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B466 6/27/71 "OUR HOPE: JESUS HELPS US GROW" For in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6and then have fallen away, it is impossible to renew them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God, and put Him to open shame. 7For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God; 8but if it yields thorns and thistles, it is worthless and close to being cursed, and it ends up being burned. 9But, beloved, we are convinced of better things concerning you, and things that accompany salvation, though we are speaking in this way. 10For God is not unjust so as to forget your work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having ministered and in still ministering to the saints. 11And we desire that each one of you show the same diligence so as to realize the full assurance of hope until the end, 12that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. 10:26For if we go on sinning willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27but a certain terrifying expectation of judgment, and the fury of a fire which will consume the adversaries. 28Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses, 29much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." And again,"The Lord will judge His people." 31It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. "But remember the former days, when, after being enlightened, you endured a great conflict of sufferings, partly, by being made a public spectacle through reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming sharers with those who were so treated. 34For you showed sympathy to the prisoners, and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property, knowing that you have for yourselves a better possession and an abiding one. Therefore, do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised. For yet in a very little while, He who is coming will come, and will not delay. But My righteous one shall live by faith; and if he shrinks back, My soul has no pleasure in him. But we are not of those who shrink back to destruction, but of those who have faith to the preserving of the soul. A recent issue of Readers Digest carried a story about a second-graders exhibit in a primary school Science Fair. The exhibit consisted of a bright red flowerpot filled with rich-looking soil. Attached was the painful explanation in childish scrawl: "Some seeds dont grow." There were several possible reasons for the lack of harvest. Too much water. Not enough sunshine. Inferior seed. Whatever the cause, there had been no growth. In his comment on this poignantly humorous anecdote, Ian Chapman points out, "Unfortunately, many Christians must wear a similar sign on their person: 'Some seeds dont grow.' And they havent. Since their conversion experience, maturity has not come. The harvest has not been evident. Their experience with Christ is shallow and frothy."1 Their lives have been a kind of spiritual dust bowl. Devoid of anything resembling growth. The reasons for their spiritual sterility are as numerous as those which keep a seed from germinating, with one salient exception: there is nothing inferior about the Good News seed God plants in human hearts. The seed itself is flawless. The life force in it is strong. The potential for growth is eager for expression. So, if growth does not occur, we must look elsewhere for the cause. That is precisely what the book of Hebrews urges and teaches us to do. The all-consuming practical concern of this book is what F.F. Bruce calls, "the grace of continuance."2 Not, as some suggest, to preserve salvation, but in order that we who have been given the gift of new life in Christ might grow and produce a worthy harvest. The peril described in Hebrews 6 and 10 is not hypothetical. It is not a straw man put up to emphasize a point. Nor is it situational, that is, relating to first-century Hebrew Christians only. Nor is it addressed to people who were never really saved. Nor people who, once saved, were now lost. Rather, we concluded the peril described is actual. It constitutes a most serious danger to Christians who are accountable to God for their performance and productivity, as Christians. But what is in peril is not their salvation. What is at stake is their present joy and futureblessings. The agricultural illustration (6:7,8) bears a strong similarity to Christs parable of the sower (Matthew 13:24-30). Its almost as if this spokesman for questing Christians is preaching a sermon. Earlier, he had been talking about the supremacy of Jesus. Who He was. What He did. Now he pauses for a moment to make a present-day application, as if to say, "Do you remember the story which came to us from our Lord Himself? The one about a man who went forth to sow, and how various kinds of ground produced various kinds of harvest? Well, let me give you a sequel to that parable. Land which produces is blessed by God. Land which does not produce is treated by God in such a way as to make it a blessing." As he warms to his subject, we can almost hear him say, "The Master explained how the world is a vast composite of various kinds of soil. The seed is the Good News that life has come to the world. The Master implied that every mans life is a field of some sort. That every new birth is a planting. That the purpose of a planting is a crop. So our primary concern as Christians should be the harvest. Thats the key issue. Thats the matter of first importance. Now, Ive been studying the harvest of some of your lives, and I dont like what I see. Therefore, let me warn you of the dreadful danger youre in, and show you what you can do about it." Obviously, these are not the exact words of Hebrews. They are my paraphrase. But the messageis the same. And its the message were concerned about. What message is there for us today in Hebrews 6 and 10? Three thoughts leap out at me. First, the right kind of harvest is important. Second, the good farmer works hard to improve the soil so it produces a better harvest. Third, productivity never goes unnoticed or unrewarded. The Right Kind Of Harvest Is Important Thank God for Christians who, under diffcicult circumstances, produce a harvest (10:32-34)! They are the joy, encouragement and temporal reward of the man who is privileged to be their pastor. Unfortunately, they are far too few. Many Christians produce a pathetic crop. Their lives possess neither beauty nor usefulness when God needs them most. But to say such are not children of God would mean ruling out Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Aaron, Solomon, Peter, John, Thomas, even Paul -- each of whom, at various stages of his spiritual development, was unable to do the things he should have done do, and to forsake the things he should have forsaken. If sinful perfection were a prerequisite for salvation, no one would ever be saved! There is not enough merit in any of us. We cannot say believers who neglect their responsibilities and misappropriate Gods blessings are not Christians. But we can say being a Christian and living like one are two different matters! When someone claims to be a child of God but lives like the offspring of Satan, that person crucifies Jesus on his own account and holds Him up to contempt (6:6). That doesnt mean the person actually nails Jesus to the cross a second time. Rather, it describes the slow, steady, snuffing out of Christs influence in his life, as inwardly the person dies a little every day to the higher, nobler, sweeter, finer things of the Spirit. Instead of doing as Paul did and crucifying the world (Galatians 6:14), egocentric sinner-saints crucify the Son. Instead of letting Jesus be Lord of their lives, they insist on doing their own thing, in their own way. Ego exerts itself. They permit self to usurp control. As a result, instead of Christs life showing stronger and more clearly through that person, it grows weaker and more difficult to discern. Such Christians put Christ "to an open shame" (6:6, KJV). Theres an old saying to the effect that, for each person who reads the Bible, there are hundreds who read our lives. When we maintain our personal comfort by denying the Lordship of Christ over all of life, we deliver a body blow to Him and His body, the Church. Someone asked Leslie Weatherhead what he had learned after forty years in the ministry. He said, "I have learned life will only work out one way, and thats Gods way." The famed preacher was right. Chip the corners off the cube of Gods truth and invariably you lose. The world, the flesh and the devil use that jaded cube against you! Thats the whole point of this heavy emphasis on crucifying Christ in ones self and putting Him "to open shame." Jesus can stand the ridicule. He survived Peters cursing denial, and the other disciples' hurried abandonment. And, while its true, as Dick Shephard observed, "The greatest handicap to the Church is the unsatisfactory lives of many Christians," the Church will survive. But, when we crucify Jesus afresh, we kill something inside ourselves. And thats what the Father is concerned about. Not what sin does to Him, but what it does to His creation and the crown of that creation, you and me! Part of the shame we bring to ourselves, and the Lord Jesus, through our rebel days and years, is a harvest of bad fruit. It wouldnt be so bad if we only hurt ourselves. But there is a cycle of influence and reproduction we cannot escape. Bad fruit has a way of producing seed for more of the same. Consider the irresponsible parents whose children grow up to be irresponsible parents. Witness the dope pusher who begets dope pushers. Think about the carnal Christian who, by his selfish example, pulls the spiritually newborn down to his level and produces another carnal Christian. Thus, since every mans life is a field and the New Birth is a planting, the pattern of growth and the quality of the crop should seriously concern us all. The Good Farmer Works Hard To Improve The Soil So It Produces A Better Harvest The improvement process may include leveling, grading, diking, irrigating and crop rotating, all aimed at enabling the ground to produce a better harvest. And, its the farmer, not the farm, who is the best, most efficient judge of what is needed to improve the harvest. "For ground that drinks the rain which often falls upon it and brings forth vegetation useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled, receives a blessing from God" (6:7). "The rain" speaks to me of that abundant grace of God which is lavishly given to all, despite their personal situation. The phrase, "useful to those for whose sake it is also tilled," points out that the purpose of land is not to serve itself, but to serve those who own it, till it, plant it, cultivate it. If the land is not fulfilling its intended purpose, the farmer has every right and obligation to treat the land in such a way as to enable it to do so. The point of all this is that God, the best of all husbandmen, is not indifferent to the factors which condition us and affect the quality of our soil as persons. In fact, because He gave us soul qualities of mind, emotion, and will, God accepts part of the responsibility for what we are and for doing something about it. God is not an indifferent bystander. He is the wise and interested owner of the life-field of those who come to Him in Christ. "You are not your own . . . you have been bought with a price" (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). Having been "bought with a price," you belong to the buyer. God, the good farmer, knows what the soil of each Christians life needs in order to produce a worthy harvest, which is useful to the One to whom the field belongs. Our purpose as Christians is not to please and satisfy ourselves. Though that may seem unfair, it isnt. Its just another way of saying: Gods will for us is our highest good. Gods will frees us from the frustrations, strain, and dissatisfaction of false productivity. It enables us to fulfill our intended purpose, which is where freedom and happiness lie. Freedom and happiness do not come from doing what we want to do, but from doing the things we were intended by God to do. Being the person we were intended to be. A bird was made to fly. A fish to swim. Take them out of their element -- expect the fish to fly or the bird to swim -- and both lose their capacity to be happy and free. Similarly, the Christian was designed to grow and produce a harvest useful to God. If we are not fulfilling that purpose, because of sin or egocentricity, our heavenly husbandman uses all sorts of situations -- some kind, some caustic - to help us become more productive and, thus, happier and freer. Happiness and freedom are by-products of accomplishing the things we were designed to do. Becoming the persons we were designed to be. Sin and egocentricity always take a toll. There is no way you and I can get around that. The law of cause and effect always applies. In fact, there are only two courses we can follow when we err as sinner-saints. In both cases there are consequences. We can go Gods way; which is to say, we can turn away from our sin and return to Him. When we do, the consequences of our sin remain in the form of psychic scars, lost blessings, irretrievable time, and opportunity, lost. But, by His grace, we do receive cleansing and forgiveness, plus an opportunity to start all over again, sadder but wiser. Or, we can go our own way. We can persist in our rebellion and refuse to heed the gentle
nudging of our God. If we choose this path, does the Lord smile benignly, shrug His shoulders
and say, "Tsk, tsk"? No. Does He withdraw the gift of eternal life and send us to hell? No. God
neither ignores nor withdraws. Then, what does happen when we start wrong and stay wrong? God, in His love, chastens us in the form of consequences which spring from our choices. "For this reason many among you are weak and sick, and a number sleep [have died]. But if we judged ourselves rightly, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are disciplined by the Lord in order that we may not be condemned along with the world" (1 Corinthians 11:30-32). Let me hasten to say, every sickness is not a sign of spiritual staleness. The Bible says rain falls on the just and the unjust as does the sunshine (Matthew 5:45). Our Christianity does not make us immune to illness. Nor does it surround us with a kind of invisible shield which protects us from catastrophe. Every sickness and distress are not some form of chastening. God permits many things He does not will. But the Bible and psychology both agree that unresolved guilt can make a person sick, weak and even lead to death. Some sickness, some weakness, some distress of spirit are consequences which God permits in order to prepare the soil of our lives for a better harvest. Gods disciplinary action is never an end in itself. It always has a purified person in mind as the ultimate result. The refiners fire here on earth is aimed at removing the dross and producing pure gold which we may lay as a love gift at the feet of Jesus. A good farmer will go to almost any length to improve the soil so it produces a better harvest. God, the best of all husbandmen, is no exception. No illustration is wholly apropos when trying to understand the ways of God, and this one can be pushed too far. On the human level, the cost of treatment and development may be such that it is not economically feasible to save a certain piece of ground. But this is never true with God and His reconditioning of human soil. There are no lengths to which He will not go. No price He will not pay. The cross is evidence of that. And, following good farming practices in His treatment of human soil, God always puts in more than He takes out. I shall never forget an automobile dealer in Kansas who said with joy and awe in his voice, "God is my partner. At the end of the year when my Partner and I add up the profits, He says, 'Bill, you take ninety percent and give me ten. Wow! Ill do business with that kind of partner any day!" This principle always applies: God gives more than He takes. But another principle also holds true: God will not force Himself on anyone. The choice is ours. We can go Gods way or we can go our own. In either case, there are consequences. Knowing this, how much better it is that we examine ourselves, judge ourselves, submit ourselves to the healing balm of Gods forgiving grace. Which means we must not only confess our guilt, we must also commit ourselves tochange. Change is never easy. Our author is so conscious of the difficulty involved, he says, "It is impossible" (6:6). Note, please, that the apparent impossibility does not relate to renewing one to salvation, but to "repentance." Also, theres no reference here to a limitation on Gods grace. "For nothing will be impossible with God" (Luke1:37). An interesting characteristic of Hebrew literature is hyperbole; that is, deliberate exaggeration for emphasis. From the context, this word, "impossible," looks to me like an illustration of Hebrew hyperbole. In English, we may say about someone, "He or she is impossible!" By that we mean the person involved is extremely, even excruciatingly, difficult to deal with. I believe thats what the scripture is saying here. Practically speaking, it is "impossible," or psychologicallyimprobable, certain carnal Christians will ever repent. Many people have a penchant for tagging themselves as worthless. Hopeless. "Impossible." When they say this, it sounds like humility with a capital "H." Frankly, its a first-class cop-out. To admit worth, hope and potential is to admit the possibility of change. But this puts the burden of action on ones own back. He becomes responsible for his attitudes and actions. Instead of wallowing around in the mire of self-pity, self-deprecation and self-deception, he must do something about himself. Change! Grow! Mature! Thats difficult. For some, it is practically "impossible." They are hardened saints. It is psychologically improbable they will ever respond, even to the amazing grace of God. But, what is psychologically true is not theologically true. With God, nothing is impossible. Anyone can change! While one may not return to Him with the wonder and thrill of first-love repentance, its entirely possible he will experience a different, deeper, dearer repentance. Ive seen marriages restored which appeared to be hopelessly fractured because the love vow had been broken. When the offending partner handled the situation redemptively, a deeper, dearer love developed, binding the couple more closely to each other than before. Even a Christian who openly, and with cursing, denies his Lord can be restored to fellowship and useful service. Peter was! The same holds true for us. Does this mean we Jesus folk should sin that grace may abound? God forbid (Romans 6:1,2). But when we do sin, if we permit God to deal with our sin and our self creatively, He will take that evil, transform it and, in a remarkable way, use it for His glory, our gladness and the worlds good. Productivity Will Not Go Unrewarded Or Unnoticed Our hope and joy as growing Christians come from two sources. They are the present and future products of trust and obedience on our part. They also derive from perfect memory on Gods part. Those of you who are growing are doing well, the writer of Hebrews says. Keep it up. The growing process will make your faith dynamic and alive. You will be able to move aside the mountains of life. You will get a kick out of being a Christian. The fact of your security in Christ will be supported by the feeling of assurance which comes from knowing all is well between God and you. Then, while you are trusting and obeying, remember God has a good memory! Human merit doesnt count. We only succeed in the Christian life by letting Christ live His life through us. Nevertheless, God is not unmindful of your sacrifice and your service of love. He knows what trust and obedience require. When He sees it, even though He has no obligation to do so, He rewards it well. "Some seeds dont grow." Not because the seed is inferior, but because the soil is resistant. If you find this to be true in the life-field of your own heart, remember God wants to work with you to improve your soil condition so you can produce a better, more satisfying harvest. Let Him. No, do more than that. Actively, eagerly, earnestly involve yourself with Him! Ruth Calkin, the poet, put it in a loving and openly human way: When my rapport with You Notes |