The Church is like a family or is a family?

a. The Church is grounded by the blood of Christ (10:19-21)

b. The Church stands together in faith by the person of Christ (10:22-23)

c. The Church loves one another because of the hope of Christ (10:24-25)

Hebrews 10:19-25

2. INTRODUCTION

3. BODY

a. The Church is grounded by the blood of Christ (10:19-21)

i. We start in verse 19 by the key phrase brothers and sisters. In the NIV, it says therefore brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus. This bridges the truth that indeed, the blood of Christ here has given all believers in Christ the confidence to enter the Most Holy Place. The author (작가) here is telling us that because of Jesus’s death, we can now go into the presence of God.

ii. We know that the Most holy place here is the presence of God. The author of Hebrews speaks of this holy place in 9:24, that Christ did not enter a holy place made with hands, a mere copy of the true one, but into Heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us.

iii. So when we take this to mind, Jesus Christ has entered into the presence of God on our behalf and because He has done so, has created a new way into the presence of God through His work on the cross. We see this to be true as the author of Hebrews in 10:4-10:12 makes the argument that the blood of bulls and goats can’t take away sins. But as verse 10 says, by this will, by the will of the Father, we have been made holy through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once and for all. There is no need to yearly go and atone for sins. It has been completed by Christ once and for all. We see that in verse 12 and we see again in verse 18 that because there is forgiveness in this one time act, there is no longer any need for offering for sin.

iv. This verse 18 tells us that there is no reason that we need to work to atone for our sins because it has already been forgiven by the work of Christ on the cross. Then this starts in verse 19, therefore, because Christ has completed the work on the cross on our behalf, brothers and sisters, let us enter the holy place in confidence.

v. The focal point here is the phrase brothers and sisters. If we think about a family, a family has a mother, father, brother and sister or whatever your family entails. But in Christianity, we say that God the Father is our father and we have been joined into the family of God. And because of Christ’s work on the cross, we have been joined into the family of God as brothers and sisters. Three texts in the New Testament deal with this idea that we are brothers with Jesus. Hebrews 2:11, Romans 8:29, Mark 3:34. Hebrews 2:11 tells us that He is not ashamed to call us brothers. The word translated “brothers” is the word used for blood relatives, but it also refers to Christians. In this passage, the writer of Hebrews is explaining how the perfect God-Man, Jesus, could call imperfect humans His brothers and sisters.

1. If we are to take that definition, through the work of Christ, we have entered into the family of God. If we take this seriously, and we read verse 19, we are not like a family, but we are a family. This is the reality of being a Christian.

2. Now when we think about families, many families are broken and it’s sad that many people don’t talk to each other or see each other for reasons. On the other hand, there are many strong families where they are willing to fix and stick together because they are related by blood. This concept of blood is huge because many people say I would do anything for my brother or sister because that’s my sister.

3. Well the point that the author of Hebrews is telling us is exactly that same point. Many people think that the church is like a family. By saying it is like a family is stating that it’s not actually a family. It’s almost like a family but it isn’t actually a family.

4. One of the passages that we can understand is found in Mark 12:34. There a scribe is answering questions and Jesus tells him, you are not far from the kingdom of God. We understand that Jesus was telling this person that he is not far based on his knowledge. But the scary part about this is also the fact that he is close, but he is not in yet. I believe this is this idea of the church that is like a family and is not a family. A church is the family of God and we are a family because we have been made brothers and sisters by the blood of Jesus Christ. And because we are a family, just as we love our blood brothers and sister and parents, we are to love each other the same way.

5. There is no difference in loving our church brothers and our siblings. We can only understand the Bible in a clearer way when we start to bridge how our lives match with the Bible. We could never understand the love of God if we didn’t understand that God loves us through people. Therefore, just as we can experience the love of God by the love of my wife, we can know that God loves me through my wife. This is the same idea with the church is a family of God.

b. The Church stands together in faith by the person of Christ (10:22-23)

i. Verse 22, because we have been made brothers and sisters by the blood of Christ, we are called to draw near to God with a sincere heart. What is this talking about? It tells us that a true heart is a heart that suggests sincerity and loyalty. How are we to enter the presence of God? In full assurance of faith, we see in verse 23, that we are to continue to hold fast, to hold tightly to the promises of God because He is faithful. Because we believe He is faithful, we are to enter into the presence of God trusting in Him fully because He has sprinkled away our burdened conscience and washed our bodies with pure water. The work of Christ on the cross is understood here as an inward sprinkling, an inward cleaning and because of this inward cleaning, our bodies are washed with pure water to show that we are baptized into the family.

ii. Therefore, because of the great work of Christ completed on our behalf inwardly, we are to be baptized and in verse 23, hold fast, hold tightly to the confession of our hope without wavering. We are to continue to hold onto our confession. As we enter into the presence of God with a sincere heart, we fully trust in God’s grace to us through the work of Jesus Christ, without wavering because He does what He has promised.

iii. When we think about this, it makes sense that our relationship must first start vertically. We must first understand who Jesus is and what He has done so that we can love the body of Christ. So many people forget this important truth. We think the most important thing is, I need to love God. I agree that is important. But just as important is, I must love God’s people.

iv. Why do I believe this? Because God has called us to be family. We can have differences and we can disagree on things. But because we have been adopted into the family of God, we must hold tightly to our confession without wavering trusting in God in whatever we do, but primarily in our relationships with one another.

v. The temptation (유혹) is that when we don’t disagree with others, we want to leave and avoid the situation. We don’t want to deal with the problems so we decide to leave. But this section tells us, instead of leaving, we should hold fast to our confession of the fact that we have been bought with a price and we must trust in God’s faithfulness.

vi. A church is not a family if its people give up on each other. We must not adopt the world’s thinking that if there is a problem, the best way to solve it is to leave. No, we must hold fast to our confession and trust God.

c. The Church loves one another because of the hope of Christ (10:24-25)

i. This is why the vertical relationship with God now goes horizontally. If we trust in God because He is faithful, let us think how we are to stimulate one another to love and good deeds. Let us consider here can be rendered let us be concerned for, let us care for how we are to possess a care and practical concern for one another.

ii. What is the author speaking of? Again, the world’s answer to difficulties is to split to run away. But the calling here is not to split apart, but to gather together. We are called to live in a new way unlike the habit of some, to forsake the gathering together, but to encourage one another to gather. We should continually look to God’s faithfulness and encourage one another to gather together and seek to grow together.

iii. It is not good for us as believers to make it a habit to not be present. When we constantly abandon the fellowship of believers, what happens is, we grow further away from God. I’ve seen this in my life when people leave the church. They leave the people and don’t want to be around the people and this causes their walk to grow further away from God. But this verse tells us we should get together by encouraging one another, spend time together so that we can continue to hold fast in the day that is drawing near.

iv. I want to close with this reminder. If we are a church, then we are a family. If we are a family, we must learn how to grow together even when we disagree with one another. That is how the world will know we are the disciples of Jesus Christ. We can’t operate like the world and say we are different than the world. We must live differently than the rest of the world. While the rest of the world tells us to leave and find a new family, the Bible calls us to stay and grow together. Why? Because we are to hold fast to He who is faithful. The reason we encourage one another and get together for worship and fellowship is because of His faithfulness. May we all grow in God’s faithfulness and respond in love for one another.

4. CONCLUSION