Hebrews - Back to the Burning Bush Report #3

The account of Moses’s distraction by a bush that appeared to be burning but never consumed is well known. The initial distraction quickly transformed into a holy encounter with God, Moses removed his shoes and walked barefoot on holy ground.

This is as typical as it is unique. Something gets our attention and before we know it we’re grappling with a depth of thought that carries us towards God…or God comes close to us.

I’m reading through Hebrews in the New Testament (my money is on Paul as the author, but the authorship isn’t known).

This series is like a journalist reporting on scenes he’s been sent to comment on.

Report 3 – repentance as a living stone in the foundation of believers…not before we become Christians

‘let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith towards God’ Heb 6 v 1

That word Repentance. Such a bad image. Bad press. Bad ‘optics’. In reality perhaps the sweetest word in the English language. Repentance is that sweet spot, that sweet moment, when our pride, anger, bitterness, indignation, guilt, shame, jealousy is too heavy a burden to carry, and we collapse under the weight of it…and, finally, take it off. In taking it off, we confess, we pour it all out to God or another person. It paves the way for peace and reconciliation, for an embrace, for love and friendship to blossom once more.

When John the Baptist, Jesus, and then Peter and countless preachers since have spoken, the first words on their lips are ‘Repent…and believe’. It has a dual meaning. One is, as above, to lay down all our burdens, to come out from behind our fig leaves and stand naked before God to receive His forgiveness and kindness and love. The second meaning is more mental, to change our thinking…about God Himself. Often from a tyrannical, angry, authority figure forever disapproving and full of wrath towards a God who is love and reaching out to us to invite us into His kingdom.

If that is one of the steps wrapped in the experience of becoming a Christian, that is NOT what this verse is referring to.

The context of the whole letter is to encourage Jewish believers to press on in Christ to spiritual maturity…to ‘perfection’… and not to slip back under the Law. It is important, therefore, to realise that in the life of a believer there are some living foundation stones – including ‘repentance from dead works’ - that START when someone believes and CONTINUE in the life of the believer.

This letter, after all, is written to believers, not those considering following Christ!

Given that that is true, what are the ‘dead works’ that require repentance?

In the simplest terms, a dead work is anything that has not been borne from faith, anything that is not directed by the Spirit, but its origins lie in the ‘flesh’ that is the soul acting independently of the Holy Spirit-our spirit communion.

For example, you might have felt called into leading worship by the Spirit and confirmed by those around you in church. A good start, you’re being led by the Spirit.

But then you go about the task relying on your musical ability, your organisation strengths, your influence in the church to assemble a team, and your imagination or poetic thinking to compliment the teaching with a series of songs that illustrate the word.

to lay down all our burdens, to come out from behind our fig leaves and stand naked before God to receive His forgiveness and kindness and love

None of the above is overtly ‘sinful’, who could fault it? But it has zilch to do with your calling, or the way ‘faith’ operates in the kingdom and in that sweet communion between God and us.

Eventually God convicts you that you’ve gone ‘off piste’ and ended up in the flesh. So, your living foundation kicks in, you know what to do, you lay all that effort down, you unburden yourself from the weight of it all; you repent of a dead work. And in doing so, you open yourself up to fresh faith in God. The God who called you will also equip you.

You still have your musical ability and your natural talents to organise songs and a band, but now everything has changed. Rather than relying on these things, you are now moved by the wind and worship in spirit and truth. You end up infecting everyone near you, your band, and more importantly the congregation to do likewise. No longer is it a series of songs that touches solely the mind and emotions, but the people are led deeper, into the presence of God Himself, to worship in spirt and truth.

In other words, God can differentiate between ‘dead works’ and those that bring life. It’s like pruning an apple tree or a rose bush: for the sake of better fruit, a wise gardener will prune what looks like perfectly healthy branches. The gardener knows, however, time has come to cut it out.

Isn’t it easy to continue to do x,y,z, out of duty, politeness, or enthusiasm…but not led by the Spirit? This is not a recipe for laziness, or passivity, the writer, after all, is urging them on, but as led by the Spirit, not by the flesh, not by our ideas in some independent spirit, in a frenzy of works that do not find their origin in God.

My shoes are off…I’m walking on holy ground

My shoes are off. I’m walking on holy ground. I dare not do anything that isn’t from His Spirit or I make a mockery of calling Christ ‘Lord’, but, if I do, I know he will draw me back to that sweet spot of repentance from dead works and renewed faith. True faith has a wonderful aroma, like freshly baked bread. There’s no mistaking it.