Taking Christ Seriously

“Understanding Christ means taking Christ seriously.

Understanding this claim means taking seriously his absolute claim on our commitment.”

                                          - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

How many of us – if any – take Christ as seriously as we ought?  How many of us take His claim on our commitment as seriously as we ought? 

If we did, would we be as preoccupied with ourselves?  Would we waste as much time as we do?  Would we put off doing things to the extent that we do?  Would we be as willing to offer half-measures as we are?  Would we be as concerned about things and possessions as we are?  Would we be as lackadaisical about sharing the Gospel as we too often find ourselves to be?  Probably not.

To take Christ seriously means to bring the center of your life into contact with the claim of Christ to be the only Way, the only Truth and the only Life.  It means recognizing the absolute and urgent significance of knowing Christ and being committed to Him.

F.F. Bruce has written, “the truth and teaching of the gospel must not be held lightly; they are of supreme moment, they are matters of life and death, and must be cherished and obeyed at all costs.”   Please read: Hebrews 2:1-4 …

That passage begins with the word ‘therefore” signaling a connection between what follows and what came before.  And so, what have we learned so far in the first chapter of Hebrews?  We’ve learned that God has spoken to us by His Son who is heir of all things; the agent of creation; the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of His nature who upholds the universe by the word of His power; who has provided purification for our sins and who now is seated at the right hand of the majesty on high; and who is the center of Scripture, is superior to the angels and is our Mediator.  We have learned that Jesus is not optional, He is everything.  He’s not peripheral, He is the Center. “Therefore,” the author states, “we must pay more careful attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.”  And so the author expresses, in these four verses the importance and authority of what he has been talking about – i.e. the Gospel.

                                                                                                                               

This message is authoritative.  The author shows this by comparing it with the OT.  We read in vv. 2-3, “For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation? This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him. God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”

The Law was given through angels.  Deuteronomy 33 suggests this and both Stephen and the apostle Paul speak of that fact.  The Law was put in place by angels through Moses, but the Gospel was given through the Son (in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son - this Son who we have learned is superior to the angels.)

The Law proved reliable in that both the promised blessings and curses became reality.  It was binding on the people – it shaped their life together.  But even more the Gospel is proved reliable: 1) by its Source - namely Jesus (This salvation…was first announced by the Lord), 2) by its messengers (it was confirmed to us by those who heard him), and 3) by its divine witness – (God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit). 

And so the author makes his point that if the Law demanded our attention and obedience, how much more does the Gospel of our salvation?  If the words communicated through angels to Moses were essential for us, how much more the words spoken by the Son, Christ Jesus.  And if there were consequences for breaking the Law, how much more if we ignore or reject the message of such a great salvation?  The message of the Gospel has authority – it is God’s accredited word to us and so we must be attentive to it.

To say that the Gospel is important is putting it mildly.  It is crucial, essential, for it is the message of salvation and as such is a matter of life and death.  That is why the readers of Hebrews are encouraged to “pay more careful attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it.”

The phrase “pay more careful attention” comes from the Greek word meaning to attend to or pay close attention to, but more expressively it also refers to turning or holding one’s mind to someone or something; to be intent upon; to give oneself to; to attach oneself to or be held fast by.  The word was used, among other things, to bringing a ship near or to bring it to port.

That last bit is interesting since we are then told to pay attention to what we have heard so that we don’t drift away from it.  That word can refer to a boat drifting without an anchor or a boat drifting past its port.  It’s a similar image to that which Paul presents in Ephesians (4:14) about being “tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming.”  And that can happen when we “ignore such a great salvation.” 

And when we ignore such a great salvation and allow ourselves to drift away, we are in danger (“how shall we escape?”).  We are in danger of missing out on salvation.  Life and death, heaven and hell are at stake.  Therefore, so as not to drift into dangerous waters or simply to drift without purpose or center, we are called to pay much closer attention to the message of the Gospel; to turn and to hold our minds to it; to be intent upon it; to attach ourselves to it and be held fast by it; to bring the vessel of our lives into its port; to take it – to take Christ seriously!

F.F. Bruce said that, “the truth and teaching of the gospel … must be cherished and obeyed at all costs.”   Paying more careful attention to what we have heard means cherishing and obeying the message of the Gospel. And this passage calls us to do that.  It is a corrective to two major misconceptions: 1) that doctrine doesn’t matter, and 2) that doctrine is all that matters.

Doctrine matters.  What we believe about life and death, truth and God, human nature and the purpose of the world really matters a lot.  Many people in the church today shout “deeds not creeds”, suggesting that what you do is the only thing that matters and what you believe is basically irrelevant.  That’s moralism – a belief that religion is only about morals, about being a good person and that it’s not interested necessarily in truth. It posits that if you are a good person, that’s enough.  But the author of Hebrews maintains that what we believe matters a lot.  The vision in the first chapter is a vision of Christ with immense cosmic dimensions – a huge, overwhelming vision – that emboldens us to persevere in the midst of trials and difficulties and opposition and enables us to stare down our fears and questions and doubts; a vision that, when taken seriously, gives us faith to follow Christ confidently. 

But doctrine is not all that matters.  You can believe a particular medication will make you feel better, but unless you actually swallow the pill, it’s not going to do you any good.  You can believe that God has a better job for you, but unless you send out resumes and go for interviews – unless you act on that belief – it doesn’t much matter.  Doctrine is meant to be acted upon

If we take Christ seriously, we cannot be satisfied with mere head knowledge or with simply having our theological cap on straight.  We can’t be satisfied with legalistic purity.  Keeping our nose clean is not enough.  That was the problem with the servant in Jesus’ parable of the talents ... he was afraid of his master and so he buried what the master had given him in the ground.  He kept it safe, but didn’t do anything productive with it.  He didn’t do anything negative, but he didn’t do anything positive either.  He didn’t do anything and so he was condemned. 

Looking out for ourselves is not enough.  We have to care for each other and for others – the poor, the helpless, the lost, the broken, the hurting, the hopeless. 

We must pay closer attention to what we have heard so that we do not drift away from it.  With our minds and with our hearts and with our actions, we must take Christ seriously.