“A New and Living Way”
A Sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett
Pleasantville UCC, November 15, 2009|
Hebrews 10:11-25

“Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary…by the new and living way that [Jesus] opened for us...let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith…”
(Hebrews 10:19-22)

            The book known as the epistle to the Hebrews is unique in style and content to any of the other epistles in the New Testament.  The word “epistle” means letter, and many of the letters we have in the New Testament were written by the apostle, Paul, and speak directly to a particular congregation – often named in the title, such as Corinthians, or Galatians, or Ephesians.  In the letters that Paul wrote he often addressed particular issues and challenges facing those communities.

Hebrews, on the other hand, is not really a letter – though we call it one of the ‘epistles.’  It’s actually a sermon, written by an unknown author to an unknown congregation – probably between 60 and 100 A.D.  And it was a sermon that was meant to be read aloud by whoever was the leader of a congregation.  Any time you begin to feel my sermons run on too long, imagine sitting through the entire book of Hebrews one Sunday morning.

            We don’t know who wrote it, and we don’t know who it was written for, and we can only guess at when it was written.  But for all that we don’t know about Hebrews, what we do know is that it contains some of the most familiar and most often quoted passages in the New Testament.  It is from Hebrews that we get such beautiful language as this:

Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen 
(Hebrews 1:1 ff).

And from Hebrews we get this:

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)

And from Hebrews that we get this:

Now may the God of peace, who brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in everything good so that you may do his will, working among us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever.  Amen.  (Hebrews 13:20-21)

Yet, for all of its beauty, Hebrews can be difficult to follow.

            I have already said that Hebrews is really more of a sermon than it is a letter.  Our text is a brief portion of a larger sermon.  It is, in many ways, a sermon within a sermon.  Let’s explore the text more deeply:

10:11
Since we don’t know who the author is, but we know that this is a sermon, let’s call the author “the preacher.”  The preacher begins our passage by drawing a contrast between the priests of the Hebrew Temple, who offer daily sacrifices of animals and grains in exchange for the forgiveness of sin.  But these sacrifices must be offered each and every day in order to cleanse the people from sin, leading the preacher to make the judgment that these offerings do not, in fact, make any fundamental difference at all.

10:12
Christ, on the other hand, offers a single sacrifice for all times.  He is not an ordinary priest.  He is the Great High Priest.  He offers this sacrifice (himself) and then sits down at the right hand of God.

10:15
Christ’s offering on our behalf is so efficacious that it results in the fulfillment of the prophet Jeremiah’s proclamation (Jer 31:33-34), paraphrased here in Hebrews:

“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…
“I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.”

The new covenant, established with us through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, assures our full and final forgiveness.  Having been forgiven, therefore, there is no need to approach the altar with fear – nor with a fear-based offering.

10:19
By virtue of his atoning sacrifice, Christ opened for us a new and living way, and as a result, we are able to enter the sanctuary with confidence.

10:22
An allusion to baptism where we are “sprinkled clean…and our bodies washed with pure water…”

10:23

And then this final exhortation:

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without waving, for he who has promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

This brief sermon, within the context of the larger sermon which is the book of Hebrews, distills into just a few lines, all that we know and believe about Christ’s atoning action for our sins: since we have a Great High Priest in Jesus Christ, whose sacrifice made us clean, we no longer need to enter the sanctuary in fear, but can enter with confidence because we have been forgiven, once and for all.

            This is good news.  This is life-changing news.  To know and believe that you are forgiven; that you are acceptable to God; that despite all the reasons that you and I feel we are wholly unacceptable to the Lord – our sin has indeed been paid and we can enter into relationship with God in confidence.  This is the kind of news that frees us to live the kind of life that God desires.  It frees us to live a life unshackled from sin.  It frees us to make the kinds of changes that a life lived with God encourages us to make.

            When I was a young pastor, fresh out of seminary, I met a woman who made a big impression on me.  She was deeply unhappy but all of her sorrow came out as anger.  She tried to keep people from seeing her pain and what she showed them instead was a terribly sharp edge.  And people did what you’d expect they would do: they stayed away.

One day she shared something with me.  She said that she wished there was a service for people who’d been away from church too long.  She wished that there was a service that would wipe the slate clean; forgive all the mistakes of the past; a way for people to start over.

I told her, there was just such a service.  It occurred each and every week, with the Assurance of Pardon.  That’s what the Confession of Sin and the Assurance of Pardon are: it’s the part of the service where we acknowledge that we’ve screwed up and God says – “Yeah, I knew that already; and I love you anyway.  Now, come home, and have something to eat.”

What I didn’t know at the time we had this conversation was that this parishioner of mine was engaged in a life and death struggle with addiction.  Alcohol had become the way that she managed her pain.  But because she concealed it so well from the world, none of us knew how much she was suffering.

She was suffering.  She was angry.  She was medicating her pain with substance abuse.  And she hated herself for all of it.  And this self-hatred kept driving her farther and farther away from the church.  She did not feel worthy to enter the Sanctuary of God.  She did not feel worthy of having a profound and intimate relationship with God.  She did not believe that God could ever forgive and love her.

Something deep inside her knew what she needed.  She needed the forgiveness that only Christ can offer.  She longed for a special service that would make her clean.

What she hadn’t realized was that she had already beenmade clean.

The preacher of Hebrews is speaking to her, and to us, and to others who feel as she does:

Therefore, my brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let 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.  Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.

            This forgiven life that we lead, this “new and living way” that Christ Jesus opens up for us, frees us for a life of true intimacy with God.  No longer do we need to fear God.  No longer do we need to hide from God -- because we are forgiven; wholly acceptable to God.

Apparently that conversation that we had – that woman and I – was an important turning point in her life.  God was placing people in her life to help her turn her life around.  Shortly after that, she began attending AA meetings, got sober, and has been now for more than twenty years.  In the meantime, God has turned her life around in other ways.  She served the church, faithfully, as a lay leader for many years until God called her to attend seminary.  She was an outstanding student, ordained into the Christian ministry, and currently serves churches as a very able pastor.

Her story of recovery and healing speaks an important word about God’s purposes for our forgiven lives.  It could have gone another way.  Her story could have gone another way.  She could have found her way to an AA meeting, got sober, and lived a life of sobriety entirely outside the confines of the Church.  And there is no doubt in my mind that that story of healing would have been a victory celebrated by all the angels.  But that’s not the way her story went.  God healed her and God called her to serve.

The preacher in Hebrews shows us that there is a deeper kind of life that God desires for us – a life which extends beyond our own need for healing.  There is a new and living way that we are invited to experience, and that is a life lived in Christian community.  In the economy of God’s Kingdom, healing and transformation lead to something.  Personal forgiveness leads to communal transformation.  Being forgiven leads to a new kind of community.  It leads to a life lived in community, under the sovereignty of God. 

Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

The Board of Deacons here at Pleasantville Church has been working hard to remind us all that we are in the Season of Stewardship.  Next Sunday, we will be invited to offer our tithes and pledges of support for this church.  What we promise, will determine the shape and scope of our ministry for the year ahead.  It is a ministry that impacts all of us.  But if we are doing our common work right, it is a ministry that impacts those far beyond the walls of this place.

Our shared commitment to this congregation keeps the lights burning and the heat on every Monday night so we can host a local community meeting of Narcotics Anonymous.

Our common gifts clean the church school rooms so they be used during the week for the ministry of the Pre-School.

Our offerings pay the salaries of the pastors, the Minister of Music, the Church School Coordinator, and all the other staff who serve this congregation.

Our common ministry provides ‘a safe lodging, and holy rest, and peace at the last’ to those who come to this place for solace or assistance – whether they are formal members or not.

            The preacher from the book of Hebrews tells us that a forgiven life expresses itself in communal worship and changing lives.  We are to “provoke one another” to acts of kindness.  These communal acts of kindness are one of the ways that we, as a congregation, convince by our presence.

            The preacher in the book of Hebrews teaches us that we are a forgiven people, and that forgiveness is – by God’s design – meant to show.  It is meant to show in changed lives that give glory to God and loving service to the world.

            May it be so.  Amen.