Home Coming, Home Going
Home Coming • Sermon • Submitted
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Welcome home. There is no feeling in the world like coming home.
everyone knows you
You feel accepted, loved, and cherished
You feel protected
These are your people
Home feels safe. Comfortable.
It is the place that each of us belongs
It feels good to come home… but coming home implies something...
It points us to an ultimate truth, an ultimate home that one day, we will arrive at.
It also reminds us of some other things that must be true about us between now and then.
Open to Hebrews 13
As we open to Hebrews 13, let me say that the book of Hebrews is kind of an enigma...
We don’t know who wrote it
We know it was written to the early church, but where? To whom?
But whoever he is, and whoever he is writing to, through him God has given us an incredible gift in this letter
It helps us to understand Jesus as our great high priest
It ties together the sacrificial system of the Old Testament with the atoning work of Christ to bring about the forgiveness of our sins
It demands of us that our Christianity be authentic.
We cannot merely say that we believe in Jesus as though these magic words could bring us salvation.
We must stake our very lives on this truth
And in chapter 13 of this letter, the writer starts off by encouraging to make every part of our lives about Jesus.
There is no chapter, no segment, no relationship, no part of your life that can be lived apart from your faith in Jesus Christ.
Your relationships, your finances, your character, in all of these things we are to imitate Christ.
And it’s here that we pick up in our text this morning. We are going to be reading from Hebrews 13, starting in verse 10. And I invite all who are able to stand with me in honor of the reading of God’s Word:
We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
PRAY-........Be seated
As we continue together this morning, we need to unravel what in the world these verses are talking about
We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
I have told you many times that you will never understand the New Testament until you understand the Old.
85% of the New Testament is quotation or allusion to the Old Testament, and this passage is a great example
The writer says that there is an altar, and that this altar is special, but why?
It is special because those who serve can’t eat from it
The Levites, the priests of God in Israel, received much of the food from sacrifices
There were many types of sacrificial offerings, and most of them could be eaten by someone
But an offering for sin had to be burned up outside of the camp. Blood from the animal was taken taken to the altar, but the sacrifice had to be burned outside of the camp.
Blood was spilled so that sins could be forgiven
The sacrifice had to be destroyed completely
That which had been offered to God had to be taken out of the camp
Why is this important for us, this morning, at home coming? Because, friends, to put it simply, the tent was home
The Camp is where God’s people were
The camp is where God’s presence dwelt
Now, look at what verse 12 says about Jesus
Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
If you’ve got your listening guide this morning, there are a few things I want you to write down, and the first one is this:
Jesus left His home so that I could enter it
Jesus left His home so that I could enter it
This was true of His heavenly home from the moment of His conception
This was true of His earthly home on the day that He was crucified
When we choose to follow Jesus, we enter into His family here on earth—> The Church
When we choose to follow Jesus, we enter into His heavenly family—> The Kingdom of God
When He comes again, those that serve Him will enter into His heavenly Kingdom
We can only have these blessings because Jesus let go of His!
This grace that Jesus gives you, this sacrifice that He made, He made freely, and it comes to you freely.
But to truly follow Jesus, will cost you everything.
Look at verse 13:
So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
What is this verse saying? If Jesus left the camp,
if He was ostracized so that I could be included
if He became sin so that I could be free from it
if He left His home so that I could enter it, why is verse 13 calling on us to leave the camp?
let’s look at a few verses really quickly together
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me.
Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.
Don’t miss this, friends. The second thing I would have you to write down this morning is this:
Coming home to God’s heavenly Kingdom means forsaking my earthly one
Coming home to God’s heavenly Kingdom means forsaking my earthly one
Friends, following Jesus means going where He went and doing what He did.
It means, not just knowing His teachings, but living them out
It means knowing Him better each day (obedience, prayer, Bible Study)
It means making Him known
Sharing everywhere with everyone
going to where it is uncomfortable
being willing to suffer that others might hear
being outside of the camp for the sake of the Gospel
It means that your life is not your own-if you are in Christ, the life in you is Christ!
One thing that I love about the Idea of homecoming is that it implies that we don’t stay at home!
We have been talking about the exciting things that God has in front of this church as we move toward growing this church and starting new ones, both here and in our newly forming partnership in Idaho
We will have to step out of what is comfortable to follow Jesus in these things
giving generously
going regularly
praying continuously
You can’t follow Jesus where He leads you if you never leave where you are!
Look at verse 14
For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.
Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.
And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
At a homecoming celebration, we like to have all of the things that we love to enjoy
We like to have the music that we enjoy
We like to eat the foods that we like
We clean the building and make things look the way that we like them to
We like days like today that are really about being with the people that we love and remembering the good times we’ve enjoyed together
But days like today truly should point us to something greater, which is our last point this morning, that
Everything I can sacrifice is fading, but my treasure in Christ is eternal
Everything I can sacrifice is fading, but my treasure in Christ is eternal
As great as it feels today to be gathered together with friends and family, a greater day of celebration is coming
Israel lived in a camp, that reminded them constantly of the temporary state of this life
This place, truly is our camp!
It is tempting to us to stay inside the camp, but we must not allow ourselves to get focused on our earthly kingdom because it won’t last!
No such thing as a hearse with a U-Haul
“Lumberjack” song story “that’s all the lumber you sent”
We must get outside of these walls to live lives of sacrifice now, with eternity as our focus:
Giving to God in joy of our time, our talent, and our treasure
Praising God for the opportunity to be those that suffer for His Name
Doing good and sharing good news, knowing that the reward is greater than the sacrifice, but now reward comes without sacrifice
CLOSING: Today, you have come home to be refreshed and renewed; And yet, the challenge before you as we close this morning is not to stay in the camp.
We serve a God who gave everything for us
We serve a Father who has blessed us with everything
As His children, we are called to give all that we have been given so that others may know Him,
If what fades is so wonderful, imagine the eternal
We have a greater home going before us than the home coming we are in. The only question is, are you willing to step outside the Camp?
Today, the altar is open to those who are ready to follow Jesus to that place of sacrifice.
Those who have ears, let them hear.
PRAY