Hebrews 10: 11-25 A Closer Look

To You Who Are Beloved of our Lord Jesus Christ,                 

Our Scripture for this week is Hebrews 10: 11-25:

¹¹And every priest stands day after day at his service, offering again and again the same sacrifices that can never take away sins. ¹²But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, “he sat down at the right hand of God,” ¹³and since then has been waiting “until his enemies would be made a footstool for his feet.” ¹⁴For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. ¹⁵And the Holy Spirit also testifies to us, for after saying, ¹⁶“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds,” ¹⁷he also adds, “I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.” ¹⁸Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin.

¹⁹Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²²let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Worship in the Old Testament came out of a practical working of obligation.  The High Priest stood in the role of the highest religious worker in the land, his job to be intercessor through the continuous offering of animal sacrifices to the Lord.  It was a process of atoning continually for ones sin’s.  I would invite you to look to the first seven chapters of Leviticus to see how wide ranging the sacrificial system was for the nation of Israel.

Then came Jesus.  He did not replace what came before, but fulfilled the law of Moses.  The book of Hebrews is rather unique in the New Testament because it focuses on this fulfillment, on what came before and how it exists now in Christ Jesus. 

In the process of worship, what came before was a High Priest who serves as the CSO (the Chief Spiritual Officer) of Judaism.  He is the spiritual intercessor.  But he is also a sinner, and sacrifice must be offered on his behalf as well.  Until Jesus. 

Worship then was also a system of obligation, ongoing animal sacrifice to seek atonement for the sins committed by the people.  Until Jesus.  He is the One Sacrifice that is once for all effective for all the Children of God.

This is laid out in verses 11-18.

Jesus flipped the system.  Instead of God accepting our sacrifices, we are called upon to accept God’s sacrifice, in Jesus Christ.  Worship is not a fear/threat response to being punished by an angry God.  It is rather a forgiveness/hope response from a loving God.   

In Jesus, salvation is a gift that is given to all the Children of God.  God has done everything and it is only for we, God’s Children, to accept the love that God offers. Verses 19-25 offer us a foundation for the power of real, loving, thankful worship for those who accept God’s gift.

One thing has not changed about worshipping God before and after Jesus.  It is the attitude that we bring.  Hosea is clear that God seeks mercy and not sacrifice.  True worship is not about going through the motions for the audience of our peers.  It is a true response of love in community to what God has done for us.

For worship, true worship, is a practice of discipleship in which we can experience the promise of God changing ordinary living into abundant life.  It is one of the keystone practices that our church has identified as we are sent out by Jesus into the world. 

Pastor Pete