His
Notes
Transcript
Have you ever received an anonymous letter?
I’ve learned that they are not uncommon among pastors or leaders for that matter, and the question is always, “What do you do with them?” If someone doesn’t want to be identified how do you go about seeking clarification? If a person is unwilling say who they are, what then is the intent of the letter? So many questions circle around such missives.
Does the absence of a signature indicate less than sufficient relationship to even warrant a dialogue?
Clearly the absence of a signature or return address negates the possibility of a dialogue and so it a sort of “Let me tell you how it is” statement. Yet, without knowing who it is that is speaking how can one weigh the authority from which they speak? The difference here is that this letter exhorts rather than scold, it is meant to encourage rather
For the early church, it seems to have been based more upon the topic of the book than the who wrote it. What is the topic? Well rather than “what”, it is more about “who”. And this “letter” is less of a letter and more of a sermon.
We read our Scripture this morning, and if you were following along in your Bibles you noted that verse 3 has more to it, and we will come to that next time. But for right now I want to stick with these verses:
Hebrews 1:1–3 (ESV)
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
This serves as a sort of Title to the New Testament book we call Hebrews. Now if you’re following along, you will note that we have cut off the ending of verse 3, and I assure you we will cover that in the coming weeks as we make our journey through this incredible book.
Why the Book of Hebrews
Why the Book of Hebrews
I will admit that this is going to be a preaching challenge. It is really unfortunate that the book of Hebrews despite being a sermon of sorts is not preached on often with the exception of a few highlighted passages that many have memorized. What I have come to love about this book is it’s deep connection to the Old Testament and the Gospels in the New Testament.
Perhaps you’ve heard people, as I have, say something to the effect of “I’m a New Testament Christian.” And people will often say this with a great deal of pride and a sort of an “I know better than you” attitude. I was having a conversation about this the other day with a friend and we realized the arrogance of this statement and the fact that they are missing out on so much of the Scriptures.
If you have a Bible with pages, it is really easy to see what your “Canon” is by simply lifting up while closed and seeing what area of the Bible shows the most wear. One aspect of my challenge for you to read through your Bibles cover to cover in 90 days was that you would be exposed to every word in the Bible. That you would make connections that you hadn’t seen before. From conversations I know that many of you have and in many cases much to your surprise! I love it. I’ve also enjoyed seeing the excitement as you’ve made these connections.
The reality is that Jesus never taught from the New Testament. Think about that. Jesus never said, “Let’s turn to the Gospel of…” or to “Paul’s letter to the …” They didn’t exist. So if you really want to understand Jesus’ teaching it might be a good idea to study the Scripture Jesus studied and taught.
That’s my goal as we do this - not only to understand this letter to the Hebrews but also to glean from it a better understanding of the person of Jesus and see what difference that makes for our lives.
God speaks
God speaks
The opening verse the preacher tells us: Heb 1:1
Hebrews 1:1 (ESV)
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke…
The preacher immediately begins with a reference to God and to God speaking. This takes the Hebrew listener right back to the beginning, to the opening verses of our Bibles:
Genesis 1:1–3 (ESV)
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And God said…
As the book progresses we will learn that not only does the preacher have a deep understanding of the Old Testament, but he has also seems to have had first hand knowledge of Jesus and of the disciples, perhaps including Paul.
So the rest of that opening verse: Heb 1:1
Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,
The preacher says God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but that was our fathers. Now the preacher tells us of God speaking more immediately to us:
Hebrews 1:2 (ESV)
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
God speaks through His Son
God speaks through His Son
This is a key point to what the preacher is doing throughout this sermon to the Hebrews. He is elevating Jesus not only to the level of prophet, but above that to the status of being God of all that is. Heritage and lineage was everything to the Hebrew people. They traced their heritage all the way back to Abraham in Genesis. This is why you see so many genealogies throughout the Old Testament, it gives them an identity.
Here the preacher is identifying Jesus as the Son of God and by that statement making Him equivalent to God, let’s read the rest of the verse:
but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world.
Whoa! Wait? Jesus created the world?
When we go back to the Creation narrative we read God said, God said, God said…and then we get down to the creation of humankind and God says, “Let us make human in our image…” Suddenly we’re in the first person plural. Gen 1:26
Genesis 1:26 (ESV)
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.”
Is there any other Scriptures to say this?
Yes, John’s Gospel:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Throughout John’s Gospel are statements of the oneness of Jesus and God the Father. But it’s not just John, Paul spoke of this as well: Col 1:15-16
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him.
“My Lord and My God”
“My Lord and My God”
Thomas exclaims upon seeing the resurrected Jesus, the Christ, “My Lord and my God!” He is the first to declare Jesus as God in the Gospels. Yet this is central to our understanding of who it is that Jesus is.
The preacher of Hebrews writes in these opening sentences: Heb 1:3
Hebrews 1:3 (ESV)
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
There are those that would say that Jesus was elevated to this point because of his obedience to God, denying Jesus being God incarnate at birth. This was debunked and considered heresy as early as the second century.
What the Preacher of the book of Hebrews, and the Gospel writers all attest to is that Jesus not only is the Son of God, but He is One with the Creator God. That makes us and everything around us, HIS!
So What?
So What?
Today many churches place great emphasis on “practical” or “experiential” Christianity. Phrases like “Quiet Time”, “Devotions”, “Scripture Memorization,” and even “Marriage and Family” have found their way into favor within the modern church whereas “Christian Doctrine” and “Theology” have fallen out of favor.
George Guthrie wrote in his commentary on Hebrews:
Hebrews Contemporary Significance
At times we drift dangerously close to the backwaters of our culture’s pragmatism, going so far as to judge sermons on the basis of whether we were offered anything practical or relevant. If the truth taught in a Bible study, devotional time, or sermon does not have immediate implications, we do not embrace it. With our society we glorify “doers” above “thinkers.” Thus, the rock star or the football hero who may be immature and shallow theologically is elevated as a star witness to Christianity.
Our own denomination at the end of the last millennium proclaimed “Theology Matters”. In fact it had a publication by that name. Yet for the average person in the pew, theology is the least of their worries. Often wanting a simple positive thought to hold on to for the day or perhaps the week to make themselves feel better about their lives and their choices.
For you all I want to encourage you to think deeply about what it means that Jesus is more than a “good teacher,” “a prophet”, “a spiritual leader.” We can say we hold Jesus higher than that, but what does that mean? How do you articulate that?
One author wrote in the late 1970’s:
Official Christianity, of late years, has been having what is known as bad press. We are constantly assured that the churches are empty because preachers insist too much upon doctrine—dull dogma as people call it. The fact is the precise opposite. It is the neglect of dogma that makes for dullness. The Christian faith is the most exciting drama that ever staggered the imagination of man—and the dogma is the drama.…
Christ, in His divine innocence, said to the woman of Samaria, “Ye worship ye know not what”—being apparently under the impression that it might be desirable, on the whole, to know what one was worshipping. He thus showed himself sadly out of touch with the twentieth-century mind, for the cry today is: “Away with the tedious complexities of dogma—let us have the simple spirit of worship; just worship, no matter of what!” The only drawback to this demand for a generalized and undirected worship is the practical difficulty of arousing any sort of enthusiasm for the worship of nothing in particular.
Dorothy L. Sayers, The Whimsical Christian: Eighteen Essays by Dorothy L. Sayers (New York: Macmillan, 1978), 11, 23.
Guthrie, G. (1998). Hebrews (pp. 59–60). Zondervan Publishing House.
Theology “is an act of repentant humility,… [in which] the Church seeks again and again to examine itself critically.… It has to be a watchman so as to carefully observe that constant threatening and invasive error to which the life of the Church is in danger, because it is composed of fallible, erring, sinful people.”
Christianity, if it is ever to be relevant, not only to ourselves but to those with whom we might share the Good News, must go deeper than happy platitudes and positive thoughts. It has to be more than “our thoughts and prayers”. It must come from an understanding of theology and thus influence our way of thinking and our actions.
This is the journey we are on together here at Mission Woods - a Growing Place. Our roots must go deep and sink into that fertile soil of God’s Word. Our understanding of the Scriptures will shape our theology which will shape our faith and our community. To God be the glory. AMEN.