Hebrews etc. on Sunday
Hi! This is a podcast with a report on our activities this past Sunday, including a sample. 🙂
[display_podcast]
Oh, and here’s a picture of the English class that Shari took:
Hi! This is a podcast with a report on our activities this past Sunday, including a sample. 🙂
[display_podcast]
Oh, and here’s a picture of the English class that Shari took:
It’s been a pretty interesting week! I won’t go into all the details, but there have been some interesting opportunities to share the gospel, and some new connections and contacts that may lead to new opportunities in the future.
We still have some van repairs to take care of – Lord willing that will happen tomorrow.
Tonight is study #8 in the Chronological Bible Study – the tabernacle and sacrifices. Learning about the sacrifices always opens my eyes anew to many important truths in the Scriptures.
Anyway, all that aside, I wanted to ask for prayer for Sunday. We’ll be going to a church about 45 minutes from here (on our side of Mexico City, so not too far). Lord willing we’ll spend the day there, hanging out with the believers and also helping out with an afternoon English class.
In the morning I’ll be repeating the Hebrews “sermon”. Well, maybe I shouldn’t really put “sermon” in quotation marks, but it’s the sermon where I read Hebrews – the entire book – word for word. I did this back in February (see here for details).
(It’s not just a matter of reading it, of course. There is a handout with questions for reflection, and a PowerPoint with the verses that the author quotes from the OT, with a few other illustrations).
Hebrews is just an amazing book. I think every culture and time has Bible books that are especially relevant – although all of Scripture is relevant and needs to be taught cover-to-cover in every culture and in every age. But Hebrews is one of the books I keep coming back to over and over here in the context of modern Mexico. It keeps shining more light into my soul every time I read it and study it.
Anyway, do pray that God would especially use His Word and make it clear on Sunday. It takes almost an hour to read the whole book (apparently that’s about the normal length of a sermon in this church, so that helps!). Obviously in that time it’s easy to lose your voice, energy, or limber tongue to make the Spanish understandable. 🙂
But most of all pray that people will listen, and that the Spirit will work in our hearts.
Now – time to get ready for tonight’s study (which actually is very important to our understanding of Hebrews as well!).
Those of you who have received our newsletter now have a prayer calendar for the next few weeks. Of course, I could only include a very small portion of what’s going on, so I’ll try to keep you up to date a little here at Finding direction as well.
One thing that I didn’t mention was that I’m preaching every Sunday this month. On the first Sunday I was able to choose my own topic, so I took the lazy route decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for a while – preach Hebrews. Not preach on Hebrews, but basically preach the book – read it all, word-for-word.
I used a PowerPoint presentation, mainly to put up the verses that the author quotes from the Old Testament, and also had a hand out with some questions for reflection.
It was an interesting experience – great for me, I hope some other people got something out of it. They were at least very attentive anyway (I warned them ahead of time – I think it took around 55 minutes!).
Anyway, it’s amazing what a little context will do. The book of Hebrews may very well have been a sermon that has been written down for us – it does sound a lot like one when you say it out loud. 🙂
For the rest of the month we’re going through 1Corinthians 3:1-5:6. Next week the children will be there for the sermon, so hopefully it will be fun for everyone.
As with every area of ministry, I really appreciate your prayers for these sermons. Unless the Spirit of God works, nothing will happen. And most of these sermons are posted over at en-la-Biblia.com, which means they will be listened to by many other people, both in and out of Mexico.
The job of the preacher, as I’ll be sharing this Sunday, is the be faithful (1Corinthians 4:1-2). That means read God’s Word, explain what it means, and sit down. God’s power is in His Word and Spirit – He is the one who brings true growth (1Corinthians 3:7).
Yesterday, Pope Francis arrived in Mexico City. He’ll spend the weekend here before heading to the State of Chiapas on Monday morning, the State of Michoacán on Tuesday morning, and finally the state of Chihuahua, in the border city of Ciudad Juárez.
In spite of the hundreds of thousands flocking to see him, there certainly are mixed feeling about the visit of the Pope, even among Roman Catholics.
Billboards like this one welcome him officially (“Welcome, Pope Francis – the CDMX (City of Mexico) is Your Home”). Other billboards pray that he will bring peace and hope to the country. Many people hope that the coming of the Pope will finally bring change to the country.
Others are more skeptical. Some are urging the Pope to “talk tough” against corruption, human rights violations and violence. Some are just frustrated by all the road closures in the city, which started even before he arrived. Some are outraged at the money being spent on the visit, while so many live in poverty. Some even complain that the events will lead to the further spread of the Zika virus.
But many downtown workers are just glad for a day off work due to a closed road.
Watching the Pope’s video messages to Mexico, it’s obvious that he has something else on his mind. What is it exactly that Francis wants out of his visit?
The majority of the videos I watched had one theme – the Virgin of Guadalupe. He wants to stand before her, and look into her eyes. When he feels her presence, he hears the words – do not be afraid – am I not here, who am your mother?.
Francis is actually referring to an image of what is believed by many Mexicans to be a manifestation of the Virgin Mary. Deflecting the trust and hope that many people have in him, Francis points to his source of hope in this tweet:
Many of my Christian friends want to remind everyone that our hope should not be in a man, or in an image of the Virgin, but in Jesus.
While the news sources wait for the Pope’s speeches and hang on every word, he himself is looking forward to his moments to stand before the image in veneration. He will also be performing masses in various locations, including in Mexico City this afternoon.
Many people don’t realize that the mass is absolutely central to the Roman Catholic view of salvation. The mass is a sacrifice, where the priest (in this case, the Pope), is an “Altus Christus” (“another Christ”), with the power to bring Christ down and offer the sacrifice for the people.
The bread and wine are Christ. Many times when you hear Roman Catholic missionaries speak of “bringing Christ to the people”, you’ll find that they’re actually talking about bringing the sacrifice of the mass – because the food is Christ, and to take the mass is to be justified.
Hence the bread and wine are literally worshipped. The lay people don’t drink the wine, because if a little of it spilled, it would be “Jesus” spilling.
For salvation, repeatedly going to mass is necessary.
In a sense, the mass and other sacraments are a system in which the RC Church doles out salvation little by little. For many in Mexico, whatever the official teaching may be, this becomes a bit of an economic system. This blessing, this mass, this visit to the image or the Pope – that gives me credit to get away with a little more, to go to the party, to get forgiveness.
The Bible teaches in the book of Hebrews that the repetitive nature of the Old Testament sacrifices were, in the end, just a reminder of sin (Hebrews 10:3). They looked forward to something much more complete. The “once for all” sacrifice of Christ removed sin forever (Hebrews 9:25-26), bringing true peace with God – not a peace given a little at a time, or a peace that is temporary and uncertain. A peace that is based on what Jesus has already done (Romans 5:1-2; 1Corinthians 1:30-31).
Some look for hope in the Pope, or the mass, or the Virgin of Guadalupe. Others look to politics and protests. But there is still – and will always be – only one Hope (Hebrews 10:15-23).
After I posted our Bible study on so-called “debatable issues” of the Christian life (part 1, part 2), I wanted to post one more thought (yes, I’m still catching up!).
There is one thing that concerns me about these issues, and I’m not sure how clearly it came through in the study.
I think today there is a tendency in the Church to say,”If the Bible doesn’t speak to it directly, don’t worry about it.”
Of course, this idea comes from a very legitimate concern. We certainly don’t want to add things to God’s law – or worse, go against God’s law because of our own rules (Mark 7:9-13).
We also don’t want to set ourselves up as the final judges – able to condemn and absolve based on our own interpretations of Scripture (John 7:24).
And finally, we don’t want to leave the impression that we’ve accepted by God on the basis of our works, and that we are still “until the law” (Romans 6:14).
But notice what the verse I just mentioned actually says. “For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace.” Believers want to escape from sin, not just escape from its penalty (see the next verse – Romans 6:15)
I wonder if we have somehow drained the morality out of everything. We’ve come to think that there are a few basic rules in the Bible, and then we can “do what we want”.
We think that we just have to “love”, and yet we won’t allow the Bible to define what love is.
Sure, the law and the prophets are based on love (Matthew 22:35-40), but if all we needed was the word “love”, why did God give us the rest?
The Bible isn’t about “a few rules”. It’s about a change of heart, sin conquered, and a life lived in righteousness.
Rather than drain everything of all morality, the Bible fills life with purpose – to live it all to God’s glory. Even when we eat and drink, we’re to do it to the glory of God (1Corinthians 10:31)!
The author of Hebrews wrote: Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honourably in all things. (Hebrews 13:18)
The Bible gives us many principles that we can use to help us grow in righteousness. It’s not like the law we often have in Canada – law that has to be so detailed that every specific case needs to be laid out in yet another volume of rules. Although the Bible does often talk specifically, it also gives us direction so that we can learn to serve God in everything.
I’m afraid that we’re so afraid of putting an unnecessary burden on someone, that we avoid helping them deal with real life. Could there be a better way to deal with computer games – with driving habits – with medications – with bank accounts – even though the Bible says very little directly about these things? Can’t we discuss these things, and help one another serve the Lord in a deeper way?
Don’t get me wrong – I’m not suggesting we come up with a new binding list of rules for our churches about alcohol, debt, clothing and music. I’m not suggesting we be quick to judge others who don’t agree with us. I’m not suggesting we start making new measurements of people’s faith and holiness.
I am wondering, however, if we need to stop being so afraid to discuss these things in a serious, biblical way.
I also wonder if our do-what-you-want stance is taking away our power/desire to be a voice of truth and change and holy revolution in society. If we think that most things really don’t matter, are we really going to want to help our communities? Are we really going to want to speak out against “evil”, if there is such a thing?
Our postmodern society runs from anything absolute. Growing up in a postmodern society, I do agree that we need to avoid inquisitions, man-made superfluous commandments, and attitudes that are more critical than caring.
But if we really want to be faithful in all things (1Timothy 3:10-11), if we really want to live to glorify God and offer our lives as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2), doesn’t that mean all of our lives, not just the 10% that we think matter? Not just the “rules” that we don’t have to think about too much?
"not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near."
(Hebrews 10:25 ESV)
This is the next part of verse #26. I was a day late posting a verse, so I’m catching up today.
Hebrews actually has some pretty important instructions for the church. For example, we should meet together, as we see here. Later in the book, the author tells us to obey our leaders because they keep watch over our souls (Hebrews 13:17).
Sometimes people email me and tell me they want to become missionaries. One of the first things I suggest is that they talk to the leadership of their church.
More than once it has turned out that this is a problem. It could be that this person has no relationship with any leader (which could make it difficult to obey Hebrews 13:17). But it also could be that this person has the habit of not meeting together with other believers at all.
In those two verses – and excuse me for joining them together like this, but – in those two verses there really is a lot to learn about the assembly – the local church.
How many people really have any opportunity to obey a leader? How many leaders are truly keeping watch over souls? How many people really feel the urgency to meet together ("all the more as you see the Day drawing near")?
And perhaps sadest of all, how many "go to church" all their lives, and hardly ever encourage – or receive encouragement?
How many are never thinking about how to help their fellow believers to love more? To do more good works?
These aren’t verses long in instructions and programs and procedures and regulations – and yet how many of us are missing out on the wonderful basics of the family of God?
So let’s not get in the habit of avoiding fellow believers. Or the habit of just … doing other things.
Instead, let’s get together and spur each other on to great things. Time is short.