Tomorrow we begin (now that we’ve finished looking at introductory matters) to consider the first section of the book of Hebrews. Verses 2-3 are so packed with important teaching, that brief section is all we’ll tackle tomorrow.
As I mentioned in our first message, the purpose of this book is to change the way you think and act. Without Christ you are absolutely lost. But it’s too easy for us to lose sight of that fact. The more we live as believers in the believing community, the more we are inclined to take the Savior and his message for granted. That is the beginning of apostasy.
The argument of Hebrews moves forward by the author’s pressing his multi-dimensional exhortation upon people (like us) who are tempted to ignore or depart from King Jesus, the final revelation of the Father.
The exhortational thrust of this first major section of the book (1:1–2:18) can be summarized as follows: “Since God’s final revelation has been given in Jesus Christ, the eternal Son, we must pay careful attention to him and to his message, if we hope to gain the eternal, glorious inheritance prepared by God for his people.”
This exhortation comes to its focus in 2:1-3, “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.… how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?”
I took note especially of the relevancy of today's church, even at our home church, towards the "normal" or "comfortableness" of the Christian life. Because we are blessed by our God and have it relatively easy in our Christian walk, does not mean that we should be lax in our attitudes and/or actions toward our faith. Christ certainly wasn't when he spoke to the rich young man about following Him. I'm also reminded of the "arbor" early in Bunyan's "A Pilgrim's Progess". He laid down, slept, and nearly lost his scroll because of his unwatchfullness.
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