Sermon on Hebrews 12vv14-24 Southwood 21 January 2007
By Rev Steve Stewart
Make Every Effort To Live In Peace With All
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. 16 See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. 17 Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned."° 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
22 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, 23 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, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
THE CELEBRITY BIG BROTHER ROW -WHAT IS 'RACISM'?:
No single story seems to have so dominated the news this week as the events in the Celebrity Big Brother house. Love or hate the programme, or whether you have never watched it, I would like to touch on some of the issues it has raised as we engage with our reading from Hebrews. When a passage begins with the sentence, "Make every effort to live in peace with all men" (verse 14), I think it would be almost irresponsible not to raise the issue of racism and bullying and see what the Biblical principles are.
The issue in the Big Brother house is this: has Shilpa Shetty, the A-list Bollywood Indian actor been bullied or been the subject of racism or a combination of both by her fellow housemates? And there has been much debate and confusion over whether the division is race, colour, culture or class based -almost to the point where no one seems quite sure what 'racism' actually is. Even the housemates seem to have no idea that they may be being racist.
WHAT IS 'RACISM' -WHAT DOES SCRIPTURE SAY?:
It is in these situations where we must search the Scriptures to find an answer. So that's what I did. What I discovered I found illuminating and I'd like to share it with you today as a general principle. Then we'll have a deeper look at the text here in Hebrews.
So, what is 'racism'? How do we really know if we are being 'racist'?
I found the answers not here in Hebrews (where the assumption that as Jews they have an understanding of the principles of dealing with foreigners and gentiles), but way back in the details of the Law given by God to the Israelites in the days of Moses. And, as is common with the law, things are even more strict for those who follow the LORD (as we see in Jesus' analysis of the Law in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapters 5-7)
Time and again throughout Exodus, Leviticus and Deuteronomy the issue of how to live with and incorporate people from other countries crops up, and these are the simple principles of engagement which emerge:
o By virtue of being a foreigner in your country, the person is inherently vulnerable: just like orphans, widows or the poor.
o Therefore make extra effort to incorporate them: be extra welcoming.
o Be extra tolerant: they will have different ways.
o Welcome them into your worshipping community.
o Make extra effort to extend hospitality.
o Recognise that they too are your brothers and sisters in the human race (we share ancestors!).
o Anything less than this is 'racism'.
[See below for some texts which realte to this idea of the foreigner in Israel]
So, what is racism? Racism is a failure to make the extra effort to welcome and to love somebody from a different country; to fail to be extra tolerant. And it is founded on the key principle that we are all members of the human race, created in the image of God and sharing the same human ancestors.
INTO HEBREWS 12...EVERY EFFORT TO LIVE IN PEACE:
The world of the Roman empire was a truly multicultural one: in the cities people of a huge range of nationalities and backgrounds (social, racial, cultural, slaves and masters, rich, poor, men, women, young, old) -and the churches reflected this mix. Small wonder then (given the OT principles outlined above), that the writer encourages this church to (verse 14):
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy
To live in peace with one another, with all our differences, does require 'every effort': getting on with others in church isn't something which just comes naturally without doing anything: no, it requires effort and an act of the will. If this were not true, then God would not have wasted his time writing this verse!
WHY 'MAKE EVERY EFFORT'?:
But why is this getting on together so very important? What's the point? Well, look at the whole of verses 14 and 15:
14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
Our getting on together as a church family is for the sake of the Gospel, and for the salvation of others: God lays before us the responsibility that bitterness among the brothers and sisters costs souls. It chokes the mission and evangelism of the church. That's how serious it is. Getting on together is not just so we all feel warm and fuzzy like a hippy love-in. Getting on together is for the sake of Jesus and those who do not yet know him. What is the principle? Look at verse 15 again: one split will defile many.
And then the writer adds two more hugely damaging things to the list: sexual immorality and 'Godlessness'. Seeing how sexual immorality can wreck a church isn't too difficult (hence no example in the text), but what about this thing 'Godlessness' -the writer does give here the example of Esau. In Genesis 25 Esau, the older twin of Jacob sells his inheritance (not just property from his father, but the very blessing of God first given to Abraham) for nothing more than a bowl of soup (a 'mess of potage' as the King James Bible calls it!). Godlessness is simply putting the material blessings of this earth, the cravings of the stomach (sexual immorality is of course the cravings of the heart) above the good and perfect things which God offers.
I think of Andrew Hyde, who have for so many years, instead of a good relaxing week on holiday, chose instead to give up a week's precious annual summer leave to lead the WOW Week holiday club -and I could list many others in this church family who put this church and the bringing of the Good News of Jesus to this area way above material things: who could have a bigger and better car or even house if they didn't give a tenth of their income to the church, who get up on a Sunday morning simply to be here when they've been working hard all week, who extend hospitality to the stranger, or seek justice for the poor: and I praise God for each and every one of you -who knows how many souls you have won for Jesus. And look a what we have to gain:
LOOK AT WHAT AWAITS US:
Once again, the writer shows the glories that await us and those whom we bring to Christ; how we await something even better (that key word in Hebrews: 'better'), even better than what was given to Israel through Moses: just look at verses 18-24:
We don't enter the presence of God on a stone mountain like Moses and Israel did, with fear and trembling:
18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, ...21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, "I am trembling with fear."
We have something much better: not Mount Sinai, but Mount Zion:
22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
>(Please remember this by the way when Christians keep referring to Israel and Jerusalem in particular as the Holy Land -we have not come to a mountain that can be touched!).
And how much better is the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God than what went before?
WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE THEN?
Ever wondered what heaven is really like? The writer lists 5 incredible characteristics of heaven, to encourage us, bring us hope, and above all surely to stir us up to see how incredibly important it is to "14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy;", remembering that "without holiness no one will see the Lord.":
o Heaven is filled with thousands upon thousands of Angels: it is the place of praise and worship of God Himself!
o It is the final and eternal destination of the church: it is the church of the firstborn -Jesus! And where he is the firstborn Son, we are His brothers and sisters who inherit all this together with Him! Our names are written in heaven.
o It is the place of God the Father -our Father!
o It is where we are made righteous by the blood of Jesus and where we can be for all eternity in the presence of God without trembling with fear as they did at Mount Sinai. O to be in the presence of God without shame, without having to cower in fear like Adam in the Garden of Eden. O happy day!
o And heaven is the place where all the work of Christ, of his blood shed on the cross, finds its completion: where the New Covenant is fulfilled and God's promises all find their fruit, where we come (verse 24): "to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel"
Is all this not worth us making 'every effort' for?
AMEN.
Rev Steve Stewart © 2006
FOOTNOTE: Bible Quotes relating to the issue of foreigners in ancient Israel:
Exodus 22:21 21 Do not ill-treat a foreigner or oppress him, for you were foreigners in Egypt.
Exodus 23:9 Do not oppress an foreigner; you yourselves know how it feels to be foreigners, because you were foreigners in Egypt.
Exodus 23:12 Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work, so that your ox and your donkey may rest and the slave born in your household, and the foreigner as well, may be refreshed.
Leviticus 19:10 Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the foreigner. I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 19:33-34 `When a foreigner lives with you in your land, do not ill-treat him. The foreigner living with you must be treated as one of your native-born. Love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the LORD your God.
Leviticus 24:22 You are to have the same law for the foreigner and the native-born. I am the LORD your God.'
Leviticus 25:35 If one of your countrymen becomes poor and is unable to support himself among you, help him as you would a foreigner or a temporary resident, so that he can continue to live among you.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19 He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the foreigner, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.
Deuteronomy 23:7 Do not abhor an Edomite, for he is your brother. Do not abhor an Egyptian, because you lived as a foreigner in his country.
Deuteronomy 24:17 Do not deprive the foreigner or the fatherless of justice
Deuteronomy 27:19 Cursed is the man who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow. Then all the people shall say, 'Amen!'
Psalm 146:9 The LORD watches over the foreigner and sustains the fatherless and the widow, but he frustrates the ways of the wicked.
Jeremiah 7:6-7 If you do not oppress the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow and do not shed innocent blood in this place, and if you do not follow other gods to your own harm, then I will let you live in this place, in the land I gave to your forefathers for ever and ever.
Jeremiah 22:3 Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow, and do not shed innocent blood in this place.
Zechariah 7:10-12 'Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the foreigner or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.' But they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped up their ears. They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry.
*Scripture quotations taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Hodder & Stoughton, a member of the Hodder Headline Group. All rights reserved. "NIV" is a trade mark of International Bible Society. UK trademark number 1448790.