Apostles Church

Hebrews 1:1-14. The Pastor is writing to Jewish Christians who live in a world dominated by Rome where Nero is lord and Christianity is not tolerated, they are facing the threat of severe persecution for their faith and some are entertaining the temptation to forsake Christ and go back to Judaism. Judaism was tolerated under Roman rule. They are tempted to go back to Judaism to avoid persecution and conflict with the greater culture; to embrace a safer spirituality (Christianity was a dangerous one). They could still be moral, religious people who do good things and hang out with moral, religious people who do good things, but without Jesus and under the good graces of lord Nero. So the pastor is addressing this and he begins his message to these Christians by telling them "God has spoken." And the implication is, "you need to listen." You need God's perspective; you need to hear what God has to say to this situation.

What God wants to say to us is Jesus. CONTRAST: In the past, to our fathers, through prophets, many times and many ways; NOW to us, finally, through his Son. This is why they can't go back to Judaism. Jesus is God's last and loudest word to us; the ultimate word to us. Everything God spoke in the past was actually pointing to Jesus and He fulfills and resolves everything that was spoken in the past. Illus: Act One/Intermission/Acts Two. Jesus is the point! Jesus is the ultimate messenger and the ultimate message (medium and the message). God speaks by His Son and His Son is what he speaks! Jesus reveals all that God wants to say to us and all that God wants to say to us is given to us in Jesus. So, God desires us to know him, but knowing him will mean hearing and continually responding to Jesus. What does the pastor want this little house church and us to see about Jesus. Remember, he is calling these people to faithfulness to Jesus in the face of a culture that makes it difficult to follow Jesus. He does this by wooing them and warning them. Here, he is wooing them by giving them a picture of Jesus - not like Craig's list - but a real picture of Jesus, an exalted Christology (the resume of Jesus). He wants to show them in this first chapter his Incomparable Greatness and his Grace.

Greatness. Jesus is the eternal Son of God. 1:3 Radiance - Not merely a reflection like the moon reflects light, but radiance like the sun radiates light and heat. Jesus does not simply reflect who God is, but radiates who God is because he is of the same substance of the Father. Nicene Creed says, “God of God, Light of Light, Very God of Very God.” Imprint - equal in substance but distinct from Father. v2 (Creator) - Jesus stands before all things. Colossians 1:16 all things made by him and for him. John 1:3 “All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." Jesus stands at the end of all things. v4 seated at the right hand (through death and resurrection)...v2 Heir of all things. Psalm 2 in mind where the anoited Christ, the Savior King will one day rule over all nations, he will have the nations as his possession (this Psalm is quoted from in Heb 1:5). Christ will exercise his rule and reign over all things, the entire universe. All things will be united under his reign (Eph 1:9-10; 20-22). Head over all things; all things under his feet; above every rule and authority and power in this age and the one to come. And when he brings his full reign to bear upon this broken world, he will heal it. Christian Hope: The world is headed to a great finale where all that is wrong will be made right; all that is fallen will be raised up; all that is broken will be made whole; all that is wounded will be healed; tears will be forgotten and death will be no more. Evil will be uprooted. It will all be resolved. And Jesus is the victor who will be bring it about it. He stands at the end of all things. Jesus stands in the midst of all things. (upholds: carry from one place to another). Not the picture of Atlas struggling to uphold the world, but one who with a word is moving all things forward to its glorious end. Not that all things that happen are glorious, but he is moving all things to a glorious end. He is sovereign over all things, working out his good and mysterious plan. Do you see what he is saying to this house church trembling under threat of Nero. Nero has spoken! Nero claimed to be the Son of God with power. There were symbols of his reign plastered all through the empire (in market squares, on coins, theaters, baths, law courts, triumphal arches, public buildings), reinforcing the story that Caesar (Nero) is Lord and Savior and that prosperity came from allegiance to him. But God has spoken. Jesus is the Real Son of God! He is the Victor and exalted to the place of prominence and power. The Pastor wants them to embrace a vision of reality very different from the one the empire is selling them. Jesus is superior to any earthly king so don’t forsake your allegiance to Jesus for the sake of having favor with another. Don't ascribe greatness to anyone more than the Greatness that you ascribe to Jesus.

And it is not just that Jesus is greater than the prophets and Nero, but Jesus is even greater than Angels. May not mean much to us, but angels played a key role in Judaism. And the Pastor says that Jesus surpasses the Angels. He eclipses them in worth, importance, power, and status.  Modern representations of Angels differ from the biblical account. Illus: CS Lewis. "In Scripture the visitation of an angel is always alarming; it has to begin by saying “Fear not.” The Victorian angel looks as if it were going to say “There, there.”” In Scripture when people encounter angels the response is described in terms of fear and trembling, worship, terror and dread. Yet these angels worship, serve, and rejoice in Jesus. There is nothing greater than Him. Let's get rid of all the images we have of Jesus as a bland, flimsy, anemic, weak, needy, being desperate for humanity's attention. He is not a lonely kid in the school cafeteria hoping someone will come and sit with him so he doesn't have to eat alone again. He is the Sovereign Lord of the Universe who is before all things, standing at the end of all things and in the midst of all things carrying out his good purposes. The Pastor is saying don't give anything more weight in your life than Jesus. He is greater than anything that would seek to draw you away from Him.

***You will ascribe greatness to something in your life and that thing will order your life. Is there Something that has greater Volume in your life than Him. What person or thing are you ascribing a Greatness to that orders you life more than Jesus? Job, relationship, cultural expectations on money, sex, and power. Your whole life will be directed toward that thing; it will be the motive behind your every decision. The Pastor is saying, "nothing compares to Jesus. Ascribe to him the glory, importance, priority that is due him. Make your every decision with Him in mind (his glory, his pleasure, his will) and let your life be directed toward him. What fears do you ascribe greatness to that order your life more than Jesus? Don't let fear order your life (fear of people, fear of circumstances, fear of what might happen, fear of what you lack). Let something greater than the things you fear order your life and rule your heart. 


GRACE. 1:3 after making purification for sins. Key theme in Hebrews. IF we see his greatness, then we instantly become aware of our failure to ascribe to him that greatness and we see how we have lived for small and shameful things that make us feel small and shameful - guilt and shame over our lust, greed, idolatry, selfishness, hate, bitterness...Jesus saves us from our all this. If we had to be honest, we all struggle with guilt. inward guilt - guilt over the failure to meet our own standards; (hit the idea that ascribing greatness to something and failing to lay hold of it, possess it or please it can lead to a lot of shame and guilt. But failing to ascribe greatness to Christ or failing to give him what he is due puts us in the need of grace, not stuck in guilt and shame.)  just a surface rumbling of a deeper guilt - failure to meet God's standards; failure to rightly love and value and treasure Jesus. We are guilty before ourselves, but more significantly, we are guilty before God. And this is why Jesus came. To bear our guilt, wear our sin and shame and bear its penalty on the cross so we could be free and rid of it. Sat down. This is going to get unpacked for us later, but before Jesus came, every year the HP would have offer sacrifice for the sins of his people, but the work was never done. But, Jesus, once for all has dealt with our sin. He doesn't need to keep making sacrifices for sin and therefore we don't either. We don't have to do anything to earn God's acceptance. Jesus has secured that for all who believe in him. He does not ask you to make up for your sin; he has already dealt with it in full. Through faith in him we can be forgiven, cleansed of all our sin, and shame and guilt. God has spoken - your sins can be forgiven in him. Have you heard that? The point is: There is no one as Great as this and there is no one who loves you like this. Awe and Intimacy.

God has spoken. He has spoken loudly to us. God has spoken. Jesus is what he has said to you and what he wants you to know. You don't need more more information; you need more illumination. You need to see his greatness and his grace. The Christian life is a holistic response to the Greatness and Grace of Jesus. What are hearing more than Him; what are you listening to more than him. Listening to your lust, greed, pride, reputation? Listening to your failures? Listening to your fears? God has spoken in his Son. Listen to Him.