Jesus: The Center Of Everything
Notes
Transcript
Introduction
Introduction
What is a human being? This isn’t philosophical or anything like that. Just, what is a human? What makes us human? Biologically speaking, a human is composed of water, fats, proteins, and a few other things including DNA/RNA/gases and carbohydrates. You could rightly say that a human is primarily water… but humans are much more than just that. If you were to boil it down to what a human truly is we would say that a human being is a person created in the image of God for the purpose of knowing and glorifying God - that’s the purpose for each one of us here this morning whether you knew that or not! To know God and to glorify Him as you are made in His image. Take a star in the night sky, Tim Hines makes my heart happy whenever he posts pictures of galaxies that he’s able to capture with his telescope and computer system, take a beautiful constellation or galaxy, made up of numerous stars. Take a single star, such as our sun, what makes the sun the sun? What exactly is the sun? The sun is composed of hydrogen and helium with a little bit of carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen. You could rightly say that the sun is just a ball of fire, but it is so much more than just that as we know that the sun keeps life on earth from perishing as our planet is in the perfect habitable zone for human life to flourish.
What is the Bible? Some would answer by saying that the Bible is a big book that was written by a bunch of different people a long time ago and should be respected. Others will say that the Bible is an outdated book that contains the opinions of old men and shouldn’t be taught or listened to. Others say that the Bible is a unique book and an important book in human history as it contains lots of different genres and stories and wisdom and morals that make it a special human book. But what actually is the Bible? The Bible is God’s Word - it is literally God-breathed and inspired by Him. What is the Bible about? Lots of people say that the Bible is about us… but that’s anthropomorphizing the Bible (making the Bible about man). The Bible is not about us. Sure, humans show up in the Bible and we are made by God for a purpose! But the Bible is about God. His plan. His love. His redemption. His mercy. His grace. His judgment against evil. At the center of the Bible stands a person - His name is Jesus. The Bible tells us the story of reality. God created a perfect world not out of His need but out of His love. Sin breaks that picture and sin leads to destruction and death. Because of the fall, sin entered the world and we see the effects of sin all around us. Thankfully, though, God didn’t leave us alone in this broken world. He planned all along to send a snake-crushing, soul-satisfying, sin-silencing Savior as we’ll celebrate next month. This Jesus would come into the world of brokenness and flip this world not upside down but right side up. Instead of giving into sin, Jesus resisted that temptation. Instead of perpetuating broken systems, Jesus flipped those systems around. Instead of adding to the darkness, Jesus lit this world on fire. Jesus is the Center of Scripture and stands at the center of everything.
This morning as we conclude Hebrews, our 13 month journey through this incredible sermon, we arrive at one last reminder to fix our eyes on Jesus. Jesus changes everything - the question that we have to ask ourselves this morning is this: Has Jesus changed my life, and if so, how? Let’s read this text and remind ourselves of the centrality of Jesus Christ
20 Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant,
21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
22 Brothers and sisters, I urge you to receive this message of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly.
23 Be aware that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon enough, he will be with me when I see you.
24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who are from Italy send you greetings.
25 Grace be with you all.
I think this text preached itself. Jesus saves. Jesus changes. Jesus sustains. Jesus seals. Jesus reigns. Are you thankful for Jesus Christ? Let’s give Him thanks for all that He’s done this morning.
Jesus Gives Us Peace Before God (20)
Jesus Gives Us Peace Before God (20)
Our world loves peace. We see this in the media as people prioritize inclusion and peacefulness at the neglect of truth many times. We see this come up in conversation as people would rather “keep the peace” than have honest conversations about how they feel and what is right. Our world loves to talk a good talk about peace… but our world doesn’t back that talk up very well. Our government is more divisive than ever. Public discourse is so toxic that people can’t even talk with those that they disagree with. Wars ravage our world. For a society that talks so much about peace, we sure do seem to love problems. This is true in our world today, and it’s been true for thousands of years as peace seems to be a far-fetched dream instead of a reality. Whenever we’re surrounded by uncertainty and conflict, peace seems like an impossibility. Yet, here in Hebrews 13 we see a description of our God as being the God of peace. How does this make sense? Most people describe peace as the absence of problems, but is this what Jesus has in mind?
33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. You will have suffering in this world. Be courageous! I have conquered the world.”
Notice what Jesus says here: In this world you will have suffering, trouble, tribulation, problems… but in Jesus there is peace. He doesn’t promise the absence of problems, but He does promise of His presence in our problems! This is good news and this shows up 5x in the New Testament that God is the God of peace. His character is that of peace and He bestows peace upon His people. But we have to ask, how exactly does this happen? In order to solve a problem, you have to get to the root of the problem. We see this in relationship problems: 95% of relationship problems boil down to communication problems. Communication problems arise whenever one doesn’t do what? Communicate very well. The root of the problem isn’t the lack of communication, at least usually. Usually it’s selfishness or at best, it’s genuine lack of understanding due to brokenness. What is the root of this problem? In one word, it’s sin. Sin is our fundamental problem that we all face as human beings. Sin separates each of us from God and that sin looks like a bunch of different things: Pride, Selfishness, Control, the list goes on. Just as there are conflicts that we face between ourselves and other people, there is a conflict between ourselves and our God and that conflict is our sin. How can that problem be solved? Yes, God is a God of peace… but how can He give that peace to rebellious humans? We can’t say that the solution is marriage counseling or seeing a therapist or trying harder. What is the solution to this problem? This is what we celebrate next month, isn’t it? This has been the theme of Hebrews! Sin is serious and sin separates us from God, so God sent forth His Son to be the once for all sacrifice for sins so that we could be brought into the family. Left to ourselves, if it were up to our works, we would remain God’s enemies. So God had to change things up by sending His Son, Jesus, so that we could be welcomed in.
It is a blessing that our God is a God of peace whenever we have willingly rebelled against Him. Yes, God is just. Yes, God is righteous. But because God is a God of peace, there is hope for weary and rebellious folks like you and me. If you have been saved by Jesus, this reality adds an even further dimension as you and I are able to have peace even in chaotic situations not because we don’t have stress or problems… but because we know the God of peace.
9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God.
Is this you? Are you a peacemaker or are you marked by being a troublemaker? We’re prone to cause problems, it’s literally in our DNA… but Jesus has saved us and brought peace to our lives. He gives us peace before God and the peace of God now rules in our hearts. Look at what God gives us in this opening verse:
God Gives Us His
Peace
Perfect Son
Promise
Not only is God peace, but God gives us peace. He gives us joy. He provides for our well-being. He might not give us what we want, but He will always give us what we need to glorify Him and accomplish our God-given purpose. He gives us His peace and the way that He does this is by giving us His perfect Son. Look at this wonderful truth - God brought up from the dead the Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep. One of the recurring themes in the Bible is that Jesus is a shepherd who came to shepherd and care for and save His lost sheep.
34 When he went ashore, he saw a large crowd and had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. Then he began to teach them many things.
How many people are in this situation? They think that they have things figured out in life but they’re walking aimlessly like sheep without a shepherd? Church, we need a shepherd and this is what we have in Jesus Christ - not just a shepherd, but a good shepherd as Jesus Himself says in John 10:14-15
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know me,
15 just as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep.
We see in Hebrews 13 that Jesus is the great shepherd. Why the change from good to great here? The resurrection - He is a risen shepherd! This risen shepherd fulfilled the Old Covenant perfectly. Lived a perfect life and died for sinners on the cross. Therefore, God gives us a promise through His perfect son. A promise that the everlasting covenant, the new covenant as chapters 8-9 told us earlier in this study, is written on our hearts… not just on tablets of stone. Jesus changes everything! He gives us peace and seals God’s promise by dying in our place on the cross. This isn’t where things stop though, next we see that
Jesus Gives Us a Purpose to Live Out (21)
Jesus Gives Us a Purpose to Live Out (21)
We know that Jesus saves us but aren’t you thankful that Jesus doesn’t say, “See you in 50 years - try your best to live a godly life!” We know that Jesus gives us His Spirit to guide us and comfort us and help us in this life - as Hebrews 13:5 reminded us a few weeks ago, we can be confident that our God is always with us as His children. Why exactly does Jesus save us, though? That’s an interesting question that we don’t always think about. Some people believe that Jesus saves them because they’re a good person and that they deserve saving. We know that the Bible doesn’t support that teaching as we’ve all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and standard - no one deserves saving! Other people believe that Jesus saves them because of something that they have done - I go to church, therefore I’m saved. I have Psalm 23 memorized, therefore I’m saved. I tithe, therefore I’m saved. The correct answer can’t be in the first person - because I have done this or that! The correct answer is because HE. Because He died for a sinner like me. Because He bore my sin and shame on the cross. Once we understand that we could never earn our salvation, we begin to understand the purpose of our salvation. So, because Jesus saves us, what are we supposed to do? Not just do a one and done statement with our mouths… we’re saved to serve and not to sit. We have a purpose and that purpose is to do His will.
Now, does anyone else feel defeated? What’s the problem with this God-given purpose? We know that we still fall short even as believers. There are times where God wants us to share His Gospel message and instead, we stay where we’re comfortable. Instead of standing on Scripture, we go with the flow. You and I have no hope to accomplish this God-given purpose by ourselves and our own power and our own strength… but thankfully, our salvation story is part of an eternal story. Our salvation story isn’t about us - it’s about Jesus. Notice what verse 21 says, “God equips you with everything good to do His will” how? Through Jesus Christ. Suddenly this message of tragedy leads to triumph. My heart and flesh will fail, but my God never will.
16 For everything was created by him, in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities— all things have been created through him and for him.
17 He is before all things, and by him all things hold together.
5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.
10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared ahead of time for us to do.
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!
Do you notice the emphasis here? It’s not on our perfection - although a Christian will produce fruit and accomplish our purpose… but what’s the emphasis on? Jesus Christ. Being in Christ. We have to see this and understand this! Once you are in Christ, you do works that please Christ. This is impossible apart from Christ… but now that you’re in Christ, He works in your life for His glory and your good! This is great news! Our focus is to please our Creator and that is only possible by looking each day to our Savior. Do you desire to live out that purpose? Do you and I desire to do God’s will in our lives and in the life of our church? See, the purpose of this church is to glorify Jesus. This is our purpose! He has given us His peace, He provided a perfect Savior, He made a promise, He proves this by equipping us to do His will. Are ready to do His will? Are we willing to say, “Not My Will, but Thy Will Be Done?” This is what Jesus did. This is what we must do as well. We do what is pleasing in God’s sight. Not what is easy, not what is popular, not what other people do, what is pleasing to our God and according to His will.
Jesus Gives Us a Message to Proclaim (22-25)
Jesus Gives Us a Message to Proclaim (22-25)
The final verses in Hebrews fall in line with a typical letter of this era. The preacher asks them to listen to this sermon and to consider this “brief” message of exhortation. This sermon is brief, at least in his words. If you read through Hebrews it takes about 45 minutes to read through from beginning to end, so whenever you come to church and we have a 45 minute sermon, understand that Biblically that’s a brief message! The preacher of Hebrews provides some closing instructions - Timothy will join this preacher and visit them, they are to greet Christians in love, and they are to know that those from Italy send their greetings. What does this tell us? Again, likely this is a sermon from this preacher who longs to travel to this church, but has another person deliver and preach this message. This message is likely delivered to the church in Rome. What is the purpose of this “brief message of exhortation?” What is the message that we are to share today? Simply that of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That Jesus is the Messiah. He is the Son of God and the Word made flesh. Jesus changes everything. Our lost and dying world needs the hope of the Gospel!
Spurgeon once said that as all roads in England lead to London, so do all the pages of Scripture lead to Christ. Jesus is the center of Scripture. He stands at the center of everything! Jesus is the hero of Scripture. The Savior of sinners. The King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The Creator of all things. Maybe you’re here and you’re questioning how Jesus is the center of Scripture whenever He isn’t born as a baby until the New Testament? Many ask this, and Hebrews has helped us these last 14 months answer this question that all of Scripture is truly about Jesus. He is the final revelation of God. We see Him on every page and in every book - while not everything in the Bible is directly talking about Jesus, it is all pointing to Him at the very least. We see this truth in Luke 24:27
27 Then beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he interpreted for them the things concerning himself in all the Scriptures.
All of Scripture is pointing to Jesus. All of Hebrews is about Jesus, just as all of Scripture is about Jesus. Alistaig Begg puts it like this, “In the Old Testament He is predicted, in the Gospels He is revealed, in Acts He is preached, in the epistles He is explained, and in Revelation He is expected.” Let’s see how every book points us to Jesus!
In Genesis, Jesus is the Promised Seed of the Woman to crush the head of the serpent once and for all
In Exodus, Jesus is the Promised Passover lamb, whose blood is sprinkled on the doorposts of His people
In Leviticus, Jesus is High Priest and tabernacle
In Numbers, Jesus is the provider for His people in the wilderness
In Deuteronomy, Jesus is the Promised Prophet who is better than Moses
In Joshua, Jesus is the Conqueror who leads His people into the Promised Land
In Judges, Jesus is the Judge who rescues His rebellious people
In Ruth, Jesus is the Kinsman Redeemer
In 1/2 Samuel, Jesus is the Shepherd King who Slays the Giant not of flesh, but of sin and death
In 1/2 Kings, Jesus is the Righteous King
In 1/2 Chronicles, Jesus is the Restorer of the Kingdom
In Ezra, Jesus is the Restorer of the Temple
In Nehemiah, Jesus is the Rebuilder of Walls
In Esther, Jesus is the Guardian of His people
In Job, Jesus is the Living Redeemer who walks besides His suffering servants
In Psalms, Jesus is the Good Shepherd who walks beside His sheep
In Proverbs, Jesus is Wisdom
In Ecclesiastes, Jesus is the true meaning of life
In Song of Solomon, Jesus is the groom who loves and is coming for His bride
In Isaiah, Jesus is the Messiah - the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, and Suffering Servant
In Jeremiah, Jesus writes God’s laws on the hearts of God’s people
In Lamentations, Jesus is prophet who weeps for His people
In Ezekiel, Jesus breathes the breath of life into dry bones and brings a river of life to the nations
In Daniel, Jesus is the 4th in the Fire
In Hosea, Jesus is the faithful Husband who pursues His unfaithful bride
In Joel, Jesus is the Restorer of all that has been destroyed by the locusts of this world
In Amos, Jesus is the true Restorer and Burden Bearer
In Obadiah, Jesus is the Judge of All
In Jonah, Jesus is the Prophet cast out so we could be brought in
In Micah, Jesus is the promised Messiah
In Nahum, Jesus is the Ultimate Avenger of God’s people
In Habakkuk, Jesus brings joy to His people when our strength is faltering
In Zephaniah, Jesus Preserves and Restores His Kingdom
In Haggai, Jesus is the Hope in a world to be shaken
In Zechariah, Jesus is the pierced Son and Savior who all will see
In Malachi, Jesus is Sun of Righteousness
In Matthew, Jesus is the King of the Jews
In Mark, Jesus is King Who came to Seek and Save the Lost
In Luke, Jesus is the Son of Man
In John, Jesus is the Son of God and and the Lamb of God who takes away sins
In Acts, Jesus is the risen King who saves the nations
In Romans, Jesus is our Justifier and Adopter
In 1/2 Corinthians, Jesus is our Savior and Sanctifier
In Galatians, Jesus redeems and sets His people free
In Ephesians, Jesus is God’s plan A from the foundation of the world and the head of His church
In Philippians, Jesus is our Joy
In Colossians, Jesus is the firstborn over all creation and brings those dead in darkness into His marvelous light
In 1/2 Thessalonians, Jesus is Coming again
In 1/2 Timothy, Jesus is our Mediator
In Titus, Jesus is our true and greater pastor and giver of hope
In Philemon, Jesus is our Restorer
In Hebrews, Jesus is our Great High Priest and the Champion of our Faith - He is better
In James, Jesus is at work in the good and bad to bring about something good
In 1/2 Peter, Jesus is our example in suffering as He faithfully fulfills the will of the Father in saving that which was lost
In 1/2/3 John, Jesus is our advocate who loves sinners who cannot earn His love
In Jude, Jesus is our Savior who keeps us from stumbling
In Revelation, Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords
Standing at the middle of Scripture is Jesus. He is before all things and after all things. He holds all things together. And if you don’t know this Jesus, then whether you know it or not, you have an eternal void in your life. Imagine St. Louis without the Gateway Arch. Disney World without the iconic Castle. Peanut Butter without Jelly. Cookies without Chocolate Chips. There are times where you can’t imagine something not being there - up the scale times a million, it’s impossible to imagine a life of fulfillment and satisfaction without Jesus Christ. He is the center of history. He is before all things and after all things, and if you don’t have Jesus in your life, you don’t really know what it is to live in the first place. Our planet needs Jesus. Our country needs Jesus. Our community needs Jesus. You need Jesus. What have you done with Jesus Christ? Some of you undoubtedly are here and you have done the bare minimum with Jesus as a Bible-belt churchgoer. You know about Jesus. You read about Jesus in your Bible. You might even offer some prayers at times. But who is Jesus to you? Is He just your go-to person when life is difficult? Is He your meal ticket when finances are tight? Is He your genie in a bottle to grant your every wish when you want things? To millions, that is their “jesus” but that’s not the Jesus of the Bible. The Jesus of Scripture has no desire to be 2nd string. The Jesus of the Bible has no desire to be an afterthought. The Jesus of the Bible has no desire to be looked to in the valley and ignored on the mountain top. The Jesus of the Bible provides His people with peace before God through dying on the cross for our sins. Friend, if you are here and you have never done business with Jesus Christ, understand that Jesus is not your all - and if Jesus is not your all then He’s nothing at all. The Bible calls on us to repent of our sins, that means to turn from them and to turn towards Christ, to trust in Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross for our sins, to believe that He is who He said that He was, and to follow Him as Lord and Savior. To trust and to obey. To understand that we are saved by God’s grace and we will only endure to the end by God’s grace. If you looked at your life today and just evaluated your actions, to an outsiders perspective, who would it look like you were trusting and obeying? Yourself? Another person? Or Jesus Christ? We’ve spent 13 months in this book looking at how Jesus is greater - how Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross still impacts lives to this day. Who are you following? Who is seated on the throne of your life today? I pray that you can say that the answer is Jesus - but if not, I’d love nothing more in a minute or two for you to come down and for us to pray that Jesus Christ would become the center of your existence and your Lord and your Savior.
Look to Jesus
Live for Jesus
Long to See Jesus Change This World
All of Scripture is about Jesus! Our existence is to magnify the name of Jesus! Hebrews leads us from Orthodoxy (right belief) to Orthopraxy (right living) to Orthopathy (right thinking) and the result is Doxology - all because of Jesus! Let us be a people and a church that thinks rightly about Jesus and praises His name faithfully because He alone is worthy.