Dig Down, Build Up

I love and appreciate the labor of love that is going into the new entrance of the church. If you get a chance to see it, go take a look. There is more to the eye than you can see. I remember the first step in making the new entrance was to dig down. The cement was poured into the forms and then covered over with dirt. Then the building was built up.

These two features, digging down and building up, are the subject of my message this morning.

Hebrews 6:1-2 shows what our foundation is if one were to dig down.

Hebrews 6:9-12 shows what happens when we go on to maturity and build up.

Hebrews 6:1-2 shares common truths that the writer to the book of Hebrews assumed all knew.

Digging Down

Hebrews 6:1–2 ESV

1 Therefore let us leave the elementary doctrine of Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, 2 and of instruction about washings, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

These are called “the elementary doctrine of Christ...” They are foundational. But knowing and embracing these elementary doctrines does not reveal maturity. These are the ones that should reside in every believer. They are foundational truths.

Foundational truths

What are these foundational truths?

I want to ask you if you are firmly established in these foundational truths? Are they embedded in your life in such a way that you can move on from these to a position of maturity?

Repentance from dead works

Can you explain this to anyone? What is so foundational about repentance from dead works?

The answer is simple. We come to Jesus, not to continue in our sin, but to be saved from our sin. We don’t come to Jesus just to get a free ticket to heaven. We are sinners in need of a savior. We found that Savior in Jesus Christ. We want to change. We want to leave our dead works behind and find the new life that Jesus has for us. We realize that we are not saved by our works, but saved by faith in Jesus Christ.

Which leads us to the second foundational truth.

Faith toward God

Can you explain this statement? It is considered to be foundational, one that every Christian would know.

Without faith it is impossible to please God. We realize that our ways are not God’s ways. We realize that there is a way that seems right, but the end of that road leads to death. So we trust God. We believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God. We trust Jesus. We believe he died to save us from our sin. We believe that following Jesus in faith is the path to the new life. This is foundational to the Christian life.

Instruction

The writer lists four teachings that were taught to every new believer.

The first is

Washings or baptisms

Can you explain these washings? The Greek word comes from the same root as baptism.

I’m not sure exactly what the writer has in mind. Scholars are all over the map on this. I do know about three kinds of baptism mentioned in the Bible.

The first is water baptism.

Matthew 28:19 ESV

19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

When a person trusted Christ in the first century, the next step, if possible, was to be baptized in water. Going down under the water symbolized the death and burial of Jesus. Because the person being baptized went under, they indicated that when Jesus died, he died for them, for their sin, in their place.

The second use of baptism is found in one obscure passage in the Bible.

1 Corinthians 15:29 ESV

29 Otherwise, what do people mean by being baptized on behalf of the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized on their behalf?

This refers to the baptism of or for the dead. The Mormon church believes that a person living today can be baptized for someone who died and that will let them into heaven. That is why the Mormon church is so heavily involved with genealogy.

The baptism of the dead has nothing to do with salvation. It in all likelihood refers to the fact that new believers replace those who died. With so few Christians in the first century, every new believer who made a public declaration of their faith in Christ was welcomed and in some cases, seen as a huge blessing for the church which had members that died.

The third use of baptism is metaphorical. The Bible takes the literal picture of baptism and uses it to describe the baptism of the Holy Spirit or the immersion of the Holy Spirit.

1 Corinthians 12:13 ESV

13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

1 Corinthians uses this picture to describe how, at the moment of salvation, the Holy Spirit comes into an individual and in so doing, puts them or immerses them, into the body of Christ.

This truth is foundational. God wants every Christian to understand that when they received Christ, they were immersed by the Holy Spirit into something bigger, the church.

He also wants every believer to be baptized.

The second instruction is laying on of hands.

Laying on of hands

Are you able to explain this? The writer of the book of Hebrews puts this into the foundational truth that every Christian should know.

Whatever he is referring to has passed into obscurity. The scholars are very mixed on this, which is unusual for something that should be foundational.

Some scholars believe that the laying on of hands was the Jewish way of passing on a blessing. Others associated this with the recognition of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

I don’t know, but I like the idea of the blessing on the newly baptized believer.

Today we have some people who have indicated a desire to be baptized.

Baptism

The third instruction is the resurrection of the dead.

Resurrection of the dead

Can you explain this?

This is why we are here today. Now is Christ risen from the dead. Many of us have loved ones who have died in the Lord. Some of us still grieve. We have been blessed by the class that Miriam and Terry have lead on Grief Share. We love and miss those who have died. But in Christ we believe that because he rose, we will rise as well.

We may die. But in our death is resurrection. The spirit at the point of death goes to be with God. But the spirit and the body are reunited at the rapture of the church when our risen Lord comes for us again.

This is at the core of our faith. We believe that Jesus rose again. He not only rose again, but he was the first of many. Jesus included me and he included you.

This is why Easter is a time of celebration. Jesus triumphed over sin, over death. He is our risen savior and Lord.

We hold to

John 3:16 ESV

16 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

This is foundational and it is wonderful!

We want to sing about this today!

Eternal judgment

Can you explain eternal judgment?

God is a God of justice. He is going to do what is right. Those who sin will experience judgment. It’s only right. People should not be able to get away with the way they treat God, treat themselves and treat other people. And they won’t.

There is a heaven and a hell. We all deserve hell. But by the mercy and grace of God Jesus paid for our sins. Those who trust Jesus do not face eternal judgment. The is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Those who reject Jesus face his judgment where Jesus will deal with every sinner as they deserve.

What a great foundation has been dug in your life if you repent from dead works, have faith in God and have listened to instruction!

This is just digging down! God also wants us to build up.

Hebrews 6:9 ESV

9 Though we speak in this way, yet in your case, beloved, we feel sure of better things—things that belong to salvation.

Hebrews is a book of better things. Jesus is better than the angels, better than Moses, his sacrifice is better than the Old Testament sacrifices and so on.

But the impact of this is that we do better things. That is moving beyond just cleaning up our lives, trusting Jesus and listening to instruction.

Building Up

God wants us to build up as well as dig down.

Hebrews 6:10 ESV

10 For God is not unjust so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for his name in serving the saints, as you still do.

The people the author wrote to were notable for two things.

First, they worked for God.

Second, they loved his name.

Here is a picture of a person who goes beyond the elementary truths. Here is a person who not only digs down and repents of their sin, trusts God and deals with initial truths; but this person also works for God. This can be seen by others or the writer wouldn’t have known.

They also love the name of God. The phrase “the name of...” is not as the United Pentecostals use it, a literal name. Nor is it used in the ways the Jewish people use it even today, they will not write or pronounce the name of God. If you go to their websites, they write

G_D

Rather the love is shown in the work they do for God.

The work they do for God is seen in serving the saints.

The sign of a mature Christian is that a mature Christian is involved with serving people. They are working together and helping one another in kingdom work.

We have been through a series the 40 Days of Love. If we were to summarize it, we have been learning how to love God and how to serve others. We have moved from digging down to building up.

Gerald Stillman was the coordinator for the 40 Day team. I am going to ask him to come up and share his impressions of what God did for us and through us in these 40 Days.

Hebrews 6:11 ESV

11 And we desire each one of you to show the same earnestness to have the full assurance of hope until the end,

This is our call! We serve a risen Savior. Let’s serve him. We are thankful for the cross and for the empty tomb. Let’ show our appreciation by earnestly moving forward in hope until the end.

In so doing, we imitate the faithful people who have gone before us.

Hebrews 6:12 ESV

12 so that you may not be sluggish, but imitators of those who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

I think of Dale Flynn, the first pastor of this church, who was faithful to the end. I think of Herbert, Mava, and Royce Dyer who served the Lord until the end. I think of Dale Flint, who was faithful to her last breath. There are many more I could name. I think of the cloud of witnesses both distant past and more recent who lived and died serving the Lord.

Let’s serve God out of hearts of love. Let’s finish this Easter service not only standing on a good foundation, but with a desire to be faithful to the end. Why because we love a God who first loved us!