The Bible Binge: (Hebrews 10:19-25)

Raiders of the Lost Ark

The plot of one of the great movies of all time involves looking for the ark of the covenant. Indiana Jones races to find the Ark of the Covenant before the Nazis. Finding the ark of the covenant has been the subject of a lot of speculation. Some believe the ark is in Ethiopia, some believe it is somewhere in Jordan, some believe it is somewhere in Iraq… where Babylon used to be.. and some believe it is buried underneath the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. Originally, the ark of the covenant was the main piece of furniture in the inner sanctum, the holy of holies in the tabernacle. The tabernacle was a moveable tent that traveled with Israel throughout the 40 years in the desert, and wherever the tabernacle went, the ark went. That ark was significant… it was a box overlaid with gold, with cherubim (angel-like thingers) and their wings folded over the top cover of the ark.

The ark of the covenant was God's throne on earth. God's glory cloud… his divine presence filled the entire room of the Holy of Holies and was visible on the outside as a pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire at night. No matter where you were in Israel's camp, you could look toward the tabernacle at any time and see the cloud pillar or the fire pillar and know that God was dwelling in his house… the tabernacle. That was God's house on earth. And you knew that God was ruling his people from the ark of the covenant.

Here’s the thing about the ark of the covenant and all the speculation about where it’s at. It doesn’t matter. If it is ever found, yes, it will be a great discovery of historical proportions. But the use and the function of the ark as God’s footstool or throne on earth, dwelling among his people is done. And in its place is something, much, much better. That is the point of our Bible Binge story for today. We are again in Hebrews. We began reading through Hebrews last week and this week we concluded. I thought it would be good to be in Hebrews for another week, because there’s one more main piece of Hebrews we need to consider.

The Book of Hebrews

First, here’s the summary of the book that we covered last week. If we’re going to understand our text for today, we have to understand the entire book:

Summary:

We don’t know who wrote it.

Hebrews is a sermon.

Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians.

Hebrews was written to Jewish Christians enduring persecution.

Hebrews was written to warn the church against abandoning Jesus.

Hebrews was written to show that Jesus is “better than”.

Main theme: Jesus is a better High Priest.

And last week, we talked about Jesus being Judah’s Priest, the better high priest who is also the better sacrifice. And because Jesus is the better high priest, he is able to save us completely and intercedes in front of God on our behalf. Jesus is the one who has made peace between the Creator and his creatures. And that provides us with peace and reconciliation and forgiveness… and we in turn, provide our neighbors with peace, reconciliation and forgiveness.

Jesus is better than everything

This isn’t dry theology. This is the stuff that makes all of this, including our gathering make sense. But as the preacher of this sermon in Hebrews makes the case that Jesus is THE high priest who brings God to us, he is going to show us just why this is important for every day of our lives. And it’s important for these Christians… here’s why, when the heat is turned up and you are losing your homes because you are identified with Jesus… it’s not enough that Jesus is better than everything you knew in Judaism… that Jesus is better than everything you left behind in your old life… here’s what we read moments ago:

Hebrews 10:19–21 “Since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God..”

He’s already made the case and now his entire sermon is going to hang on these two things… you need to know that we now have access. That inner sanctum is for you. The Holy of Holies is now open… forever. The ark of the covenant? Wherever it’s at, we don’t need it any more. We have access and we have a great high priest who is everything we need in a mediator and a sacrifice. That is all you need in leaving the old life behind. But this has real world application. Because we have access and because we have Jesus as our representative before God, there are three activities we must be involved in so that all of this is real in our lives. And all three of these things involve what we call “church”.

What is church?

We define church as:

the place or location where the Gospel is proclaimed and the Table is rightly provided.

Wherever this is happening, there is the church. However, church these days has a lot of baggage. When I use the word "church", for some of you that can bring all sorts of emotion. For some of you "church" is a place where you find community, you find friends, you have a lot of great memories. Church is where you got married, raised kids, met your best friends… saw your kids get married.

For some of you… especially if you came from a particular background, you may think of church as a family business. Church is what a dad did… what his sons do… what grandfather did… it's simply the family business… instead of dad being a plumber or a carpenter or an insurance salesman… dad is a pastor, the CEO, and mom is the CFO.

For some of you though… "church" has not been a happy place. For some of you watching on the internet right now… you aren't here… you don't gather with people for a worship service because you have been harmed by church. Church is where ugly things have happened. Church is where people have not been nice…church is where you saw people act in ways that people should not act. You have been hurt by church. You've been burned by church. Many of the people at The Table are those who had given up on church. And you've decided to give it a try again.

Jesus died for the church

Jesus was sold on church. The Bible says, Jesus died for the church. And here in Hebrews 10, Jesus is providing for us to find meaning and help in church. Look again at what we’ve just read:

We have a great high priest over the house of God.

The house of God is us. This gathering is where God has chosen to dwell. No longer is the tabernacle or the temple the house of God… God's people are the house of God. The ark of the covenant isn’t needed any more. The temple isn’t needed any more. This gathering is where God has chosen to dwell. Wherever the Word, the Bible, is preached, there is Jesus… Jesus is here, among us… any time we open this Bible and being preaching the Good News of Jesus from it.

This is why we say… we can promise you… whatever else happens when we gather together… we can promise that Jesus is here. Because He promised to be here whenever the Good News is proclaimed. This is His house. He is here.

Let Us

But because this is Jesus’ house… that has real world implications. What are we supposed to be doing when we gather together as God’s house. What is the church up to?

There are three "Let us" statements here that inform what is it we do when we gather… The first is "Let us Draw Near"

Hebrews 10:22 “let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water.”

The water language is not an accident. Our baptism has gathered us together as a gathering… Jesus has placed us in this gathering through baptism… in order to draw near to God. Note the plurality here.. let "us" draw near. This isn't about drawing near to God privately in our Bible reading. This isn’t “draw near to God” in the sense of some individual prayer closet experience. This is a group activity.

Drawing near to God in the Old Testament meant going to the Holy of Holies, which was off limits to everybody but the High Priest, and only he could do it once a year. Now, because of Jesus his people are able to come into the presence of God. Because he is a high priest and because we have confidence to enter the throne room of God, let us, collectively as the house of God draw near to Jesus. When we gather together, we are gathering together "near God"… this gathering has become the Holy of Holies… in God's presence. You want to draw near to God? Then show up for the gathering, because the writer of Hebrews says… this is exactly what happens when we gather.

The second command here, or the second “let us”… is found in verse 23..

Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful.”

"Let us hold on to the confession". When we gather together, we confess our faith together. Confessing those things we are supposed to believe happens in community as a group. The confession of the church’s faith is a group effort. It happens corporately. We have confidence to enter into Jesus's presence and we confess to Him and to each other what we believe in the gospel. This confession is part of the glue Jesus uses to hold us together. Our confession of faith, collectively… One of the ways we do this is, from time to time, speaking to one another together the words of the apostles' creed. We confess the gospel together, for each other.

And then there’s the third “let us”… the third command that flows out of our confidence to enter the holy places and Christ as our high priest over the house of God..When we gather as the corporate house of God… the corporate house of God is not only to draw near to find grace and is not only to hold fast to the confession of our faith… but it is to “consider one another”:

Hebrews 10:24 “And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works,”

When we have found grace and when we have corporately affirmed the very basis for our gathering in the confession faith… we consider or watch out for one another. Before we can truly love and truly be involved in good works, we must first be energized by the enabling grace that comes from the One who brings us together in our gathering. I encourage you. You encourage me. It is here in this gathering in which we motivate each other to be on mission for Jesus in our neighborhoods. It's here in this gathering in which the grace we receive from Jesus motivates us to give grace to our neighbors. The bottled water giveaways, the free pumpkins, the Chalk-the-Walk, #LoveLosFresnos, it all starts with gathering together with each other.

Let us draw near, Let us confess together, Let us consider one another… this is what the "house of God" looks like. A church gathering is where we "draw near". A church gathering is where we "hold on to the confession of our hope." And a church gathering is where we "consider one another in order to provoke love and good works". We gather in order to encourage each other in mission… we gather to be sent toward our neighbor.

Mythbusting church attendance

You'll notice I have not talked about verse 25. That's the verse everybody runs to here. it is not the primary command here.

Hebrews 10:25 “not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”

"Not neglecting to gather" is not the primary instruction in this passage. I was raised in a community where that was the only verse that mattered in this passage. This is the verse used to justify telling people they are sinning if they aren’t in church whenever the doors are open. That’s not what’s happening here. This is a subordinate clause… a fancy way of saying this phrase “not neglecting to gather together” is simply supporting the 3 primary commands in this passage.

You know why the writer says… "not neglecting to gather together?" Because you can't do the 3 primary commands of this passage by yourself. You can't draw near to God by yourself. You can't confess the faith in hope by yourself. You can't watch out for each other… by yourself. These three things are what it means to function and be the "house of God"…. and those three things are only accomplished if we are meeting together.

This was what that church in Hebrews needed to hear. They are being tempted to chuck it all and go back to Judaism. The writer says “let us” three times because he’s in it with them. Don’t give up. Hold on. Hold on because Jesus has promised. Jesus has promised to meet us here where He dwells. Hold on. No matter what you are going through, Jesus is wherever his people are gathered… wherever we are drawing near to him, confessing our faith in him, provoking each other to love and good deeds, he is there. So hold on. Jesus gives us community where He has promised to be our high priest. Forever.

Let's pray.

The Table

This Table is the story of the church. When Jesus gave us this meal on the night that he was arrested and betrayed, Jesus was choosing church. He provides a meal around which his people will gather in order to feed from him. This Table is where we draw near to God. This Table is where we confess our faith in Jesus. This Table is where we watch out for each other moving toward the world. It is here we are given our identity. It is here we are told that Jesus is life for us. It is here that we are told that Jesus forgives us. It is here that we are given life and strength to go to others with the good news of this Table. This table defines the church, and it is hope for the world. It is for you this morning.

Benediction

Numbers 6:24–26

May the Lord bless you and protect you;

may the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you;

may the Lord look with favor on you and give you peace.