Hebrews 4:1-13 - Go, Rest, Stop

Hebrews 4:1-13 - Go, Rest, Stop
Matthew 11:28, Psalm 95:7, Numbers 14:22-23, Hebrews 4:13

For the next six weeks – up until Advent – the kids and leaders in Sunday School are focusing on the Bible. The unit is entitled ‘Alive & Active’ (which describes the kids at least!). from the words we’ve just read. Naturally, among the images used to describe God’s living and active word (a lamp, an instruction manual, a mirror) there is a sword. (We are encouraged to have an actual visual display of each symbol, but you’ll be glad to know that they recommend pictures of swords or knives – rather than the actual thing!)

Hebrews 4:12 and 13 are well known verses. You may have memorised them... You may have participated in sword drills…

Growing up in the Baptist tradition one assumes that these verses describe our Bible. Tricky when the Bible as we know it hadn’t been put together. The word of God in verse 12 refers to the way in which God has spoken throughout history, through the prophets and most perfectly through Jesus, who the writer of Hebrews calls ‘the exact imprint of God’s very being’….

Through Jesus, God issues to us an invitation, "Come to me all you that are weary and carrying heavy burdens and I will give you rest." And that word is relayed to us by the writer of Hebrews: "Therefore, while the promise of entering his rest is still open, let us take care that none of you should seem to have failed to reach it." And in this passage we also hear echoes of the word from Jewish Scripture; Psalm 95, Exodus and Numbers.

On Friday night we watched a film title Inkheart with the family. In theat film there is a wonderful scene where the books in bookstores and libraries all begin to speak the words on their pages… The word of God is whispering all around us. In fact – if you look back at 3:13 we’re told to "exhort one another every day". I join in that chorus this morning, but we all have words to share with each other in home groups and daily conversations… God is constantly communicating with us.

Here in chapter 4 the first word is a word of warning. It is flipped around in our English versions, but the first words in the Greek text are ‘let us fear, therefore’. The emphasis means we are to take seriously the possibility we might miss reaching God’s rest.

I googled this passage and found a very Southern - very Baptist - sermon that was superb – but which took the line that two clear options are presented here – accept the gospel or it. It brought back to me hearing gospel appeals being given over and over again to the same group of people; friends agonising over whether they had truly become a Christian when they last went forward or whether they needed to do it again; being at a funeral where we were told to go through one door if we knew we were going to heaven or out the other if we weren’t…

There is a danger that such presentations might do damage to their listeners and misuse the word of God. (My feeling is that I’m not being offered a sword, but a free set of steak knives.)

We do need to heed this warning, but we need to understand:

That this is a very corporate and very pastoral warning. It is saying that it is the concern of all of us that none of us should fail to reach God’s rest.

Secondly, the passage is also, not about receiving the gospel, but persevering in the gospel. Verse 3 says: "For we who have believed enter that rest." The first verb is in the past tense ‘we who have believed’ referring back to our conversion, but the second verb is in the present tense, we are currently entering into God’s rest.

We must persevere in faith. And we do this individually – and communally. I will borrow an illustration from my southern Baptist colleague that comes from a TV commercial. There are two men out playing golf…Let’s not give each other ‘gimmes’ "but exhort one another every day so that none of us are hardened by the deceitfulness of sin."

I love the writer of Hebrews word ‘rest’. It is such a resonant and theologically rich description of what our existence with God is now and will be.

The rest that Jesus offers the weary is the rest that God established at the very beginning of the world. It was available – in the form of safety in the land - to the Israelites under Joshua, but they mistrusted and missed out. But the invitation to enter God’s rest stands open. We strive to enter it, but we do not strive to create it; for it is God’s rest. In verse 9 there is even a new word for it – sabbatismos / sabbath rest – a rest for the ‘people of God’ - a new universal community whose belief in God is growing into faithful obedience.

On the long weekend I (and about 3,000 others) engaged in a more imperfect form of rest (a mostly sleepless one) at the Blackstump Christian Music and Arts Festival. At one workshop I heard Christine Sine, from Mustard Seed Associates, describe a debate amongst rabbis about what God did on the seventh day. The conclusion was that God spent that day enjoying the perfect and finished creation – and that this sets a pattern for our observance of the Sabbath.

How close is that to how we spend our Sundays? Do we observe Sundays by enjoying – what we can – of God’s renewed and perfect creation?

Christine said that for her and her husband, Tom, Sunday has three emphases; enjoying God, enjoying others and enjoying creation. They live in an intentional community that gathers for prayer each morning and evening, but on Sunday they also go out for breakfast together, and journal about the week around three questions: What am I thankful for this week? What has challenged me? And where have I seen the fingerprints of God? Then they go and look at a view or go on a walk to intentionally appreciate creation.

Are we engaging in spiritual practices that enable us to hear the word of God, in scripture, in community, in prayer, in reflection, in the world – that enable us to enjoy God’s rest?

In our family we have Family Night every Friday. Each person has a turn at choosing the menu, leading the family in prayer and organising an activity – usually a game or DVD – for after dinner. It is a slightly less spiritual ‘spiritual practice’, but it reinforces for us valuing each person in our family and taking time to enjoy each other.

Perhaps this week you could share with one person how you regularly take time out to enjoy God, other people and creation.

So we know to persevere and we know that through God we are entering God’s rest, but what is the significance then of the violent images of verses 12 and 13?

The word of God is described as something that gets right into us, that opens us up, that weighs up our real value. In words in verse 13 actually describe a wrestler’s hold that pulls the chin up, leaving you pinned and vulnerable. It is uncomfortable language.

Nathan Nettleton, from Laughing Bird writes a very helpful paraphrase of Hebrews 4:12-13: The word of God is no dead letter. It is full of life and constantly at work. It is as sharp as a surgeon’s scalpel….With great precision it opens us up, layer by layer, uncovering what makes us tick and diagnosing the state of our hearts. You can’t hide your true self from God’s word any more than you hide your body from a surgeon while lying naked and unconscious on the table.

In order for there to be healing and correction in our lives, just as in our bodies, we need to submit to God. At significant moments in our life, and on a regular basis, we need to submit, to be still, to cease our business and busyness, and allow God’s word to operate on us. We need to hold still and let the living, active word do the work.

For it is when the word of God lives and acts in us that we can encourage each other to persevere in faith and enter together into God’s rest.