Going Outside
Notes
Transcript
Scripture Introduction:
We have been going through the book of Hebrews and I think we’ll do that for one more week after this and then, Lord willing, we will move to wanted to go ahead and move to 1 Peter because at first glance I didn’t think this particular text had a ton to say to our present moment. I figured 1 Peter was even better and so I started going there but was drawn back to Hebrews to give another look. And the more I dug into this passage in Hebrews the more I thought that this is exactly what we need for this time. So I proceed with :7-16.
I have several words that I might use to describe our current moment. One of those words is the word disruptive. I was supposed to be watching baseball this weekend. We were supposed to be physically gathering as a group of believers. I was supposed to have been to Mexico and back. Lots of things were supposed to have happened but they’ve been disrupted.
Disruptive.
But I also know that God can be rather disruptive, at least from our fallen perspective. I think here of the woman at the well in . She went to get water. She encountered Jesus. She left her water jar. He had disrupted everything. And so I know that God often steps into these moments and does something amazing. It’s good for our shakeable worlds to be shaken as a reminder that we’re seeking a kingdom that cannot be shaken. And so there are many good things which God will do and is doing through COVID-19.
I couldn’t help but think of these words from David Platt. They are disruptive. He says this:
“And this is where we have to pause. Because we are starting to redefine Christianity. We are giving in to the dangerous temptation to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice, middle-class, American Jesus. A Jesus who doesn't mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have. A Jesus who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because, after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who want us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on the American dream.
But do you and I realize what we are doing at this point? We are molding Jesus into our image. He is beginning to look a lot like us because, after all, that is whom we are most comfortable with. And the danger now is that when we gather in our church buildings to sing and lift up our hands in worship, we may not actually be worshipping the Jesus of the Bible. Instead we may be worshipping ourselves.”
May God disrupt that “normal” and that “comfortable” and call us into discipleship. So it would be a good thing for us to be rescued from such a redefinition of Christianity. Yes, even though we cannot in this moment gather as the local church we are still called to be the church. The church disrupted.
I imagine to the first hearers of this message of Hebrews they would have been quite unsettled by it’s message as well. While we don’t know exactly their historical situation we can somewhat piece it together. And I think this last chapter gives us perhaps the most significant clues to what they were facing. I also think it’s here that I’d lean towards Hebrews being written before the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.
Let me give you a little bit of a picture of what I think has been happening for those who would have read this for the very first time. So while I think it was written before AD 70 I don’t think it was written too much before that time. I think there was a great deal of political unrest during this time. And Jerusalem would have been a hotbed of activity. Rome was flexing it’s muscle and there was quite a bit of Jewish revolve during this time. Jewish nationalism would have been running rampant.
We’ve got to stick together as a people during this crisis. And so what does that mean? It means that you need to up your dedication to the city of Jersualem. You need to be going to the temple and giving. You need to be sure to attend all the festivals. You need to follow the laws of Torah. All that it meant to be Jewish in the first century would have been heightened.
And so what do you do if you’re a Hebrew Christian? One who is a Jew nationally but religiously you’re following Christ now. What does that mean for you? For many it appears that they’d decided that they could have a foot in both worlds. They would keep up with the foods and festivals, they would keep going to the temple—some maybe even continuing to sacrifice. But something started happening. The more engaged they were with Jewish nationalism the less engaged they became with their brothers and sisters in Christ. In fact as we read in they had stopped meeting together, stopped visiting their fellow Christians.
They, it seems, were becoming more and more comfortable under the tent of Judaism. Best of both worlds, they likely thought. They didn’t have to endure Jewish persecution, they could maintain their nationalism, and they could be safe under the tent. Maybe even convinced that they would be protected by the temple in Jerusalem. They weren’t willing to go “outside the camp”.
And then they get this letter that we call Hebrews:
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That would have been very disruptive. What the author of Hebrews is essentially saying is this, “The gospel that was preached to you was the gospel of a Christ who went outside the gate in order to make you holy. If you remain in the tent of Judaism you aren’t able to partake of Christ. He is outside the gate. If you want Christ, you’d better follow him there.”
So here is what I want to do. I want to show you where I’m getting that from in this text. And then I want to make a few application points. Let’s try to understand the authors flow of thought here in this passage.
What’s happening in verses 7-8. He tells them to remember your leaders. Now that’s likely a reference to the leaders who have passed away. Maybe even first generation apostles who have now died. He’s saying remember the word they spoke to you, consider their outcome of life (that’s not only talking about holiness but it’s also pointing to their suffering)—he’s pointing to their gospel message and their gospel conduct. Eventually we’ll come to see that’s he’s pointing to their “outside the gate” way of living. But for now he is calling his audience to imitate the faith of these leaders.
This is why he mentions that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. He’s essentially saying the Jesus that you heard preached by them isn’t now all of a sudden a different Jesus. The Jesus that you encountered all those years ago—is the same Jesus. The one that disrupted your life when you were first saved is the same Jesus today. He is consistent. He doesn’t change. The gospel doesn’t change. The gospel message doesn’t change. Situational ethics aren’t okay. You don’t get to adapt and redefine Christianity to whatever season you live in. No the gospel is the same because our Savior is always the same. Yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn’t change.
And that’s a great comfort isn’t it. So much around us is changing. But the gospel doesn’t change. Jesus himself doesn’t change. Who he is. What he is working in your life. None of that is changing. But what’s the result of that theological truth? Look at verse 9.
Don’t be led away by diverse and strange teachings. Diverse is a word which could be used of Joseph’s coat of many colors. It’s a teaching which is likely flashy, has a good deal of truth in it, sounds kind of right, feels good, probably throws in a few Bible verses, etc. But it’s not pure. It’s not unmixed. It’s not gospel.
Doesn’t this fit with what they were doing? They were trying to mix their Jewish faith—temple sacrifices, festivities, food laws, all that stuff—they were trying to mix that with their Christianity. And it sounded good. It sounded good to say, “listen, man, this is the way that you get that Abrahamic blessing…you keep tied to Jerusalem. You keep that nationalism going. If you want to be blessed in Abraham () then you’d better be faithful to Jewish nationalism.” And that would have perhaps sounded really good to them.
But what’s the problem? What’s the message that one of the leaders that we are to “remember” had said about that very thing.
And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.
Galatians 3:
Your Abrahamic identity isn’t found in the temple. It isn’t found in the city. It isn’t found in Jewish nationalism. It’s found in Christ and in Christ alone!
He also calls this a strange teaching. Which means markedly different from the norm. In other words this doesn’t square up with the gospel that was preached. Whatever specifically this teaching was it didn’t square with the good news of Jesus. And we get a bit of a clue as to what that teaching is in the next few verses.
Now I’ll tell you that these next few verses are incredibly difficult. I’m going to try to simplify them as much as I can but there is quite a bit here that I’m going to have to leave out.
Verse 9. We receive spiritual strength by receiving grace not by receiving foods. “Not by foods which have not benefited them” is clearly talking about Jewish food laws and festivities. And that benefit is talking about lasting spiritual benefit. This is what he has been saying the whole time in Hebrews. Jesus is the perfecter of our faith. Jesus is the author and finisher. Jesus is the one who makes holy and pure. It can’t be the blood of bulls and goats. It can’t be laws. It can’t be a physical temple. It’s Jesus. Him alone.
And this is what he’s saying in verse 10. We have an altar…isn’t talking about the Lord’s Supper as much as it’s talking about the Cross. For which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
When he says that the heart is strengthened not by foods but by grace, he plainly means that a person experiences spiritual strength by the reception of grace, not the reception of certain foods
So in order to understand the next few verses you have to know about . So here is what would happen. Those who are “serving the tent” that’s going to be the priests…they would make their sacrifice but listen to .
And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. And he who burns them shall wash his clothes and bathe his body in water, and afterward he may come into the camp.
So in , that which is “outside the camp” is unholy. You don’t go there. You don’t touch that stuff. That’s what makes you unclean. That’s what keeps you from the community. You are safe inside the tent. You want to stay in that tent. That’s where you want to be. Going outside the camp is to bear reproach. To be cut off from your people. It’s the place where God isn’t. If you want to get back into camp then you have to “burn your clothes and bathe” you can’t have any of that stench of “out there” on you. If you touch unholy stuff—stuff outside the gate--then it contaminates you.
Those who are in the tent cannot eat of that which is outside.
But look at verse 12. Jesus suffered “outside the gate”. And he did it in order to make holy the people. It’s turned the whole system there on it’s head. The sacrifice of the Son of God was made outside the tent. The unholy became holy. When Jesus went outside the gate rather than him being defiled he actually sanctified—made holy—that which was outside the gate.
Look at verse 10. “who serve the tent have no right to eat.” What does he mean? He means that if you remain in the tent—you remain in Judaism—you try to have both worlds then you absolutely CANNOT partake of Jesus because he is outside the gate. According to the Judaism you cannot eat the sacrifice that’s outside the gate. I like how one commentator put it:
But it’s also saying something about the tent and those in the tent. Look at verse 10. “who serve the tent have no right to eat.” What does he mean? He means that if you remain in the tent—you remain in Judaism—you try to have both worlds then you absolutely CANNOT partake of Jesus because he is outside the gate. According to the Judaism you cannot eat the sacrifice that’s outside the gate. I like how one commentator put it:
Now, in the person of Jesus, God had again been rejected in the camp; his presence was therefore to be enjoyed outside the camp, where Jesus was, and everyone who sought him must go out and approach him through Jesus. In this context the “camp” stands for the established fellowship and ordinances of Judaism. To abandon them, with all their sacred associations inherited from remote antiquity, was a hard thing, but it was a necessary thing.… What was formerly sacred was now unhallowed, because Jesus had been expelled from it; what was formerly unhallowed was now sacred, because Jesus was there.
So what is the call then? See verse 13. Go outside the camp. Bear the reproach he endured. Do you see what that’s saying? Connected to what they had been saying and doing. They had abandoned those in prison, they had stopped meeting together, they had gotten comfortable and had said our Jewish nationalism is more important in this season than our identity in Christ. They weren’t bearing the reproach. They were trying to stay in the tent. And so he says, “If you want to partake of Christ then you CANNOT do it in the tent”.
Now, in the person of Jesus, God had again been rejected in the camp; his presence was therefore to be enjoyed outside the camp, where Jesus was, and everyone who sought him must go out and approach him through Jesus. In this context the “camp” stands for the established fellowship and ordinances of Judaism. To abandon them, with all their sacred associations inherited from remote antiquity, was a hard thing, but it was a necessary thing.… What was formerly sacred was now unhallowed, because Jesus had been expelled from it; what was formerly unhallowed was now sacred, because Jesus was there.3
Now notice verse 14. “For we have no lasting city...” Friends, that is talking about Jerusalem. The old Jerusalem that’s not the lasting one. That’s not the one that matters. It’s the new Jerusalem. That’s the lasting city. This is where your allegiance is found.
And so we don’t offer sacrifices in the temple. But instead it changes the way we live. We praise God. Our lips declare his greatness and His excellency. And so because we don’t have a lasting city we hold it with loose hands. We don’t neglect to do good or share what we have (even toilet paper) because we have a lasting city.
So this is the disruptive message. And friends, if we think this isn’t a hard message then we aren’t hearing it rightly. This is “if anyone wants to come after me he must deny himself and take up His cross.” This is . This is, sure you can follow me but you might not have a place to lay your head. As one commentator:
In calling his audience to ‘go outside the camp’, therefore, he is challenging them to forego both a people and a place, both Judaism and Jerusalem.11 Despite the difficulty of this for people of Jewish stock and the evident stigma (‘disgrace’, v. 13) which it will incur from their Jewish contemporaries, it is this to which Jesus calls them. In v. 13 it is as though Jesus were beckoning to the readers from Golgotha, inviting them not to be afraid to follow in his steps but rather to ‘take up their cross and follow him’ (cf. ).
And so what do we do with this? How do we apply this? I don’t know that many of those listening will be tempted to hang on to their Jewish heritage and abandon Christ. What does it mean for you to “leave the tent”?
And so what do we do with this? How do we apply this? I don’t know that many of those listening will be tempted to hang on to their Jewish heritage and abandon Christ. What does it mean for you to “leave the tent”?
To go outside the gate might mean to come to Christ for the first time
I want you to hear the good news in this passage. Do you know what’s “outside the gate” in Jerusalem? It’s a cursed place.
Do you know who the people were who lived outside the gate? If you could have gone to the great camp of Israel, you would have seen the tents all placed in order, the standard of Dan there, of Judah there, of Ephraim there,—surrounding the ark of the covenant; but you would have seen a few wretched huts far away in the rear, outside the camp; and if you had asked, “Who lives there? Who are the poor people that are put away from [friends] and [relatives], and who cannot go up to the sanctuary of the Lord, to present their offerings unto him, or to join in the songs of praise unto his holy name?”—the answer to your enquiry would have been, “The people out there are lepers and others who are unclean.” And if, in later days, you had walked through some of the shady glens around the city of Jerusalem, you might have heard in the distance the cry, “Unclean! unclean! unclean!”—a bitter wail that sounded like the sighing of despair, as if it came from some poor ghost that had been commanded to walk this earth with restless step for ever. Had you come nearer to the unhappy being, who had uttered so mournful a sound, you would have seen him cover his upper lip, and again cry, “Unclean! unclean! unclean!”—to warn you not to come too near him, lest even the wind should blow infection towards you from his leprous skin.
You don’t go outside the camp. That’s where those abandoned by God would reside. But Christ went outside the camp. He was crucified out there. He became sin who knew no sin.
Here is why this is good news. Our sin separates us from God. We are “outside the tent” there is nothing within us that would cause us to be in the presence of God. Nothing within us to have that rest, rule, and relationship that your heart longs for. We are as those lepers. But Jesus goes into that very spot…not to say “clean yourself up”…make yourself right and then you can come into the tent. No he made him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf so that in him we might be come the righteousness of God. While we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly.
And so what are you trusting in? Are you trusting in yourself? Your own righteousness. Being a basically good person. Having went to church. National identity. Family identity. Efforts. Beliefs. What are you trusting in? What is your tent?
You need to abandon that and go to Christ. Christ alone. The one crucified outside the gate. Leave the tent of your own righteousness. Bear the reproach. Whatever it means for you to follow Jesus. Take the world and give me Jesus.
Here we remember that the testimony of the New Testament is that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” The same Christ who wept at the tomb of Lazarus weeps with us in our lonely despair. The same one who reached out and touched lepers puts his arm around us today when we feel misunderstood and sidelined. The Jesus who reached out and cleansed messy sinners reaches into our souls and answers our half-hearted plea for mercy with the mighty invincible cleansing of one who cannot bear to do otherwise.
So come to Christ today. And if you are in Christ take comfort from these words…and may it also propel us into mission.
2. To leave the tent and go outside the gate might also mean for you to engage in loving mission. Give up comfort for the sake of need
What this doesn’t mean with COVID-19. I think I need to pause here for a moment and say, “here is what this doesn’t mean”. I think you could take this and say, “See in faith I’m going to be bold and I’m going to be risky and I’m going to go out there and keep shopping and keep living my life as normal. I believe. I’ve got faith. And so I’m not going to worry about this disease. I’m not going to adjust my normal in response to this.
Or you might say “We need to have a strong economy” and so we need to just proceed. Or we need baseball…let’s pack stadiums full of people. But that’s not at all what it means to go outside the camp. We move towards need and away from comfort. That’s the way of Jesus. Much of what we call a NEED is actually a comfort. Here is how you’d apply this point in a COVID-19 world. Someone truly needs food and I’m going to risk infection to get what they need. Or our terrific doctors and nurses risking their own safety to treat others. That’s what it means to give up comfort for the sake of need. It’s not to engage in risk for the sake of preserving our comforts.
But let’s hear what is being said here. They had stopped visiting fellow believers in prison, stopped meeting together, stopped accepting the plundering of their property. The stopped engaging in bold mission. Stopped engaging neighbor and they put their own security, their own comfort, their own well-being at a premium. But that is most certainly not the way of the gospel. That is not the way of Christ.
I think John Piper sums up this passage well:
So the point of is confirmed again and again: Christ did not die to make the cities of this age — or the suburbs — a paradise. He died so that we would be willing to stop trying to make our lives paradise on earth — both in the city and in the suburbs, and instead go with Jesus outside the camp of comfort and familiarity and security to where the needs are and where he also says, today (the day you die) you will be with me in paradise (). We move toward need, not comfort, because we look for a city that is to come. Radical confidence in a glorious future with God is what Christ died to produce. And when it takes hold of you, you will be sanctified (verse 12) and go with Jesus toward need, not comfort.
3. To go outside the gate might mean you renounce the world to pursue holiness
Another way in which this has been applied throughout the years is to say that you need to move outside the tent of worldliness or comfort. Addiction. Sin. Etc. And pursue holiness. That might be what Christ is calling you to do. Leave some of those comforts.
To go outside the gate might mean you give up comfort for the sake of need
Holiness can be uncomfortable. It can be disruptive. It can feel as if it’s taking away our very being. And it kind of is. It’s calling us to forsake the tent of our comfort and to embrace life with Jesus outside the camp. So come out today and be free.
To go outside the gate might mean you renounce the world to pursue holiness
I picked up a new book recently called Gentle and Lowly by Dane Orlund. It’s a phenomenal treatment of the heart of Christ. I think these sentences are especially fitting for us today:
May we be disrupted for the glory of God. May we follow Him in this season. Go to him…outside the gate. Bearing reproach. We weren’t called to comfort, friends. We were called to follow in the foot steps of Jesus. Golgotha.
I picked up a new book recently called Gentle and Lowly by Dane Orlund. It’s a phenomenal treatment of the heart of Christ. I think these sentences are especially fitting for us today:
Here we remember that the testimony of the New Testament is that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” The same Christ who wept at the tomb of Lazarus weeps with us in our lonely despair. The same one who reached out and touched lepers puts his arm around us today when we feel misunderstood and sidelined. The Jesus who reached out and cleansed messy sinners reaches into our souls and answers our half-hearted plea for mercy with the mighty invincible cleansing of one who cannot bear to do otherwise.
So come to Christ today. And if you are in Christ take comfort from these words…and may it also propel us into mission. May we be disrupted for the glory of God. May we follow Him in this season. Go to him…outside the gate. Bearing reproach. We weren’t called to comfort, friends. We were called to follow in the foot steps of Jesus all the way to Golgotha.
Identifying yourself with the
And so if you are a Chri
