Read Hebrews 2:1
A small fishing boat sits off the rocks, drifting with the current as the occupants seek to land the catch of the day. Both spirits and anticipation are high as everyone wets a line. As all of us are aware, that boat is in danger of crashing in to the rocks. It’s not far fetched to say that unless someone keeps watch, then that boat is headed for danger. In fact, over the years the headlines have proven that this indeed is a real danger.
The writer to the Hebrews warns us of a similar spiritual danger. In fact, the very words he uses picture an unanchored boat slowly drifting past the point of safety into turbulent danger. Hebrews 1 has shared with us the glory of Christ - not only is He greater than the angels but He is Himself God! And through Christ salvation has been won for us.
But just like the fishermen on that boat, we too need to keep watch. What dangers present themselves to us? What must we be on the lookout for? Perhaps the most current danger is busyness. It’s all too easy to allow life to make demands upon our time. It’s all to easy to give them the upper hand and the determining factor in our lives. If we fail to watch out for busyness then soon Christ becomes a genie or a trinket we pray to only in the evenings or a distant relative we visit on the odd occasion. Our ship has drifted onto the rocks.
Another swelling danger in our affluent times is the yearning in our hearts for things apart from Christ. Money, assets, cars, boats, houses, manicured gardens, high heel shoes and the latest fashions all pull at our heart and tempt us to push Christ just that little bit to the side. Pretty soon our heart is filled with ‘weeds’ and God’s Word cannot grow fruit in our lives. Our boat has been stranded.
Still another danger is wrong priorities. We are prone to think that just because we need money, for example, that work has a higher priority than God or worse, that God doesn’t belong in the work place. Such misplaced priorities will ultimate swamp God and our genuine worship, allowing at best a mimicking of genuine worship.
The writer to the Hebrews affixes the solution to his warning; We must pay more careful attention to what we have heard. The writer encourages us to give excessive attention, abundant attention to the Gospel we have heard and to the Lord Jesus Christ. In the boating metaphor, it means being anchored in Jesus and secure in Him.
I wonder how you can be spurring others on to pay more careful attention to what they’ve heard? I wonder how you can be the difference in someone else’s life.
Prayer:
Use today’s Bible reading and notes to pray along the following lines.
Adoration:
Confession:
Thanks:
Supplication:
¨ Pray for the children and youth in your congregation, namely that they would grow strong in the Lord and that they would be deepening in the faith.
¨ Pray that God would continue to raise up teachers and mentors for these youth and children.
A life drifting past Jesus rarely testifies to His greatness but a life anchored in Christ almost invariably does.
1. Discuss ways that a cell group or family can encourage one another to pay more careful attention to what they have heard.
2. Is Hebrews 2:1 teaching that a person can lose their salvation or not? Defend your answer with Scriptural backing.
Intro: your attitude to learning as a child, say at school. Did you enjoy it? Did you dislike it? What benefits can you see now as an adult in learning as much as possible as a child?
Discuss What makes learning fun and how a church can make learning for children more enjoyable..
Read 2 Tim 3:14-15.
What did Timothy learn from infancy?
What did Paul want him to do with this learning?
What is the point of children learning at church?
Pray together that God would teach you about Himself, about Jesus and about the world.
Intro: your attitude to learning as a child, say at school. Did you enjoy it? Did you dislike it? What benefits can you see now as an adult in learning as much as possible as a child?
Discuss What makes learning fun and how a church can make learning for children more enjoyable..
Read 2 Tim 3:14-15.
What did Timothy learn from infancy?
What did Paul want him to do with this learning?
What is the point of children learning at church?
Pray together that God would teach you about Himself, about Jesus and about the world.
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