Benefits Entail Responsibilities!

Don't Stop Now!

A study of the NT book of Hebrews

by Pastor Frank Rice

Hebrews 10:19-25

Most of us enjoy benefits! That’s typically an area of interest when a person is thinking about employment, membership, attending a seminar, being involved in a project or any kind of potential commitment. In fact, it seems like most folks are much more concerned with the benefits than they are with responsibilities. Rather than recognize and take responsibility, we ask, “What’s in it for me?” The author reviews the comprehensive benefits of Christ’s priesthood and then informs his readers of their consequent responsibilities!

 

v     Every belief system results in characteristic behavior!

1.      That’s what the “therefore” is there for. Those professing to believe the truths of the last few chapters must evidence it in their lives. The kind of behavioral change is mentioned later.

2.      The goal is not merely behavior modification. Expecting unbelievers to live like Christians is to deny the necessity of the new birth and the supernaturalness of the Christian life.

 

v     Expected behavioral changes are based on two realities.

1.      We can be fully confident that we have uninterrupted access to God (vv. 19-20). Because of Christ’s sacrifice, we can confidently “enter into the presence of God.”

2.      Christ’s sacrifice has initiated (authorized) a new (previously undisclosed and inaccessible) and living (life-giving) way.

3.      “The most fundamental privilege that God’s people now have is ‘authorization for entrance into the Most Holy Place by means of the blood of Jesus.’” (Cockerill)

4.      “As the old covenant priest had to pass through the veil, the new covenant people of God enter His presence via the sacrificial death of Christ.” (Guthrie)

5.      We are assured that we have (present tense) a High Priest over us who represents us before God (v. 21).

6.      “On the basis of Christ’s sacrifice, the writer exhorts his readers to make the utmost use of the blessing that has been won for them.” (Archer) To ignore a costly gift is to disrespect and dishonor the Giver.

 

v     We are called to personal and corporate devotion (v. 22).

1.      Keep in mind that some responsibilities can be enjoyable when approached with the appropriate attitude!

2.      We’re encouraged to draw near with a sincere heart. It is impossible to draw near to God without drawing near to each other! It calls for sincere and undistracted attention.

3.      We’re encouraged to draw near in full assurance of faith which results from honesty, vulnerability, and sincerity.

4.      We’re encouraged to draw near with cleansed hearts and consciences having experienced cleansing (Ezek 36:25-27).

5.      We’re to draw near with pure, clean lives! OT symbolism and context dictate a spiritual, not a physical application. “The pastor is talking about an inner transformation of the ‘heart’ expressed in the changed conduct of the ‘body.’” (Cockerill)

6.      Keep in mind that these “truths must not remain as abstractions, but must issue in appropriate conduct. These exhortations to Christian practice are not mere moralizing, or admonitions to follow some new external code. They are the believer’s logical and appropriate response to the benefits secured for him by his Lord and priest, Jesus Christ.” (Kent)

 

v     We are called to personal and corporate perseverance (v. 23).

1.      We’re not told to hold fast to our salvation. We’re kept by the power of God, not by self-will or any human endeavor!

2.      We’re to hold fast to our confession, the content of what we believe. “Hope anticipates that God will fulfill His promises as He said. Do not through discouragement, trials, disappointments, and hardships lose hope! There is good reason to ‘hang in there’ during the difficult times, for ‘He who promised is faithful.’”

 

v     We are called to personal and corporate care and concern (vv. 24-25). (The repeated phrase “let us” must be noted!)

1.      We’re to “consider,” think hard, put our minds to, meditate, and plan. It is easy to drift into a “self-centered” Christianity.

2.      We’re to conscientiously think of how to motivate each other to love one another and demonstrate it by our actions.

3.      “How believers interact with one another is an indication of the genuineness of their faith.” Theology must be lived out in community! A failure to live it out calls it into question.

4.      We motivate by example and encouragement. Show people what is expected of them. Pray for them. Tell them how you are praying for them. Be kind, yet straightforward.

5.      We’re expected to gather together regularly. It is difficult to imagine doing the above in isolation! We gather for instruction, fellowship, mutual encouragement, and service.

6.      “Whatever the cause, then or now, such abandoning of God’s people has tragic results.” (Cockerill)

7.      “He who is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.” (Ben Franklin)

8.      “The failure of some to continue attending the gatherings of the community is cast not simply as neglect but as wrongful abandonment.” (O’Brien)

9.      And this is to be done in the context of eschatology! As we see a world in chaos and confusion and the day (of judgment) approaching, we need to lean hard on one another!

 

“One of the first indications of a lack of love toward God and neighbor is for a Christian to stay away from the worship services. He forsakes the communal obligations of attending these meetings and displays the symptoms of selfishness and self-centeredness.” (Kistemaker)