back to index03-15-20 Be Anchored in Christ in Times of Testing
00:00:04.000 |
Well, it's a blessing to be able to sing those powerful words and to give our Lord just some 00:00:11.520 |
For those of you who are joining us for the very first time, I want to welcome you warmly. 00:00:16.440 |
After the service is done, please do visit right outside. 00:00:19.520 |
There's a welcome table, and our welcome team members would love to greet you, answer some 00:00:23.880 |
questions that you may have, and I'll tell you just more about our church. 00:00:29.040 |
So please, again, after the service is done, please stop by. 00:00:33.560 |
So as you guys are well aware, pertaining to what's happening at church, there are things 00:00:38.520 |
that have been postponed definitively, and then there are a lot of things that are tentative. 00:00:43.800 |
And so I'll be going over some of those things. 00:00:46.400 |
Importantly, for today's service, as we continue to just practice the things that are recommended, 00:00:52.480 |
whether it be the distance, the washing of hands, there are sanitizer bottles right at 00:00:57.360 |
Today, for offering time, we're going to be having two ways that you could be doing 00:01:03.080 |
So the first is to submit your offering via the online format, and we have various ways 00:01:10.080 |
And the second is to come up to the front at the end of the service when the service 00:01:15.160 |
We have two boxes at the front for those of you who have prepared your checks. 00:01:18.320 |
So again, up on the screen, there are the account information for both Venmo, that's 00:01:26.520 |
And so again, please refer to those things, okay? 00:01:29.560 |
Importantly, for midweek Bible study, our Wednesday meeting that we normally have is 00:01:36.640 |
And so likewise for the home groups, the recording will happen on Tuesday. 00:01:42.040 |
So I'm going to be recording the actual Bible study with various questions and preparing 00:01:49.720 |
And then the groups and small groups can choose to meet together if possible, even in pairs 00:01:57.400 |
But the whole idea is just to continue the efforts to make sure we're going through Scripture 00:02:01.280 |
together, discussing together our reflections, and just our reflections of application as 00:02:07.320 |
So please just put forth your best effort to, whether it be to discuss, again, in a 00:02:11.960 |
much smaller pocket or whatnot, to again move our Bible study on to the online, okay? 00:02:17.880 |
Coming up next Saturday, we're going to be doing a spring cleaning. 00:02:20.880 |
We're very grateful for all of you guys who showed up yesterday to sanitize the church, 00:02:24.760 |
all the door handles, the switches, they were all wiped down with Lysol and our cleaning 00:02:30.040 |
But we're going to be doing a cleaning next Saturday, and that's going to be held, and 00:02:34.940 |
In terms of the other events, for example, there is supposed to be a baptism info session 00:02:41.860 |
Likewise, unfortunately, the gospel night that was scheduled for April 4th, that is 00:02:50.120 |
So please continue to stay up to speed on our various announcements and sites so that 00:02:56.360 |
At this time, Pastor Peter Kim will come to deliver us the word. 00:03:07.840 |
Heavenly Father, we pray, especially in these special times for wisdom and guidance. 00:03:17.920 |
Lord, we need to hear your wisdom, your guidance, your Holy Spirit to lead us in our thinking, 00:03:25.480 |
in our feelings, in our lives and decision making, especially now. 00:03:30.800 |
So we pray, Father, that you would help us to cut through the clutter in our lives and 00:03:35.040 |
to focus our hearts and minds on you and you alone. 00:03:44.540 |
We are very aware that there are probably more churches closed today than are open. 00:03:50.800 |
And I know a handful of churches that are having services today, but most of the churches 00:03:55.200 |
that I'm aware of have already made a decision to close. 00:03:59.240 |
I want to give you some background information because there's a lot of talk, a lot of stuff 00:04:04.960 |
going on online just to kind of let you know our thinking process and what pattern that 00:04:10.440 |
And there is a possibility, again, because this is progressing pretty quickly, that we 00:04:14.740 |
may make a decision, again, to not have the service next Sunday. 00:04:19.600 |
So please stay online and check your emails as often as you can. 00:04:29.860 |
So if you don't have Facebook, for whatever the reason, I ask you to get it. 00:04:36.620 |
But if you do, I mean, obviously if you don't have it, we have emails and smoke snacks. 00:04:43.740 |
It's different stuff that we can use to communicate with you. 00:04:46.140 |
But those of you who do have Facebook, you probably saw this already. 00:04:50.980 |
And this is the reasoning behind what we're doing. 00:04:53.220 |
If you look at it, the first stage, and again, let me tell you where this is from. 00:04:58.860 |
This is from a missionary doctor who was actually very intimately involved with the SARS outbreak. 00:05:08.740 |
And so he was in the context of not only dealing with the information and the spread of SARS, 00:05:13.220 |
but which was at that time, which was a lot more deadly than what's going on right now. 00:05:20.100 |
But to apply that in the church, like how we ought to respond to that. 00:05:25.220 |
And I thought this was, of all the things that I saw, this was the most helpful. 00:05:28.600 |
The first stage was there's no cases in my community, which is not where we are. 00:05:34.580 |
The second stage is there are cases in my community, but cases are all imported from 00:05:39.100 |
another area or contracts, again, imported from other. 00:05:43.260 |
Which means that somebody from the outside who had it came into the community, which 00:05:50.700 |
The third is there are one or more cases that do not have contacts to a known case, multiple 00:05:59.540 |
Meaning that somebody who contracted it was independent of somebody that came, or at least 00:06:06.860 |
And there's multiple layers of generations that they gave it to somebody, and then they 00:06:10.620 |
gave it to somebody else, and there's generations of this. 00:06:13.380 |
The first case that they found of somebody that they can't trace from outside was found 00:06:19.480 |
So meaning that according to this chart, we're at not green, not yellow, but the beginning 00:06:26.460 |
According to all the facts, most likely this is going to grow exponentially within the 00:06:32.580 |
So we're not naive to think that this is not going to happen, but we are at stage three. 00:06:36.900 |
And so we have moved from stage three in caution to stage four, which is what we're doing right 00:06:42.820 |
We are asking people to take precautions, the Bible studies that, again, you know, that 00:06:47.940 |
we're going to try to go online as much as possible and distance ourselves, sanitize 00:06:55.540 |
And then if by chance that this does progress, we need to go to stage five, which is basically 00:07:03.220 |
shut down everything, everything's going online, right? 00:07:06.280 |
We will give that information as soon as we feel the need to do that. 00:07:10.540 |
The question is, why didn't we just completely go online to begin with? 00:07:14.900 |
Why didn't we go from stage one to stage five just out of precaution? 00:07:20.300 |
Because there are more things to consider than just our safety. 00:07:27.020 |
According to Orange County Health, not what's going on in Wuhan and Italy and even San Francisco, 00:07:33.300 |
but according to Orange County Health Organization, they say that our risk at this time today 00:07:41.460 |
The number of people who have contracted it versus the number of people who live in Orange 00:07:50.980 |
So we need to be careful that we are not panicking, that we highly value the gathering of the 00:07:55.780 |
people, that we are not just reacting to the information that we are hearing. 00:08:02.340 |
And we are not naive to think that, "Oh, this is nothing. 00:08:05.620 |
It's like a common flu and that we're kind of treating it like it's nothing." 00:08:11.140 |
The leaders are in communication as often as we can, multiple times during the day, 00:08:17.900 |
every information that we get, every article that is sent to us, we read it thoroughly 00:08:21.700 |
and we are examining carefully, how do we balance between the high call of the gathering 00:08:26.560 |
of the believers with what's going on around us? 00:08:30.220 |
Again, as it progresses, we will let you know. 00:08:34.260 |
But those of you who are sitting in these seats, these seats are interlocked for a reason. 00:08:40.100 |
When our church was being built, the fire department came and one of the requirements 00:08:44.380 |
were that the aisles needed to be a certain size, a distance, and every seat in the sanctuary 00:08:52.620 |
had to have a certain distance to an exit that goes directly outside. 00:08:56.100 |
So they had all these rules that we had to follow. 00:08:58.340 |
And I was able to understand all of that except for the interlocking of the chairs. 00:09:01.580 |
I said, "If there's an emergency, wouldn't it be easier if the chairs didn't interlock 00:09:06.660 |
and we're able to immediately move it and then everybody can run?" 00:09:11.060 |
And he said, "That's exactly the reason why they need to interlock because according to 00:09:14.880 |
their experience, when fire breaks out, people panic. 00:09:19.900 |
And when they panic, they don't act irrationally. 00:09:26.380 |
They're not going to get in a neat line and then march their way outside. 00:09:29.140 |
So they're going to be pushing themselves and trying to get over the chairs. 00:09:32.780 |
And in that process, what ends up happening is all the chairs that fall down and it blocks 00:09:36.640 |
the entrances and more people die from the stampede than they do from the fire itself." 00:09:46.940 |
And so we're trying to be careful that we are not reacting to all the information that 00:09:53.700 |
According to what we have heard, that we are still... 00:09:56.980 |
It is still a low risk that's most likely going to move to a higher risk. 00:10:12.560 |
So slowly we are getting there, but we didn't want to make a... 00:10:16.420 |
We didn't want to overreact and go from level two to level five because we wanted to make 00:10:21.520 |
sure that we highly value what it is that you and I are doing. 00:10:25.580 |
So we made it an option to have the families with small children in order to thin out the 00:10:30.140 |
crowd and in order to protect the most vulnerable in our church, even though the risk for them 00:10:41.740 |
The government said no gatherings of 250 or more. 00:10:45.440 |
So we're trying to honor that by thinning the group out. 00:10:50.380 |
And we're going to do our best to sanitize, keep our distance, not have food. 00:10:54.980 |
All the stuff that we can go online, we will go online. 00:10:57.620 |
All the stuff that we can't even do that, we will cancel for the time being. 00:11:01.220 |
We don't know how long this is going to take. 00:11:06.260 |
But my guess is in about a month, we will be much worse off than we are today. 00:11:10.940 |
So our concern is if we go too quickly to the end part, we're going to be at that point 00:11:16.500 |
from possibly two months, three months, four months and on. 00:11:19.860 |
And so we want to be careful that we are taking proper steps, that we are not reacting to 00:11:25.260 |
There is tremendous pressure on all of us in the leadership to follow the herd and go. 00:11:32.620 |
But we want to make sure that we are communicating properly. 00:11:36.900 |
I want to start off by looking at this text in Mark chapter 4, 35 to 41. 00:11:44.060 |
I'm going to be giving an overview of the book of Hebrews. 00:11:52.140 |
But I'm not sure if I'm going to be getting to the Melchizedek next week. 00:11:56.020 |
And the reason why is because there are many people at home with their children having 00:12:00.740 |
And my guess is they have no idea who Melchizedek is. 00:12:05.060 |
Unless you've done a fantastic job and they want to know the intricacies of the Trinity 00:12:14.720 |
But my guess is most of your children will not be. 00:12:16.840 |
So because we want to be sensitive to the families that are home watching the videos 00:12:20.620 |
together that hopefully our services will be, you know, like it'll be relevant to them 00:12:28.860 |
No guarantee we could still be jumping into Melchizedek. 00:12:31.940 |
But again, we might just wait a few more weeks and we'll see how things go. 00:12:39.920 |
This is the scene where the disciples and Jesus are on the Sea of Galilee and Jesus 00:12:46.020 |
is so fatigued and tired that he falls asleep on this boat. 00:12:49.980 |
And while he is on the boat, a tremendous storm comes and they freak out. 00:12:58.740 |
"On that day when evening came, he said to them, 'Let us go over to the other side.' 00:13:03.260 |
Leaving the crowd, they took him along with them in a boat just as he was and other boats 00:13:09.020 |
And there arose a fierce gale of wind and the waves were breaking over the boat so much 00:13:19.660 |
Before we jump to conclusion that these disciples are weak and that they were fearful, you have 00:13:26.340 |
to realize that this is happening at the Sea of Galilee. 00:13:29.340 |
Sea of Galilee is where Paul, John, Andrew, you know, those four brothers, this is their 00:13:39.780 |
And at that time, professional fishermen usually were inherited. 00:13:44.100 |
Their job was usually inherited by their parents, probably maybe their grandparents. 00:13:53.300 |
And this Sea of Galilee is where they did most of their work. 00:13:57.700 |
So the fact that the storm came in and that they were afraid because the water was coming 00:14:02.460 |
into the boat, it is understandable that they are freaking out. 00:14:07.500 |
Because if anybody would know if this storm was going to lead to death or not, it would 00:14:13.760 |
So the fact that they were freaking out and they were scared, and they looked to Jesus 00:14:17.940 |
who happens to be sleeping at the end, at the stern. 00:14:23.480 |
And stern is basically at the end of the boat. 00:14:27.580 |
And most likely in a small boat, that's where the rudder was. 00:14:31.500 |
The boat traditionally at that time, they said it's about probably about 30 feet and 00:14:37.140 |
So it wasn't a huge boat, just enough to fit the disciples and Jesus. 00:14:40.900 |
And Jesus in the midst of the storm is sitting back there and he's sleeping. 00:14:46.300 |
And they're freaking out and they go to Jesus, "Jesus, how can you do this?" 00:14:51.300 |
Again, verse 38, "Jesus himself was in the stern, asleep in the cushion. 00:14:55.500 |
And they woke him and said to him, 'Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?'" 00:15:06.340 |
So they're asking their leader, "How can you be sleeping while we might die?" 00:15:10.780 |
But the other reason is Jesus is at the stern. 00:15:21.060 |
But when Jesus wakes up from this, I mean, there isn't a meeting, there isn't like a 00:15:28.460 |
He just gets up and he says, "Hush," verse 39. 00:15:30.820 |
He rebuked the wind and he said to the sea, "Hush, be still." 00:15:34.380 |
And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. 00:15:47.300 |
Instead of apologizing to the disciples, "Oh, I was so tired." 00:15:51.340 |
I mean, imagine how tired Jesus was that in the midst of a storm that may cause him to 00:15:56.620 |
drown and everybody else is freaking out and Jesus is tired. 00:16:08.060 |
But instead of apologizing, he turns the table around and he says, "Why are you afraid? 00:16:17.580 |
Now again, humanly speaking, who wouldn't be afraid? 00:16:23.100 |
I mean, these are professional fishermen in the Sea of Galilee, in their own boat. 00:16:30.640 |
They know what they can handle, what they cannot handle. 00:16:33.900 |
Really, this was a danger that they needed to deal with. 00:16:38.280 |
But instead, Jesus says, "Why are you afraid?" 00:16:44.300 |
Verse 41 says, "They became very much afraid and said to one another, 'Who then is this 00:16:53.300 |
See, what we see here and the reason why he turns it around and says to them and rebukes 00:17:05.740 |
What he was asking was, "Do you not recognize who is at the rudder?" 00:17:17.260 |
This was no ordinary leader sitting at the rudder. 00:17:20.780 |
So what they were questioning and what he was asking was, "In the midst of all of this, 00:17:29.940 |
The difference between this storm, the difference between this danger is that Jesus was in control. 00:17:37.040 |
And that's why he turned the tables and he rebuked them. 00:17:40.840 |
Now, when we're living in a time of peace, we can imagine, but the world is freaking 00:17:53.360 |
I mean, obviously, we have two very extreme responses and less and less people are responding 00:18:00.160 |
We have one end that if we change anything, we're foolish. 00:18:03.960 |
And I think less and less people feel that way. 00:18:06.520 |
But we have a growing number of people that think that we're in the midst of Armageddon. 00:18:11.800 |
That if we don't stockpile seven years of toilet paper, that you don't get enough Purell 00:18:18.000 |
for the rest of your life, that you're never going to survive. 00:18:25.820 |
We have to be careful that in the midst, especially in the midst of turmoil, that we don't react 00:18:34.120 |
Because our greatest fear should not be catching this disease. 00:18:40.380 |
Our greatest fear should not be if you caught it, that you're going to die from it. 00:18:45.620 |
If you notice that when Jesus wakes up and he calms the storm, the tremendous fear that 00:18:50.640 |
they had of this storm turned into fear of who? 00:18:59.200 |
And the Bible says that beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. 00:19:12.600 |
We want to take what's happening around the world. 00:19:15.920 |
And we want to be wise in making sure that the fear of the Lord is the foundation upon 00:19:21.160 |
which we are building and which we are making decisions. 00:19:26.280 |
The book of Hebrews is written to a group of people who are in dire situation. 00:19:35.440 |
Some of you guys who know Roman history know that the Christian persecution happened right 00:19:40.480 |
All those things that you see on movies where Christians are taken to Colosseum and tigers, 00:19:47.400 |
This happened during that period, 65 to 69 AD. 00:19:51.580 |
If you were with us in the study of the book of Romans, you know that Paul was captured 00:19:58.800 |
He was in Jerusalem for two years and then he was taken to Rome as a prisoner between 00:20:08.040 |
Meaning for that period of time, the Romans were the ones who were guarding Paul. 00:20:15.480 |
Paul came into Jerusalem to preach the gospel and the Jews were so angered they wanted to 00:20:21.840 |
It was the Roman guards that came in to protect him. 00:20:25.400 |
And under their protection, he was under house arrest and his friends were able to come. 00:20:31.480 |
He was writing letters and he was preaching the gospel. 00:20:34.240 |
So if you remember, as he was writing the book of Philippians, he says, "This has turned 00:20:40.320 |
Other people are more emboldened because of his chains. 00:20:49.840 |
What these believers are experiencing now was much different. 00:20:55.720 |
In fact, when the persecution initially came, they were very strong, just like in the book 00:21:03.520 |
They were more emboldened to preach the gospel because the Romans were actually protecting 00:21:08.080 |
By the time Paul writes 2 Timothy, the atmosphere has changed. 00:21:16.700 |
And that's the background behind the writing of the book of Hebrews. 00:21:20.760 |
In fact, Tacitus, if you can put up the next section, Tacitus, who is a Roman official, 00:21:26.840 |
and he's one of the most revered Roman historians, who was not a Christian. 00:21:32.960 |
He was a contemporary of the emperor Nero, and he was writing his observation of what 00:21:39.480 |
And this gives us insight as to the intensity of the persecution that these Roman Christians 00:21:47.200 |
He says, "Yet no human effort, no princely largesse, nor offerings of the gods could 00:21:52.560 |
make that infamous rumor disappear that Nero had somehow ordered the fire." 00:21:57.560 |
It was a big fire that broke out in Rome, and in order to escape blame, he said that 00:22:04.280 |
And so Tacitus already was suspecting that maybe Nero did it himself. 00:22:09.200 |
Therefore, in order to abolish that rumor, Nero falsely accused and executed with the 00:22:13.560 |
most exquisite punishment those people called Christians, who were infamous for their abominations. 00:22:19.800 |
The originator of the name, Christ, was executed as a criminal by procurator Pontius Pilate 00:22:26.880 |
And though repressed, this destructive superstition erupted again, not only through Judea, which 00:22:32.880 |
was the origin of this evil, but also through the city of Rome, to which all that is horrible 00:22:38.080 |
and shameful floods together and is celebrated. 00:22:40.600 |
In other words, Tacitus is already saying that if any horrible things are going to happen, 00:22:45.840 |
it would happen in Rome because they have a reputation for this. 00:22:49.360 |
Therefore, first, those were seized who admitted their faith. 00:22:55.920 |
He's describing the persecution, and he said the first group of people were people who 00:23:05.960 |
If you stay quiet, stay in your house, and you're not outside doing God's work, there 00:23:12.680 |
So the first group of people were most likely missionaries who were outside sharing their 00:23:17.800 |
And he says they were the ones who were first seized, and then using the information they 00:23:28.640 |
So right now, all the missionaries out in China who's been there for five to ten years, 00:23:33.480 |
they're the ones who are in greatest danger, and they are being protected because once 00:23:37.920 |
they get in and they get interrogated, they're concerned that they're going to end up finding 00:23:46.580 |
That's what's going on in China and different parts of the world. 00:23:49.360 |
And he says the first intense persecution happened the same way. 00:23:54.120 |
It was through the people who are openly admitting their faith, they used the information they 00:23:58.280 |
provided, and they went after the people who were connected to them. 00:24:03.000 |
Not so much for the crime of burning the city, but for hatred of human race. 00:24:08.320 |
And perishing, they were additionally made into sports. 00:24:12.240 |
Their persecution was made an entertainment to the Romans. 00:24:17.360 |
They were killed by dogs by having the hides of beasts attached to them, or they were nailed 00:24:25.320 |
When the daylight passed away, they were used as nighttime lamps. 00:24:31.900 |
They made the persecution an entertainment for the Roman citizens. 00:24:35.820 |
They would crucify them, allow dogs and beasts to tear them apart, and people would pay money 00:24:42.900 |
And then when they were crucified, they would set them aflame, and not only did they die 00:24:47.060 |
because of this, Nero decided that he was going to light his garden with these people 00:24:57.560 |
This is the background behind the letter of the book of Hebrews. 00:25:01.120 |
And when the daylight passed away, they were used as nighttime lamps. 00:25:04.520 |
Nero gave his own gardens for his spectacle and performed a circus game in the habit of 00:25:09.160 |
charioteer mixing with the plebs or driving about the race course. 00:25:14.640 |
Even though they were clearly guilty and merited being made the most recent example of consequences 00:25:18.920 |
of crime, people began to pity these sufferers. 00:25:23.920 |
Part of the reason why revival broke out in the first century is because the sentiment 00:25:27.880 |
toward the Christians began to change because the Romans were so cruel to the Christians. 00:25:34.720 |
Because they were consumed not for public good, but on account of the fierceness of 00:25:41.480 |
That gives us a background behind what was historically being observed by even other 00:25:48.080 |
That's the background behind the book of Hebrews. 00:25:51.760 |
So when he tells them, the author of Hebrews tells them, "Do not neglect gathering together," 00:26:00.680 |
Now our present circumstance is not the same, and I'm not making that connection because 00:26:07.560 |
the churches are not shutting down for that reason. 00:26:10.540 |
It's for safety reasons, making sure that the virus does not spread. 00:26:14.120 |
But we want to make sure that whatever decision that we make, that we place the high value 00:26:22.480 |
of gathering together for those who are able to come. 00:26:26.760 |
That we want to make sure that when it is necessary, which it seems like we are headed 00:26:30.040 |
toward that direction, that when that decision is made, that there is no confusion, the high 00:26:36.320 |
priority of what we are doing, because even the government has the warning that they gave 00:26:41.080 |
was 250 people or more, that is not essential. 00:26:47.480 |
And we consider the gathering of the believers essential, that the closing of Disneyland 00:26:58.360 |
Again, we are headed there, and maybe as early as this week, we may have to do so because 00:27:03.960 |
we want to abide by the government and what is happening around us. 00:27:11.180 |
We don't want people to go to supermarkets and buy stuff that the elderly is in need 00:27:17.460 |
We want to make sure that we are being prayerful, that we are anchored in Christ, that at the 00:27:22.800 |
end of all of this, whether it's two months, three months, or five months from now, that 00:27:33.920 |
It was written, this letter was written, and he says, the letter itself describes them, 00:27:42.600 |
Hebrews chapter 10, 32, "But remember the former days when after being enlightened, 00:27:46.360 |
you endured a great conflict of suffering, partly by being made a public spectacle through 00:27:51.120 |
reproaches and tribulations, and partly by becoming shares with those who were so treated. 00:27:56.140 |
For you showed sympathy to the prisoners and accepted joyfully the seizure of your property." 00:28:01.480 |
If this was written by Paul, he may be referring to them coming and visiting Paul, giving him 00:28:08.240 |
Even if it wasn't written by Paul, Paul says that this group was a very good group. 00:28:15.640 |
But when the heat got turned up, they began to run. 00:28:21.920 |
So he is reminding them, the whole letter is reminding them, in the midst of this intense 00:28:28.660 |
situation to make sure that you are anchored in Christ. 00:28:35.320 |
We need to be anchored in Christ in every situation, whether it is in peace, whether 00:28:38.800 |
it's in turmoil, but especially in times when we are surrounded by people who are in dire 00:28:45.520 |
need of security, that we do not act like the world, that our security doesn't come 00:28:53.040 |
from having a stockpile of Purell in our garage, that if we just keep the distance from everybody, 00:28:59.800 |
if we just don't get the coronavirus, we are safe. 00:29:11.140 |
We need to do everything that we should do as good citizens, as good neighbors, to love 00:29:15.880 |
the people around us, to submit to the authority. 00:29:24.720 |
If there's any time where that needs to be emphasized, it is now. 00:29:39.200 |
Are we anchored in Christ in the way we treat our neighbors? 00:29:44.420 |
While it is our natural instinct to be concerned over ourselves and our children, is the anchoring 00:29:51.580 |
of Christ causing us to act differently than the world? 00:29:56.300 |
The author constantly encourages us all throughout the book of Hebrews to not to drift, to be 00:30:03.120 |
For this reason, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard. 00:30:17.340 |
You were paying attention, but now you must pay much closer attention. 00:30:26.260 |
The gospel was always precious, but much more now. 00:30:30.940 |
He says much more now, pay much closer attention to what you have heard so that we do not drift 00:30:40.700 |
How are the values that we profess, the heaven that we talk about that we're going to go 00:30:47.360 |
How does all of that information that we profess, how does it affect the way that we make decisions? 00:30:54.060 |
The way we treat our neighbors, what we do in the midst of all of this. 00:31:01.460 |
How will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? 00:31:10.940 |
Just sit on the boat and let the current take the boat wherever it goes. 00:31:15.200 |
But another way that we end up drifting is by making small compromises. 00:31:19.720 |
In this particular situation, just, "Is that really that important? 00:31:26.660 |
And we have a tendency to rationalize disobedience if we're not careful. 00:31:31.260 |
And so when he says, "Make sure that we are not neglecting, that compromising and justification 00:31:37.820 |
isn't happening in our mind for the purpose of our own protection." 00:31:45.820 |
"Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart 00:31:53.100 |
Over and over again, he says, "Do not neglect, do not neglect, do not neglect, do not let 00:32:01.260 |
Being anchored in Christ doesn't mean that you have to show up at church. 00:32:05.740 |
I think it's a great opportunity, especially for those of you families who are at home 00:32:09.140 |
with your children, to share the gospel with your kids, to talk about the worship, talk 00:32:14.340 |
It's a great opportunity to establish that if that wasn't there. 00:32:23.520 |
But it's Christ at the center of all of this. 00:32:27.260 |
When we tend to neglect our salvation and we allow ourselves to drift, the first place 00:32:31.720 |
where that shows is the way that we treat our neighbors. 00:32:35.060 |
That's why he says in Hebrews 13.2, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. 00:32:41.860 |
For by this some have entertained angels without knowing it." 00:32:45.580 |
And again, Hebrews 13.16, "And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices 00:32:53.900 |
Remember, remember what he said about this church previously, how they endured great 00:33:09.300 |
But they're telling them, "Don't neglect it now while this persecution is going on. 00:33:16.740 |
While our natural inclination is to be in our shell, me and my family only." 00:33:24.100 |
And that's why he's telling them in that context, "Do not neglect to show hospitality towards 00:33:31.380 |
The most vulnerable people in our society right now are the elderly. 00:33:34.980 |
Because if you look at the chart of people who contracted and who are getting seriously 00:33:39.460 |
ill, and possibly even dying, the chart goes from almost negligible to young people to 00:33:45.180 |
very dangerous to old people, people who are 70 and older in our society. 00:33:50.540 |
People who are 70 and older in our society don't usually use internet. 00:33:57.100 |
But people in their 70s, 80s usually don't know, so they don't know what's going on. 00:34:00.300 |
They're hearing it through the grapevine or through television. 00:34:03.180 |
And we are hearing more and more stories of the elderly who are showing up to supermarkets 00:34:15.740 |
To love our neighbors shouldn't just be to isolate ourselves. 00:34:22.580 |
We need to do what we need to do to take care of our families, make sure that this doesn't 00:34:27.460 |
But loving our neighbors in the context of struggle shouldn't just be protecting our 00:34:33.860 |
It's a great opportunity to practice this agape love. 00:34:37.700 |
While everybody else is running from danger, God may be calling the church to run to danger 00:34:47.540 |
Those of you who have 70 years of toilet paper, I encourage you to give up some. 00:34:54.400 |
See if these senior homes that are around us are running out. 00:34:59.380 |
If you have enough Purell to last until Jesus comes, look around you. 00:35:04.720 |
Maybe there are neighbors who don't have any. 00:35:08.860 |
If you have more food than you can handle, that if this virus goes for another 10 years, 00:35:14.220 |
you're safe, then maybe you can look around and see if there are some people who don't 00:35:19.060 |
have access to this, that this is the perfect time to use the resources that we have to 00:35:26.740 |
That's what he is saying, that in the context of all of this, do not neglect to show hospitality 00:35:34.900 |
Do not neglect the very core of our identity, be put in the back burner because we are concerned 00:35:49.140 |
The end result of all of this, in fact, chapter 13 ends with, if you believe this and you 00:35:54.780 |
practice faith and you look upon Christ who is the often perfecter of our faith, chapter 00:35:59.260 |
13 ends with, "Therefore, practice this agape love." 00:36:03.180 |
If there's any time where that needs to come to the forefront of our lives, it is now. 00:36:12.500 |
We have our outreach team who's been working hard to set up the gospel night, and I know 00:36:16.680 |
that many are disappointed because they've been praying, they've been preparing, they've 00:36:22.340 |
As much as we have been preparing to share the gospel, and Easter is coming up, and timing, 00:36:26.740 |
humanly speaking, may be really bad because Easter typically is the most attended Sunday 00:36:33.540 |
Many people come to Christ as a result of all of this. 00:36:37.300 |
But know that as much as we have been preparing to bring the gospel to the world, God has 00:36:44.260 |
been preparing behind the scene from the moment Adam and Eve fell. 00:36:49.420 |
That even in this, God may be doing something to prepare the preaching of the gospel. 00:36:56.220 |
We have a greater platform than we would have ever had if all we did was just gather together. 00:37:03.180 |
We have a greater platform to preach the gospel. 00:37:04.980 |
We have a greater platform to show the glory of God. 00:37:07.780 |
We have a greater platform to demonstrate what agape love looks like in the context 00:37:12.460 |
where everybody else is bunkering down in their shelters. 00:37:17.020 |
Let us not neglect showing hospitality and doing good to those around us. 00:37:22.620 |
The broad outline of the book of Hebrews, he begins by saying in chapter one, "Jesus 00:37:28.980 |
And the point of that is, therefore, pay attention to him. 00:37:33.620 |
Right now we're online, and I'm online almost daily, hourly, looking at the news, making 00:37:37.860 |
sure, and we're online chatting with the leaders. 00:37:44.220 |
But in the midst of all of this, the point of why it begins by saying, "Jesus is greater 00:37:49.540 |
than the angels," he says, "Therefore, you must pay close attention to him." 00:37:55.900 |
First and foremost, that we need to be careful that in the midst of all these information 00:38:00.500 |
that's being disseminated through all these social medias, are we founded in the word 00:38:08.040 |
Is the paradigm in which we look at the world and how we make decisions, is that what we 00:38:11.420 |
have founded upon the gospel that you and I profess? 00:38:14.940 |
So first and foremost, are we paying attention to Christ before we pay attention to the media 00:38:19.700 |
and whatever it is that we're paying attention to? 00:38:21.860 |
So that whatever we do in response to the information that we're getting, we're founded 00:38:30.580 |
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind so 00:38:34.100 |
that you may be able to test the perfect will of God. 00:38:39.420 |
Use the word of God first and foremost before anything else. 00:38:43.260 |
Second of all, chapter three, "Jesus is greater than Moses." 00:38:48.940 |
In times like this, our natural instinct is to look to leaders for guidance. 00:39:00.460 |
And we have been bombarded with emails and texts and social medias. 00:39:08.020 |
And it's understandable because our natural instinct is to look to leadership. 00:39:12.340 |
Moses was their greatest leader, but he reminds them, as great as Moses was, he was just a 00:39:22.180 |
And the point of all of this is, if you're going to look for any leader, don't look for 00:39:27.960 |
Because higher hand, when the wolves come, they pack up and they leave because they have 00:39:32.500 |
But the good shepherd, Christ Jesus, he lays down his life for his sheep. 00:39:38.700 |
So if there's anybody that we're going to look to, we're going to look to Christ first. 00:39:46.180 |
And the moment that we forget that is when panic happens, when the chairs get knocked 00:39:52.340 |
Thirdly, chapter four, "He is greater than Joshua." 00:39:57.540 |
Chapter four leads us into Joshua because Joshua's the one who led them into rest. 00:40:06.460 |
If Joshua was able to lead them into rest, that would have been it. 00:40:09.860 |
But he says, "No, all of that was pointing to the true rest that Jesus comes, that Jesus 00:40:16.020 |
And he says, "So therefore, let us fear that we do not enter this, that we fall short of 00:40:26.420 |
Our comfort is not found in maybe some of you guys were diligent and went to the market 00:40:30.580 |
way ahead of time and you have plenty of toilet paper, plenty of Purell. 00:40:34.660 |
You got enough food if Armageddon happens, right? 00:40:40.140 |
We're not waiting for President Trump to say, "Everything is good." 00:40:49.140 |
Now go out, live like the way that everybody else is living." 00:41:01.020 |
"Come to me, all who are weary and heavy laden." 00:41:09.940 |
"Come to me," he says, "all you who are weary and heavy laden." 00:41:21.300 |
And this is a peace that the world does not know. 00:41:28.740 |
And then finally, chapter 5 through 7, the true mediator, that's where Melchizedek comes 00:41:34.180 |
And we started in chapter 5, and then he takes a break in chapter 6, says, "He's our true 00:41:37.860 |
mediator, but if Christ is not your mediator and you begin to drift away to the world, 00:41:46.580 |
And he reminds us that, how important this is, and then he moves on to chapter 7, which 00:41:54.740 |
And then chapter 8, 9, and 10 leads us into the covenant, the new covenant versus the 00:42:01.820 |
And then he leads us to chapter 11, that this is the examples of these men who had genuine 00:42:06.520 |
faith in God, and this is what their life looked like, which leads us to chapter 12 00:42:12.060 |
"Therefore, fix your eyes upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith." 00:42:17.920 |
And the greatest application of that, chapter 13, is this agape love. 00:42:23.540 |
But the point of all of this is not simply to get our minds to think about Jesus, because 00:42:30.460 |
The reason why we need to think about Jesus is so that thinking about Jesus, that we would 00:42:34.580 |
apply what it means to be anchored in Christ. 00:42:38.380 |
There is more "let us" statements in the book of Hebrews than any other book, because the 00:42:46.500 |
That if you know who Jesus is compared to angels and Moses and the prophets and Melchizedek, 00:42:52.060 |
and you got that all down, but that's where it ends, you missed the whole point, because 00:42:55.820 |
the whole point of the book of Hebrews is, "Therefore." 00:42:58.500 |
If you know who that Jesus is, our anchor, if you know that Jesus is our hope, he's our 00:43:02.740 |
peace, he's our leader, he's the one that we need to pay attention to, then let us, 00:43:10.340 |
So, I want to highlight a few of these as I wrap up. 00:43:13.660 |
In chapter 4, verse 1, "Therefore, let us fear while promise remains of entering his 00:43:21.420 |
The first thing that he tells us, the beginning of wisdom. 00:43:28.860 |
Even non-Christians are praying and hoping for wisdom. 00:43:39.340 |
The Bible says the beginning of wisdom is what? 00:43:44.840 |
And so, we want to be prayerful as leadership, that whatever decision is being made, that 00:43:51.020 |
it is first founded upon our reverence for him. 00:43:58.740 |
Whether you are having worship at home, whether you are having worship here, wherever you 00:44:03.900 |
are, our first and foremost is to check our own hearts. 00:44:12.320 |
In Matthew 10, 28-31, "Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the 00:44:18.100 |
But rather, fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. 00:44:22.860 |
Are not two sparrows sold for a cent, and yet not one of them will fall to the ground 00:44:27.940 |
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered." 00:44:35.860 |
But the reason why we ought to fear the Lord is because he loves us. 00:44:40.660 |
The reason why that needs to be the foundation upon which we stand is because all other men 00:44:49.820 |
But the only one who can actually protect us, the only one who knows what's coming tomorrow, 00:44:56.860 |
the only one who knows where it's going, only God knows. 00:45:01.220 |
And that sovereign God that we fear, he counts every hair on our head. 00:45:11.660 |
And that's why we need to, especially at this time, ask ourselves, is the fear of the Lord 00:45:24.060 |
Our greatest fear should not be catching this virus. 00:45:28.020 |
Our greatest fear is if we catch this virus, that am I going to die? 00:45:32.440 |
That shouldn't be our greatest fear, even though it's our natural human response. 00:45:37.580 |
Our greatest fear is to be separated from God. 00:45:40.860 |
Our greatest fear is that our loved ones would pass without knowing him. 00:45:48.460 |
Because ultimately death is a release from this broken body, that we may be with the 00:45:55.900 |
To be absent in the flesh is to be with the Lord. 00:45:58.760 |
Is the fear of the Lord foundation upon which we are doing and making all decisions? 00:46:03.220 |
Hebrews chapter 4, 14, "Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through 00:46:07.380 |
the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession." 00:46:12.300 |
Let us not passively allow this to happen and just kind of hunker down until this passes 00:46:21.540 |
Let us practice our faith in confidence and in courage. 00:46:26.940 |
This is a great opportunity to magnify Christ. 00:46:30.400 |
My prayer is that revival will break out because of this, because of the way the Christians 00:46:38.420 |
Hebrews 10, 24, "And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good 00:46:44.380 |
To consider carefully, to think and calculate. 00:46:50.720 |
We talked about this text, to consider how to provoke one another. 00:46:54.380 |
You know, a couple weeks ago this was around, but now I think that our emotional state is 00:47:05.740 |
Consider carefully not just your family, not just are you safe, but the people around 00:47:17.860 |
Maybe next time you go to the supermarket, watch for people who couldn't get what they 00:47:25.740 |
Maybe you have neighbors who are not connected to the internet. 00:47:31.580 |
Maybe there's an elderly home filled with dozens. 00:47:35.720 |
Maybe possibly hundreds of elderly who do not have the ability to run to the supermarket 00:47:44.540 |
To consider carefully how to stimulate, provoke one another on toward loving good deeds, not 00:47:49.860 |
forsaking our own assembly together as is a habit of some. 00:47:54.980 |
Again, this is not the same context because we're not under persecution. 00:48:04.260 |
In fact, many are doing this so that it doesn't spread faster than it needs to. 00:48:08.700 |
So, it's not the exact same situation, but the principle behind it is to place a high 00:48:18.300 |
When it is time, when it is the wisest thing to do, we will make that decision. 00:48:23.660 |
But we don't want to knock over the chairs in that process. 00:48:29.540 |
We want to respond to what's going on, and we want to make sure that whether we are out 00:48:34.380 |
or whether we are home, we are responding and not reacting. 00:48:42.740 |
Let's be careful to realize that what we have been given. 00:48:50.660 |
We've been praying for people to come to Christ. 00:48:56.940 |
We're praying for opportunities to share the gospel. 00:49:02.460 |
We're praying for opportunities to show agape love. 00:49:09.260 |
Let's stay sober and redeem the opportunity that God has given us and not react like the 00:49:16.580 |
Hebrews 12, "Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us 00:49:21.180 |
also lay aside every encumbrance and sin which so easily entangles." 00:49:26.780 |
There are certain things that we have to put down, our temporary Bible study going online, 00:49:31.420 |
meeting together, fellowship, the gospel night, all of this at some point will be picked back 00:49:38.220 |
But there are also things that we cannot do right now that maybe we should put down and 00:49:46.100 |
So when these things happen, it forces us to examine what we value, what is important, 00:49:51.920 |
Anything that is not essential has been shut down. 00:49:57.240 |
Some of these things probably should not be picked up. 00:50:00.400 |
What are these things that we need to carefully consider? 00:50:04.760 |
Verse 13, chapter 13, verse 3, "So let us go out to him outside the camp bearing his 00:50:11.600 |
Since Jesus was crucified outside the camp, meaning that's where anybody who was shunned 00:50:16.760 |
by the society, that they will be taken outside the camp to be stoned. 00:50:21.320 |
If you were a leper, you were sent outside the camp. 00:50:23.520 |
So when he says, "Let us go outside the camp with Christ," he means, "Let's leave behind 00:50:39.720 |
That we are aliens and strangers just passing through. 00:50:42.880 |
That maybe this virus is a reminder to us that all who are united with Christ is united 00:50:52.080 |
So maybe this is a good opportunity for us to reflect and examine our lives and to join 00:50:58.840 |
And then finally, chapter 13, verse 15, "Through him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice 00:51:14.000 |
Some of them may have seen their friends crucified. 00:51:18.320 |
Maybe their brother, their child, their mother, their uncle, grandparents. 00:51:22.720 |
They may have already seen them in the Colosseum being torn apart by wild animals. 00:51:29.680 |
He's talking to people who may have even smelled the flesh of their own loved ones burning 00:51:40.880 |
In the midst of that, "Through him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise 00:51:53.300 |
There is a kind of worship that we give to God in time of peace, and even then it is 00:52:02.840 |
But sometimes there are circumstances in our lives, whether it is private or whether it 00:52:06.840 |
is public, whether it is small or whether it is large, there are certain periods of 00:52:13.560 |
our life where the worship of our Savior becomes that much sweeter. 00:52:20.320 |
Our greatest witness to the world is to declare the glory of God in the midst of this darkness, 00:52:29.640 |
because the light shines much brighter when the world does not see light. 00:52:35.400 |
So let us not neglect the opportunity that God has given us and be anchored in Christ. 00:52:41.760 |
So just as an, again, just we're asking you that things are rapidly changing, and the 00:52:49.760 |
Orange County Health Offices are telling us that at least as of now it is still low, and 00:52:56.400 |
that may change overnight, you know, with more testing that are coming. 00:52:59.320 |
So we are not being naive, and we are being pressed on both sides. 00:53:03.640 |
We have, "Don't ever close your door," and those people are slowly dissipating, and then 00:53:09.280 |
more and more of, "We should have closed it three months ago," you know, and we are under 00:53:13.720 |
tremendous pressure, and the easiest thing that we could do is just shut it, you know, 00:53:19.120 |
and go online, which we may end up doing even as early as this week. 00:53:24.440 |
We want to make sure that whatever we do, that we are not reacting, that we are responding, 00:53:30.560 |
and we are responding carefully, wisely, prayerfully, firmly anchored in Christ. 00:53:37.160 |
So that is our request for you, to do the same. 00:53:40.080 |
Watch, listen, pray, and I hope that the message this morning, a reminder of the overview of 00:53:46.840 |
the book of Hebrews, will serve as a foundation upon everything that we do going forward. 00:53:51.520 |
Let me pray for us, and then I'm going to ask you guys to take some time to pray, and 00:53:54.520 |
as we said, we're not going to have an official offering time for the sake of sanitation, 00:53:59.960 |
so that when you are done, when the service is over, if you are planning to physically 00:54:04.080 |
bring the offering, then it will be in those two houses, okay?