Overview of the Passage [Hebrews 11:23-31]

This passage contains the faith records of those in the Exodus generation, stretching from Moses to Rahab. Moses' life was filled with moments requiring great faith— from his parents saving his life at birth to his keeping of the Passover. It is important to note that Moses' faith wasn't perfect; his hesitancy to go to Pharaoh (Exod. 4:1-17) is well documented. However, he clearly still went forward in faith, expecting and hoping for a greater reward. His fear didn't overtake his faith; if it had, he wouldn't have continued forward in obeying God in the ways mentioned.

The same must be said about the Israelites. The author of Hebrews leans upon their crossing the Red Sea and circling the city as ways they demonstrated faith. What if churches in Milwaukee marched around the city with prayer for 7 days?! However, there are extensive examples of their complaining and lamenting the departure from Egypt (Exod. 14:11). Again, their faith, though not perfect, was evident in their actions. Rahab, too, was fearful of the Israelites and the LORD (Josh. 2:8-13) along with the rest of the people of Jericho. However, her actions demonstrated her faith in God and his greater purposes.

Where to Land the Plane.
The author of Hebrews is giving us examples of faith— examples that are clearly imperfect, but still moving forward in faith. Despite the mentions of fears, the truth remains that they took these significant steps of faith. All of these steps were in hope of God's greater plan, which comes to ultimate fulfillment in Christ. Had Christ not endured all that he did, the greater reward wouldn't be possible. Milwaukee Churches can and should thank God as they consider what Christ accomplished on the cross. Further, where our faith falls short, we must remember Christ's perfect faithfulness. Don't be confused: Christ's perfection doesn't simply fill in the gaps where we fall short. Instead, Christ became sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor. 5:21).

Let us fully lean upon Christ as the Perfect and Faithful savior. Let us walk by faith that through him we will inherit all that has been promised to us as God's people. Let us fully affirm our need for Christ to be the perfection that we will never be.

Overview of the Passage [Hebrews 11:8-22]

While last week's passage covers the span of Genesis 1-11, this passage covers the narrative of Genesis 12-50, through the foundation of the relationship between the LORD and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Again, the pattern established in 11:1-2 continues in this section. Faith is demonstrated when people act in (1) the assurance of things they hope to happen (by God's hand) and/or (2) the conviction of things not seen. When God's people act in this way there is a commendation that is received.

The LORD's calling of Abraham to go "to the land that I will show you" falls in line with this assurance/confidence, just as Sarah's confidence in the promised offspring in spite of her old age, God's preservation of Isaac when offered for sacrifice (Gen 22), and all the other examples in this passage.

Realistically, those mentioned here didn't experience the earthly commendation. While there is truth in the practicality of the need for an eternal perspective(!), it can be hard when we stand in the face of hardships, temptations, and struggles. This is where the original audience of Hebrews stood and where we are. The hard reality is that to walk in faith means we are living without seeing that which we hope for. Milwaukee Churches have the opportunity to do much the same.  The very nature of faith rests upon the hope that these things will come to pass.

Where to Land the Plane
The passage speaks throughout of the OT patriarchs looking toward a city that has been prepared for them. We must walk in view of the same truth. We need to be assured that Jesus has indeed gone to prepare a place for us (John 14:1-7). That through his death, resurrection, and ascension, Christ has secured our place with him in eternity. This is the faith that the patriarchs had— and in spite of their adversity and imperfections, they walked in faith. Will we?  How is the Faith of Abraham an example to Churches in Milwaukee?

By Faith

Our passage for the week is relatively short and sets up the whole chapter. This section could be organized in this way:

    - Verses 1-3: Overview/Framework of the Whole Chapter

    - Verses 4-7: Framework Applied to Abel, Enoch, and Noah (Genesis 1-11)
 
Framework of the Chapter
The author isn't providing a dictionary definition of faith here, but does give us a sense of what it looks like. Faith, he says, is:

    - The assurance of things hoped for,

    - The conviction of things not seen.

These two ideas are clearly linked; assurance and conviction are synonymous. Further, what we hope for is something that looks forward into the future; isn't part of our present reality; since we can't see the future, it is unseen. Are we assured of that which has been promised to us as believers? Do we maintain the conviction that, though unseen, God will bring it to reality? Will Churches in Milwaukee have this type of Faith

What happens when someone possesses such faith? Verse two states that the people of old (those that will be written about in this chapter) received their commendation.
Notice that all the examples throughout this chapter will follow this pattern:

    1. A demonstration of OT person's assurance and/or conviction [followed by]

    2. God's commendation to the faithful OT person.

Framework Applied
So, by faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. Why? Abel had assurance and conviction of an unseen hope. What was the result? "[H]e was commended as righteous" (11:4). Use this framework to see how the whole chapter is structured. The ultimate commendation comes at the end of the chapter (and when Christ returns).

The author's main aim is for his audience to have assurance and conviction in an unseen hope that comes to them through the shed blood of Christ. Namely, he want them to endure all things so that they too will receive their commendation that comes to those who hold fast to their assurance and conviction. Let us stir up our group members towards the same aim. Milwaukee Churches we can have this type of faith and see God do amazing things through our churches.

Jesus Loves the Church | epikos church

The final sermon in our love series is on LOVE CHURCH. The text comes from a section in Ephesians that is often referred to as a 'household table,' where there are instructions for how anyone within a household should live out their faith (cf. Col 3:18-4:1). Specifically, this section is addressed to husbands. The Apostle Paul calls upon husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church. Consider this list of what Christ has done/is doing/will do for the church:

• Christ loved the church. (25)
• Christ gave himself up for her [church is a feminine noun in Greek]. (25)
• Christ hopes to sanctify her. (26)
• Christ cleansed her by the washing of the water with the word. (26)
• Christ hopes to present her to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle. (27)
• Christ hopes that she might be holy and without blemish. (27)
• Christ nourishes and cherishes the church. (29)
• Christ has made believers members of his body. (30)

Christ has come into a one-fleshed union with believers, as husbands and wives are one flesh. (31-32)
What an amazing list! When we consider these things— some past, some present, and some hopeful future— we need to recognize that to be a believer is the bride of Christ. We are called into a covenant relationship with Him... are we fulfilling our vows to him in this marriage? Now let us not be confused— our relationship with Him is wholly based on his work. Yet we are called to respond to him as wives are called to respond to their husbands. Consider Ephesians 5:22-24:  

   
Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands.

To the world, these verses seem antiquated and out of step with modern life. Space doesn't allow for unpacking all of this (we will be studying Ephesians in the autumn, so it will come later), but the key idea here this: human marriage is a picture of the ultimate marriage between Christ and the church. We are called to faithfully respond to the work he has done for us at the cross. This analogy is used throughout Scripture to describe the relationship between the LORD and Israel (think: Hosea). The relationship between idolatry (read: anything put before God) and adultery is a well-established theme in the OT and is built upon here and in Revelation 19:1-10.  Churches in Milwaukee have people who do faithfully serve week in and week out.

Ultimately, it is time to 'define the relationship' with the Christ and his church. Are you living out your walk with Christ in the context of the body? Are living as one joined to him as a member of his body? If not, what is the step forward for you? Is it committing to regular attendance? serving? membership? Help your group members to see the call given to believers as a response to Christ to love the church and help them to see a practical step forward to be better disciples.  If you don't have a home at one of Milwaukee churches then find one.  While it doesn't have to be epikos, do find one.

Churches in Milwaukee Invited to Comedy Event

The command to love our neighbor is not just a call for a select few, or only to people in ministry, or even exclusive to those who are naturally nice.  It’s a command of each and every one of us.  And it’s also a command that we should heed each and every day. So how then are we as Milwaukee churches, with all our faults and limitations, to respond effectively?  Let me share a couple of thoughts and a practical opportunity to take action:

1. You've got to be thoughtful about who your neighbor is.

We’ll get a fuller treatment of this subject on Sunday, but no doubt there’s a broad definition coming as to who our neighbor is.  Therefore, to love our neighbor as God would have us do, we need to expand our view of who are our neighbors.  Importantly, they are not just those we naturally come into contact with in our day-to-day lives.

2.Be mindful of God’s heart regarding neighborliness.

We honor and love God when we honor and love those who the world might view as “the least.”  See, Matthew 25:31-46.  God’s heart is moved when we interact with the hungry, the thirsty, the naked, the sick, and the imprisoned.  If you were here last year as we went through Amos and James, you saw the passion with which God wants us to embrace and care for today’s disadvantaged, disfavored and isolated.  That passion should be our passion.    

3.Be encouraged that loving your neighbor is great outreach.

Not much before going to the Cross, Christ declared that “all people will know you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  See, John13:35.  Loving your neighbor in our world is remarkable and attractive.  The world often writes off the Church as hypocritical in its abandonment of the disfavored – but takes note when we walk the talk.  If I had more space to write, I could share with you how I’ve seen this play out time and time again – but I’m sure you have seen the truth in that played out in your own experience.  So we invite anyone from any of the churches in Milwaukee to come to this event: http://www.epikos.org/events/comedy-with-impact-fish-sticks-comedy-isaac-witty/

4.Put yourself in position to love your neighbor.

You can’t love your neighbor from afar.  And you can’t expect your neighbor to come to you.  You have to go to them. 

Mark 12:28-34 Hey Church Love God

The first in our series on LOVE starts with our call to love God. The primary text from the sermon is Mark 12:28-34, though there are several other texts that are drawn from.  Imagine if Churches in Milwaukee took seriously the call to Love God and Love Each other.

Mark records a conversation between Jesus and a scribe, whereby the question is posed to Jesus, "Which commandment is the most important of all?" Jesus' response is a quotation from Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which reads, "Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might." This reflects the teaching of the first commandment to have no other gods before the LORD God (Exod. 20:3; Deut. 5:7).

The challenge of this command, whether reading it from Exodus, Deuteronomy, Mark, or Matthew is that we're not able to obey this fully and perfectly in a way that preserves our souls. Why, then, is this the greatest, most important commandment? Has God set us up for failure? By no means.

Apart from understanding the gospel, we will not be able to truly love God— at least not with all our heart, soul, and might (another way of saying "with all of yourself"). To think or act as though we can truly love God apart from Christ is folly. In Christ, we truly see the extent of God's love for us: God the Son was sent to us, perfectly obeying God's commands throughout his life, and sacrificially laying his life down to pay for our perfect disobedience. Jesus' perfect love for the Father enables us to love God. How? By believing that Christ's death can pay for our sin, we can be brought to new life in him. It is now in that new life that we are made able to really love God.

So, a love for God must be grounded in the gospel. Despite all that the world has to offer us, we must grow in the knowledge that God is sufficient for all our needs and wants. As David declared, when the Lord is our shepherd, we shall lack nothing (Ps. 23:1, NIV)! We hope and pray that Christians in Milwaukee churches Love God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.

From there, what does it look like to love God? Consider the following:

Exodus 20:5-6 (cf. Deut. 5:9-10) — I the Lord your God am a jealous God... showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Proverbs 4:4 — Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.

John 14:15 — [Jesus speaking] If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

John 14:21 — Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is wholoves me.

John 15:10 — If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

1 John 2:3 — And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

1 John 5:3 — For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments.

It is clear that a love of God is evidenced through obedience to God's word. However, we cannot divorce that from Christ's perfect obedience in which we rest before the Father and his call for us to believe in him and his work on the cross for us. May our love for God be grounded in the cross. Christ's perfect love for us is demonstrated by his willingness to lay down his life for us— while we were yet sinners (Rom 5:8; John 15:12-14). This is the gospel and from here is where our love for God will come. So Hey churches in Milwaukee this is your call to Love God. 

Stirring Up Love & Good Works in Milwaukee Churches Hebrews 10:24-25

The context of our passage certainly cannot be divorced from verses 19-23. Having declared the presence of confidence to enter God's presence through Christ's work on the cross (19-20) and Christ's remaining presence as a great priest over the house of God (21), the author gives three "let us" statements: 

     - Let us draw with a true heart

     - Let us hold fast the confession of our hope

     - Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works

It is this third imperative where the passage is focused this week. The author adds some layers (or ways this command is applied) with the additional statements of a) not neglecting to meet together (as some have), b) encouraging one another, and c) and increasingly as Christ's return is anticipated.  

The need for community is an integral component to a fruitful Christian life. Whether you are part of epikos church or another one of the churches in Milwaukee.  Remember the vast number of 'one another' commands throughout the New Testament. Community is also significant for the sake of encouraging (putting courage into) one another to continue drawing near and holding fast to our confession. While the promise of Christ's return remains, the challenges of this world remain. Community and encouragement will help us to remain confidently near to God. Milwaukee churches will certainly benefit from stirring one another up to love and good deeds.

Where to Land the Plane

The significance of this in the life of small groups, their benefits should be fairly clear and evident. Asking questions such as:

How does our group encourage you to be stirred up? Encouraged? Confident until Christ's return?

What are ways you need to be encouraged in light of the challenges you're facing?

How are you demonstrating love and good deeds to help your brothers and sisters remain steadfast?What churches in Milwaukee have been helping you do this?

Our purpose for being together is encapsulated in this passage it. Utilize this opportunity to reinvigorate your group and restate the group's purpose.  

Overview of the Passage Hebrews 10:19-23

If you were at epikos church this week, we studied Hebrews 10:19-23.  If you don't have a church home we invite you to check us out.  We are one church in two locations.  We are one of the churches in Milwaukee and West Allis that is committed to sharing the gospel through faithful preaching.

This passage begins to summarize and apply this entire section that began at 5:1. Compare this week's passage with 4:14-16. The passage's general flow or structure is the declaration of the truth of what Christ's sacrifice achieves and then two commands for us to respond to in light of the truth.

The author declares our confidence to enter God's presence that comes through Christ alone through his sacrificed life and shed blood. Often times our confidence can rest in something other than Christ— even if it appears 'Christiany.' For example, our church attendance, our baptism, our theology, or our righteousness/godly behavior. None of these will allow you into God's presence. Instead, it is the blood of Christ alone that gives us admission and confidence of our admission.

Not only does Christ's work as the great high priest make it possible to enter God's presence, but we can draw near (and stay near) to the Father through him as well. Just as the Israelites were made ceremonially clean through the sacrifices, Christ's sacrifice makes us pure and clean— not just ceremonially clean, but bodies and conscience. Recall from the last sections the OT sacrifices had to be repeated daily (10:11), but Christ's work was completed (10:12). The result is our everlasting ability to draw near to the Father having been granted access to him.

Holding fast to our confession is a command we've seen previously in Hebrews (4:14), though it is also tied to our confidence (3:6) and our hope (3:6; 6:18). We are to trust in the Lord and his faithfulness without wavering. If we were to hold fast to our own faithfulness or our own righteousness, we would be sunk.   

Remember the main point of Hebrews is calling the church to steadfast faithfulness in light of severe challenges and persecution. The author in this section is reminding them of Christ's faithful work in the past in order that they will take advantage of their direct access to the Father in the present. Further, in light of this truth, holding fast to this truth will carry us into our future hope.

Remembering what Christ has done is an important daily task, recalling that our hearts and bodies have been cleansed by Jesus' blood. But do we take advantage of our ability to draw to God? If not, what is keeping us from drawing near with confidence? Do we struggle to trust in the sufficiency of Christ's sacrifice— whether we think our sins are too great or doubt that our sin has truly been dealt with at the cross? This is why we need the reminders... because aren't always living in the full assurance of faith, confident, and unwavering.

If you would like to hear the sermon on this passage you can go to the epikos church website at www.epikos.org.  With locations in West Allis, East Side, and soon North Side we are one of the Milwaukee churches dedicated to faithfully preaching God's word.