Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,4 having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.
5 For to which of the angels did God ever say,
“You are my Son,
today I have begotten you”?
Or again,
“I will be to him a father,
and he shall be to me a son”?
6 And again, when he brings the firstborn into the world, he says,
“Let all God’s angels worship him.”
7 Of the angels he says,
“He makes his angels winds,
and his ministers a flame of fire.”
8 But of the Son he says,
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever,
the scepter of uprightness is the scepter of your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness;
therefore God, your God, has anointed you
with the oil of gladness beyond your companions.”
10 And,
“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,
and the heavens are the work of your hands;
11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,
12 like a robe you will roll them up,
like a garment they will be changed.[a]
But you are the same,
and your years will have no end.”
13 And to which of the angels has he ever said,
“Sit at my right hand
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet”?
14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?
We are not tempted to abandon Christianity in favor of some form of angel worship. But I think we would agree that many today, including many church goers, seem very discontent, maybe even dissatisfied with what they have and what their spiritual lives are made up of, and what God says is needful.
There could be many distractions, some which are dressed up in all kinds of excitement, promising even religious fulfillment. The enemy of our souls would want us to be distracted, even if it is only a little bit at first, from the glory and supremacy of our Savior. Just glance away from Jesus for a moment…just a moment…and where do we end up?
And this brings us to the first admonition, the first therefore, the first warning of the sermon and it is simply this:
We must pay careful attention…ok…to what? Well, to everything he has just said. Pay attention to who Jesus is, so that you do not drift away. There will be dire consequences if you drift…God has made it clear through his bearing witness in the life of Jesus, all of it, including his death and resurrection…that this, He, Jesus, is God’s plan and purpose for the world.
Notice he says that if we do not pay attention, we drift. Not running wildly into perversion and sin…not purposefully setting out to see how far from the truth of Jesus we can get…Not thinking Jesus isn’t all that we know He is…no…just drifting.
You know this…my guess is we all know it, some of us to greater degrees than others, nonetheless; You wake up one day and you wonder how in the world you ended up so far from the Lord? Even surrounded by Christian things…and still.
Your life is not what you would have ever thought your Christian life would be. Your friends are no encouragement, your commitment to the body of Christ is minimal if you can even call it a commitment. And you wonder, how did I get here? I don’t honor the Lord…not really. I don’t read His Word as though it is food for my soul…I don’t pray, other than a quick “get me out of this mess” prayer, once in a while.
Perhaps you came upon a rough patch, trial, sorrow, difficulties and you just let down a bit, nothing scandalous, at least, not overwhelmingly so…but over time, the effort you put into your spiritual disciplines simply waned. You didn’t run away from the Lord…you…well…you drifted, slowly, but surely in a direction that is not good…not helpful…and not honoring.
This is a warning that must be heeded. Especially for those who grew up in a Christian home, or who have been believers for a long while…it is a real temptation.
I recently had a conversation with a young pastor. He very humbly explained to me what he had learned in his studies about what a minister was to be…what a priest of God was to be like in his character and how he spent his time. He drew from scripture and from the first few hundred years of the church, after the apostles. He described it beautifully and from what I had learned in my studies with Dr. Hughes Oliphant Old, quite accurately.
He then described what he sees in the modern church among pastors. Again, passing no judgment and speaking of communions that are faithful, filled with good and godly men, and yet, generally speaking, the description of the modern pastor compared to the ancient one, was like comparing hot and cold, night and day.
He then expressed the angst he feels that he is not like those ancient ones but is deeply convicted that to be a true minister of God, one must be. When he finished, he just stared across the table at me. I said nothing…Finally he said, “Well…please tell me I am wrong…that I am missing something.”
But I couldn’t. Because he is right. What has happened to us minsters…to us Christian…Why have we settled for so little? Why do we content ourselves in our Christian lives when they are, if truth be told, poor and shadowy reflections of what the Lord intends to bless?
And why do you in your Christian life set the bar so low…for yourself, for your children? I know that none of us has set out with intentionality to do this…no one says, I am just going to water-down my relationship with the Lord for a couple of decades.
It is called drifting. And it can be such a slow drift that instead of seeing the danger of where we have ended up, we simply stake our claim and say this IS the Christian life…this IS what God has said and is calling us to…and I dare anyone to come and say otherwise!
This is exactly what happened to the folks in Jeremiah’s day. We went through that book some months back in our devotions, and how did the drifters respond to Jeremiah’s message to come back to what God had actually said? Not too well. Will it be different for this generation of Christians?
Prayer: Father, I think of how many times I have taken all Your gifts and graces for granted. I have participated in worship and the sacraments but my heart has been far away, Forgive me. Help me to see the glory behind the means of grace, and how it is that You work through them and with them for my sanctification, to the praise of the Lord Jesus Christ. Keep me from drifting slowly into a malaise of being comfortable and inattentive to Your work in my life, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Hymn: How Sweet and Awful is The Place