"Therefore." There it is again. The writer of Hebrews loves connecting his points. We just finished a call to put away our spiritual bottles and sink our teeth into some solid meat. And now again we are called to move beyond Christianity 101 and into the depths of His truth. In case you missed it, the author states the "elementary doctrines" of the faith in the first two verses of chapter 6. These are the ABCs of Christianity or Christianity 101:
1. Repentance from dead works to faith in God
2. An understanding of baptism and the laying on of hands
3. Resurrection and eternal judgment
The writer doesn't spend time elaborating these points because, as the basics of Christianity, he expects the reader to already possess a thorough knowledge of these subjects. But for our purposes today, let's not gloss over them so quickly. Let's sit for a while and honestly ask, "Do I know what repentance from dead works means? Why is that even important? Why do we baptize people? What is the resurrection? Why is a future hope of resurrection important? What is the eternal judgment?"
My fear is that if we were to survey random congregations, many individuals would not be able to explain why we baptize or why their faith is built on faith and not works. If the basics are confused or not well formed in our minds, the practice of our faith will be difficult at best, and wrong at worst. And what if you know it? What if you could fully explain these doctrines? Then what? Well, as the writer says "let us press on to maturity."
So what about you? If your honest answer is "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" then here are some scriptures for you to consider and do some digging of your own. If you think you know the answers, then refresh your minds by reading the hope found in the basics of our faith. Look through these over the next week and study for yourselves. This is by no means an exhaustive list...but it is a starting point. Let' make sure we get the basics before we move forward to the next verses...which will challenge us greatly.
Dead works: Hebrews 9:14
Faith: Hebrews 6:12; 10:22, 38-39; 12:2; 13:7 and chapter 11
Laying on of Hands and Baptism: Acts 8:14-17; 9:12, 17-19;19:5-6
Resurrection and Eternal Judgment: Hebrews 9:27; 10:27; 11:19, 35
1. Repentance from dead works to faith in God
2. An understanding of baptism and the laying on of hands
3. Resurrection and eternal judgment
The writer doesn't spend time elaborating these points because, as the basics of Christianity, he expects the reader to already possess a thorough knowledge of these subjects. But for our purposes today, let's not gloss over them so quickly. Let's sit for a while and honestly ask, "Do I know what repentance from dead works means? Why is that even important? Why do we baptize people? What is the resurrection? Why is a future hope of resurrection important? What is the eternal judgment?"
My fear is that if we were to survey random congregations, many individuals would not be able to explain why we baptize or why their faith is built on faith and not works. If the basics are confused or not well formed in our minds, the practice of our faith will be difficult at best, and wrong at worst. And what if you know it? What if you could fully explain these doctrines? Then what? Well, as the writer says "let us press on to maturity."
So what about you? If your honest answer is "I don't know" or "I'm not sure" then here are some scriptures for you to consider and do some digging of your own. If you think you know the answers, then refresh your minds by reading the hope found in the basics of our faith. Look through these over the next week and study for yourselves. This is by no means an exhaustive list...but it is a starting point. Let' make sure we get the basics before we move forward to the next verses...which will challenge us greatly.
Dead works: Hebrews 9:14
Faith: Hebrews 6:12; 10:22, 38-39; 12:2; 13:7 and chapter 11
Laying on of Hands and Baptism: Acts 8:14-17; 9:12, 17-19;19:5-6
Resurrection and Eternal Judgment: Hebrews 9:27; 10:27; 11:19, 35
No comments:
Post a Comment