Hebrews 1. 1-4 and 2.5-12
I’d like to take a look at the epistle this morning from the book of Hebrews.
Did it strike you as it did me that whereas God in the past spoke to his people through the prophets, he has spoken to us by his Jesus , his Son.
We have direct access to God, through Jesus
His Holy Spirit is in us who are Christians
The Reformation was all about not needing a priest to interpret God’s will for the man in the street
And the essence of my talk today is that Jesus is better than.....
We live in a society where people might say: Christianity is good for you – but it isn’t for me
They try all sorts of things
Islam, Buddhism Hinduism – all religions
They try self help systems
Positive thinking, Yoga, Zen Buddhism.
But I want to say to you that if Jesus gets hold of your life – and you allow him
JESUS is BETTER
Take for example the prison system. We try to reform criminals through getting them to do courses. If you get qualified you’ll get a job and you don’t need to come back in – forgetting that normal businessmen and women don’t like to employ ex cons.
So I was fascinated when I read about Humaita Prison in Brazil
Charles Colson, Director of Prison Fellowship and former Counsel to the President of the United States Richard Nixon, who himself went to prison as a result of the Watergate affair wrote this:
“Humaita Prison in Brazil is a remarkable place.
Almost twenty years ago, it was a rotting building where prisoners were tortured.
Then three Christian men went to the government and asked permission to take over the prison.
They got permission.
And they started to run Humaita as a Christian prison.
They did not restrict it to Christian inmates, but you couldn’t stay there very long without coming to know Christ.
It is an extraordinary prison–different from anything any of us have experienced.
Inmates open the doors; they have the keys.
Security as we understand it is totally compromised.
When an inmate needs to leave the premises to go to court, that inmate is escorted by other inmates.
The staff is made up entirely of volunteers.
It is overseen by the judge responsible for all the prisons in that area, and the judge is supported because this prison is incredibly productive and stable.
“It is the cleanest prison I have ever seen.
Colson said
The cleaning schedule is established and carried out by the inmates.
We asked inmates why they stayed when they could just walk away.
Some had been assigned to other prisons and had tried for years to get assigned to this one because they believed they could escape easily.
But one inmate expressed the reason for his presence eloquently:
“When I walked into this prison, they took off handcuffs of steel and replaced them with handcuffs of love.”
They assign people to a buddy system. Each new inmate is assigned to an elder who loves the Lord.
And at every single meal, they stand before the meal and recite the Lord’s Prayer in Portuguese.
If anyone ever asks whether Christ makes a difference, send them down to San Jose des Campos in Brazil to the Humaita Prison.
For all those years, while the government of Brazil has had a 74 percent reoffending rate, Humaita has released more than three hundred inmates, and they have had only twelve come back. That’s 4 percent reoffending rate.
Colson goes on to say:
One inmate showed me Humaita’s secret.
This inmate was convicted for murder, but he was my guide through the prison, walking around with all the prison keys hanging from his belt.
He asked whether I’d like to see the maximum security cell.
So we walked down a long hall of steel doors toward the cell in question.
He said it used to be the punishment cell where they tortured people.
“We still use it for punishment,” he said. “We have one inmate in there.”
He took me to the door and looked through the little peek hole. “Are you sure you want to go in there?” he asked.
“I have been in maximum security holes all over the world,” I told him. I wanted to see.
He said, “Okay,” and then unlocked the door. As he swung the door open, I looked in and saw a couple of chairs and a dim light and flowers on a table.
I walked through the door.
To the right I saw a crucifix–Christ hanging on the cross.
My guide pointed to the image of Christ and said,
“This is the prisoner who is taking the punishment for us.”
A sign on the wall above the crucifix said, “We are together” in Portuguese.
They understand that they are joined with Christ, who suffered.
In Humaita - Jesus is better.
A couple of years before my father died, when I was still a patent lawyer, my Dad was sitting by the fire talking to me. I have been a Christian about 15 years
Dad was, in his own words, an atheist – though I think probably more an agnostic.
What he experienced in World War 2 – at battles like Alamein and Monte Casino - I am sure had an effect on him
He said ”Martin I can see Christainity is good for you. It isn’t for me but I can see it is good for you!”
Jesus is better…
Of course there are Christians who let the side down.
I am not advocating Christianity as a world power system – I am advocating Jesus.
Throughout Hebrews we’re told how much better Jesus is.
• He’s better than angels
because Angels in Greek and Jewish society were important. People really worshipped them
• He’s better than any man that’s ever lived
Jesus is better… than anything.
Why would that be important for us to know that Jesus was better than anything this world can offer?
BECAUSE if we DON’T realise how much better Jesus is than anything we could possibly know, then we will always be looking for SOMETHING better in our lives.
Whether it is money, love, power, popularity –
something will always edge Jesus out if He is NOT regarded as being the "best" that we could have.
Story: About 15 years ago a survey of Church people was conducted in the USA and it found that of those who attend church regularly ONLY 55% said that their faith affected the way they live.
That meant that 45% felt their faith didn’t affect their lives.
Why would that be?
Because Jesus wasn’t much more important than anything else in their lives.
Apparently the people to whom this author of Hebrews is writing, had the same problem.
That’s why he warns them in Hebrews 2:1-4
" 1We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.
2For if (we ignore) the message spoken …, 3how shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?
This salvation, which was first announced by the Lord, was confirmed to us by those who heard him.
4God also testified to it by signs, wonders and various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
The Evidence is there in the Bible, if we have the time to look for it
If Jesus isn’t BETTER than anything else for us, then we will merely come to Church on Sundays and lose out on God’s very best for our lives.
All the top athletes will tell you that they got to the top by being dedicated to their sport
Story: Rebecca Adlington, the swimming double Olympic gold medallist was asked what her training schedule was?
Her reply was:
My typical day will see me in the pool at 6am for a two hour training session, I then go home for something to eat and then I do another two hours in the late afternoon. I also do two hours in the gym three days a week. I have Sundays off. It is hard getting up so early especially after a hard day but you know it’s what you have to do to be the best.
Could you imagine if that was a Christian’s praying schedule?
If only Christians would pray for only 1/4 of the time Rebecca Adlington puts into swimming training, this country would be a different place
But so often we get distracted and pursue “something else” And if we get distracted, we’ll drift away from God . We will miss out on that fantastic life that Jesus has planned for us. And it’s never too late
What is the aim of a Christian’s training schedule?
The author of the book of Hebrews put it simply like this
11Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family.
Like Jesus, we are to become holy. Holy (another word for this is being sanctified) means simply “set aside for God”
Put another way, we are saved by grace but we take part in the process of sanctification.
St Paul puts it this way in Eph 2:8-10
8For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9not by works, so that no one can boast. 10For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
If Jesus is better than anything else – do we make pursuing holiness our goal in life.
Are we ready to get into training for Him?
