The "Let Us" Series From The Book Of Hebrews
#10
"LET US BE THANKFUL AND WORSHIP GOD!"
TEXT: Hebrews
12:28-29
INTRO: This
invitation is pregnant with powerful thanksgiving! It is a call to be thankful AND worship
God, for He alone has an eternal Kingdom and He is forever the eternal
King! When we live thankful it
affects others as well as
ourselves!
ILLUS: A mother took her three children to a
restaurant to eat breakfast one morning. The smallest of the three children sat at
the very end of the row. She saw
other people being served and eating right away without stopping to say thanks.
It surprised her. When the food was served to her, she
shouted out to her mother: "Mommy, don't people ask the blessing in this place?"
You can well imagine the embarrassment of those present. Her mother tried to hush her. But, the waitress said to little Mary,
"Yes, we do, sister! You give
thanks!" Amazingly, at that very
moment everybody else also bowed their heads and offered thanks. Embarrass them and maybe you will bring
them to their senses to say "Thank you, God." – Source Unknown
With this in mind the writer of Hebrews is
communicating that the believer can be in a state of joy and thanksgiving even
when the worst of things seem to be happening around them. Our identity and future is not hinged on
what this temporary world is able to provide. It is not based on the hope of things
here and now. Our thankfulness and
worship is possible because of a truth that God will supplant anything this
world now knows – we are members of a Kingdom that cannot fail, and a King that
will not be overthrown!
So, we can be thankful, and worship God in the very
midst of a nightmare reality on this planet! Our praise to God is not based on this
current world and its hopes. Our
praise to God is based on the fact that His kingdom is never failing, and our
King will never fail – and that we are members of that Kingdom forever! We have a guaranteed
future!
PROP. SENT: The Bible teaches us that our stability, our
joy, our hope is based on a reality greater than this current world with all its
empires and promises! Our hope is a
blessed hope on being members of a Kingdom that will never fail, and a King that
will rule triumphantly forever!
I. UNSHAKEN KINGDOM! Heb.
12:28a,b
A.
Promise! Heb.
12:28a
1. The word “Therefore…” introduces the conclusions to
follow. It is a safe conclusion
drawn by the facts that the God who worked in the Old Covenant has a better
promise in mind in the New
Covenant.
a. “since we are
receiving…” – here the writer is referencing something real, and
something already happening that will continue to
unfold.
b. The good news here is that we are
already benefiting from the future – we are already receiving a more permanent
Kingdom!
(1. Sinners
always have their pasts catching up to
them!
(2.
Believers always have their futures catching up to
them!
c. No wonder the writer is able to
talk about giving thanks and worship to God – the future is secure for those who
are members of His kingdom!
d. Even if things here and now are not
so good, if kingdoms here are collapsing and failing; we have a solid
future!
e. We need to live in such a way that
others see we believe in tomorrow, that there is more to
come!
ILLUS: A man was watching his eighty-year-old
neighbor planting a small peach tree. He inquired of him as follows: "You don't
expect to eat peaches from that tree, do you?" The old man rested on his spade.
He said, "No, at my age I know I won't. But all my life I've enjoyed
peaches--never from a tree I planted myself. I'm just trying to pay the other
fellows who planted the trees for me." -- James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited
(Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988) p. 259.
2. God has promised His people a
permanent future kingdom!
a. And in real ways we are already
receiving it.
b. So many things in this world are
temporary, but not His kingdom!
c. Even great nations collapse in
time, and kings have to be replaced, but Jesus’ kingdom and His rule will have
no end!
d. Our future is
secure!
3. No current or future power will
cause its collapse.
a. Abraham and others journeyed
through this life and its difficulties knowing that there was a better city, a
better country coming.
b. This hope has been the basis for
saints of all time to endure whatever suffering this world has
caused.
c. We are on unshakeable ground in His
kingdom!
B.
Permanence! Heb.
12:28b
1. Everything prior had only been
shadows of greater realities, even
a. God has always had something better
in mind for His people.
b. Even Abraham understood this
truth:
Heb. 11:10 says, “For he was looking forward to the city with foundations,
whose architect and builder is
God.”
2. Others also grasped this more
permanent promise: Heb. 10:34 “You sympathized
with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property,
because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting
possessions.”
3. Because of this truth of a future
and a more permanent kingdom the writer to the Hebrews wrote this earlier: Heb. 10:35 “So do
not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.”
ILLUS: While on a short-term mission’s trip, Pastor
Jack Hinton was leading worship at a leper colony on the
4. It is precisely this truth that
enabled the early saints, even those under the Old Covenant, to endure
unbelievable things. They were
never focused only on the here and
now!
5. How many of us have forgotten the
importance of believing in this “Blessed Hope” of Jesus’ coming again, and of a
kingdom that will never fade or pass
away?
6. The measure of
our confidence in God’s promise of the future will determine the measure of our
ability to endure the present
difficulties!
a. Every time
b. What about us, do we get angry with
God for the current conditions of this life, do we feel cheated, etc.?
c. If our confidence and hope is NOT
on this stuff here and now our faith cannot be shaken, because as the writer
says in our text, “we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken…” Heb.
12:28a
d. This is all meant to be much more
than a theological or theoretical truth, it is meant to be the foundation of our
hope, our worship, and our trust in
God.
II.
UNSHAKEN KING!
Heb. 12:28c-29
A.
Privilege! Heb.
12:28c
1. The confidence of this permanent
Kingdom and King should provoke a response from those who belong to it, and it
is stated in Heb. 12:28c “let us be thankful, and so worship God
acceptably with reverence and
awe”
a.
While we face this world we never face it
alone!
b.
And God should always be the focal point for the direction of our
life!
c.
Remember, it is the King in Heaven that is our focus, not the kings or
kingdoms of this earth!
ILLUS: A small rural Church in
2. Failure to be thankful and worship
God is a good indicator that we have not taken seriously these future realities
and promises.
a. Either we don’t believe them truly
…
b. Or, we are not reflecting on them
and grasping them correctly.
c. Thankfulness and worship should be
the “natural” outflow from a heart that is
confident about the privilege of beings sons and daughters of the Most High
God!
3. To all of us who belong to this
permanent kingdom – we are a privileged
people!
a. There is no greater privilege than
being part of God’s unending
kingdom!
b. People of privilege usually rejoice
over their exalted status, how about
us?
4. Great promise,
great permanence, great privilege leads to great
PRAISE!
a. This is the idea of the word “acceptably” in the
text!
b. Acceptable worship is praise, 1 Pet. 2:9 states, “But you are a chosen people, a royal
priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the
praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful
light.”
c. When we are given a great gift it
is natural to express praise!
d. Therefore when we are not praising
God we have lost sight of the great gifts and promises that are
ours!
5. Praise should be natural for the
believer.
B.
Powerful! Heb.
12:29
1. This final verse at first appears
out of context to the previous one, but it not! “For our "God is
a consuming fire!”
2. What was the writer’s point amidst
all the joy and praise at saying
this?
3. It was akin to saying “God is all
powerful!”
a. This was a throwback reference to
the Old Covenant when
b. But under the New Covenant we need
NOT be afraid, in fact – it is His power that guarantees the
future!
c. We serve a King that shall never be
dethroned! We serve a King that we
can approach without fear!
4. It is important to understand that
God is all powerful! Yet, Jesus’
conquering death proved that nothing can collapse God’s
power!
ILLUS: In 1983, the
a. How else can we have confidence in
the future?
b. God is a consuming fire in the
sense that there is nothing that is greater than
Him!
c. It wasn’t meant here as a negative,
it was meant to cause reverence and awe!
5. The New Testament saint can come
boldly into His presence, with reverence and awe, and praise and
worship!
6. However, for the unbeliever, God’s
presence may still inspire fear!
7. The invitation is for us to
“come.”
8. We stand on the promise assured
that there is a permanent Kingdom! And we stand on the promise that we have an
everlasting King – “Let us be thankful and
worship!”
CONCLUSION:
The promise is a great
one. No matter what the kingdoms of
this world do, how many of them collapse, how many kings rule over them – our
future is not dependent on these current kingdoms and kings! Our hope is built on the sure promise of
a kingdom that will never end, and a King that will never cease from
ruling! And, for all those who know
Him, who have believed in Him we will forever rule and reign with Him. Heb. 12:28 “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably
with reverence and awe.” Amen!