Think About Jesus
Hebrews 3:1-6
Intro.
What do you think about?
From the moment we are born, all think about something:
Baby – own comfort, enjoyment, “dryness” and food.
Child – what to wear, who will sit by me at lunch, should I take a sack lunch or eat in the cafeteria
Adolescent – does she like me? Should I ask her on a date, or would she laugh at me? Where should I go to college? Should I get married? How will I support myself, and what will I do for a career?
Adults – plethora of things to think about – doesn’t let up. Details of job and family. Tasks to be done. Always something to think about!
(E.g.: consumed with thinking about details of moving into new home: paint, carpet, utilities . . .)
Our whole lives are spent thinking about something.
We think about silly things that make us laugh, sad things that make us cry, serious things that make us stop.
How much time to we spent thinking about spiritual things?
What you think about is an accurate indicator of where your REAL values and priorities are.
Read verse one:
Middle of vs. 1: “Fix your thoughts on Jesus” = not mere casual or occasional glance. Rather = “consider attentively.” Apply mind dilig¬ently, to determine the significance of something.
LXX – translates verb with words “spy” and “watch.” Think about private investigator on a stake out and the way he is watching the one he is hired to spy on.
Never been a PI, but have been a reporter. Apply investigative tools to unlock this passage, use reporting essential questions: “Who, what, why, when, where, how.”
1. How and When to think about Jesus: 4 essentials
Starts with desire
David: One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple (Ps. 27:4)
Paul: I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death. (Phil. 3:10)
b. Calls for concentration
My wife to me: “you have the classic symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder.” (I always thought I just had a lot of interests!)
Isaac Newton said the key to his understanding was, “I keep it before me.”
Avoid distractions.
c. Must have discipline
Athlete Hebrews 12:1,2 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
d. Requires time. Reflection can’t happen with a glance.
Can’t see beauty of country as travel interstate or travel overhead in a jet. Have to take the small roads. Stop, sit and gaze.
How much time are you spending with the Lord?
Several years ago, doing D. Min. at Denver Seminary, challenged “you say that prayer is a priority. Show me your Daytimer.”
Why do we have so many weak Christians? Why are we struggling with faith and life?
Could it be because we’re desiring the wrong things?
“ “ “ we’re concentrating on the wrong things?
“ “ “ we’re not disciplined, and
we’re not spending the time fixing our thoughts on Jesus?
He should be the object of our thoughts, our heart’s affections.
To recipients: turn thoughts from (1) trials and persecution and (2) fixation with angels, and fix your thoughts on Jesus!
2. Why think about Jesus?
Vs. 1 – first word “Therefore” - because:
Ch. 1 - Who He IS (creator, sustainer, image and reflection of the Father, purifier of our sins, sovereign ruler);
Ch. 2 - What He’s DONE for us!
- he died to save us
- he has freed us from Satan’s grasp
- he understands our temptations and so can empathetically respond to our cries for help
3. Who should think about Jesus?
“Why, everyone should think about Jesus.” Of course yes, but frank wishful thinking. Not everyone does. Really don’t expect those who are strangers to God to think much about Christ. We think about those we love. And if you’ve never met Jesus, you can’t love him.
Vs. 1 - “Holy Brethren who share in the heavenly calling”that’s WHO
Those who are Christ-followers, in love with him and truly grateful to Him are the ones who are to fix their thoughts on Jesus..
Nb. Some things about us:
(1) We are family
• Brothers with one another. No distinction of race, or gender, or culture in body of Christ. No longer Jews, no longer Gentiles, no more Swedes or Norwegians or Englishmen or Germans. We are all “new creatures in Christ.”
• Brothers of Jesus . Heb. 2:11 . . . “so Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers” Don’t send a “thinking about you” card to a stranger. Sending such a card presupposes an ongoing relationship! Don’t expect strangers you’ve never met to think about your father, or brother or spouse or child - relatives and friends think about one another. The reason we think about Jesus is we are family!
(2) We are “Holy” = “set apart, consecrated.” Brothers are “holy” not because of their walk (although may have a good walk). “Holy” isn’t a reference to a lifestyle, but to the believer’s position in salvation. Are holy because have been set apart to the service of God by the calling and work of Jesus Christ.
(3) We are called.
The “calling” of God is a sovereign act of a sovereign God.
Our call is heavenly. From heaven and to heaven. We are citizens of a different realm. Here we have no abiding city!
The hope of a heavenly calling is based on the accomplished work of Christ on the cross and the power of the resurrection - not on our own righteousness! If it hung on our goodness, we would be hopeless!
There are sinners of every kind in this congregation this morning - lying sinners, stealing sinners, killing sinners, sexual sinners, parent-disobeying sinners, children abusing sinners. Our ONLY HOPE is to for the holy God to take the initiative and call us out of our lives of sin unto himself!
4. WHAT to think about - What do you think about when you think about Jesus?
Correct perception of Jesus comes from correct thinking about Jesus!
CT - attempts re. historical Jesus look suspiciously like the critic!
Danger of forming Jesus in our own image Must be accurate (important in many endeavors – none more so than matters on which you are literally “betting your future!”
Vs. 1b “the aposgtle and high priest whom we confess.
(1) “apostle” and (2) high priest
• As apostle, Jesus revealed God to man. As High Priest, he reconciled man to God.
• As apostle he proclaimed salvation - as high priest provided salvation.
• As the apostle, Jesus represented God to man. As high priest, he represents man before God.
• As the apostle, Jesus is the final word from God. As our high priest, he is the only way to God.
Apostle - emphasizes his message and his mission. Jesus was a “man on a mission,” fully aware of his identity and the purpose of his coming. Apostle refers to the word of Jesus, and the fact that Jesus is the superior and supreme WORD of God (1:1-4; John 1:1 ff.).
High Priest - refers to the work of Jesus.
Nb. “whom we confess”
He calls us (as saw earlier – that’s his part) , we confess him (that’s our part).
Ro. 10:9,10 …if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
Confession = acknowledge Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. That he is the Creator and Sustainer of the universe, that he became real man, that he suffered and died in my place, that he rose again and lives, and is now interceding for me and pleading my case before the Father!
The great need of sinful people is not confession to man, but to God, who is the true priest of our souls. The whole medieval system of private confession was not instituted by Jesus or used by the Apostles. Of the 3,000 who turned to the Lord on Pentecost, none of them confessed to a human priest – rather they turned their lives over to the One who can lay every thought bare, who convicted them so that they cried out, “what must we do to be saved?”
Beginning in vs. 2 Another comparison – (already saw Jesus is greater than the angels) CF. with Moses - Jesus is the greatest!
The “big deal” about who is greatest = who are you going to follow? Who will you worship? Who will you identify with and give your life to? Who will you rely on? Who will you spend your time thinking about?
Jewish esteem of Moses. Jesus is even greater!
Moses chosen by God
• under sentence of death, plucked from bulrushes
• given noble upbringing, natural mother as nursemaid
• burning bush
Deliverer
• plagues
• parted Red Sea
• water from rock
Greatest Prophet
Nu. 12:6-8 - spoke to others through visions, dreams, but communicated directly, face-to-face with Moses.
Lawgiver
To Jew, Law greatest thing in world. Through Moses: 10 commandments, levitical laws, sacrificial system, tabernacle.
Historian
1st 5 books
Most humble
Hadn’t gone to his head.
Moses was the OT apostle and high priest:
* As apostle, he was God’s appointed representative, through whom God communicated to people. When his unique position as the spokesman for God was challenged, even by own family members, his faithfulness was vindicated by God.
* As high priest, most effective Intercessor, pleading for lives of people before God. After idolatrous festival worshipping the golden calf, in which even Aaron was implicated, it was Moses whose plea brought pardon for the guilty people.
Vs. 5 Both Moses and Jesus were faithful, yet discover a contrast between them:
Moses was (past tense, limited duration) faithful as a servant in the house.
Jesus is (present tense, ongoing) faithful a son over the house.
Jesus -
Moses testified “to what would be said in the future” (5b) The claims of Christ are foreshadowed in the law committed to Moses.
Jesus was the one who faithfully fulfilled every OT prophecy
• “ left heaven’s glory, laying aside his “omnis” - power, presence, knowledge
• “ became a human in body, mind and emotions
• “ underwent suffering and temptation, yet never giving in.
• “ did what the Father sent him to do, and said what the Father told him to say. The faithfulness of an apostle/ an envoy/ an ambassador, is seen in the loyal fulfillment of the commission with which he has been entrusted. Jesus glorified his Father on earth by finishing the work which he had given him to do.
• “ prayed in Gethsemane: “not my will, but thine be done.”
• “ yielded his hands and feet to the nails on the hill of the skull
• “ became sin for us - again and again those three hours on the cross his soul recoiled and convulsed as on to him were poured all the lies of civilization, the genocides of Hitlers and Stalins and Husseins, the murders of people born and unborn, along with the noxious brew of lusts and greeds and hatreds and jealousies and pride and self-centeredness that fester in each of us. In the darkness he bore it in silence. And of course he
Now, as our risen Savior and faithful high priest
• he faithfully and tenderly and compassionately intercedes for us.
What makes the intercession of Jesus so supremely and unequivocally effective is that he is the (3) “faithful son”
READ vs. 3-6a.
Great as Moses was, he was a household servant. Moses was a member of the house; Jesus was the Maker of the house.
Jesus, the Son of God, through whom the universe was made and to whom it has given by his Father as his inheritance, is the founder and builder and owner-heir of the household.
“House” is used 6 times in these verses.
Reference to the people of God. Place where God lives!
When you see a house, know someone built it. See the universe, know someone built it. When see the church, know someone built it!
Nb. Vs. 4 - evidence of deity of Jesus - that he is one with God the Father, the Maker of all things.
Before God came to Moses and said, “make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them,” God had never lived with people before. He had visited, even walked and talked with, such people as Adam and Eve, and Enoch, and Noah, and Abraham. He had wrestled with Jacob. But there had never been a hint of God coming and living among them!
God ultimately lived “tabernacled” among men in Jesus.”
Then sent the Holy Spirit, and by him, lives within us who have asked us into our hearts! Each of us, personally, is where God lives.
A warning:
God issued a solemn warning against any who might venture to speak against his servant, Moses (Nu. 12:8).
More solemn still is the implicit warning against denying or ignoring or departing from the claims of Jesus Christ and the gospel. 2:3 “how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation.”
Vs. 6b - a promise and a challenge. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. Promise = we are his house. Challenge = a call to persevere. Keep thinking about Jesus! “Hold that thought!”
Jesus defines faithfulness. Embodies faithfulness. Doesn’t ask us to do or be anything which he is not himself. If want to know what faithfulness is, look to Jesus. And he requires us to be faithful.
Over and over in Hebrews will see that “holding on” is the test and evidence of real faith. The true believers are those who persevere to the end. E.g.: seed sown on rocky soil made a fair showing at first, but couldn’t stand the heat of the sun because it had no root. Jesus explained = those who respond with joy to the word when first hear it, but when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately fall away.
“If” clauses - not suggesting that we must keep ourselves saved, any more than we can get ourselves saved by our behavior. Would contradict theme of book, which is the accomplished work of Christ and his heavenly ministry guaranteeing our salvation. Rather, those who hold fast their confidence and hope are proving they are truly born again. These warnings aren’t given to create uncertainty, but to avoid presumption and carelessness.
While we don’t obtain our relationship to Jesus by excellent behavior,
nor lose it if we mess up,
yet we enjoy it by a faithful walk.
In nautical circles, the meanings of the word translated “hold on,” meant “hold one’s course toward.” The opposite of veering away from, or “drifting” (2:1)
Are you holding on to your courage, your boldness, your confidence, your hope? Was there a time, when the grace of God first got a hold of you, when you were proud and courageous for Jesus, but now, with the passing of time, are your pride, your boast, your courage gone?
The HS asks, in the jostling tides of life are you drifting away? Or are you persevering, are you enjoying the abundance, of the life of joy Christ has called you to?
Where does this Christian life begin and end? With fixing our thoughts, our hearts, our souls on Jesus! He is our apostle. He is our high priest. Today we are his house, with all the privileges that entails - he is our maker, our owner, our ruler, our provider! He lives in us! Therefore take courage! Be bold! Your hope is not in vain.
This morning, are you discouraged? Think about Jesus.
“ “ “ frightened? Think about Jesus.
“ “ “ depressed? Think about Jesus.
“ “ “ lonely? Think about Jesus.
“ “ “ angry? Think about Jesus.
“ “ “ confused? Think about Jesus.
No matter what you’re going through, think about Jesus! Only he will never fail you. Only he will never let you down.
Renew your trust. Place your trust in him if never have before.
