Last week, this blog was on the value of family in Christian faith and life. Families are important to God and important to wise living. It is in our families that we learn and relearn the most basic skill of wise living—loving other people unconditionally. Family is essential for raising children, passing on values to another generation, and  passing faith from generation to generation. We ended last week with a warning: As important as families are, families are only a part of God’s plan. Our human families merge into God’s family, the church. Our human families fully become what God desires them to be as they become part of God’s family. 

This week at staff meeting, we talked about the church in America and the challenges we face. Tuesday afternoon, four different people sent me an article containing the results of a recent Pew Institute Poll showing that the number of people who claim to be Christians fell seven percent in only seven years, the largest decline in American history. [1] The Los Angeles Times, the BBC, the New York Times, and other major media outlets picked up the study. For a long time, religious scholars have seen a decline in church attendance. It is not surprising that after a long period of decline in attendance, we now see the results in the number of people who claim to be Christians. The Pew researched showed that the number of Americans claiming to be Christian has fallen precipitously in the past few years.

The word “Church” comes from a Greek word meaning “those who are called out”. [2] The Bible teaches that God calls people into his kingdom of wisdom and love. There is an old gospel hymn called “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling.” This hymn captures the truth that God calls us in Christ out of the World into his Church. Once Christians are called out, we are called to assemble with other believers as a church. Therefore, the word “ekklesia,” is also a word that translates the Hebrew word for “Assembly,” as when the people of Israel assembled as a nation in the Old Testament. [3] We were called to live together as the church.

Don’t Stop Being Community

This blog’s text comes from Hebrews. Hebrews was written, as the title indicates, to a group of Jewish Christians, perhaps in Rome. [4] The King James Version assumes Paul wrote the letter; however, not very many people actually think Paul wrote it, though he might have. The best candidate is a man named “Apollos” who appears in several of Paul’s letters. Apollos was a master of Greek Rhetoric and scholar of the Old Testament, and seems a likely candidate. Hebrews is written in the best New Testament Greek by someone who knew the Old Testament backwards and forwards. This indicates Paul, Apollos, or someone very similar in background wrote the book. Here is my text for this blog as it comes from the Book of Hebrews:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:19-25).

Prayer: Eternal God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: you live eternally in a fellowship of love and desire for us to live in your church as your called out people proclaiming your love to the world. Help us to value your church and to value the relationships we have here with you and others.

 Christ: The Center of Hebrews

As I mentioned above, Hebrews is one of the most elegant books in the New Testament. Whoever wrote it was a committed Christian, familiar with the Old Testament, a brilliant scholar, and a writer of great skill.  The book is organized like a sermon. As is often the case in sermons, Hebrews  alternates theological arguments and practical implications. [5] In this blog, we are talking about the practical implications. However, it helps to know what the author has said earlier about Christ.

Hebrews begins with the following statement of the importance of Christ:

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs (Hebrews 1:1-4).

Here we have a clear statement of the supremacy of Christ. Christ is superior to the prophets (1:1-2).Christ is the means through which God created the universe (1:2).Christ sustains all things by the power of God (1:2). Christ reveals exactly who God is and what God is like. Christ is superior to angels (1:6-14). Christ is superior to Moses (3:1-4). Christ is the great High Priest (54:14-5:6). Christ is the perfect sacrifice for our sins (9:11-28). Christ is the way in which we can have new relationship with God, a perfect relationship with God by his new and living way (10:20). This is the main point the author of Hebrews wants to make: Christ is the center of Hebrews and the center of our faith.

Because of Christ: Our Relationship with God

We began our text with the word, “Therefore.” When an author begins a sentence with “Therefore,” he or she means to let us know that because of everything that has come before there are certain conclusions to be drawn. The author of Hebrews is no exception. Because of who Christ is and what Christ has done, Christians need to be different and live differently than other people. You see, there are implications to Christian faith. Here are a few mentioned in our text:

First of all, because of who Christ is and what Christ has done, we should draw near to God (v.22). In Jesus, it is revealed that God is not an angry judge. God is not out to get us because we are sinners. Christ reveals that God is love and loves us. We have nothing to fear. I have a friend who is a bit gruff. Most of the time people are just a little afraid of him. However, once you get to know him, you find out he is as loving and gentle as can be. God is like my friend. If you only casually know him, he can be scary. But if you really know who God is in Christ, you know he is safe.

Second, we should not be afraid. God is love. God desires to save us. God has paid the full price for our sins. Therefore, we should have faith and have full assurance that God loves us and we are free from our sins and from the guilty conscience we sometimes have from our sins. This is, I think, one of the most important things about faith: We don’t have to carry around our guilt concerning the past. We are cleansed of that guilt and shame from the past (v. 22). Many people live burdened by guilt and shame from the past. It is not necessary. God has provide a way of healing in Christ.

Finally, we should never lose hope. Because Christ is the exact representation of God, revealing God’s perfect self-giving love, we need not fear. I got a note the other day from one of our members. In the note he said, “Don’t worry. We’ve got your back.” God has our back. The just, loving, wise and all-powerful God of the heavens and the earth has our back. We have nothing to fear. Whatever may happen to us on this earth, we can be sure that the God of Hope, who raised Jesus from the dead, loves us and intends to respond to his faithfulness.

Hope is not a feeling or a kind of unrealistic optimism. John Polkinghorne notes that faith creates a kind of hope that is not a feeling, not mere optimism, but an acceptance of the world and its possibilities and impossibilities joined with confidence in the fundamental goodness of God. [6] Later he puts it this way:

Hope lies in the divine chesed, God’s steadfast love, and not in some unchanging realm of ideas or an intrinsic immortality of the human soul. Christian trust in the divine faithfulness is reinforced by the knowledge that God is the One who raised Jesus from the dead. Only such a God could be the ground for the hope against hope that transcends the limits of natural expectations. [7]

In Hebrews one finds a list of the great hero’s of the Old Testament. Some of them received the promises of God in their lifetime; others did not (11:13). Those saints who did not, died looking forward to fulfillment of promises they did not receive. They died looking forward to “a better country” (11:16). Christian hope, therefore, looks forward to the future in confidence, not because it is assured of success in this world, but because the God who is faithful will eventually grant justice in this world or in a better world to come.

Because of Christ: Our Relationship with One Another

Those readers who have been on a Great Banquet during which I was the Head Spiritual Director know that I quote Hebrews 10:25 at almost every closing. “Do not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing” (my paraphrase). Christians were never meant to live out the Christian life in isolation. We may be alone for a time, but we were not meant to live out our Christian life alone. Community is the normal state for Christians. Aloneness is something we endure. “Church”—“Community”—is our natural state. We were meant for one another.

Christians were meant to live in community, and the community we were meant to live in is the family of God, or the community of God, or what we call “the Church.” Just as God lives in a community, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, so also God has created the church as a visible reminder of what God is like. God intends for us to be a part of His community of love and live in that community. He never meant it to be made up of people who are passing through relationships with a congregation or one another. He meant it to be made up of people who are in a committed relationship with one another.

My parents belonged to what was known as the “Builder’s Class” of their church. The class was very close. We had picnics, holiday celebrations, like the 4th of July, parties, and the like. That class still exists, though it is quite small. It began somewhere around 1960 or about 55 years ago. At some point during my childhood, one of the members left his wife and family. My Dad, who was an FBI agent, found out where the man was, drove 250 miles, and talked the man into returning to his family. Without their close community and fellowship, it would not have been possible for Dad to do this; however, the man knew Dad cared enough to take a day off, drive 250 miles, and sit down to talk.

In Hebrews 10: 24-25, the author asks us to consider how we can spur one another to good deeds and that we encourage one another. Obviously, there is no encouraging one another without community. The idea of supporting and encouraging one another is the most common idea in the entire New Testament. A prominent Church consultant and author published some fifty-nine such texts in the New Testament. [8] Here are just a few:

• “Be at peace with each other” (Mark 9:50).
• “Love one another…” (John 13:34; John 13:35; John 15:12; John 15:17; I John 3:11; I John 3: 2; Romans 13:83; I John 4:7; I John 4:11; I John 4:12; II John 5; I Thessalonians 4:9’ I Thessalonians 3:12; I Peter 3:8; I Peter 4:8).
• “Be devoted to one another” (Romans 12:10).
• “Honor one another…” (Romans 12:10).
• “Live in harmony with one another…” (Romans 12:16; I Peter 3:8).
• “Accept one another…” (Romans 15:7).
• “Instruct one another…” (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16)
• “Greet one another with a holy kiss…” (Romans 16:16; I Corinthians 16:20; II Corinthians 13:12; I Peter 5:14)
• “Have equal concern for one another” (I Corinthians 12:25)
• Serve one another…” (Galatians 5:13).
• “Carry one another’s burdens…” (Galatians 6:2).
• “Be patient and bear with one another…” (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13).
• “Be kind and compassionate to one another…” (Ephesians 4:32).
• “Forgive one another…” (Ephesians 4:32; Colossians 3:13).
• “Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ” (Ephesians 5:21).
• “In humility consider others better than yourselves.” (Philippians 2:3)
• “Admonish one another” (Colossians 3:16).
• “Encourage one another…”(I Thessalonians 4:18; I Thessalonians 5:11; Hebrews 10:25; Hebrews 3:13).
• “Build up one another…” (I Thessalonians 5:11).
• “Spur one another on toward love and good deeds” (Hebrews 10:24).
• “Do not slander one another.” (James 4:11).
• “Don’t grumble against one another…” (James 5:9).
• “Confess your sins to one another…” (James 5:16).
• “Pray for one another.” (James 5:16)
• “Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling” (I Peter 4:9).
• “Use whatever gift you have received to serve one another…” (I Peter 4:10).
• “…Clothe yourselves with humility toward one another…”(I Peter 5:5).

It is obvious from this list that God want us to live in a community of love with each other, not jumping around looking for the perfect church, but living in a community of love with each other. There will be failures, uncomfortable moments, sin, and the like. There is in every human community. On the other hand, there will be times when the Kingdom of God shines through our human brokenness and we glimpse a bit of what heaven is like. We glimpse the Kingdom that is coming in the midst of the world as it is.

What We Are

I began with the observation that the Greek word for “Church” means “those who have been called out by God.” The church is not made up of especially smart, strong, capable, spiritually mature, loving, wise, or caring people. The church is made up of ordinary people whom God has called to declare his praises to the world and show something of his wisdom, love, character, and perfect will in our world (I Peter 2:9). In this world, no congregation will ever be a perfect church. All churches are made up of ordinary, fallen, imperfect people. Therefore, there can be no perfect church. Nevertheless, we are here to represent God to the world as best we can.

This Sunday is Graduation Sunday in our congregation. I want to close this blog with an encouragement to our graduates and the graduates of each and every church. Many graduates will go off to college or begin careers. Some will join campus ministries. Let me encourage you to also become part of a local church wherever you go, hopefully a church where you will be part of an ordinary congregation filled with ordinary people. Find a church where everyone is not your age, your income level, your race, having your interests. Don’t just be friends with the college students. Find someone who is fifty years older than you are to befriend. Find a normal church and continue to love people as God has called you to love. God wants us to be in a community of love not just when we are young, or when we have children, or when we need community, but always. If you are leaving home this year, go do just that.

Amen

Copyright 2015, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved

[1] See, “America’s Religious Landscape is Changing” www.pewforum.org (downloaded May 14, 2015).

[2] The Greek word is “ekklesia.” This word literally translates “those called out from.” The idea is that Christians have been called out from the world into God’s family, the church.

[3] Gerharad Kittle & Gerhard Friedrich, “Kaleo” in Theological Dictionary of the New Testament Geoffrey Bromiley ed. (Grand Rapids, MI: Erdmanns, 1985), 394-402.

[4] William Barclay, “The Letter to the Hebrews” in The Daily Bible Study Series Rev. Ed. (Philadelphia, PA: Westminster, 1976). I am indebted to Barclay for much of the historical background of this book. See also, John Calvin, “Commentary on Hebrews” in Calvin’s Commentaries Vol. 22 (Grand Rapids, MI Baker Books, 1993).

[5] There are three main ideas of the book that we must get in our mind to understand what is being said in Chapters 10-13: (1) the supremacy of Christ, the priesthood of Christ, and the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

[6] John Polkinghorne, The God of Hope and the End of the World (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2002), 48-49.

[7] Id, at 95.

[8] Carl F. George, Prepare Your Church for the Future (Tarrytown, NY: Revell, 1991), 129-131. I have not included the entire list here, but eliminated similar and negative “one anothers”. Others have made similar lists of varying sizes. I have shortened George’s for this blog.