Hebrews 6:1-12 — Warning Against Falling Away
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
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Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.
This section of scripture is only for the mature in faith, for those who have taken time to study and learn. Not that a new believer should avoid these words, but every student must know the difference between that which is intended for the introduction compared to the final exam. It takes time to learn. That being said, I pray that I have not counted myself as too learned in these comments–compared to the writer, I am just a fledgling student!
“Let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ” (Hebrews 6:1), the basics we should already know, and move onto a really difficult teaching: “It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened…to be brought back to repentance” (6:4-6). Read that a few times and let it sink in. To one, this provides the foundation for our ability to lose salvation, to another it speaks of heresy within the church. Here are my thoughts about this tough teaching, thoughts that make me wonder about our modern church dying before our eyes. In context, the writer constantly refers to Abraham, to Moses and Aaron. We are reminded to those who were faithful, who led many from one place to another with God’s divine help. Many of these followers “tasted the heavenly gift” (6:4) and certainly they “tasted the goodness of the word of God” (6:5), but they were never truly transformed, grumbling and complaining. To those who hear the word and become members of the church, yet do nothing with the word, do nothing to produce “a crop useful to those for whom it is farmed” (6:7), to those who have become lazy–these people cannot be “brought back to repentance” (6:6b) because they were never actually transformed by the Holy Spirit, they have not received Christ into their hearts. They’ve merely uttered words and shared in the richness of the fellowship of the church, but have not been transformed.
This means there is hard work to be done and the writer provides some encouragement for those who are keeping the faith, “God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them” (6:10). These are words for the mature. Lord, I am confident that you have transformed my life, that the Holy Spirit indwells in me, help me now Lord to help others on this journey of faith. I put my trust in you Lord, not in rituals or rites of passage. Luke 10:2-3 records the words of Jesus,
“The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field. Go! I am sending you out like lambs among wolves.”
This was never meant to be an easy task. Lord give me strength and courage to help as many people as possible become totally committed to Jesus Christ in whatever harvest field you send me, just send me!