Hebrews: The New Covenant Administration of Christ Max A Forsythe (c) Anno Domini 2005

From the Pulpit at Pilgrim's Rest Presbyterian Church in America

In His Sight
For the Lord’s Day:  the 21^st of August 2005

Hebrews 13: 17-21

Introduction:  For our title this morning, I have used a phrase similar to R.C. Sproul’s ongoing theme:  “Coram Deo” (Before the face of God).  So if you have given more than a passing glance at the monthly Tabletalk magazine, you are already familiar with this summary theme of admonition that the Apostle confronts us with here at the end of this letter to the Hebrew Christians.  My phrasing “In His Sight” reminds me of some time once spent with a young friend in church years ago.  We were almost into Junior High, and my friend’s mother had lamented to my mother that she couldn’t trust her son unless he was within her immediate sight. 

So I was invited in to spend the day, hoping that my better manners would rub off.  I was home within three hours, after my friend demonstrated some illegal fire works that his mother had bought him in another state.  The good ladies in the village had called the grumpy Town Marshall once the first string of fire crackers took off.  Since the Marshal worked third shift, he was none too happy to be summoned by half a dozen phone calls.  So he drove down and confiscated the whole lot of explosives.  Mother arrived no sooner than he had left, to pick me up – she thought it must be mighty important if three of the Huntsville ladies had made long distant phone calls to tell her I was seen with the ornery boy who was always into mischief!

That experience taught me a lot about how villagers once worked together, in order to keep the younger people civilized and even safe from potential dangers.  And the lesson was further reinforced by my Dad’s admonition that while I had not been absolutely at fault, still there were temptations of many kinds where curiosity could lead one astray.  On another occasion, Dad and I were walking down the street of a local market town where the sale of alcohol was legal.  We passed one storefront with an open door and it was pitch black inside, even in broad daylight.  Dad explained that since a significant number of people in the community frowned upon the excesses associated with drinking and public intoxication – those who chose to imbibe did so in darkened corners out of the general limelight.

You must realize that a lot has changed in the forty-some years since those Mayberry years in the late fifties of the last century.  There are all sorts of things being done in broad daylight, on brightly lit stages and even in the popular media of many types.  “Right out there in public”, like many of the older ladies might have chimed: “in front of God and everybody!”

Development:  The whole point of our meditation today is to remind ourselves that we do indeed live before the face of God daily – even in His sight at all times and places.  When our Drill Sergeant spoke to our platoon before the first liberty away from the barracks, he admonished on and all to consider their evening activities as if done with our mothers were with us.  He worried, that too many of us, being away from home for the first time, might stray beyond the ordinary limits once imposed by parental authority.  He then went on to make it absolutely certain that we all knew how mad he would be if the MP’s brought us back to the company!  While he didn’t use these precise words, there would be extra duties and hounding until we learned better.

Now, let us turn to the first verse in our text to see the parallel situation within Christ’s Church.  “Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.  Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.”  Years ago, when I was in my first church, I took the trouble to read through the old session records that went back fifty years into the twenties.  There was one meeting where the elders discussed the reputation of a member, who was reported to have visited a home of ill repute on the outskirts of the community.  Two of the elders hid in the ditch across from the home off and on for the better part of two weeks to record the comings and goings.  They reported back, that while the home was busy – at least none of their flock was observed going in.

Again, this story from the village folk lore:  in an even earlier decade, a local man about town had the habit of spending his salary gambling and drinking.  Once drunk, he turned mean and took it out on his wife and children – leaving them with little to live on.  Since the wife was a member of one of the three churches – several men from each congregation agreed to assist with the problem even though the drunken bum was member of none.  So one night, after he had worked up an alcoholic rage, a large gunny sack was thrown over his head and tied at his ankles.  The small group of “vigilantes” carried their burden down to the rail road and waited for the midnight freight.  As soon as an empty box car passed by, they heaved their burden inside and watched the train leave town.

The drunk sobered up and managed to get out of the sack, but he was a hundred and fifty miles from home.  He caught a train home and showed up at work Wednesday morning all apologetic.  His boss already new about the arrangements, so when he read the note that had been attached to the bag he agreed to help the “victim” out of his predicament.  The note read simply, “if you come home, things will be different!”  The man was given a fifty cents for his end of week festivities and the balance of his wages were deposited in an account for his wife.

In our own history as a congregation – one of the ladies, no longer with us, had reported to me that one of the men of the church had been spied going into a place he shouldn’t have.  Since, she was unwilling to name names, I had to wait three or four months for things to develop.  And they did – they were serious, but all worked in the end out very well.  On another occasion – the session had to excommunicate a member once we found out – their public behavior posted on an area county’s Sheriff’s web site.  There was a lot more to this of course and we were not surprised.

Yes, we sometimes worry about the congregation – even as we pray for each one of you regularly.  We don’t go looking for trouble and we are not in the business of prying in search of sin.  There is always enough to go around and it often comes in strange forms even meant to be helpful.

In our next two verses the Apostle humbly requests prayer for the leadership.  After all – we all live within the sight of God and while the session and deacon’s have certain responsibilities, these matters as well as our own lives must be held up in prayer by all concerned.

“Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.  I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.”  Here we also see that the Apostle wishes to come in person and to visit the local leaders and congregation.  Next week, as Stated Clerk, I will be visiting and preaching in Northern Michigan.  In September, I will be visiting four of our missions and congregations, and in October I am off to Indiana for the particularization of a new congregation.  You all will be in good hands as our new Assistant Pastor takes up the local work.  And in the process of this transition, all of your prayers are coveted that all things might be done decently and in some order.

Application:  The last two verses in our text for today are ordinarily understood to be a Benediction.  However, given our textual theme of living before the face of God, I think that the petitions here should very well be taken in that context:  “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen.”

The very God and Father of the Church is implored to do for the church that which He had done for His one and only Son:  Jesus Christ.  By His power was Christ raised from the dead, by His providence the “blood of the eternal covenant,” was applied.  And so, the Apostle here prays in eloquent language that all of the saints might be equipped to give a good account day by day until the Lord returns.  Left to our own – what would we do?  My young friend from childhood was fortunate that not only his mother, but also the good ladies of the community watched out for him – so that he would live a life better than he wanted.  How much he would have enjoyed the Army’s recruiting theme in the nineties:  “Be all that you can be!”

A lot of people would like that in the very worst ways, and indeed they try very hard to make sin a career.  But, how fortunate we all are, not only has Christ died for us, but just as R.C. Sproul would remind us – we remain within the sight of our God and Father, the Lord Jesus Christ and the leading of the Holy Spirit in order that we might bring glory and honor to their cause and church.  And so, as our final thought, let us all live in the light of Christ’s presence and do that which we know pleases Him.   Him:“To whom be glory forever and ever.  Amen.”

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PREACHING RESOURCES
Bruce, F.F.  The Epistle to the Hebrews.
The Holy Bible:  English Standard Version.

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