Pursue peace with all men, and sanctification

Hebrews 12:14-29 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord. ¹⁵ See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; ¹⁶ that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. ¹⁷ For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.

¹⁸ For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind, ¹⁹ and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them. ²⁰ For they could not bear the command, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it will be stoned.” ²¹ And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, “I am full of fear and trembling.” ²² But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, ²³ to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, ²⁴ and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.

²⁵ See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven. ²⁶ And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.” ²⁷ This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. ²⁸ Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; ²⁹ for our God is a consuming fire.

Today’s text begins saying:  Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.  There are many today, even those who are not believers, who would agree that Christians should pursue peace; but, what about sanctification?  Sanctify is defined as:  to make holy; set apart as sacred; consecrate:  to purify or free from sin: to impart religious sanction to; render legitimate or binding: to entitle to reverence or respect:  to make productive of or conducive to spiritual blessing.    In our culture and society it is not considered politically correct to pursue sanctification of all men.  James 4:4 says:  You adulteresses, do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God.  If we pursue peace without sanctification, we become friends of the world, but enemies of God.  The text says, without santification, no one will see the Lord; neither those who have not been sanctified nor those who have made peace with what is impure and sinful.   In Matthew 5:17-20 Jesus says: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Righteousness is the result of sanctification. Relaxing God’s commandments in order to be at peace with the world puts us outside of the kingdom of heaven so that we will not see the Lord.

The text says:  See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled; that there be no immoral or godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.   Many people think that to offer grace to others is to tolerate and embrace their sin. The grace of God does not embrace sin. Because of grace of God sent His Son to die for our sins so that we could be freed from sinfulness. Romans 5:8 says:  God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.  If we are to see to it that no one comes short of the grace of God, we need to demonstrate His love; that Christ died for their sins; not a love that embraces the very things Christ died to redeem us from.  Esau sold his birthright for a meal. What would people today forfeit their birthright for? Our birthright is in Christ; that we are born again, recreated in Him. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says:  If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.  If we continue in the old sinful ways, we forfeit our inheritance.  It says of Esau: when he desired to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought for it with tears.   We too must find the place for repentance if we want to inherit the blessings of God. We must change and become new creations in Christ; sanctified by God’s grace. Esau sought the inheritance with tears. In Matthew 13:41-42 Jesus says:  The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.  Tears will not help us to inherit our blessings if they are not tears of repentance.

The text says:  See to it that you do not refuse Him who is speaking. For if those did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape who turn away from Him who warns from heaven.  And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.”  This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire.  The consuming fire that is God does not burn us up to destroy us, but rather to sanctify and purify us. God’s consuming fire removes everything that is unholy and impure from us.   Romans 12:1 says:  I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. To offer ourselves to God as less than holy and righteous is unacceptable, because He Himself makes us holy. If we reject His holiness we are ungrateful for His grace and mercy and have rejected the demonstration of His love; that Christ died for us.

Heavenly Father, Lord Jesus Christ; precious Holy Spirit; may I indeed pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see You. May I, to the best of my ability, see to it that no one falls short of Your grace; that they would know Your love, demonstrated in the cross. May Your consuming fire remove all that is impure and unholy from me, so that I might be acceptable to You. Thank You that by the cross I am redeemed, freed from sin; born into a new inheritance in Your kingdom.  Amen.