week5 | order of melchizedek

Hebrews 5:11 – 7:10

This week will definitely be a hard reading for everyone. There are two difficult items which we will have to deal with: (1) lazy Christians in danger of losing their faith (if they even had it to begin with), and (2) tithes to Melchizedek—two difficult topics, for rather different reasons.

Both topics need prayerful consideration.
Please take ample time this week to study and pray over this text.

Hebrews 5:11-6:12 is one of the most fearful texts of scripture. While the scriptures tell us to fear not, scripture also tell us to fear God (cf. Psalms 34). Fearing God is the good kind of fear, while waking up at night because a fear of aging (as you get closer & closer to 40) is a bad kind of fear. Think about a kitchen knife, I’m not afraid of it per-say, but I do handle it with care so as to not cut myself. The blade is sharp and can cut me just as well as the dinner in front of me. {Think of the passage last week about the Word of God as a double-edged sword.}

The author is giving his readers—us—a wake up call. It should awaken us from our slumber of superficial living. Our spiritual life is similar to our physical bodies. If you aren’t exercising your body you won’t get stronger; even worse you get weaker. The same holds true for your spiritual life. It requires pumping the iron of scripture, the cardio of prayer, the obstacle course of obedient living.

God—as well as the author—doesn’t want us to go through the motions coasting through life. He is calling us to much more. So before the author can get into difficult material (like high priests of the order of Melchizedek) he needs to make sure we are awake and working towards deeper understanding.