Our Purpose
A few weeks ago the pastoral team, along with our wives, had our annual fall retreat. This is something that we’ve been able to do every year since we were first planted, and it’s usually a time of team soul care. We pray for one another, and invest in our unity and health — which is all good and important — but this most recent retreat was more like a recalibration of purpose. We wanted to come back to the questions:
Why do we exist? What are we mainly all about?
So we discussed that and prayed about that, and it’s all pretty simple. This shouldn’t be a surprise to you. It’s not new — The purpose of this church is to delight in and display the glory of God in Jesus Christ.
That’s why we exist. Our mission and vision as a church … and everything we do as pastors in service and accountability to you; everything about our staff; everything about our band and all those who serve in children’s ministry and Sunday Welcome; and space set-up and A/V support; everything about our Community Groups and Life Groups — everything about our work and ministry to these cities in the places where you live, work, and recreate — everything ultimately terminates on this purpose: we delight in and display the glory of God. We enjoy and exalt God in all his glory.
This means that as a church we worship him and we want others to worship him because we want his glory to magnified above all things … because he’s God. He is more important than anything else there is. And we love him for that. We love God for being God. That’s the thing we can’t get over.
And I need to take some lessons from my son, Nate, on this. He always brings things back to God. The other day he and his brothers and me were talking, and I think the question was about their favorite holiday — but I’ve heard Nate say this before whether he’s talking about his favorite food, his favorite sport, his favorite movie — he might tell you about his favorite whatever, but then he’ll say, “But God is better, right Dad?” He says it all the time. And I say: Yeah, that’s right.
God is better … and bigger and more important than anything else you can imagine. And we exist for him — we as individuals, we exist for him, and this church exists for him. That’s what our passage is about today.
We’re looking at Hebrews 12:12–29, and this is a long passage; there’s a ton of Old Testament allusions and quotations; there’s a mixture of practical exhortation and doctrinal explanation — I spent a long time on this text this past week, but I’m gonna try to summarize the overall meaning of this passage in one sentence. This is one sentence, divided up into three points:
Keep running again,
Because we have what is better,
Therefore, worship God.
Keep running again because we have what is better, therefore, worship God.
Let’s pray:
Father in heaven, please help us now as we set our attention on your Holy Scriptures. Give us open and receptive hearts to receive what you have for us, in Jesus’s name, amen!
1) Keep running again (verses 12-17, 25–27)
Now the reason I’m saying “again” is because we’ve already heard this. We’ve been hearing this for the past two Sundays:
Verses 1–2 — run with endurance the race set before us
Verse 3 — don’t get weary or fainthearted (which implies: keep running)
Verse 12 this morning — “Therefore” [because we now understand why the running is hard, because of God’s fatherly discipline in verses 5–11], “therefore, lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather be healed.”
There’s two things going on here in verses 12–13:
The first thing to see is that the writer continues the running metaphor he started in verse 1. Now I don’t pretend to know much about proper form when it comes to running, but I did verify this with some real runners, so allow me to demonstrate.
When you’re running, you want your hands up here, by your chest, moving. If you see somebody running, and their hands are drooping down here, what would you think is going on? They’re tired — if you’re running and your hands are down here, that’s like the universal sign that you’re struggling.
Now add to that “weak knees” — drooping hands and weak knees — and you’ve got a runner who is about to drop. So the writer of Hebrews is still working in the running metaphor.
Now notice in verse 12 that verb “lift” or “strengthen.” In the original, it’s actually only one verb that applies to both the drooping hands and weak knees. The word means, basically, to restore, or to re-strengthen — which is something you gotta do if you’re gonna keep running.
Also, verse 13, “make straight paths for your feet.” If you’re gonna keep running, you have to stick to the path, run straight — so that whatever is lame, won’t be.
It’s easy to see here that the writer is saying what he’s been saying: again, keep running.
Old Testament Allusions (verses 12–13)
But there’s something else the writer is doing. Verses 12–13 allude to at least two Old Testament verses. First, listen to Isaiah 35, verse 3 — and the context of Isaiah 35 is full of joy and hope. Isaiah has been talking about God’s future salvation. He says, Isaiah 35:3,
“Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the feeble knees.
4 Say to those who have an anxious heart,
‘Be strong; fear not!…’”
Now listen to Proverbs 4:26,
“Ponder [or make straight] the path of your feet;
then all your ways will be sure.”
So that’s Isaiah 35:3 and Proverbs 4:26 — and it sure seems like the writer of Hebrews is echoing these verses in 12 and 13 — the early Christians who first heard this book would have absolutely made the Old Testament connection — and what’s brilliant about this by the writer (I just want to point out!) is that he is simultaneously quoting Old Testament verses and keeping it within the running metaphor. He’s saying: Again, keep running (like I’ve been saying) and here’s support from the Hebrew Scriptures. This is amazing.
Peace and Holiness (verse 14)
Then he gives us another command in verse 14:
“Strive [or pursue] for peace with everyone, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord.”
Pursue peace and holiness. This is part of the running. And one important thing to know about peace and holiness is that peace and holiness are the fruit of the gospel for all things horizontal and vertical. Peace, horizontal. Holiness, vertical.
In the death of Jesus, he demolished the walls of hostility that stood between us and others, which means, at a personal level, the world has become our neighbor. Our default orientation to everyone is peaceableness.
And, holiness means that we are maturing as God’s sons and daughters. We should be increasingly living in congruence to who God has made us to be, is making us to be. There is a “holiness without which no one will see the Lord.” That’s what verse 14 says. It means the only way we’re going to see Jesus face-to-face one day is if we are made like him. We must be holy like him.
That’s something to remember as you imagine the day you’re going to see Jesus. I try to think about that moment a lot, especially in worship. I look up there at that window and remember that Jesus is a real person, and I’ve said this before … he probably doesn’t look exactly like that, but he looks something like that! Because he has a face. He’s got hands. He has eyes. And one day I’m going to see him. And I wonder what I’m gonna do. I can get kinda nervous thinking about it.
But what helps me is that fact that in that moment when I see Jesus I’m going to be completely holy — that’s how I know I won’t say anything dumb. I’ll see him and I’ll be like him.
And the holiness that I will have in that moment, and the peace that I have horizontally with others, are both realities that I have received in the gospel. I don’t earn any of these things. They are gifts given to me through my union with Jesus. That’s true for all Christians.
And therefore, we pursue peace and holiness — we pursue them not to earn them, but to fulfill them. That’s basically the Christian life. That’s what the running is — we are increasingly becoming who we are in Christ — and there are some warnings here. … in verse 15 and verse 25.
A Word on Warnings (vv. 15ff, 25ff)
These warnings are part of the running, so I’m going to combine them together — we’re not going to spend a ton of time on this — I wrote to you about this in the email on Friday, called it two mistakes to avoid in discipleship — but notice that verse 15 and verse 25 both begin with the word “see”.
Verse 15, “See to it that no one fails to obtain [or falls short of] the grace of God…”
Verse 25, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking …”
And in both cases the writer refers to a negative example from the Old Testament. There’s Esau as the negative example in the first warning, and then Israel at Mount Sinai as the negative example in the second warning. Don’t be like them.
Don’t be short-sighted like Esau who failed to think about the future; and don’t be fearful like Israel who failed to obey God speaking in the present.
When it comes to running with endurance, we need to have the long view and we need to know that every step matters. These warnings are part of the running; running is still the major theme of the chapter; it’s our first point: “Keep running again.”
Now here’s the second point, the second part of our summary sermon sentence. Keep running again…
2) Because we have what is better (verses 18–24)
This is verses 18–24, and this section is just incredible. I’m going to read the whole section again, but let me tell you what’s going on. The writer is going to do another contrast here, basically between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant. And he’s done this contrast before, but what makes it different in Chapter 12 is that this is a contrast of our experience.
It’s riveting. The writer starts by describing the experience of Israel at Mount Sinai (in Exodus 19), and he describes this like a play-by-play commentator. TV and video have basically ruined us, but imagine for the first hearers what it would have been like to hear this play-by-play! It’s all sensory language. Listen to this, and see if you can track with the senses evoked. Verse 18:
18 For you have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest 19 and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. 20 For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” 21 Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.”
It’s all touchable, smellable, hearable, seeable. Old Covenant Israel came to that at Mount Sinai and it terrified them. But we have not come to that. Instead, we’ve come to something different — something better.
Now we’ve talked before about the “Jesus is better” theme in the Book of Hebrews overall, and well, here is that theme again, and it’s an absolute fireworks show. Verses 22–24 remind me of the grand finale of a fireworks show when a bunch of fireworks get shot out together … That’s what this is.
There were seven descriptions of Mount Sinai in verses 18–21, and now in verses 22–24 there are seven descriptions of the glory of Mount Zion. This is what we have come to. So listen to this, and Christian, know that this is yours. You have not come to Mount Sinai …
22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,
and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,
23 and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven,
and to God, the judge of all,
and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
24 and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant,
and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel!
This is stunning. We have come to this. It’s like the writer is saying: Do you know where you are? Yeah, you can’t see all of this right now, but you have it. You can have the assurance of things hoped for. You can have the conviction of things not seen. They are yours.
And I’d love to go into detail about each one of these descriptions, but that would take all day, so I’m just going to comment briefly on each one …
Mount Zion, the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem
This is home. In Chapter 11 it’s called the homeland, the better country, the city that God has prepared for us. It’s the unshakable kingdom there in verse 28. It’s the city that is to come in Chapter 13:14. The New Jerusalem is our future in that one day we will stand in that city come down from heaven (Revelation 21:2), but we are its citizens now. It’s our home now, although we’re not there yet. And we should say about New Jerusalem what Psalm 137 says about Old Jerusalem:
“5 If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand forget its skill!
6 Let my tongue stick to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set New Jerusalem
above my highest joy!”
We should think more about Heaven, y’all. And we should live as a witness to it. Jesus is coming back and he’s bringing a city.
2. innumerable angels in festal gathering,
Another way to say this sentence is “party with the angels.” In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus tells us about the joy of the angels over one sinner who repents (see Luke 15:10). So imagine here thousands and thousands of angels — too many to count — and they are all gathered together to celebrate. We are part of that celebration.
3. the assembly [or church] of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven
The word there for “assembly” is the word for “church”, and this is a way to talk about the universal church. It’s the whole communion of saints — every Christian who has ever lived across all time and place. It includes those who have died in faith, like the cloud of witnesses in verse 1, and it includes all true believers across all denominations today. It’s whoever has their name written in heaven. We are part of that membership.
4. We have come to God, the judge of all
This means what it says. God. We have come to God. Jesus died to bring us to God. We have him, and he is “the judge of all,” which speaks to his supreme authority. There’s nobody above him. There’s nobody to get to after him.
And so you might wonder, like me: Why put God at #4 here in the list? If God is most ultimate, shouldn’t he come last?
Well, remember these Christians know that it’s a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (that’s from Chapter 10:31). They’ve just been reminded about Mount Sinai and how frightening is was when Israel encountered God. So how can the writer ensure us that our coming to God the judge will be different?
He starts by telling us about those who have already faced the judgment of God. …
5. to the spirits of the righteous made perfect,
This refers to all those who have died in faith — those who have finished their race and faced the judgment of God. Hebrews 9:27,
“it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.”
Saints who have died have experienced that, and they were not incinerated. Why?
Because of …
6. Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant
We’ve come to Jesus. This new covenant that is better than the old is mediated by a Savior who is better than all — he is a better priest, a better prophet, a better king — and we have come to him.
There’s a great story here from the life of John Bunyan. After he became a Christian against all human odds, after he was mentored by his pastor John Gilford, after he started preaching, after he wrote his first book — Bunyan was being used by God — but then he got really sick. A grave illness.
And through this sickness, he said that Satan continually assaulted his soul with doubts and fears. Eventually he recovered from the physical sickness but then came under “a great cloud of darkness.” He struggled with debilitating depression and what he called spiritual apathy. He wrote, “I could not feel my soul to move or stir after grace and life by Christ.”
And this continued on until one night, he was sitting by the fireplace with his wife, Mary, in their small 17th-century English home, and suddenly a verse flashed into his mind. He thought “I must go to Jesus.” And he said to Mary: “Wife, is there ever such a Scripture as ‘I must go to Jesus’?”
And Mary, of course, didn’t grab her phone and google it, but she thought about it and she searched through their Bible, and finally she said, “I can’t tell. Can’t find it.” And then, Boom!, Bunyan said I got it! Hebrews 12:24, “But ye are come unto … Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.”
He said that joy flooded his soul and he wanted so badly to tell people about it. He wrote, “Christ was a precious Christ to my soul that night … I could scarce lie in my bed for joy and peace and triumph through Christ.”
How bout that?!
Church, we have come to this Jesus. And he’s just better. His new covenant is better. We keep running, again — we keep running — because what we have in Christ is better …
3) Therefore, worship God (verses 28–29)
Skip to verse 28. What do we do, then, with all this? In light of all that we’ve come to. In light of this unshakeable kingdom that is ours in Christ, verse 28:
28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Because what we have in Christ is better, we run with endurance the race set before us, and we keep running, and ultimately it’s all about worship. We exist to worship God.
That’s the purpose. To enjoy and exalt God in all his glory.
And that worship, the writer says, is to be acceptable (or pleasing) worship, “with reverence and awe … for our God is a consuming fire.”
And isn’t it interesting that the writer ends this whole section with those words? That image? God, a consuming fire. That’s a quote from Deuteronomy 4:24,
“For Yahweh your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.”
Why does the writer end the chapter with this? In the passage just before this (we saw last week) the writer tells us that God is our father who loves us, who treats us as his children. Why end here with “consuming fire”?
Well, we don’t know precisely why, but we know it’s connected to the Mount Sinai reference in verse 18, and I think it’s because the writer wants to remind us that our God, the God we worship, our Father, is the same God we read about at Mount Sinai. … the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, the God who revealed his terrifying glory to a fearful Moses and faithless Israel. That God is our God … same God, but better covenant. Same God, but better promises. Same God, but better hope in Jesus …
We have a better everything in Jesus — so we should give God thanks.
And God is the same God he has always been so we know that he is not to be trifled with.
And we worship him in light of that … we remember that God is full of stunning grace, and the grace is stunning because it’s the grace of a consuming fire.
And when we understand this, we’re overcome with gratitude. Reverence and awe is just what happens. It’s what can’t not happen.
It’s not teddy bear grace. It’s consuming fire grace …
That’s only possible because the sprinkled blood of Jesus speaks a better word than Abel.
This is what brings us to the Table.
The Table
We see in verse 24 that we have come to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and that last description in verse 24 emphasizes the how.
We have come to Jesus who by his blood — by his high priestly sacrifice of himself — has made the way for us. Through his death, Jesus has given us blessings world without end. His blood is our boast. His empty tomb is our hope. Jesus is our everything. And give him thanks for that at this Table. We worship God because of him at this Table.
