A Time to Pray (2)
Notes
Transcript
Jesus, Our High Priest
Jesus, Our High Priest
There is just 1 more week remaining in our “Praying through Pentecost Sunday” emphasis. Again, I hope you have been using the materials that have been provided to aid you in your prayers. I also hope that you have been praying for those three areas mentioned last week regarding our local church needs.
Spiritual Growth
Numerical Growth
Financial Growth
It has been another difficult week to try to make sense of our world. There is still a war going on in Europe. Another week has gone by and another deadly mass shooting has occurred in our nation. I have struggled to know what to preach this morning. our emphasis has been on prayer, and I am continuing that theme this morning. But I, like you, have really struggled to make sense of what is happening in our world. Evil has been on display, perhaps more so than at any time in most of our lives. My heart aches for the families in Texas that are grieving the loss of 19 children & 2 teachers senselessly murdered. It is hard to fathom the depth of evil that would give someone the idea to shoot his grandma in the face and then go to an elementary school and murder children.
In the midst of this tragedy, I have continued to be much in prayer for the church to be a witness and example of Christlike love even in the midst of this pain. Our prayer, in the midst of this tragedy is “Lord, have mercy…Christ, have mercy!” As I pray, I am reminded that we have a God that does hear our prayers, but as I indicated last week, we need to pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on us. In the midst of this struggle, I want us to turn this morning to the book of Hebrews, chapter 4, beginning at verse 14, through chapter 5, verse 10
14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
1 Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.
2 He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness.
3 This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people.
4 And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.
5 In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him, “You are my Son; today I have become your Father.”
6 And he says in another place, “You are a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.”
7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
8 Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered
9 and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him
10 and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
When life gets hard and you feel like quitting, DON’T. As followers of Jesus, our high priest, we are called to
1. PERSEVERE.
Sometimes we may feel like we can’t go on, but we are called to hold on!
Hold fast to your confession. Don’t give up your faith, because Jesus is the Son of God. You see, Jesus is not only your Priest – the one who cares for you and goes to God on your behalf; and Jesus is not only your HIGH Priest – the head of all priests; Jesus is your GREAT High Priest! No other priest in the Bible was ever called “GREAT” – only Jesus. And that’s because He far surpassed any High Priest in Israel’s history.
The High Priest held a very special place in the worship of the Jews in Biblical times. It was only the High Priest that could enter the holy of holies in Israel’s Temple, and even the High Priest was only allowed to do so once per year. It was separated from the rest of the temple by a thick curtain. It contained the Ark of the Covenant, which was considered to be so holy that no one dared to even look at it, much less be in the same room with it. It was too dangerous! Some of those who had touched the Ark in the past didn’t live to talk about it, even on one occasion when the ark was being moved and was slipping off of the cart it was on and a man reached out to steady the ark and was killed because of it. There were strict orders as to how the Ark was to be moved, and they did not follow those instructions, resulting in this man’s death.
So only the High Priest could go into the Holy of Holies, and only once a year, and only with the blood of an animal sacrifice to cover for his own sins and the sins of the Israelite people. Even then, a rope was tied around him long enough for the other end of it to stick out from under the curtain. That way, if the High Priest died while in God’s presence, the other priests could pull him out without having to risk their own lives. Being a High Priest in Israel was an awesome responsibility and an awesome privilege.
However, according to the author of Hebrews, Jesus has done much better than going in to the Holiest place of the temple. He didn’t go into a man-made temple on earth; He went into Heaven itself. And He didn’t bring with Him the blood of an animal sacrifice; He brought His own shed blood. And He didn’t go to an Ark which only represented God’s presence; He went into the very presence of God Himself.
Jesus truly is THE Great High Priest, because He is the Son of God Himself, going into the very presence of God Himself, bringing His own shed blood to cover for the sins of the whole world, not just the Israelite people. Jesus truly is THE Great High Priest, and He is YOUR Great High Priest if you are depending on Him.
So don’t quit. Hold fast to your confession. Hang on to your faith.
In a Bible study called It Had to Be a Monday, Jill Briscoe writes about the death of a Christian friend. During the funeral visitation, the deceased man's wife and sister stood by the casket, greeting people. The sister kept motioning to her brother's body, saying to each person who came to greet her, “There he is. There he is.”
After some time, when the wife could stand it no longer, she turned to her sister-in-law and, in love, said, “If I believed, ‘there he is,’ I would be miserable.” Then she added, “Do you know what enables me to get through this day? What gets me through is that I know the truth: ‘THERE HE ISN'T.’” (Jill Briscoe, It Had to Be a Monday; www.PreachingToday.com)
This very week, some of you have experienced death once again in your family, and you have been reminded of the fragility of this life. But our hope this morning is in the Son of God, who gave His life on Calvary and was raised to new life - our hope is that in the midst of suffering, we are reminded that we have a Savior that knows how we feel and has overcome death.
So when life gets hard and you feel like quitting, DON’T. Instead, hold fast to your confession; persevere, because Jesus is the Son of God. Then…
2. Pray with Confidence.
Come boldly to Christ with your need. Don’t be afraid to approach the throne of grace, because Jesus suffers with you.
Hebrews 4:15
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Jesus is not only the Son of God, He is the God who suffers with you and me. Later in our passage, we are reminded that Jesus, Himself suffered greatly for you and me. The word for “empathize” or “sympathize” literally means “to share the same suffering together with,” so when we suffer, Jesus, our High priest suffers with us. He has experienced every weakness, every pain, and every temptation you have experienced, except that He never sinned.
A lot of people often question “WHY?” when they go through times of pain, but often there is no answer for that question. Sometimes the why is that there is evil in the world, and people can choose evil over good.
Jesus is the God who suffers with us, because when it comes right down to it, we don’t really need an answer to the question “why”; we need someone to walk with us through the pain, and Jesus is that person.
In an article for the Christian Standard magazine some time ago (2007), Matt Proctor wrote about how his 5-year-old, Carl, and his 3-year-old, Conrad, loved it when he dressed like them. They would put on jeans and a blue T-shirt and then ask him to put on jeans and a blue T-shirt. When he did, they said, “Look, Dad – same, same!”
When Matt played living room football with his boys, Conrad (his 3-year-old) would not let him play standing – so big and scary. Instead he insisted that Matt get on his knees. Then, when Matt was down at eye-level, Conrad put his hand on his dad’s shoulder and said, “There. See, Dad – same, same.”
That summer, Matt scraped his leg working on his house. When Conrad fell and scraped his leg, he pointed at his dad’s scab along with his own and said, “Hey, Dad – same, same.”
Here's the point… God himself has felt what we feel. When He became a man, He got down at our level and experienced what it's like to be tired and discouraged. He knows what it's like to hurt and bleed. On the cross, Jesus experienced the pain of loss and separation. That’s why one of His final utterances was “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” as he felt rejection by God for the first time ever.
In your pain, you may be tempted to say, “God, you have no idea what I'm going through. You have no idea how bad I'm hurting.” But God can respond, “Yes, I do.” He can point to your wounds and then to his own and say, “Look: same, same… I know how you feel. I have been there, and I am with you now. I care, and I can help.” (Matt Proctor, “Carols for Any Season of Suffering,” Christian Standard magazine, 12-23-07; www. PreachingToday.com)
Jesus is the God who suffers with you in your pain, so don’t be afraid to go to Him for help. In fact, come boldly to Christ with your need. Pray with the confidence that He really cares.
Hebrews 4:16
16 Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
There is an old song that expresses how we come to God looking for mercy. “Fill my cup, Lord
I lift it up, Lord
Come and quench this thirsting of my soul
Bread of Heaven, feed me 'til I want no more
Fill my cup, fill it up and make me whole.”
Maybe we ought to come with more than a cup - maybe we should, as the woman in the Old Testament story brought out every container in her household so that the prophet could fill them all with oil, maybe we should bring every container we have within our spirit to allow God to fill them all with His mercy and help in our times of need.
When life gets hard and you feel like quitting, DON’T. Instead, persevere in your confession of faith, because Jesus is the Son of God; then pray with confidence, because Jesus suffers with you. Finally, when life gets hard…
3. OBEY WITH CONVICTION.
Follow Jesus in the full assurance of faith. Do what He says, because you believe in who He is.
A High Priest cannot appoint himself to that position. God has to appoint him; God has to call him to serve, just as he called Aaron, Israel’s first High Priest. God called him to offer sacrifices for sins and to deal gently with the sinner.
Throughout His time on earth, Jesus showed mercy and grace to sinners in ways that the religious authorities did not. So don’t be afraid to go to Him no matter how badly you have sinned. Don’t be afraid to admit your sin and find forgiveness in Him. It seems like that today, people want us to go one step farther and excuse sin, but Jesus doesn’t excuse sin, He went to the cross to offer the remedy for sin. He’ll deal gently, but He also told the woman caught in adultery to “go and sin no more.”
7 During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission.
This is the verse in our prayer guide for today. Jesus, when He got closer to the time for His sacrifice on the cross went to prayer in the Garden of Gethsemene, and we are told that He begged God to take that cup from Him. He did not want to experience the cross - there has been great speculation as to exactly what He meant by that. Was it the fear of pain and death? Was it the fear of rejection from God? Was it that He didn’t want to take on my sin?
Whatever the reason, we have clear indication that Jesus did not want to die - He desired to be saved from death, so He prayed with fervent cries and tears to the God who could save him from death, and the writer of Hebrews says He was heard because of His reverent submission.
What I want us to see is that in spite of the claim that He was heard, we know that God did not answer the prayer the way that Jesus desired the prayer to be answered. When God doesn’t answer my prayers the way I want Him to answer them, I find peace in knowing that even Jesus’ prayers were not answered in the way He wanted them answered.
Ultimately, we know that God did answer Jesus’ prayer, though, but raising Him from the dead. But first Jesus had to suffer that horrible death. Why?
8 Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered;
In the same way, we learn more through obedience even through the hardest lessons of life than we do if we are removed from the struggle. His death on the cross was necessary for our salvation. Removing our struggles does not prepare us for what is ahead, but obedience through the struggle does. I am reminded of the story of the person who found a cocoon of a beautiful monarch butterfly, and watched as the butterfly struggled to free itself from the tight confines. The person was empathetic to the struggle, so they cut away the cocoon, allowing the butterfly to emerge without the struggle. However, the struggle is necessary for the butterfly to be able to thrive and for the wings to be fully functional, and the empathetic act of the person actually served to handicap the butterfly. Sometimes the only way to get to the beautiful future that God has in mind for us, we have to go through the struggle and be obedient even through suffering.
9 and having been made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him,
10 having been designated by God a high priest according to the order of Melchizedek.
The eternal priest becomes the source of eternal salvation! Through His ultimate obedience on the cross, Jesus paid the penalty for our sins. Now, he grants eternal life to anyone who puts their trust in Him. Jesus has the ability to save us forever, because he suffered and died for us on the cross.
In her book The God Who Hung on the Cross, journalist Ellen Vaughn tells the gripping story of how the Gospel came to a small village in Cambodia. In September 1999 Pastor Tuy Seng (not his real name) traveled to Kampong Thom Province in northern Cambodia. Throughout that isolated area, most of the villagers were Buddhists or spiritists. Very few had even heard of Christianity.
But much to Seng's surprise, when he arrived in one small, rural village, the people warmly embraced him and his message about Jesus. When he asked the villagers about their openness to the gospel, an old woman shuffled forward, bowed, and grasped Seng's hands as she said, “We have been waiting for you for twenty years.” And then she told him the story of the mysterious God who had hung on the cross.
In the 1970s the Khmer Rouge, the brutal, Communist-led regime, took over Cambodia, destroying everything in its path. When the soldiers finally descended on this rural, northern village in 1979, they immediately rounded up the villagers and forced them to start digging their own graves. After the villagers had finished digging, they prepared themselves to die. Some screamed to Buddha, others screamed to demon spirits or to their ancestors.
One of the women started to cry for help based on a childhood memory—a story her mother told her about a God who had hung on a cross. The woman prayed to that unknown God on a cross. Surely, if this God had known suffering, he would have compassion on their plight.
Suddenly, her solitary cry became one great wail as the entire village started praying to the God who had suffered and hung on a cross. As they continued facing their own graves, the wailing slowly turned to a quiet crying. There was an eerie silence in the muggy jungle air. Slowly, as they dared to turn around and face their captors, they discovered that the soldiers were gone.
As the old woman finished telling this story, she told Pastor Seng that ever since that humid day from 20 years ago the villagers had been waiting, waiting for someone to come and share the rest of the story about the God who had hung on a cross. (Doris I. Rosser & Ellen Vaughn, The God Who Hung on the Cross, Zondervan, 2003, pp. 35-37; www.PreachingToday.com)
Jesus had saved them from the Khmer Rouge for a time. Now, He could save them for all eternity after they heard the rest of the story and put their trust in Him.
There can only be one response to this High Priest who came to save you and me, and that’s to obey Him. Follow Him and do what He says.