Category: Band

Frequently, as I speak with both new and old Catholic friends, they ask me: “But what about the saints?” We speak of Jesus and our faith in him, but the first discussion that my Catholic friends want to have is with regard to the saints.

They are referring to Peter, James, John, Paul, and many more. And of course we honor them all. They are great examples for us – in the good and in the bad things that they did – but they were men like us. We can read about their successes, but very often we also read about their failures.

Peter both declared Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of God and also denied him in the most public of ways of all of the disciples. John was the disciple that Jesus loved, but he also abandoned Jesus and he, along with his brother James and their mother, were strongly rebuked by Jesus for asking for the positions at Jesus’s right and left when he came into his kingdom. Paul planted and discipled churches all throughout present-day Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, and Lebanon, but he also took part in persecuting and killing Christians before Jesus entered his life.

But my Catholic friends will object: Jesus said that his church would be founded upon Peter, the rock. Isn’t he the foundation of our faith?

They are, of course, referring to the time that Peter correctly identified Jesus as the Messiah:

When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?”

They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

“But what about you?” he asked. “Who do you say I am?”
Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by my Father in heaven. And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

Matthew 16:13-20

But of course, a few minutes later, after having his name changed so that he would be called Peter, he is then called Satan. Wow!

From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.

Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”

Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.”

Matthew 16:21-23

I hope this illustrates the sense in which we cannot place our faith in human beings. We cannot say that people are at the foundation of our faith. In fact, we cannot – we absolutely cannot – hold up a person, neither past nor present, as the one upon which we are building our faith. Neither can we do this upon an individual, nor a collection of individuals. The Catholic church itself, nor anyone who leads the Catholic church, has any authority over the word of God or the Holy Spirit. The Catholic church, despite its claims, cannot provide the meaning for the scripture. Why? Because like Peter, we can sometimes listen correctly to the word of God and the Holy Spirit, and at other times we can completely err in our judgment, just as Peter did when he was more interested in human concerns over the concerns of God. If that can happen to Peter, who himself walked with Jesus, then it can absolutely happen to any of us, or any leader of any church. No doubt whatsoever.

In fact, we should listen to Peter. He was the one that Jesus spoke to and was called the rock upon which Jesus would build his church. How did Peter understand the situation? How did he understand the way that our faith was to be built? Who is the foundation from Peter’s perspective? Let’s listen to him:

As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For in Scripture it says:

“See, I lay a stone in Zion,
a chosen and precious cornerstone,
and the one who trusts in him
will never be put to shame.”

Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe,

“The stone the builders rejected
has become the cornerstone,”
and,

“A stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall.”

1 Peter 2:4-8

Who is Peter talking about? Peter is writing here and he is not talking about himself. He is talking about Jesus! Jesus is the cornerstone. Jesus is the one upon whom we are founded. Jesus is the foundation upon whom we are built, and we are living stones that are part of the house that God is building.

Is that “house” different from the church? No, the people of God are the church. There is no allowance in the scriptures for the idea that the church somehow sits outside of this collection of people, the people that are being formed into the “house” of living stones.

In fact, this is exactly the point that Peter himself is making. Those that believe are part of this house, and that house is founded upon one single cornerstone: Jesus Christ.

So, was Jesus lying when he said that Peter was the rock upon which he will build his church? No, of course not, but it certainly isn’t the way that the Catholic church has claimed. As we’ve said, Peter himself said that Jesus is the foundation. Jesus is the cornerstone upon which we are all built.

Peter, however, did found the church. How did that happen? Peter was the one who stood up on the day of Pentecost, the day that the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the believers, and preached to the crowds so powerfully with the help of the Spirit that 3000 people came to faith that day.

Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Messiah.”

When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?”

Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off —for all whom the Lord our God will call.”

With many other words he warned them; and he pleaded with them, “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.” Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.

Acts 2:36-41

Did Christ build his church upon Peter? Yes, absolutely! Was Peter the foundation? Absolutely not. Jesus was the foundation. Peter didn’t preach about himself. He spoke of Christ and the first church was founded in that day.

Then Peter had a vision from Christ in Acts 10 and was the first to go to preach the Gospel to the Gentiles. As he was speaking, the Holy Spirit came upon all of the people in Cornelius’s house, and seeing that they had received the Spirit, Peter called for them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ.

Then Peter began to speak: “I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts from every nation the one who fears him and does what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, announcing the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout the province of Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached— how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

“We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a cross, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, “Surely no one can stand in the way of their being baptized with water. They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have.” So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.

Acts 10:34-48

Did Christ build his church upon Peter in this instance? Yes, absolutely! Was Peter the foundation? Absolutely not. Peter didn’t preach about himself. He spoke of Christ and the church added Gentiles to the “house”, to the church, as living stones also inserted into the house.

Peter said that Jesus is the cornerstone. Jesus is the foundation upon which the church is founded. Paul confirmed what Jesus said in Colossians 1…

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

Colossians 1:17-18

…and in Ephesians 5…

For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior.

Ephesians 5:23

Using the analogy of a body, Paul confirms Peter’s statement. There is one head, Jesus Christ. Not Peter. Not Paul. Nor any other “saint”. Jesus, and him only, supreme over all. He is the cornerstone of our faith and foundation of the church.

This is all temporary. It will come to an end. The world that we see around us and all of our lives, all that we have worked for, everything will come to and end.

James speaks to the rich people who have oppressed their workers when he says:

Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes.

James 5:2

Very often, whether we are rich or we are poor, we find ourselves focusing on those things that are temporary. We focus on the things that are right now. More money. More power. More influence. More fame.

Yet those are all things that are simply destined to pass away. Everything that you can see around you today will one day soon be gone. In fact, you may be gone first, but then it will be gone shortly after.

That which follows and marks our time here on the earth will not be our stuff. Even if you are extremely rich, give it a little time – two or three generations, let’s say – and it will be gone. Wealth has never lasted very long. Companies have never lasted very long. Estates have never lasted very long. We can even look in the rearview mirror and see empires. Even the longest-lasting empires haven’t lasted that long. It is temporary.

So where will we invest? Will we invest in that which is temporary? Or will we invest in the eternal? Our investment in the temporary is nothing but foolishness. But our investment in the eternal is wise beyond our years.

Do you intend to praise God and yet quickly also open your mouth to rain down curses upon people? Do you constantly criticize? Do you routinely have negative things to say to others?

This may be the situation to which James is referring.

Here in Sicily, we have rivers that meet the seas. Here in Sicily, we have fig trees. We have olive trees. We also have many grapevines.

And so I could relate fairly easily to what James was saying as he spoke about the person who spoke both praises to God as well as curses to people from the same mouth:

With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse human beings, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers and sisters, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers and sisters, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water.

James 3:9-12

Obviously, fig trees do not make olive trees. Obviously, grapevines do not produce figs. Obviously, salt springs cannot produce fresh water.

And yet we routinely see and hear curses for people come from the same people who praise God. Anger and bitterness come out of believers toward others. Jealousy and rage. And we somehow consider that to be OK.

No, if we are doing this, we are producing a fruit that shouldn’t be produced. It is the wrong fruit for the tree that is producing that fruit. It is the wrong type of water coming from the spring, and that must change. The plant must produce the fruit that it is intended to produce. The spring must produce the water that it is intended to produce.

We have been made new, having left behind the old person because we are in Christ. We have been united in Christ and we are now living, alive in him. And so we must live as new people, as new creations, as the people that we have been made to be. And we must produce the right kind of fruit, the fruit of the Holy Spirit: Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Is what we are saying full of love? Is what we say full of peace? Is it patient? Kind?

Is it controlled? Are you in control of what you are saying?

This is the type of speech that we, as followers of Christ, must produce. We must praise God in this way and we must speak with others in the same way, remaining consistent with the same Spirit of God in our praise to God and in how we speak with others.

Today, we might look at the stories of the Greek gods as being somewhat silly. Maybe we would consider the stories a type of literature, but that is probably about the end of it.

Yet at the time of Jesus and subsequently Peter, Paul, James, and the other apostles, the Greek gods, who were then also adopted in large part by the Romans, were the predominent religion of the time. There were temples built throughout the Greek and Roman world so that people could take their animals to go and perform sacrifices. The people worshiped these gods through sexual acts with temple prostitutes. And much more…

This was the context, then, for James to call the people into demonstrating their faith in Christ through what they do:

You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that —and shudder.

James 2:19

The preaching of the Christians to believe in one God at that time stood sharply in contrast to the prevailing culture. Yes, the Jews also believed in the one, true God, Yahweh. But now, those that followed Christ also understood that God had come to them in the form of a man. Jesus himself was God. One God, yet showing himself in three different ways, as three different persons: The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

James is trying to get his readers to understand: They can’t just believe and say that everything is fine. That isn’t how it works. No, instead, you must act on your beliefs. He, essentially, is saying:

You think that you are in good shape with God because you believe that there is just one God? Well, not so fast… No, don’t forget that the demon KNOW that there is just one God. And they shudder because that one God will wipe them out. That one God will destroy them.

Why? Because they don’t act like they believe. They won’t do what they are called to do. They say that they have faith, which is great, but you don’t see any evidence of their faith. Faith acts. Faith moves. Faith demonstrates itself in the form of specific actions.

That which we believe should change us to such an extent that we should see evidence of the change. There is one God and that God is one in whom we place our faith. And our faith moves us to be changed and to help others do the same.

I turned 50 years old earlier this year and found myself, not only in this year, but now even moreso, thinking about what I will leave behind for others. Most notably for my children, but even more broadly I found myself thinking about the idea of legacy, that which will be found as a trace of my existence here on the earth.

That was a strange set of thoughts for me. Yes, I’ve worked for the future, but I’ve typically thought more in terms of the present. But now, things are changing. I’m getting older and I’m starting to consider those things that are the most important and what I want to make sure that I pass along to my children and to other people.

This thought came back to me as I read the first chapter of the book of James this morning. He draws a contrast between two different kinds of people: Those who love the world and work to both enjoy it and leave their legacy from it, and those who wish to persevere in their love of Christ and live, looking toward the crown of life that we have been promised.

Believers in humble circumstances ought to take pride in their high position. But the rich should take pride in their humiliation—since they will pass away like a wild flower. For the sun rises with scorching heat and withers the plant; its blossom falls and its beauty is destroyed. In the same way, the rich will fade away even while they go about their business.

Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life that the Lord has promised to those who love him.

James 1:9-12

James says that if you are a believer and find yourself in humble circumstances, you should not be ashamed. Instead, you have a very high position. What does that mean?

He is saying that, even if you can’t see the evidence today of the fact that you hold a high position, even if it looks like you are a simple servant – which, in fact, you are – you will receive a crown of life, the crown that has been promised to you.

A crown of life? Yes, when we say that our faith in Jesus saves us, we mean that we have been saved from destruction. As sinners worthy of death, God’s wrath will come to destroy all that is not cleansed and protected under the blood of Christ. But when we are in Christ, he saves us and God will not destroy us for our sins, but instead he will give us this crown, a royal crown because we belong to a royal family, in fact THE royal family, living with the Lord forever.

The contrast, on the other hand, is with those who love the world that they are living within. Those that love its riches. Those that enjoy all that the world today lifts up as the height of blessing. The best of the best. James is saying that they will be humilitated. In fact, in the light of eternity and in the light of God’s eyes, they are humiliated already. They just don’t yet realize it. They will pass away like nothing more than a flower that is under the sun. Everything that has been worked for. Everything that has been passed to their children in terms of riches. It will all soon fade away. Nothing more will exist, nothing will be left.

And so I pray that will not be my story. I pray for the help of God that I will maintain the course and leave a legacy, not of a worthless item that has, in foolishness withered and gone away in a few short years or decades, but instead has chosen the right path that will allow life forever, not only for myself but also for my children and all of those that will come after me. There is one path, one person, one God who will provide for this. Only in Jesus Christ can we not fade away but instead obtain the crown of life that will allow us to live on forever.

The blood corsing through our bodies gives us life. Circulating nutrients and oxygen and more throughout our bodies, the entire body receives what it needs to be alive and stay alive through this incredible delivery system.

Without blood, there is no life. If blood is spilled, as we say, life may be lost.

But spiritually speaking, life can be gained if blood is involved.

In the time of Moses, God gave the Israelites the Law, the words of God that Moses wrote down to take to God’s people. Throughout the law, the use of blood was an integral part to worship. Today, we think of worship and we think of singing songs in church. In Moses’s time, it would have seemed a little more chaotic with sheep and goats and bulls outside of a tent, which they referred to as the tabernacle, with the priests scurrying back and forth to sacrifice the animals to God on behalf of the people who had brought them.

There were several different types of sacrifices, the blood used for cleansing of the person for their sins, or ceremonial cleansing before God of an altar or particular instruments used in the course of the sacrificial worship.

All of this happened based on a desire to adhere to the Law that God gave to the Israelites.

But the Israelites didn’t keep the Law. The Israelites didn’t continue to worship the one, true God. Instead, they turned to other gods. They forsake the commandments that God had given them. Not only the commandments related to sacrifice, but many, many more. And for this, the covenant that God made with his people – that he would be their God and they would be his people – was broken. The Israelites would no longer recognize God as their God, so the covenant that God made with the Israelites had been broken.

God always required blood to cleanse his people. A sacrifice was required. But both in looking back to the beginning of time as well as looking forward into the future, people were sinful and required cleansing. No animal sacrifices would provide for the complete cleansing that was required, so God himself decided to give the sacrifice. For example, if we look at Isaiah 53, we can see that God is the one offering the sacrifice for us, for the forgiveness of our sins:

Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,
and though the LORD makes his life an offering for sin,
he will see his offspring and prolong his days,
and the will of the LORD will prosper in his hand.

After he has suffered,
he will see the light of life and be satisfied;
by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many,
and he will bear their iniquities.

Therefore I will give him a portion among the great,
and he will divide the spoils with the strong,
because he poured out his life unto death,
and was numbered with the transgressors.
For he bore the sin of many,
and made intercession for the transgressors.

Isaiah 53:10-12

So in the Old Testament, prophesies were given that the Lord would offer himself, and that offering would be a sacrifice for sins. The Lord would be crushed and his blood would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins.

These prophecies are consistent with what Jesus told his disciples at the Last Supper. As they were eating the Passover meal, Jesus told his disciples that his body would be broken and his blood would be given for the forgiveness of sins:

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”

Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.

Matthew 26:26-27

And so now, as we look forward to the book of Hebrews, we can understand further why the writer says that there is no forgiveness without the shedding of blood:

When Moses had proclaimed every command of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. He said, “This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep.” In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.

Hebrews 9:19-22

As human beings in our religious ways of thinking, we often think, and even communicate, that God will be happy with us if we are good people, if we do good religious activities like pray, read our Bible, go to church, avoid major sins, etc. In fact, we might think that, if we do these things, God will owe us. We think that he should allow us to come into heaven because we have been good religious people. But this isn’t the story that God has been telling us. No, instead, he says that if you want to be clean, blood is required.

So we might ask ourselves… where is our sacrifice? Where is the blood that will save us? If that is God’s requirement, if we must have the shedding of blood so that we can be forgiven, where does that come from?

It comes to us by faith. Jesus’s blood was shed for each of us, and this is where our faith comes into our discussion. We must believe. We receive his forgiveness by faith that his blood was sufficient for God as we stand before him in judgment. Will he see me in my sins? Or will he see me clean before him because we have the blood of Christ upon us because we have placed our faith in him and his sacrifice?

If we have placed our faith in Christ’s blood, for the forgiveness of our sins, we also can be forgiven. But it is only by the blood of Christ that we can be clean. It is only by the blood of Christ which cleanses us that we can forgiven. He has done all of the work. He has given all of himself for us so that we can enter into his kingdom and be the priests within his kingdom. We now, because he has paid for us, serve him as our king. Otherwise, there is no forgiveness and we cannot enter his kingdom. To enter, we must be forgiven. And to be forgiven, we must have his blood.

Day after day, as we work with Muslims, I hear Jesus referred to as a prophet, another prophet in a long line of what Muslims refer to as prophets. Muhammad quite brazenly declared himself to be a prophet like those others, like Adam, like Abraham, like David, and even like Jesus. In fact he even declared himself to be the “last prophet”. Of course, his declaration was extremely self-serving, giving him power and license to do whatever he wanted, including going to war with other, subjegating other people under the thumb of his religious, now political, power, and living a sexual lifestyle that was far from God’s ways, even going as far to take a child as a wife.

Now, to be fair, Jesus did prophecy, so in this sense he was a prophet. He spoke of the times that would come as well as how the end of the world would happen. But Jesus didn’t just speak. Jesus did. And in fact, the prophecies that he spoke primarily spoke about what he would do.

For example, Jesus routinely prophecied, telling his disciples that he would go to Jerusalem where he would be handed over to the Pharisees and the other religious leaders, only to be hung on the cross. At the last supper, Jesus told his disciples that his death, which was symbolized by the bread and the wine that he shared with them, what we refer to today as the Lord’s Supper, Jesus told them that his body would be broken and his blood would be shed for the forgiveness of sins. Jesus prophecied about himself and his death on the cross that would set all people free from their sins, if only they would accept his sacrifice, his gift of love, grace, and mercy by faith.

Jesus also prophecied about the end of time, telling his disciples that he would return as the Son of Man previously spoken of in the book of Daniel in chapter 7. He would come again, riding on the clouds, coming back in judgement and justice over all people.

So if we believe that Jesus was a prophet, then we should believe what he prophecied about. He prophecied, not just talking about a far-off God, but instead about himself.

So was Jesus a prophet? Yes, but so much more! He is also our savior. He is also our king. In fact, he is God himself.

Reading now in the book of Hebrews, Jesus is additionally referred to as our high priest. The priests would offer sacrifices in the temple. They would be chosen one time each year to go into the temple and offer a sacrifice both for themselves and their own sins as well as a sacrifice for the people of Israel and their sins.

This happened year after year, decade after decade, and century after century, just as God has commanded the Israelites to do as the law was given to them. This was God’s plan from the beginning, and now Jesus would come to fulfill God’s plan. Jesus would be the high priest, but not only for the Israelites, but for all people. He would offer a sacrifice, but that sacrifice would not be an animal, it would be himself. His sacrifice wouldn’t be for himself because he had never sinned. His sacrifice, instead, would be for the people and the forgiveness of their sins.

Such a high priest truly meets our need—one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. For the law appoints as high priests men in all their weakness; but the oath, which came after the law, appointed the Son, who has been made perfect forever.

Hebrews 7:26-28

Jesus is the high priest in the order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was both the king of Salem – the name of Jerusalem before it was Jerusalem – as well as a priest of God for the people of Salem.

Jesus was not only a king, not only a prophet, not only a savior, but he was also a high priest. Jesus came in the “line of Melchizedek”, meaning that the true priesthood of God, in Jesus, shifted from the line of Levi to the line of Melchizedek, which in reality has no genealogical beginning and no end. Jesus has no beginning and no end, and yet he served his people as their priest, offering the greatest sacrifice once for all. One sacrifice for all people. Past, present, and future, Jesus’s sacrifice was perfect and given for everyone, given as a result of his work as our high priest.

The word of God will change us. The word of God will cause us to move in new directions that we never imagined. The word of God is not just a bunch of ink on some old pieces of paper. It is alive and active and on the move, even now, even today.

But how? In what way is it alive and active? Here are a few ideas:

First, here is the scripture itself:

For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:12-13

The context for these two verses is within the appeal that the writer of Hebrews makes to the Jews that he is writing to that they should enter into the rest that God offers to each of us. What does it mean that we should enter into that rest?

God himself rested from his work after his work of creation for six days. On the seventh day, God rested from his work. He himself completed the creation and set all of the systems of the universe in motion and then he rested from his work. This day, in fact, in the account from Genesis never ended. All of the other days had an evening and a next morning, marking the next day, but not the seventh day. The days of creation ended with God’s at rest.

In a similar way, God commanded the Jews to rest from their work. They were to take a Sabbath day. Each week, for one day out of the week, they were to take a day away from their work to rest. Already, therefore, we see the word of God living and moving in an active way. God applies this same idea, his rest, to even be included and codified into the law so that those things that are good for them, the Israelites will be done for centuries and millenia to come.

But now, an even greater rest has come. God has offered us forgiveness from sins through Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, his death upon the cross. And by accepting that offer, we no longer need to strive. We no longer need to work for God’s approval. We no longer need to continue to try to follow the law. We do it because he has forgiven us. We do it because we want God’s ways. We do not need a law to tell us what to do. We do it because we want to do it, not because we must do it.

And so in this first way, we see the word of God living and active. We see that God’s rest became man’s physical rest. But that same word continued on, carried on, even to Jesus, and even to today. Even today we have that same word amongst us, living and active. It is not only the word of God, it is also the Word of God. Jesus Christ himself who has offered himself so that we no longer must strive for God’s approval, but we can simply enter his rest.

These are no mere word games. These are, instead, the work of God, fulfilling his word in new and greater ways.

God had also promised the Israelites rest in other ways as well. God had promised Abraham that he would give Abraham and his descedents the land that he would show him. God led Abraham to the land of Canaan, roughly the land of Israel that we see even today. This would be the permanent land that Abraham and his descendents would inhabit and would find rest.

Centuries later, when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt, they likely had more than a million people, and possibly more than two million people with them. They were a nation. God led them out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and north toward Canaan. But they needed to cross the Jordan River and take possession of the Promised Land, which they didn’t do out of fear of the Canaanite people who lived in he land. They believed that they would be squashed, killed for entering into the land, even if we are to later find out in the story that the people who were in the land were deathly afraid of the Israelites because of what they heard that God had done to the Egyptians.

It wasn’t until decades later that Moses and his generation would die and Joshua would lead the Israelites to cross the Jordan River and enter the Promised Land. They would go from area to area to fight the battles necessary against the people in the land and take over the land that God had promised to them.

At the end of their fighting, and at the time that the people were established in their land, Joshua released the soldiers to return to their homes. He said that the people, the Israelites, had found the rest that had been promised to them. Within the Promised Land, God had given them their rest.

Once again, we see the word of God, living and active. The Promised Land was the place of rest for the Israelites. However, as some say, it was only a “shadow” of what was to come. Like the example of the Sabbath, that which had been done before was to be fulfilled in Christ. God had given the Promised Land to the Israelites, but God has given the promise of paradise, the possibility of living with God in heaven forever, thoughout all of the rest of eternity. But we must enter the rest that he has promised to us through Jesus, through the one way that he has offered it to us.

The word of God teaches us. The word of God is fulfilled in new ways, unimaginable ways, ways that we have never considered before. And so this living and active word acts within and upon us even today.

The word of God causes change. The word of God goes into the deepest depths within us and works in that place. It is living and active to be fulfilled not only from an ancient time into another ancient time, but it is living and active even today, fulfilled from the ancient time even into our present time. Even into you and me today. It lives. It moves. It changes things. It changes us. If we will allow it.

There is a scene in the movie Master and Commander with Russell Crowe where one of the “old salts” who are part of the crew needed a surgery on his brain. Right there on the ship, without anesthesia as far as we can tell in the movie, they decide to do the surgery.

The scene, and for that matter, various other parts of the movie, aren’t for the squeamish, and if you don’t like blood, don’t play this video. But if you want to see the scene, go to this video on YouTube.

In any case, the reason that I thought of the video this morning was the tattoo across the knuckles of the man upon whom the surgery was being perfomed. It says:

HOLD FAST

Evidently that is a famous tattoo for sailors or pirates, especially as they face the winds and waves on the seas, their faith in their ship, their captain, and their very selves being tested by the storms that come.

So I thought of this as I read Hebrews 3 this morning. The writer of Hebrews was telling his Israelite readers that they need to hold on, to not lose their faith as their ancestors did in the wilderness. They should keep the faith that they had from the beginning, and in that way they would persevere and enter the rest that God has prepared for them.

See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

Hebrews 3:12-14

The easy path is the path that deceives us and turns us away from God. The difficult path is the one that stays the course, that holds on, that continues in the faith that had been given to them.

The context of this encouragement to the Hebrews is that the writer is reflecting back on the time of Moses. God had sent Moses to tell the Israelites that God saw them, that he was concerned for them, and he would take them to their own land.

The Israelites believed and followed Moses as God led him out of Egypt, across the Red Sea, and into the wilderness on the way to the Promised Land, into the land of Canaan.

But while they were on their way, God met them at Mt. Sinai and the Israelites rebelled. They hardened their hearts. They became dismayed by the fact that Moses had been away so long meeting with God on the mountain that they demanded a new “god”, thus making a golden calf, returning back to the ways that they had seen in Egypt. They went back to their slavery. In their hearts, they returned back to Egypt, preferring what they knew, even if it was literal slavery and forced labor, instead of the freedom that they had received in God.

Their hearts were hardened. They rebelled against God and his ways.

Now, the writer of the book of Hebrews is warning the believers in Christ: Don’t do the same. Hold on. Continue in your faith. Do not harden your hearts, but instead continue in what you have learned. In this way you will enter into God’s rest.

I have a Tunisian friend who, as a Muslim, had a very difficult time understanding how it would be possible that our great God would, or even could, become human. How is it possible that we could say that the God of the universe would become a man here on the earth and live amongst us? It seems impossible in so many ways.

My friend told me that his friend, a pastor in Tunisia, explained it to him this way:

Imagine a little bird – a sparrow, let’s say – is looking for a shelter to come inside out of a storm. A human being sees the bird and goes to the bird to show it a place where it can find shelter. What would the bird do? It would fly away, of course. The bird cannot relate to the human. In fact, it is scared of the human.

However, suspend reality for a moment and imagine that the human being had the ability to become a sparrow, just like the little bird who is caught in the storm. In this way, the lost little bird would not be afraid. He would only need to trust that the other bird, who was needing shelter himself, knew the way and knew where the shelter could be found. In this way, the first little bird could follow the second little bird and they could go to the place where they could find shelter together.

When I first heard this story from my friend, I’ll admit that I nodded along and smiled, but in my mind I may have been rolling my eyes a little bit. Sort of simplistic, isn’t it?

Yes, it is a simplistic way to explain the story, but the more that I thought about it, the more that I realized that the essence of the story, what it was intending to communicate, made sense to me and even helped me to conceptually understand what God did for us through Jesus.

Jesus, as God, did take on the form of a man to bring a message to people using a form that we could understand. Yes, that is the case and that is true.

However, he didn’t only do this, but he took on the form of a man to be able to offer himself as a sacrifice in the form of a man so that he could take the punishment as justice for the sins of the world. He lived a sinless life, not deserving punishment, and was therefore able to take on the punishment that we deserved, allowing us to put our faith in him so that we also could live with him as God’s children and his human brothers and sisters.

And so this is what the writer of Hebrews is talking about when he says:

For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Hebrews 2:17-18

Jesus became fully human to serve and glorify God. He gave himself for the sins of all men, if they would accept his sacrifice and the forgiveness of their sins by faith. And he suffered in the midst of temptation, helping us to overcome temptation and sin, both at that time and even today.

God became human in the form of Jesus so that we both could know him, hear from him, and be saved by him. God chose to become who we are, part of his creation, so that we could return to be with him, live for him, and glorify him for the rest of our lives and into eternity.