How to Stay In the Ring
CENTRAL TEXT: Hebrews 12:3-17
Heb. 12:3 Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. 4 In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5 And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, "
nor be weary when reproved by him.
6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
Heb. 12:7 It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. 9 Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 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.
Heb. 12:12 Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, 13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed. 14 Strive for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord. 15 See to it that no one fails to obtain the grace of God; that no “root of bitterness” springs up and causes trouble, and by it many become defiled; 16 that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau, who sold his birthright for a single meal. 17 For you know that afterward, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no chance to repent, though he sought it with tears.
CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 89:13-17
LEADER: You have a mighty arm;
strong is your hand, high your right hand.
Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne;
steadfast love and faithfulness go before you.
ALL: Blessed are the people who know the festal shout,
who walk, O LORD, in the light of your face,
who exult in your name all the day
and in your righteousness are exalted.
LEADER: For you are the glory of their strength;
ALL: by your favor our horn is exalted.
PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH: Matthew 5:3-12
LEADER: Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall receive mercy.
Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.
Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
The Word of the Lord
ALL: Thanks be to God
Celebration of the Lord's Supper
Confession of Sin
LEADER: Let us confess our sin to the Lord.
ALL: We fritter away our time and so fragment our minds that we can focus on little–and then wonder why our worries feel more real than You. In our encounter with pain and heartbreak we confess how hastily we think You incompetent or absent–or worse, thinking that You find something delicious in our downfall. In our shared lives, we tend to prefer the superficial to the substantial, sharing only the pleasantries. Forgive us for tying our own hands behind our backs in this fight to follow You. Free us to see, and then to rejoice, in Your great love.
ASSURANCE OF PARDON: Colossians 1:19-22
LEADER: For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, 22 he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him,
ALL: Thanks be to God.
BENEDICTION: Hebrews 10:23-25
LEADER: Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 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.
ALL: Amen!
ALL: Thanks be to God!
RELATED SCRIPTURES:
Genesis 27:34-41
Deuteronomy 29:17, 18
Proverbs 4:26, 27
Isaiah 35:3
Matthew 5:9-12; Mark 9:50; Romans 12:18; 2 Thessalonians 1:4-7
1 Corinthians 6:9-12; 1 Thessalonians 4:3
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Ever been a fight? Tell us the story? What led to it? What was it like? Who won? What kept you in it for as long as you kept your feet?
Refresh your memory of what you can piece together from what the first listeners of this letter (or sermon) had experienced? What had led them to reconsider their commitments to Jesus and His fledgling church? Can you find any similarities between their experiences and your own, despite vast and multiple distances of time and culture?
How does considering (sermon: meditating) on what Jesus suffered offer assistance in the struggle to persevere? Why would it? Ever had an experience of that kind of meditation helping?
What kind of discipline is our author speaking of here? How are they/we to interpret that discipline? How is His discipline both like and unlike the kind we received from our parents?
Take the most time here in your discussion of the latter part of the passage regarding all the urgings by the author to the church as a community. What are the several commitments he is asking them to practice together? What would happen to GMR if these became central to our shared life and culture?
ILLUSTRATIONS:
QUOTES:
The place for all theology to begin is with astonishment.
- Robert Jensen
The end of the creation is that the creation might glorify God; now what is glorifying God, but a rejoicing at that glory he has displayed? … God is glorified not only by his glory being seen, but by its being rejoiced in.
- Jonathan Edwards
Contemplation is a loving immersion in the truth... The capacity to perceive the beautiful... is inseparably united with the ability to be contemplative.
- Josef Pieper
For while Christ takes the suffering of his creatures up into his own, it is not because he or they had need of suffering, but because he would not abandon his creatures to the grave. And while we know that the victory over evil and death has been won, we know also that it is a victory yet to come, and that creation therefore, as Paul says, groans in expectation of the glory that will one day be revealed. Until then, the world remains a place of struggle between light and darkness, truth and falsehood, life and death; and, in such a world, our portion is charity. As for comfort, when we seek it, I can imagine none greater than the happy knowledge that when I see the death of a child I do not see the face of God, but the face of His enemy. It is not a faith that would necessarily satisfy Ivan Karamazov, but neither is it one that his arguments can defeat: for it has set us free from optimism, and taught us hope instead.
- David Bentley Hart (HT: Rod Dreher)
Nothing so especially makes persons easily vanquished and subdued in temptations as isolation.
- John Chrysostom
sin is never privatized, any more than the spiritual growth or virtue of the Christian is a singular work: sin and its effects never remain with us. . . .when I do not confess to another person, I am perpetuating the isolation of sin for religious reasons: I am withdrawing from others and hiding from them the sin that is affecting them, claiming that I need only confess to God.
- Myles Werntz. From Isolation to Community
If we trust the Christ who called a body together, then we must trust those of the church to hear our confession and speak words of Christ back to us. Confession becomes the breakthrough to our life together: through confession, we encounter one another, with Christ mediating our relationship.
- Myles Werntz. From Isolation to Community
I know all about the despair of overcoming chronic temptations. It is not serious provided self-offended petulance, annoyance at breaking records, impatience etc doesn't get the upper hand. No amount of falls will really undo us if we keep on picking ourselves up each time. We shall of course be very muddy and tattered children by the time we reach home. But the bathrooms are all ready, the towels put out, and the clean clothes are airing in the cupboard. The only fatal thing is to lose one's temper and give it up. It is when we notice the dirt that God is most present to us: it is the very sign of His presence.
- C.S. Lewis (Letters 2:507)
BOOKS / DOCS
“Time to Rediscover Hebrews,” Sinclair Ferguson
Worthy:Living in Light of the Gospel, Sinclair Ferguson
The Doors of the Sea, David Bentley Hart
The Theological Mystery Of Camp Mystic - Rod Dreher's Diary
From Isolation to Community, Myles Werntz (TL;DR? here’s a review and here’s another one)