Reflections on Hebrews with Andrew Murray (2)

 

“And the great object of the Epistle is to show us that if we will but follow the Lord fully, and yield ourselves wholly to what God in Christ is ready to do, we shall find in the gospel and in Christ everything that we need for a life of joy and strength and final victory.”

 

While I don’t know that Murray is quite on point about “the great object of the Epistle,” because the scope and grandeur of Hebrews is far beyond me, however, in Murray’s historical context I can see his emphasis. I included the above excerpt from his Preface because I am struck by the words I underlined; “fully…yield ourselves…wholly…everything…”

 

May I ask if you hear that language in preaching and teaching and in your reading? I don’t hear or read it; I’m not saying it doesn’t exist, but it isn’t a sound I often hear. I used to hear it, decades ago; when I stopped hearing it I don’t know. How is it that I don’t know? It must be because of my own self-centeredness. It is important language. It is the language of Jesus when He says, “If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me…” (Mark 8:34 – 38). 

It is the language of Paul in Romans 12:1 – 2, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual [reasonable] service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.”

 

This is the language of total and complete commitment. The language of the burnt offering. The language of counting all things as loss that we may know Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:7 – 12). This is the language of giving and not getting, of sacrificing and not sparing ourselves, of breaking the vial of precious and costly ointment and “wasting” it on our Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:6 – 13). Do I consider my life too precious to “waste” on Jesus? Do you? Do our congregations?

 

Paul said, “But I do not consider my life of any account as dear to myself, so that I may finish my course and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify solemnly of the gospel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24).

 

Christ has a race for us all to run. He has a calling for each of us. Each one of us has a vital role to play in the Body of Christ and toward those who do not know Jesus. However, Christ’s call to us requires all that we have and all that we are. The Gospel is not a message of qualified commitment; we are called to surrender ourselves to Jesus Christ – and for surrender to be surrender, it must be total and complete and irrevocable.

 

Are we and our congregations having picnics on the racecourse when we should be running? I imagine that when most of us are having picnics that the occasional runner will be considered impractical and strange – well, we are called to go outside the camp, bearing the reproach of Christ (Hebrews 13:13). If we are running, our eyes will be on Jesus and He will be worth it all – whether we have much company on the race or not. Let us be assured that there are no shortcuts on this race, there can be no cheating, we must all race to, and through, and in the Cross of Jesus Christ. O the glory of seeing Christ standing and waiting for us at the finish line holding the crown of righteousness for us! (2 Timothy 4:6 – 8). Can you see Him? (Hebrews 12:1 – 3; Colossians 3:1 – 4; 1 John 3:1 – 3).

 

Are we finding our everything in the Person of Jesus Christ? I use the word “Person” because I want to distinguish between what we often call “Christian” and Jesus Christ Himself. We have baptized so many things as “Christian” that it is as if we were branding this or that as “Christian” and thereby giving it a holy sanction. We ought to be careful with this, for this is a characteristic of syncretism and pollution, we see this in the worship of Yahweh in ancient times, and we see it today. Are we propagating a lifestyle and worldview in place of calling men and women and children into an intimate relationship with the Trinity through the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ?

 

Have elements of Christianity become pawns for politics, foreign policy, economic policy, social policy, entertainment; and self-serving religious preaching, teaching, and Christian consumerism? Our preaching can only have one center, it will be either Jesus Christ our ourselves. (Yes, of course Christ and the Word should inform us in all areas of life, but when these areas become pawns in our agendas, when they displace the Cross and the Gospel, when they displace the Person of Christ – they degenerate into self-serving elements which we baptize as “Christian” in order to justify our positions.)

 

“O Lord Jesus, teach us to follow you fully, yielding ourselves to you wholly, finding in You everything we need in this life, and in the life that is to come.”