The God Who Speaks and Shows Love

Hebrews 2:5-18

5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him,

or the son of man, that you care for him?

7  You made him for a little while lower than the angels;

you have crowned him with glory and honor,

8  putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. 16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. 18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

Pray

On January 26th, 2012, my first son was born. I was there, I saw it. I know where he come from. From loving parents that love him and love each other very much. As I have watched him grow through the years, he is almost a spitting image of me. We have the same personality, we look the same, we both laugh a lot. We don’t take a lot of things very seriously. I loved that boy when I first saw him and I love him even more now.

Our love grows for people over time because we are getting to know them. We are learning who they are and if they mesh with us and do not disappoint us, we trust them and love them more. Our affections grow towards our loved ones.

I am thankful that God is not like us. He is, IN infinitely more ways, better than us. His love is unconditional. He knows us already. He knows what we will do, what we will say, what we will think. He knows everything about us and if you are in Christ, He can never love you more than He loves you right now.

How does that make you feel when I tell you that God loves you? Some of us were raised in households where there wasn’t a day that went by that you weren’t told and shown that you were loved. Some of you, though, were raised in houses where one, if not, both of your parents never once said, “I love you.” Some of you may have grown up in a house where they said it, but never showed it, or the kind of love that they showed was not love at all. Some of you probably had parents that showed it but never said it. They may have showed up to every game and school function. They were always there when you needed them, but they, because of their raising, never could muster an “I love you.”

When I ask, “How does it make you feel?” I am asking that question because if you have never experienced a love that was BOTH shown and spoken, that question may be jarring for you. It may evoke feelings that you don’t have fond memories of and can skew your thoughts about God.

God both tells us and shows us his love.

As we get into today’s text, we are going to be exploring the details of John 3:16

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

The bible says that God loves you, believer in Christ. Jesus makes this distinction in John 17:9

I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.

Son and daughter of the King, God loves you. This is what the bible says. The action of that love is Jesus and His work. Lets look into what God has done for those He loves.

5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,

“What is man, that you are mindful of him, or the son of man, that you care for him?

7  You made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor,

8  putting everything in subjection under his feet.”

If you have been with us for our study in Hebrews, you know that there is a lot of talk about angels and a lot of effort going into the fact that Jesus is not an angel. He is better than the angels and higher than the angels, but for a time, Jesus came to earth and put on flesh and became a man, setting him for a time, lower than the angels.

This “for a time, lower than the angels” is something that we don’t need to pass over. 1 Corinthians 6:3 says,

Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

This is referring to believers. Did you know, man and woman of God, that we will reign with Christ one day (2 Timothy 2:11-13)? Reigning with Christ, we get to judge the angels that fell from grace and followed Lucifer.

I say this because God has made us in His image. We are special. Believer in Christ, you are special. You were made for great things to be used by God. That is the Father that you have. He made you for that purpose. Something that you are not equipped for and that you do not deserve, but because He is good and loves you, He has set you at the important place in His kingdom and at the last days, above the angels.

This quotation we just read in Hebrews 5-8 is from Psalm 8:4-6, where David is talking about the majesty of God and God giving man dominion over his creation, but our writer here is saying, “Oh it means much more than that” because Jesus is the better David and Jesus is the perfect man. Although there was a truth that applied to David’s time, the main truth is summed up in Christ, that it was not just a man that David was speaking of, but of Christ. Continuing on in verse 8.

Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control.

What does this mean? It means that the actions of the Pharisees and the Sadducees were not out of Jesus control. The act of Judas’ betrayal was not outside of His control. The cross was not outside of His control, in fact, he walked to it. He did that knowing what would happen. This is love played out. He knew it would end in a brutal death, but if you read the Gospels and if the love of Jesus for His people doesn’t jump out from the page, you are missing it. Every move that Jesus made was out of love for the Father and for His people.

In chapter one of Hebrews, verse 13 we see that the Father put Jesus at His right hand and that the Father is making all of Christ’ enemies a footstool for Jesus’ feet. That is why it is not surprising to read…

At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him.

As Christ sits with the Father, the Father is bringing down the enemies of Christ. This book was written 2000 years ago and it is still happening. The Father is still shutting the mouths and putting down Christ’ enemies. The church is growing in places where it is illegal to grow the church. I look forward to a joyous future when His kingdom will cover the face of the earth, however and whenever that happens. For now, we wait patiently while God does His work and we do ours that He has tasked us with.

9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

Look what happens here in light of John 3:16. God sends His Son that was always with the Father. Irenaeus, the early church father said, “there was never a was when Jesus wasn’t”. Jesus leaves the Father’s side to come down to earth, take on flesh because of the love of the Father, to suffer and die so that he might taste death for everyone.

There was no other way for this to happen. The only one that could bridge the gap left by sin between man and God is if God came down and bridged the gap. He was the perfect man that could live perfectly and suffer perfectly, all the while being tempted as we have been tempted (Heb 4:14-16).

10 For it was fitting that he (God the Father), for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation (Jesus) perfect through suffering.

This is not a perfection that was earned by Jesus but a living out of this life on earth so that He would be perfect until the end, so that He could accomplish His goal. Our salvation is believing in the one that knew no sin, yet became sin. Belief in THAT ONE is what brings many sons to glory. If He had the slightest imperfection, the smallest blemish, He would not be the perfect sacrifice to the Father to take away the sins of the world.

This belief in Jesus is what cleanses us or sanctifies us. This word sanctify means to “make holy”. Truly believing that you have traded your imperfect life with Jesus’ perfect life which we will talk about in a minute, is the act that makes you “holy”.

11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source.

Jesus is the one that sanctifies through his sacrifice. He is the one that is making people holy, working in you and me, and He is the one who has sanctified the brothers and sisters that have gone before us. If He does it…

That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers, 12 saying,

“I will tell of your name to my brothers;

in the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise.”

13 And again,

“I will put my trust in him.”

And again,

“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”

This is why we can see the Father and the Son, and if we are children of the Father, then Jesus is our big brother. He is the perfect child that warms the heart of the Father to open His table to all of His wayward children.

14 Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.

When Jesus takes on flesh, he experiences everything that we experience. There is not a thing that you have dealt with that Jesus didn’t. I think it would be a stronger case that you have never been tempted with the things that Jesus was tempted with. Were you ever taken to a very high mountain and offered all of the world? Going through this life and remaining sinless and then dying when He didn’t have to. Romans 6:23 says, “the wages of sin is death.” He never sinned so He never earned death, but by taking on the sin of the world and taking that down to the pit, Jesus delivered us from the power of death. Without Jesus, our sin kept us at constant odds with God and there was nothing we could do to get in His good graces without his mercy. Verse 15 says that Jesus “delivered all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.”

Is there a greater fear, than fear of death, knowing that judgement and wrath await you for eternity? There is a judge and we have broken His law, without someone paying the price for us, the penalty is death here and then something much worse after this life. Jesus, through his work, delivers us from that punishment and frees us.

16 For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham.

Who is this offspring of Abraham? It is all of those who live by faith in the Messiah. It is not the ancestral Jew that can trace his lineage back to Abraham and it is not the law, because the law came after Abraham. Romans 9:30-33 says that righteousness wasn’t by the law or by birthright but by faith alone. Jesus came to help those who believe and take refuge in His hope. He came for you and me. God says He loves us and then He shows us.

17 Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.

This is a rescue mission, the likes of which the world has never seen. He became like us to give us an example to follow in this life to show us how to worship the Father in Spirit and in truth. How to pray, how to speak, how to deal with our enemies, how to love our friends, how to honor God, and He showed us how to have the most amount of joy and peace in this life.

Then…he makes propitiation for the sins of the people. That is a big word that means he showed us mercy in his act of living with us and as we do, to give his life for us so that we could be at one with God again.

If we were God, which I am certainly glad that is not the case, we would say, “I did everything for you now you should show a little gratitude.” Have you ever loaned money to someone or bought your kid a really expensive gift only for them to say something disrespectful to you a few hours or minutes later? We would say, “I’m done. You’re on your own.” I am so thankful that we are like God and He is not like us, because, while Jesus’ sacrifice was once and for all times completed, He has not taken His hands off the wheel.

18 For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.

He helps us. This is a God that says He loves and shows us that He loves us. We are never left alone. He is always there, when we are far away, calling us to get closer. When we are seemingly near to God, He is still uncovering things in our heart to draws us even closer. In this sanctification process, He is loving us.

God loves you. If you love Him pray that YOU could move closer. You have never arrived. You are not “good enough”. You have not checked a box. It is a walking relationship with this one that knows you better than you know yourself. When you are telling Him, “I got this.” You know what that looks like? It is like having a toddler that wants to pick out what he wants to eat at dinner. He might eat something, but it isn’t going to be good for him or for you. Let Him work in you.

If you don’t know Him, don’t want to know Him and just really want this service to be over so you can have lunch and play on your phone, please just lift up your head and listen for a second.

There is a God that made this world that you are living in and He made you. There is a reason that we can know that livers function the same in every person. We can know that tomorrow the sun will rise and the sun will set. We can know that when we drop something out of our hands, it will fall at the same rate every time. There is order. Chaos never produces order no matter how much time and energy you put into the equation. A bomb never explodes and makes a plane. A loving God created all of this and we broke His law and messed it up.

No matter what you think about God, you know something is broken and you long for a day and a time that is better than this one. That longing for an unknown land is something God put in your heart to show you that there is a better way. Jesus is that better way and he is offering a way to better and eventually perfect.

No matter how great you think your life is, Jesus’ life is better. Jesus is asking you to exchange lives. Give Him yours and He will give you His. I have seen both sides of this and I can personally attest that His is much better. He wants you to experience all of the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control that you can imagine and after He gives it to you, He wants you to share it with others. Imagine how much better that world could be if we traded our selfish hearts for His. Believer and non-believer, draw close to Jesus because He wants to help and fix what is broken.