Fix Your Thoughts On Jesus

FIX YOUR THOUGHTS ON JESUS

HEBREWS 3:1-6 OCTOBER 13, 2002

HEBREWS 3:1-6

1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.

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Dearest Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

It might seem strange to us that we need to be reminded of our Savior, to fix our thoughts on Jesus as our text tells us this morning. Yet we know in our busy day-to-day living, we may not fix our thoughts on Jesus too often during our daily life. We think about what we’re going to have for dinner or supper, we think about what’s going to be news on the television, we think about what we’re going to do next, we think about balancing the check book and all sorts of things in our day-to-day living. What appeals to us in our day-to-day living are those things that we can see and the things that we can feel and touch. Jesus, whom we can’t see, feel and touch, is sometimes distant from our thoughts. Even Paul wrote to the Corinthians: "So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal"(2 CORINTHIANS 4:18). It is fitting that we sit back today and concentrate on those things, which we can’t see, that we fix our thoughts on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. We use as our theme what the writer of the Hebrews writes:

FIX YOUR THOUGHTS ON JESUS

I. Greater than Moses

II. God’s faithful Son

I. Greater than Moses

We’re reminded in the letter to the Hebrews that it was written because a group of people in the church were concentrating too much on the Old Testament. This group inside the church said, ‘we need to keep God’s laws. We need to see what He says, and follow them.’ They were not concerned that Jesus had kept all of the laws for them. The purpose of this letter was to focus their thoughts on Jesus who had died on the cross to save them from sin and eternal destruction.

Our text begins as he makes his appeal to them. Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. First of all, he was addressing that whole congregation as brothers, reminding them that they were brothers in the faith. They shared in the same heavenly calling. As we heard last week, Jesus came as the brother of mankind, so that they would be made partakers of the heavenly glory. The writer is saying to them, ‘Even though you may think that the Old Testament is going to save you, that God’s law is going to save you, remember we are brothers in the faith who share in the heavenly calling.’ The heavenly calling means fixing their thoughts on Jesus. He calls Jesus an apostle, a New Testament term which means ‘one who is sent’. He also refers to Him as the high priest…something connecting Jesus back with the Old Testament. The people were very familiar with the high priest who offered sacrifice after sacrifice, year after year; pointing out that the true sacrifice was yet to come. The writer here is saying, ‘Remember the sacrifices, remember the high priests? Now we have Jesus who is the true high priest!’

He makes another comparison for them. He compares Jesus and Moses because the people were putting their confidence in Moses. He says, ‘Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses. They revered Moses, they honored Moses. The fact is, when Moses died, God Himself buried Moses. He didn’t want the people to come and dig up his bones or body and worship Moses. Moses had led the people for over a generation. He led them to the Promised Land. Our writer states, ‘As much as you loved Moses, as much as you followed him and worshipped him, Jesus is greater!’ Then he tells them why. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. The writer says, ‘Stop to think about it…which is greater, the house or the builder?’ There are no houses unless someone builds it. The writer carries on that comparison and says, ‘For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.’ There they have it—they had put their trust in Moses and the laws of the Old Testament. The writer tells them that Jesus created everything, Moses didn’t create one thing. Jesus is the builder of all things.