MPC 24th July 2005.Hebrews 3:7-4:13 - "A Better Rest"
Phil Campbell MPC 24th July 2005.
Florence Chadwick was born in 1918, and by the time she was ten years old, she was famous as a long distance swimmer. She was the first child to swim the San Diego Bay Channel.
From there she went on to break the women's record for swimming the english channel. 32 kilometers in 13 hours and 20 minutes. The next year she became the first woman to swim the channel in the other direction. France to England. Then, in 1952, in what was to be her victorious homecoming, Florence Chadwick, with much publicity and fanfare, set out to be the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel; 34 kilometers, from Catalina Island, just off Los Angeles; to Long Beach.
Compared with some of her other swims, it should have been easy. Besides which, she had the home crowd advantage.
But after 15 hours swimming, on a swirling foggy morning, Florence Chadwick was pulled out of the water, exhausted; just 800 metres short of her goal. After 33.2 kilometres of swimming against the tough seas, she gave up. Just 800 metres short of the beach.
Why didn't she make it? She stepped out of the support boat to face the crowds and the media. She'd failed. And she was asked why. And she said, It wasn't the waves. And it wasn't the freezing cold. She said, it was the fog. She said, the thing that stopped me was that I couldn't see the shoreline. If I'd known how close I was, I could have made it.
If only I'd known. If only I'd known how close I was... I could have kept going.
As we turn to our passage in Hebrews today; again, a passage that looks complex at first; I want you to keep in mind that it's all about the importance of keeping going. It's all about the danger of stopping short. Of giving up. Before you reach the goal.
It's a passage that talks about a long road trip to a five star destination. The kids in the back seat are saying when are we going to get there; and they want you to stop now. And you're tired and you're thirsty, and you're tempted to pull in to the trashy caravan park and set up camp there. But you don't. Because you know it's worth pressing on. For the better rest that lies ahead.
Now if you've missed the last couple of weeks, we're here in the book of he brews, which we've seen is like the transcript of a first century sermon; a message specifically aimed at a group of Jewish Christians, who are in danger of turning their backs. Giving up their faith in Jesus and reverting to their Old Testament ways. Which in a very real way means they're in danger of stopping short of their destination.
And today's passage is complex. Because you've somehow got to keep in your head a couple of time steps, a whole sequence of events, before any of it makes much sense.
Our section starts with a long quotation from Psalm 95. The last section was loaded with quotes from Psalm 8. This time, Psalm 95. Which is all about the danger of stopping short.
You'll notice in passing if you're someone who wishes the Holy Spirit spoke to you a bit more, verse 7 starts with the assumption that the Holy Spirit speaks to us through the scriptures. Because that's what he's quoting. Verse 7... as the Holy Spirit says. And then four and a half verses lifted directly from Psalm 95.
Which he quotes again, you'll notice, in verse 15. And again in chapter 4 verse 3, and verse 5. And finally in verse 7.
It's a simple Psalm. And I want to unpack that a bit before we dive in. Because Psalm 95 is a Psalm King David wrote... looking back at the earliest days of the history of Israel. Looking back at the account in the books of Exodus and Numbers. Looking back at the time God promised the Israelites that he'd take them out of slavery in Egypt... to the promised land. Which he said would be a place of rest.
God said, trust me. I'll take you through the wilderness to a land of milk and honey. I'll take you on a road trip to the best holiday destination you can imagine. You'll be my people, I'll be your God; and together we'll rest. It'll be just like back in the garden. It'll be just like the seventh day when we rested together.
That was the promise. I don't know if you've ever followed the story through back in the early books of the bible. The Israelites, in the wilderness; following Moses to the promised land. And as soon as things got the slightest bit tough... they started grumbling. As soon is they got tired or hot or hungry, they started saying, we'd rather be slaves back in Egypt. To the point where they get to the borders, and God says, It's yours. And they say, No, the people there are too big. We'd rather stop here. To which God says, have it your way. And they wandered for 40 years in the desert. A whole generation didn't get to enter God's rest in the promised land.
Now that's the story David looks back on in Psalm 95.
And I want you to see what he says. Because David as he writes the Psalm hundreds of years later wants to draw a lesson from it for his own generation.
Let's pick up the quotation in verse 7:
So as the Holy Spirit says: today if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion... during the time of testing in the desert, where your fathers tested and tried me and for forty years saw what I did. That's why I was angry with that generation, and I said, their hearts are always going astray and they have not known my ways. So I declared on oath in my anger... they shall never... enter my rest.
David's saying, I'm warning you today, it would be a terrible thing to miss out on God's rest. Which when you think about it must have seemed a bit odd to the people of Israel. Because when David's talking, they're actually in the promised land already. I mean, a generation missed out. But in the end, by David's time... they're in the promised land. It took a while. But now everything's good. They've got a king. They've got a palace. They've defeated their enemies on every side. And yet David says to them, today I want to warn you... don't make the mistakes of the past. Don't stop short. And fail to enter God's rest.
Which to Jewish ears must have been kind of odd. Because in their minds, they've got what they want already. They're convinced that this is all there is. And maybe these later Christian Jews have thought the same. Maybe you have too.
And so there are two dangers that we need to be aware of. Two dangers highlighted in the passage. There are two dangers that can stop us before the finishing line.
a) Thinking you're there when you're not - there remains a rest
The first danger; thinking you're there... when you're not. It's stopping at the tired old caravan park when you're just a block away from the five star resort where you're meant to be heading. They've even got your reservation. In fact, your resort holiday is fully paid.
For the Israelite's David's talking to in the Psalm, it's thinking that the rest in the promised land is all there is. It's thinking that in those years before when their forefathers followed Joshua into the promised land... that that was as good as the rest was going to get. When in reality, it was just the beginning. Which is why David can warn his own people in his own day... who are in the promised land... that they need to be careful they don't miss God's rest. That they need to be careful of complacency.
Which is the point of the words in chapter 4 verses 6 to 11.
Even in the promised land there's a far better rest just up ahead. And especially verse 8.
For if Joshua had given them rest, verse 8, for if coming into the land was really the rest, God wouldn't have spoken about another day. There remains, then, verse 9, there remains then a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; it's not just the promised land. There's still a rest to come. With all the harmony of the unspoiled world on the seventh day of creation. There's still a rest like that. Where we'll rest from our own work perfectly.
So whatever you do, don't be complacent at this point. And stop short of it. Verse 11. Let us therefore, make every effort to enter that rest... so that no one will fall by following their example... of disobedience.
So number 1, don't think that you've made it already. If you're an Israelite in the time of King David, and you're thinking, we're living in the promised land, so now I can do what I like, there's still a lesson to learn from the ones who didn't enter the rest in the first place. There's a better rest to come. So keep going. And don't turn back.
b) Hard hearts that refuse to Listen to God
I said there were two dangers.
The second danger is the danger within. And the two go hand in hand.
It's the danger of the hardened heart. It's the danger of having a heart that refuses to listen to the word of God.
Which is exactly what brought the first Israelites in the desert unstuck. Go back to the start. Verse 7 and 8 in chapter 3. Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. The problem starts at the heart. Or verse 10. There it is again. God says,
That's why I was angry with that generation, their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways. So see to it brothers that none of you has a heart like that. Make sure you don't have a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.
Ultimately, you see, the problem is with a heart that hears the voice of God, hears the promise of God... and doesn't trust it.
c) A note about "Apeitheia" (3v18, 4v6, 11)
It's interesting, when you look at our NIV English translations, there's a word that keeps cropping up, and I think it could be translated more accurately. In fact, this is one of those times that I think the old King James version gets it better. It's the word at the end of verse 18; and again in chapter 4 verse 6 and verse 11.
It's the word we've got translated as disobedience. And it gives a slightly different slant to what's going on.
Pick up in verse 18. Who is it that God was angry with? Who was it who God swore would never enter his rest? Now here's where the NIV translation says it was those who disobeyed. Which gives the idea that they've perhaps done something particularly naughty. As if maybe they miss out on entering God's rest because they've broken a rule, or they've cheated on their tax return, or sneaked out to their friends place when they were grounded. Which isn't actually the idea at all.
The original Greek word in the text is apeitheia, which literally means, those who were unpersuaded. Or stronger than that: refused persuasion. It wasn't that they so much disobeyed God's word; it's that they heard it. And they didn't believe it. They heard God's promise that he'd give rest in the promised land... and in the hardness of their hearts they refused to be persuaded by it. Which is perhaps the worst kind of disobedience of all.
And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not those who were unpersuaded? So we see that they were not able to enter, verse 19, because of their unbelief.
And it's the same in verse 6 of chapter 4. They didn't go in... because they were unpersuaded. And verse 11. Don't make the same mistake. Don't follow their example. Make every effort to enter that rest that's still up ahead... so that no-one will fall by following their example of un-persuasion. The sort of person to whom you say, "What could I do to persuade you to keep trusting the word of God?" And they say, "Absolutely nothing. I'm unpersuadable." That's an attitude that comes from the heart, isn't it? Not the head.
Here's the point. The Israelites in the wilderness heading for the promised land. They stopped trusting God. And didn't make it to the promised land.
But even the promised land... even the land of milk and honey... wasn't the ultimate destination. There's still a rest to come... that's better than they can imagine. A rest that's a restoration of the harmony of the good creation. A rest the Israelites should have set their hearts on. Even when they finally came into the promised land. A rest these later Jewish christians should still have set their hearts on. So they would keep trusting Jesus. A rest we should have our hearts set on. Without turning back.
The bottom line is simple. Whatever you do, don't harden your heart and stop trusting in Jesus.
There's a confronting thought here. And I want to leave you with it.
The thought that refusing to listen to God is actually an active choice. The thought that refusing to listen to God actually requires a deliberate hardening of your heart.
The though that there are maybe people here today, people here this morning, going through exactly that process. Hearing God's voice. And deliberately saying, no, I'm not going to believe it. Deliberately saying, no, I'm fine how I am. Deliberately saying, no, I'll stop right here. And not go any further.
If that's you, there's a word for you in verses 12 and 13 of chapter 4. But you know this already as well, don't you? If you're choosing to be unpersuaded, it's not because God's word isn't getting through to you, is it? Because verse 12 says, the word of God is living and active... it's sharper than any double edged sword. It's finer than a scalpel. The word of God penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; the word of God, it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is laid bare. And somehow deep down you know that. And yet the danger is, you consciously make a decision to remain unpersuaded. And you consciously make the decision to stop looking forward at the rest that lies ahead. And to make yourself comfortable now.
Which is the essence of the decision, isn't it? That I won't keep trusting God and live in obedience and faith. That I won't keep trusting God and put the needs of others first. That I won't keep trusting God and live a life of integrity and love. But I'll pull in at the first rest stop I come to. And set up house there. And surround myself with comforts and make myself number one.
Let me finish with a see to it and two therefores. One of the reasons bible scholars are convinced Hebrews started out in life as a sermon is that it's so direct. And so practical.
So what better than to finish with a bit of exactly that directness.
Chapter 3 verse 12.
See to it brothers, that none of you... has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the Living God.
Check you heart. And make sure it's not telling you to stop listening.
And here's a real practicality; verse 13. See, what can you do to make sure you're not turning away? You can encourage one another. Watch out for each other. The Psalm said, today if you hear his voice, don't harden your heart. Well, every day, daily, encourage each other. Open your hearts to each other so you can watch out for each other; so that none of you may be hardened, in the words of verse 13, by sin's deceitfulness. So very easy to fool yourself. Because the game plan is, verse 14, to hold firmly til the end the confidence we had at first. You can help each other in that. By being part of a small group. By being regular at church instead of only turning up when there's no better offer. By doing your best to know people... and let yourself be known. To spur on your friends. And be spurred on yourself.
If only there was someone saying to Florence Chadwick, Florence, the coast is just up ahead. If only there was someone who could see through the fog and say, you've nearly made it. You'd be crazy to stop now.
Verse 1 in chapter 4. Therefore, be careful. Don't be complacent.
Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it.
Be careful you set the right priorities. Be careful you keep meeting together to encourage one another. Be careful of the signs of a hardening heart. And be very clear, says the next verse, that you're not so complacent that you think just hearing God's word is enough. You might think it's enough to just hear a sermon every Sunday that entertains your ears. You might be kind of proud of your right doctrine. Verse 2 sounds a warning. For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them... because those who heard, didn't combine it with faith. Hear it. And take it to heart.
And a final therefore for today, a final implication, a final lesson from the past; Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest... so that no one will fail by following their example. That example of being unmoved by the word of God. Of being unpersuaded by God's promises.
I mean, you make an effort in your career, don't you? You make an effort in your sport? You'll make an effort in your garden. Well, how about making every effort to be someone who makes every effort to encourage others and be encouraged in the faith. Someone who makes every effort not to be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Someone who makes every effort... to be someone who's not just hearing the Word of God. But to be combining it with an active faith as well. Trusting it for the future. Instead of stopping short.