See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven?
Hebrews 12:25
There are those special times in our lives when we need to pay attention. When it’s important not to let our eyes or minds wander from what’s right in front of us. When there’s something so precious that we need to put everything else aside and focus on the one, significant thing.
We pay people to pay attention when they do things for us. We want them to focus on what they’re doing. Now, I want the person who cuts our grass to pay attention, but the problems are really small if they miss a spot. But there are times in life when everyone has to pay attention. For example, not long ago I had cataract surgery on my eyes.
When I arrived, I wanted the receptionist to check me in correctly so they knew exactly who I was and what they were supposed to do.
I really wanted the nurse to be paying attention when they put that IV needle and tube up into my arm.
I was more than just hoping that the anesthesiologist was paying attention when they gave me the drugs. Not too little and not too much.
And when the surgeon started making those tiny cuts into my eye, I was really, really hoping that they were paying attention.
It’s this kind of paying attention that the writer is more than just asking the Hebrews to do. He is begging them to be keeping a watchful eye focused on who God is and all he’s done in Jesus. By paying attention, they won’t be able to refuse who God is and what he’s said.
When we refuse God, it’s more than just turning our heads and attention away from him. We all have enough facts and knowledge to figure out who God is. Creation screams to us about who God is and his power. We clearly understand all this and more about God. So, everyone on planet Earth is without excuse when it comes to knowing God[1].
And this is especially true about the Hebrews. God called them his people. Not just some people but his chosen people. He’s worked in and through them since he called Abraham. Through all the great men and women of Hebrew history, God has had his hand on them. Protecting them. Providing for them.
But part of belonging to God doesn’t mean that life’s just one great spiritual high followed by another. Living isn’t defined by one miracle being topped by another. And then another. Being God’s chosen people also means receiving his loving and yet painful discipline. They’ve been catching their Heavenly Father’s punishment so much that they must have felt like that famous line from Fiddler on the Roof[2]: “I know, I know, we are the chosen people. But once in a while can’t you choose someone else?”
The call went out to the Hebrews not to refuse God speaking to them. And the call goes out to you and me. The call is that God came to Earth in Jesus and paid for all our sins. Once and for all time, all sins have been paid for. No more sacrifices. No more Temples. No more rules and regulations that we feel guilty about.
I was recently talking with someone who was trying to convince me that we needed to do good works to be saved. The death of Jesus wasn’t enough. We had to give God good works to be worthy of heaven. After he was done talking, I asked him a simple question. “How many good works are enough? How will you know that you’ve done enough to get into heaven?”
When he said that he wasn’t sure, I came back and asked another question. “Isn’t know whether we’re saved or not the most important question in the world? What could be more important than knowing our eternal destiny. After all, God wants us to know where we’re going to spend eternity.
I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.
1 John 5:13
What’s the thing that let’s us know that we have eternal life? Is it doing something? Is it giving so much money? Is it building something? No. It’s believing in the name of the Son of God. The name Jesus means God’s salvation. It’s his salvation, not ours. If it was earned or because of what we’ve done, then it would be our salvation.
God is warning his people, the Hebrews, to listen up and pay attention. It’s only by grace through faith in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Period. That’s it. Nothing more. Nothing less. That same message is coming directly to you and me. If we have received God’s full and free forgiveness, then it’s time to pay attention to who God is and what he’s said. We’re to love and obey the one who first loved us[3] and gave his life for us[4]. Now, that’s a message worth paying attention to.
Noodling Questions
How do you try and pay attention to things? What tricks have you learned?
If there’s no way to know when it’s enough, how is there any security?
Why is God’s grace the only solution that makes sense?
[1] Romans 1:18-20
[3] John 14:15
[4] Mark 10:45
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