Footholds

God spoke to me about footholds today. Normally we think about footholds in relation to the enemy, as in 'Don't give the enemy a foothold', but today, for me at least, it was in relation to the foothold of the discipline of a quite time. I had to fight my inclination to skip it, as I only had ten minutes, and was that really worth it. I was drawn to pray for help as I recognised this was not a good situation. Lord, I prayed, don't let me lose this foothold. Then, to myself, Where did that come from!?

Then the idea that these disciplines are like a foothold on the rockface. I've been reading Psalm 84 a lot and the 'hearts set on pilgrimage' thing is  fresh in my mind. It's like the ascent of the mountain and the 'appearing before God in Zion' bit (Zion also a mountain) is the summit of our pilgrimage. Blessed are those, it says, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage....they go from strength to strength.

These disciplines are like footholds on the sheer rockface. and we have to fight for and find every one. Fellowship. Prayer. The word. Practising love. All hand holds and footholds.

Three points of contact and always reaching for the fourth.

And then I pictured what prayerlessness I could fall into if I did not fight for my 5 minutes. That it might become a habbit to skip it, and it could be weeks, even months to recover, and it was as though I had fallen off the cliff face. And as I plunged downwards, I saw that it was not to my death, because there was this safety rope, anchored by the pioneer who had gone up the mountain 1st. And it was grace and love, this safety line. It was salvation, but the fall was costly, and the work to get back was harder for it. 

Don't lose your foothold. Keep you momentum upwards. 

Sometimes you may find a ledge, where you may rest. Where you are more secure, and sometimes you may slip, and take a battering, as you slam against the side of the mountain on your way down and bounce around on the end of that safety rope. Keep your upwards momentum.

And when you fall put it behind you and refocus on the prize. The one who loves you and the one whom you love.

It is not loss of performance that matters but loss of relationship. This is the true tragedy of a slip. Keep the relationship, don't let the relation-slip.

Hebrews 1:1-2 (In The Past)

  In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways,  but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. ~ Hebrews 1:1-2

My introduction to Hebrews started with 12:1-3, verses I will, no doubt revisit. But now I begin in earnest to journey through Hebrews, from start to finish, verse by verse. To produce a sort of lay-man's commentary. It will be responsive and reflective rather than academic or learned. Where I have learning, I will attempt to apply it, and doubtless (and also hopefully) I will also learn 'on the job'. This is as much for my own devotion as your encouragement, but I pray it (and I), will be an encouragement to you. 

Hebrews is a book with the sternest of warnings but also the strongest of hopes. It is as exotic and mysterious as Melchizedek, the enigmatic priest if refers to. It's writer is unknown (as he was) and it speaks of Christ Jesus' priesthood as other and superior to the Aaronic one. His priesthood is in the order of Melchizedek.  But all this is to come.

Jesus' humanity and divinity is delved into in ways that are unique to this wonderful letter. I can't even begin to imagine how much poorer we would be without it. It is such grace to us from God and it summons us to come confidently to his throne of grace, to receive the help we need when we are tested and tempted. I praise God for it.

So, here goes.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors

In the past; the days preceding the advent of Jesus, from the beginning up until this point, from creation to the cross, God spoke.

In the beginning God spoke. He spoke and there was. God speaking is an act of creation. He speaks and it springs forth. He calls things that are not as though they were (and they are)

And, once he had spoken, there never was a time of silence. In history we refer to the dark ages, where nothing was recorded. But in pre-history or dark ages, there has never been a time when God was not speaking. If the earth and the heavens weren't speaking to us all the time, 'pouring forth speech' of the glory of their creator, (which they never stop doing) then God was making himself known, revealing himself to individuals and to a whole people.

He spoke to our ancestors. The ancestors the writer speaks of, writing, as he is, predominantly to Jewish believers, are likely to be the patriarchs, going back to Abraham, whom God called out of Ur of the Chaldean's. Gentiles like myself might initially feel here as though it was not our ancestors God spoke of, not being children descended from Abrahams race, but we all share ancestry with Noah and with Adam. But if those two men were too tenuous a connection we can remember that Abraham is the Father of all who believe (Rom 4:11b). Paul develops this argument further in the fourth chapter of his epistle to the Romans. Jesus speaks about himself as 'The Vine' (John 15) which is how Israel was referred to throughout the Old Testament (Psalm 80:8-9 being an example). Jesus says I am The Vine and you are the branches. Paul continues, as the apostle to the gentiles, to talk of how gentile believers are grafted into the vine. 

All this to say, in a spiritual sense, if you are a believer in Jesus, you can claim ancestry (spiritually speaking) with Abraham.

So yes, in the past God spoke to our ancestors.

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets 

He is a God who reveals himself. There were prophets. Firstly he spoke to them. He made himself known to individuals of his own choosing. They were a disparate bunch of individuals Ranging from shepherds to courtiers and even Kings. From the uneducated and wild to the sophisticated academics. These people had one thing in common. They were chosen by God, at his pleasure. God does not seem to have a type, he can speak to anyone he chooses and use anyone he likes.....and he does. Amos, Joseph, Daniel, Jeremiah, David, Moses, Ezekiel, Isaiah, etc, etc.

And of course not only did he speak to the prophets but also spoke through the prophets. With varying degrees of willingness, skill and obedience, these people bought the message with which they were charged to the people of God. We might conclude that God had special love for the prophets themselves, because he chose to speak to them, but we would be mistaken. What ever God's reason for choosing an individual, it was not favouritism. In his grace he chose these messengers because he cared about those to whom the message was to be delivered. Even if the message was an angry one, his heart was towards his people to save them, to turn them, to deliver them, to teach them!

At many times and in various ways, 

We can marvel at the creativity God uses in the ways he speaks. From burning bushes and tablets of stone to Ezekiel lying in a dung heap. From an object lesson through verbal illustration (Thou art the man- Nathaniel to David), From the dreams of Joseph and Daniel to the quiet whisper in Elijah's cave to the braying of Balam's donkey. We serve a creative God. Creative and timely.

But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son

In these last days. The writer of the Hebrews understands that the times have shifted in the advent of Christ Jesus. A milestone was arrived at. A new era has begun. The fulfilment of prophecy in Jesus began in Bethlehem but will end in the Heavenly Jerusalem. All days from here on in are last days. We are living in the outworking of this fulfilment, which has already met its conclusion in him. As my pastor likes to allude to, we are living between the D-day landings and VE day. The outcome is secured but the battle still to be fought.

And of course, I wouldn't be doing my Evangelical bit if I didn't say, if it was the last days then, how much more, 2000 years later?

It's a reminder that this sinful world and the powers that attempt to rule and corrupt it will be vanquished. The end will come. And it is a reminder not to build our empires here, not to store up treasures here, but to look to Jesus.

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory~ Col 3:2

But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son.

He HAS spoken. This is past tense. He has spoken. IN Jesus his statement has been made, never to be revoked. Once and for all time. Jesus is the living word, the eternal word and the final word.

But in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son

In the parable of the wicked vine-dressers (Matt 21:33-46), Jesus spoke about the owner of a vineyard who left his property in the hands of some rogue vine-dressers. When the time for the vintage came he sent various servants to receive it's fruit. The vine -dressers who've been left in charge beat, stone and kill the servants. Finally he sent his son, saying surely they will respect him. But they killed him too.

 The vine is Israel, The vine-dressers the Scribes and Pharisees and rulers of Israel. The servants are the prophets. 

In these last days he spoke to us by his son. In the parable they killed the son.  This of course turned out to be prophetic. 

When the owner sends his son, you know he means business. If we should listen to the servants we should serve the Son, give him full attention, follow his instruction and example. He is the final word.

Kiss his son, or he will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment. Blessed are all who take refuge in him.~ Psalm 2:12

But this wrathful side of the parable is only part of the story.

Jesus also assures us, God SO loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should have eternal life. Romans 8:32 speaks love to us as we are told:

He (who) did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all~ Rom 8:32

He cared so much for the state of his people that in love he held nothing back. It was a grace to send the prophets, but to send his son was costly and personal. He  sent the one he loved most. There could not be more weight behind God's message in Christ. The words he spoke verbally and the word he spoke in his life death and resurrection. Weighty, weighty words. Words of love, hope and rescue....for those who have ears to hear.

 whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe

Here we have the bookends again.  Beginning and the end. The son is eternal. Everything was made through him and for him. He is the Alpha and Omega, ruling in creation and over time. The king eternally crowned.

Ask of me and I will give the nations as your inheritance, said the Father.

 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.~ John 1:3

 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.~ Colossians 1:15-20

For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen~Rom 11:36

Amen. Amen and amen.

 

Hebrews 12:1-3 (intro)

 The first verses I memorised as an adult believer were Hebrews 12:1-3. I joined YWAM on a Discipleship training school (DTS) and we were set weekly challenges to memorise verses. I was there for 3 months or so, but I only remember 2 sets of verses. Though you have no way of knowing I have typed this from memory, I'm going to to do this for you now, as proof (and to keep my hand in).

Therefore since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who, for the joy set before him, endured the cross, scorning it's shame and sat down on the throne at the right hand of his Father in heaven. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, that you yourselves will not grow weary of lose heart.

Okay, so to 'prove' it I have deliberately left my mistakes in, namely *sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. But still you don't lose much.

I have it in mind eventually to unpack Hebrews 12 for you, so here is my analysis of these early verses.

Therefore (because of the content of Hebrews 11, which describes the heroes s of faith, many of who were martyred, all facing adversity), since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, the Company of martyrs and saints cheering us on from the auditorium of heaven (This is a sports metaphor), in view of all they went through to achieve what they did, in view of their sacrifices, and the joy they have attained now....Therefore let us throw off everything that hinders. Athletes in these times would often run naked (I am told). Get rid of those hindersome garments that restrict movement. What constitutes something you should get rid of? ANYTHING that hinders. If it slows you down or holds you back from serving Jesus, get rid. This is the ruthless and disciplined approach of the athlete. Why would you go through all the struggle of training and the discipline and pain of improving, just to keep some little thing or habit in for sentimentality. No this is about one goal; your sole purpose, and the person who has captured your soul. If you're not trying to win the prize, then why are you in it? And why would you keep something that hindered you.

 These things, although they may be sinful are not specifically sins. They are described as anything that is unhelpful. A hindrance. Too much telly? A friend who is a bad influence? Someone you can't forgive? Whatever it is, deal with it. Eliminate it. It's not worth the sacrifice if you're to throw everything away after it? If not then you are not serious about Christ. And there it is.

And the sin, (Oh the sin) that so easily entangles. It's like you were running on a smooth and well tended racetrack and you looked at the scenery for a moment and then drifted into a wasteland overrun with overgrown brambles. Its everywhere and you cant disentangle yourself or rejoin the race, and it's ripping you to shreds. Cast it off, whatever it costs. You cant possibly carry on running like this. It's madness to try. Soon you'll be out of the race altogether. And you worked so hard to get here, sacrificed so much. No. get rid of it. Whatever the sin, there is no sin that is worth it's price, because the price of sin is death.

Run with perseverance the race marked out for you

You foolish Galatians, Paul says, you who were running such a good race, who cut in on you? what took you out of the race? You can't just stop now. Persevere. Get going again. 

It's like you forgot where you were going, what the prize was and where the track was! No, no, no. It's marked out for you. It is clear, the way you should go.

Marked out how?

Marked out by those who have run it before. The audience in the heavenly auditorium. The saints and martyrs and those who have gone before. Marked out with the blood they shed. Marked out with the sacrifices they made. This is the heavenly company. Their example calls to us when we stray off track. This was NEVER a cake walk. This is the road marked with suffering: The narrow path. The hard path seldom taken. They showed you the way.

And then marked out by Jesus himself. The author and finisher of our faith. He is the one who began this good work, for you and in you, and he will carry it on to completion. You are not alone. He showed the way more than anyone. The cross has said it all. 

Well, nearly all.

He rose again too. and ascended to heaven. He began this. He will complete it. The 'It is finished' of Calvary will be the it is finished of eternity. Everything he sealed and affected in that moment came true, is coming true and will come true.

His suffering marked the way but also his glory marks the way. Suffering and sorrow give way to Joy. Death gives way to life. Shame gives way to glory and honour. This is the way of the cross. What is sown in death is reaped in a harvest of life, as the scripture says, a hundred fold.

Which Jesus are we looking at? 

I'd always assumed the Jesus we are to fix our eyes on was the Jesus-on-the-cross Jesus, but these verses are more layered than that. We are told exactly how we are to lay hold of him and look to him.

Look to Jesus....who endured the cross
Look to Jesus....who scorned it's shame
Look to Jesus....who sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
 
It is not just the Jesus of Calvary we fix our eyes on. We are not looking at just part of the narrative of the author of our faith. No we are looking at the whole sweeping story of Christ, who authored the world, who orchestrated redemption, who suffered for us, who saved us, who has ascended and bears the name above every name. Him who reigns now from heaven, and who waits eagerly to come and get us and to bring us to himself finally in eternal joy. The suffering is for a moment, is, as Paul asserts, 'light and momentary' when weighed in the light of the prize we gain and the eternity in which we get to enjoy it.

Perspective. 

Heavenly, beautiful, sweet, hope-giving perspective. 

If you lose sight of the prize, then why do you run?

What could you possibly hope to gain by only looking at the suffering Christ? In the same way Paul says if Christ be not raised we are to be pitied above all people. If you fix your eyes only on the cross you've lost sight of the hope. The cross is only the means to an end, and that end is the throne and salvation. It's cross for crown. It's grave for glory.

And this Jesus, because he is ascended can give you what you need for this race. Not just an example, but grace and power. Love, power and self discipline.

Consider him, who endured such opposition from sinful men that you yourself will not grow weary or lose heart.

Shame Undone (Notes from my sermon)

 Read Genesis 3

6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realised they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.

The first effect of sin is a sense of shame. Before sin, we were naked, nothing was hidden and we felt no shame or judgement from each other or God. (Nakedness is a metaphor also for the shame of our sin). What God has created as good and is now being profaned by shame and judgement.

 1. Our Inadequate attempts to cover our shame- Fig leaves

How ridiculous is using fig leaves to cover your nakedness. Symbolic of our own futile efforts to cover up. We are fooling no one, not even ourselves. It wont hold up, and it wont last. It does next to nothing in addressing the problem.

2. Our Idiotic efforts to Hide from God

Although God called to them where are you he is omnipresent and omniscient. Nothing is hidden from him. So again, how futile are our efforts to hide from God. Your shame, like your sin, will find you out. We have a tendency to try and hide in our sin and shame. Keep ourselves distracted or occupied in it, but this is like the child who reasons, if I cant see you, you cant see me, and so just closes their eyes.

3 Our Isolation- Shame and the blame game

The serpent has exactly what he wanted. It's divide and conquer. The man blames the woman, the woman blames the snake. Both are ashamed and hiding. Neither of them talking to God. 

This is how it still works. Shame is used to isolate us. From God and from each other. 

The devil did then what he does now. He tempts you to sin and then says look what you did! I can't believe you did that!

He is separating the weaker ones from the herd so he can pick them off.

Once isolated in shame it spirals. He doesn't need to destroy you. You'll destroy yourself.

4. His Solution- The sacrifice v21

The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife and clothed them.

The first death to occur because of sin (And the first death at all) is the animal that died to make the garments to cover mankind's shame. It is the first echo of the cross. The wages of sin is death, and without the shedding of blood their is no forgiveness of sins.

This sacrifice foreshadows God's kindness in the cross. He has provided the sacrifice himself. He slew the animal. God has never shed blood up to this point. It cost him too. Because he loved Adam and Eve, he made a way. 

He doesn't do away with the consequences. The verses following are the words were |God lays out the curse. He does not mollycoddle them. But he does cover their shame. Equips them to face up to it and to face it. He forgives them. He does show them that he is with them in it, that he will provide.

5. The Great Solution

Jesus was shamed in every way it was possible to be shamed. There was no loin cloth, He was stripped naked and splayed at at the centre of that cross, mocked and rejected by his people, betrayed and abandoned by his friends under the full gaze of everyone, at the centre of history. God drew attention to him. He made it so that everyone who wants to be save must look on this shame, embodied in Jesus' own body. Jesus had nowhere to hide. All eyes on him and he took the shame that was ours, he bore our disgrace, all for the love of you and I.

Heb 12:2

 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

 Heb 12:2 reminds us that, for the Joy set before him (that's us and the Father's pleasure) he endured this cross and scorned its shame (Shaming shame itself), taking his rightful place on the throne at God's right hand.

He did this for us. Because God so loved us.

In his love for us He did not hold back His only son, but freely gave him up. How much more, Romans  says, will he freely give us all things

Hebrews 2

 We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away. 2 For since the message spoken through angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, 3 how shall we escape if we ignore so great a salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. 4 God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.

Jesus Made Fully Human

5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:

“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    a son of man that you care for him?
7 You made them a little[a] lower than the angels;
    you crowned them with glory and honor
8     and put everything under their feet.”[b][c]

In putting everything under them,[d] God left nothing that is not subject to them.[e] Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them.[f] 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.[g] 12 He says,

“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
    in the assembly I will sing your praises.”[h]

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”[i]

And again he says,

“Here am I, and the children God has given me.”[j]

14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants. 17 For this reason he had to be made like them,[k] fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

I thought the whole  passage pertinent but the verse that drew me here was verse 11 ( Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.) 

Jesus did all this in his love for us. This is love. Not that we first loved him but that he loved us. We love him because we are loved. He laid down his life- even before creation. He is the lamb that was slain before the foundation of the earth. Jesus is bold  enough to say that this is why the Father loves him (John 10:17), because he is,at his heart, he IS love. And God loves love.

And all this was to make us family. 

This character is consistent to bring us into a community where the shame covering is from top to the bottom. He is not ashamed of us and we are not to be ashamed of him, or each other.

He says, If you love me you will obey my commands,

And this is my commandment. That you love one another. You see he takes the disgraced, the isolated and the exiled and he brings them into the community. He gives them family. He gives them as family to one another. 

And we are taught...love covers a multitude of sins.

1 Peter 4:8

Above all love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sins.

 I love that it says deeply. There's no get out or brush off. You cant interpret this instruction as tolerate one another. No love one another deeply.

And notice it says love covers a multitude of sins. It does cover up. It addresses it head on, but it covers. We cover each other with and in love. We make up for, in ourselves collectively what is deficient in each of us as individuals.

Love the Lord your God with all you have and are
And love your brothers and sisters as you love yourself.

WE all understand, who have had our shame covered by Jesus that we are not without sin. That we need a saviour. That we need our shame covered. And therefore we can be safe and vulnerable. We will not judge and we will not be judged. And in this environment we fight the enemies main weapon. Shame and isolation. We are seeing the curse reversed. We have each other backs. No one is more or less valuable. The eye cant say to the hand I don't need you. No one part of the body is dispensable. We cover each other with love. 
Satan isolates but God creates community. He puts the lonely in families. He bought us together.

Heb 13 13,14

 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come.

We go to him- where he was cast out, in his exile and isolation. In his disgrace.

We go outside the camp. We go to him where he is.  

We accept the disgrace he bore, and, in him, our shame is covered. 

The one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.
We are clothed in his righteousness, like the animal skins in Genesis 3 covered Adam and Eve. God provided the sacrifice and covered our shame...but we are not clothed in skins. Our clothes are awesome.

He made him who had no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

He has arrayed us in robes of righteousness.

And the value of these robes is highlighted by this verse

 I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.~ Rev 3:18

Amen.