No Lasting City
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Starting at the End
Starting at the End
I’ve said many times that the Christian life is the process of becoming who we already are in Jesus Christ. That is to say, when you were baptized, you were baptized into Christ, and in Christ, you already are everything that you ever will be. The Christian life then begins at the end. When you were baptized, you were baptized into Christ, and you will spend the rest of your life becoming who you already.
And since the Christian life begins at the end, I want to do the same with our reading from Hebrews this morning. There’s a reason for this. The lectionary cuts off our reading of Hebrews at verse eight, and it’s
obviously a great verse to stop at.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
The author of Hebrews has spent thirteen chapters telling us how Jesus Christ and the new covenant in his blood are greater than everything that came before them. He does this to inspire faith, as we’ve talked about for the past few weeks. He is trying to help us set our eyes upon Jesus as we run the race that is set before us. And now he reminds us that the one in whom we trust, the one to whom we look, he doesn’t change. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so you can trust him. You can believe him. You can set your eyes upon him and run your race and know that he will never change and that he will never waver. He will always be exactly who he is.
That’s a great truth on which to end a brief tour through the epistle to the Hebrews, but unfortunately the author of Hebrews has a bit more to say. He makes mention of the bodies of the sacrificial animals being buried outside the gates, and then he says:
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
This chapter begins, as we heard, with teaching on ethics. “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect showing hospitality to strangers. Remember those who are in prison. Let marriage be held in honor among all. Keep your life free from love of money.” This list in verses 1-5 reminds me of how counter instinctual the Gospel is.
The Worldly Trio
The Worldly Trio
As N. T. Wright puts it, this opening section of Hebrews 13 is about money, sex, and power, the basic building blocks of all human society. You’ll find talk of money, sex, and power in basically everything, and yet the way the Christian relates to that trio is counter instinctual. We should be out in the world living in a way different than the world, and as Tim Keller states in the excellent book that we’re reading for adult catechesis, maybe one of the reasons that the American church hasn’t suffered, hasn’t born the reproach that Jesus bore, is because we have failed to live in a way consistent with Christianity. We have failed to relate to money, power, and sex in the ways that Jesus demands of his people. If we did, we would, like him, suffer outside the gate, and bear the reproach he endured.
And I want you to note that it’s in contrast to money, sex, and power that the author says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” They are fleeting. They are transient. They are not worth basing your life upon. But Jesus is. He never changes. He never wavers. He doesn’t go crash like the stock markets. He is the mediator of a new and better and eternal covenant sealed in his blood own blood. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, so you can put your faith in him.
In fact, just before this, the author writes:
So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
This is Psalm 118:6. The author isn’t finding a random Psalm to make his point. This Psalm begins with its major theme:
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
And that latter refrain repeats itself for four verses: “His steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever. His steadfast love endures forever.”
And then he proclaims
Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.
The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?
This is a quotes repeatedly in all four Gospels. Does this sound familiar?
The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.
This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day that the Lord has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
Or how about this?
Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! We bless you from the house of the Lord.
And at the end, the Psalm repeats the refrain:
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!
Forever. Why forever? Because…
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
When Jesus quoted this Psalm, he knew what it meant. By the time the author of Hebrews quotes this Psalm, the church knew what it meant too. It wasn’t a promise of deliverance from suffering. How could it be, since Jesus suffered so greatly? It was a promise that no matter what happens in this life, no matter what the world may to do us or throw at us, we are safe in the loving hands of Jesus Christ. Jesus no only has an answer for all that is wrong with this world, he even has an answer for death.
So he could live the way he calls us to live. He could model for us the type of people he calls us to be, knowing full well where it would lead him. Because he believed in a God who steadfast love endures forever. He believed that God’s love for him and God’s faithfulness to his Word was so sure and so permanent that he could go outside the gate and give his life as an offering for the good of other people because God has power even over death.
So yes, money, sex, and power are the building blocks of our culture, but they are not the same yesterday, today, and forever. Only Jesus is.
For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
And so here, we have no lasting city. I want you please to go home and think about that sentence. Here we have no lasting city because the cities here are built on instincts that are contrary to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and to pretend that they aren’t is to flirt with idolatry. We have no lasting city here. Money, sex, power, they are all fleeting, so don’t waste your life pursuing them. Instead look to the one who is the same, yesterday, today, and forever, and seek the city that is to come, for here, we have no lasting city.