Explore: Pay attention

• The Explore the Bible lesson for Sept. 14 focuses on Hebrews 2:1-4.

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• The Explore the Bible lesson for Sept. 14 focuses on Hebrews 2:1-4.

It seems everyone is talking or writing about the decline of the church in Western culture. Kenda Creasy Dean’s book, Almost Christian, based on evidence gleaned from the National Study of Youth and Religion, sounds the alarm on the growing apathy seen in American teenagers. While young people generally see themselves as spiritual, they lack the tenets of a committed faith well grounded in Scripture and Christian discipleship.

Worse, churches have passed down a diluted version of Christianity that has done really well at shaping nice young people and nurturing the American Dream, but has done quite poorly at teaching young people to rearrange their lives around the life and teaching of Christ. The result has been a teenage faith comprised mainly of self-serving, feel-good beliefs.

Where did the American church go wrong?

Where did the American church go wrong? Dean says, “The National Study of Youth and Religion reveals a theological fault line running underneath American churches: an adherence to a do-good, feel-good spirituality that has little to do with the Triune God of Christian tradition and even less to do with loving Jesus Christ enough to follow him into the world.”

Unlike many of today’s religious doomsdayers, Dean goes on to propose a solution for the American church—one that involves a rediscovery of Christian discipleship and mission. The signposts of a mature, passionate faith we desire for our young people point to “an articulated God-story (their stated or unstated ‘creed’), a deep sense of belonging in their faith communities, a clear sense that their lives have a God-given purpose and an attitude of hope that the world is moving in a good direction because of God,” Dean wrote. We have much work to do.

Despite the urgency of this crisis, the problem is not new. The preacher in Hebrews 2 warns the congregation about the dangers of drifting away from the core message of the gospel (v. 1). We almost can picture him at the front of the sanctuary, leaning forward over the podium, either pounding his fist or pointing his finger with an intent gaze that pierces the heart of the listening worshippers, and nearly shouting in stereotypical Baptist preacher style, “Pay attention!”

“We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (v. 1). The faith of the early church was not relativistic. It was built on the foundation of God’s interaction with the people of Israel and centered on the person and work of Jesus Christ.

A message in two stages


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The message had come in two stages. The first was written in the law, which Jewish tradition said had come through angelic intermediaries. The law prescribed a strict adherence. Spiritual transformation and salvation hinged on faithful obedience, and the law promised consequential blessings or punishment (v. 2).

But now, in these “last days” (v. 2), the ultimate salvation was proclaimed and accomplished directly through Jesus Christ. Furthermore, it was confirmed by eyewitnesses in the Gospel accounts and passed on through the burgeoning church (v. 3). And as if to make this message completely indisputable, it was demonstrated publicly through the “signs, wonders and various miracles” we see with the coming of the Holy Spirit (v. 4).

In elementary school, children often are taught a game called “telephone.” You start with a specific message passed on from one child to another, usually just long enough to make it difficult to remember exactly. Each child passes on the message they heard to the next person. You know what happens—with each passing, the message is altered just slightly, so the message heard by the last person bears only a faint resemblance, if any, to the original content. It’s not unlike the way gossip travels through a small town, becoming less and less reliable with each transmission.

Paying attention

If the early Christians didn’t pay close attention, they ran the risk of their faith being transmitted like a game of telephone. Their apathetic faith would be paramount to ignoring “so great a salvation” (v. 3) as was wrought by Jesus’ death on the cross. However, the early church was given a distinct advantage absent in the game of telephone. The content of the gospel message was not arbitrarily passed on from one person to the next. This message was announced, confirmed and testified. It was written in their minds and in their hearts (Hebrews 10:16), having taken root as they lived out their faith in the gospel.

Our abundant life now and our eternal joy hinge upon us sticking close to this gospel message. “We must pay the most careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away” (v. 1). It was important to the first Christians, and it is crucial for the church today as well. The faith of our young people, and all of us, depends upon it. We must pay attention.


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