Skeletons in Your Closet
September 20, 2018 | by: Dale Thiele | 0 Comments
Posted in: Pastoral Encouragement
Do you have any skeletons in your closet?
The first time I ever heard of that idiom and question was during my interview with a group of elders for the church I would soon serve as youth pastor when I graduated college. I asked for an explanation.
“Do you have anything in your past that you are ashamed of and would like to keep hidden? Anything incriminating?”
My first thought was, “Well, if I do, I certainly would not want to reveal those things here in this context. I’m trying to get job!” I answered the question, though, as honestly as I could. I don’t believe I have “any skeletons in my closet,” but I know that I am not perfect by any means. I have made choices and done things that I’m ashamed of and am tempted to keep hidden.
But to hide is to disbelieve the gospel.
The writer of Hebrews concludes his theological teaching on the priesthood of Christ with some of the most glorious statements of what Christ accomplishes. He just finished putting the exclamation mark on the weakness of the law (and, consequently, our own ability) by stating, “for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin” (10:4). Any sense of human accomplishment or ability is slain. We’re left humbled with no options. What do we do with our sin, our skeletons in our closet?
It’s a beautiful contrast the writer creates as he tears down every false hope and then exalts the excellency of Christ. He states, “For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified,” and “Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (10:14, 18). What the law and sacrifices couldn’t do, Christ does. What we can’t do, Christ does. Let me tease out what is emphasized in these two verses.
- The sufficiency of the cross. It is a “single offering.” It doesn’t need to be repeated. “It is finished.” This is the good news. Our sin and shame and rebellion and lawlessness and transgressions are all finished by the single sacrifice of Christ on the cross. He has fully satisfied the wrath of God so that we are no longer “children of wrath,” but “children of God.” One of the motivations for keeping “skeletons” in the closet is the fear of repercussions, punishments. Certainly, there are consequences for poor, sinful choices we make. But in the eternal scheme of our relationship with God, “there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.”
- Our perfection is a completed work of Christ. There is a finality to the priestly work of Christ. In verse 12 the writer says Christ has sat down at the right hand of God, a gesture that nothing more needs to be done (not to minimize the interceding work of Christ, see 7:25). Christ “perfecting” work makes his people holy and acceptable (justified) before God. Our final sanctification, the complete removal of sin and its consequences, is assured in Christ. Another motivation for keeping skeletons in the closet is the desire to look better than we truly are in front of others. We seek to work out our perfection. But in Christ, we have been perfected, fully pleasing and acceptable before God.
The opposite of keeping skeletons in the closet is confidence by the blood of Jesus, to which the writer turns our attention in verse 19. In the gospel, we have nothing to hide because we have nothing to fear and nothing to attain.
Do you have any skeletons in your closet?
