TEXT : Hebrews 13:5
TITLE: Challenges
and Encouragements on the road to Contentment
Date: 14/10/2012
The
letter to the Hebrews is a letter to a
group of (Hebrew) Christians “who
are tempted to compromise their faith- this being tantamount to
abandoning the gospel. They were tempted to withdraw from the good fight of
faith… enticed by the teachings which threaten the uniqueness of Christ ; they
are in danger of squandering their birthright in order to purchase
temporary relief…”. [1]
At
the heart of the letter to the Hebrews
the writer addresses to deep discontentment that has crept into the hearts of these Hebrew Christians.
Christ no longer is sufficient and supreme
in their lives. When this happens
– when the first love for Christ
is lost (see Rev 2:4) from the
heart of the professing Christian, other loves ( called idols) very
quickly take the
place that was His place. John Calvin is right. The human
heart is an idol factory (Institutes).
Just as nature abhors a vacuum, so the human heart abhors a vacuum. The heart
does not remain in neutral. It soon engages another love. To the Galatians who had a similar problem, the apostle Paul
wrote: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you in the grace of Christ and are
turning to a different gospel…” (Gal
1:6)
It
is against this background that we need to see the closing exhortations
of the writer to the Hebrews in
Ch. 13, and particularly this one: “Keep your life free from love of money, and
be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor
forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5 ESV)
At
the heart of this text is the
phrase, “be content with what you have”.
On the left side of that is an exhortation and a
warning: “Keep your life free from
the love of money”. On the right side is a promise: “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Another
way to
say this is, at the heart of this text
is the phrase “be
content with what you have”. On
the left side is the
cause of that which makes us
discontent (the love of money) and on the right hand is the cure for our discontentment (God’s provision).
The
love of money is clearly another temptation to the Hebrews who were giving up
on Christ and looking for other loves.
Here the writer is echoing something of that which Paul has said to Timothy, pastor
of the church in Ephesus (1 Tim 1:3) :
But godliness with contentment is
great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything
out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content.
But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many
senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For
the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving
that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many
pangs. (1 Timothy 6:6-10 ESV). Advising his
young pastor friend in many ways,
he addresses the discontentment of many church members.
The Hebrew Christians apparently did not always struggle with discontentment. Listen to this:
“But recall the former days when, after
you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes
being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners
with those so treated. For you had compassion on those in prison, and you
joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you
yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” (Hebrews
10:32-34 ESV)
This Hebrew Christian group to whom this letter is addressed once had a Christ centered perspective . They had
it in the midst of many trials. They had Christ, and they lived their lives in sacrifice for others, knowing that
they had treasures in heaven (Hebr. 10:34 ; Matt 6:19ff). Those were
the former days, BUT now they were struggling. They were struggling among many things to keep their lives free from the love of
money, because somewhere, as I suggested earlier, they had lost perspective of their greatest treasure, who is Christ.
Let
us learn from this that yesterday’s
experience of Christ isn’t
sufficient for today! Christ must be continually walked with, relied upon, and
spoken to … daily! God help us a to
guard against a religion of yesterday! Hebrews Chapter 2 is a chapter that warns us against neglecting our salvation. Yes, it is true
that we are saved by God’s grace minus any of our own effort. But how do you
know that you are saved, Christian? You
must walk in obedience to Christ. And that faith is called the “today” faith
(see Hebr. 3: 8,13,15; 4:7). In this regard I want to
warn you in particular against living in the past; living on past
victories (i.e. falling prey to the Elijah syndrome – 1 Kings
17-19) where the prophet fought tirelessly against evil
and overcame by the power of God, but lapsed into a deep depression –
essentially because he was
not careful to keep God at the center of his perspective. Satan
knows when to attack you – when you have
experienced spiritual victories, and
when you are tired and vulnerable
and you are off guard. When you are tired it is not time to take a
rest from spiritual vigilance. You must
continue to diligently pray, read the Bible and
worship. Otherwise discontentment or disillusionment will
catch you quicker than you think.
With
these thoughts in mind then may I
present to you a very real dilemma
which I am afraid, many of you are
presently facing with respect
to the love of money.
Leo
Tolstoy (1828-1910) a famous
Russian writer of short stories
and novels, wrote a short story entitled
: “How much land does a man need?” He verbalizes this problem very well.
The central character of the
story is a peasant named Pahom. He complains that he does not own enough land. He says:"if I had plenty of land, I shouldn't fear
the devil himself!". Unbeknown to him, Satan is present sitting behind the stove and listening. Satan accepts
his challenge and also tells that he would give Pahom more land and then to snatch
everything from him.
A little later, a landlady
in the village decides to sell her estate, and the peasants of the village buy
as much of that land as they can. Pahom himself purchases some land, and by
working off the extra land is able to repay his debts and live a more
comfortable life. However, Pahom then becomes very possessive of his land, and
this causes arguments with his neighbours. Threats to burn his building began
to be uttered. He decides to sell and relocate to another commune with more available land. Here, he can grow
even more crops and so he makes
more money. However he has to
grow the crops on rented land, which irritates him. After buying and selling a
lot of fertile and good land he is eventually introduced to the Bashkirs, who own a huge amount of land which they
are willing to sell. Pahom seeks
to negotiate as much of their land for as low a price as he possibly can. Their
offer is very unusual. For a sum of one
thousand roubles, Pahom can
walk around as large an area as he wants. He starts at daybreak, marking his route with a spade along the way. If he reaches his starting point by sunset that
day, the entire area of the land which
he has marked will be his, but if he does not reach his starting point as the
sun goes down, he will lose his money
and receive no land.
He is delighted as he believes that he has hit
upon the bargain of a lifetime. That
night, Pahom has a dream in which he sees himself lying dead at the feet of the devil, who is laughing.
The day comes. He stays out as late as possible, marking out land
until just before the sun sets. Towards the end of the day, he realizes that he is far from the starting point and
runs back as fast as he can to the waiting Bashkirs. He finally arrives at the
starting point just as the sun sets, but he has utterly exhausted himself from the run, and Pahom drops dead.
His servant buries him in an ordinary grave only six feet long and
three feet wide , thus ironically answering
the question posed in the title of the story : “How much land does a man need?” The writer to the Hebrews
reminds us : “Be content with what
you have.”
Allow me then to
summarize my observations concerning
the lack of contentment, as observed from the
life of the Hebrew Christians and
from this moving story:
1. Loosing
Christ at the center of you earthly
perspective leads you to seek for
other things (counterfeit
gods). Tim Keller in his book “Counterfeit
gods“[2] writes:
“A counterfeit god is anything so central and
essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly
worth living. And idol has such a controlling position in your heart that you
can spend most of your passion and energy, your emotional and financial
resources, on it without a second thought. It can be family and children, or
career and making money, or achievement and critical acclaim, or saving “face”
and social standing. It can be a romantic relationship, peer approval,
competence and skill, secure and comfortable circumstances, your beauty or your
brains, a great political or social cause, your morality and virtue, or even
success in the Christian ministry. When your meaning in life is to fix someone
else’s life, we may call it “codependency” but it is really idolatry. An idol
is whatever you look at and say, in your heart of hearts, “If I have that, then
I’ll feel significant and secure.”
2. The end of the story is that your idols (who stir up continued discontentment) will kill you and they will leave dead
at the feet of the devil, who
will be laughing !
CONCLUSION :
Which side of the
statement “Be content with what
you have “ are you on?
On the left
side ? “Keep your life free from the love
of money”
On the right
side ? “… for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Diagnostic
Questions
1. What do you presently have in your hand? Is it really not enough?
2. What are you
chasing, and why is it causing you to
be breathless and exhausted, robbing you
of your joy and contentment in the Lord?
3. Is Christ not sufficient for your needs, or is He? Answer this question honestly (if necessary, use Keller’s checklist again), and then read
Matthew 6:25-34 .
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