Reading:
Hebrews 6
Have
you ever forgotten to do something really important?
I have and the sinking feeling I get when I realize it is not
pleasant. God hasn't; nor will He.
God is not unjust; he
will not forget your work and the love you have shown him
as you have helped his people and continue to help them. (Hebrews
6:10)
As evangelicals, we are
all well trained to know that all our righteousness is as filthy rags
to God. We understand that with nothing in our hands we come to God.
…that we are saved by Christ's works, and our own works merit
nothing before God in salvation. However, we often don't know what
to do with verses like this.
There are three key
things this verse reveals:
- Why God will not forget
- What God will not forget
- What you must not forget
Why
God Will Not Forget
The
foundation of all that follows in this verse is the truth that God is
not unjust. In other words, it
would be unjust of God to forget your work as a believer and the love
you have shown Him.
And
lest we think that “God
is not unjust” is a
distinct statement from the rest of the verse, it is worth noting, as
some other translations make clear, that in the original language God
not being unjust is tied
directly to His not
forgetting your works and love.
For instance,
For
God is not unjust so as to forget your
work and the love which you have shown toward His name, in having
ministered and in still ministering to the saints.
(Heb 6:10 NASB)
God
would no sooner forget your works than He would be unjust. What
God remembers, He rewards. The whole point of the writer of Hebrews
reminding us that God will not forget is to assure us that God will
reward us for what He remembers. This gives us hope.
What
God Will Not Forget
God
will not forget your works! What works? Works of love which you show
God even as you help His people. It isn't that the work and showing
love are two different things, but more like we might use “and”
in the expression, “I'm sick and tired of...” wherein the second
expression modifies the first. The works which God will not forget
are the works of love which we show to His name.
When
do we do works that show love toward His name? When we minister to
the saints; when we serve God's people. The saints aren't a group of
people who are up in heaven. The saints are the people of God to
whom He has joined us in fellowship. Often they are the weaker
brothers and sisters to whom whatever we do to them we do to Christ
(Matthew 25:40).
Do
you realize that your works matter to God? For God to remember
your works means that He will reward them. The labors you do
caring for God's people are not lost on God.
They are not lost in the grace of God so that they don't
matter.
How
could all of this be true? How could “our righteousness is as
filthy rags” and “God won't forget your works” both be true?
This is the beauty of salvation. In salvation, God promises to
remember our sins and lawless acts no more (Hebrews 8:12; 10:17)! In
His mercy, God will not remember our sins; in His justice God will
not forget our works and the love we show. This is possible
because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for us (Hebrews 10:11-18).
Do
you ever think your works don't matter
to God? You are showing love to God when you help His people. This
means your work in caring for people is a form of worship.
Do
you think that your care for God's people doesn't really matter in
eternity? It matters. You are washing Jesus feet when you are washing
the feet of the saints. There will be a day in the future when all
our serving God's people, the least of his brothers and sisters, will
be brought up again and remembered. These things will be
remembered in a way that will matter in eternity (Matthew 25:31-40).
Why
does this matter to God? Because God loves His people. He loves them
more than you can know. He gave His one and only Son.
What
You Must Not Forget
Since
God will not remember your sins and lawless deeds, and since He
will reward your works of love to His people, we must not forget
that He will not forget. If we remember this, we will also not
forget to continue those works of love.
Do
not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so
doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing
it. (Hebrews 13:2)
This
is a call to share our lives with those who aren't just our good
friends—those who can't reward us. The “stranger” in our midst.
Continue
to remember those in prison as
if you were together with them in prison, and those who are
mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering. (Hebrews
13:3)
This
is a call to suffer with those who are suffering for the Gospel. It
is a call to suffer with those who are unjustly suffering.
And
do not forget to do good and to share with
others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (Hebrews
13:16)
This
is a call to continue to live lives that do good and share with
others. And notice the reason given: with such sacrifices
God is pleased.
For
us to know that God will not forget our works and that He will not
remember our sins is intended to encourage those who have been doing
good works. And it is intended to encourage them to continue and not
give up doing them. The
context of Hebrews 6:10 is that because God remembers, we have
certainty that we will inherit the promise of God's blessing.
God will not be unjust. God will never fail to keep this promise.
(See
Hebrews 6:11-15.)
God
would no sooner forget your works than He would be unjust. Do you
realize that your works, the love you show God's people, matter to
God for He cannot be unjust. This gives us a certain hope rooted
in God's certain memory!
Love
the Gospel, Live the Gospel, Advance the Gospel,
Jerry
