Make Every Effort
Hebrew 12:14
Harry Stoliker
May 27, 2007 EBC
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I had the delight of wrestling with a very important question this
week. Where does all this heavy theology on the Supremacy of the Priesthood of Jesus
Christ get worked out? You might say: “It took you all week to figure
that out?” Well, yes. I did get around to a few others things as well. But
this was the most delightful.
This great book of Hebrews has been exalting Christ for us, hasn’t it! It
began by telling us that He was the “exact representation of God’s being!”
It told us that God the Father is in the process of making all the enemies
of Christ to be his footstool. It told us Christ was greater than Moses;
that Christ is our eternal Sabbath-Rest, our Great High Priest,
the Source of our Eternal Life, our Guarantee of a Better Covenant,
our Mediator of a New and Better Covenant, our Once-for-all-Perfect-Sacrifice,
the Author and Perfector of our Faith, and our Forerunner to the
Holy of Holies in Heaven.
What RICH theology! We could spend a lifetime on this book alone! Where
is all this rich theology worked out? Where does the rubber hit the
pavement in testing its power and practicality? In the local church,
the body of Christ, the family of God, the Bride of
Christ – that’s the answer. So, here at the end of one of, if not the most
profound book ever written by any human being in human history,
God is telling us we better take care of the local church! We better see
to it that it is healthy and functions properly. Why? For the
inestimably important reason that if it comes apart at the seams because
of strife, unholiness, bitterness or sexual immorality, the next generation
will not understand or be interested in the theology of Christ that
it is built upon! The next generation will think: “What good is a bunch of
complicated theology if it can’t even keep the people in the church from fighting
one another?!”
I was in my office praying to God asking Him what I should preach on this
week. I got an impulse to shoot a quick email to a friend who preaches at
a church some distance from here because I knew he’d been going through some struggles.
He got the email and gave me a call. His heart was broken over the tensions
in his church due to some folk spreading gossip and hurtful rumors
about him. The problems were tearing him apart. He was hurt for the church’s
sake and for the sake of the Name of Christ. It dawned on me that
this phone call was part of God’s answer for my prayer. It gave me what I
should preach on from our text. I want to say this morning how critical this passage
is for our health as a Body of Christ. WE must apply it over and over
and over again so that we are preserved from strife, unholiness, bitterness and
sexual immorality. We may not be going through anything like my friend
is in his church, but we must become even stronger in our obedience to this
passage.
Let’s consider afresh God’s attitude about the local church. There are God’s
direct commands concerning every Bible-believing Christian church.
V.14 “Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without
holiness no one will see the Lord.”
A. The first command concerns PEACE in the church. God wants PEACE
in the local church. The verse has 3 parts: make every effort,
live…, with all men. Christ does not want tension, unrest,
turmoil, backbiting, infighting, squabbling or power struggles in the local
church. The first part tells us we need to “make every effort.” The Greek
word includes the nuances: to press toward, strive, pursue.
Clearly this takes much work! What’s our tendency when a sharp disagreement
comes up with someone else in the church? We get mad, personally offended,
and then we let it simmer or fester like an infected wound. We delay conversation
and reconciliation with the person. We give them a cold shoulder
and act as if they don’t exist in the world anymore. We carry on our friendships
with other people as if everything is normal. Is that what Christ is telling
you and me to do here?
B. “Make every effort” means that you have to take the initiative
to try and work out the problem with the person. You have to go to them and say:
“Hey, I know we had an unpleasant disagreement over this issue but I’d like to take
you to lunch and see if we can work it out and come to some mutual understanding.”
At lunch you make every effort to listen to the brother’s concerns
and point of view. You make every effort not to be personally offended again.
You make every effort to speak calmly and clearly your point of view.
You make every effort to keep the glory of Christ and the good of the
local church as your first priority. And you make every effort to
bring yourself to pay for lunch! Then you go home and make every effort
to pray for your brother and pray that God will give you love, patience and understanding
of your brother. Then when someone else asks you how your lunch appointment went,
you make every effort to speak kindly about your brother. If you make
this much effort to reconcile with your brother, then you are being obedient
to God.
C. The second part of the verse talks about LIVING in peace. That
is the ongoing process. Month in and month out, year in and year out. Peace
is to be the normal way of existing together in the body. Jesus said: “Blessed
are the peacemakers for they will be called sons of God.” (Mt. 5:9)
Blessed means a divinely-bestowed well-being, joy, and happiness.
That is available the whole life of a believer! A “peacemakers” is
someone who takes the initiative to create biblical peace in relationships.
Biblical peace is peace based upon truth and conformity to the will of our
Master, Jesus Christ. To make anything valuable requires a lot of effort.
Creating this kind of atmosphere in a local church for our children
to grow in will make them willing to embrace the great truths of the supremacy
of Christ’s Priesthood. Our supreme heavenly priest made peace for us with the
Father through his own shed blood.
D. The third part tells us that this peace must be “with all men.”
The Gk. simply says: “Live in peace with all” meaning ‘everyone’
or ‘all people.’ The context signifies everyone in the church. That
means young people, old people, women, men, elders, deacons, ushers,
choir director, administrative assistant, preacher and particularly and especially
that person who just seems to naturally irritate you! The point
is: there is no selective-peacemaking in God’s local church. God doesn’t
allow you to have anyone you are not at peace with in the church.
E. We must take this command seriously in our lives. Christ loves his Church
far too much for us to not make EVERY effort to maintain biblical peace
with every one. Prov. 6:16-19 tell us that there are 7 things that God hates,
that God detests. One of them is “a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.”
We must realize that “failing to create peace” is just as bad
as “causing dissension.” They are two sides of the same coin.
F. The next great command in this verse is TO BE HOLY. This is the
standard Gk. word for being set apart for God’s special use. Utensils
in the tabernacle were holy because they were set aside for the special use
of worshiping God. We can see this come together in 1 Peter 2:9 “But you are
a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging
to God…” We are to be holy both in our individual lives and together
as a corporate body of Christ. What does that mean? What is an unholy
thing to do? We could say that it is anything that goes against what you were created
for, which is to bring God glory. All sinfully disobedient actions are obviously
“unholy” then, aren’t they? Unholy thoughts or actions, like not being a peacemaker
in the church or looking at internet pornography or bad movies, in
a Christian’s life might be like me taking my daughter’s wedding dress and
using it as a drop cloth under my car when I change my dirty oil! What a
misuse of the dress! It was never intended for that! It is dishonored by that use.
It the same as misusing your life for selfish, fleshly, sinful pleasures!
It’s the same thing as not caring about the spiritual life of the
local church!
G. I made a little present for the men at the Men’s Retreat. It’s a laminated
book mark with this title: “50 Incredibly Relevant Scripture Verses on Holiness,
Purity, and Pursuing God.” Our theme verse is Mt. 5:8 “The Pure
in Heart Shall See God.” #50 in my list is 2 Cor. 7:1 “Since we have
these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that
contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”
God has spoken so much about purifying ourselves from the filth of our culture.
Are you doing that? If you don’t, you won’t SEE GOD. “…without holiness no one will
see God.” What promises does God make about purity? The one
we are concerned about this morning is: “without holiness no one will see the Lord.”
What does he mean by this incredibly strong statement?
H. When you see something you understand it, comprehend it, experience it and live
it. We have phrases in our language such as: “I see what you mean!” “I
how I’m alive to see the day all my kids get married.” “I’ve seen a sunrise over
the Grand Canyon.” “I see your point.” 1 Peter 3:10 “Whoever would love
life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful
speech.” To see God is to know Him, comprehend Him, experience
Him, and live with Him. 1 Jn. 3:2 “But we know that when he appears
we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.” This is the ultimate
“seeing” of God that we long for. Anyone who habitually and relentlessly
gives in to a life of unholiness will NOT see God when He appears.
I. Do you want God to be “seen” in all His Majesty in our church? Do you
want our young people to “see” God? How much do you want our young
people to see the supremacy of the priesthood of Jesus Christ in their lives?
Enough to keep your personal, private life holy before the eyes of the Almighty?
Enough to make every effort to live at peace with all men? What each of us
does in our private life affects our entire church! If you “see”
God a lot because you live a holy life, you will bring that ‘vision’ of God
into the Body. If you do not ‘see’ God, you will contribute that much less
to the Body of what is most important. Can you grasp why holiness is so critical
for us this morning?
V.15 “See too it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root
grows up to cause trouble and defiles many.
A. What else does God tell us we should be doing in the local church? Again,
be sure to see that God is talking to all the members of the local church.
We are to “See to it…” It’s fascinating that the Gk. word here
is dðéóêïðÝù (episkopeoô) to oversee; by implication to beware, look diligently,
take the oversight. This is the very same word used of the office
of elder in 1 Peter 5:2 “Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care,
serving as overseers…” Not only has God specifically appointed men
to the office of overseer, he expects a degree of this kind of care
to be carried on by everyone in the body for everyone else.
B. What does it mean? It means that you are to genuinely care that
every person who is a member or regularly attends EBC actually knows
the saving grace of God, that they have a saving knowledge of Christ. You
are to care for the condition of their eternal soul. Yes, we care for their
physical condition when they get sick. Yes, we care for trials that
face their families. But even more, we want to do what Paul said in 2 Cor.
5:16 “So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view.”
He meant that he saw every man as an eternal soul needing a redeemer
to make him new. “If any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,
the new has come.” (V.17) I care for you, all of you, but most of all
I care that you are not fooling yourself about being in the grace of God.
Many will fool themselves and be rudely and frightfully awakened on
the last day. Jesus said in Mt. 7:22 “Not everyone who says to me “Lord, Lord,”
will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who
is in heaven.” Oh, my friend, do not miss the Grace of God!
C. Talk to one another about the cross of Christ and the grace of God.
Show evidence of your genuine, biblical faith by the good works that
you do. Don’t assume you know Christ unless there is a joyful, willing submission
to His Word and a complete trusting in His righteousness and grace
for your only acceptance before God. Pray this for one another.
D. Be sure there is no unforgiveness and bitterness in your hearts. Bitterness
is like a tenacious weed whose root you just can’t seem to pull out. Bitterness
will hurt many people in the church. Coming into the church with bitterness
in your heart is like spreading a poisonous virus among us. Many of us will
get sick from your contagious disease. Get healed by Jesus
for your sake and ours!
V.16-18 “See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau…”
Two last responsibilities God lays on us members of the local church.
First, if we know of any blatant sexual immorality taking place and
we do nothing about it, we are just like the Corinthian church Paul rebukes
in 1 Cor. 5:1 “It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among
you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans.” This doesn’t mean
we become the KGB or Secret Service and snoop into each other’s lives. It
means that we don’t look the other way when someone among us needs to be address
for sin in this area. This takes courage, but that is what God is calling
us members to do.
Paul says so strongly in Eph. 5:3 “But among you there must not be
even a hint of sexual immorality, or any kind of impurity…” Watch your eyes,
watch your words, watch your actions, watch your hearts with
all diligence…for the Glory of Christ and the health of the local church.
Lastly, we are to help one another not to be godless like Esau. Basically,
Esau treated God and his inheritance as though it was worthless! He didn’t
treasure what God had promised. It is pure godlessness to trash the sacred
promises that we have in Scripture. Peter calls them “very great and precious
promises” in 2 Peter 1:4!
Conclusion: If you are going to be a part of this church, or any biblical
local church, you can’t be self-centered, passive, distant and uninvolved
in people’s lives. That’s not what God commands.
- You have to genuinely care that the Peace of Christ rules in the congregation!
- You have to be holy in your personal private life and help promote holiness
in the congregation!
- You have to care if other people are actual saved by grace alone in Christ
alone through faith alone.
- You cannot harbor bitterness toward anyone at all.
- You cannot turn a blind eye at any kind of sexual immorality among
the members.
- You must treat the promises of our eternal inheritance as very great and
precious.
May our Gracious Lord and God build this kind of community of Christian faith here
at Emmanuel!
Let's pray.
H.