The text this morning is from the Letter to the Hebrews, the second chapter:
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. …Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. …Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. …he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
You may have heard the saying, “Doctrine divides.” Usually, it’s employed in certain churches that push the idea that what you believe doesn’t matter, it’s what you do, or it’s what you feel, or as long as you’re sincere everything is going to be okay. They claim that doctrine just messes up the Church; doctrine doesn’t really matter. Doctrine is just the academic’s way of pushing into the Church. Doctrine’s only for the people who need to feel smart. Doctrine is just for those who aren’t really interested in just a simple faith, a simple life, a simple Jesus.
But, that’s not what the author of the letter to the Hebrews says. He says doctrine divides, but it divides truth from fiction. He says doctrine matters. He does this by saying we should pay closer attention to what we’ve heard, lest we drift away from it. And what have we heard? The author spends the first chapter laying this out.
Specifically, he says that we have heard the doctrine of creation, that everything was created through and by the Son of God, Jesus Christ. We’ve heard the doctrine of the preeminence of the Son, that God the Father has given Jesus all honor and glory. We’ve heard the doctrine of the incarnation. We’ve heard the doctrine of the crucifixion and the atonement made for sins in our place. We’ve heard, too, the doctrine of the ascension. And we’ve heard the doctrine of the created beings, both man and angels.
That’s a lot of doctrine, and the author says we should pay closer attention to it. He uses these words to tell us that we should be constantly studying these things, for drifting away from the right doctrine is tantamount to eternal death. That’s why we should be hearing God’s Word at every opportunity, hearing all that He would have to say to us through His Word. If we should drift away from the right doctrine, the right teaching, we get everything wrong. Every doctrine that exists in the Scriptures is all about Christ. Every one. Anthropology. The Lord’s Supper. The Trinity. The Incarnation. Angels. Atonement. Law. Gospel. The Inspiration of Scripture. Creation. Those and so many more are doctrines that are incredibly complex and yet completely about Christ Jesus Himself.
So, then, it is no wonder the author of Hebrews says to pay close attention to it. We would hate to drift away from God’s Word. After all, the Word of God, specifically the message of the Gospel of salvation in Jesus Christ, has been given to us by messengers from God. Whether the author here means angels or pastors is unclear, really, but the message comes through the messengers. And we have heard it.
The message is simple, Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Father, was sent to earth, came into human flesh, lived perfectly among His creation, died, taking the burden of humanity’s sin upon Him, was buried, and was resurrected on the third day. But this is not the whole message, for the message is always pointed to you. Jesus came for you. Jesus lived for you. Jesus died for you. Jesus was resurrected for you. And He did all this for the forgiveness of your sins, that you might have life in His name, and find salvation when He raises you from the dead on the Last Day. This is our Lord’s message to you.
And we have heard it. It was given to us first by the Apostles, those who witnessed Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. We heard it from them, and we believed it, for their testimony was notarized, it was proclaimed true, by God Himself, acting through the person and work of the Holy Spirit, to deliver signs, wonders, and miracles. And those records have come down to us today through the Holy Scriptures. We believe them because we have been saved by grace through faith to believe, thus we know that they actually happened, and all of history confirms that this is true. Thus, we believe unto everlasting life.
It hasn’t stopped there, though. The Holy Spirit continues to confirm this message through His works in this place, this congregation, His works of the Word and the Means of Grace, by which He continues to deposit faith into His people, strengthening them unto life everlasting. Now, you can choose to reject this work. You can choose not to believe it. You can choose not to receive it. But you do so unto your own detriment. You do so to the joy of the devil. For, if we are to hold fast to the Word of God, if we are to hold onto right doctrine, we would, by faith, accept all that God has given us in His Word to believe and receive.
The author of Hebrews makes the point that doctrine is to be studied and held fast to for life and we should believe it. We may never truly understand every point and minutiae of doctrine, but who can? Not me, certainly. The Word of God is far too vast for any one man to understand all of it. The author make his point in this way: all things are in subjection to Christ. Christ, in His ascension to the right hand of God, has everything put under His control. He rules and reigns with all power and authority. But, we don’t always see that.
Take, for instance, the tragedy that happened in Oregon this week. A gunman came into a community college, and, by all accounts, targeted Christians for death by firearm. We look at such a situation, we look at the ten people who died, including the shooter, and the nine who were injured, and we ask where God was in all of this. If Christ has all things in subjection to Himself, then why did this happen? Why is there evil? Why is there such sin that happens all around the world?
To be honest, we don’t have the answers to those questions. I can’t explain why certain things happen in certain ways at certain times. I can’t explain why some suffer greatly, others suffer little. I can’t explain why the wicked are more temporally blessed that the righteous. I can’t. And I’m not given to. Even the author of Hebrews couldn’t explain it. All he could say, and all I can say, is that we do not, at present, see all things placed under Christ’s feet. Things seem out of control, but it doesn’t mean that they are. It means we don’t understand and we’re not given to.
But, Christ is in control, He is in charge of all things, for by His ruling in heaven for our benefit we have the sure and certain hope that, though this life go to pot, our Lord will redeem it, raising us from the dead, recreating this world, and dwelling bodily with us for eternity.
That is why doctrine matters. We may not understand everything that flies at us, but just as we must trust that our Lord reigns on high, so we must also trust that the doctrines given by God to His people matter. We should dive into them, swimming their depths, constantly exploring. Who looks up at the night sky and says, “I don’t care what’s out there. The stars are ugly, anyway. I don’t need to know anything, so long as I know they’re not crashing down on me.” No one. Everyone who looks into the sky sees the beauty of it, wonders at the marvelous light given by a billion stars, are transfixed by the greens and blues and violets given off by our sun through our atmosphere.
Why then do we look at the Scriptures and say, “Who cares about doctrine? It doesn’t matter anyway. I just need Jesus. That’s enough. So long as hell doesn’t crash down on me, I’m fine. I don’t need to study the doctrines of God.” Why should any of us say that? To do so does great violence to God’s Word, telling Him that we don’t care what He’s given us to know about Himself. And how dare we? Who are we to think we know better than God?
We’re sinners. We need God. And so, Jesus came to earth to do all that He has done for you so that He might call you brother, sister, a child of God. He has partaken of what you are so that He would destroy death for you. He offers to you eternal life. He offers to you knowledge of all that we may know of God. And He gives it to you every time you ask, every time you seek. Oh, that we would all seek out God’s Word and its depth all the more.
But we fail, don’t we? That’s why these churches claim that doctrine divides. It gets people confused. It gets people flustered. It gets people upset. But, that’s because of our sin. Doctrine is life; it’s not meant to divide within a faithful congregation. Doctrine does divide, but it divides the One True Church from all other “churches” that claim to be of Christ. There is only one true faith, and that is the faith of the Scriptures, once for all delivered to the saints. And if we do not study God’s Word, if we do not hold fast to the teachings of the prophets and the Apostles, we will fall for any doctrine that comes our way.
Our sinful natures want to fall for anything but the truth of God’s Word. That is why we must discipline ourselves for His purposes in His Word. We prepare ourselves to know the doctrine of God that divides light from dark, truth from fiction, reality from absurdity, and we do it for the sake of helping those whom God loves.
That’s right, even the doctrine we study is for the sake of our neighbor. Studying God’s Word won’t gain you anything personally, except a deeper trust in Christ Jesus and His saving work on the cross for you. But it doesn’t earn your brownie points with God; it doesn’t make you any more impressive to Him. But we study, we pay closer attention to God’s Word, making sure we don’t drift away from it for the sake of our neighbor, to obey the second commandment for their sake, that we would not misuse the name of God, but teach it rightly for our neighbor’s benefit.
And when we fail, when we sin, when we fail to study, when we fail to pay close attention, when we believe any wind of false doctrine that comes along, here’s what right doctrine does: it tells us to repent. It tells us to turn from our wickedness and turn to the righteousness that is in Christ Jesus. And He gives it you. He gives you His righteousness, He gives you His forgiveness, He gives you the joy of the Lord that comes every morning as we daily die to sin and rise to Christ. And then it moves us to desire the right teaching of God even more. It moves us to do the right thing, for the sake of our neighbor, and to increase in us the hope that is to come in the resurrection of the dead.
After all, the Great High Priest, Jesus Himself, is interceding for you, even right now, to the Father. He’s asking the Father to guard you, protect you, lead you in the One True Faith. He’s asking Him to make you strong, to forgive your sins, to provide for your every need. He’s asking Him to lead you not into temptation, for Jesus knows what temptation feels like, but to deliver you from the Evil One, Satan himself. He’s asking His Father and our Father to keep you faithful, to give you the Son’s righteousness, to preserve you forever in Christ Jesus. And you know what’s funny? Because the Father is asked by the Son, and here’s doctrine for you, because the Father always hears the Son for the sake of His people, the Father is going to do it.
The Father who created you, the Son who redeemed you, and the Holy Spirit who sanctifies you will keep you in the one true faith unto life everlasting. He is faithful, and He will do it. Our doctrine tells us so, because the Word of God tells us so, and the Word of God is life. Doctrine is life, for it is the stuff of life, which is always in Jesus Christ. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
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