Playing Favorites

James 2:1 My brethren, do not hold the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with partiality. 2 For if there should come into your assembly a man with gold rings, in fine apparel, and there should also come in a poor man in filthy clothes, 3 and you pay attention to the one wearing the fine clothes and say to him, "You sit here in a good place," and say to the poor man, "You stand there," or, "Sit here at my footstool," 4 have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 5 Listen, my beloved brethren: Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which He promised to those who love Him? 6 But you have dishonored the poor man. Do not the rich oppress you and drag you into the courts? 7 Do they not blaspheme that noble name by which you are called? 8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Who’s your favorite – and how does that affect how you respond?

We all have favorites. It’s only natural. If you lived in Denver right now – would you be for Peyton Manning, or Tim Tebow? If republican, are you for Mitt Romney, or Rick Santorum?

Who is your favorite apostle? Is it John, or Peter? (Those are the two who consistently poll the highest.) BTW – Peter usually comes out on top.

Funny thing, favorites. Who we favor. Thinking more highly of one over another. I wonder; where does that come from?

They tell us we form an opinion of someone within the first thirty seconds of meeting that person. It’s called a “first impression,” and we are also told, “first impressions are VERY difficult to overcome.” True, isn’t it?

James teaches us the threshold of the church should be the place where this idea of favorites and favoritism should and must end. When we understand the notion of the church being our lives - rather than any building - then we further understand the notion of playing favorites must end at the threshold of our lives.

As the half-brother of Jesus, it must have been painfully fascinating for James to watch as Jesus extended His hands to touch some pretty untouchable people. This may have been upsetting or even disgusting to James. Can you imagine James watching as Jesus touched a Samaritan? Or, even worse – a leper?

This concept of ‘untouchable’ people had been fostered by a misinterpretation of Jewish Law, and Jesus was forthrightly setting all of it aside. There could be no misinterpretation of God’s intent. God is love. God is unconditional love. Jesus, God in flesh, lived that out. We are not to play favorites, we are to favor everyone. This is the love of God.

-Pastor Bill

Things to Remember

Hebrews 13:7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. 15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. 

The Book of Hebrews is obviously designed to be a very memorable book. The doctrine presented here is a full representation of the Christian faith, all the way from the beginning. The intricacies of the Book of Hebrews are quite amazing, demonstrating once and for all God had a plan all along, and His plan to bring a Redeemer in Christ had been announced even in his teaching to the Israelites, and in the ceremonies and demonstrations found in God’s Law.

Jesus is in every bit of that. Jesus is God, and the Law is God’s Law, and all of the Old Testament is not cast away, but foundational to the New. How incredibly important to our understanding all of this is…

But what can we take away? What are the life applications of such towering doctrine?

To conclude the Book of Hebrews the author turns not so much to ‘what we know’ as to ‘how we live,’ in the places we live, in light of the doctrine we have learned.

Last week we talked about life in relationships, and particularly marriage, which is intimate fellowship designed by God.

This week we see applicational instruction for life in the church, which is also intimate fellowship designed by God.

Marriage is intimate fellowship which is inescapable, as is life in the Church. We are not to cut and run, we are to live and learn…to be servants, and to be submissive to authority.

As much as we instinctively object to most notions of submissiveness, here we really need to pay attention, because we are learning to submit to Jesus.

-Pastor Bill

Enough

Heb 13:1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels. 3 Remember the prisoners as if chained with them--those who are mistreated--since you yourselves are in the body also. 4 Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. 5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." 6 So we may boldly say: "The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" 7 Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines. For it is good that the heart be established by grace, not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. 12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. 13 Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. 14 For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. 15 Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. 16 But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. 17 Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. 18 Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably. 19 But I especially urge you to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.  

The author of Hebrews concludes with a strong admonition that the doctrine shared would be completely, satisfyingly, and perfectly enough because it is all there is.

There is no need to continue looking when you have arrived at the truth. The truth is all there is, and to look for more than the truth, once you know the truth, is to perhaps stumble on a lie that is less than the truth – not more.

How vulnerable our culture has become in this area. We value knowledge to such a great extent that essential truths are done away with in order to pursue philosophical insights. We have even arrived at the place of saying, “there is no absolute truth.”

How absolutely foolish that is. Of course there is absolute truth, in moral and theological and Spiritual arenas just as certainly as there is in mathematics and navigation. It is the simple truths which will endure to eternity, and the fanciful imaginings of foolish man will be cast away in the same way they always have been.

It is enough to let this doctrine we have been taught continue, because it is eternal doctrine.

-Pastor Bill

A Bloodless Coup

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2 looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. 4 You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin. 5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons: "My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord, Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him; 6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives." 7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? 8 But if you are without chastening, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate and not sons. 9 Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness. 11 Now no chastening seems to be joyful for the present, but painful; nevertheless, afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. 12 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed. 14 Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: 15 looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; 16 lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright.

The great question about the doctrine of grace is: Can grace change or even modify behavior? Since there is so much uncertainty on that score, most – if not all – churches add behavioral directives to their doctrine because you cannot implicitly trust grace alone to do the job of reforming man.

After all, it is the flesh that longs for “no rules.” The reason the flesh desires “no rules” is because the flesh longs to satisfy lust, and lust is, “against the rules.”

This was the great strength of the sacrificial system. It not only had rules against sin, it also had sacrifices for sin that were visible. There was a lot of blood in the sanctuary, (which may seem an odd place to find blood.) But since remission of sin ONLY took place by the shedding of blood, and those in the sanctuary were dealing with sin, there was a lot of blood there. It was a powerful reminder of sin and for sin.

What happens when you take that away and move to the bloodless system of grace? You know – the once-for-all sacrifice? Can you still trust in God’s direction even without a visible correction? The answer is: YES!

Pastor Bill

Blood Bank

Heb 10:1 For the law, having a shadow of the good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with these same sacrifices, which they offer continually year by year, make those who approach perfect. 2 For then would they not have ceased to be offered? For the worshipers, once purified, would have had no more consciousness of sins. 3 But in those sacrifices there is a reminder of sins every year. 4 For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins. 5 Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me. 6 In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. 7 Then I said, 'Behold, I have come-- In the volume of the book it is written of Me-- To do Your will, O God.' " 8 Previously saying, "Sacrifice and offering, burnt offerings, and offerings for sin You did not desire, nor had pleasure in them" (which are offered according to the law), 9 then He said, "Behold, I have come to do Your will, O God." He takes away the first that He may establish the second. 10 By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. 11 And every priest stands ministering daily and offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, 13 from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool. 14 For by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified.

When you donate blood, you must not only submit to a screening process for blood-type - but also for quality.

Especially in this day and age, the blood you receive could literally mean life and death.

If the blood is tainted, it will be ineffective, and will eventually cause more harm than good, even if it provides a momentary benefit and gets you out of the hospital in the short-term.

If you are fooled into thinking you have what you need, only to find out later that the blood you received will actually kill you, then you know what the author of Hebrews is talking about in chapter 10.

The blood of bulls and goats cannot make you perfect. The continual effort of making an offering of animal sacrifice cannot make you perfect either. Logically, this should have set in as a concept long ago, since those offerings had to be made continually.

And now to find people still trusting more in what does NOT save over and above what DOES is mystifying, and yet we see it every day. All around us. In every walk of life. It is called ‘religious practice.’

People would rather trust in what they can see with their eyes over what they must trust by faith – even if they must suspend logic in order to do so. How could the blood of a goat save you, especially since it must be offered continually?

Only the blood of Jesus saves. You can take that to the bank.

-  Pastor Bill

Perfect Sacrifice

Heb 9:11 But Christ came as High Priest of the good things to come, with the greater and more perfect tabernacle not made with hands, that is, not of this creation. 12 Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. 13 For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God? 15 And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. 16 For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. 17 For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives. 18 Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood. 19 For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, 20 saying, "This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you." 21 Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. 22 And according to the law almost all things are purified with blood, and without shedding of blood there is no remission. 23 Therefore it was necessary that the copies of the things in the heavens should be purified with these, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has not entered the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us; 25 not that He should offer Himself often, as the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood of another-- 26 He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 27 And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, 28 so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

In a close, hard-fought game, with a runner on first base in the late innings, (after it has become apparent the pitcher is not very hittable,) the coach calls for a “sacrifice.” In baseball, it is an intentional out. You lay down a bunt and get yourself out in order to do one thing – and that one thing is to advance the runner into scoring position. If the bunt is good enough, it is judged to be a, “perfect sacrifice.”

The motif of the sacrifice does not come from baseball, it comes from Jesus Christ. I suspect the baseball play may have had another name entirely had it not been for Jesus Christ, as He set the example for all to follow.

Strangely, human beings, (even those of the ‘survival of the fittest’ evolutionary theology,) seem to place a higher value on an act of sacrifice above any other thing any human being may ever do. Where does that sort of thinking come from – if – as they say, survival of the fittest has gotten us where we are?

-  Pastor Bill

Nobody’s Perfect

Heb 8:1 Now this is the main point of the things we are saying: We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, 2 a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man. 3 For every high priest is appointed to offer both gifts and sacrifices. Therefore it is necessary that this One also have something to offer. 4 For if He were on earth, He would not be a priest, since there are priests who offer the gifts according to the law; 5 who serve the copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the tabernacle. For He said, "See that you make all things according to the pattern shown you on the mountain." 6 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, inasmuch as He is also Mediator of a better covenant, which was established on better promises. 7 For if that first covenant had been faultless, then no place would have been sought for a second. 8 Because finding fault with them, He says: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah-- 9 not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord. 10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. 11 None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, 'Know the Lord,' for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them. 12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more." 13 In that He says, "A new covenant," He has made the first obsolete. Now what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

Did you ever break anything by your own stupidity? Reaching for a glass, instead you knock it over and it falls to the tile floor and breaks into a thousand shards. You think, “Man, what an idiot I am…how could my judgment have been so bad?!”

Did you ever say the wrong thing at the wrong time, and set off a war? You think, “Man, what an idiot I am…and I wish I had never said what I said…why am I so stupid?!”

Two characteristics common to man: 1) We are bad, and 2) We are stupid. Consistently.

And yet, we seem to think of ourselves as somehow worthy of entry into the kingdom of Heaven because we are a, “pretty good person.” Wouldn’t that be yet another thing we might classify as being stupid – given what we know about ourselves?

Here’s what we say (quite often) to excuse ourselves: “Nobody’s perfect!” (We agreed with God’s Word even before we knew God’s Word.) God says, “No one is righteous, no, not one.” There is no way any of us deserve anything other than hell.

How fantastically wonderful Christ has made a way for us into His Kingdom by His blood -  the blood of the New Covenant.

-  Pastor Bill