2) Hebrews - Jesus as Heir
Notes
Transcript
“Be Reconciled to God”
Root of Fruit Sin addressed “Unbelief, Pride, Selfishness”
Gathering
Hand Out-Catechism - Reading Plan
Call to Worship
Corporate Prayer -
Worship through Song
Scripture Reading John 1:1-18, Phil 2:5-11, Col 1:15-18
Worship through Song
Worship through Song
Sermon
Prayer
Introduction
Introduction
Good morning church. I always amazes me how much happens in the lives of our families each and every week. There are blessings and celebrations and hardships and trials. There is good news and bad news. There are celebrations of new life and there are sad days when our loved ones leave this world. There are weeks that we see the work of God pour out of us in our bible reading, prayer, and relationships that we have and there are weeks that we feel defeated overwhelmed, uncertain, and far from God. We see how the world comes at us over and over and temptations come and sometimes we resist in the strength of the Spirit and other times we fall down in the weakness of the flesh.
Our lives are dynamic but our God is unchanging and all powerful and loves and cares for us deeply.
Last week we opened and introduced the book of Hebrews and we developed the need that we have to answer the question that Jesus asked Peter “who do you say that I am?”
We developed that the answer to this question is central to all faith and belief and because of this we will be going to God and listening to who he says that Jesus is. We started with the first couple of verses in Hebrews. Let us open them and remind ourselves where we are.
1 Long ago God spoke to our ancestors by the prophets at different times and in different ways. 2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him. 3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.
This is considered the preamble of this letter. It started with the revelation that God speaks. That he spoke in the time before Christ through the prophets and in the old testament. God reveled the perfect promise of the coming messiah and savior.
And in the last days which include today he speaks through his Son. Through Jesus God provided his final revelation of himself. There is not more to be revealed until the end days. We look so many places for the answers of life and faith and they are found right here.
The main thought of these first four verses is that “God has spoken” and Spoken through his Son through Jesus. Then the author develops this overall summary of what God is saying through his son.
God Exalted Him as Heir and Creator
God Exalted Him as Heir and Creator
He gives to actions that God as done through Jesus.
2 In these last days, he has spoken to us by his Son. God has appointed him heir of all things and made the universe through him.
The author brings forth two truths about the Son. That God has appointed him or assigned him heir of all things. The heir of a family was a person who by law would receive the inheritance of another person. In this culture the one who inherited all that the father had was the first-born male of a family.
God has appointed Jesus at the one who inherits all that is his. This was predicted in the psalms
6 “I have installed my king on Zion, my holy mountain.” 7 I will declare the Lord’s decree. He said to me, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father. 8 Ask of me, and I will make the nations your inheritance and the ends of the earth your possession. 9 You will break them with an iron scepter; you will shatter them like pottery.”
27 I will also make him my firstborn, greatest of the kings of the earth.
Is the end the God’s tells us that all will be the Son’s. That everything that was and is will be his. The nations, the cosmos, the universe, and the heavens along with every person that the father has given to him as well as those the have not been given. There is nothing that can be conceived by men and woman and everything that cannot be perceived and understood will not be given to the Son.
It was the first-born in the Hebrew culture that would receive the inheritance. The term first-born is a term that doesn’t mean birth order in this sense. It means the one who has been legally established to receive the inheritance.
We can tell from this verse that the author is not speaking of the human birth of Jesus as the next part speaks of God creating all through him.
There is a tendency to see Jesus as coming into the story of creation at the beginning of the Gospels but if Jesus is the agent that God used for all of creation to come to existence then God is not speaking of the worldly birth of the messiah.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.
As part of the Godhead Jesus is divine and everything that was created was already his. Every cell of every plant or animal. The sky the planets, the mixture of the elements. The life that was breathed into man was all done by God and through the Son. You exist because Jesus created a universe and a planet that allows for life to exist and then created you. Before God spoke there was just God with no beginning or end. When He spoke time-matter-energy-space were all instantly in harmony with each other.
All things were created by him. Do you believe that?
This is why manipulating and mocking and messing with the creation of God is so impact. Have you ever made something and someone came in behind you and changed everything you had done. The perfect creator made each person and a person is very bold when they chose to profane what was created. To stand there and to say that Jesus I know you made me but you messed up or. To stand there and to say I am my own person you have no say in my life. Oh really.
Jesus is the agent of all creation and therefore it is under his power already but the story of God’s creation is not just a story of creation and ownership. It is a redemptive story of man. Where to one who as ultimate authority as God does something that is so spectacular that we will never completely grasp how it happen but in human words it is described as such.
5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus became God incarnate. He was born of a woman and took on a second nature. He was still fully God and was also fully human. And he lived and died on the cross to redeem the portion of humanity that God has given the Son. And because of this Jesus is exalted above every other created thing. and is king of kings and lord of lords.
One commentator put it this way. Jesus was always the heir of all but the inheritance was “paid out” when the work of the cross was completed.
To think about this with our finite minds is frustrating at times but what does it mean to a believer that the who promises you that is you believe in him. If you put your trust in him that he will save you from your sins and give you his righteousness. This is the one who also created you. Does he have the power to fulfill his promises. If we are faithful will he be.
If I cam in here and said you know what tomorrow i am not going to let the sun come up. We are going to have a 48 hour Sunday. You would think I am crazy. But what if I was the one who created the sun. set it in orbit. Knew the complex relationships of the sun to all of the rest of creation, then would you believe that I would hold up my promise.
Minimizing who Jesus is minimizes the potential of our faith. Since Jesus is infinite than our faith in him can grow and grow and grow for all of eternity we will grow in our trust and faith in Christ.
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together. 18 He is also the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything.
Jesus as Image Bearer
Jesus as Image Bearer
The author continues this jam packed though with two more verses:
Hebrews 1:3–4 (CSB)
3 The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. 4 So he became superior to the angels, just as the name he inherited is more excellent than theirs.
The main verb of this thought is that he, being Jesus, sat down. All of the other verbs are describing this event of Jesus taking his place. As he assumes the throne as king of Kings and Lord of Lords and sits over his inheritance. Which he will rule over for all of eternity. there are three statement before and one after.
The son is..
Sustaining all things
After making
and
so he became.
Each of these define and support the place of the Son at the right hand.
The first describes who is the one taking a seat. This is the Son who is the radiance of the glory and exact expression of his nature. The radiance of God’s Glory. Throughout the old testament God revealed a portion of his glory in different forms such as a burning bush to Moses or a Cloud Or a light to the Israelite. Also the glory of God would be at time in the Holy of Holies in the temple.
The Glory of God is his high state and Jesus is the radiance of this high state and he radiates this by being the exact expression of God’s nature. God’s nature is everything he is. There is no part or aspect of God that is left out of his nature. And Jesus is the exact expression of this.
The words used here are the word that describe the stamping or reproducing of something. It is the idea of stamping an image on a coin with the likeness of a person on it. but this is an exact expression of God’s nature.
The exact representation of God’s substance. There is nothing of Jesus that is not God and the is nothing of God left out in Jesus.
The age old plea of man. I want to see God. Then look at Jesus. I want to know God. Then know Jesus. I want God to speak to me then read the Word.
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 All things were created through him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 That light shines in the darkness, and yet the darkness did not overcome it. 6 There was a man sent from God whose name was John. 7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that all might believe through him. 8 He was not the light, but he came to testify about the light. 9 The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. 10 He was in the world, and the world was created through him, and yet the world did not recognize him. 11 He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, he gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in his name, 13 who were born, not of natural descent, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. 14 The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We observed his glory, the glory as the one and only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. 15 (John testified concerning him and exclaimed, “This was the one of whom I said, ‘The one coming after me ranks ahead of me, because he existed before me.’ ”) 16 Indeed, we have all received grace upon grace from his fullness, 17 for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. 18 No one has ever seen God. The one and only Son, who is himself God and is at the Father’s side—he has revealed him.
The moment Jesus gave up his spirit on the cross the veil was torn and from that point forward the glory of God was no longer in the cloud, the bush, or the temple but in the Son.
Oh how we have wasted day after day the opportunity to see God, to speak to God, to know God, to have him speak to us through his own words.
55 Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven. He saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 He said, “Look, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” 57 They yelled at the top of their voices, covered their ears, and together rushed against him. 58 They dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. And the witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. 59 While they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” 60 He knelt down and cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!” And after saying this, he fell asleep.
As Stephen looked up and was given the honor of seeing into heaven, what did he see.
He saw the Son, Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He saw the exact representation of God, he saw all of God’s glory in Jesus and Steven was dying of a brutal death. As he fixed his eyes on Jesus as he saw his savior, king, lord, and co-heir in heaven his heart flowed with compassion towards the crowd that was killing him. The people who should have recognized Jesus failed to see God. Stephen had adopted the attitude of his savior.
Conclusion
Conclusion
5 Adopt the same attitude as that of Christ Jesus, 6 who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God as something to be exploited. 7 Instead he emptied himself by assuming the form of a servant, taking on the likeness of humanity. And when he had come as a man, 8 he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death— even to death on a cross. 9 For this reason God highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow— in heaven and on earth and under the earth— 11 and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Steven has come to know Jesus as the author of Hebrews is describing and you see a life that is gross contrast to the world around him. Before this great section on Jesus from Paul in Philippians he started with this
1 If, then, there is any encouragement in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, 2 make my joy complete by thinking the same way, having the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. 3 Do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility consider others as more important than yourselves. 4 Everyone should look not to his own interests, but rather to the interests of others.
A correct view of Jesus is so important. All false religions come back to a false view of Jesus. To believe he was just a man, a good teacher, then you remove the fact that everything was created through him and Genesis falls apart and then the whole bible falls apart.
To believe we will become like Jesus is in that we will have the same relationship to God as Jesus would mean that we claim to be exact representations of God. This is unbiblical and prideful.
34 Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is the one who died, but even more, has been raised; he also is at the right hand of God and intercedes for us.
We are not independent people, Like in marriage… and parent hood… We are the body as christ is the head we are not independent of each other. Even the single man or woman you have a role in the body. Each and every person has been given gifts by the Spirit to be used to build each other up.
Church isnt the place we are members, it isn't the entity that we give our money. It isn’t the place that we identify as.
Church is the gathering of God’s adopted children that gather in community each and every day in different ways and corporately on Sundays. It gathers for the purpose hearing from God by knowing the Son and living out the transformed life that comes from living for christ.
We gather to
Prayer
Communion
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: On the night when he was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, and said, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.
Prayer
Song
Closing
Blessing/Benediction
20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant, 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.