not making the top five. I know that's not fun to talk about or even to admit, but that's where we can get sometimes whenever we are spiritually tired. And when we have become spiritually lazy, we begin to lay out what we would consider to be justifiable exemptions to following Jesus. And here's what the book of Hebrews says to that in the next verse, next two verses, verses 18 and 19 of Hebrews 12.

Changes the tone, he says, For you have not come to what may be touched. It's a bit cryptic, we'll talk about it in a second. For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words make the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them." He is specifically talking about making reference to an incident in Exodus 19. Exodus 19 is where the people of God received the Ten Commandments. Exodus 20 is actually where the Ten Commandments are in your Bible. In Exodus 19, God comes to them. He comes to them, and this is like 18 and 19, it's around there, He comes to them on a mountain. That mountain is filled with darkness. There's a covering, there's a storm over, there's clouds all around it. And what He says to His people in Exodus, right before He gives the Ten Commandments is,

He says, you may not touch this mountain. No animal may touch this mountain. When they do, if they do, they will die. What the author of Hebrews is saying right here, and by making reference to Exodus 19, he is telling the people in this church, you believe that you are approaching something common. You believe mistakenly that you are walking into something ordinary, that you are going to Walmart to pick up milk, okay? You are barely dressed and in your PGA. You are not prepared for what you are doing. What he's telling the church is, I'm not giving you things to make a task list spiritually. I'm not giving you things to check off your list. This is God. This is God. God is holy. He's untouchable. He's fear-inducing. He is awe-inspiring. Hebrews goes on, verse 22. But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable, can't even say it, angels in festal gathering.

You are in the presence of supreme blinding magnificence. It keeps going, next two verses. And to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven. This is that great cloud of witnesses that we've been hearing about. And to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. You are in the presence of multitudes of angels, of every saint assembled. You are in the presence of Jesus, our mediator, thanks to the sprinkled blood and what He's trying to help them see and what we need to see this morning. There is a giant gap between how they view God and how they treat God with the way they live and who God really is and what he really deserves and what he really calls us to. Do you see that? He's saying, look, lift your drooping hands, right? Don't, hey,

don't, don't go after him holiness. Don't go into sexual immorality. And there's this eye roll going on and what he says in verse 18, he says, you have come to what may not be touched. You are approaching the God of heaven. And so When people tell you, when people, spiritual people, when they encourage you and they say, listen, man, don't persist in spiritual negligence. Jesus has put people in your life to invest in. Invest. Your lifestyle doesn't match your priorities. When people tell you those things, they are likely trying to help you bridge that gap between how you live and who God really is. They're trying to help you see who God truly is.

And we usually, whenever we are confronted with that kind of information, whenever it's somebody who's saying to us, hey, listen, I think there's a big gap between what you say you believe and how you actually live. There are a number of lies that are easy to believe about the people that are talking to you. Because when you are confronted with your own negligence and your own disobedience, it is very uncomfortable. And so our temptation is to believe that they are,

maybe that they have an ax to grind, right? This person is telling you these things because they don't like you. They're out to get you. Maybe it's easier to believe that they're blowing it out of proportion, right? This person, you know, listen, I'm not that bad. I can think of 10 other people that are worse than me and I work with all of them, okay? Maybe you would just say, hey, they don't know my life, they don't know the pressure I'm under, if they really knew what I was dealing with, if they really knew the phase or the season that I was in, they would not tell me what they're telling me.

And it's all these things to justify our own spiritual negligence, our own spiritual laziness. And my encouragement is instead of rolling your eyes at that person or believing a lie, which is the adult version of rolling your eyes. Instead of believing a lie about that person, my encouragement, honestly ask questions of yourself before the Lord. Honestly ask. I'm just gonna give you three because I just want you to think about it. There's probably a thousand ways to ask these questions. Lord, do I have a good handle on what you are doing in my life right now? Am I in tune with where you are working and moving?

Am I attending to that? Lord, second question, Lord, am I putting everything I have in your hands? Is there something I'm holding back? Is there something I really wanna control and I don't wanna give you? Third question, Lord, am I missing what you are saying? I once had a couple, they were living together, They were part of our church. This is a couple of churches ago. They were part of our church. They were living together. And they had just moved in together. I didn't know it. But they then called me and asked me to do their wedding. Okay, so you want to be a pastor until you're in that situation. That's not fun, right? So they're calling me and they're saying, hey, Drew, we want you to do the wedding. And I say, okay, listen, I need to... Can we meet at your house? Because I'm not telling them over the phone, right? So we meet at their house. And when we are talking,

I'm trying to help them understand, hey, I know that you really love each other, but you are not, there's a gap between what the Lord is calling you to do and like live this life of sexual purity, right? There's a gap between that and how you're actually living. In other words, you are not being sexually pure with one another. You're not, you're not even striving for that. Okay. Now let me just make a fine distinction here. I'm sorry, I don't want to get lost in the weeds here. If that couple would have said to me, you know, Drew, we want to get married. We've had sex a few times. We feel like we've repented of it and we're working through it. I have no issue with that. Cause that is acknowledged sin that it's being repented of. That's cool. I'm not the sexual purity police, okay? I'm not sitting there going, well, you know, you have to, there has to be a certain amount of, I'm not mediating all of that.

If somebody is repentant before the Lord, okay, I'm going, yes, that's good. But that's not the conversation I had with them. The conversation I had with them was, we're living together, we love each other, it's completely okay, and we want you to do our wedding. And I lovingly and gently over two hours, walked them through why I was not going to do their wedding.

And they were sad. And then they were mad. Listen, you want to come to people and you want to talk about something they're doing that they don't need to do. That's uncomfortable. It's uncomfortable for you and it's uncomfortable for them. We aren't just talking about like normal fun conversation here we're not saying like what's your favorite Bible verse we are having a conversation where it's you are you are living out of sync there's a big gap a big gap between who the Lord is and how you're living and there's a big difference between acknowledging that gap or pretending like it's okay if you're trying to pretend like it's okay then you are not willing to ask those questions of saying like Lord am I missing something Lord show me Lord help me understand what if you're just going to sit there and justify everything you're doing and pretending like it's no big deal to God when God has specifically

said it's a big deal to me if you're going to do that then you get a warning biblically that's what you should get that's what a loving relationship includes if you love somebody you will lovingly warn them in the same way that You would pull them out in front of a, if they were standing in front of a bus, it was going 30 miles an hour, you'd yank them out in front of them, right? You would warn them, you'd say, hey, get out of the way of the bus. You'd warn them.

It's the same way here. And so I wanna ask you this morning, is there a giant gap between how you see God and who God really is? The rest of the verses in Hebrews 12 help us to reorient ourselves. So let's do that together. Hebrews 12, 25, it says, See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warrants from heaven. This is the living God. This is not someone you refuse. God does not tell you things and go, you know, whatever, if you kind of want to or not. There's no addendum on that. It is a commandment. It is something that the Lord gives us for our good, for His glory. Look at history. Who has survived God's warning? Nobody. And although, look, I will admit to you, it is uncomfortable to consider God this way. It is. It's a little uncomfortable.

It's more than a little uncomfortable. It's very uncomfortable. But let's just be real clear, God's true, unveiled presence would destroy you. You would be undone even if you lived, if you looked for a moment, one second of time, on what we looked at in verses 22 through 24 with the innumerable angels, with all those things. If you looked for a moment on God Himself, you would have a mental breakdown. You would be shaken to your core. You would be undone. It would change you forever. It would be so upsetting that you would fear for your life. And the only reason I know that is because any time somebody looked at an angel, just one angel in the Bible, they thought they were going to die. And that's consistent. Old Testament, New Testament. Everybody thought, this is it, I'm gonna die. And we think, oh, an angel's here. Everything's cool. No, it's a near-death experience.

And that's just one angel. So I want you to see all that heaviness. I do. I want you to feel that. I want you to understand that God is in heaven and that even to look upon him would shake you to your core. And I want you now to understand that for God himself, the living God, to take the time to appeal to you, to woo you, to help you understand things, to bring you along at a pace that you can understand is undeserved grace to you. That God in heaven who owes you nothing takes the time to speak your name and say to you, come to me, follow me, find rest in me. And in me is everything that you're looking for. This is what the God of heaven does in grace, in immeasurable grace. Verse 26 and 27, at that time, this is talking about XS 19 again, at that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.

This phrase, yet once more, indicates the removal of things that are shaken. That is, things that have been made, in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. A lot of that's kind of difficult to follow. Quite simply though, there is a reckoning that is coming that will reveal what is unshakable. Everything that's shakable, everything that can be destroyed will be. Everything that can't stand will be taken away. God will judge the whole world. It will all be, as the Scripture says, laid bare before Him. Verses 28 and 29. Therefore, it says, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And thus, let us offer God acceptable worship with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire. God, in his grace, has transferred us to his unshakable kingdom. God, because of his mercy, speaks to us, convicts us, shapes us, and tells us,

Hey, wake up. Wake up. And it's not that God's just trying to see how attentive we are. It's because He cares about us. It's because He has a plan for us. If we are still on this earth, we should be directed by the Lord. So because of this, then, let us find, like it says in those scriptures in 28 and 29, let us find the gratitude appropriate to these giant truths. Let us find a worship that is acceptable to the one giving us eternal life. Let us find a respect that is fit for a God who is a consuming fire. That's an unpleasant thought, but ultimately it's something that we can rest in, because that consuming fire has reached out to us in love and grace. Our heritage, the essential thing that we pass on to the people that we are investing in, is not, in other words, is not a lazy spirituality that middles along. We aren't just making it. We aren't just coping. We aren't just kind of limping along.

And it doesn't mean we don't struggle, but it means that our aim is not just barely, and we don't make justifiable things like, oh, I mean, the bed's gonna get messed up. Why make it up anyway? No, lift your drooping hands. Our heritage is one that is attentive to the God who speaks, to the one who has delivered us into his kingdom, to the one that has commissioned us for his kingdom. That is our heritage. Concern yourselves, each of us, concern yourselves with the holiness of your conduct, whether it's drooping hands or sexual immorality or bitterness. We all deal with all of those things. I'm not saying be perfect. I'm saying be honest. Bring those before the Lord. Repent of those things. And don't do it because you're trying to live up to the grace that God gives. Don't do it because you're trying to be better than somebody else or, you know, like, well, I'm a leader.

People look at me. really? No, no. Do it because God is on His throne. Do it because God deserves it. We're going to have an extended time of worship and responding to the Lord. And just as we sing, as we do all those things, I'm going to be here if you want to come and pray. If you want to pray with somebody next to you, we're going to have the time to do that. But as we do, I want you truly to whatever you need to do right now.

Right before we pray, I just want you to be in the moment and say, okay, Lord, I'm gonna worship you. And I want you to worship from the heart, to sing from the heart, to offer to God a worship appropriate to all the grace and all the power that is within. Let's pray. Jesus, we thank you so much for the ways that you lift us up, the ways that you carry us through. I pray that you would help us to not just remember all the grace that you've given, but that we would also remember that you are on your throne, that you are big, that you are mighty, that you are more powerful than than anything that we could even imagine. If we looked upon you, we'd be undone.

Yet, you reach out to us in grace, help us to be thankful, grateful, worshipful. Let that be our heritage. Let that be the essential thing we hand down, that we aren't lazy, but that we work for you. It's your name that we pray. Would you please stand? In my mud you formed me with your hands known and loved by you Before I took a breath When I doubted Lord remind me I'm wonderful He made You're an artist and a part of I'm the canvas and the clay You make all things work together For my future And for my good You make all things work together For Your glory and for Your name For Your name There's a healing light Just beyond the clouds Though I walk through fire I see clearly now I know nothing has been wasted, no failure or mistake You're an artist and a part of the canvas and the clay You make all things work together for my future And for my good You make all things

Work together For Your glory And for Your name Yeah For Your name When I doubt You Lord remind me How wonderful you made You're an artist and a potter I'm a canvas and a clay I know nothing has been wasted No failure or mistake You're an artist and a potter I'm a canvas and a clay And you make old things Work together for my future And for my good you make all things Work together for your glory And for your name When I doubt it, when I doubt it Lord remind me, I'll wonderfully make made. You're an artist and a potter. I'm the canvas and I know nothing and I know nothing has been wasted. No fair old mistake. You're an artist and a potter. I'm the canvas and the clay.

Just think about what we just sang about. Think about that. About the heritage. And he called us to be a part of work together, my future for my good, you make all things work together for your glory, for your name I waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined to me and heard my cry. He drew me up from the pit of destruction out of the miry bog and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord. Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie. You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us. None can compare with you. I will proclaim and tell of them. Yet they are more than can be told. In sacrifice and offering you have not delighted, but you have given me an open ear.

offering and sin offering you have not required. Then I said, behold, I have come. In the scroll of the book it is written of me. I delight to do your will, O my God. Your law is written in my heart.