Meet the players: David and Goliath
Meet Goliath (champion of the Philistines) and David (future king of Israel), as we begin to unpack 1 Samuel 17.
One of the Bible’s most famous stories is the epic tale of David and Goliath. Many of us probably first heard it from a children’s storybook or in Sunday School. In fact, when you think of famous Old Testament stories, you likely think of Adam and Eve, Noah and the Ark, Moses and Egypt, and of course, David and Goliath. In the Bible, however, the account of what happened with David and Goliath takes us to a particularly tough time in Israel’s history. Prior to the famous showdown between the shepherd boy and a giant, as we’ve been reading about over the last few weeks, the leadership of the nation was in serious trouble. Saul had been appointed as the nation’s first king at the people’s demand. They believed that a king would bring stability and security in these dangerous times and make them “like all the other nations.” However, Saul had been disobedient to God’s commands and so he had been rejected by God, although he was still functioning as the people’s king. I said before that he was the king Israel wanted, but not the king they needed. So a new king had been chosen by God, a king chosen by God for God. Secretly, he had been anointed at Bethlehem by the prophet Samuel, and “the Spirit of the Lord rushed upon David from that day forward.”
This leads us to 1 Samuel 17, which we’ll cover at length this Sunday as we close out our Summer Scripture Series. Keep in mind that we’ll offer a Legacy Group this coming semester that will continue the study of 1 Samuel and possibly even get into 2 Samuel. If that’s something that interests you, we’d love to invite you to sign up at legacycity.church/groups. What I want to do over the next few paragraphs, however, is to simply build the foundation of the chapter so that we can dive right into the heart of the passage Sunday morning.
The chapter kicks off with a sense of danger as it says: 1 Now the Philistines gathered their armies for battle. (v. 1a) We know that this threat has been hanging over the entire narrative of 1 Samuel so far and will continue to be present for the rest of the book. In fact, (spoiler alert) Saul dies in conflict with the Philistines later in 1 Samuel 31. So the chapter starting this way almost feels like nothing new, just another Tuesday in Israel, right? The Philistines are gathered and ready for war. Sidebar: It’s worth noting that one reason (perhaps it was the reason really) that the people asked for a king in the first place was that their king might “go out before us and fight our battles” (1 Samuel 8:20). The people felt the need for a king because of the threat from their enemies. Saul is king and should be fighting this battle, but since we all know that story already, it will of course be David (the anointed future king) that fights and not Saul (the current lame duck rejected king).
The location of the Philistine armies is then given with some precision: 1 …And they were gathered at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephes-dammim. (v. 1b) The Philistines were now further west than they had been in Chapter 14 and were clearly encroaching even further into Israel’s territory. Yet another nod to Saul’s failure as king.
And Saul and the men of Israel were gathered, and encamped in the Valley of Elah, and drew up in line of battle against the Philistines” (v. 2). It’s interesting to me that although the Israelite forces gathered to meet the Philistines on the battleground, we’re not told of any active leadership given by Saul. Not to make this a Saul-bashing post, but the evidence of his shortcomings is everywhere in the text. The grammar of these first two verses conveys a curious difference between the two sides. The Philistines “gathered” (v. 1, active voice); while Saul and the men of Israel “were gathered” (v. 2, passive voice). There’s no sign of active leadership among the Israelites; it would appear that Saul is just among those who “were gathered.”
To finish setting up the location and scenery of the story to come, the narrator tells us “And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side, with a valley between them” (v. 3). The Valley of Elah was a proper valley, with great views and vantage points on both sides. It would seem both armies have equal footing, with no advantages as far as geography is concerned.
That being said, here comes the advantage for the Philistines… (read in your best Bruce Buffer voice) “In the red corner, weighing in at 580lbs, standing 9 feet and 9 inches tall, fighting out of Gath, presenting the Ogre from the East, the Towering Menace, the Philistine Giant, the reigning, the defending Super Duper Heavyweight Champion of the Middle East: Goliath!” (*Cue the Philistine armies shouting and screaming and clapping for their champion…) This is what we see over the next few verses.
4 And there came out from the camp of the Philistines a champion named Goliath of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of bronze on his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail, and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of bronze. 6 And he had bronze armor on his legs, and a javelin of bronze slung between his shoulders. 7 The shaft of his spear was like a weaver’s beam, and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron. And his shield-bearer went before him. 1 Samuel 17:4-7
This is a big man by all accounts. He would make NBA players look scrawny. How did he get so big? Some suggest that he’s connected to the account back in Numbers 13, when Moses sent 12 spies into Canaan and 10 of them came back and said that there were giants living there, so big in fact, that they felt like grasshoppers compared to them. It’s thought that these “giants” were possibly Nephilim, which is a whole other can of worms, but the short version is that some believe the Nephilim were the offspring of angels and humans, resulting in giants. It’s possible Goliath was a descendant of the Nephilim. Modern science also suggests that he had a pituitary disorder, causing some form of gigantism, making him unusually large. Either way, the bible says he’s one big fella. Then he speaks to the Israelites and issues a proposal.
8 He stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why have you come out to draw up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not servants of Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he is able to fight with me and kill me, then we will be your servants. But if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall be our servants and serve us.” 1 Samuel 17:8-9
Essentially, “let’s not have a huge drawn-out battle that decimates both of our armies. Instead, 1 v 1 me. Send out your best, strongest, most courageous fighter to face all 9 and a half feet of me. Winner takes all.” And by takes all, he means a lifetime of servitude and subjugation. He says this and then there’s what we can only imagine is a pause that lasted moments but felt like an eternity. You could hear a pin drop in the valley. No one moved an inch so as to not accidentally volunteer themselves.
10 And the Philistine said, “I defy the ranks of Israel this day. Defy is too weak of a word for the English translation of this Hebrew word here. It’s closer to “I scorn the ranks” or better yet, “I mock the ranks of Israel.” He mocks Israel and he mocks Israel’s God. Give me a man, that we may fight together.” 11 When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and greatly afraid. Give me a man. Choose your champion. Let’s go back a little, shall we? At the very beginning of the story of kingship, Samuel spoke to the people of “your king, whom you have chosen for yourselves ” (1 Samuel 8:18, 1 Samuel 12:13). The Israelites, in fact, had already “chosen a man for themselves.” His name was Saul!
It’s obvious that Goliath, like so many characters in this narrative, was not fully aware of the significance of his words, but as we hear them the irony sets in and we remember that Saul was the closest thing that Israel had to a Goliath. Remember what he looked like when the people chose him: “. . . when he stood among the people, he was taller than any of the people from his shoulders upward” (1 Samuel 9:2; 1 Samuel 10:23). And the prophet Samuel had said of him, “There is none like him among all the people” (1 Samuel 10:24).
As we have walked through 16+ chapters of this narrative, it makes sense to us (as the readers) that there’s really only one candidate in Israel who had anything close to resembling the necessary credentials to face the Philistine. And he was the one the people had (some time earlier) “chosen for themselves:” King Saul. But when he’s called out by Goliath, it says he and the people were dismayed and greatly afraid.
Verse 12 is a hard pivot. It takes us away from the battle in the Valley of Elah to another scene some 15 miles away in Bethlehem. Here, we’re going to meet the rest of the cast, the other main characters. But these are people we’ve already met in the last chapter, why do they get introduced again as if it’s the first time? There are several oddities like that in these two chapters, so much so that detractors of the Word of God try to use these as fodder for their “Bible is full of contradictions” debate. Goliath seems to be killed by two different people, the Bible introduces the family of Jesse twice in full, Saul knows Jesse and David in chapter 16, but then seems to not know them at all in chapter 17, David is described differently in both accounts. We won’t dig into these “discrepancies” here or on Sunday, but if you join the 1 Samuel Legacy Group, that will be on the agenda Day 1 🙂.
12 Now David was the son of an Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah, named Jesse, who had eight sons. In the days of Saul the man was already old and advanced in years. 13 The three oldest sons of Jesse had followed Saul to the battle. And the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest. The three eldest followed Saul, 15 but David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 1 Samuel 17:12-14
This is the same intro we got last chapter; David is still tending the farm but is splitting time between home and the front. 16 For forty days the Philistine came forward and took his stand, morning and evening. Forty is always a significant number in scripture, so no surprise it shows up here in this pivotal moment in Hebrew history.
17 And Jesse said to David his son, “Take for your brothers an ephah of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers. 18 Also take these ten cheeses to the commander of their thousand. See if your brothers are well, and bring some token from them.” 19 Now Saul and they and all the men of Israel were in the Valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 And David rose early in the morning and left the sheep with a keeper and took the provisions and went, as Jesse had commanded him. And he came to the encampment as the host was going out to the battle line, shouting the war cry. 1 Samuel 17:17-20
This takes up to where we’ll begin on Sunday. Jesse sends his son to run a simple errand which leads to one of the most memorable moments in the Old Testament and honestly history itself. The story of David and Goliath transcends scripture and Christianity and is known the world over as if it were a piece of pop culture trivia. It’s used as an inspirational tale to encourage people to stand up to bullies or the proverbial “giants” in their lives; it’s seen as an underdog story, one where the smaller, weaker, less talented, person or team is pitted against a much bigger, better rival…but you’re saying there’s a chance! Both of those are sweet sentiments, but not what God intended when these events unfolded and the story was subsequently added to Scripture. We’ll get into the exposition Sunday morning 10am at the movie theater. Hope to see you there!
SELAH.
*Cover Art: David and Goliath by John August Swanson, hand-printed serigraph, 2005
Enter Saul Stage Right
Saul meets Samuel and is anointed to become Israel’s king.
Once again, we want to use this platform to bridge the gap between two sermons as we walk through 1 Samuel. Last Sunday, Pastor Brandon Henson from Anchor Church took us through 1 Samuel 8; and next Sunday, Pastor Robbie will start in the middle of chapter 10. So let’s find out what happens in the meantime.
When we left off last week, Samuel had laid out the negatives and dangers of Israel having a king (other than God as their King of course). But even when presented with 8 verses worth of compelling warnings against an earthly king, Israel still demanded one because they wanted to be like all of the other nations (1 Samuel 8:20). They ignored Samuel and doubled down on an earthly king that will “ judge us and go out before us and fight our battles” - which incidentally is exactly what God has done and wanted to do for them. Instead of forcing his agenda, the Lord relents and allows Israel to choose a path that will lead to much destruction and devastation over the coming centuries.
This brings us to chapter 9 where we meet the second of three main characters from 1 Samuel: Saul.
1 There was a man of Benjamin whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, son of Zeror, son of Becorath, son of Aphiah, a Benjaminite, a man of wealth. 2 And he had a son whose name was Saul, a handsome young man. There was not a man among the people of Israel more handsome than he. From his shoulders upward he was taller than any of the people. 1 Samuel 9:1-2
We start the section with a man named Kish who, like Elkanah in 1 Samuel 1:1, was essentially a nobody. Not only that, but Kish belonged to the tribe and the land of Benjamin, which was the smallest of Israel’s tribes. The author is setting us up with the same info as Elkanah in chapter 1, and like chapter 1, we’re being shown that God does not need our fame, fortune, and influence to raise up a leader. The author transitions quickly to Kish’s son, Saul, who by all accounts was an impressive young man. We was tall and good looking, and the literal translation of verse 2 would imply that “There was not a man among the people of Israel better than he.” Since most of us are aware that Saul becomes the king that Israel was asking for in the last chapter, it seems like he’s a great choice so far.
Our first interaction with Saul (vv 3-10), involves him and a servant searching for his father’s lost donkeys. One verse in particular stands out as interesting considering all that we’ve already read and experienced.
5 When they came to the land of Zuph, Saul said to his servant1 who was with him, “Come, let us go back, klest my father cease to care about the donkeys and become anxious about us.” 1 Samuel 9:5
There have been several father/son relationships we’ve seen thus far; Eli and his sons and Samuel and his sons. In both of those situations, the sons strayed far from their father, with scripture even calling Eli’s sons as “worthless.” In this passage though, Saul’s concern for his father (more than for the donkeys) is honestly a welcome contrast to the failure of Eli’s and Samuel’s sons to care about their fathers. Once Saul declares his intent to return home without the donkeys, his servant suggests going to meet a man of God in the nearby town. It takes a little convincing, but Saul agrees.
They enter the town (possibly Ramah) to find the seer. At this point, alarm bells should be ringing. Who have we heard called a “seer” before? Samuel. Where did the end of chapter 8 take place? Ramah. Worlds are colliding!
14 So they went up to the city. As they were entering the city, they saw Samuel coming out toward them on his way up to the high place. 1 Samuel 6:2
Confirmed, Samuel is the man of God, the “seer” that they are looking for. Donkeys lost, Saul sent on a search and recovery mission with a servant that has somehow heard of a holy seer in the lands they were searching in, and they arrive in the city conveniently at the same time Samuel is coming through. In case you thought any of this was coincidence, God dispels that notion in the next few verses.
15 Now the day before Saul came, the LORD had revealed to Samuel: 16 “Tomorrow about this time I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you shall anoint him to be prince over my people Israel. He shall save my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, because their cry has come to me.” 1 Samuel 9:15-16
God’s sovereignty on display. That’s what we’re seeing. We’re also seeing the boundless love of the Father. Even though Israel is asking for something they already have in God (a King), even though they are asking for a lesser, fallible leader so they can blend in with the world around them, even though they are asking for something that Samuel has already warned will ultimately harm them - God still hears their cry and provides deliverance from their enemies. Saul is going to be that leader and he’s going to deliver them from the hands of the Philistines.
The rest of the chapter describes the initial interaction between Samaul and Saul. Samuel recognizes Saul as God’s appointed man, and invites him to a feast as the guest of honor. Saul goes from searching for donkeys in the countryside to being the guest of honor at a priestly feast.
27 As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.” 1 Samuel 9:27
Samuel was about to make known to Saul, for the first time, the word of God. We see the significance of the events here in 1 Samuel 9 only when we see that the word of God was at the heart of it all. Saul was oblivious to this, but God had said to Samuel, “Obey their voice and make them a king” (1 Samuel 8:22a). Then he had said, “Tomorrow . . . I will send you a man from the land of Benjamin” (1 Samuel 9:16). Everything that happened in this chapter was according to the word of God. We know that Saul will become Israel’s king by the word of God, and he will be required to listen to and obey the word of God as king (1 Samuel 12:14; 15:1).
1 Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him and said, “Has not the LORD anointed you to be prince over his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the LORD and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the LORD has anointed you to be prince over his heritage. 1 Samuel 10:1-2
Samuel does as the Lord commanded back in 1 Samuel 8, and he anoints a king. And specifically, he does what God asked in 1 Samuel 9, and he anoints Saul the Benjaminite. This is certainly a shock to Saul, who understands his heritage; he’s a nobody from nowhere, not “royalty material.” So Samuel prophesies about a few signs that Saul will experience that will confirm God’s intentions. First, two men will meet him at Rachel’s tomb to tell him that the donkeys are safe. Second, three men will meet him at Bethel to offer him bread. Thirdly, a group of prophets will meet him at Gibeah.
9 When he turned his back to leave Samuel, God gave him another heart. And all these signs came to pass that day. 1 Samuel 10:9
God confirms to Saul his intention and fulfills all of the signs that Samuel spoke. The Spirit of God rushed upon Saul and he experienced the power and presence of the Lord. All of this will set us for next week, when Saul is finally proclaimed King.
The Ark Narrative
The Philistines capture the ark of the covenant in an assumed victory, but God has the last say and the ark is eventually returned to Israel with interest.
We’re going to attempt to briefly bridge the gap between 1 Samuel 4:22 and 7:3. Of course, we encourage you to read the passage for yourself because there’s no substitute for the Word of God. But we do hope this post might help with understanding.
Starting in 1 Samuel 5, this is the second episode in the “ark narrative” and we find the Philistines in a situation they cannot control. First, they’re celebrating their victories over “the Lord” back in 1 Samuel 4, when they defeated Israel twice (killing 34,000 men) and then captured the Ark of the Covenant, which they knew to be the manifestation of the Hebrew God. They wanted to put an exclamation mark on their victory by putting the ark in a trophy case, so to speak.
Then the Philistines took the ark of God and brought it into the house of Dagon and set it up beside Dagon. 1 Samuel 5:2
They take the ark into the temple of their god, Dagon, in Ashdod. It appears their victory over the Lord isn’t as complete as they thought though, because on two successive nights, the idol of Dagon falls over in the presence of the ark (vv. 3–5). Furthermore, the inhabitants of Ashdod are afflicted with tumors (vv. 6–7). This leads to the ark’s being removed to Gath, only for the epidemic to spread there also (vv. 8–9). God is displaying his power in a very immediate and uncomfortably personal way to the Philistines. Once again the ark is moved, this time to Ekron, where the inhabitants have heard of the curse that seems to come with it, and they instead advocating returning it to “its own place”
9 But after they had brought it around, the hand of the Lord was against the city, causing a very great panic, and he afflicted the men of the city, both young and old, so that tumors broke out on them. 10 So they sent the ark of God to Ekron. But as soon as the ark of God came to Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out, “They have brought around to us the ark of the God of Israel to kill us and our people.” 11 They sent therefore and gathered together all the lords of the Philistines and said, “Send away the ark of the God of Israel, and let it return to its own place, that it may not kill us and our people.” For there was a deathly panic throughout the whole city. The hand of God was very heavy there. 1 Samuel 5:9-11
The hand of God was heavy there. There’s an irony here that the hearers and readers of this story can pick up on. Israel knew that God had defeated them, not the Philistines, but the Philistines were convinced it was their military acumen that won the battles. God is showing us through these events that it was indeed his sovereignty that led to Israel’s defeat, and now that he’s judged Israel, he’s taking a moment to judge the pagans and their pagan worship practices. The Philistines’ disrespectful treatment of the ark transforms what they had viewed as a trophy of their victory into a scourge for which no one has room. In what should be a victory tour, it’s almost a parody because the roles of victor and vanquished are reversed. By humbling both the Philistines’ god and the Philistines themselves, the Lord leaves them (and the Israelites) in no doubt as to who is truly in control of all human affairs and how powerfully he can act against those who offend him.
In this contest between Yahweh and Dagon, the Lord makes it abundantly evident who is the victor. Honestly, it’s not even a real contest, as we see the Lord’s superiority effortlessly displayed. Israel’s God shows himself to be still a “man of war” (Ex. 15:3), able to defeat all opponents. He is the one whose hand is strong to save and whose intervention is irresistible (Ps. 89:13). The Lord receives glory for himself through the situation, just as he did in Egypt (Ex. 14:4, 17–18).
And the Philistines called for the priests and the diviners and said, “What shall we do with the ark of the LORD? Tell us with what we shall send it to its place.” 1 Samuel 6:2
Chapter 6 takes us into the third episode in the story of the ark, which serves to further assert the status and power of Yahweh. For seven months the Philistine lords resist acting on the evidence that the curse afflicting their land has been sent by the Lord. Eventually, and with great reluctance, they call for the advice of their religious experts as to how to return the ark to Israelite territory. They are advised that the ark should be accompanied by a guilt offering of five golden tumors and five golden mice to appease the God of Israel (6:2–6). Additionally, the Philistine clergy propose a test to ascertain whether all that has happened in the land has been a matter of coincidence or whether the superior power of the Lord really has been at work (6:7–9). They are hoping it was all coincidence so they can save face and not have to acknowledge the power and diety of the Hebrew God. Special arrangements are made for transporting the ark using cows that have never before drawn a cart and that are separated from their newly-born calves. When the cows hauling the ark ignore their natural instincts and head away from their young and pull the cart in the right direction without any overt guidance, it‘s demonstrated beyond doubt that the God of Israel is indeed active.
11 And they put the ark of the LORD on the cart and the box with the golden mice and the images of their tumors. 12 And the cows went straight in the direction of Beth-shemesh along one highway, lowing as they went. They turned neither to the right nor to the left, and the lords of the Philistines went after them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh. 1 Samuel 6:11-12
When the ark reached Israelite territory at Beth-shemesh, the people there were harvesting their crops, and stopped to celebrate the return of the ark.
14 The cart came into the field of Joshua of Beth-shemesh and stopped there. A great stone was there. And they split up the wood of the cart and offered the cows as a burnt offering to the LORD. 1 Samuel 4:14
Right away, they sacrificed the cows to the Lord to celebrate the ark’s safe return. However, it’s not all smooth sailing; 70 men of Beth-shemesh violate the sanctity of the ark and are struck dead by the Lord for their impiety. In response, the terror-stricken people of Beth-shemesh call on the people of Kiriath-jearim to come and take the ark there (6:19–7:1). Just like the Philistines, the Israelites have to learn to fear, respect, and obey the Lord and everything connected with his presence.
20 Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?” 1 Samuel 6:20
The people of Beth-shemesh illustrated a certain level of spiritual obtuseness. “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?” reveals a genuine awareness of the majesty and sanctity of God. Yet they perceive that their inadequacy and guilt render them unfit to be in the presence of God (Ps. 130:3). However, rather than seeking to repent and change their own condition, they instead ask, “And to whom shall he go up away from us?” This response should remind us of one shared by many in the New Testament: “They began to beg Jesus to depart from their region” (Mark 5:17).
1 And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD and brought it to the house of aAbinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the LORD. 2 From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD. 1 Samuel 7:1-2
The men of Kiriath-jearim respond positively, and the ark is brought “to the house of Abinadab on the hill.” The men bring the ark to Abinadab because he is possibly a priest, although the text isn’t clear on that. Obviously, though, the people of Kiriath-jearim adopt a more reverent attitude toward the ark, consecrating Eleazar (son of Abinadab) as its custodian. The ark stays there, about 8.1 miles (13 km) northwest of Jerusalem, probably until David takes it to his capital (2 Sam. 6:2–4).
The Golden Rule
We’re almost at the end of the Summer Together series, where we have been walking through the Sermon on the Mount together for the last 14 weeks. Last Sunday, we covered the first 11 verses of Matthew 7, but ran out of time before completing the message. So, today, we get to rest on one single verse. One of the most memorable and used verses in the entire discourse - Matthew 7:12, also commonly referred to as the Golden Rule.
“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Matthew 7:12
The message here is a simple; Jesus gives us a rule-of-thumb guide for behavior: Ask yourself what you want people to do for you, then grab the initiative and do it for them. Now that sounds simple enough, but if it were really that simple, we’d be better at it. We’re not good at it, but we can be with the help of the Spirit of God. In fact, another way to think about the Golden Rule is to see that we want want to be treated in a spirit-filled way. Remember the fruit of the Spirit?
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23
We ALL want to be treated with kindness, goodness, and gentleness, right? We all want others to have patience with us, to love us, and to be faithful and loving. This is how we want to be treated when it comes down to it. This is a good list of how we want our wives, husbands, kids, co-workers, neighbors to be with us, and of course if they oblige, then we’ll reciprocate…right?
Now, let’s dig into the verse for a moment. First, it’s worth noting that Jesus invokes the Law and Prophets at the end of the verse to make sure the hearers would recognize it from the Old Testament. The Law usually refers to the Torah, or the first 5 books of the Bible, and the Prophets refers to the rest of the Old Testament, which was understood to have been written by the prophets. This means that this verse is summing up what God wanted from His people in relation to their neighbors, and this is not new content, this has been taught from the Old Testament up to the mouth of Christ. God desired His people to live out love among their neighbors.
The first word of the verse is “So” or other versions might use “Therefore” - this is what’s called a Logical Connector. It connects this verse to the passage before it, drawing an application in context from the section of scripture just prior. In this case, the previous versus are describing God’s gracious and loving provision for others, so the application would be that if the disciples (you being one of the disciples) are following the Golden Rule of verse 12, then you are resembling your Heavenly Father.
And so what is the command? Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do that to them. This is the Golden Rule, you’ve all heard a version of this before. This is one of those verses that even non-Believers, people who have never picked up a Bible before have heard of. Their mom or their grandma said it to them growing up, do unto others as you would have them do unto you - that’s the southern KJV translation of that verse.
But doesn’t this verse ring a bell to something we’ve heard before?
You shall love your neighbor as yourself. Leviticus 19:18b
This is what Jesus refers to as the Greatest Commandment in Matthew 22 and Mark 12. And it’s the same idea. Love others as you yourself want to be loved. You know, this verse would have originally been written in Greek, and the Greek here indicates that the command is comprehensive, emphatic, positive, and continuous. “In every last thing, you must continually do for others whatever you wish they would do to you.” And the YOU is emphatic - disciples (you and me) will do for others, even when no one else will. The scope of the command is unlimited, and it’s in the continuous present tense, meaning the obligation continues unending. Love others as you want to be loved. Serve others as you would want to be served. Treat others as you would want to be treated. Always.
This command in its negative form was already around in Jesus’ time and that form is known to many religions, for example:
“What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow creatures. That is the whole law. All else is explanation” – Rabbi Hillel, probably quoting the book of Tobit in the Apocrypha which says: “Do not do to anyone what you yourself would hate.” (Tobit 4:15)
Eastern religions have a similar saying as well: “Do not to others what you would not wish done to yourself.” – Confucius
But these and others are found in the negative form: “Do not do anything to anyone that you would not want him to do to you.”
That’s good advice and all, but Jesus is asserting something different: the positive and intentional activity of love being poured out on a neighbor, not merely wrong being withheld.
There is an operating principle within the Golden Rule: Initiate, don’t wait! Jesus does not qualify this command with a stipulation that we wait for someone to do something nice for us before we step out and do something nice for them. Let them show love first, and then I’ll show it in return. He also doesn’t give a quid-pro-quo with this command. I’ll show the love, but they better respond in kind. If they don’t, that’s it. Cut off. Never again. I’ll take my love and kindness elsewhere. No, this command is continuous and unlimited. In fact, let me give you two things that love does to accomplish this command:
Love steps up to act first – often unprompted and unearned - this is a good segue into grace, which is love played out as an unwarranted and unmerited gift that we didn’t and couldn’t earn. It’s by grace that Jesus saves us, a gift, not of ourselves, but only by his love as demonstrated by the death, burial, and resurrection. Jesus didn't wait for humanity to get their lives in order, he didn’t wait for us to become more pious and more devoted, he stepped into this world, put on a skin suit, got into the dirt with us, and for us…he loved first, he made the first move, pouring out unearned grace on us.
Love initiates often in spite of the conditions. It’s not always the most convenient time to love someone the way that you would want to be loved. The conditions are not always right. You know, we use a phrase in the church world (well maybe more in the charismatic church world) we talk about divine appointments. And that’s not a bad phrase, I’m not telling you to stop using it or stop praying for them, but I think we have a misconception of what these are. When we think of loving our neighbor or a stranger, and God sets up a divine appointment, we envision: finishing a nice meal at the restaurant of your choosing, pulling out your wallet to pay the bill and low and behold, a blessing from the Lord, a crisp $20 that you didn’t know you had, and then as if Moses himself were at that restaurant, the people part to the left and right and a light from Heaven shines down on a man in tattered clothes that is clearly hungry and was looking for a meal that would cost approximately $20…But that’s not how it works. Basically never. Often, it’s your last $20 and someone is in need, you’re in a time constraint and someone needs love and grace, love steps up in spite of the conditions and circumstances, because my goodness if the shoe were on the other foot, wouldn’t you want that same love?
Well, the shoe was on the other foot. Jesus left Heaven, left the Father’s side to come and pour his love out on you. That wasn’t convenient, that wasn’t easy. To leave perfection, to leave a pure and holy place and come kick it with us in this sin-filled world?! There was nothing convenient about it, but he so loved, and he loved first, he initiated the love now and forever. And he sets the example and the bar with which we operate from.
Keep in mind that the Golden Rule is not the total sum of Christian truth, nor is it Gods plan of redemption. We can’t boil all of Christianity down to this simple phrase, although it does pack a lot of power. In fact, Warren Wiersbe once said:
“We should no more build our theology on the golden rule, than we should build our astronomy on Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” - Warren W. Wiersbe
This great truth is simply a principle that ought to govern our attitudes towards others. We should approach others in love. And by the way, love initiates; love steps out in faith.
Summer Scripture Series: A Better Priest
Pastor Robbie continues our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews, speaking out of 7:11-28!
This week, we continued our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others are going through the Book of Hebrews, verse by verse, to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm! You can now go to legacycity.church/live to watch the stream!
Our text is a look at the changing of the priestly guard that Jesus has brought—basically the theological version of the transition of power.
The peaceful transition of power is actually one of the most difficult problems in the world of politics. Whether you’re in a monarchy of kings and queens, a democracy of elected representatives, or even a tribal system with chiefs and chieftains, it’s almost always a tense moment when power has to be transferred. There are always questions: Will the people follow the new leader? Will there be a split or a revolt?
Pastor Robbie speaks out of Hebrews 7:11-28 diving deeper into the office of the Old Covenant priesthood and the role that Jesus played in transforming the office from what it was to the New Priesthood we understand today. Referring to verses 11-12 saying, “Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron? For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well.”
Pastor Robbie comments, “This verse lets us know that the law was given to support the priesthood and not the other way around. The priesthood and the tabernacle with its sacrifices were the means God used to render the sinful people acceptable to Himself. Then, the Law was given with its impossible demands to awaken the people to their true condition, their sinfulness, their hopelessness outside of God, so that they might adhere to the sacrifices. As it says in Galatians 3:24, The Law was simply a guardian or a tutor to lead us to Christ. Now understand that this all must have been shocking to the Jews listening, which is why they would say to Stephen and Paul in Acts 6:14, “for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us.” Jesus changed the game. Everything that the Jews knew to be true and help as sacred was intended to point to the most Sacred one: Jesus. Without the New Testament and its Messiah, without the New Covenant, the Old Testament is like reading The Lord of the Rings without The Return of the King — it’s absolutely incomplete.
Referring to verses 13-14, “For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.” we see that the change in the priesthood was complete, it was an absolute change from the top down.
Then, in verses 15–17, we learn that there is also a different authority for this priesthood.
“This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. For it is witnessed of him, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.”
“In verse 19, there’s the parenthetical reference, (for the law made nothing perfect). I don’t want to confuse anyone here today, so let me help your theology a little church, The Law is perfect, but it's perfection isn’t like the Coronavirus: You can’t catch it by coming in contact with it! That’s just not what the Law was for. It was made, not to create perfection, but to reveal the absence of it. The law, as Paul tells us in his letter to the Romans, came to actually increase the trespass of humanity, to bring everything into its custody like a prison warden.”
Jesus brings us into the throne room of God and simply says, “Abba, Father, this is someone who needs to talk to You.” He came to fulfill the Law, to bridge the gap between man and God, to be a mediator for us all, to give us unprecedented access to God most High. He is our new Priest, the best and final forever priest.
Speaking to verses 26-28, “For it was indeed fitting that we should have such a high priest, holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He has no need, like those high priests, to offer sacrifices daily, first for his own sins and then for those of the people, since he did this once for all when he offered up himself. For the law appoints men in their weakness as high priests, but the word of the oath, which came later than the law, appoints a Son who has been made perfect forever.”
We’ve already seen today how Jesus is a superior priest because of God’s sworn oath, God promised - and we saw that he is better because of Christ’s eternality, his priesthood is permanent, everlasting. Now we see his superiority because of his person.
He is holy, uniquely God’s Holy One. He is set apart to God. He stands accepted before God. He is innocent - literally without evil. Whereas we are intrinsically evil in our motives and actions, there is nothing but good in him. He is unstained. The OT High Priests had to be externally without imperfection, but Jesus is unstained within. He walked through the muck and the mire of this world for 33 years but was never stained by sin.
He is part of humanity because he took it on for our sake, but he is separate from sinners because he is separate in his character from human sin nature. And he is exalted above the heavens - resurrected, ascended, and glorified at the right hand of God. If this were a job application for the job of forever High Priest, Jesus just blew the competition out of the water. He is more than worthy and the only one who is so.
What is a priest and what is a priest for? A priest is your mediator between the self and the transcendent. Every human being is filled with a longing for the transcendent, the glorious, the spiritual, the divine. Who is your god, and who gets you access to him?
That is the question we need to consider because there is only one true and living High Priest and only one God. And if we trust in any other, no matter how passionately or authentically, our trust will be a false trust, and we will perish.
Jesus Christ - he is the One who saves to the uttermost. Rest in him today.
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: A Better Priest - From the times of Melchizedek moving forward, the role of the priesthood held a vital role in Israel’s covenant relationship with Yahweh - while different in scope, the Royal Priesthood of Jesus expands and magnifies the availability of relationship with Yahweh!
Main Scripture Passages: Hebrews 7:11-28.
Length and Content: Considering this section going through 17 verses this past week, we were not able to cover everything discussed - watch either the video recording or the podcats to get the full extent of the content covered.
A Necessary Transition: “The death and resurrection of Jesus introduced a new and permanent priesthood that brings the Levitical priesthood to an end, along with its Law. You see, church, the Levitical Priesthood was provisional, the Melchizedek Priesthood is permanent.”
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: Melchize-Who?
Pastor Robbie continues our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews, speaking out of 7:1-10!
This week, we continued our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others are going through the Book of Hebrews, verse by verse, to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm! You can now go to legacycity.church/live to watch the stream!
Pastor Robbie spoke out of Hebrews 7:1-10 saying, 'For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him, Abraham apportioned a tenth of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother in genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.’
Continuing in verse 4, ‘See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior, In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.’
Pastor Robbie began by going over who Melchizedek was, as mentioned in Genesis - he references Genesis 14:17-20 saying, “After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley). And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was the priest of God Most High.) And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”
Now, some see Melchizedek as what is called a “Christophany,” meaning an appearance of the Lord Jesus prior to his incarnation. You can see why right? Here’s a King of Salem, which later becomes Jerusalem. King of Salem literally means King of Peace. His name, Melchizedek, is a compound Hebrew word, from the words melek (king) and zedek/zadok (righteousness). And that is a key point: The text isn’t saying that Jesus is like Melchizedek, but that Melchizedek is like Jesus—that Jesus is the true and better Melchizedek, just as he is the true and better Temple, Lamb, Passover, Adam, Moses, David, and so on. This is a case of something we call typology, that this in the OT is about that in the NT, Melchizedek is a type, or a shadow of Christ, he’s not Christ. God wrote the story of Melchizedek in living history, to later teach us something of the Person and work of Jesus. So that is the origin of this designation, High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek.
There are 3 aspects of this living type that God wrote into the character of Melchizedek in Genesis 14 that establish the qualifications for Jesus to stand as High Priest in this order:
1) Jesus must be the King of Righteousness - referencing passages such as Jeremiah 23:5-6 and Psalm 132:11, the Kingship of Jesus was to be established through the Davidic line. This is where the Jewish categories for Messiah got a little messed up. See, they were waiting for a King. But, church, they were thinking too small. Jesus would be the true and final and perfect Prophet, Priest, and King! To the Jews, this would be the same idea as us claiming someone to be the President, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, and Speaker of the House, all in one—it just isn’t done! Where is the separation of powers? Well, you need that with sinful people. But God is righteous. This King is King of Righteousness, and so he exercises all power with perfect justice.
2) Jesus must be the King of Peace - Jesus is the true King of Salem, not just the King who sits on the throne of David, of the New Jerusalem, but also by translation, the King of Peace. As the Priest-King, he makes peace in two directions: vertical and horizontal. Referencing passage such as Colossians 1:19-20; Romans 5:1; and Ephesians 2:13-17 we see that Jesus came with a Kingdom, and his Kingdom makes men free, and his Kingdom makes peace among those free men. Jesus has given us new hearts, hearts filled with humility and meekness rather than pride and arrogance. And guess what? Jesus promised, Matthew 5:5, that the meek will inherit the earth. He is the King of Righteousness, the King or Prince of Peace - but you know, church, the trouble for many people is that they want the Peace, without the Prince. They want the warm and cozy peace in their life, without submitting to King Jesus. And I can tell you, friends, that’s simply not how it works. When we submit to King Jesus, we submit everything. If you want the peace and the righteousness that he freely provides, then you need to embrace him as king and lord over your life. He wants to be your King and your High Priest - but with that comes acceptance and submission.
3) Jesus must be uncreated and eternal, as the Son of God - I’m going to sit on this for a second because this (Heb. 7:3) is the main verse that some would use to point to the Christophany of Melchizedek. This is not saying, again, that Melchizedek was immortal and uncreated, but that he is without father or mother or genealogy or beginning or end in the text. Without father and mother simply means they were unknown for Melchizedek. In some of the rabbinical writings we have access to, expressions like this often mean that the father and mother had simply died and the child was an orphan. One theologian puts it like this: “Melchizedek was not an angel or some superhuman creature; nor was he an OT appearance of Jesus Christ. He was a real man, a real king, and a real priest in a real city. But as far as the record is concerned, he was not born, nor did he die.” Essentially, it’s fair to assume that he obtained his position not by genealogy, like most kings, but by divine appointment. He didn’t have the earthly credentials, but God saw something there in him. Something that would make him a precursor to Jesus.
You are not. I am not. And so we are unqualified for this office. So we have the origin of this order, the qualifications for it, and finally, in verses 4–10, we unfold the supremacy of the order of Melchizedek.
The point of Jesus’ cosmic High Priesthood is the steady anchoring of our souls in the very presence of God. The point is that, by identifying with us fully and coming down to truly dwell with us where we are, he could bring us to identify with him fully and bring us up to truly dwell with him where he goes. Jesus is our great, immortal High Priest after the order of Melchizedek—and he is so in order that we might be seated with him in the heavenly places.
So listen: I know this is high theology, talking about Christophany and typology, but this is good news, church! You have a Priest, the God-Man Jesus, interceding for you. He is the King of Righteousness and of Peace. His body is like bread, given to satisfy. His blood is like wine, poured out in covenant. And he has set a table for us now, even in the presence of the enemies the Father is putting under his feet and calls us to come and eat and drink—he has paid for this feast, and he welcomes us now!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: Melchize-Who? - In these first ten verses of Hebrews 7, the author of the book teaches us the origins, the qualifications, and the supremacy of the Melchizedek Priesthood; The point of Jesus’ cosmic High Priesthood is the steady anchoring of our souls in the very presence of God.
Main Scripture Passages: Hebrews 7:1-10; Jer. 23:5-6; Psalm 132:11; Col. 1:19-20; Romans 5:1; Ephesians 2:13-17
The High Priest is the King Of Righteousness - ‘But Jesus is God. And he is Christ. And Christ is Prophet, Priest, and King. He is not a priest from the Levitical order, the Aaronic Priesthood, but the High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek. He is the King of Righteousness.’
The High Priest is the King Of Peace - ‘Jesus makes a vertical peace between God and men by the blood of his cross. He removes our sin from us, gives us his righteousness, raises us from death to life, and mediates peace with God on our behalf; He makes peace horizontally, peace between men who by their sin were at war with one another.’
The High Priest is the King Of Life - ‘The point of the author of Hebrews is that, while Melchizedek is like all of this in the text, Jesus is like this in reality. It’s a typological relationship, one that points from Melchizadek in the Old Testament to Jesus in the New Testament.’
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: Trust God's Promises
This week we heard from Pastor Robbie, continuing in our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews, speaking out of 6:4-20!
This week, we continued our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others are going through the Book of Hebrews, verse by verse, to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm!
Pastor Robbie spoke out of Hebrews 6:4-20 (ESV) saying, ‘For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, and have shared in the Holy Spirit. and have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the age to come, and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they are crucifying once again the Son of God to their own harm and holding him up to contempt. For land that has drunk the rain that often falls upon it, and produces a crop useful to those whose sake it is cultivated, receives a blessing from God. But if it bears thorns and thistles, it is worthless and near to being cursed, and its end is to be burned’
Continuing in verse 9, ‘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.’
Continuing in verse 13, ‘For when God made a promise to Abraham since he had no one greater by who 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 ad 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.’
He begins by stating, ‘Now, this section of Scripture has been debated, fought over, and argued for 2000 years. I am going to do my best to guide us step by step through essentially a theological minefield. This whole passage really touches on one of the most difficult and complex issues to understand—this issue of salvation and the security of the believer.
It is a difficult issue, on the one hand, because we read this text which seems ominous, seems scary - BUT on the other hand, if there is one thing clear about salvation in the New Testament, it’s that it is nothing like your car keys, your sunglasses, or my kid’s stuffed monkey every single night at bedtime—you can’t lose it. Our salvation isn’t our own church, because we are not our own, but instead, we belong to God. ‘Jesus’ isn’t property that we can misplace; we don’t own him, he owns us.’
Let’s read verses 4-6 again, and then lets walk through three ways we can potentially understand those verses. I want to be fair and present the three arguments, and then I’m going to share the rest of the message from one of these options based on my understanding, based on my studies, and based on my conviction and discernment as I believe the Lord has led me.
Option 1) True Believers Who Fall Away - There are some who see this group as actual genuine Christians. They would hold that God supplies grace to those who are trusting Him, but the ultimate perseverance of any believer depends on the cooperation of his own free will. Therefore, any Christian whatever his state, is capable of falling away and the condemnation that we read about.
Option 2) True Believers Who Fall Away but as a Hypothetical Situation - Some might argue that the author is taking the “what if” line of thinking. If salvation is through Jesus alone, and one “tries” Christianity, then walks away, what else is there for them?...there is no hope! Hypothetically speaking.
Option 3) Professing Believers Who Fall Away - The argument here is that the people the author is speaking about are not true believers, only ones who “appear” so. They have seen that the Lord is good, they have been around other believers, and may have even seemingly demonstrated some of the fruits of the Spirit - but they were never Spirit-filled, and thus never true believers. They were visitors, not permanent residents.
Now before you freak out on me, church, there is a big difference from falling away and falling into sin. Judas fell away (that’s apostasy); Peter fell into sin (he backslid). Categorically different things. We’ll come back to that before we’re through today.
Through my study of this passage and many other passages in Bible, because how many of you know that to study a topic in the Bible, you don’t just look at a single verse out of context, you look at everything the Bible has to say about a particular topic - and in this case, the Bible has a lot to say about our security in salvation, which is why I could not lean into Option 1. I don’t believe the author is intending to mean here that true believers are falling away from God and that their hearts are being hardened so as to never return. Here’s some of what the Bible says on the topic - consider verses such as Romans 8:29-31; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; Phil. 1:6; John 6:37-39; Eph. 4:30.
I don’t believe it could be the second option either. There are other reasons that include the language of the passage, the tense of words used, and so on, but I’ll give you logical reasons. If it were hypothetical and both the author and the audience knew it, the power of the argument would be lost. When I tell my daughter IF you do that one more time, THEN I’m going to spank you - but both she and I know that I have no intention of spanking her because I’m a big pushover, that warning is useless. Furthermore, if the author knew it was hypothetical but the readers thought it was real, then the author’s integrity would be in question. So that leads us to the last option. Option 3.
The point of these texts is not that you can be born again and then un-born-again. It’s not that you can be regenerate, that is, spiritually raised from the dead, and then spiritually die again. Those who believe in losing one's salvation should also realize that this section of Hebrews is not talking about losing and regaining faith, but instead renouncing it so as to never be able to regain it. The point is that we will see people who seem to be part of God’s Kingdom, who prove by their leaving that they are not.
Can I help someone again that might be freaking out in their seats as I talk about this? For those who think that they’ve committed this sin of apostasy - If you’re concerned about it, that tells me that you have not committed it and that you are absolutely still capable of repentance. Can I also say this, God alone knows the point of no return. We as believers should never consider anyone beyond his reach and we should continue to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with all, sharing the love of Christ with all, even if someone seems to have apostatized. We don’t give up hope and we don’t assume what’s in someone’s heart no matter what their mouths and actions say.
So if there is this sin, this sin of apostasy, which is so bad, so heinous, so terrible that your heart will be hardened toward the Lord - then what do I do to ensure that doesn’t happen? How do I stand strong instead of falling away? You MOVE! You have to continue to move toward God. If you have never given your life to Christ, continue to move toward him. If you are a believer here, continue to move toward him. He says show earnestness, be convicted and act on that conviction; he says don’t be sluggish, what’s the opposite of sluggish - moving at a fast pace! Working! Serving! Loving! It is in love that we move away from apostasy, whether you agree with me on my understanding of this passage or not, sprinting the other way is a logical way to avoid this pitfall. I believe that you can’t sincerely love the saints and be moving towards apostasy or even complacency or spiritual sluggishness at the same time, any more than you can stand up and sit down at the same time.
Is he calling you to come today? Are you hearing this gospel message today with fresh ears and a willing soul? This gospel promise is the promise of God, sworn on God, to bring us to God. He doesn’t just want to fix us, he wants to change us into a new creation, one that is safe and secure in Him, our souls anchored to the Father.
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: Trust God’s Promises - Even in the face of potential apostasy in a community, the promise is sure and steadfast! What promise? That we have a great and an immortal High Priest forever, who has passed into the holy of holies in heaven—behind the curtain, the Temple veil—to intercede on our behalf and to bring us there through union with himself.
Main Scripture Passages: Hebrews 6:4-20; Romans 8:29-31; 1 Peter 1:3-5; 1 Thess. 5:23-24; Phil. 1:6; John 6:37-39; Eph. 4:30
The Importance of the Promise: Those who are in Christ with a sense of concern surrounding their faithfulness necessarily suggests the presence of that which they desire to keep - trust in God’s Promise.
The Reality of the Uncomfortable: The reality is that there are people in every faith community that are not ‘true believers’, yet we are not the ones who necessarily determine who those people are - that’s God’s Job.
The Danger of the Warning: This is a firm, sobering warning. It’s a warning that probably leaves most, if not all, of us in a position of self-examination; if someone could fall away who has experienced all of those things, wow, this is a warning that we cannot ignore.
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: Grow Up
This week we heard from Pastor Robbie, continuing in our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews and speaking out of 5:11-6:3!
This week, we continued our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others are going through the Book of Hebrews, verse by verse, to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm!
Pastor Robbie spoke out of Hebrews 5:11-6:3 saying, ‘About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food, for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness since he is a child. But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And this we will do if God permits.
The title of the message this morning is Grow Up. And look, I know what you’re thinking. Depending on how you say that phrase, it can be kinda offensive. It can hurt my feelings. It can rub you the wrong way. Like when your friend is whining about laws or restrictions or about having to wear a mask, and you hit them with a “just Grow Up.” Or when you’re younger and you want to do something outside of the rules, but your little sibling tries to convince you not to, you hit them with a “grow up,” So when I say that the title of the message today is Grow Up, do I mean for it to chastise you or remind you? Do I mean for it to be exhorting or encouraging? Am I trying to rebuke you or redirect you? And the answer to those questions is: Yes. Because that’s what the original author, the preacher that brought these words to the Hellenistic Jewish Christians, that’s how he approached this.
There is a doctrinal feast, ready to be laid out for the Hebrews and for us, but there is an obstacle, something that makes him pause right in the middle of this conversation. The obstacle is going to make it hard to get the food on the table the right way. The topic of Jesus’ high priesthood is apparently something of deep and transformative importance—something worth a few chapters of biblical meditation. But the doctrinal immaturity of the Hebrew Christians is making this rich feast a difficult one to serve. So his response is to issue a loving, pastoral rebuke. Hopefully, church, you have a capacity for that—for the correct, loving, shepherd-hearted rebuke of a faithful pastor.
There are four parts to his rebuke, four ways that they need to Grow Up in, that will help us understand the text and rightly respond to it:
1) They are Dull of Hearing (v5:11).
The dullness of hearing that he’s talking about is specifically, in this context, a dullness to hear the Scriptures. These are Hebrew Christians, Christians who not only have the apostolic teaching of the New Testament, which as they read this letter was still being written and circulated and read in churches—but also the Old Testament Scriptures. They knew the Bible—or they should have.
2) They are Doctrinal and Spiritual babies (v5:12-14).
Which implies, right, that the Bible is a thing that takes skill to use correctly. You have to grow up into this book. A child can open it and God will wonderfully, simply meet him there! He’s a good good Father and meets us where we are when we first come to him. My kids hear and understand as we read it together at home. But as you grow up, you will need to grow up in your understanding and work in this book.
3) They weren’t building on the Foundation (v6:1-3).
What that means is that there is not one particle of wisdom, truth, doctrine, or anything that is not to be found in Christ. Doctrinal maturity isn’t advancing past Christ, it’s building on Christ. The picture is of a house with a foundation. The foundational doctrines are those that hold up the structure above. Just as you don’t start building a house by putting the shingles on, you don’t start your theological discipleship by settling the dispute between Armenian and Calvinism. We start by getting the whole “Christian” thing right.
4) They have had plenty of time (v5:11-12).
The spiritual immaturity that we’re talking about in this text has nothing to do with time. There are many in the Church today who are the equivalent of a 29-year-old who can’t tie his shoes! The author says that they should have been teachers by now! That’s a strong statement since we know from elsewhere in the New Testament that not many should be teachers since teachers will be judged more strictly. Teachers are responsible to handle high theology with a clean conscience and a ready mind. That’s where the Hebrew Christians should have been; this wasn’t that they didn’t have enough time.
Do you see how all of these issues really find their connection in the knowledge and love of the Word of God? That’s it, right, that’s the needful thing. Do you want to be mature? Do you want to be able to discern good and evil? Do you want to be able to teach others and help others mature? Then love and live in this book! It’s all here, church. And can I qualify that I am not discrediting any other form of communication with the Lord in this sermon, but I felt the Lord teaching and stretching me in this week, so this is what I came to share with you today. Church, it’s time for many of us to Grow Up.
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: Grow Up - Similar to how the author of the Book of Hebrews addressed their audience, there are many people in the church who have ceased in their maturation - we are called to do better for the sake of our relationships with Christ.
Main Scripture Passages: Hebrews 5:11-6:3
Ancient Errors for All People: They are Dull of Hearing (v5:11); They are Doctrinal and Spiritual babies (v5:12-14); They weren’t building on the Foundation (v6:1-3); They have had plenty of time (v5:11-12).
Some Practical Ways to Help: Be here every Sunday - or whenever you’re able; Get involved in a Missional Community - be in community with other believers seeking the same thing; Cultivate a mentality that loves reading and studying Scripture; Leave immature things behind.
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series: Jesus is Better
This week we heard from Pastor Robbie, continuing in our Summer Scripture Series - moving through the book of Hebrews!
This week, we began our Summer Scripture series, where Pastor Robbie and others will going through the Book of Hebrews verse by verse to bring out their immediate meaning. This process of ‘exegesis’ is important to bring out the originally intended meaning of the author to their original audience!
If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we have recorded all of our recent sermons and they are available on our Facebook page; every Sunday evening they are live-streamed and archived starting at 7 pm!
Pastor Robbie begins by introducing our series saying, ‘In both of our first two Summers, we did a book study where we took 12 weeks or so and walked verse by verse through a book of the Bible and we called it the Summer Scripture Series. The first year 1 Peter, last year was actually two books; Colossians and the short letter to Philemon. It is one of my favorite series that we do at Legacy City because I feel like I am a teacher at heart. I mean, sometimes you all bring the preacher out of me, but I really do just love teaching on the Word and principles of God. So, back by popular demand, we are going to spend the next 12-14 weeks walking straight through the book of Hebrews!’
I really do love to study straight through books of the Bible because they are God's direct and perfectly communicated truths, we’re reading this line by line and phrase by phrase, we have no choice but to be impacted by his Word. His text is so rich and it makes such an impact when we read it in its entirety. Expository teaching is what this is called, or some might call it exegetical teaching, it’s where I work through the text verse by verse - and this is truly my favorite way to teach, because, here’s the thing, it's a lot easier to pick one or two verses, it's a lot easier to pick a topic and talk about what we think about those various things, it's a lot more difficult but more fruitful I believe to study this way - and I say that having just led you through several topical teaching series. I believe, of course, there is a place for both, and both are beneficial. But I pray that it will be fruitful for you and for our church as we study the book of Hebrews together. Some weeks, we will simply read the text and stop to talk about it, some weeks, God may show me a few points to pull out of the text!
“1 Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, 4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
He’s starting us off and taking us all the way back - long ago. You know church, the gospel narrative didn’t start during the age of the Roman Empire, it started long ago in the narratives of the Old Testament. In fact, the account of God’s saving work in Jesus Christ begins at the very beginning of creation. Likewise, Jesus and his work on the cross was not the first time that God intervened in our history. While that was clearly the most significant, God has been active in setting the stage for Christ’s incarnation since the beginning of time and he has specifically been active through speaking.
So now, let’s talk Jesus. Because in the next two verses, we see 7 things facets of Christ explode before us. These verses are so theologically rich. I’m going to give you the seven and then we’ll touch on them briefly. In these two verses, Jesus is noted as being an heir (or an inheritor), creator, sustainer, radiator, representor, Purifier, and Ruler.
This is our God, this is our Savior! Created all things, holds all things together, Rules over all, loves, pursues, prays for you and me. Jesus is better than anything else you can imagine. He is better than that bad relationship you’re still in. He’s better than that addiction that you say you want out of but you really don’t. He’s better than the retail therapy that’s putting you further and further into debt. Jesus is better!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Summer Scripture Series: Jesus is Better - In the face of a world that embraced s culture contrary to the work of Jesus’ ministry, the author of Hebrews assures us that no matter what we have experienced, Jesus is Superior!
Main Scripture Passages - Hebrews 1:1-4; Eph. 1:18; Col. 1:17
Jesus was Apart of Creation - Jesus was not simply a man that was born of earth, but was with the Father, eternally existing and was apart of Creation in the beginning.
Jesus is the Radiance of the Glory of God - Jesus radiates who God is in the fullness of His Image - He is an exact imprint of His nature!
Jesus Sits At the Right Hand of the Father - Jesus is the Son of Man, the Suffering Servant who has purified the sins of mankind before the Father - no one matches His honor and glory, so much so that He dwells with the Father, interceding on our behalf!
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, check out Legacy City’s Podcast, available here, or on Spotify and Itunes.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we continue to meet at the Premiere Cinema 10 at 10 am!
We hope that you and your family are well, and know that You Are Loved!
Summer Scripture Series - Once Useless, Now Useful
Pastor Robbie concludes Philemon and our Summer Scripture series!
We have now concluded our Summer Scripture Series, hopefully you enjoyed walking through Colossians and Philemon verse by verse! If you were not able to make it to our Gathering this past Sunday, know that we missed you! Don’t worry, you can still hear the full message here at Legacy City’s Podcast. Pastor Robbie concluded Philemon from verse 7 until the end and did he ever come prepared to preach this past Sunday – be sure to join us this upcoming Sunday for the beginning of our new series At The Movies!
The core of Philemon (v8-22), surrounds Paul addressing Philemon concerning a past runaway slave of his (Onesimus) that has come to know the Lord and has been attending to Paul’s needs. Ps. Robbie gave us an overview of what Paul was essentially saying, ‘So… Philemon, while you lounge around in your luxurious house, with servants… I, an old man, am here in prison for the gospel. I’ve led Onesimus to Christ, and he really feels a call toward ministry, and I could really use his help right now… but if you really want to take him back, I guess you can.’ The Gospel changes our motivations and the way that we address those around us, not through a position forcefulness or authority, but of humble love and adoration (v8-10). Paul could have used his influence and spiritual authority to demand that Onesimus stay with him – but he doesn’t, and respects Philemon’s position.
There has been some unfortunate history to surround Philemon, a history of oppression and slander against people that God created in his image. The record has been set straight, ‘In Christ, masters and servants become brothers and sisters. The ground is level at the foot of the cross church: one RACE: Human. One CLASS: Sinner. One HOPE: JESUS. One FUTURE: Resurrection. One FORTUNE: the Eternal Riches of Christ.’
Onesimus was no longer useless in his sinfulness, but useful in the body of Christ in service to an apostle and his fellow brothers and sisters in Christ! Martin Luther once wrote, “Even as Christ did for us with God the Father, thus Paul also does for Onesimus with Philemon.” Ps. Robbie stated, ‘We are Onesimus, the runaway slave, the rebellious one, the one who is no longer useful because of our sinfulness. But Christ says that we are useful, not because of anything we’ve done to deserve being taken back, but because of Christ’s own reputation!
SOME KEY TAKE-AWAYS
Passage: Philemon 1:8-22
The Gospel should radically change your life and the way you relate to others.
The Gospel produces gracious, self-sacrificial Love for others.
You are called to give value to brother and sisters in Christ and anyone else in your life!
You are Useful in Christ, don’t continue treating others as if they are Useless!
If this topic piques your interest or if you would enjoy listening to this sermon in more depth, please head over to Legacy City’s Podcast here.
To keep up to date with Legacy City Church and everything that God is doing in our community, please follow us on social media:
Facebook: LegacyCityGWD
Instagram: LegacyCityGWD
Twitter: LegacyCityGWD
Join us next Sunday as we jump into our new series At the Movies! We are so excited to be able to bring this series back - We’re saving you a seat, and know that You Are Loved!