THE WAY TO SANCTIFICATION
Following Jesus the pioneer of salvation
Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12
In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.
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5 It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are speaking. 6 But there is a place where someone has testified:
“What is mankind that you are mindful of them,
a son of man that you care for him?
7 You made them a little lower than the angels;
you crowned them with glory and honor
8 and put everything under their feet.”In putting everything under them, God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. 9 But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. 12 He says,
“I will declare your name to my brothers and sisters;
in the assembly I will sing your praises.”
Hebrews is a letter in the New Testament. I like to think about the books of the Bible by genre, so they are easy to remember. The first four books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are gospels – narrative stories of the life of Jesus. Like any biographies they are each a little different, reflecting the interests and agendas of the authors. If you read two biographies about King Henry VIII of England, for example, one will demonize him as a tyrant and misogynist and the other will praise him as a charismatic leader and father of the Church of England. My point is, that each author has their prejudices and motivation for writing and that is why the gospels each differ in their retelling of the life of Jesus.
After the Gospels, there is the book of Acts which is really the second part of Luke’s Gospel - somehow they got separated at some point in history. This book is a narrative retelling of the events of the early church, after the Resurrection of Christ. This is a lot easier to understand if you use its full title, The Acts of the Apostles. See, that makes perfect sense!
After the book of Acts, there are a lot of letters. I think a lot of people think Paul wrote ALL the letters, but only 7 (Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon) of the 21 letters are universally accepted as Pauline, 6 (Ephesians, Colossians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus) state that they are written by Paul but that is disputed and they are often called “deutero-Pauline” or secondary letters of Paul. These 6 along with 4 others (James, 1 & 2 Peter and Jude) are pseudepigraphic, which is a fancy word that means falsely ascribed. That leaves us with 4 anonymous letters, one of which is Hebrews. The other three are 1, 2 &3 John. Even though church tradition attributes them to John the beloved apostle the letters themselves do not name the author.
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
In the end, none of this is very important except to Bible scholars, just a bit of Bible Trivia to carry around in your head – just in case you need more things taking up space in there. The way I look at it, all of the letters in the New Testament carry equal weight for building us up in the faith. As Paul (or some other guy) writes in 2 Timothy, “All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be proficient, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16-17). Following all the letters is the last book in the New Testament, the one nobody really understands, and no one likes to talk about – Revelation.
Now Hebrews is unique because even though it is entitled The Letter to the Hebrews, it reads more like a sermon and indeed at one point calls itself a “word of exhortation.” Although it ends like a letter, with the author conveying greetings from Italy, many people think this last part (13:22-25) was just added on to the main text, probably as a note from the sender to say hi to their friends.
Another interesting thing about the book of Hebrews is that it is not addressed to a specific geographic location like a lot of the other letters. It is pretty much focused on things that would interest the Hebrews (hence the title) like animal sacrifices, purification rituals, the high priest and the Temple. This really reads like Jesus propaganda. Jesus is God, he is higher than the angels, he is the ultimate high priest, etc. I think the intention may have been to bolster the faith of those Hebrews who decided to believe that Jesus WAS the Messiah and may have been having second thoughts when not ALL the Jews decided to believe in Jesus. They were in fact breaking away from their faith family and following Jesus into the unknown future. The author of Hebrews may have decided they needed to hear a word of encouragement and wrote this to bolster their faith in Jesus.
My favorite line in this passage is vs. 10 where it states that: “It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through suffering.” It is another way of stating the basic Christian faith that Jesus suffered so that we might be brought to glory. What do I love so much about this? First of all, the author makes it clear that God’s purpose for humanity is glory. Think about that. God intends you for GLORY! Let’s just revel in that for a moment. Wrap yourself up in that wonderful feeling of life-giving love and purpose.
The word the author uses for glory is δόξα – you might recognize it as part of the word doxology. A doxology is literally a “glory word,” a hymn of praise. This Greek word in the first century usually denoted honor or reputation but in the New Testament writings its meaning has been altered somewhat to express the light of God’s presence, divine and heavenly radiance, the splendor of God, representing the magnificence, excellence and majesty of the most exalted Being.
This glory, this radiance which belongs to God has been shared with Christ (vs.9) and likewise, will also be ours as our inheritance (vs.10) when we follow Jesus on the Way to Sanctification.
The second thing that stands out to me is that the WAY to glory is through suffering (vs. 10). Jesus, as the PIONEER of salvation (vs. 11), leads the way through this world of suffering to the coming world of glory.
As a student of history, there are certain periods which have captured my imagination and the era of westward expansion is one such period of American history that I love to study. I even played a video game called Oregon Trail when that was popular. So, when I see Jesus called a pioneer in the text (vs. 11), immediately I am picturing Jesus on the Oregon Trail headed to California with the rest of the 49ers!
The thing about those pioneers, going out into uncharted territory, like the Donner party, they sometimes run into dire circumstances and suffer hardships. They learn the HARD lessons so that those who follow have an EASIER time. Those who come later have an established route to follow. They have an idea of how long it will take so that they can plan accordingly. They know what to expect.
When the Donner party decided to take the Hastings cutoff which split off from the main Oregon Trail at Fort Bridger Wyoming, and headed south through Utah, little did they know that they would be the trailblazers. In fact, despite publishing a popular Emigrant’s Guide to California, Lansford Hastings had never even fully explored the route which he promoted as a shortcut.
This decision to follow this shortcut caused incredible loss of life and resulted in one of the greatest tragedies on record in American History. They ended up blazing the trail through the hilly, rock-infested terrain of northern Utah. Once they came to the Great Salt Lake, they thought their troubles were over but the lack of fresh water on the salt flats and the muddy conditions along the Humboldt River led to a great decrease in their livestock. And all of this slowed their progress.
When they finally made it to the Sierra Nevada mountains which form the border between California and Nevada, they were MONTHS behind schedule. I’ve driven through those mountains and even with modern highways and cars it is a scary experience! These mountains are some of the highest in the US. Many of you have been to the Rockies in Colorado and these are similar with peaks reaching 14,000 ft. Imagine trekking over this mountain range on foot, with oxen and wagons! It’s one thing to traverse the prairie with those great Prairie Schooners but it is something else to try and take them over the mountains.
Of course, you probably know how this story ends. The group got caught in a snowstorm and ended up spending FOUR MONTHS stuck in the mountains with nothing to eat in the middle of winter. By the time they were rescued 34 people had died and the rest had been forced to consume the bodies of the dead in order to survive.
They were the pioneers who blazed the trail to California and suffered incredibly.
Jesus is the pioneer who blazed the trail to glory and suffered incredibly.
Without Jesus we would now be lost in the wilderness of this world without Living Water to quench our thirst, without a map showing us the WAY. Jesus, being human, suffered the same distress as every other human of that time and he also suffered the tortuous death of crucifixion. He suffered being labeled as an outcast because he was charting a new course, not the same path that the Hebrews had walked for millennia. No one could understand what he was teaching – it was so different from their traditions.
We don’t have to suffer like those first pioneers because they blazed the trail and settled the land, clearing trees, building fences, homesteading the territory, dividing it up into townships and sections. All of this has made our lives on the prairie easier.
But that doesn’t mean we don’t suffer at all – does it? Of course we suffer, because life on earth is full of suffering – enough for everyone. I also want to mention that we suffer differently from our ancestors. I think they suffered PHYSICALLY with all the hard work, deadly disease and hostile environment. But we suffer in different ways. We suffer from a lack of purpose. Some of us, without all the physical labor that required exertions almost every minute of every day, find ourselves wondering what we are doing here. If someone doesn’t have a clear sense of calling, they may wander aimlessly through life without clear direction. We all know these people. Some of them cannot understand the reason they suffer and they may feel like they suffer alone. Some of them turn to mind-numbing substances to escape or mind-numbing activities to keep their minds occupied lest they begin the endless questioning once more.
The writer of Hebrews reminds us that we DON’T SUFFER NEEDLESSLY. Remember that Jesus led the way THROUGH suffering so that he might be glorified. He tasted death for all (vs. 9). Which I take to mean he charted the course; he experienced ALL the suffering. We are not alone, for Christ has gone before us on the trail. He has cleared the way so that our travel might be eased just a little.
God made us for glory, but the way to glory is through suffering. We are lucky that Jesus has traveled this road before us. He has been perfected through suffering (vs. 10). He has shown us the way to sanctification.
Now what exactly is sanctification?
Sanctification is a doctrine of the church that teaches that God will make us more like Christ, holy and perfect. This is understood differently throughout Christendom, but John Wesley expected to be made perfect in this lifetime. He liked to say that we were “going on to perfection,” which is taken from this letter of the Hebrews 6:1.
I am sure you have experienced the changes in your own life since you met Jesus. You may have started out doing what you were supposed to do because it was the right thing to do, but somewhere along the way it became what you actually wanted to do.
I can give an example from my own journey. I used to think reading the Bible was a chore, something every good Christian should do. So, I would make a plan to read the Bible cover to cover and I would start out in Genesis and that was pretty interesting, lots of good stories about Adam and Eve and Noah and I always liked reading about Joseph. Exodus was pretty interesting too with Moses and the Pharaoh. Pretty quickly, I would get fed up with the Israelites whining in the wilderness, but still, stuff was happening and so it wasn’t too bad. But then I would get to Leviticus and Numbers – honestly, I stopped there so many times – but if I could just make it through to Deuteronomy it was smooth sailing until 1 & 2 Kings and 1 & 2 Chronicles…that stuff just put me to sleep. Anyway, there are parts of the Bible that I found extremely tedious to read and sometimes I really wondered why they kept those parts in – couldn’t they just cut out some of that repetitive stuff?
Through the years, as I started to see the Bible as a whole – my approach was more one of curiosity – why are these things in there anyway – what do they have to teach us about God and his plan for humanity? Now when I read the Bible, I have new insights all the time – its almost like I’m reading it for the first time again and I can truly say that I have experienced this book as the Living Word of God.
There are other examples too. I would ask you to think about how your life has been changed by Jesus. These are the stories that we can tell other people to express how wonderful it is to know God. These are the life changing stories that all those hopeless people need to hear. These are the things that will intrigue them - because everyone wants to be transformed and everyone wants to understand why we suffer. We shouldn’t keep this kind of thing to ourselves. Everyone deserves to know about how God loves them and has a plan to bring them to glory. Everyone deserves to have a chance to get to know Jesus and follow him on the Way to Sanctification.
Prayer
Holy Loving and Merciful God we all long to taste your glory. The promise of sanctification gives us hope in the midst of suffering. Help us to see the necessity of suffering, let us experience the transformative power of every setback and obstacle. Lord, we know that you intend us for glory and we entrust our being to your care. Do as you will - we are yours now and forever. AMEN