MPC 18th September 2005.Hebrews 12:14-29 - "Worship Wars"
Phil Campbell MPC 18th September 2005.
One of the stories that seems to keep coming out of the hurricane Katrina disaster in the last few weeks is the people who refuse to leave.
I mean, it's got to be hard, hasn't it. But there's a point at which wisdom says, it's time to let go. And move on.
Gerald Coleman, for example, sent his wife away, but Gerald decided to stay with the house; because, he said, "this is all we have." No food, no drinking water, surrounded by the threat of disease. Gerald refused to let go.
And then there's this other guy who refused to evacuate because no shelter would accept his 40 chickens.
Tough call. But you've got to wonder if somehow these guys are hanging on to the wrong thing.
We've had a few weeks break from Hebrews. And it's time to pick up the threads. Hebrews, you'll remember, is in a sense an ancient sermon. A "word of exhortation," you'll see it's called in chapter 13 verse 22. In the form of a letter.
An exhortation that right from the start has been calling on these Jewish Christians to make sure they are not hanging on to the wrong thing.
We've seen on our way through that we're looking at a bunch of the very earliest Christians who started out Jewish. And it's like they're in danger of being drawn back to Jewish things. Tempted to turn back from their trust in Jesus Christ; and drawn back to the ways of the temple. With the priests and the rituals and the day after day sacrifices. Which we've been reminded could never take away sins. And were only ever meant to be a reminder of the need for a permanent solution.
They're holding on, in effect, to the stuff that's washing away. And as they do that, they're risking letting go of Jesus. Who we saw is God's final word. The great high priest who completely supersedes the Jewish High Priesthood in every way.
And as we come to the final stretch of the letter, the same point is being made in the last half of chapter 12. With the tale of two mountains. And a warning. Take a look. Chapter 12 verse 25. Because it's the focus of the passage. "See to it," verse 25, "that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?"
Now those words, if you're looking at them, actually come as the conclusion of a section that starts in verse 18. A section that paints a contrast between these two mountains that we need to unpack in a little bit of detail.
Because in essence, it's talking about the difference between two entirely different approaches to religion. Two entirely different approaches to what it's going to mean to live in a way that's pleasing to God. It's talking about the difference between the old ways of the law of Moses, and the new way of fulfilment in Christ.
And for these first Jewish Christians, they're confronting words. They're words that are calling them to let go of the way they've done things in the past. And move on.
First of all, pick up the structure. Verse 18; we're in chapter 12: "You have not come to a mountain that can be touched," and a description then mountain number one runs through to verse 21. Then verse 22, there's the contrast. "But you have come to Mount Zion." And then a description of mountain number two through to verse 24.
And to make sense of it, you'll need a little bit of background.
The Old Testament is a bit like Tasmania really. It's dominated by mountains. And in the story of the Old Testament, there are two mountains that really stand out.
We drove up Mount Wellington just outside Hobart a couple of weeks back; and the view was terrific. Notably particularly because it's the point where all Hobart's communication towers beam down to the city.
Well, the first big mountain in the Old Testament is called mount Sinai. And it's on Mount Sinai that God's law was given to Moses for the people of Israel.
And if you go back to chapter 19 and 20 of the book of Exodus sometime, you can read the account in detail. Which actually gives the background of what's going on in verse 18 to 21.
The people of Israel are gathered around Mount Sinai; Moses ropes it off as Holy Ground; to touch it means death; and there's darkness and gloom and a fiery storm. There's a trumpet blast and a resonating voice. And God calls Moses up the mountain, and gives him the law. And everyone in the camp is trembling in awe.
Exodus 20 verse 18:
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us... or we will die."
Now again, can you see, that's the picture here in verse 18 to 20. The mountain; the darkness; the trumpet. And the terrifying voice. It's a picture of the giving of the Old Testament law on mount Sinai.
And you know the key words? They're the words at the very start of verse 18. You have not come to a mountain like that. Mount Sinai is over and done with. And the law of Moses with it's rules and its regulations and its priesthood and rituals… over and done with as well. And most of all… the awesome inaccessibility of God. That's in the past as well.
So look at the contrast… mountain number two.
Mount Zion is the mountain Jerusalem was built on. The place where the king ruled. But verse 22 is talking about something bigger and better. Instead of the old ways that left you shut out and standing at a distance and afraid of touching the mountain, get this picture in mind… You haven't come to the old mountain…
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect… to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
In other words, you've come now to something far better than what came before. Not a mountain that couldn't be touched. But celebration time. Access to God. By the sprinkled blood of Jesus in the sacrifice that finally can clean a conscience. Like no sacrifice ever did before. Open access to God through our great high priest.
And that means it's time to let go, of what came before.
Which shouldn't be a surprise. Because God always said a shake up was coming.
It's interesting, isn't it… since these words were first written two thousand or so years ago, we Christians have really got a reputation for being anti-change.
There's the old joke, "how many Presbyterians does it take to change a light bulb." And the answer is, change? Presbyterians don't change anything.
And in lots of ways it's true. So many Presbyterian Churches doggedly hanging on to whatever came before, as if the old ways were always the better ways.
But for these first century Jewish Christians, the stakes were higher than changing a light-bulb. They're tempted, you see, not to change. I mean, they've flirted with it. They've given Christianity a go. But the pull is there to turn back to their traditions; the traditions that go all the way back to Mount Sinai. And yet if they do that, it means they're ignoring the voice of God, who always promised the day was going to come when there'd be a shake-up.
There's a quote from the prophet Haggai. Where God says, you reckon I shook things back at Mount Sinai? Wait 'til you see what's going to happen next. I'm going to shake up everything. Not just the earth. But the heavens. Verse 26. Where he goes on to say in Haggai, the Kingdom won't just be for Israel anymore. But for all the nations, who'll come flooding in to bow to the Messiah.
Which is exactly what's happened in the coming of Jesus. It's all exactly according to plan. And the danger is, these former Jews are refusing to let go. And refusing the voice of God. In their hearts, they're heading back to Mount Sinai… in spite of all the warnings.
Warnings like verse 25 and 26.
See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven? At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens." The words "once more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken-that is, created things-so that what cannot be shaken may remain.
And Sinai, and the Old Testament law, and the temple, and the priesthood, and the sacrifices… all of it… shaken. Gone. While the Kingdom of Jesus… remains. Unshaken. And unshakeable.
Now one of the nice things about working through Hebrews, especially from a preacher's point of view, is the number of times the very useful word therefore turns up.
You know, if you're a preacher, the challenge is always this: what's the application? What are the implications? I mean, it's one thing to get the ideas right… to understand the theology, and not being at Mount Sinai and all that. But how's it going to affect our lives?
And the word therefore in Hebrews is always a help. Because it's always the link between the theory and the practical. One member of my family at the moment is busy learning the road rules. Ready to go for the test to get a learners permit. There's always a point where good theory translates into practice.
And in this case it's in verse 28. Which is a verse I think which has been often been misunderstood and misused. Here is the verse that almost single handedly has created a version of Christianity that is stern and dour and absolutely unattractive. Which has totally missed the point. This is a verse which I think has been almost single handedly mis-used to create what some people have called the worship wars that have raged through so many churches. Because this is the verse that says therefore… since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken; we're in verse 28; therefore, since the Jewish mount Sinai stuff has been shaken away, and Jesus hasn't… let us be thankful… and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."
The question is, of course, when the rubber hits the road, when you translate from theory into practice… what exactly is it going to mean… to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe? Especially in the light of what's just been said. That the Sinai way of doing things, that the temple way of doing things, that the priest and sacrifice way of doing things… is over and done with?
See, here's the irony. Especially for us Presbyterians. We've defined what we think it means to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe by inventing over the last five hundred years something that looks very much like what went on at mount Sinai.
And we get in our minds that worship is the thing you do when you come to God's temple. Maybe you'll call it the house of God. But we make it a holy place. And we say God is there in some special way. Like the temple. And we set up a priesthood. Though maybe we stop short of calling them priests. And just call them reverend or something like that. Who we'll dress in flowing robes. And up the front there's the Lord's table. Which is really just another name for the altar. Which is what some other denominations still like to call it.
Look, if you're new to church and you've never experienced church like that, have a talk to some of our older members. Because that's what it's been like. And that's what it's still like in so many churches. And because we Presbyterians don't change anything, and because we're told we've got to worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, we go back and we re-invent the Old Testament way of doing things as if Jesus never happened.
And on the other side of the worship wars, of course, you get the sort of people who say worship has got to be modern. And worship has got to mean waving your hands around and singing modern songs with the same words over and over again so you feel as if you've been taken into the presence of God. Because ultimately on that view, worship is a feeling.
But I want you to think this through carefully. And see what verse 28 is actually saying in its context.
Look again. And think where we've come from.
Point 1. You're not at Mount Sinai any more. With all the rules for the temple and the priesthood and the sacrifices. All that's over. Because Jesus is our great high priest. And we saw in previous chapters, he's done that stuff once and for all. By his sacrifice of himself.
Now it's interesting. There's a very useful Greek word for the stuff they used to do at the temple. And it's a word that recurs through Hebrews. It's the word latreuo. And it literally means, to perform sacred services, to offer gifts, to worship God in the observance of the rites instituted for his worship. In the old testament, the priest at the temple… performed the sacred rites. The latreuo. The sprinkling of the sacrificial blood. The right words at the right times.
And that's the word translated as worship in verse 28. It's the temple worship word.
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful and so do our temple service to God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."
Except now… and here's the big idea… except now that temple service is going to look totally different to what it was before. Except now that temple service has got nothing to do with the temple any more. Or the sacrifice of animals. Not that we stop honouring God. Because he's still a consuming fire. But that when you realise Jesus has done away with the old ways, you'll realise honouring God is going to look totally different from the way it did before.
In fact, it's going to break out from the temple. Into every aspect of your life. Which you'll see detailed in the following verses, which we'll look at next week. But for now, run your eye down to verse 9 in chapter 13, and follow the line of thought.
See, their latreuo, their temple worship, it's not about the tabernacle any more. With its ceremonial foods on the altar. All that's finished. So pick up in verse 9.
Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.
Our altar is the cross. And if you want to see what it is that replaces the old temple ways of worship, the latreou of bringing sheep's blood to the temple altar, it's there in verse 15. In a way that blows the worship wars out of the water. Let's call a truce in the worship wars. Because the fact is, both sides have got the wrong definition of worship.
See, your worship isn't measured by the songs you sing. It's measured by your willingness to confess the name of Jesus. That's real praise, isn't it? I mean, what a shame that we can so easily sing a praise song about Jesus on a Sunday and call it our worship… and then at work the next day deftly avoid any opportunity to mention the Lord Jesus, in case people think you're a bit odd.
Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise - the fruit of lips that confess his name.
But there's more. Verse 16. And it's very practical.
And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Can you see it?
The Old Testament ways of worship are over. Not to be replaced by a whole new set of rituals. But a whole new way of life.
Don't take your sheep to the temple any more. Just get on about the business of confessing the name of Jesus and doing good and sharing with people. And keep on meeting together week by week not to do rituals… but to encourage one another in that. And to spur one another on in that. Because it's tough going.
Friends, these were confronting words. Trying to make those first Jewish Christians re-evaluate what they were holding on to. And what they were going to let go. Confronting for us too.
Because we need to make sure we're not just doing what we've always done as well. And we've got to make sure we're not clinging on to all the wrong things. That you're thinking some sort of dour religious observance is what God wants from you. When it's not. Or that going through rituals is what matters.
I wonder if you can think of ways you can worship God this week… not by singing along with the latest hits from Hillsong, even though they're very catchy; but by in a courageous way and a natural way looking for opportunities to confess the name of Jesus. Even when you're fearful. That you think of ways you can worship God… by looking for good to do. And actually doing it. Not for the thanks. But out of thankfulness.
Or try worshipping God this week with such reverence and awe that you'll take that very practical step of sharing with others. Maybe in a costly way. Maybe by buying lunch tomorrow for that homeless guy you keep seeing in the street on your way to work. Take him into McDonalds and order him a healthy choice salad and a coffee. Or maybe finally getting around to sponsoring that child. God's pleased with that sort of sacrifice. You could invite someone over for a meal. Or get out your cheque-book and writing out a cheque that you know is going to meet a need. Not for the thanks. But because you've understood what it means to let go of the old ways of worship… and live your life… as a life of real latreuo. The worship that needs no temple; the worship with Jesus as our great high priest. Not just for an hour on a Sunday. But every day.