Hebrews 4-5

Hebrews  •  Sermon  •  Submitted   •  Presented   •  25:04
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Hebrews

Main Text.
Hebrews 5 “For every high priest is taken from among the people and appointed to represent them before God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal compassionately with those who are ignorant and erring, since he also is subject to weakness, and for this reason he is obligated to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people. And no one assumes this honor on his own initiative, but only when called to it by God, as in fact Aaron was. So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, who said to him, “You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,” as also in another place God says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion. Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. And by being perfe…”
Exordium.
Have you ever met someone who was just simply out of touch?
Someone who for lack of a better way to put it, just didn’t get it.
I’ve taken a lot of college classes over the years. and for me one of the most frustrating thing about taking a college class was when you got a college professor who had zero real-world experience.
Like they’ve never had a real job because they went from high school straight to their bachelor’s degree. And then their masters, and then straight into a doctoral program
and then they got a job as a professor.
I’m not saying all of them are like that, there are quite a few who actually have real world experience. But quite a few, they don’t have any experience with the real world, or the subject that they are teaching.
My wife lindsay has the best ones. She had one professor in a class who was single. no kids. none of the other students in her class had spouses or kids. Lindsay was one of only like 3 people who were married. The class? Marriage and family lifecycles.
Another one she had this one gal, she was fresh out of college. She had to have only been 24 years old. She was at that age where you were like “are you one of the students? or are you the teachers aid? I can’t quite tell.
The class: the dynamics of aging and the elderly.
Talk about being out of touch with reality.
But by far for me the most egregious example of someone being out of touch. This one’s not from college, you all actually might know this one.
During the 2020 coronavirus…thing...
When they shut everything down and sent everyone home and told everyone they needed to stay in their houses until the quarantine was over.
A bunch of movie actors and celebrities and famous artists all got together and they recorded a video and put it out on the internet. And the point of the video was basically “hey If i can quarantine at home for two weeks, you can too, we’re all in thistogether.
I think they sang that song “imagine” by the beetles.
That’s an ok message I guess, you know, “we’re all in this together”
Except for the fact that they were filming this video inside their houses, and you could see in the background of the video these massive mansions. and swimming pools, and spiral staircases.
Instead of coming across as “we’re all in this together” it came across as incredibly tone deaf.
We like it when people are able to actually empathize with us.
That’s what we get in Jesus.
Hebrews 4:15 NET 2nd ed.
For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.
Narratio
I want to back up just for a second and talk about this high priest idea.
One of the things that makes the Book of Hebrews so difficult is the fact that Hebrews, more than any other book in the Bible, is not meant to be broken into chunks the way we do.
The book itself was a sermon that was preached in the early church.
Sermons are meant to be heard all in one sitting.
But unless we go through all 13 chapters in one sunday, it makes it really hard to figure out where to stop and where to pick up
because the whole thing flows like a symphony, one point leading into the other
Or it will bring up one point in this chapter, and then three chapters later you get the payoff.
What hebrews really wants to do is to talk about Jesus as High priest.
the phrase “since we have such a great high priest” comes up again and again, but it’s not until
And the reason he wants to talk about the great high priest in Jesus is because he wants to talk about the new covenant that’s brought about by Christ, that is based on faith. (not intellectual faith, but true obedient faith)
And the reason he wants to do that is because he wants to encourage the audience to continuously live out their faith.
To not give up, to keep their eyes fixed on Christ.
But what we’re going to see is that the preacher of this message isn’t ready to just jump in tothe main point. HE’s got a lot of background work to do so he can get his audience there.
He’s walking them to that point.
Which is why at the end of chapter two we read about Jesus as great high priest, but then we talked about a story from the book of numbers.
And at the end of last week, chapter 4 we read about this great high priest, and approaching the throne of grace.
And we’re going to dive in a little bit on that today, but at the very end of the text we have today he says
Hebrews 5:11–12 NET 2nd ed.
On this topic we have much to say and it is difficult to explain, since you have become sluggish in hearing. For though you should in fact be teachers by this time, you need someone to teach you the beginning elements of God’s utterances. You have gone back to needing milk, not solid food.
The original audience wasn’t prepared to jump straight in to the heavy stuff. So we’re getting this high priest idea teased again and agaain until eventually we get the payoff, that leads to our main idea of the text.
In order to get them to this idea of “living out your faith, keeping your eyes fixed on Jesus” the preacher of hebrews here needs to build up to that point.
That’s what we’re getting today. A teaser of the idea that Jesus is high priest. Just one tiny aspect of it that builds on the bigger picture.
Partitio
The big idea I want to break down within the larger big idea of the book of hebrews is this: Jesus Gets us. And because Jesus gets us, we have an obligation to do the same for others.
Confirmatio
Hebrews 4:15 NET 2nd ed.
For we do not have a high priest incapable of sympathizing with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way just as we are, yet without sin.
We need to understand the role of High priest
The high priests who were around at the time of the new testament before the temple was destroyed had a reputation of being Out of touch.
It wasn’t god’s intention for it to be that way
The high priests were supposed to be selected from among the people USUALLY from the tribe of levi. Though there are a couple of minor exceptions to that in the bible.
And they were dispersed throughout israel.
The tribe of levi, the priestly tribe, was the only tribe who didn’t have their own land.
They were supposed to be set apart. They weren’t supposed to get mixed up into the power dynamics of politics.
They weren’t supposed to be jockeying for power and territory, they had an important job, which was to be the intercessor—the go-between—between God and the jewish people .
For the people, by the people.
They were supposed to work hand in hand with the king, to be the go-between between the nation and God. they were supposed to advise the king.
They really were supposed to be “down to earth” be everything to all people, be relatable and empathetic religious leaders.
But what happpened over time is that the role of priest, and especially the role of High priest increasingly became a political position.
After the babylonian exile, when the people came back there was no king, so the high priests started filling the role of both priest and king.
So the separation of powers that kept the high priests in check eroded away.
The role of high priest stopped being one about interceding before God, and started to be a power role
Like a political office that you run for and you grab power for.
All that power and money corrupted.
When we think about the celbrity example, or…how about this one...
Also during the coronavirus pandemic there were those politicians who got in hot water because they shut down all of the businesses and restaurants, and then they went and rented out the entire fancy french restaurant for them and all of their friends.
talk about out of touch.
That’s kiind of what the high priests at the time had become.
But Jesus as high priest…that’s different.
He’s approachable. He gets us. He understands our struggle and temptation
Hebrews 4:16 NET 2nd ed.
Therefore let us confidently approach the throne of grace to receive mercy and find grace whenever we need help.
So jesus is able to be an approachable high priest, one who understands us, not like the corrupt priests at the time.
But the next question the original audience is thinking is: yeah he was humble , and human, and he suffered and he was tempted…but is he qualified to be high priest.
Going back to our example of the politicians or movie actors or college professors…we want someone who gets it, who isn’t out of touch.
But we don’t just want anybody for that job.
Someone might be the most down-to earth approachable relatable guy…but if he can’t find north korea on a map…I don’t know if I want him having the nuclear codes.
you might have doctor who has great bedside manor…but but failed medical school…I don’t think I want to go go under the knife with that person. I’m sure they’re great, super friendly. But I also want someone who is qualified.
As we get into chapter 5 what we’re going to see are the qualifications to be high priest.
Qualifications from scripture. Not the political position it turned into, but what the Bible says about it.
And how does Jesus STack up.
Hebrews 5:1 NET 2nd ed.
For every high priest is taken from among the people and appointed to represent them before God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins.
Taken from among the people
This is from Exodus 28:1 where God says to call out the priests from among the sons of israel.
For the people, by the people
aPPOINTED TO offer gifts and sacrifices for sins…in other words, the priest was a mediator between god and his people. He was supposed to be the ambassador between God and man.
Hebrews 5:2 NET 2nd ed.
He is able to deal compassionately with those who are ignorant and erring, since he also is subject to weakness,
Hebrews 5:3 NET 2nd ed.
and for this reason he is obligated to make sin offerings for himself as well as for the people.
Hebrews 5:4 NET 2nd ed.
And no one assumes this honor on his own initiative, but only when called to it by God, as in fact Aaron was.
A true high priest doesn’t jockey forthe position.
A true high priest is chosen for the job. Not out of power, not wanting something for it.
But selected by God, it says
Hebrews 5:5–6 NET 2nd ed.
So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming high priest, but the one who glorified him was God, who said to him, “You are my Son! Today I have fathered you,” as also in another place God says, “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
Jesus didn’t set out for glory. Jesus wasn’t running for office,
he wasn’t looking for fame or recognition.
-Jesus meets that qualification.
-what about the notion that a priest is supposed to offer gifts and sacrifices on behalf of the people
-that he is the ambassador for God for the people?
Hebrews 5:7 NET 2nd ed.
During his earthly life Christ offered both requests and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to the one who was able to save him from death and he was heard because of his devotion.
Jesus. After being whipped. And flogged. And stripped, and beaten, and mocked and humiliated
and nailed to a cross… he said
Luke 23:34 “But Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they don’t know what they are doing.” Then they threw dice to divide his clothes.”
Hebrews 5:8–9 NET 2nd ed.
Although he was a son, he learned obedience through the things he suffered. And by being perfected in this way, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him,
And if you were here last week, I just want to point out again, that the bible states the idea that obedience to Christ is necessary for our salvation.
But I want to pause here for a minute, and I want to step back and ask the question: how does this apply to our lives.
The book of hebrews is a very difficult book to get a grasp on.
-one of the reasons it’s so difficult is because it’s a very heady book in the bible.
-it deals with big theological concepts, it deals with ideas that require a lot of knowledge of the old testament
-it describes things that sometimes feel like they are 30,000 feet in the air.
When I was first going into ministry, I had a mentor preacher pull me aside. He had been preaching and ministering for longer than I’ve been alive, by a long shot.
And I’ll never forget the advice he told me. He said you’re going to go on this journey, and you’re going to learn all of this stuff in seminary, and you’re going to read all of these books, and you’re going to learn greek and hebrew.
and you’re going to learn all of these big theological ideas and all of that.
And he said, don’t ever forget that at the end of the day, your job is to take all of that stuff and ask yourself: How can this help John and Linda the corn farmers from Iowa have a better relationship with Jesus.
At the end of the day, that’s the job. That’s the so what. You can have all of this knowledge and you can know that Jesus is High priest, and that he meets the qualifications, and all of that.
Now how is it going to help you grow in Christ?
Jesus is our Great High Priest.
A title that implies “regular priest”
But there’s no temple in Jerusalem anymore. There are no more sacrifices. There’s no more holy of holies.... there’s no more “levitical priesthood” to offer bulls and Goats to God.
1 Peter 2:9 NET 2nd ed.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
You’re it. You’re the priesthood. Every Christian who has been called out of darkness into the Marvelous light of Jesus is a priest for God.
You are not a passive observer in God’s plan to redeem the world.
You are an active participant. Each and every one of you is called to be a priest. An ambassador of God to the world and to each other.
And we have an obligation to follow the example of our great high priest.
Our big idea: Jesus Gets us. We have an obligation to do the same for others.
We can’t be out of touch Christians.
If people are going to hear our message of hope and deliverance, they need to know that we are willing to hang out with the “low-lives and degenerates” The tax collectors and sinners.
The woman at the well who was on her 5th marriage.
The leper who had been ostracized from society.
The little children. When the disciples said, “stop bothering our master, he doesn’t have time to deal with little kids” Jesus said let them come to me.
The old saying, people don’t care how much you know unless they know how much you care...
We need to be willing and able to sympathize and empathize with the broken and defeated.
The world doesn’t need Christians who say “ooh look at me, look how good I am”
The world needs to see Christians who can come along side them and say “yeah, I’ve struggled with something similar to what you’re going through,” Let me tell you how I got through it.
Let me tell you who got me through it.
The message that Jesus is our High priest is great for us.
But it does the world no good if they never see it. And one of the primary ways that the world can see Christ is through us.
Be the type of Priest who does everything in your power to imitate our high priest.
Not a high priest wearing fancy robes with a fancy title
But a priest who washed feet
A priest who ate with sinners
A priest who gets us.
Jesus Gets us. And because of that we have an obligation to do the same.
Pray
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