[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       Today we come to the infamous chapter, or might we say, the more difficult chapter we know from Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 6, starting in verse 1: “Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment” (ESV).

       Beginning with this section, it’s necessary for us to put ourselves in the early Jewish mindset—the first century mindset—since that is whom the author is talking to. These people had been (and likely were) still part of Judaism. They had taken Christian elements and added it to their already present Jewish practices. In coming to first understand Christian doctrine, it was all new to them. It was “elementary.” Yet, because of some of them having the desire to return to only the Jewish part of their faith, it was leading to issues. It was leading to the point where, essentially, they were stuck at the basic elemental doctrines—not able to move past them. After all, they were still looking behind them, still looking at their old faith and wondering whether that was good enough. Wondering whether they should just turn around and stick only with what they originally knew, stick with that from where they had come. This is what Jesus was talking about, as recorded by Luke, when he said, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God” (ESV). For the Jewish person, this is what they had done. By coming to Christianity, they had put their hands on the plow. Looking back, desiring to go back, was the problem. And really, if you stop and think about it, it’s a problem that even Gentile Christians can face—those who have come into the church, and then desire to go back into the world. We are probably pretty familiar with that.

       So, what were the elementary doctrines that the author was speaking of? Interestingly enough, he lists them. Five key areas are spoken as pertains to those coming into Christianity from Judaism. They are, one, “foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God,” two, the “instruction about washings,” three, “the laying on of hands,” four, “the resurrection of the dead,” and five “eternal judgment.” The first one seems obvious to us, or hopefully it does. It is the basic premise of recognizing our sin problem for the first time, and then turning from that sin problem into relationship with God. This is our initial sanctification—when we first become a Christian. Of course, the process will be ongoing throughout our lives. The second area appears to involve some of the Jewish rituals that apparently these Hebrew Christians still practiced—things from the old way they had continued to do. This is talked about in the Gospel of Mark, in chapter 7, where it says, “and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash. And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches” (7:4, ESV). That seems to be what is focus. The third area of “laying on of hands” is probably referring to the process of water baptism when a person first comes into the church, and then the subsequent “laying on of hands” that occurred right after that (see Acts 8:17 & 19:6). The “resurrection of the dead” was believed to be a future event by some Jews, but not by others (hence Pharisees vs. Sadducees). We can remember in the Gospel of John (see 11:24), where Martha had believed it would occur. Of course, we know what the “eternal judgment” is, the idea that all people will be judged for what they have done, or didn’t do, while living their life on the earth.

       Thus, we see five core doctrines of the Christian faith as outlined by the author. If a person is teeter-tottering between being a Christian and not being a Christian, they are going to be stuck at these doctrines. That would go for the Jewish convert or even the Gentile convert. One is thinking, “perhaps those things I thought were sin actually aren't sin.” “Perhaps it’s okay if I still live with my significant other before marriage.” “Perhaps being gay is okay after all.” Things like these. Or, “Perhaps these Jewish customs from my old faith are good enough.” “Maybe all this Christ stuff isn’t really the answer.” “Maybe he’s not the Messiah we were waiting for.” Or, “Maybe I didn’t really become a Christian when I thought I did.” “Maybe my water baptism didn’t mean anything. After all, I still struggle with sin. So, maybe it didn’t count for anything.” Or, “Maybe there is no life after this one.” “Perhaps, when you’re dead your dead, and that’s the way it works. It’s only Evolution and that’s it.” Finally, “Maybe there is no final judgment.” “Maybe all people just ‘get in’ and no one is left out.” “Perhaps it doesn’t matter whether you know God or whether you don’t.” These are the kinds of things individuals can think and say when they are on the fence to going back to their old life—or of giving up Christianity.

       Verse 3: “And this we will do if God permits. For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit, and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt” (ESV).

       Before our eyes are the infamous verses which have brought fear to the minds of Christians over the centuries, fear as pertains to possibly losing one’s salvation after becoming saved. Of course, there are a lot of Christians who do think that’s possible—that one can lose their salvation—either by giving it up, out of free choice, or by losing it over sin, over a sin-habit that hasn’t been dealt with. It would seem that many have forgotten or forsaken the context of the passage when it comes to this whole area of concern. That’s often the problem. We know that the writer of Hebrews is speaking to Hebrew Christians, or Jewish Christians. These are persons who have come to the faith who are likely still practicing parts of the old Jewish Law in conjunction with their newfound faith in Christ. And what is happening, what is happening, is that the author is doubling-down on what he has been talking about, about the consequence of his concern for the people he is writing to, who are thinking about abandoning the ‘Christian’ part of their faith and simply going back to only practicing the Jewish part. That’s the context we find. Thus, in light of that, we can now tackle what is being said. It is possible that the author is referring to a special situation where Jewish individuals, those under the Old Covenant, because of God’s dealings with them, are more obligated not to turn away from Christ since they belonged to his original chosen people. What is meant is that it is possible that the consequences for them is that if they give it all up after accepting it, give up the Christian part, that there is no way for them ever to become a Christian again. It would be like God sending them a delusion so that they won’t believe, or it could be that they cannot due to the way God has set things up. So, for Jewish Christians, it would be like an unpardonable sin. That’s possible.

       However, a couple more interpretations are also possible. The common argument is that the persons who fall away were never saved in the first place. The belief is present that they are people who were simply ‘part’ of the church, but hadn’t truly believed. Thus, they fall away, because they were really not part of the church, like the Apostle John appears to talk about in his epistle when he says, “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us” (1 John 2:19, ESV). This is also a possible interpretation. Though, it should be noted that such a person who does so then wouldn’t have the possibility of becoming saved in the future. That seems kind of gray, and kind of hard to define. Another way to look at it is that perhaps early on—this early in the church—wherein the power of God was still at least partially visible—that the rules were different. The rules were different. So, we would still be going from the dispensation of the early, early church, were there were still signs and wonders, to the current church age wherein signs and wonders have ceased. Thus, it would be said at the time the author is writing this that circumstances were still a bit stricter, and if one did in fact abandon the faith that were not able to come back into it. The author does say these individuals “have tasted… the powers of the age to come.” That could imply that they had seen with their own eyes supernatural things, say like healings or speaking in tongues. We know, to give a couple examples, that in the early, early church two people died for lying to the Holy Spirit in Acts 5. Paul also speaks in 1 Corinthians 11 of people dying from inappropriately eating at the love feast—at the communion—without proper examination. Some folks see these kinds of judgments as ceased by our current time, and some do not.

       Verse 7: “For land that has drunk the rain that often falls on it, and produces a crop useful to those for whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned” (ESV).

       Obvious, it seems, that the writer is piggy-backing on what he had just said about a person falling away. It appears that he is speaking of two different kinds of people—the Christian who preservers and the one who doesn’t. The Christian who stays in the faith is one of whom the rain falls on it—the problems of life—or even the teachings of the Word of God—and over time the person grows and has works that are helpful to those around him or her. That’s the person who at the end, when they die or are Raptured, receive the blessing from God. On the other hand, on the flip side, there is the person who leaves the faith. That person “bears thorns and thistles” in life. They cannot bear good altogether since they aren’t following the truth of God’s Word. They aren’t practicing a relationship with God. They cannot bear the good that God desires, that God wants. The writer says that this second person is “worthless and near to being cursed.” That cursed part is because they have left the faith. They knew what was right, and they left it behind. They are “in love with this present world” as the Apostle Paul would say to Timothy in speaking of a particular brother (see 1 Timothy 4:10, ESV). It wasn’t what they wanted. He finally seems to indicate that the person will end up in Hell. Or, perhaps one could interpret it as their works will be burned, if they think the person is still saved. This would be like what Paul stated to the Corinthians, when he said, “If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire” (1 Corinthians 3:15, ESV). That could be another possibility.

       Verse 9: “Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation. For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do” (ESV).

       One thing we can consider right away is how the writer of Hebrews changes to a the plural word “we” in his writing to these Hebrew Christians. That’s interesting as it appears to denote that there is more people alongside, or behind, our author of Hebrews. It’s just like Paul would write alongside his companions. We are familiar with this style. This means that whoever the author of Hebrews is, there are people alongside of him. It’s a shame we have no record of who the author was—or where this letter was originating. Nevertheless, what the author is telling the Hebrew Christian church is that they are hopeful that these particular brothers and sisters will not be of those who “fall away” back into sin. That they will not be of those who leave the church—who become displeasing to God. Indeed, whatever the implications of the prior section, it was necessary for the writer to write what he wrote because even if it was not an applicable warning to these particular Christians, it would serve as a warning for others to heed, to ponder. The writer then applies to these brothers and sisters “work” as evidence for their faith. He’s saying their works toward the other brothers and sisters (that of which we have already talked about), shows that they are really Christians—that they are really seeking to follow God. It’s been said before, and it’ll be stated again, that evaluating our works, as individual Christians, is always a good baseline test to see where we stand. It is as James mentioned in his epistle, “For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead” (James 2:26, ESV). That’s one way we can measure.

       This whole discussion of works brings up an important point as pertains to our ‘works’ as Christians, in that they are supposed to be for the purpose of benefiting others. Benefiting others. That’s why God gifts each of us with individual gifts, even if it’s simply one gift. When we become a Christian, we are each bestowed with a gift from the Spirit that can be used to serve other Christians within the body of Christ. For the newcomers out there, this is how it works. What’s cool about this whole thing is that as we are gifted by the Spirit with whatever it is, that means that the service we provide is going to be something we actually want to do. It’s not going to be something that we dread or have a lot of negative thoughts about. Now due to the way that church is setup these days in America, especially with bigger churches as the focus in mind, it may be that you don’t serve as much as you might think that you need to, or think that you should. In churches were there are one or two thousand people, interestingly enough it may be harder to share your gift because there are so many people at the church and not enough roles to do that constantly. For instance, there can only be so many greeters on a Sunday morning—only so many individuals showing hospitality. And that’s okay. The point is that we get to share our gift from time to time as benefits the body. It seems reasonable that this is something that we all will do, as opportunity allows.

       Verse 11: “And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end, so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises” (ESV).

       These two verses—verses 11 and 12—are really good verses. Really good verses. And they are ones that you don’t hear quoted often enough. That’s what we have to hold onto, right? The desire to hold onto our hope, our hope in God. There’s the need to have “earnestness.” This “earnestness” often doesn’t come naturally. It’s something that has to be developed over time. It’s something we have to have regardless of what happens in life. Sounds easy, but really it isn’t. That’s because, as we’ve been talking about, due to sin—due to everything bad that can happen in our own lives and the lives of others—there’s a temptation to move away from the faith, to give it all up. There’s a temptation, for one, to become totally depressed and despondent. There’s also the temptation, on the other hand, to simply try to enjoy the pleasures of life without any sense of religion, without even any sense of morality. A lot of individuals even choose this path. We understand that; we are familiar with that. We are aware of persons who are like this. What is interesting is that if we consider both of these paths—the love of self-pity, or the love of pleasure, whichever of these paths we consider, they both have at their core the same foundational principle. That is, they are trying to avoid what we do not want in life and trying to, or wishing they had, obtained what they do want. So, it’s all tied into things we don’t want and things we want. And it may seem common-sensical to say, “Of course I don’t want bad things to happen, and of course I want good things to happen.” Yes, we say that because it’s natural. That’s the way God has set up things in life. Yet, due to the sin-nature of people and other beings in the world, we know that’s not the way it’s going to go.

       So, how do we avoid the two traps just mentioned—that of the loving of self-pity and the loving of pleasure? Actually, the solution is quite interesting, and it is deep. What we have to learn, like Christ did, and like the writer or Hebrews is going to talk about, we have to learn to accept life as it comes without that judgment of being for or against circumstances. Our focus here is not accepting sin—but accepting the natural flow of life. We have to ‘experience’ life as it is. This doesn’t mean we don’t have emotions—certainly not. It simply means that it is pointless to fight against ‘what is’—to fight against what has happened when it is bad. We also don’t want to cling too closely to the good that happens, because the good that happens soon fades. We don’t only want to be in a correct state of mind when the good happens and not when the bad happens. Even when the bad happens, we need to be able to be stable and secure. The writer of Hebrews speaks of avoiding sluggishness. He speaks of being “imitators” when it comes to using “faith” and “patience”—three key elements which are helpful for us. We have faith when we realize that no matter what happens in life, ultimately, ultimately we will be okay. Jesus spoke of the extreme of this, remember, when he said, “I tell you, my friends, do not fear those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more that they can do” (Luke 12:4, ESV). Patience is working with the fact that circumstances will not always go our way, and we regardless try to have a stable attitude as we wait for events to turn in our favor. This isn’t because God sometimes directs things to not go our way, as if God is a kill-joy, but, as we’ve been saying, simply because they won’t go our way due to the nature of the world. Even if things never go our way, or ultimately do not, as in Jesus’ quote, we still aren’t concerned since we have God, and we love God, and he is all the really matters.

- Daniel Litton