Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Hebrews 1:1. He taught that God speaks in ways we understand. Lector: Lindsey Blair
Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Hebrews 1:1. He taught that God speaks in ways we understand.
Lector: Lindsey Blair
Good morning Sojourn. Peace be with you. It’s a joy to be back from sabbatical.
First time preaching since May 15. Thank you. On behalf of my family, thank you.
Thank you to the elders, the staff, the members, who all sacrificed for the good of my soul and family.
This Summer was a gift…I don’t know how to tell you about it.
There was a lot of this:
Lighthouse Pic
A lot of this
Lobster Roll Pic
It was…incredible. Best Summer of my life, and I know it took the efforts of dozens, hundreds of people, to give this gift to me and my family.
I don’t have words to express how grateful we all are. It was the best Summer of my life, and I’m certain I’ll look back at this Sabbatical as one of the highlights of my life.
Thank you.
A few weeks ago, we were driving to our room after a great day in Portland Maine.
I felt overwhelmed with gratitude, a real sense of the gift of this Summer.
I was overwhelmed by how wonderful my children had been, how much fun my wife and I had…just grateful. And so, as best I could, I said to my family, “guys…this has been the best Summer of my life. I’m so thankful for each one of you. I love you with my whole heart.”
It seemed to me a poignant, solemn, moment. Building core memories!
Without hesitation, tears still wet on my cheek, my oldest said, “ok Dad”
My wife and I laughed, and I was thinking about it in bed later.
Couldn’t help but wonder if that is what it’s like to be God.
Speaking from the heart, words of love/affirmation/longing…and we miss it.
In my efforts to follow Jesus, I’ve noticed nothing brings despair, discouragement, or fear quite the same way as the silence of God does.
Should say apparent silence. When it seems God is gone, we are forgotten…
When life gets unfair or the hits keep coming.
When God seems to go silent, our hearts go cold, our spirits grow faint.
What if the problem is not God’s silence, but our ability, our willingness, to listen?
One of the best gifts of my sabbatical, one of the reasons I’m most excited to spend time with you all in Hebrews, is being reminded of something I learned when my faith in Christ was born:
God speaks in ways we understand.
That’s the big lesson of the next 4 weeks. God speaks in ways we understand.
More specifically this morning, God speaks personally, diversely, and repeatedly.
Personally: he speaks to us so we can know him.
Diversely: God speaks in many ways so we won’t miss his love.
Repeatedly: God happily repeats himself so we won’t forget his love.
My hope is that we will be encouraged, refreshed by this reminder that God is not silent. He initiates, he speaks, he’s near. My hope is that, as we become encouraged, we will become more and more devoted to listening to the voice of God.
Look at how Hebrews 1 opens:
Long ago God spoke…
-Hebrews 1:1
This certainly implies THE beginning, “god said let there be light”
It’s a subtle reminder that God's words ARE God’s actions.
God is not like us where you say something and do another.
We cannot separate God’s words from God’s actions.
God’s words CREATE, cause, inspire, motivate.
God speaking in creation is not specifically what Hebrews is mentioning, though.
Long ago God spoke…to our ancestors…
-Hebrews 1:1
A God who creates by speaking is awesome, fantastic…think of it!
His very words have the power of life.
But to press it further and consider the Scripture’s teaching: God speaks to US.
God spoke and created life, and the crescendo of creation is a creature capable of hearing and understanding the words of God. Incredible.
God did not have to do this!
Did not have to create. Did not have to create a being in his image.
Did not have to make that being capable of knowing God, and did not have to speak to him. But God speaks! and he speaks personally so that you will know him.
Hebrews reveals that God speaks TO US personally so we can know him!
Long ago God spoke many times…to our ancestors…
-Hebrews 1:1 (emphasis added)
Ever feel like you missed it? Yeah, God speaks, but I missed it!
Maybe like my son in the car…he missed what I was saying.
What if that’s the only time in life I tell him I love him,? Isn’t that a ridiculous thought?
But isn’t that so often how we think God speaks to us, maybe we’ll miss it?
Do you have any idea how much I love telling my children I love them? I delight in them? I am for them? I am with them?
If me, being a sinful broken man, am that way with my children, how much more must God be with us?
He HAPPILY REPEATS himself so you will not miss it. But! LISTEN! He doesn’t just say the same thing the same way over and over.
Long ago God Spoke many times in many ways to our ancestors…
-Hebrews 1:1 (emphasis added)
In the original language, “many times in many ways” comes first.
They’re both long words starting with P. So the original listeners would have heard this sermon start with a POP POP. Hebrews is likely a sermon. It begins emphatically, not with tears but with shouts, passionately emphasizing that God speaks over and over in all kinds of ways.
The scriptures are the stories for the many times and many ways God spoke to us
Psalm 19 reminds us God speaks through creation.
“Day after day” the psalmist sings. Not a one time event.
Romans 1 reminds us that God reveals himself through creation to such a degree that no one has an excuse for not believing in God.
God LOVES speaking to us through his creation, but that’s not all.
He speaks to us through acts of mercy and judgment, like Job in ch. 38 through an intimidating tornado or Egypt’s Pharaoh through plague and pestilence or Moses through storm and thunder in Ex. 19.
One of my favorites, he speaks to Elijah through a meal, a nap, and a whisper in 1 kg 19
The Scriptures record the history of God speaking personally, repeatedly, diversely, in WAYS WE UNDERSTAND
Long ago God Spoke many times in many ways to our ancestors through the prophets.
-Hebrews 1:1
There is no longer doubt about what God meant or said.
He spoke personally, diversely, repeatedly, and clearly.
He spoke human words to human beings who shared them with all people
Creation, judgment and mercy, physical provision, and even human words.
And all of that is preserved for us in the scriptures. It’s right here for us, one of the reasons we, as a church, LOVE the Bible. It’s God’s personal, diverse, repeated words preserved for us.
One Hebrews scholar summarizes the point this way:
Fundamental to [Hebrews’] argument is the conviction that God has not remained silent but has taken the initiative and revealed himself.
-Peter T. O’Brien
In some ways, that’s the big idea of the entire book of Hebrews and why we’re going to spend so much time in it
God IS NOT SILENT. We believe God came near, took the initiative from the beginning, and speaks personally, diversely, repeatedly.
And if you believe that, if you receive that, you can learn to hear God.
If you receive that, a whole world of curiosity and possibility will open to you
A world where God is actually knowable, personal. Not distant but near.
We are going to spend weeks learning how we do that, how to recognize the voice of God, hearing some of the most beautiful, powerful truths in human history.
But I want us to start our journey in Hebrews simply soaking in the wonder that God speaks to us in ways we understand.
I understand that, for some of us, you may feel more confused that encouraged
One of my favorite Bible translations, the Revised English Bible, Translates verse 1 in a way that speaks to some of the tension many of us feel around God speaking:
…he spoke in fragmentary and varied fashion…
-Hebrews 1:1 (Revised English Bible)
Part of what the pastor here is acknowledging is that, long ago, God gave pieces of a message…yes, it was personal, diverse, and repeated…but the diversity of his speech also meant it was fragmentary. It’s hard to figure out how it all fits together.
It’s hard to hear clearly, like listening to someone tell a story out of order.
Some of you understand what I’m saying. You look at your life, or your time in church, and it doesn’t add up.
You look at how things have turned out, and it doesn’t quite click.
If that’s you, or if that’s someone you know, come back next week, we’ll see how God definitively and ultimately broke the silence, removing any doubt about if he speaks, how he speaks, or why he speaks.
He speaks to you diversely so you will not miss his message
He speaks to you repeatedly so you will not forget his message
He speaks TO YOU so you can know him
His words are seen most clearly in The Word, his Son, and his message is seen and experienced most powerfully on the night Jesus Christ was betrayed:
COMMUNION
Works Cited:
John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews
Peter O’Brien, The Letter to the Hebrews
John Frame, The Doctrine of God
Gareth Cockerill, The Epistle to the Hebrews