Ministry Monday: A surprising logic of pastoral counsel
Hebrews 10:19-25 (NIV):
Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 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.
If you look at this passage carefully, you’ll notice a surprising logic in these verses – a logic that radically recalibrates the kind of exhortation we give to those Christians with burdened consciences, those lacking assurance, and those who are drifting away from church.
It all hinges on the one word, ‘since.’
Although you’ll see in verses 19 and 21 of the NIV two ‘sinces,’ in the Greek original, these two reasons are actually tied together grammatically as a single unit. In verses 19 to 21, the writer is providing a single basis for the instructions that follow in verses 22 to 25. The three instructions in those verses (‘Let us draw near to God,’ ‘let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,’ and ‘let us consider how we may spur one another on’) are all tied to the single basis provided in verses 19-21. To make the relation of the instructions to this basis absolutely clear, we could express it like this:
• Let us draw near to God because we have confidence by our Sacrifice and Priest.
• Let us hold fast to the hope because we have confidence by our Sacrifice and Priest.
• Let us consider how to spur one another on towards love and good deeds because we have confidence by our Sacrifice and Priest.
Getting this logic clear turns some of my ‘default’ thinking and advice on its head.
Take, for instance, ‘Steve’ – a Christian with a burdened conscience weighing him down, who feels like a hypocrite?
Without getting the logic of this passage straight, what might I have said to Steve?
“Steve, you need to confess your sins, ask for forgiveness and resolve to turn your life around. Have you got an accountability partner? Let me tell you about a good website to monitor your internet browsing. These things will ease your conscience.”
My natural answer to a burdened conscience is more religion, more attention to ourselves – our own spiritual disciplines. But see what ‘since’ in Hebrews 10:19 does here?
Steve doesn’t need more religion! He needs to remember the finished religion of Christ’s Sacrifice! Steve doesn’t need to pay more attention to hisspiritual discipline – he needs to remember His Priest!
“Steve – draw near to God with a heart sprinkled clean from a guilty conscience because we have confidence in Jesus the Sacrifice and Priest.”
What about ‘Mike,’ a believer lacking assurance, plagued by doubts?
Here’s my default answer: “Mike, look at the evidence of the work of the Spirit in your life. Seek God in prayer and read the Bible every day. Have you read this book? Keep going to church, and persevere in faith (after all, perseverance shows that you are saved) – these will give you assurance.”
But I think what I've told Mike is pretty much the opposite of what Hebrews 10:19-25 says.
I think we’d expect Hebrews to say this: “We have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus if we hold unswervingly to the hope we profess.” That is, what I've said to Mike is, “draw near to God, hold unswervingly to the faith, keep meeting together – so that you can have confidence in your standing before God.”
But the passage says, “we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus (verse 19), therefore let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess (verse 23).”
The one we’d expect – with the if instead of the since – makes our exercise and experience of faith the basis of our standing before God. But Hebrews 10 makes our confidence before God the basis of the unswerving nature of our experience of faith.
Mike doesn’t need to look to or increase the authenticity of his commitment for assurance, he needs to look to the authenticity of Christ’s finished High-Priestly work!
“Mike – don’t look within yourself for assurance, look to Christ: draw near to God with the full assurance that faith brings because we have confidencein Jesus the Sacrifice and Priest.”
Our hope and faith is to be held unswervingly not because we are faithful, but because – verse 23 – he who promised is faithful. The answer to Mike’s doubt isn't his greater faithfulness: it’s His great faithfulness!
Finally what about ‘Naomi’ – a woman who says she believes in Jesus, but who claims to have dried up spiritually and no longer attends church? What would I say to her?
In fact, I’ve used Hebrews 10:25 as a standalone instruction before on such people: “Don’t give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another.”
But notice the surprising logic of this passage once again – a logic that is destroyed if I quote the verse out of context as an independent command?
This is what I’d say by default: “Naomi, if you meet with other believers for encouragement, if you are stirred up to love and good deeds by the fellowship of a good church and close Christian friends, then you will have confidence to enter God’s holy presence, then you will be able to draw near to God with joy, praise and thanksgiving.”
But Hebrews 10 says, “Naomi, we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place, to draw near to God in worship by the High-Priestly work of Jesus – therefore we stir one another up to love and good deeds, therefore we don’t give up meeting together but encourage one another.”
Confidence in the holy presence of God is not the goal of our meeting with other Christians for encouragement – but the basis of meeting and the resource for encouragement!
If she hasn't understood what our Great High Priest has done and now does, she’s never going to ‘get’ the point of church or experience true spiritual vitality.
Of course, I don’t mean to overstate the case here. In no way am I denigrating the value of confession, Bible study, prayer, fellowship and accountability, Christian books, church attendance and so on. And I am not denying that many Scriptures – including in Hebrews itself – will advise and even prescribe just such disciplines for our spiritual growth and perseverance and as answers to various spiritual maladies. It is very likely indeed that wise advice and godly counsel to other Christians will and should involve talking about the importance of those things.
And yet I must allow Hebrews 10 – this summing-up, capstone of all that the letter has had to say about the Person and Work of Jesus the Great High Priest – to speak on its own terms. I must let it shake up the shape of what I think I know about the Christian life; I must let it make me recalibrate how, when and why I might counsel such disciplines.
Though I mustn’t take from this passage a false dichotomy – either the finality of Christ’s work or the wisdom (necessity) of spiritual discipline. But I must never put the cart before the horse; I must never catch myself teaching or even giving the impression that healthy spiritual disciplines will lead to confidence before the holy presence of God.
All three of those imagined congregants lack confidence before God – Steve because of a guilty conscience, Mike because of lack of assurance, Naomi because of lack of commitment. The one silver bullet to cure them all is the finished High-Priestly work of Jesus. Where they – and we, by nature – are tempted to look more deeply within to solve spiritual problems, the writer of Hebrews says ‘look to Him.’ The finished and present High-Priestly work of Jesus: understand that, fall in love with that, preach that to yourself – and the full experience of Christian assurance, joy, growth, worship, sanctification, discipline and commitment will follow inevitably and organically.
Since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the fitting and finished Sacrifice made by our Perfect and Permanent High Priest, then let us draw near to God with full assurance and clear consciences; then let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess; then let us spur one another one in love and good deeds.