“Reading the Instructions”
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16
August 29, 2010
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Dr. H. Mark Ashworth

With school starting back last week, it’s a season of information, maybe even of information overload. Students are learning teachers’ names. Teachers are learning lots of students’ names. Students are finding new classrooms, memorizing their schedule, figuring out where they’re supposed to be when. Meanwhile parents are filling out forms and making sure they get the right kid to the right school at the right time. We live in an Information Age, of course. We’re bombarded by information, and that very bombardment is a challenge. How do we sort out what’s true and what’s false? How do we wade through what’s trivial to find what’s helpful? And when it comes to the big questions, the big issues of life, we especially need to know. There’s an old saying most guys know and many of seek to live by. It says, “When all else fails, read the instructions.”

This morning I want to raise a few questions about reading the instructions, because whether we admit it or not, we’ve all reached that point. We have to read the instructions. So the first question is this: Where do we find the instruction we need? Well, I’m not going to try to be cute about it. We’re gathered here at church. We’ve heard the words of Scripture. So of course, I’m going to point to the Bible as the answer to that question. We do need to be molded and shaped, challenged and encouraged by the words of Scripture. None of us knows it all. None of us understands it all. We all need to keep reading and studying and learning.

Last Tuesday morning, Matthew was watching TV and Kathryn was at work in her office when suddenly the cable went out. Screens went blank. Connections were lost. Turned out the phone company was working on burying the phone line and managed to cut the cable. But the result was that Kathryn and Matthew were cut off from the source of the information they wanted and needed. Now certainly there are places in the world where Bibles have been confiscated, where access to the Scripture is difficult. That isn’t us. We’ve got more access to Bibles than we know what to do with. If we’re cut off from the information, from the knowledge that we need, it’s usually our own doing. We have Bibles, but we don’t read them. Or we read them, but only to confirm what we already think.

And that leads us to the second big question that needs to be raised: What kind of instruction are we looking for? I managed somehow to lose a hubcap while we were at the beach a couple of weeks ago. So when we got home I started looking for some information on getting a replacement that matched. (Hold up a cook book.) I read and read and read but I didn’t get very far. I did finally find one, but in putting it on I did something to my back. So I thought I’d see what would be a helpful treatment to get a little relief. (Hold up a dictionary.) I mean, both these books are chock-full of information, but they don’t tell me what I need to know. It’s important for us to know what we’re doing when we pick up the Bible. If you want a recipe for chocolate cake, this isn’t the place to look. I’ve heard people say that all the answers you could ever need are in this book. But that’s just silly talk. The Bible isn’t interested in telling me how to make brownies or how to fix a flat tire. It’s not that kind of instruction.

It also isn’t some sort of magic all-purpose manual. I heard a preacher once tell about a decision he had to make. He was shopping for a car, and somebody had a used car he thought he was interested in. But he couldn’t decide. So like a good Christian, he turned to his Bible. He opened it up at random and let it fall open where it would. Something he read there made him decide not to buy the car. Now he told the story to illustrate how God can use the Bible in our lives. All I can say is, I don’t recommend that kind of magical use of Scripture. You see, whatever you read, you need to be clear about something. And that is the kinds of questions you are asking as you read. If I pick up a cookbook, I should be asking questions about cooking. How do I make such and such? How long does this need to cook? What ingredients do I need? Those are appropriate questions. When we open the Bible, we need to ask appropriate questions, too. So what are some of those questions? Well, there’s no comprehensive list, certainly. But we may be asking questions like How can I know what is most important in life? How should I treat other people? Is there a deeper, bigger meaning to life or is this really all there is? Is there a God, and if there is, does that God care about me? How can I make it when life gets really tough? We could all add questions to the list, but the point is that these are the kinds of questions we can bring to Scripture and be open to hearing helpful instruction.

So when we open up the pages of Scripture, what’s at the heart of the instruction we find? We read from Hebrews 13 this morning. It’s the last chapter of the book. And in many ways it’s like other last chapters, especially of Paul’s letters. They remind me of a lot of family goodbyes when you’ve been to visit someone. As you’re getting up to leave, “Oh, yeah, did I tell you about…?” As you’re walking out the door, “Oh, don’t forget to….” As you’re getting in the car, “Did you get those pickles I had for you?” As you’re shutting the door, “Call when you get home.” In Hebrews 13, you get some pieces of instruction that are certainly good and valuable, but they almost seem random. Oh, yeah, before I close, remember. Be nice to strangers. Don’t forget people in prison. Don’t get too hung up on money. Be faithful in your marriage. As I say, all good and valuable instruction, but it certainly doesn’t cover everything. Maybe the writer knew these were some things those folks needed to hear, I don’t know.

But let’s step back for just a second. Hebrews was written for what are sometimes called “second generation Christians.” These weren’t the people who first heard the gospel or were in the first generation of the early church. These were people who learned from those people. There’s a little bit more distance from the time Jesus was here. And there’s always a danger among the second generation that enthusiasm cools, that commitment is somewhat less, that more is taken for granted. And Hebrews comes to remind those folks what is really important, to call them back to a stronger faith, to encourage them to lives of greater faithfulness.

So there are some specific things that get mentioned, but I believe that the heart of Hebrews 13 points us to the heart of biblical instruction generally. And it’s found in verse 8. Hear it again: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Now at first that may sound like almost a religious slogan, like a bumper sticker or something. But stop and think about it. Jesus Christ. The one who came to show us who God is, the one whose life, death, and resurrection demonstrate the love of God for us, the one who makes it possible for us to have life—life abundant and eternal, the one who calls us to follow him and to be his people. This one, Jesus Christ, is the same yesterday, today, and forever. To those second-generation Christians, and to us, who are, I don’t know, 50th-generation Christians or something, those words are important. This Jesus who we hear about from yesterday, from years gone by, from our parents and grandparents, from the pages of the Scripture—this Jesus is still the same. His meaning for us is still the same as it was for those long ago. His salvation is still available for us and for everyone as it was for them. His call to faithfulness is still just as valid. And his promise of his presence is still just as binding.

When we open the pages of this book, we aren’t just instructed by the past. We are invited into the story. To learn. To live. To be people formed by our commitment to Christ. Empowered by the Spirit of God to live in the way of Christ. Demonstrating in our lives the love and grace of God we’ve come to know in Jesus Christ. In this information-saturated age, we are called to carry within us, in our lives and in our life together, that most important information of all—the radical love of God in Jesus Christ. May God continue to teach us. And may God use our lives to share that most wonderful news, the Good News, with everyone around us. God grant that it be so. Amen.