Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap and discuss Pastor Jonah Sage's sermon from Hebrews 10:26-39.
Lindsey Blair and Bobby Gilles recap and discuss Pastor Jonah Sage's sermon from Hebrews 10:26-39.
Bobby: Welcome to the Midweek Checkup. My name is Bobby Gilles and this here is Lindsey Blair. This past Sunday Pastor Jonah Sage preached from Hebrews ten, versus twenty-six through thirty-nine in our series called A Life Worth Living.
Lindsey: Pastor Jonah said that the presence of Christ empowers us to suffer well together. But if you missed the sermon or need help remembering, let’s do the Midweek Checkup.
Bobby: Jonah began by saying that this text is scary in parts because it’s a warning passage. The point, though, is to encourage rather than to scare us. Suffering, if it’s to be formative, must be held within affection and relationship. So, to his dear friends, the preacher gives a warning: “if we deliberately continue sinning after we have received knowledge of the truth, there is no longer any sacrifice that will cover these sins.”
Lindsey: The preacher has in mind here a specific sin called “apostasy," which is the deliberate rejection of Jesus as the great high priest who offered himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for our sins. It’s not a bad night…even if the night was really bad. It’s not a moral failure or a bad choice. It’s important to know how we stay on guard against apostasy. First, we have to know how God responds. He says, “I will take revenge. I will judge.”
Bobby: Apostasy is God’s department, not ours. It’s his job to respond to it. It is not our job to condemn people, and it’s not our job to pay back apostates. Instead of condemnation and judgment in response to apostasy, the Preacher talks about suffering. No one questions the Bible because of how happy they are. No one doubts the resurrection because of how many prayers were answered.
Lindsey: If we do not suffer well, it will drive us into isolation. If the suffering continues in isolation, it leads to doubt. If suffering continues while we doubt, we descend into despair. And despair born of suffering produces apostasy. This is why A life worth living is a life immersed in the people of God. And the doorway to apostasy hinges on whether or not we learn to suffer well together. Suffering is endured primarily through presence. We need to be with each other more than we need answers and explanations.
Bobby: When we suffer together, those who have gone before us are able to say “This is what’s waiting for you”, “this is how we got through this”, or “I’m here with you.” When we suffer together, we learn we are not alone.
We are not the only ones who have faced this pain, this loss, this mistake.
Suffering well requires suffering together. Suffering together requires endurance. Endurance requires encouragement. And encouragement leads to our great reward.
Lindsey: Next Sunday we’ll continue our series called A Life Worth Living. And in Bible Fellowship we’ll discuss Peter’s answer to a large crowd who asked, “What must we do?” when they learned of their complicity in the death of Jesus, who is now raised from the dead. Join us and bring a friend.