In this text, there are at least three places that initially stand out to me as offering material for developing substantial teaching moments.  I would probably choose two of these to develop.  For me, they would be the first and third of the themes below.  I think they go together nicely.

First, the text opens by speaking of the need to be fearful of not entering God’s rest.  By the metaphor of the wilderness generation, the author shows that while we have a distinct opportunity to enter that rest, we can miss out as well.  It is truly our choice.  And, that choice is so substantial, so weighty, that we should in considering it actually experience fear.  (“Let us be afraid” is a better translation than the NIVs “Let us be careful”, although I think the NIV is trying to say something similar.)  The word here is confronting us with God’s free gracious choice, and the consequence of refusing that choice through our own disbelief and disobedience.  We who have heard the gospel must choose to either combine our hearing with faith, or not.  The gospel defines all who hear it.  After our hearing, we must fall into one of two categories, dependent on our response.  We must either become obedient, or become disobedient to what we have heard.  We must become faithful, or become unfaithful.  Our lives become defined by our relationship to the gospel we have heard, whether we wish them to or not.  The gospel of God exerts power to fundamentally define us, even in our rejection of it.  By the way, this is a rather offensive idea to the world.

Second, the argument in 4:3-10 regarding the definite existence of a Sabbath rest that remains for the people of God.

This text is admittedly difficult to get our minds around.  That’s partly because the author here makes the argument in a way that might best be described as playful.  He lets a handful of passages from scripture interact with each other, and through that process draws some conclusions about the remaining opportunity for God’ people to enter into a Sabbath rest, a sort of spiritual promised land.  The difficulty for us is that conclusion is more readily acceptable than the process by which the author reaches the conclusion!  To us the logic here is cumbersome and somewhat cryptic.  It’s almost as if the passage makes more sense if we don’t stop to long and work it out…we can accept his point on face.  But, if we stop for a minute, it begins to seem somewhat cloudy, and perhaps even circular.

The critical issue seems to me that God speaks of his rest in different ways across time. First, the creation account speaks of God resting, having completed his creative work.  Secondly, the generation that wandered in the wilderness missed out on God’s rest.  But later, in the time of David God is still speaking about his rest, stating that some will not enter into his rest, and by implication, there are still some who will.   The bottom line is that God still has a sort of promised rest waiting as a reward to those who remain faithful to him.  That rest is something like God’s rest from his work in creation, which is an interesting comparison.  It is clear that God is an active working presence for the author of Hebrews, so it is not like God has completely ceased activity since creation.  But perhaps the text intends that the ones who enter God’s rest are somehow relieved of the striving that is characterized throughout the book as the task of those who endure against temptation.

Third, and critically linked to the first idea, is the final section on the power of the word.  First of all, it’s important to point out, that although the section is paragraphed off in some translations, it is definitively connected with the preceding section.  The power and nature of the word is the reason why we strive, why we make every effort to enter into the rest of God. The nature of the word assures us that we cannot escape the destiny affiliated with our choice.

Beyond that, the observations of the word here are quite incredible.  The word here specifically refers to the gospel call, the offer of the promised land.  That theme has dominated the book up until this point, and it is for the purpose of encouraging the reader to remain faithful to that call that the author turns here to the nature of the word.

Here the word is characterized powerfully.  First, it is a living word.  This is interesting, since one of Hebrews’ favorite descriptions of God is that God is a “living” God.  The word that comes from the living God is itself alive.  The word does not just bring life, but it alive itself.  It is also active, in the sense that it is powerful and does the work it is intended to do.  The word has energy, it has force.  Furthermore, the word has a quality that judges and distinguishes.  I think this is related to the idea above about how our lives are defined by our response to the gospel.  The word judges me.  It shows me who I really am.  I am laid bare before the word, or pinned down by it.  It has power over me.  The word overcomes me.

The question then on this section is, what is my relationship to this word?  What does such a word have to say about me, to me?  Truly, this seems the critical part of this whole section, and an extremely worthwhile discussion for a group of disciples to have.  How has the word changed, shaped, confronted, and judged me?  What happens when I come into contact with the word?  What is the nature of my relationship with God’s living word?