EPISODE 243 HEBREWS CHAPTER 2 "Don't Be a Drifter"

Well, hello, and we're truly overjoyed that you're here. The world tugs at us every moment of the day, and with so many things vying for our focus and time, it's important that we stay strong in our belief and faith. Today's podcast brings up an important point. Are you paying the most careful attention? Hebrews chapter 2. Okay, in the category Famous Pop Songs of the 1960s, what group was responsible for all these hits: Under the Boardwalk, This Magic Moment, Save the Last Dance for Me, and Up on the Roof?

I bet Tony knows. He worked in the music entertainment industry in a former life. The answer is the Drifters. As Margie explained in our introduction to the Epistle to the Hebrews, the theme of this New Testament writing is that Jesus is far better than anything God has done in the past; that the new covenant he inaugurated and made possible far surpasses the old covenant the Jews took such pride in as God's chosen people: the law of Moses, the prophets, the sacrifices, the traditions and festivals, all of that. In fact, Jesus, who he was and what he has done for us, was the best thing imaginable God could do. Jesus fulfilled the requirements of God's law for us.

He became the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins, and he made a way for anyone, anyone who will repent and receive him as Messiah and Savior, to be forgiven and reconciled to their Creator. And he assures us an eternal home in heaven when this short life is over. Many Jews, based on the evidence of eyewitnesses of Christ and the testimony of his apostles and others who took the Great Commission seriously, accepted Jesus as their promised Messiah and Savior from sin and became his followers. Not only in and around Jerusalem either, and throughout all the rest of Israel, but in all the cities of the empire where the gospel soon traveled. Remember, we saw a slice of that as Luke described the apostle Paul's missionary adventures in the book of Acts.

He normally went into any new city he targeted, looking first for the Jewish synagogue, and he often made real progress for the gospel among the Jews in those places. The Epistle of Hebrews was written after this initial wave of missions activity, and as Margie explained, in the first century, likely sometime after Paul's final imprisonment, but before the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, that window of time. You'll remember, if you've been listening a while, especially to Acts or when we were in Second Timothy, it was right during that window, that period, 65, 66, 67, 68 A.D., that persecution broke out against Christians in connection with the Great Fire at Rome.

For the first time then, Christianity, which had been treated by the empire up until then as just sort of a branch of Judaism, and so a legal and protected religion, was suddenly labeled as a subversive cult and treated as an illegal religion. And probably imagine what a sea change that was for the early Christians. Suddenly, it became dangerous to be just identified as a Christian. So the difficulties resulted from more than just Jews excommunicating and ostracizing other Jews who became followers of Jesus. That was bad enough. But now even the government turned on them, and important leaders like Paul and Peter were martyred and others jailed and tortured to try and slow the growth of this suspicious new faith.

The author of Hebrews, who may well have chosen to remain anonymous for this very reason, composed this letter primarily for Jewish Christians who were now wavering, or others who had been considering becoming Christians who suddenly now had a lot more to think about. It was now more than if they believed the Christian message, but did they believe it enough to suffer and possibly die for it? In that environment, this epistle was written to convince, again, primarily Jewish believers that Jesus and the new covenant God inaugurated through Him was not only worth it, but was God's best and final outreach to them. That's why he writes near the beginning of chapter 2, Don't imagine we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus Himself and delivered to us by those who heard Him speak.

God confirmed that message by giving us signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit. What exactly was the message? The message of the gospel. And he goes on later in this chapter to describe it like this: Because God's children are human beings made of flesh and blood, the Son of God also became flesh and blood, for only as a human being could He, talking about Jesus, die, and only by dying could He break the power of the devil and the power of death. This was the only way He could set us free, by offering Himself as a sacrifice that would take away our sins. Now let me pause here for a moment to say this.

Just because something is hard to understand, or even imagine, does not mean that it is not true, especially when God is in that equation. In chapter 1, the author has argued, based on both Old Testament scripture and the experiences of the eyewitnesses, that when Jesus was on our planet, they were interacting with the Creator somehow among us in human form. Jesus was our Creator, the Creator of the universe, and yet entered our world for those thirty-some years as a flesh-and-blood man, a real human. He calls Jesus there the radiance of God's glory, meaning he radiated God's glory when he was in our world, like the rays of sunlight radiate from the sun. He said, He is the exact representation of God's nature. That word he used comes from making an impression on clay with an authenticating seal or signet ring.

The impression left is the exact representation of what's on the seal or ring. This is why Jesus could say, If you have seen me, you have seen the Father. All these descriptions are in chapter one, verses two and three, by the way. And also there he adds, Jesus is the one who upholds everything by his power. Jesus not only created the world, but it's his power right now that sustains it, his power that maintains the delicate balance between the laws that govern the universe. None of what we experience around us in the natural world is accidental or somehow self-created and maintained.

Jesus, the second person of the Godhead, is the power who created and sustains the universe. And that is the very person who, for a little while two thousand years ago, entered our world as a flesh-and-blood man for the purpose of rescuing us from the coming judgment by willingly suffering the wrath of God our sin deserved on the cross. A lot to accept and trust in, but the author is claiming there's lots of evidence that it was true. Believe me, I understand the doctrine of the deity of Christ is hard to fathom. I also understand the doctrine of the Trinity is pretty impossible to understand. There's nothing really to compare those things to, but it's essential to believe them because they are essential to Christianity.

Elsewhere in the New Testament, Jesus is called the Word of God by the apostle John, meaning God here in a language we could read him. He's called the exact image of the invisible God by Paul in Colossians, where he added, In him dwelt all the fullness of deity in bodily form. He was, as Matthew told us, Emmanuel, God with us. Why is this so critical? Because if that's not who Jesus really was and is, his suffering and death on the cross could not have saved anyone any more than my or your suffering. It's only because of who Jesus was and is that he could be our Savior.

It's only because he was really God veiled in human form that he could make that infinitely valuable sacrifice, the sacrifice of himself, capable of atoning for the sins of all of mankind. The big idea in chapter two comes right at the outset. Therefore, meaning in light of who Jesus is, all I've just said, in light of the great salvation he made possible for us, in light of the superiority of his new covenant, what he came to initiate about a relationship between us and God, in light of the fact God went way out of his way to make forgiveness for us and reconciliation with him possible, therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. You know I get back to the drifters, right?

I was thinking about this after an article I read recently about a lady close to my age who was one of the pioneers of contemporary Christian music back in the 1980s. The article was about her evolving views over those succeeding decades. It caused me to think about why this happens, and also why it was happening even in the early church, which caused the author of Hebrews to issue the warning, Therefore, pay closer attention to what you have heard so that you do not drift away from it. The key verbs in that instruction are, first, one that means pay careful attention to. And second, one which means let something slip away. He says, don't let something slip away.

Think of a ship's captain who's not paying close attention to his duty and allows his ship to drift into danger. It could run aground, or it could hit an iceberg. Jack, I'm sorry, but there's no more room on the wooden door for you. But seriously, in this case, the warning is about our key Christian beliefs. Are we spiritually alert and steadfast in them, or are we drifting and heading for danger? In the case of the original recipients of this letter, when it was copied and passed among early Christian congregations, it's easy for me to understand this author's concerns.

In recent months, it had become dangerous, as I explained, to be recognized as a Christian. In many minds, the thinking was it would probably be safer to return to the synagogue and to Judaism. Besides, they may well have been missing their family who have cut them off now, becoming Christians, missing the familiar rituals and traditions they grew up with and so on. Many who read this first were steeped in the Old Testament law and its traditions: temple sacrifice, priesthood, animal sacrifice. You know, the Jewish religion and culture, it was their life. There was certainly a tide pulling them back in that direction now, which the author was warning them against succumbing to.

For us today, the circumstances are probably very different, but there is always a danger of drifting. The one-time popular artist I mentioned may have been drifting to be more acceptable to a wider audience, to fit in better with the people who write music reviews or vote at award shows. I can't judge her motives for sure, but she has definitely been adrift for a while now. It's a fact that the more we let the world around us squeeze us into its mold, its way of thinking, the more we allow ourselves to be influenced by the popular culture's values, the more likely we are to start drifting away from our biblical faith. So, drifting. It isn't sudden usually.

It's slow. It's subtle. It's even imperceptible to us. It's like when you're at the beach, if this has ever happened to you, you'll know what I mean, and you wade out into the water to play for a while, body surfing or snorkeling or whatever you do, and in 20 or 30 minutes, you look back towards the shore and you don't even recognize anyone, and you don't see your beach chairs where you set up, and you then realize the tide or current have carried you down the beach a ways because, without even realizing it, you've been drifting. It can be like that with our faith. If we spend a lot of our time immersed in the world's entertainments and values and are concerned with what's popular and what's current now, we can drift.

Other people I've seen drift away from their one-time biblical faith have done so because of life circumstances. Things happen in their lives or people close to them that seem unjust, unfair. They begin to drift because of their own human reasoning. For example, why would a loving God allow this? And they think it over and over as they witness someone's serious suffering or experience it themselves. A one-time Christian theologian named Bart Ehrman openly admitted this is what spoiled his faith.

In the foreword of a book he authored, he wrote, The problem of suffering has haunted me for a very long time. It's what made me think about faith and religion when I was young, and it's what led me to question my faith as I got older. Ultimately, it was the reason I lost my faith. The reason I'm familiar with Ehrman is because he now actively works at destroying other people's faith with things he posts online, things I try to answer whenever I see them posted online. In verse 8 of this chapter, when the author is describing how Jesus is better than any angel because God has given him authority over all things, he added, For in subjecting all things to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. But now we do not yet see all things subjected to him.

Meaning, it may well look like God's not in control now. Things in our messed up world that touch your life may not look like Christ is really in control, or if he is, that he doesn't care. But he is, and he does, and ultimately and finally, God will have the last and lasting word and will make all things right. That's what our Christian faith and hope promises. That's one thing the story of Jesus' own sufferings and resurrection are meant to illustrate. It bothers me too, as I've said before.

So much preaching today leads people to believe that if they only embrace Christ and Christianity, all their negatives will somehow turn to positives. That's not true. In fact, that's another gospel, a false gospel. Jesus never promised that to his followers in this lifetime anyway, and the author of Hebrews is certainly not promising anything like that to the people in the first century who were in danger of being persecuted and suffering. Jesus' own life and the life of his apostles were filled with trouble and opposition, weren't they? And the great men and women in the Old Testament experienced it too.

Hebrews has a whole chapter we're going to come to shortly on that subject. So, if you've been drifting away from Christ and your faith is weakening because of circumstances in and around you, and they are making you question if Christianity is true, I respectfully suggest that maybe what is not true is the twisted form of Christianity you've embraced. Here the biblical author, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is urging the early Christians in a dark time, Don't let the circumstances you are facing now cause you to drift away. That's his appeal. Christ is all he ever claimed to be. The story will end up exactly like God's Word says it will.

Stay the course. Hold fast. Stay anchored to Christ and his Word, because he's the only salvation. Another cause of drifting I've seen is intellectual. This often happens when young Christians have their faith ridiculed or challenged, say, at school or when they attend a secular university. They can easily reach the conclusion in that environment that smart people, really educated people, do not believe what I was taught, and that, Hmm, I'm not sure I believe it anymore.

You've no doubt seen this happen to someone you know, or maybe even experienced it yourself at some point. It's a lie, of course, and I'm glad to see so many Christians these days engaging in the public discourse online and on college campuses. Our Christian faith is reasonable, and it fits the facts of the universe quite well. I've listened to scientists like James Tour or philosophers like John Lennox who make that case very convincingly today. You should too. Wisely, in our increasingly secular society, several organizations have developed curriculums now parents can use with their kids as they are growing up, which will not only teach them what Christians believe, but explain why it's very reasonable to believe it.

If that sounds like something your family would benefit from, you'd like to better anchor your children in the Christian faith, just Google something like Christian apologetics for young people. Read up on what's available. There's a lot. Ever since the first century, what the apostle Paul called the wisdom of this world has been at odds with the wisdom of God. He warned in Colossians chapter 2, Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world rather than from Christ. We need to do a better job of anchoring our young people in the Christian faith.

Every parent should make that a serious goal. Maybe, finally, I should mention the pull of other religions. Christians drift into other religions sometimes without even realizing it. New Age religions through meditation concepts they read about or through astrology they get fascinated with, or they get pulled into Hinduism through things like yoga or Buddhism with innocent-sounding things like mindfulness. Sometimes believers get pulled back toward the religion they grew up in because it is so familiar to them or because their family are all still practicing it, just like the Jewish Christians the author of Hebrews was addressing in this letter. I talked to someone I've known for years recently who I know has real faith in Christ.

But for sentimental and family reasons, has drifted back into practicing a religion that never led her to Christ, or ever urged her to crack a Bible, or ever showed her the gospel message. That made me sad. How and why does all this drifting happen? Answer: Too many believers do not have a very strong anchor or well-tied moorings to the faith. We all need to heed this message here in chapter 2. We need to be reminded of it often.

This would be a good verse to put on your fridge or on your bathroom mirror. Hebrews chapter 2, verse 1: We must pay closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it. Or as Paul put the same idea in Colossians chapter 2 at verses 6 and 7: And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your life be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught. My best practical advice if you're a Christian listening to this is: be involved in a Bible-believing church that systematically teaches you Scripture, not little topical sermonettes, but where the Bible is open and knowledgeable, capable teachers explain its biggest ideas and ground you in the Christian faith.

Get a Bible you can read easily, understand readily, that is good study notes. I like the MacArthur Study Bible, but there are other good ones too. Set up a schedule to read it regularly. Read it in conjunction with Share the Word or other online resources from Bible-believing organizations. The Holy Spirit impresses the truth on us as we read and listen, so keep allowing the Word of God to richly dwell within you so it shapes your thinking and anchors your faith. The tide against us today is strong.

The currents are pulling this way and that way, and they are many. Please don't allow yourself to become a drifter. Thanks for listening. This is Paul for Share the Word. Thanks, Paul. Another great podcast filled with amazing insights.

I especially love the analogy of looking back at the shore and realizing you've drifted so far away. There have been periods in my life that I've gotten so busy that my time in the Word had gotten less and less, and then I started feeling lost and was focusing on the aspects of this world and not the kingdom of heaven. I challenge you to look at your day and examine where your focus and attention is going. I was shocked to find out how far down the shoreline I had drifted, but I know that Jesus always has His eyes on me.