Hebrews 6

The core beliefs of Christianity are listed by the Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 15 as matters of first importance: “that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures.” These beliefs and others were soon developed into baptismal creeds that have since been referred to as the Apostles Creed. The Trinity, the two natures of Jesus Christ, His works of humiliation and exaltation, the kingdom of God in the church now and in the life to come; these are essential doctrines of Christian faith.

But there is another list of vital Christian concerns that are also of great importance. They are noted in Hebrews 6 as the elementary doctrines of Christian living, a list of basics that are central to Christian experience. These include repentance, faith, baptisms, blessings through laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and the coming eternal judgment. These are considered by God to be basic matters of introductory life for New Covenant believers. Without this foundation, how can the church move on to more challenging concerns of biblical interpretation or greater progress in holiness?

The life of the body of Christ is to be lived out together in a community of faith, a heavenly body that is actively engaged in life on earth now. Some who do not understand the basics of Christian living think that the church is an optional part of following Christ. They do not see that what began with repentance and faith in the body of Christ ends with the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment in that same body. In between this beginning and end is the work of divine creation through the cleansing and blessing that comes as God touches us through His church. To walk away from that place of living heavenly experience is to miss the Christian life on earth as God has designed it. We are being remade out of the primordial waters of God's judgment and grace in baptism, and the hand of our heavenly high priest is reaching forth from another world through the church touching us and speaking words of life and benediction that will not return void.

If we walk away from the church, where else will we find this new life that Christ is dispensing through the means of His appointment? This is not merely a philosophy club, a self-help therapy group, or a social action organization. We cannot just revoke our membership in the church and think that all is well. In this temple of the Holy Spirit heaven touches earth, the age to come reaches today, and Jesus embraces those who repent and believe. We must never abandon the church.

To reject the church is to turn away from that living temple where we taste heavenly life and where the forgiveness of sins is declared and known. Here we have felt the light of heaven and shared together in the body and blood of Jesus as a continuing gift to us. Here we receive the Word of God and are granted the fruit of the Holy Spirit. This is where we grow in the life of love. If we reject that life, where can we find heaven again, and how do we start all over with repentance, as if we were newcomers to the world of Christ? That would be impossible for men, and only possible if God grants another miracle of renewal in us. There is no other sacrifice for sin except the one that Christ has accomplished. And there is no other family of God except the church that He has established.

It is a serious mistake to turn away from Christ and His church. We should not find ourselves anywhere near that bad choice. We should be the good soil that is continually taking in the water of life from the Holy Spirit through Word, sacrament, and prayer. This will be the way that leads to present fruitfulness and future stability. We are God's field, and He is cultivating His life in us with love, producing an excellent yield for eternity, an incomparable blessing that can only come from Him. Do we prefer to reject the ordinances of the Lord and to be useless land where thorns and thistles scratch out a meager existence living as something destined for fire?

We need to hear God's warnings in passages such as this one. Through them the Lord exposes our errors and we rediscover our firm footing in grace. We see a day of future salvation before us again and we return to the life of worship and love that God has ordained for us. Together as a church we remember what God has done for us in the past, how we stood together through trials and loved one another despite our failings and the pressures of life in this world. This is the way that we recover again our forgotten hope, and take up our work of love again with renewed energy and purpose, following the good examples of others who have gone before us from our community of love who through faith and patience inherited the promises.

We are certain of this hope, not because of our own strength, but because of the reliability of God. He made a promise long ago to Abraham that He would bless him and multiply his descendants. God swore by himself, since there is nothing greater than God by which anyone can make the most solemn promise. God swearing by God – that is a most sure decree. We are heirs of this promise as the children of Abraham by faith in Jesus Christ. God cannot lie. He has promised by Himself and has committed Himself with a most solemn covenant oath. See Genesis 15:9-21.

Christ's death on the cross was the fulfillment of God's determination to bless those who have fled to Him for refuge. In His ascension into the heavenly temple and in the life of that temple on earth which is His church, we have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us. Our great High Priest will never forsake us.