Hebrews 12:12-29 - A Spoonful of Sugar...

How to eat a grapefruit

How do you eat grapefruit?

It’s not just sour, but it’s bitter. One of the most common ways to deal with bitterness is to add sweetness. Hence the Mary Poppins song: a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down. And it really does. I can’t be the only person who pretended to be ill as a child just to get Calpol. It’s not so nice now they took the sugar out!

The problem with adding a spoonful of sugar is that it doesn’t actually deal with the bitterness. It just masks it. And with medicine, that’s a good thing. The sweetness masks it long enough that we can swallow it, and then it gets to work inside us.

It’s the same with bitterness in our emotional lives. Many of us try to mask it with sweetness. We swallow how we feel. We try to hide it behind smiles and sayings. But it is still there, just covered over. Bitterness and unforgiveness are dangerous medicine in any domain of life, and over the years I’ve seen how this can be true in church.

People fall out. People leave. That hurts. It hurts a lot. Many a time I’ve had to face my own bitterness, and many a time I’ve sat with people who are full of bitterness towards others. Here there’s a really strong exhortation:

Hebrews 12:14–15 NIV

14 Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one falls short of the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.

That ‘make every effort’ is the same verb that is used for persecute. Persecute peace. Hunt it down unceasingly. Don’t rest until you find it. Don’t let it escape you. Persecute peace. Make every effort.

I believe the writer is specifically talking about the church here, rather than talking in general terms.

But what if you make every effort towards peace, and it’s not reciprocated. What if you are mistreated? I don’t think that the New Testament teaches us that we have to stay in dodgy churches no matter what. We see really clearly in the letters that we shouldn’t be sticking around for false teaching, and nor should we be approving and agreeing when Christians openly live lives of rebellion against God. But what do we do if it’s not time to leave, but we’re bitter?

The analogy here is of a bitter root. A root is something that grows underground - biology 101. I have a mint plant on my balcony. It is the most living thing I have ever beheld. It cannot die. Whatever we throw at it - chronic neglect, storms, pests, cutting it all away, still it grows back. The only way to get rid of my mint plant would be to uproot it, and even then I’d have to make sure I got every single section of root, or it would sprout again.

Bitterness cannot be covered with sweetness. It masks it, but it doesn’t deal with it. A bitter root must be dug up.

So far so good, but now we need to get practical. How do we do that? How do we uproot bitterness? I want to offer 3 suggestions for how to get started:

Involve God.

Another way to word that, perhaps more familiar, is Confession and Prayer. If you think God can’t take the depths of bitterness that you feel, I invite you to read the psalms - Psalm 73, Psalm 109, and if you really want proof that we don’t have to hide our worst desires from God, I give you Psalm 137:9

Psalm 137:9 NIV

9 Happy is the one who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks.

That’s the cry of the exiles over the destruction of Jerusalem. It’s not a pretty Psalm. It’s probably not something you’d put on a fridge magnet. And for the record, I don’t believe it represents God’s own heart towards the babies of Babylon. God does not rejoice in the death of the wicked.

Ezekiel 33:11 NIV

11 Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, people of Israel?’

One of the ways that our ancient brothers and sisters took their pain to God was to fast. The people of God have always fasted through difficult times. Fasting is a way of connecting with our dependence on God, of connecting our physical reality with our spiritual reality. There are a few things to be mindful of - if you have ever had any disordered relationship with food or body image then I would suggest being accountable with someone if you want to consider fasting. If you contact the church office we can send you a helpful little guide to fasting that Tony wrote. But in general, for many people, fasting is an appropriate way to come to God in our weakness and to ask for His help.

Whenever I need to confess something like this to God, I need to remember that He already knows. My heart is not a surprise to Him.

Mark 2:17 NIV

17 On hearing this, Jesus said to them, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.”

It makes Him glad when I go to him with my troubles. Even when I go to Him with my bitterness. As Luke reminded us last week, he is not taskmaster, but perfect parent. Some of us don’t have a good template for that perfect parent. I have my own complicated story. and I know many of you do. Jesus says that if we really want to know what the Father is like, we can look at Him. We can know the Father as we know Him.

Matthew 11:29 NIV

29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

That’s what God is like. So let’s take our bitterness to Him in prayer, confession and fasting.

2. Involve others

This one needs more care. There is nothing you can’t say to God. Sharing our bitterness with others requires discernment. We need to choose a listener who will not take sides, and who will not gossip. We may need to filter what we say. If I want to get someone else’s perspective on a situation that has caused me grief, it might be more helpful to focus that conversation on my response, rather than on the terrible thing that that person did. Before we draw someone in, can we question our motive?

In all these things, we can have mixed motives. Maturity requires being honest with ourselves about what our motives are, and choosing wise people. If you aren’t sure who to turn to, as a starting point I would be really happy to recommend talking with any of our Life Group leaders here at church. There are plenty of other people around who would give wise advice and wouldn’t gossip, but if you’re new here and don’t yet know people, the Life Group leaders are easily recognisable.

So in uprooting bitterness, step 1 is Involve God, and step 2 is Involve others.

3. Repeat

Step 3 is to go round and round Steps 1 and 2. Sorry. I imagine you were hoping for some Spiritual Secret. But forgiveness is the way we uproot bitterness, and forgiveness is an iterative process. Sometimes we work on it, together with God, for many years. Sometimes we have supernatural help, and the forgiveness is instantaneous. Sometimes, and this is often my experience, we realise that the problem is not the other person but actually ourselves, and the forgiveness that is needed is actually asking, and receiving, God’s forgiveness for our offendable heart. Other times we truly have been wronged, and we need God’s help to forgive.

If you’re struggling with bitterness, you probably don’t need me to tell you that it affects others around you. One rotten apple can spoil a whole barrel. Bitterness between brothers and sisters can be infectious. There is hope. God’s heart is to work with you and in you to uproot it.

But what if you have truly been deeply wronged? There are people who have been deeply wronged by, or in the church. When Jesus was on the cross, the ultimate innocent victim of abuse, he didn’t say “forgive them Father, it’s only what I deserve”. If it was ok what was happening, if it was simply what He deserved, there would be nothing to forgive. One of the most offensive Christian doctrines is enemy love. That means forgiveness even for those who have deeply wronged us.

However it does not mean that those people should continue in positions where they can harm the flock. That’s why we have a Safeguarding policy in place as a church, and we review it every year with outside input. That’s why we have structures in place in case one of the elders or staff team are accused of abuse, spiritual or otherwise. Church should be the safest place on this earth, and when it is not, that is scandalous. If you have been affected by something like that then please don’t keep pouring sugar down your throat. Come to the Good Shepherd, and let Him work with you to uproot the bitterness, to draw you to forgiveness, and perhaps also to take action.

So, let’s not put sugar on the grapefruit. Let’s uproot bitterness.

But before we move on, I just want to say a word to leaders. How are we seeing to it that no bitter root grows up? How are we treating others in the church? We’ve focused a lot this morning on dealing with bitterness in our own hearts, but I think we could equally take this verse as an injunction not to be the cause of bitterness for anyone. Persecute peace. Leaders should be Jesus people. If you’ve been hurt by a leader, especially by me, I can only ask for your forgiveness. If you’re a leader, the most important part of this sermon might be to ask the Holy Spirit to show you where you are in danger of embittering others.

So that was 2 verses out of 18. There is still so much more to say, and I haven’t even got to my favourite part! But we have chairs to sanitise and the kids team have their limits, so I am going to trust that you can do some of the work yourselves at home, and finish by looking at the two mountains. I’m going to get you to work out for yourselves, in verse 12, what the therefore is there for. I’m going to get you to read up on Esau! Despite the claims that Christian preachers are obsessed with sexual immorality, I’m literally going to have to miss out verse 16 but that doesn’t mean it’s not important!

Which mountain?

In Seattle, you can see Mount Rainier from everywhere in the city. Space Needle - there’s Rainier. SeaTAC airport - there’s Rainier. It looms out on the horizon, a reminder that even in a metropolis built by human hands, God builds greater things.

Mount Sinai loomed like that mountain for the children of Israel. It was the place where God gave the covenant to Moses.

It was a terrifying, awesome place. I feel like I need to get James up here for a drumroll as I read this next section...

Hebrews 12:18–21 NIV

18 You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; 19 to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, 20 because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.” 21 The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.”

You can read all about what that refers to in Exodus 19. The giving of the law. Moses went up the mountain, while everyone else waited at the bottom, unable to even touch it. If you’re a new Christian, I imagine that going through the book of Hebrews has been challenging for you because it refers back to so many stories that you might not know. This week we’ll send out some links to some videos you might find helpful to at least know the main stories while you catch up!

But back to the two mountains and, what a contrast the writer draws! This is where we’d have a soaring melody take over from the dooming drum beat:

Hebrews 12:22–24 NIV

22 But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

There is such a contrast here. And fundamentally, the difference is that all are invited. You, me, we are invited to draw near to God. Because of Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant. The blood of Abel was the blood of an innocent man, killed by a jealous brother. Sad, but it ended there. The blood of Jesus was also the blood of an innocent man, but because He died, we can live. Because of that new covenant, we can draw near to God, boldly approach the throne of Grace, and be part of a joyful assembly.

And the two mountains are connected to all the rest of it. If you’re consumed with bitterness, or if you’ve been the cause of bitterness for others, you need to know that you are invited to come to God, through Jesus.

So as the band come up to lead us again, the conclusion is this,

Hebrews 12:28–29 NIV

28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, 29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

Let’s worship God, free to expose the depths of our heart to Him:

Hebrews 4:16 NIV

16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.