The Sound Of The Shofar (Part 3)

 Warnings to us from the first century A.D. 

The human authorship of The Book of Hebrews is much debated, the author of Hebrews was clearly a Hellenistic Jew. Many scholars today agree that Paul did not write Hebrews. The date of authorship is likely sometime around A.D. 65, shortly before the Second Temple was destroyed in Jerusalem. This destruction of the "City of David" and the Temple would end an exceptionally long period of the home of Judaism, one of the oldest cities in the world. Jerusalem was settled in the 4th millennium B.C. 

 It's clear from the text that both Jewish and Hellenistic influences shaped the author and his book. The author's strong Jewish heritage is evident in his knowledge of the Old Testament. In fact, he quoted the Old Testament at least 31 times in his 13 chapters. 

The book (more a series of letters) was written to people who were sinning, no-so-much in the obvious sense, such as lying, stealing, adultery, or murder, but rather falling short of the glory of God, what we moderns might call "backsliding". The term that I use when I encounter this sort of attitudinal behaviour is "cultural Christianity" I often see this when I take a funeral. Most people of my generation "know" the Lord's Prayer, the 23rd Psalm, and can sing Amazing Grace, but few actually believe what they are saying or singing. Simply because of lag in our culture, those of us born after WW2  still have vestiges of Christianity in our background, a hangover from the days when church attendance/membership was common. Very few born in the new millennium have anything in the way of  a Christian world-view.

Our scattered and splintered modern church very much mirrors the church of these early believers. Modern Christians no longer all believe the same things, speak the same "spiritual language" and we have very much turned aside from the faith espoused by the Apostles, endorsed by our spiritual "ancestors", and more importantly, accepted as the basic tenets of Christianity. 

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. Hebrews 1:1-4 NKJV

Unusually, there is no introductory greeting in the first epistle,  the writer "jumps right in" by reminding the reader that Jesus Christ is the foundation of all things, God's ultimate agent of salvation and redemption. It's a real "listen up people, Jesus is the real deal" opening, He's higher and better than the angels. Jesus has, by His birth, initiated the Last Days, the superseding of the old ways, the birth of the Church age, and started the final countdown. Time is running out, and you had better "get right" with God, was the "on point" message. As it was for these first century believers, so it is for us!

 Therefore, we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.   For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will? Hebrews 2:1-4 NKJV

This is a very clear warning not to neglect the message, not to neglect the Messenger. There is no greater Messenger, and there is no greater message than His Gospel. 

The Greek word for neglect is ameleo pronounced am-el-eh'-o, and it means to disregard, to fail to care for. It means to be remiss, to overlook, to ignore, to be inattentive to, and let slide by. The word indicates disrespect. Furthermore, it indicates indifference, laziness and short-sightedness, forgetfulness.

We take care of things that matter to us. Why? Because we value them highly,  whether it is our marriage, our job, our car, our home, our clothing, or status in the community. We will spend our time and effort on these things. It will just happen naturally. We will give our time and energy and all of our self to those things that we value highly.

Right off the bat, the writer of Hebrews is saying to his readers... 'I can tell by the way that you are acting that you are neglecting your salvation, and Christ's message. He urges them to give the more earnest heed to the things that they had heard. He entreats them to, as we would say today..."Get their act together"

As it is written: "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, Who bring glad tidings of good things!" But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Romans 10:15-17 NKJV

Just hearing the word is not going to produce faith, but the sound received—the understanding—if the words are thought upon, and conclusions are rightly drawn. These verses in Romans clearly show us that "the faith" in Christ, and of Christ, arises in us from hearing [from understanding] the word of God.

 The first century believers that the author of Hebrews is writing to had greatly undervalued the gospel of Jesus Christ. He was asking them, "How can one have faith in something he has little understanding of, or pays little attention to?"

Likewise, we moderns have largely lost sight of the world changing message of the Gospels. How else can one explain the ragtag group of heavily armed lost souls invading the halls of Congress in Washington DC, replete with symbols of paganism, threatening violence to elected officials, all-the-while claiming to do so in the name of Jesus Christ? 

 

That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive: but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ. Ephesians 4:14-15  NKJV