Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church

My dear friends in Christ,

How many of you send and receive e-mail? How many of you check your e-mail at least once a day? What if an e-mail like this showed up in your in-box? What words would describe how you'd feel? Surprise, shock, anger, denial, frustration, acceptance, excitement?

Those feelings would all be very normal! The question for today is, what would you do if that e-mail arrived, and you really only had 30 days to live? A lot of people would come up with different answers to that question. There's even a movie out right now, "The Bucket List." In the movie, two cancer-ward roommates, they get the bad news, decide that you only live once, so why not go out in style. They compose a bucket list – things to do before you kick the bucket – and head off for an around-the-world adventure of their lives. Is that the answer? Let's take a closer look at this section from Hebrews 3&4 and hear God's answer.

Hebrews 3:7-8 7 So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, 8 do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert, 15 As has just been said: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

1.  What does the Holy Spirit tell us not to do? Harden our hearts.
2.  When does he tell us not to do it? Today, when we hear his voice.

God is the author of our lives. He knit us together in our mother's womb. He gave us the breath of life. We need to remember that the God who gave us life is also the one who ends it. He decides how long each one of us will live. We sometimes call the time God gives each person our "time of grace." How many days do you have left on earth? How many days do I have left? We don't know, do we? Only God knows the answer to that question.

We can't figure out how long we have. We can figure out how to use Today—the time that we do have. We heard one way that the Lord doesn't want us to use it. "So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert" (Hebrews 3:7-8). God tells us not to harden our hearts and rebel against him. He gives us an example of some people who did.

"Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?" (Hebrews 3:16-17).

1. Whom does God use as an example of hardening and rebelling? The Children of Israel as they left Egypt
2. How did he respond to their rebellion? He was angry with them.
3. For how long was he angry? 40 years.

It began at the foot of Mt. Sinai. The Israelites, afraid that Moses was lost, or even worse, dead, begged Aaron to make them a god who would lead them in the wilderness. They brought him gold, and he fashioned a calf from the precious metal. The people bowed down before it and worshiped it as the god that had rescued them from Pharaoh.

Their rebellion continued throughout their journey to the Promised Land. They complained when they didn't have enough food and water. They spoke harshly about Moses. As they were poised to cross the Jordan and rest from their journey, they sent spies to scout out the land and see what awaited them. When the spies returned, they brought back a report of fertile farmland with rich produce. They also saw fortified cities and fierce warriors. They told the rest of the nation, "'We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.' And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, 'The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size'" (Numbers 13:31-32).

God became very angry with his people for their lack of trust. He announced that none of them would enter the Promised Land, except Joshua and Caleb, who brought a good report and trusted the LORD. The people would wander through the wilderness for 40 years, and the entire generation would die before they returned to the Jordan River. The Bible tells us, "So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief" (Hebrews 3:19). They squandered Today because they didn't believe.

Will we make the same mistake as the Israelites? Will we harden our hearts and rebel against the LORD and his promises? We like to say, "Never!" but our hearts and our actions give us away.

We like to imitate the Israelites' "me-first, who cares about tomorrow" attitude. Who cares if I only did this service project because it looks good on my resume, or because they had good snacks and besides, I got out of my chores for the day. I don't care if I just told my mom to "Shut up!" She deserved it! That attitude ignores the importance of listening to God while it's still Today.

That "me-first, who cares about tomorrow" attitude translates into our relationship with God. We like to be spiritual procrastinators. I don't need Jesus and church while I'm away at college. I'll have plenty of time once I get a job, buy a house, and get settled somewhere. I can get involved with Bible study next time—I've studied that topic before. I can go to Sunday School some other time. I've heard all those stories before. I'll do family devotions once I find the perfect book.

What if tomorrow never comes? What if Today is it? We would be filled with regret and guilt. We would also face something far worse.

Jesus once told a story about a rich man who had an abundant harvest. He had so much that he didn't have room for any more in his barns. He decided that he would build more barns to keep all of his wealth for himself. He would enjoy life, eat drink, do what he wanted, and who cares what happened tomorrow. The Lord's reaction? "You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?" (Luke 12:20).

If we live like that rich fool, with a "me-first, who cares about tomorrow" attitude then the Lord will tell us, "They shall never enter my rest!" (Hebrews 3:11).

We know what God doesn't want us to do Today. Let's look at the rest of the section and see how God wants us to spend Today and every day.

"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." (Hebrews 3:12-14).

1. What does God not want us to have? Sinful, unbelieving hearts.
2. What does God want us to do? Encourage each other daily, so no one else rebels and hardens their hearts.
3. When should we do all this? Today!
4. What confidence do we have Today? That we share in Christ!

We may have 30 days, or 30 years. We may have 30 minutes, or 30 seconds. What it comes down to is pretty simple. We need to work on our relationship with God and everyone around us Today. It begins when we go back to our baptism. At the font, our sinful, unbelieving hearts were washed clean. We belong to our heavenly Father. We have come to share in Christ, and that confidence is ours Today.

When we come to worship, we confess the things that we've done wrong—our "me-first, who cares about tomorrow" attitudes, and every other sin we have committed. We recognize that just one of those sins is enough for God to say, "They will never enter my rest." That thought humbles us, even terrifies us. Then we hear the words, "Therefore, as a called servant of Christ, and by his authority, I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." Together we say, "Amen," "I believe it!" Today.

We approach the altar to receive Jesus' body and blood. Jesus himself said, "This is my body, given for you. This is my blood, poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins." We go back to our pews, and later to our homes with the strength to stop doing everything for ourselves and start doing it for the Lord Today.

We can't live without that over 4 or more years of college. We can't live without the strength God has waiting for us in Bible study. Those same old Sunday School stories are the foundation that we need Today. Family devotions don't have to be perfect, our families need to use God's Word as much as possible. We need all of these things, not just in the next 30 days, but Today! The apostle Paul reminds us, "As God’s fellow workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For he says, 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation" (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

Today is the day to listen to God, so we're ready for what he has in store tomorrow. Let's take a look at Hebrews 4:9-11.

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." (Hebrews 4:9-11).

1. What remains for the people of God? Sabbath-rest.
2. What happens when we enter God's rest? We rest from all our work, just like God rested on the 7th day.

The original Sabbath was the 7th day, when the LORD rested from all his creative work. The Bible says, "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done" (Genesis 2:2-3). God set aside that day as a special reminder to us of all that he had done, and as a way for us to honor the one who created us.

God also gave us the Sabbath to teach us about Today. The 7th day is a picture of the eternal rest that awaits us in heaven. On that day, we will rest from all our hard labors, just like the LORD did after finishing creation. That's what will be ours, "if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first." Remember the thief on the cross. When he confessed his faith in Jesus, Jesus promised, "Today you will be with me in paradise" (Luke 23:43). That's why our relationship with Jesus is so important Today. We need to hold firmly to the faith the Lord has given us. We need to encourage our fellow believers so they don't make the same mistakes Israel made in their rebellion. We need to share the good news we have with everyone around us, so they don't miss out on heaven.

Today. It's not 30 days from now, or 30 seconds from now. It's right now. Listen to God's voice. Believe him. Live for him. Look forward to Today in heaven. Amen.