Title: What Christians Fear/Hebrews 12:14-17
Content Ⅰ. entry
But there are also those who are recklessly brave. It is recklessly brave for not acknowledging God and not acknowledging heaven and hell. Where is God and where is Heaven? If you say that you will go to hell if you do not believe in Jesus, it says that you must go to hell then.
If we put these circumstances back together, we can see that there is a mindset that fears the visible and immediate and ignores or ignores the invisible God's existence, salvation, and heaven. Of course, this must be the great paradigm that is dominating this era.
In these circumstances, it is necessary to ask the question, Are Christians really an exception?
Everyone! What are you afraid of? Are the things you fear different from the fears of many people in this day and age?
I have a thought that Christians living today are also losing their identity in front of a huge flow called culture or fashion.
In the text we read together today, what Christians should actively pursue is mentioned first. We will take a look at this next time. In this lesson, let's start by thinking about three things Christians should really fear.
II. text observation
First of all, it is worth noting that the tone of this letter has changed before we examine the text deeply and meditate on it. So far, the writer of Hebrews has been consistent with metaphorical and indirect expression. Perhaps that's how difficult the issues addressed earlier were. But now it has turned into a very indicative expression. He also said that what Christians should actively pursue is peace and holiness. He also mentioned three things that Christians should really fear. It is to fear that we will stray from God's grace, that a bitter root will grow and cause trouble, and that many people will be defiled by this, and that there will be no evil like Esau. Let's look at each one in more detail.
1. Fear if there are any who fall short of the grace of God (v. 15a)
He said he would be afraid if there were any who would not come close to the grace of God.
However, I think that the times we live in today are the exact opposite of those of first-century Christians. Of course, it may be the same in terms of voluntarily falling away from God's grace. What causes Christians today to fall from grace? We are too busy to take care of our souls. And behind that busyness, there may be a desire to live a better life and have more. Sincerity is a beautiful thing. However, life is not beautiful when you are always chased by urgent matters.
Everyone! The greatest misfortune for Christians is a life of forgetting God's grace. A Christian without grace can become legal, and a Christian without grace is powerless. A Christian who strays from grace tends to become a direct root of bitterness.
2. Fear that a root of bitterness will grow and cause trouble, and many will be defiled.
Here the bitter root is said to do two things. That is, you will be hurting yourself and you will also defile others. In fact, this verse borrowed the idea from Deuteronomy 29:18-19. “For there will be roots of poison and wormwood sprouting among you, and when you hear this curse, you comfort yourself in your heart, saying, ‘If I harden my heart and destroy the wet and the dry, there will be peace.” This means that one person who indulges in some evil idolatry can have a detrimental effect on the whole community, which can defile many.
Everyone! When God's grace begins to disappear in the hearts of Christians, it is the root of bitterness that begins to grow. This bitter root is, first of all, tormenting yourself. I start to look at situations that can be viewed as positive, and try to solve them arithmetically with faith. Even if you listen to the Word, you will not receive grace. Only the faults of other people and leaders begin to stand out. I don't seem to have any problems at all, and other people always have problems. And the longer the time goes on, the more desperate words, complaints and gossip do not leave the mouth. Ultimately, his actions have an impact on the community. It changes the atmosphere of a community that should be friendly like a family into a confrontational and bloody atmosphere. They break the relationship of trust and trust with each other and make them wary. It makes relationships that were supposed to be organic to clerical and rigid. That's why we make the church, the body of Christ, like a battlefield to seize power in the world.
Everyone! Words of encouragement and praise are better the more you say them, but the more you complain, slander, slander, and disparagement, the worse it gets. It is because it is the person who suffers the most from the expression of the thoughts once contained in the heart.
Everyone! As Christians, we should fear that we ourselves have fallen away from God's grace and become bitter roots.
3. The third thing to fear is physical fornication and spiritual ignorance. The person who commits fornication here is literally speaking fornication. It refers to a person who misuses sex that can become beautiful in marriage for the lust of the flesh. Such fornication is a testament to the spiritual condition. Isn't the common symptom of those who have fallen from the grace of God to try to appease their hearts with vain lust?
Let's explain this with a picture in . Everyone! What was the problem with Esau's problem lies in the spiritual ignorance of selling his birthright for a bowl of red bean porridge because he was hungry. Esau treated only the fact that he was hungry right now and took lightly the blessings that his firstborn son would inherit in the future. To change the word: Our middle and high school friends are having a hard time right now, but the reason they are studying while cutting their bones is to become the people needed by society in the future and to live well as stewards in charge of God's work. But what would his life be like if he said that the study he is doing right now is too difficult and he only pursues face-to-face meetings that seem good to his eyes and concentrates only on watching movies, dancing, and playing? What does the Bible say about such a person? Yes, I was like a damn child.
For the same reason, he said that a life that pursues only momentary pleasures and pleasures is a disgraceful life just like Esau, because the life of worshiping in faith, studying the Word, and knowing about the kingdom of God and a better hometown does not satisfy the heart very much. there is.
Everyone! We know all too well what Esau did wrong. But how can we understand that we have no fear of the fact that we are living as we do today? Are we not selling the cross of Christ and the gospel of salvation because we are busy with our desire to live well? What is the difference between Esau's red bean porridge and the comfortable life we want to enjoy today? In the end, it is the fact that those who do not come to God's grace will become a worthless person who sells the gospel of salvation for a bowl of red bean soup and thirty pieces of silver.
Everyone! Let's look again at verse 17. “As you know, after that, he sought with tears to inherit the blessing, but it was forsaken, and there was no opportunity for repentance.” The opportunity has passed. I didn't get a chance to repent. I had to spend days of remorse. Therefore, Christians must be able to discern what is important. You have to learn to be afraid of being dishonest.
Ⅲ. Conclusion and application
Dear all! I said at the outset that modern people do not seem to fear anything, but they live in a lot of fear. What are we afraid of? Maybe I can't make money or can't go to college? Can I get a job after graduating from college? How will I get married, and furthermore, how will other people view me? Isn't it something like that? People living today are living with worries that were not at all possible 50 years ago. In doing so, they degenerate faith into a tool that helps them do that.
But the writer of Hebrews says that if we are truly sincere Christians, we have more to fear than such fear for our physical well-being and prosperity. Will you stray from God's grace? We need to know how to fear that a bitter root may develop in our hearts, causing both ourselves and the community to suffer together, or that our spiritual eyes will be obscured by the lusts of the flesh and we will sell Christ for practical profit and comfort like red bean porridge.
Please make up your mind once again at this time.
Let us not be afraid of perishing, let us be afraid of neglecting the incorruptible!