Hebrews 13:1-6: A Gentle Reminder

Presented to The Salvation Army Alberni Valley Ministries, 19 September 2021, by Captain Michael Ramsay

A few interesting things happened in the previous week or two – well, lots of things actually – but one or two things I’d particularly like to share today.

 

You know of course that The Salvation Army has a drug and alcohol policy: we don’t drink or do drugs at work (or soldiers anywhere, anytime). I recently needed to print out our drug and alcohol policy and go over it with some of our volunteers, staff, or community partners. Apparently one or two folks may not have remembered (even though they all read it when they were hired or started volunteering) that they can’t use drugs at work with our clients. You'd think that would be self-evident, a ‘no-brainer’ as they say. We don’t want to harm people and we do want  to help people, but good, well-meaning folks actually needed to be reminded that they shouldn’t use drugs with our clients. There are many reasons for this and God gave us an object lesson, an example of being sober so we can help others out; as well as a lesson about the very real dangers of drug use, this week.

 

On this past Sunday, Rees, one of our employees, the one who saved the dog’s life a week or two previous, saved a person’s life as he was walking to work. The person overdosed outside of the OPS, the safe injection site; there was no one there who called 9-11; there was no one there who tried to revive him; there was no one there who was helping him; maybe he didn’t use inside the site, who knows? Rees saw the person on the sidewalk and Rees saw he was starting to turn blue. He stopped. He gave him some Narcan. He called 9-11. God used Rees to save his life. Praise be to God.

 

And thanks be to God as well for this gentle reminder of this self-evident, ‘no-brainer’ that we should be sober when at work and when heading to work – like Rees was – so that we can be used to help others.

 

Paul, Barnabas, Silvanus, Apollos, or whoever dictated Hebrews concludes this letter or sermon with this gentle reminder of some very important points for anyone who serves Jesus to remember as we go about our daily lives.[1] The first four of which should be self evident for all Jesus’ followers so that we are available to serve God and others.

 

1)    He says that we should have genuine affection for one another, for fellow Christians. If you see me on the street tomorrow you shouldn’t duck and hide (as tempting as it may be!); wave and smile instead; do not try and run away before I notice you. We shouldn’t try to avoid one another; we should genuinely look forward to seeing each other. We are, after all, all on the same team – or at least we should be.

 

2)    Then he says that not only should we be happy to see each other and genuinely care about one another; we should also be nice to strangers, to people who aren’t part of our group here. (This may be referring to Christians you don’t know – such as itinerant preachers – but it should certainly apply to any stranger.)[2] This week, a fellow who is a stranger to us but well known to the Parksville Salvation Army came in here seeking help. Nichi and Leslie were right there helping. They called me from another part of the building and I called Major Norm in Parksville and we prayed together offering support and other help as we were able.

 

If there is some way you can build a relationship with a stranger that is great. I love to go down to the Bread of Life many days for lunch. I often have conversations with people on the street – the fact that I almost always wear my uniform or logo-ed gear helps a lot! When needed, I also direct people to opportunities for them to help others or to be helped as the case may be.

 

3)    Paul, Barnabas, Silvanus, Apollos, or whoever dictated this letter or sermon to the Hebrews, gently reminds us that even more than genuinely looking forward to seeing each other, and being sociable to strangers; we should remember those who are in real need in our community. Pray for those who are mistreated in society. The letter/sermon here particularly mentions prisoners. As awful as our prisons are today – and they are awful – in the First Century Roman Empire, friends of the prisoners had to provide their food and basic necessities themselves;[3] so if you didn’t have any friends or if your friends were ashamed or afraid to be associated with you… Today, who are those with no friends and support? Who are those who are in real danger or jeopardy? How can we help them? How can we remember them? You can chat with people up here – I think we might start our coffee times up here again soon; we can have lunch at the soup kitchen; we can help out on the food truck – that is a great way to get to know those who are mistreated. And of course, we can all pray for those in need.

 

4)    Paul, Barnabas, Silvanus, Apollos, or whoever dictated this letter or sermon then says that as well as genuinely looking forward to seeing each other, being sociable to strangers, and remembering those who are in real need in our community; we need to pay special attention to our marriages. He mentions two ways. 1) don’t commit adultery with outsiders and 2) don’t the two of you do anything immoral.[4] Honour one another.

 

Just like how this week, we had to actually put in writing that our staff and community partners may not do drugs with our clients, something that one would think would be self-evident, these first four items are what Paul, Barnabas, Apollos, or whoever dictated this letter or sermon thinks are the self-evident. He gently reminds us that all Christians should honestly and almost instinctively:

 

1. look forward to seeing each other,
2.  be sociable to strangers,
3. remember those who are in real need in our community,
4. and pay special attention to our marriages.

 

And then Paul, Barnabas, Silvanus, Apollos, or whoever dictated this letter or sermon, tells us something a little more tricky. He says that, just as we are to genuinely care for each other and love strangers, we are NOT to care for and love money in the same way (cf. 1 Tim 6:10). This plays out a couple of different ways. 1) We as individuals aren’t supposed to love money and 2) corporately, as a society we aren’t supposed to love money. The church, we know, is not a building, it is a community, a society and it is (or should be) a society that does not love money.

 

There was a meeting of the ACRD’s Emergency Support Services this week. These are some of the people who help in emergencies in our community. The Salvation Army has an MOU with the ACRD to provide various services, so I was there. The meeting was at the Beaver Creek Firehall. It was great to get a tour of the building, see the fancy expensive trucks, and hear what the fire chief and others had to tell us before our regularly scheduled meeting.

 

One thing that came out of the side conversations was how much our society’s love of money is adversely affecting volunteer fire departments, service organizations, and even employment in our country. When the Beaver Creek Fire Department was founded, they were able to staff the department entirely with volunteers from Beaver Creek and they were able to acquire enough resources to keep it going. As a result, a team could be ready to respond to a fire in 5 minutes or less. Now it takes them much longer as they have to wait for people to come from all over the valley to assist at a fire in Beaver Creek. There aren’t enough local volunteers. Even if people are interested in volunteering, now qualifications and equipment are so expensive (and/or take so long to get) that they are having trouble getting enough people and money to keep it going at all. I wouldn’t be surprised if volunteer fire departments started closing around the country the same way that service groups and other volunteer organizations are quickly vanishing from our landscape.

 

Currently, at a time when people in our country are spending more money on leisure activities than in any previous era – trips, sporting events, lessons – people are spending less and less time volunteering and working together. The more a society orients itself towards money, the more the gap between the rich and the poor grows. The larger the chasm between people grows.

 

Property is a prime example of this: a realtor friend pointed out to me that housing has now become primarily a commodity, an investment and as a result more and more people can’t afford housing. The most recent homelessness count results were published just recently – I read them this week. Did you know that the percentage of actual homeless seniors right here in Port Alberni (this doesn’t include people who live in shelters, slum housing, or on someone else’s couch) has literally doubled from 9% to 18% of the homeless population? A society cannot be oriented towards money and at the same time be oriented towards God and our neighbour (cf. Mt 6:24-34; Lk 6:13).[5] These are anchored in opposite directions. We cannot love both God and money. Corporately, how are our churches oriented? We need to be aware of this. Are we church members – like the Scriptures say - content with what we have?

 

This brings us to the individual aspect of this very important point. Do each of us here love God and people more than we love money (cf. Dt 31:6, Ps 118:6-7)? Do we spend more time acquiring, spending, and saving money or do we spend more time loving God through helping others? As Christians, we are not to look forward to getting money; we are not to be sociable in order to get money; we are not supposed to serve others with the intent of getting money, etc. He gently reminds us, we are supposed to be content with what we have. We are supposed to love our spouses, each other, and our neighbours – we are not to love money![6]

 

If you can give something to someone who will actually benefit from receiving it, instead of selling it to them for money; give it to the person. Hebrews 13:5-6 contrasts loving each other and loving money. The Bible says that if you love God, you will love your neighbour and the Bible says that if you serve money, you do not serve God (Mt 6:24). And then Paul, Barnabas, Silvanus, Apollos, or whoever dictated this letter or sermon gently reminds us that for perfect peace and harmony, for salvation, we really must be content with what we have.

 

This contentment is simple, but it is also very important – especially since we live in a capitalist society, a society that by definition has chosen to serve money. Our motivation, what we love, our reason for doing something should never be to get a paycheque and pay-off. Our motivation should always be to serve God and our neighbour. Here is a gentle reminder, Hebrews 13:1-6, that as followers of Jesus we will,

 

1. look forward to seeing each other,
2.  be sociable to strangers,
3. remember those who are in real need in our community,
4. pay special attention to our marriages,
5. and be content with what we have

 

Friends, this is key to being able to survive, to being able to be saved in our world today. We need the church and we need to be the church. And this is what the church is, it is a group of people who

1. look forward to seeing each other
2.  be sociable to strangers,
3. remember those who are in real need in our community,
4. pay special attention to our marriages,
5. and be content with what we have

 

So this is my encouragement today: May our group of people here be a people who continues to do just this for as we are, we will experience God’s salvation in our lives and He will use us to be a transformative influence in our community for now and forever more. 

Let us pray.

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[1] Cf. Thomas G. Long, Hebrews (Interpretation: a Bible Commentary for Teaching and Preaching: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox Press, 1997), 1.

[2] Cf Tesfaye Kassa, ‘Hebrews 13:1-21: Practical Evidence of Faith’ in Africa Bible Commentary, (Nairobi, Kenya: Word Alive Publishers, 2010), 1532 and Simon J. Kistemaker, Hebrews, NTC (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic: 2007), 408 but conversely cf. Fred B. Craddock, The Letter to the Hebrews (NIB 12: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1998),162 which contends that ‘strangers’ are itinerant preachers or other Christians who aren’t part of one’s own congregation. While this is possible, I concur with Tesfaye Kassa’ and Simon J. Kistemaker that the term as broader than that.

[3] Fred B. Craddock, The Letter to the Hebrews (NIB 12: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1998), 163

[4] Leon Morris, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Hebrews/Exposition of Hebrews/IX. Christian Living (12:1-13:19)/F. Love (13:1-6), Book Version: 4.0.2

[5] Fred B. Craddock, The Letter to the Hebrews (NIB 12: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1998), 164

[6] Simon J. Kistemaker, Hebrews, NTC (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic: 2007), 409

Psalm 93 & 2 Chronicles 5:11-6:4: Cloudy Days

This is hamper registration and distribution time at the corps. Hamper time is always an interesting time in any Salvation Army across this country and we’ve been a part of few. The other day as I was readying application forms, appointment cards and Angels for the Angel Tree, I was reminded of one hamper distribution day we had in Swift Current, Saskatchewan.

Our building there was a former elementary school - like it used to be here for a bit. It was big and at Christmas time it was full of people. In the morning of the day we give out the hamper, I receive a phone call: someone is asking if he can register for a hamper that day. We REALLY try to avoid that. It is too busy and isn’t fair to anyone else; so I explain to him that not only do we not register people for hampers on hamper pick-up day but that the deadline for registering was three weeks ago. He is way too late. He is persistent though. He is bound and determined to get a hamper this day. He tells me that he was speaking to our community ministries worker earlier in the week. He tells me he has health issues. He tells me this. He tells me that. He is like the persistent widow in the parable of that name (Luke 18:1-8). He is so bound and determined to get something THAT day that eventually I do give in and tell him he can come in person later in the day – after the others have gotten their hampers and after he goes through the full registration process with our worker over the telephone, of course, which he does. This man really is bound and determined to get something today.

Later in the day, when his time comes, he arrives at The Salvation Army. He still has to wait. The person taking tickets calls me to the door. I come when I can. She rightly holds him up because he doesn’t have a ticket and his name isn’t on the list – (remember he just registered in the morning by phone, which isn’t typically allowed) but he is bound and determined to get something today. As I am speaking with the volunteer and the man, another volunteer pulls me aside and asks me to have a coffee with this same fellow while we process the others. We have our coffee while we wait; he registered late, it makes sense that he has to wait. We talk. This fellow has spent some time on Vancouver’s DTES; my wife and I were urban missionaries there years ago. We are chatting about this and that and how he is bound and determined to get something this day – well, he does get something that day: the police show up and he gets… arrested; he is bound - and it is determined that he will stay in the cells that day and over Christmas. (That was our first time that someone was arrested on hamper day at the Army.)

What happened? One of our volunteers saw him and identified him as a man whom they suspect defrauded their business. If he had not been so persistent about his hamper then he never would have got what was apparently coming to him that day. He seemed to want his hamper so much that when he was arrested, his first words as they were leading him out of The Salvation Army were, 'Can I still get my hamper?' I offered to keep it for him until he gets out after Christmas and I did go to visit him in the cells over Christmas.

The fellow and I actually got to know each other a little bit through the process. We kept in touch when he was in jail, and afterwards we helped him find a job and a place to stay when he was released and through this experience we actually developed a whole transition program in Saskatchewan where we would sit with people in court, keep in touch when they are in jail and then help them with a place to live and get employment when they are out. It was quite successful but often at Christmas Hamper time I do think of this fellow who was so bound and determined to get his hamper that he was bound and it was determined that he would be arrested at that day for stealing quite a few things from town.

Yesterday was a big day here. Thank you so much to all of you who were able to come and lend a hand and/or just partake of the day. We had pancakes served by Kiwanis. We had sausages donated by Hertel Meats. The Bulldogs were there playing with the kids. The ADSS Cheer Team was there; the ADSS band played for us; Alberni Kids Can Rock did a great job.

Todd Flaro was the MC. Chief Counsellor Cynthia Dick represented the Tseshaht First Nation. Patty Edwards spoke on behalf Scott Fraser, the Minister of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation and our MLA. Counsellor RON PAULSON spoke from the city. The High School Principal spoke and even our Member of Parliament, Gord Johns was unexpectedly there. He had said earlier that he wouldn't be able to make it but he did and it was great. Our boss and her husband were also there - Majors Tiffany and Les Marshall. And so was Sally Ann, the Salvation Army mascot. It was a great time. Thanks to everyone who helped out. It was a lot of fun and did good to raise awareness as to what exactly God does for this community through The Salvation Army. ///

One of our Scriptures today is about another ceremony. The ceremony in the Scriptures today was very well attended - even more well attended than the community Remembrance Day Ceremonies that The Salvation Army was also blessed to lead and that we also held at the Glenwood Centre a couple of weeks ago. And Solomon’s ceremony was probably just as laden with tradition and precise ceremony. At Remembrance Day many of us had a chance to lay wreathes, we were able to read from the Bible and I was able to address the large crowds present. In 1 Kings 6, like 2 Chronicles 6, it records some of the Solomon’s ceremony at the dedication of the temple: 2 Chronicles 5:11-6:4:

The priests then withdrew from the Holy Place. All the priests who were there had consecrated themselves, regardless of their divisions. All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and musicians joined in unison to give praise and thanks to the Lord. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, the singers raised their voices in praise to the Lord and sang: “He is good; his love endures forever.”

         Then the temple of the Lord was filled with the cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled the temple of God.

         Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.”

         While the whole assembly of Israel was standing there, the king turned around and blessed them. Then he said: “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, who with his hands has fulfilled what he promised with his mouth to my father David.

Now our kick off was great yesterday and Remembrance Day was very good but I imagine this ceremony with the Temple dedication was over the top. There is so much going on and then at one point God Himself shows up in this dark cloud. Can you imagine that? What if yesterday (or November 11th) when we were at the Glenwood doing our thing all of a sudden God shows up inside of or in the form of a cloud? Can you imagine if God came in and filled the whole Glenwood and it became so cloudy inside that we all had to stop what we were doing and run outside? Can you imagine if in the middle of the church service here today God shows up in the form of or inside of a cloud and He fills this room so thick with the fog that we have to go outside to get away from the cloud. It says even the band had to stop playing; the priests had to stop their service. That would be quite something.

Solomon, of course, acknowledges this and maybe makes a serious mistake here too (but cf. 1 Kings 8:27, 2 Chronicles 6:18). Verse 6: Then Solomon said, “The Lord has said that he would dwell in a dark cloud; I have built a magnificent temple for you, a place for you to dwell forever.” Solomon, even though he said this, knows that God cannot be contained in this temple and Solomon acknowledges that himself and God later rebukes Solomon telling him that if Israel leaves God then they will no longer be with him - but Israel seems to forget this. Israel, Judah, and Jerusalem start to believe that God actually lives in the 'House of God'. Israel, Judah and especially the city of Jerusalem gets to the point where they figure that they can sin as much as they want and do whatever they want to each other, no longer loving one another and serving God, because they are invincible. They get to the point where many believe that God is contained in this temple, like a genie in a lamp and so as long as they hold the lamp nothing can happen to them. They don't need to care for their brothers and sisters. They don't need to love God as evidenced by loving their neighbours. They… were sadly mistaken.

The unthinkable happened, in 586 BCE, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, sacked the city, destroyed the temple and wiped out the Kingdoms of Israel and Judah forever. People did not know what to do, their faith was shaken. They thought they were invincible. They thought God was contained in the Temple. They put their faith in the myth that they had God locked in the temple like a pet in a cage, like a genie in a bottle, like their captive. But He wasn't: He is a living, loving, and a free God and they were the ones led off to captivity.

My questions for us today are: Do we ever treat God as a genie who we can control to do our bidding? Are our prayers to God sometimes like Aladdin rubbing a lamp? Do we sometimes order God around like a servant or, just as bad, take him for granted? Do we drive home from here on Sundays after service and forget God? - leaving Him in Church? Do we ever ignore Him all week long and just expect that He'll be here on Sunday or come to do our bidding when we summon Him? Are we like those who have fallen prey to the prosperity heresy who tell God what to do and are bound and determined to see Him to do it at our command?

God isn't like that. He isn’t a genie, or a slave, or someone to just be taken for granted. God is here in this building but this isn't the only place He is. And God will give us not what we want always but He will always give us what is best for us - eternally speaking, not because we instruct him to do so but because He loves us. God is God. We can’t keep him in a box or a building or a theology or a tradition. We shouldn’t ignore or try to cage Him. He is the God of the universe and He is the King of the world and He is coming back and when He does He will set everything right. Do we believe that?

Psalm 93 says:

The LORD is king, he is robed in majesty; the LORD is robed, he is girded with strength. He has established the world; it shall never be moved; your throne is established from of old; you are from everlasting. The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their roaring. More majestic than the thunders of mighty waters, more majestic than the waves of the sea, majestic on high is the LORD! Your decrees are very sure; holiness befits your house, O LORD, forevermore.

God loves us; so today, on this last Sunday before Advent, let us leave here in the full confidence that we serve the eternal King, the wonderful counsellor, and the Mighty God and Prince of Peace who will rule forever more and whose government will never cease being peaceful. Let us go from here today and continue to serve the living God in all we do.

Let us pray

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Devotion 2.48/100: Hebrews 10:25: together

Presented to River Street Cafe, 05 May 2017

Read Hebrews 10:23-25

Today is Craig Odermatt’s birthday. Craig and I were friends since elementary school. We rode bikes together. We were locker partners all the way to Grade 12 and –of course – we have the same birthday. I haven’t seen Craig in almost 30 years. As we went to school he studied really hard and joined the track team and I didn’t. I did other things in school and we went our different directions. I no longer do the things Craig and I used to do as we no longer really know each other for we just gradually stopped seeing each other. I don’t even know where he lives. I made facebook friends with Craig just the other week. It is good to see he is doing well.

I was reminded by facebook also that a couple of days ago was Cory and Joanna’s 20^th wedding anniversary. Cory and I were involved in each other’s weddings. Cory and I used to go SCUBA diving together. We went white water rafting together – he organized a few great trips like that for us. We had great times. I haven’t gone white water rafting in 14 years. I probably haven’t seen Cory in 15. He lives on the West Coast. I live here. We just stopped meeting together. We don’t do the things we used to do together.

Bill, Alex, Trevor, Tony…we used to hang out in the smoking area every day at school. We would show up at each other’s house any time day or night. We went to many parties together growing up and got into a little bit of trouble at times. If it weren’t for facebook, I wouldn’t probably know anything about them now. We don’t do the things we used to do together and we don’t meet together anymore.

I have many friends, not only from the Island where I grew up but also from all the other places that I have lived and worked – Vancouver, Winnipeg, Maple Creek, Nipawin, Tisdale, Swift Current – that I no longer have any contact with.

Hebrews 10:25 recognizes the fact that if we don’t meet together then not only do we lose contact but if we stop doing the things we used to do then we lose our ability, love for, willingness or even knowledge of how to do those things. It is one thing if I have forgotten how to SCUBA dive, it is quite another if I forget to read my Bible, pray, and encourage other people in their faith.

This is one of the really important reasons for us to go to Sunday church. This is one of the really important reasons for us to look at the Bible and pray together as we do each morning here. This is what our scripture, Hebrews 10:25, is talking about today as it says, let us… “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

www.sheepspeak.com 

Week 10: Galatians 5:24: Church

A devotional thought presented originally to Swift Current Men’s Prayer Breakfast, Thursday 20 November 2014

Read Galatians 5:18-25

Gerry Fostaty tells this story in a book entitled, As You Were: The Tragedy at Valcartier: In a class of very young army cadets, the adult instructor is handing out dummy grenades for children to examine. Apparently, one can tell dummy grenades from real grenades because the dummies are brightly coloured - orange, pink, blue – not the military green colour of live combat weaponry. The children are encouraged to take apart these dummy grenades, put them back together, and examine how they work. Apparently and disastrously in with the orange, pink, and blue grenades is at least one live green grenade. The children are passing this live green grenade along with the toy grenades down the line of cadets. They are taking the pin out and placing it back in; they are holding the safety lock and they are disassembling and reassembling the green grenade along with the coloured grenades when one little boy pulls the pin and putting the grenade in the wrong place, or holding it the wrong way, or holding the pin out for too long… There is a loud noise. This one deadly green grenade mixed in with the harmless other-coloured grenades brings much injury, destruction and death.

The result of this green grenade in a room full of children is essentially the same as what results when hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, and the like wind up in our churches (Galatians 5:19-21). These are our green grenades. When we put ourselves first, engaging in selfish ambition instead of thinking of others as greater than ourselves (Philippians 2) the results are essentially the same. Just as the green grenade brings physical death when people handle it improperly; Paul reminds us that hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissentions, factions, envy, and the like bring everlasting death to those who are consumed with them. Paul says that those who indulge in these  – Galatians 5:21 - will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So what can we do about this? The Apostle Paul says, in essence, that we need to remove the green grenades from the room; we need to remove these things from the church. We need to, Ephesians 4:31-5:2a: “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.  Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us.” Christians, by definition have already done this. Galatians 5:24: “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have [already] crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”

Today let us remove the green grenades from the room. When have you had the chance to put away the green grenades by being kind and compassionate to one another and forgiving each other, just as in Christ, God forgave you?

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[1] Based on the sermon by Captain Michael Ramsay, Galatians 5:19-21, Ephesians 4:27-32, Philippians 2:14-16: Green Grenade. Presented to The Salvation Army Swift Current, April 21, 2013. On-line: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2013/04/galatians-519-21-ephesians-427-32.html