Hebrews: God’s Final Word

As mentioned this past Sunday, one of my goals during our Hebrews series is to blog every week ('er, at least regularly) on the previous week’s material—in part to summarize, in part to include more content that we didn’t have time to look at in that week’s sermon, and in part to be a platform for interaction with you all throughout the week. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the book!

If you weren’t at our gathering on Sunday, we spent the morning looking at issues surrounding authorship, date, context, the use of the Old Testament in the New, and the overall rationale/purpose behind the book which is to remedy spiritual weariness and luke-warmness with a complex laying out of the whole council of God in the gospel of Jesus Christ. It served as a reminder for the original Jewish-Christian reader and it will serve as a reminder for us: “Fix your eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith” (12:1-2).

I’ll end this post with a reference to Thomas Long, who argues that the ultimate remedy to spiritual backsliding is the proclamation of the gospel itself. Hearing the gospel heals us. Hearing the gospel helps us kill our sin. Hearing the gospel is our warning against other false-saviors of the world. Hearing the gospel—and of course responding to it—changes our affections:

“What is most striking about Hebrews is that the Preacher, faced with the pastoral problem of spiritual weariness, is bold enough, maybe even brash enough, to think that Christology and preaching are the answers. The Preacher does not appeal to improved group dynamics, conflict management techniques, reorganization of the mission structures, or snappy worship services. Rather, he preaches—preaches to the congregation in complex theological terms about the nature and meaning of Jesus Christ.” –Interpretation, A Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Hebrews, p.3

Through this 8-month study, may we be encouraged and emboldened to share the good news not just with those who haven't heard, but with the church itself, who needs to keep hearing,

Chris