Hebrews Bible Study notes Chapters 1-2

Proper 16 - E - 2013 - The Discipline of God the Father

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

August 25, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Isaiah 66:18-23           Hebrews 12:4-29         Luke 13:22-30

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God the Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.  Our text today is form the epistle lesson just read, especially these words, “For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”  Thus far our text. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Reading this weeks text reminded me of an event from my childhood.  We had both horses, and a giant garden growing up.  Between the two was a sloping ground covered with thick tall grass about 100 yards in distance.  That’s important for the story.  I can remember it well.  My brother Kyle was in trouble.  I don’t remember what he had done or why.  I don’t remember who was involved, only that it wasn’t me…  this time.  All I remember was the punishment. 

The punishment was this:  My brother was to hand shovel horse manure, forty times, into a wheelbarrow, and push the wheelbarrow down to the garden and deposit it into 40 neat piles.  Until that task was accomplished, he was grounded from everything else except school work and sleep.  It was a dreadful punishment.  It would take him a long time to do it, it was hot like it is today, and our wheelbarrow had a leaky wheel that would require pumping up with new air often. 

So my brother began.  And after about the 4^th trip he began muttering under his breath.  The 7^th trip.  The muttering became louder.  About half way through he was yelling about how unfair this was, and how he hated horse manure.  He even yelled at my dad one time, “I’m not learning anything from this, why don’t you just spank me and get this over with.”  And with those words my dad just smiled, because he knew that the task at hand was having the desired effect.  Out of the discipline came respect, and with the respect was love. 

You see, that’s what our text is telling us today.  That our heavenly father teaches us discipline the same way our earthly fathers do.  Just as earthly father’s say, “Pay attention in school, do your homework and chores,” so too does our heavenly father say, “have no other Gods, Remember the Sabbath Day, Do not murder or steal or covet and more.”  And just as parents discipline their child who doesn’t listen, so too does God discipline his children who don’t listen. 

The difference is, the punishment of God is much more foreboding than we are with our children.  God says, if you sin, you will die, if you slip up even a little, you must die.  It’s not that God’s being mean, it’s not that he’s too harsh, it’s the rule that he set up, and he explained it clearly, and he, as a good father does, is following through with his promises.  He said to Adam and Eve, “You shall surely die,” and they did.  He says to you, if you break the rules, you too shall die, and it’s the truth. 

And yet, God also did another amazing thing for you and for me.  When the rules were broken, and one of God’s children needed the discipline of death, God sent his own Son, born of the virgin, to pay the penalty.  He sent his own son to die, so that we, his other children would not have to.  Our brother Jesus, paid the price for our transgression. 

It would have been like this, if when my brother received the dreaded verdict of 40 wheelbarrows of manure, that I would have stepped up and grabbed the shovel for him.  That’s what Jesus does, except our punishment from God was much more severe than 40 wheelbarrows of horse manure.  Our punishment with God was eternal death, hell, and separation.  And Jesus paid that on the cross.  He paid with his blood, suffering and death.  He compensated for our wrong by laying in the tomb that we deserved. 

And so because of him, we are forgiven before God.  Our brother was punished in our place, so we receive eternity.  We are forgiven because of Christ.  We get heaven.  We get peace.  We get comfort.  The wrath of God against our sins is taken away.  Amen.

Proper 15 - E - 2013 - By Faith From Outside Ourselves

The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
August 18, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Jeremiah 23:16-29       Hebrews 11:17-40; 12:1-3      Luke 12:49-56

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the Epistle lesson just read, especially these words, “By Faith.”  Thus far our text for today. 

Dear friends in Christ.  Its quite the list of scoundrels that are mentioned in our lesson for today.  Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph.  Moses, Rahab, Barak, Gideon and more.  And this list of names is just continuing from last week’s lesson when Abel, Cain, Enoch, and Noah were also included.  It’s a list of people who were guilty and sinful before God, who by their thoughts, by their words and deeds failed time and time again. 

Rahab was a prostitute.  Abraham and Isaac both lied about their wives being their sisters.  Barak trusted in Deborah more than God.  Gideon asked God for signs two nights in a row before believing.  Abel was murdered by Cain.  Noah became drunk and naked after exiting the ark.  These people were sinners.  These people were guilty.  These people had so much sin as to not deserve or be able to earn one shred of God’s grace. 

And if we read the pages of scripture we see that their lives were at times extremely difficult.  They lost loved ones to death.  They were beaten and flogged.  Noah watched everyone in the world except for his family die.  Moses dealt with the continuous complaints of the people of Israel.  They weren’t all rich, many of them had no permanent home, but lived in tents in the desert. 

And yet, we hear the refrain again and again – 19 times total – in our text.  By faith Joseph believed in the coming exodus.  By faith Abel offered his sacrifice.  By faith Noah built the ark.  By faith Abraham left Haran, and by faith Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt.  Its faith that is behind all the great saints of scripture.  It’s faith that makes them the patriarchs.  Its because of faith that their lives are recorded.  Our text says that by faith they conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, ³⁴ quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. For you see, it’s by faith that they are truly great men. 

This faith was not from within.  These men did nothing to make themselves believe, they did nothing to accept God or invite him in.  God found them as they wandered about in their sinful lives.  God called them, and selected them to be His.  The Holy Spirit called them by the Gospel, promising them salvation, and an eternal land that they would one day inherit.  God gave them the gift of faith to cling to God’s promises.  And believing God’s word to them, it was counted to them as righteousness.

Dear friends, the same thing is true of us.  In our lives every day, we face challenges and struggles.  We have problems.  We have issues.  We cannot seem to ever get everything to go our way.  We aren’t all rich.  We aren't all famous.  We aren’t sure how to pay the bills or deal with grandma’s illnesses.  We have loved ones who die suddenly.  We face sorrow and suffering.  We’ve lied and stolen.  We’ve drank too much, we've committed adultery.  We are the worst of sinners, its true. 

And yet, we’ve been given faith, a faith from outside ourselves.  It’s a faith poured out on us generously through water and the word.  It’s a faith that has come to us through Word and Sacrament.  It’s a faith that clings to Jesus.  It’s a faith that looks at what he has done for us, by taking our sin.  By killing our sin on the cross.  By lying dead in our tomb.  And by rising again and promising life to all who have faith in him. 

This faith really does cling to Jesus.  That word cling is the prefect word to use.  We’ve all had static cling, where our pants seemingly stick to our leg on their own.  Or the piece of spaghetti that clings to the wall.  They are stuck, and sometimes it seems like nothing can undo the clinging power that holds them there. 

The same is true of Jesus.  We cling to him, not on our own, we’re just stuck to him.  By faith we belong to him.  We cannot by our own reason or strength believe or come to him.  But he calls us, he blesses us.  By faith he makes us his children.  By faith he washes us.  By faith he feeds us.  By faith he gives us the entire blessings of heaven and eternity.  It’s all by faith, outside ourselves. 

And our text tells us that faith comes from Jesus.  He’s its author.  He’s its perfecter.  He’s its worker in us and in our lives.  If he cared for sinful Noah and Abraham, he will care for you too, dear friends.  He will care for you, and provide a place for you.  By faith, you belong to him, and will, even forever more.  Amen.