Unity Is Not the Same as Total Agreement
The appeal of the apostle Paul (Romans 14) was that the Christians in the church in Rome should remain united even if there was a difference in doctrine and practice over these matters. Not all differences are worth dividing over. On some matters, you can agree to disagree.
Unity as Striving Together for the Gospel
An extreme view of Christian unity is found among those who will work together only with those with whom they agree on everything—doctrinal and practical. They often divide over styles of worship, political and social issues, modes of child discipline and education, church organization and administration, the use of social media, eschatological views, and so on. As you will notice, these are all non-gospel issues. Granted, our level of interchurch cooperation does depend on how united we are over matters of doctrine and practice, but there should still be some level of cooperation where it is evident that we stand for the same gospel. Refusing all cooperation with fellow believers is surely wrong. If such division were allowed, the New Testament church would have long split between Jews and Gentiles, because in those early days that was what largely threatened church unity.
The apostle Paul addressed this matter in some of his letters, especially Romans and 1 Corinthians. For instance, to the Romans he wrote:
As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions. One person believes he may eat anything, while the weak person eats only vegetables…
One person esteems one day as better than another, while another esteems all days alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind…
Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother?…So then each of us will give an account of himself to God.
(Romans 14:1-2, 5, 10, 12)
The appeal of the apostle was that the Christians in the church in Rome should remain united even if there was a difference in doctrine and practice over these matters. Not all differences are worth dividing over. On some matters, you can agree to disagree.
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Hold Fast to the Hope Set before Us: Hebrews 6:9–20
Since it is indeed impossible for God to lie, why did He make an oath by Himself to Abraham? The surface level answer is that He made an oath by Himself because there is no higher authority by which God can appeal. Going deeper, God made the oath as an act of condescension, to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose and that they might have a strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.
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. 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.
For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he had no one greater by whom to swear, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely I will bless you and multiply you.” And thus Abraham, having patiently waited, obtained the promise. For people swear by something greater than themselves, and in all their disputes an oath is final for confirmation. So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Hebrews 6:9-20 ESV
Because faith and hope are intimately bound together, Abraham could just as easily have been called the man of hope as the man of faith. Abraham’s entire life of faith was predicated upon his hope in God’s mighty promises to him. To be specific, God promised to give Abraham an offspring, to make him into a great nation, and give his offspring the land of Canaan. Abraham only saw the fulfillment of the first promise before his death, and even that promise came twenty-five years after God made it to him.
Of course, the Scriptures never attempt to portrait Abraham as a sinless man. He was just as needful of redemption as we are today. However, Abraham’s faith and hope in God’s word is worthy of our imitation, for like him, we too are called to believe God’s very great promise, that we might endure to the end just as he did.
Though We Speak in This Way: Verses 9–12
Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things–things that belong to salvation. What ought to immediately notice about this verse is the distinct tonal shift, even calling his readers beloved, and that is not accidental, as if the author of Hebrews were manic-depressive. Being carried along by the Holy Spirit and out of love for his congregation, this pastor is using both the rod and the staff, both rebuking and comforting. Of course, we should be familiar with this pattern because it is how all parental discipline ought to look. The rod of correction is a physical warning against the death that lies at the end of the path of folly and disobedience. But punishment rather than discipline has been meted out if the path of wisdom and love is not presented immediately.
Similarly, we the readers of this sermon-letter have been stricken with the rod of correction. First, we were rebuked for stalling in spiritual infancy and needing to learn the same theological ABC’s over and over again. Then we were warned of what made spiritual immaturity so dangerous: it made one ripe for falling away from the faith. Indeed, last week’s warning against apostasy was intended to startle and awaken us from our spiritual drowsiness and lethargy, but as we noted, the author had no desire to incite despair in any of his reader, which we can clearly observe in this verse.
Here the author makes it clear that he has greater hope in the case of his readers. But his hope of better things pertaining to salvation is not unmoored or frivolous. Indeed, it can be all too easy to others saved simply from compassion and the dreadfulness thought of eternal damnation. The author is giving way to no such thoughts. His confidence in his readers ultimate salvation is rooted in their past and present fruitfulness, which is what he expresses in verse 10: 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.
Notice first what kind of fruit the author described. They displayed love for God’s holy name by serving the saints. Their greatest devotion was toward the glory of God’s name, which ought to be true of every Christian. We see this in places like Ephesians 1 that make it clear that the purpose of our salvation is God’s praise and exaltation. However, we also ought to be reminded of this marvelous truth each time we pray through the Lord’s Prayer. As Thomas Watson noted, every petition in the Lord’s Prayer is necessary only for this life, but the first petition is eternal. God’s kingdom will one day come, His will shall be done on earth as in heaven, God Himself will be the eternal portion of His people, the tempter and temptation will be destroyed, and grace will reign forevermore. Yet even when we have no more need to pray for provision, pardon, and protection, we will still pray for God’s name to be hallowed, to be set apart and exalted ever higher. Indeed, there is no such thing as a Christian who does not cherish and esteem the name of God our Savior. Of course, that love is never wholly and perpetually pure throughout this life, but it is there and growing throughout the Christian’s life.
Yet their love for God’s name was displayed through their serving of the saints. Here we see a reflection of the two greatest commandments: loving God and loving our neighbor. They were doing that, and they were especially loving the saints, that is, their brothers and sisters in Christ. This likely referred both to their love for one another within their own congregation as well as their support of other congregations of believers in other cities. Indeed, I think it most likely that the author was sent out by them for that very purpose of serving some other group of Christians. This is just as crucial for the life of a Christian as the love for God’s name. Of course, our love for the saints is secondary to our love for God, but our love for God must always overflow into our love for God’s people. Christians are made saints, holy ones, because Christ died to redeem them. If God so loved the saints, how can anyone claim to love God and not also love what He loves? 1 John 4:20-21 makes this very point:
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Next notice when the readers exhibited this fruitfulness. The words have shown point toward their past, but verse 10 concludes by saying as you still do, which brings their fruitfulness into the present. Both are key to the author’s confidence that they will not be among those who fall away from the faith. Although they have becoming dull of hearing and have not pressed on toward spiritual maturity, they have not been and are not yet like the land that only yields thorns and thistles after the rain. Instead, they are still producing a crop of righteousness for the benefit of the saints out of love for their heavenly Father.
But though his readers are still bearing fruit that they belong to Christ, their gradual descent into immaturity is still a real threat. Thus, after reminding them of their faithfulness in the past and in the present, he exhorts them regarding the future in verses 11-12:
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.
It is fitting that the author exhorts earnestness in his readers. John Piper notes that:
The opposite of earnestness is drifting in the Christian life. “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it” (Heb. 2:1). Most “former Christians” drifted away from the faith rather than departing suddenly. As Jesus said, little by little “they are choked by the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (Luke 8:14). One of God’s remedies for this dreadful danger of drifting away is the abundance of warnings in his word to make us earnest or vigilant—or, as Jesus said, “awake” (Mark 13:37).[1]
Although he rejoices in their past and present faithfulness, the author’s desire is that their earnestness for the faith would continue until the end. He desires this because “Scripture knows nothing of biblical assurance or of salvation apart from an earnest pressing on with the business of persevering in faith in Christ.”[2]
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Closeness Comes Through Fire
God’s sovereignty is not an invitation to make perfect sense of how his power and love coexist with every detail of our suffering. Instead, his sovereignty reminds us to approach him as children who trust their Father and his love. A child understands love, and God’s love is, indeed, a fathomless expanse that he welcomes us to explore. He gives help and wisdom as we consider, “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32).
Ignatius of Loyola (1491–1556) believed the cannonball that broke his leg was essential to his spiritual awakening. For Martin Luther, it was the threat of lightning. What unites them is that they are part of a common Christian tradition that teaches an uncomfortable lesson: suffering sanctifies.
The stories can be found throughout Scripture and in every church on almost any day. We might wish that faith grew especially during prosperity, but the voice of faith says, “Jesus, help!” And those words come most naturally when we are weak and unable to manage on our own. Growth can be judged, in part, by the number of words we speak to our Lord, and we tend to speak more words when we are at the end of ourselves.
Suffering sanctifies. God tests us in order to refine us. This is true, and knowing this might help us face the inconveniences and challenges of everyday life. But this knowledge feels less satisfying in the face of the death of a child, betrayal by a loved one, or victimization that leaves you undone. Then the nexus between trouble and God’s sanctifying goodness can gradually give way to a relationship in which you and God seem to live in the same house, but you rarely acknowledge him.
We expect some types of sanctifying suffering, but not those sufferings that border on the unspeakable. When these come, the idea that they sanctify us may feel unhelpful. Though we might say to a friend who had a flat tire, “How is God growing you through that?” we know that we should never ask such a question to someone when “the waters have come up to my neck” (Psalm 69:1). The basic principle is true — God sanctifies us through suffering — but there are more elegant and personal ways to talk about it.
Sanctification Is Closeness
A more helpful approach first refreshes our understanding of sanctification.
Let’s begin with a common definition: sanctification is growth in obedience. The problem is when this definition drifts from its intensely personal moorings. As it does, suffering becomes God’s plan to make us better people — stronger, seasoned soldiers who don’t retreat after a mere flesh wound. All of this, of course, sounds suspiciously like a father who is preparing his children to move out and become independent, which is the exact opposite of what God desires for us. Left in this form, the principle that “suffering sanctifies” will erode faith.
Sanctification, of course, is much more intimate. “Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God” (1 Peter 3:18). Jesus died to draw us near to God, and our obedience serves that closeness. From this perspective, sin and any form of uncleanness distance us from God. Holiness, or sanctification, brings us closer.
Progressive Nearness
Think of the Old Testament tabernacle. The unclean, which included the foreign nations and those contaminated by the sins of others, were farthest from the place of God’s presence in the Most Holy Place. The clean were closer. They camped around God’s house and could freely come near to worship and offer sacrifices. The priests, however — the ones made holy — were closer still. They were invited daily, in turn, into the Holy Place, and, once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest dared to enter the Most Holy Place. The high priest offers a picture of humanity as God intended — purified and close to him.
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What Does It Mean to Enter into Temptation?
Temptations will come to you this week, and Jesus says, “Watch and pray, so that what will come to you will not enter into you and trap you.”
Everybody is tempted. As long as you’re in the body, temptation can reach you. The impulse to sin has a landing place in your life.
Jesus doesn’t say, “Watch and pray, so you won’t be tempted.” There is no way you can get into a place in the Christian life where you are no longer tempted. He says, “Watch and pray, so that you will not fall into temptation.” Literally it says, “so that you will not enter into temptation.”
John Owen is helpful here. Entering into temptation, Owen says, has two distinctive features:
First, “Satan becomes more earnest than usual.”
There are times when he intensifies his assaults against you. Not every day in the Christian life is the same. There seem to be days and seasons of life when all hell breaks loose. Paul refers to this, “put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes…” (Ephesians 6:13).
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