{"id":10275,"date":"2024-09-30T15:16:26","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T22:16:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10275"},"modified":"2024-09-30T15:18:06","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T22:18:06","slug":"they-call-him-the-pioneer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/?p=10275","title":{"rendered":"They call him \u201cthe pioneer\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Click here for a pdf version.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the Scripture lessons for today is from the book called Hebrews. It\u2019s not really a letter although it\u2019s called \u201cThe Letter to the Hebrews.\u201d We don\u2019t know much about the original setting of this book. We don\u2019t know the author. We don\u2019t know when it was written or where. It has some of the most beautiful and the most difficult Greek in the New Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be sure, there are some problems in the book. Luther found serious difficulties in it. And yet it\u2019s thirteen chapters long, and in it are verses that you likely learned in Sunday School or confirmation but may not remember where they are from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today we\u2019re going to tackle this book. It\u2019s not as difficult as you might think if we identify the key to it. In Hebrews 2:10 it says Jesus is \u201cthe pioneer\u201d of our salvation, and that\u2019s the key to what this is about. That wasn\u2019t so difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to be a pioneer? A pioneer is often an explorer or an adventurer. Someone like Davey Crockett or Daniel Boone. Perhaps some of your own ancestors were pioneers in this country from countries across the ocean. Perhaps you have relatives from several generations ago who came to this new land for religious freedom, or political freedom, or just the chance to build a future more prosperous than the old country allowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a novel by James Fenimore Cooper called The Pathfinder<\/em>, 1840, the one who finds the path, the way forward. The one who builds a homestead in the face of hardships of all kinds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What does it mean to be a pioneer? You may be amused to learn that the word in German for pioneer is pioneer. Ha! It\u2019s a very particular concept. You find it in Greek because the Greeks were people who lived on the islands of the Mediterranean. They were those who went out, explored, and settled the islands. They were pioneers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Old Testament Abraham was a pioneer. The Lord said: \u201cGo\u201d and he went. He went four hundred miles across the bare desert, according to the Lord\u2019s command.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It says in the Book of Hebrews that Jesus is the pioneer. It\u2019s helpful that the other place where this word is found is in Hebrews 12:2. There it says he is the pioneer and perfector of our faith. What does that mean? What did he do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hebrews chapters one and two are complicated and too much to read now, but they offer a remarkable account of what\u2019s at stake. They say he was the one who was the Son of God, and we, by adoption, are also children. Therefore, it goes on to say he was flesh and blood just like us. Therefore, he was the one who went before, who suffered and was tempted, who was like us in every way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think of the beloved hymn, \u201cWhat a friend we have in Jesus.\u201d It says he \u201cknows our every weakness.\u201d I am nervous about that because it makes Jesus a bit too much like us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Listen to how Hebrews puts it: Hebrews 4:15 says he was like us in every respect, tempted as we are, except without sin. That is the difference. That\u2019s why he could be the one who was \u201cthe pioneer,\u201d the one who went ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What exactly did he do? It says in Hebrews 2:9, and 17 that he took on the sin as a sacrifice. You recall what Paul writes in 2 Cor 5:21: \u201cFor our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.\u201d And in Romans 8:3 Paul writes that he came in the likeness of sinful flesh as a sin offering, that is, he is the one who made it right. How did he do that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That comes in this complicated verse, Hebrews 2:14: Like us he was flesh and blood, he shared the same nature, that \u201cthrough death he might destroy him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though he was not a sinner himself, he took on sin and death. Also, it\u2019s important to keep in mind that sin and death are the same thing. We don\u2019t often say that so directly, but they are. By conquering death, he was the pioneer, the one who perfected what it was about. The same thing is said in 1 Cor 15:26: \u201cThe last enemy to be destroyed is death.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He is the pioneer and perfector of our faith; he is the one who has made it all different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What has that done for you and me lately? It seems to be all in the past, so then so what? To go to that other place in Hebrews 12:2 where the word \u201cpioneer\u201d is used, it says: \u201cJesus the pioneer and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.\u201d That tells us again what it means to be a pioneer. The pioneer blazed the trail ahead because of the joy that was set before him. In other words, the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This brings us to a verse you are familiar with, Hebrews 13:14: \u201cFor here we have no abiding city, but we seek the city which is to come.\u201d In other words, this world isn\u2019t all there is and it isn\u2019t what it\u2019s really about. To be sure, this is where Jesus died and rose again and changed everything. But he did that here because of \u201cforever,\u201d because of the joy that is set before. And another, Heb 12:1:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTherefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also set aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race set before us, looking to Jesus, the pioneer and perfector of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This brings us to another well-known verse you probably learned in Sunday school, Hebrews 11:1: \u201cFaith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.\u201d In the Book of Hebrews, the word \u201cfaith\u201d means \u201chope,\u201d as it says in 1 Peter 1:3: \u201cBy his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope, <\/strong>through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus, the pioneer, has defeated sin and death, broken new ground and perfected it, that is, made it ready for us. For this reason, we have a living and sure hope. Amen<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12<\/p>\n

A Sermon for the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost<\/p>\n

One of the Scripture lessons for today is from the book called Hebrews. It\u2019s not really a letter although it\u2019s called \u201cThe Letter to the Hebrews.\u201d We don\u2019t know much about the original setting of this book. We don\u2019t know the author. We don\u2019t know when it was written or where. It has some of the most beautiful and the most difficult Greek in the New Testament.<\/p>\n

Select here<\/a> to read more or here <\/a>for a pdf document.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10275"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10282,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10275\/revisions\/10282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/crossalone.us\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}