Hebrews

We're continuing our series in Hebrews.

So the reading is from chapter 3 of Hebrews versus 1 to 6. So that's Hebrews chapter 3 and starting at verse 1. Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the 1 who appointed him. Just as Moses was faithful in all god's house.

Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses. Just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but god is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all god's house, bearing witness to what would be spoken by god in the future. But Christ is faithful as the sun over god's house.

And we are his house. If we indeed hold firmly in our to our confidence and in the hope in which we glory. Heavenly father, we pray that you would please speak to every single 1 of us here this morning. And would you help us please to fix our thoughts upon the lord Jesus Christ? And we ask it in his name.

Our men. Fix your thoughts on Jesus. The same word is used in Luke chapter 12, where Jesus is talking to his disciples. And in that section of scripture, he says to his disciples, consider how the wild flowers grow. It's the same word.

Fix your thoughts on Jesus. Consider how the wild flowers grow. Now what does he mean there? He's not saying to his disciples, I want you to look on the flowers of the field with a passing glance, or I want you to look at the creation around you in a kind of detached way But rather he's saying to them, I want you to stare at the flowers of the field for a long time in a serious way. I want you to look at them, and I want them to turn them over in your mind Because if you do, god will change you.

Brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling fix your thoughts on Jesus Christ. How's that going? How's that going? Very dated. I know, but when I was a kid, I remember being given a copy of the Simpsons's annual.

Now if you don't know what the Simpsons is and I trust as time goes on, less and less people will remember what the Simpsons is, it was basically a very famous cartoon in the nineties, all about this kind of American family and the dad, Homer Simpson, was was in the end quite a good bloke, I think. But certainly the sort of classically American bad dad. And, in this annual that I received, there was a picture which was a a scan of Homer Simpson's brain, showing us the sorts of things that he would think about. And let's see if we can get it up. There it is.

So this is Homer Simpson's brain. Okay? So you can see sleep. It's pretty important to him. Donuts, sweet, sweet beer, sex, quite important to him.

TV time. And then right at the bottom in words that are so small, you may not even be able to read them. It says family time. Okay? So that is Homer Simpson's brain.

Those are the kind of things that are important to him. And as you can see, family time doesn't matter all that much yet. Bit of a bit of a funny thing, isn't it? But I was just thinking about that this week, and I was wondering if we could see our own brains in a scan like that, what kinds of things would fill our own brains? What kinds of things would take up the biggest chunks of our of our attention?

What kinds of things fill your mind from week to week and day to day? That's what we're thinking about, isn't it? There's all kinds of things in the world that we are encouraged to give our attention to. I was reading an article this week entitled 15 easy ways to prolong your life. You will you will have seen these things.

They're in almost every newspaper these days. 15 easy ways to prolong your life. And there's a whole load of them. Have 2 cups of tea a day, get into gardening, flossing, the dental kind, they mean, vitamin d do housework. Houseworks is apparently very good for you.

Eat chocolate every day. So contrary to what we've been told in the past, it turns out now that eating chocolate is actually very good for you. There was another whole article on this new thing called infrared pilates. I don't know if you've heard about this. This is pilates classes that happen under infrared panels.

And the idea is that rather than heating the whole room, the infrared energy would just heat your own body. So the infrared rays will penetrate your own skin by a centimeter and half and will heat you up. And apparently, that's a very good thing. Infrared pilates. I think it's just imagine explaining that to a sort of far flung culture you know, here's what we do in the West, infrared pilates.

Let me explain it to you. Yeah? So all these things are coming. And you know, these are the sorts of things that we are encouraged to think about all the time. You know, how am I going to prolong my life, my health?

How do I look? What am I eating? The relationships that I've got, the ones that I have, and the ones that I wish I had, the ones that I do have, and the ones that I wish I didn't have, and that these things fill our minds all the time. But this passage is asking us And where in all of that is the Christ who died for us? Is he squeezed right down into the bottom of our brains a bit like Homer Simpson's family time?

You know, he gets a very little slice of our attention and our thoughts right down at the bottom of our brains when we can spare it, or does he captivate our thoughts? Does the lord Jesus Christ and his person and his work fill all of our thoughts in every way so that we can't even sometimes consider another area of life, our health or what we're watching or the music we're listening to without considering it in relation to the lord Jesus Christ. Brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus. That's what the spirit says to us in verse 1. Do not fix your thoughts on things that are destined to perish.

Cause that makes you sick, doesn't it? You know, if you get travel sickness, if you were sitting in the back of a car, maybe, or maybe you've got kids who get travel sick. 1 of the things that you might say to them to help them with their travel sickness is fix your thoughts, fix your eyes on the most stable, distant point that you can see, and you'll be alright. If you fix your eyes and your thoughts in your immediate vicinity, that's whirring past you all the time. And here it is, and then it's gone.

And here it is, and then it's gone. You're gonna get sick. You fix your thoughts and your attention, give your attention to something stable, and you won't get sick. Brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts. On the most stable point on which you can fix them.

Fix your thoughts on Jesus. But here's what he says to us in the rest of the verse, this author. Fixed your thoughts on the Jesus of the Bible. There are all kinds of people who wanna think about Jesus today. They wanna fix their minds on a Christ of their own creation or a Christ of a different religion, perhaps.

They want to think about Christ, the moral teacher. Christ the example from history, but this author says fix your eyes on Jesus of the Bible. In other words, if you are going to think about him, think of him rightly. As our, what's he called in verse 1, as our apostle. Fix your thoughts on the right Jesus, who is our apostle.

Now, that word apostle is quite an unusual, title for Jesus. In fact, I think this is the only time he is referred to as an apostle in the New Testament, but it's quite important in this overall argument of Hebrews. See, we've been seeing, haven't we in chapter 1 and chapter 2? That god has sent messengers in the past. We learned from chapter 1 that angels are ministering spirits.

In other words, they are sent ones in order to share the truth with us and bring us into truth. We learned right at the beginning of chapter 1 that god in the past sent to our ancestors, prophets, and spokesman, and priests, and he sent all of them to reveal truth. But in these last days, he has spoken to us in a greater way in the 1 who has been sent from heaven. Jesus Christ is our apostle. He is the chief of apostles sent from heaven in order to reveal the living god and the truth about god to us.

He are he is our apostle. That's what we have to consider, brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling this morning fix your eyes on Jesus because god has spoken to us most clearly and most perfectly in the man who was sent from heaven, the lord Jesus Christ. But fix your thoughts on him Not merely as our apostle, but also verse 1 as our high priest. Now in weeks to come, we're gonna see much more about Jesus' role as our high priest. But for this morning, it's enough to remember that as our high priest, Jesus Christ, is the 1 who can both bring us to god and make us right with god, and he has done that through the blood of his cross.

That when Christ our lord sacrificed his blood on that cross for our sin, he did so both as our priest and as our perfect sacrifice. And as he brings his blood before the father so it were into the holy of holies, we can come because he has gone ahead of us. He is our high priest who brings us to god. And so brothers and sisters who share in this heavenly calling, fix your eyes on Jesus, who is our apostle, and who is our high priest. As apostle, he brings God to us.

As high priest, he brings us to god. Fix your thoughts on Jesus. But fix your thoughts, also on what Jesus has done for you. Have a look at what we are called in verse 1. Therefore, holy brothers and sisters.

We are holy brothers and sisters. I don't know how you, feel coming to church this week, but I can tell you that most weeks I get up here, and I don't feel very holy. I don't feel very holy. In fact, in the language of leviticus, which is all over Hebrews, I tend to feel the exact opposite that I've come out of a week that has been full of unclean thoughts, and unclean actions and unclean words, and I've gotta get up and speak about clean things. Holy brothers and sisters.

I don't know how you feel as you come here this week. Often we don't feel very holy, do we in the way that we've lived. But that is why brothers and sisters who share in this heavenly calling. You gotta fix your thoughts on Jesus and fix your thoughts on what he has made you to be through his bloodshed shed for you at the cross. But so perfect was that sacrifice, that the god of heaven can now look upon you this morning in his son and say because of the work of that priest, this is a holy church.

You are a holy church in the lord. Holy brothers and sisters. If we fix our thoughts only on our own behavior, We will move away from that gospel, and so remember it, but not for long, fix your thoughts on Jesus who has made you to be a holy person in the lord. But also fix your thoughts on the way in which that's true for your brothers and sisters around you. It's not just true of you.

It's true of every Christian in this place. Verse 1, we're told that, aren't we? Therefore, brothers and sisters. Who share in this heavenly calling is very easy sometimes to move quickly over sentences like this, and to forget that often a whole theology of the church is embedded in sentences like this. We're not just holy brothers and sisters as individuals.

This is a holy church of brothers and sisters. And again, I don't know if we've remembered that this morning. It's easy to come into church, isn't it, sometimes, on Sunday morning, and to be disappointed by how full of sinners it always is. That person has let me down. Why have they looked at me like that?

Why haven't they remember that thing I told them? Why are they speaking so loud? Why are they ignoring? And we remember, oh, church is disappointing, isn't it? It's full of sinners.

Yeah. Well, your 1 as well. And so am I? And we do disappoint each other because we're sinners, but we don't think of that for too long. Instead, we raise our eyes and we fix our thoughts on Jesus.

And we remember that my brothers and sisters are holy in the lord now, that that is what they are. That I am greeted by and sat with and serving and being served by, people who have been made holy by the blood of the lord Jesus Christ, fix your thoughts on Jesus, you who share in the heavenly calling. Fix your thoughts on Jesus, and remember your brothers and sisters are a holy people in the lord. But neither can we stop there? We gotta fix our thoughts.

On the life to which we have been called. First 1, therefore, holy brothers and sisters who share in this heavenly calling. Isn't that a wonderful thing? That if you are a Christian here this morning, you have a heavenly calling. I'm told by, people who know about this stuff that, through things like LinkedIn, occasionally you can be recruited for a job.

That somebody might send you a message through LinkedIn calling you to what they would think is a higher and better position. I don't know if any of you have ever been recruited or called in that way through LinkedIn. It's a great thing. It must, I mean, it's never happened to me, but it's a great thing. I'm sure it feels great to be summoned and called from outside to a new life in this earth.

But how much sweeter and more significant to have been called by Christ Jesus from heaven, that he has looked upon you from heaven's throne room, and from heaven, a call has come to you through the word of god. To trust and be part of god's family. What an extraordinary thing? See, if you're a Christian here this morning, the question is how did that happen? Did you decide to be a Christian?

Well, yeah, in a very real sense, you did. But further back is the source that from heaven, Christ called you through the word of god to believe in him. Brothers and sisters think of the purpose of your life. You who share in this heavenly calling. You have been called Christian from heaven, and you have been called 1 day to heaven, and you have been called to take heaven with you into the world.

Again, sometimes we come here on Sunday mornings, and we think, well, my life hasn't looked very heavenly this week. If I've been called by heaven to spread heaven, I think on balance, I've probably spread more of hell this week than of heaven. And feel like that sometimes can't we? In our relationships and in what we choose to do with our mid week time, it feels like we spread more of heaven and hell than heaven. And that is why we we must never not fix our thoughts on Jesus.

And remember what he has called us to be. He has called us to a heavenly calling. And to take heaven with us. That is why we come to church every week, not because we're perfect people. If you are a perfect person, then Cornerstone Church has nothing to offer you, and it never will.

This place only has things to offer for sinners. We remember that we have a heavenly calling from heaven and to heaven. But also let us consider how worthy of trust Jesus is. And this is really the main point in the middle of that section. Have a look then at verse 2.

He was faithful to the 1 who appointed him. Just as Moses was faithful, in all god's house. And the question is in what way was Moses faithful? Verse 5, Moses was a faithful as a faithful as a servant in all god's house, and how was his faithfulness seen? He bore witness to what would be spoken by god in the future.

I don't know if you remember that amazing bit in John chapter 5 where Jesus is talking to the pharisees, and he says to them, do not think that I will accuse you before the father. Your accuser is Moses on whom your hopes are set. And then he says, if you believed Moses, you would believe me For who did Moses write about? He wrote about me. Moses wrote about the lord Jesus Christ.

And that is the point here. Moses was faithful in bearing witness to what God would say, and what would God 1 day say, Jesus. Here's Jesus. Moses was faithful in talking about Jesus and in writing about Jesus. Now he was faithful in all other kinds of ways as well.

He was faithful in bringing the law. I mean, he did that pretty well, didn't he? He was entrusted by god with the law, and he brought the law to god's people faithfully. He was entrusted with the perfect arrangement of the camp, and he did that faithfully, didn't he? He made sure the camp was set up and erected in the way in which god had called it to be, and he was faithful.

Was he perfect? No. He wasn't perfect. Did he sin? Yeah.

He did sin. But the assessment over his life in general when it came to the law and the camp and leading the people was trustworthy. But the emphasis of this passage is that he was trustworthy most of all in preaching about and writing of and pointing to Jesus. We're told in Hebrew's chapter 11, that Moses said no to the pleasures of Egypt. And why did he do that?

Because he considered Christ to be of more value and to be more precious than all the treasures of Egypt. Moses was a Jesus man. He thought Egypt can offer me this. Jesus is better than it all. So I'm leaving it all for Jesus.

And then he led to god's people, and he preached to god's people, and he wrote about the lord Jesus Christ. He was faithful in that. Al Mueller, who's a president of the southern baptist Seminary in America in his commentary on Hebrews, he puts it this way. Whether through patterns, promises, or prophecies. Moses faithfully discharged his service in the household of god, by pointing to the 1 greater than himself, Jesus Christ.

And so Hebrews is saying to us, yeah, think about angels in chapter 1 for a little bit. And think about Moses in chapter 3 for a little bit. But mainly, I am calling you to consider the 1 that they considered, which is the lord Jesus. Christ, brothers and sisters who share in this heavenly calling, fix your eyes on Jesus. And then verse 3, Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.

Both Moses and Jesus were faithful, but his point here is that Jesus Christ is in a different league of glory to Moses. Moses as a servant among the people of god did a great job. But Jesus Christ our lord actually created Moses. And that's why he's worthy of more glory. And Jesus Christ, our lord, not only created Moses.

He built the whole house. He created the world, and he upholds it by the word of his power. Jesus Christ is worthy of greater honor, Because not only did he build the world, he built the church. The word house is used about 6 times in this section, and it seems to refer not only to creation, but also to god's household, his bride, his building, his church. Moses served faithfully among the people, Jesus Christ made the people.

And he died for the people, and he now reigns over the people, not only as a servant. But as a son. That's the idea. Consider Moses in order that you might better consider Christ. Moses was faithful in a little.

Christ was faithful in much. Moses was faithful in speaking truth. Jesus Christ was faithful. In being the very nature of truth. Moses was faithful when it came to providing the types and the shadows.

Jesus Christ was faithful when it came to being the light and the fulfillment and the reality of all of those shadows. Moses faithful of a servant, Christ faithful as a son. Moses served the people. Jesus died for the people. He is the 1 worthy of greater honor.

It's why you get that wonderful scene, don't you and the gospels on the mount of transfiguration? You know, when you've got those 3 figures on the top, Moses, Elijah, and the lord Jesus Christ, only 1 of those men shines with the radiance of heaven. And that's Jesus. Those other 2 men were great at their time and were trustworthy in all god's house, but in the end, they are eclipsed by the glow greater glory of the sun. The 1 who is worthy of more honor.

Brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling fix your thoughts on angels for a little bit on Moses for a little bit, but fix your thoughts on Jesus, contemplate Jesus. Contact him. Think about him. Turn over his nature and his work in your brain in a serious way for a long time. Allow him to fill your thoughts, not just a little slice at the bottom of the brain, but as you think about your relationships and your health and your life and the media you consume, allow Christ to permeate and feel every thought about every subject in every way and take every thought captive to Christ, the Bible would tell us that when we're going down those old unhelpful roads in our minds, whether we're thinking about how we should live or the people we relate to.

And we sometimes there's that moment where we stop ourselves. Isn't there? We think, why am I thinking like, you know, don't think, and I'm so wrong to think like that. And you kind of mentally captive that thought and spin it to Christ. And try to think of this thing now in the light of Christ, brothers and sisters who share in the heavenly calling, rivet your attention, fix your thoughts on Christ.

So many times in life, and I think this is true for me. We end up wallowing in self pity or we get sad or fed up or anxious or bitter. Because we've spent too much time contemplating ourselves. We just think of ourselves too much, don't we? We turn ourselves over in our minds.

All the time, and it largely makes us fed up, doesn't it? Because we were not created to contemplate ourselves for very long. The call of Hebrews is to fix our thoughts on Jesus. When we failed, and we're in the pit of our sin again. We fix our thoughts on him who knew no sin, but became sin for us so that in him, we might become the righteousness of God, and we think about that.

Or when we're feeling enslaved to a pattern of behavior that we can't seem to shake, we fix our thoughts on him who came not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom. To pull us out, to ransom us out from with under our sin, and to give us a new life. When we're fed up of the old self, we fix our thoughts on him who has been immensely patient with us. Isn't that your testimony as a Christian? Just Jesus patience with me, though I wonder, and though I'm prone to leave the god I love, I fix my thoughts on him who loves me and is patient with me, brothers and sisters, holy brothers and sisters.

Who's sharing this heavenly calling? Would you contemplate Christ? Consider him. Fixed your thoughts upon him. And just look at the fruit of that kind of life.

It's there in verse 6. We are his house. If indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. Last week, I was invited to, this commission event, commission is a network of churches that we're a part of, and it was a it was a dinner, for some of the pastors in the network. And, we had to go around.

There was a point in the evening where we had to go around, and we were asked what is the most exciting thing about your ministry at the moment or the ministry of the church. And as we were going around, people were mainly sharing sort of events that were coming up in the life of the church. And, that was the first thing I thought of as well. I was thinking about lost in the lost world. Coming in November, I was thinking about passion for life next year, and I was talking about some of the exciting gospel events, and they are exciting.

But as I was driving home, I was I was reflecting that actually, I think for for for me, and I think for us as elders, this would be generally true, that 1 of the most exciting things in the ministry is seeing brothers and sisters contemplating Christ through their lives, and even when it's really difficult. It is it is really exciting to see the word of god and Christ actually making a difference in the thinking and the mind of the people of the church. There's not much more exciting than that. Me and, Abby Kimberley went to, went to visit Rulie this week in hospital. And I don't think she's I don't think she's here.

She might be watching, but it's probably better that she's not here. We went to visit her, and, I have to say for both of us, it was a joy to be with her in that hospital ward, and to see her thinking so full of the joy of the lord, even despite the ongoing saga that she's had with cancer. There she is lying in Kingston hospital, She's got a little book on Psalm 23 which she's been reading. She was sharing with us how the scriptures have blessed her, how she's been tuning into the services, how she's been praying, and it is it's it is so encouraging. To see a woman in that situation.

That's the most exciting thing about ministry, really, to see the contemplation of Christ through the life in the mind of a holy brother or sister. She, in the bed opposite her, was a woman called Margaret. Margaret is 93 years old. Margaret has been a member of Duke street Baptist Church since he was 15 years old. 15 years old.

She's 93. She's opposite ruling in a hospital. She too unbelievably full of the joy of the lord. On her bedside table, she had a book which she had written. About god's faithfulness to her as she'd served as a missionary in Thailand, and she was trying to tell me about this book and just recount god's faithfulness to her.

She told me that when she retired, Instead of just sort of giving up and coasting, she thought, what am I gonna what am I gonna do now next for the lord? I'm going to serve in a Sunday school. She'd just retire. I'm gonna serve in a Sunday school because we've got children and I love children, and I think I can give myself to children and make a difference to children. Rulie was telling me that when 1 of the porters came round to her, she was trying to evangelize them.

And 1 of the porters came to her and noticed that Margaret had 3 blankets on her bed. And the porter said to her, Margaret, you've got 3 bags. Do you get a bit cold? And she said, yes, I do. Get a bit cold.

And then she said to the porter, mister Porter, are you familiar with the scriptures? And he's kind of said, well, you know, a beer, I suppose. And, he said, can I tell you a story about a man who got really cold at night? He's called King David. And in the old testament, he got really cold.

And it's a bit of a strange story because he didn't ask for more blankets. He asked for a maid servant to be brought to him to keep him warm. And I was thinking, I don't know whether that is the story I would have chosen, to tell. If I just had a moment of opportunity, but but for Margaret, that was where her mind went. Only she could have got away with telling that story, a 93 year old sweet old lady.

I think if I had told that story, that would not have gone so well. But she got away with it and not only got away with it. It seemed like perfectly appropriate, coming from Margaret. And you look at these 2 women, Rulie and Margaret, and you think, how have they become what they are? Not because they're better than you or me.

They're sinners. I'm a sinner and you're a sinner, and Margaret is a 93 year old sinner. And really is a sinner. They're not any better than you or I. They have got that way.

Because they've considered Christ. And they've contemplated Christ. In every season of their life, in retirement and in difficulties, they've contemplated Christ. And by contemplating him, they have been enabled to persevere. That's how it happens.

You look at verse 6, if indeed we hold firmly, and you think that sounds like law, doesn't it? I'm saved by grace, and now I've gotta live under law. That's not how I am. That's not how perseverance happens. It's not.

I need Jesus, and now it's all down to me. The way in which any Christian perseveres to 93 is because they contemplate Christ. They're loved by Christ. He's their apostle. He's their high priest.

He's faithful. He's already made them holy. They contemplate Christ, and they persevere. Brothers and sisters who share in this heavenly calling. If you wanna have stories to tell at the end of your life, and if you wanna not waste your life, And if you wanna be used greatly in the household of god, fix your thoughts on Jesus.

Contact Jesus. Should we pray that God would help us to do it? We thank you heavenly father that the risen lord Jesus Christ is here with us this morning by his spirit. And as he looks upon us, Hebrews 2 tells us that he is not ashamed to call us, his brothers, and sisters. We thank you for what you have made us to be in the gospel.

A holy people. A family with a heavenly calling. We thank you for Jesus Christ, our apostle, our great high priest, our trustworthy son. And we pray that you would help us please to fix our thoughts on him who died and rose for us. Oh, man.