Just prior to 1975 Charles “Cork” Walgreen decided that he needed to get out of the food service industry and focus on convenient drugstores. He had done the research, and it seemed clear that his area of success did not appear to be in food services but in placing convenient drugstores in the area. Soon, he began removing himself from the food service industry all together (even selling a restaurant chain bearing his own name – “Corky’s) and investing in putting in convenient drugstores, on corner lots, with two entrances, and a drive-through window so individuals could more conveniently pick up prescriptions. Over the next twenty-five years Walgreens (“the corner drugstore”) outperformed the stock market by fifteen times, and today Walgreens seems to have the market on prescription drugs.

This decision, no doubt, took great courage by a daring leader. However, what made the decision easier was the research that showed a market in which they could compete, and the response the culture was giving to things provided conveniently. With such information, it seemed that Walgreens’ really had no choice, it made a seemingly difficult choice become a clear one, and the gathered data provided motivation for courageous and successful action.

In the latter half of chapter 12, the author of Hebrews tries to motivate in much the same way. As aforementioned in this series, the original audience of the letter had been tempted in the face of persecution to go back to their old ways, the Old Covenant, trying to desert Christ and still find salvation. The author of Hebrews wants them, however, to hold fast to their confession and press on in the faith. He wants them to make a courageous decision. He wants them to hold fast to Christ and to receive whatever persecution it may bring in this life. This is a difficult task.

However, he provides them with the information in this chapter (as he has throughout the entire book) that shows them that they really have no choice if they are after the prize of eternal life, that makes a seemingly difficult choice become clear, and should motivate them to courageous and obedient action.

And because we are in similar places this morning we, no doubt, are in great need of the very motivation and exhortations received by the original hearers. That is not to say that any of us are tempted to try to find salvation in hoping in animal sacrifices or worshiping in the Temple and so turning away from following Christ, but we may be tempted in a number of other ways to desert the road on which we are walking as we hold fast to Christ and run to receive the prize of eternal life. Therefore, this morning, I want us to hear three motivations from this text for action, and then I want to outline what actions we should take in light of these.

First, the author gives three motivations (or pieces of information that are to motivate) to action.

First, he shows them (again) the supremacy of what Christ has done and offers to what was in the Old Testament

He does this by reminding them of what the relationship was like between God and the Israelites while the Lord descended on Mount Sinai, for Mount Sinai is representative of the Old Covenant. It was a mountain that could not be approached, lest the people die. There was a blazing fire, darkness, gloom, a tempest, the sound of a trumpet, and God’s thundering voice, which made the people beg that God would speak no more, for they were afraid for their lives (18-20). It was “so terrifying … that Moses said, ‘I tremble with fear’” (21). It was a terrifying sight. And yet that is how God related with his people at that point in redemptive history. That was, in many ways, the climax of God’s relating to his people in the Old Testament. And it is that to which the original hearers of this letter wanted to return!

Therefore, the author of Hebrews reminds them of that (because it’s easy to think things were better yesterday in light of today’s troubles, no matter what yesterday held), and then reminds them of the superior situation offered in Christ. He began in verse 18 telling them of the Mountain that they have not come to (i.e. a physical mountain), and then tells them in verse 22 what mountain they have come to – Mount Zion (i.e. that which represents the New Covenant).

The picture now is not like that in Exodus 19 of Mount Sinai but of one in which we dwell in God’s presence, having come to Mount Zion. Therefore, in contrasting them he writes, “You have not come to what may be touched [a physical mountain] … But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel” (18, 22-24).

Because of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection we have access to the living God, to be in God’s very presence (as are the spirits of the righteous who have died), and to relationship with Jesus and with the Father (through Jesus), who paved the way for this relationship and whose blood constantly reminds us of our forgiveness and righteousness in him. The author contrasts this with Abel’s blood that cried out from the ground to God condemning Cain, so now, Christ’s blood speaks to the Father our forgiveness. Is this not a better picture? Is this not a better situation? The supremacy of Christ’s work and the covenant relationship he offers is no doubt superior from that pictured in Exodus 19. That is the author’s first point of information that is to motivate his hears. He then gives another.

Second, the judgment of God will be inescapable for those who refuse Christ

If the first motivational point was positive (the supremacy of the New Covenant), the second motivational point may be said to be negative. For now the author points out that if one rejects that which is offered through Christ, he will not escape judgment. He writes in verse 25, “For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”

That is to say, if God judged those who denied him then under those difficult circumstances, dare we even consider that God will not judge those who reject his Son under the blessed circumstance of the New Covenant. Or to say it another way, if God judged those who did not trust in his promise that he would provide a way of redemption, he will most definitely judge those who live in a day in which we know what God has done (i.e. sending his own Son to die for us). Any notion that God will somehow relent from his merciless judgment on that final day is a notion not derived from Scripture, for as the text ends, “Our God is a consuming fire” (29).

Thus, the author gives them motivational information: 1) Christ’s work and the covenant relationship he offers is superior to that of the Old Covenant and 2) if Christ is rejected inescapable judgment awaits you.

He then, however, gives a third piece of motivational information.

Third, he tells them that God will shake the heavens and the earth and only his kingdom will remain

We were able to celebrate Christmas together with our little boy this year, as this is the first Christmas he was really old enough to participate in and enjoy. So the setting wherever he received gifts was the same. We were all sitting around getting things situated and Michael would get antsy. Then someone would suggest letting him open a present so that he might be occupied while the rest of us open our presents as well. Michael would then have a present opened, would get all excited and want the toy, and then I would realize that I needed to get it out of the box.

This was the challenging part, for toy manufacturers secure their toys in there to such a degree that if a tornado came through, tore the roof off of Wal-Mart and was so powerful that everything in the store were ripped out and hurled across the nation, the toys would remain firmly fasted to the box in which they are placed. I mean, I would pick the box up and untie things and shake it until I had no more strength and thought the price tag might even fall off, but the car (or whatever other toy it was) would remain unmoved in its box.

This is the picture the author of Hebrews says will one day be. He writes, “At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of things that are shaken – that is, things that have been made – in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain.” The author of Hebrews wants them to know that God will again, one day shake the heavens and the earth so that only the eternal things, those things which belong to his kingdom, will remain.

Therefore, though their life may be difficult, their temporary things stolen, and even their lives themselves taken from this earth, what would be important in the end will be the eternal things.

Therefore, they have been shown the superior covenant relationship offered through Christ, the inescapable judgment that awaits those who reject Christ, and the reality that in the end only the eternal things will matter.

So, what should they then do? What should we then do? The author gives them three exhortations that we need to hear as well.

Do not refuse the relationship, the salvation, that is offered through Christ

After describing the superiority of the New Covenant in verses 18-24, the author writes in 25, “See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven.”

Do not refuse Christ today, for if you do, you are forfeiting a relationship with God and are securing God’s wrathful judgment for yourself. Even if you have claimed to be a Christian and are tempted to abandon following Christ, this applies to you – for that was the situation of the original hearers that brought this message.

Christians are those who hold fast their confession until the end, even in the face of struggle and persecution. Therefore, hold fast and do not refuse Christ’s commands to believe and obey him, to follow him, even in the face of death.

Be grateful for what Christ has done and that you are receiving that which lasts forever

We are by great measure an ungrateful people. Yet the author of Hebrews writes in verse 28, “Therefore, let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” We should spend much time, not only this holiday season, but throughout the year reminding ourselves of what is so easily overlooked, our eternal blessings, and be grateful.

Our temptation, like those who first received this letter, will be to ignore the blessings that are ours right now and to long for something else, to be ungrateful for our eternal blessings. The present state of the church in which people are hopping here and there because someone offended them, they wanted more attention, or wanted their children to have more youth fellowship trips is not birthed from families developing a culture of meditating on their eternal blessings and living in gratitude for them.

Yet we must be those kinds of people – grateful people. And that must be a culture that we are intentionally trying to develop. Therefore, maybe it will be by discussing such blessings around the dinner table, reminding your children of them on the way to school, or putting quotes up on your wall that remind you of such eternal blessings, but whatever you do, begin to intentionally develop gratefulness in your heart for the blessings which Christ has secured. For our walking away from following Christ in the midst of hardships in this world (may God forbid) will no doubt be a clear indicator that we have lost awareness of the eternal blessings, the eternal kingdom secured by him. The original hearers did not spend their focus here and were ready to go back to the Old Covenant. May the same never be said of us.

Finally, offer to God your life, investing your everything in him and his eternal purposes, which alone is acceptable worship

The author of Hebrews follows his writing on the fact that the earth and heavens will be shaken and only God’s unshakeable kingdom will remain by exhorting the hearers to offer acceptable worship to the Lord, with reverence and awe (28).

If you knew that tomorrow your car would be destroyed, would you spend time washing it today? Of course you wouldn’t. None of us would. Why would we want to invest ourselves in that which is not lasting?

That is the focus on this final exhortation. We need to invest our lives in that unshakeable kingdom that alone will stand at the end. Now, here I’m not saying that we need to rid ourselves of ordinary tasks (such as mowing the yard, painting our houses, etc.). Nor am I saying that we do not need to labor in jobs that do not show direct benefit to the salvation of man (as compared to a missionary, for example). What I am saying, though, is that everything we do must be done as an act of worship before the Lord. We must do everything unto him, investing in him and his kingdom. All of our focus, all of our being, must be Christ-focused in all things at all times. That alone is acceptable worship in light of an everlasting and unshakeable kingdom.

In the late 1950s Jim Elliott and four companions went to evangelize the Auca Indians, who were known as killers, and had no contact with outsiders. These missionaries would soon be killed. Two days prior to the day on which they died, the missionaries had met with the Aucas, had conversation, and all seemed well and hopeful. Forty-eight hours later, as they had returned to talk with their friends again, they were brutally murdered by the very ones they had sought to evangelize.

This tragic day has spurred hundreds from that day till now to give their lives in the work of foreign missions. Even Jim Elliott’s family returned, evangelized the Aucas, and witnessed their conversion. Jim Elliott’s life was a channel through which God has blessed many and glorified himself.

But what was this young man’s focus? The eternal unshakeable kingdom that awaited him in Christ. Only seven years prior to his death, Jim Elliott had penned the words: “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep in order to gain what he cannot lose.”

May our lives be lived unto He who is eternal and will one day consummate his eternal kingdom. Amen.

TWO MOUNTAINS AND A CLEAR PATH OF OBEDIENCE