In the message on Sunday, I spent some time teaching from Hebrews 2 and pointed to the writer’s warning about spiritual drift. I felt it was a serious enough warning to mention it again in this blog. My hope is that you understand that there is no standing still in our Christian life. You are either growing in your love and obedience to Jesus or drifting away in hardness and rebellion.
The warning is found in Hebrews 2:1-4.
“Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.”
For thousands of years, God has been telling His story. He used angels, prophets, signs, wonders, miracles, the Holy Spirit, and even His Son, Jesus. The story is simple, our sin broke the relationship between God and man, and that sin must be punished. However, God loved the world so much that He sent His son to take the punishment for us. If we turn from our sin and put our faith in Jesus, our punishment is paid, and we are saved. This is great salvation! This is amazing news! By faith, our punishment is paid by Jesus, and we are made citizens of a brand new kingdom! We have a new family where God is our Father, and other believers are our brothers and sisters!
This news is meant to put every other thing on earth in its proper place. If our sin is forgiven, then our shame is washed away. If our punishment is paid, then we have no reason to fear God’s wrath that is coming to judge sin. If Jesus really came to earth in human form and rose from the dead, then we can look to one day in the future where He will return and rule on this earth as the greatest, most gracious king, that ever lived.
This news is a big deal, but the Hebrews in the early church started to drift from it. And, we are close to drifting from it as well.
We drift by letting our eyes get fixed on things that don’t matter or profane things that cry for our attention. We get distracted and eventually stop looking at Jesus. We let our hearts get stirred with things like comments on social media posts or the adrenaline rush of having people tell you how great you are. Eventually, our hearts aren’t stirred by Jesus. We chase a spiritual high in worship music from large churches or great messages from celebrity pastors. This makes us unsatisfied with the local church that is full of people who want to share their life with us. We get consumed with what someone did to us or didn’t do for us, and we forget to be a servant. We lose what it means to be a Christian in the real world, and our neighbors are robbed of seeing the gospel.
The message of Jesus is great news because it means you are free. But, it is also great news because of what it does on the inside of you. The message of Jesus is more than just a message of salvation; it is a message of ongoing transformation. My prayer for you is that this message rings in your ears all week. Revisit this message. Pay much closer attention to this message. Go back to what you have heard so that you can combat the dangers of spiritual drift.
-Marshall Ochs