Get Out of Jesus’ Chair
Notes
Transcript
The Shadow
The Shadow
1 The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins. 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.
He repeats the idea of shadow
Sanctuary: Hebrews 8:5 “5 They serve at a sanctuary that is a copy and shadow of what is in heaven.
Law: Here
There are two reasons the law was an inadequate shadow pointing at a better reality
The repetitive nature of the sacrificial system
The inadequacies of the offering
The Reality
The Reality
Jesus offers an obedient sacrifice
Jesus offers an obedient sacrifice
5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said: “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me; 6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings you were not pleased. 7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll— I have come to do your will, my God.’ ” 8 First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”—though they were offered in accordance with the law. 9 Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
In the Old Testament, obedience was better than sacrifice
22 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
6 Sacrifice and offering you did not desire— but my ears you have opened— burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not require. 7 Then I said, “Here I am, I have come— it is written about me in the scroll. 8 I desire to do your will, my God; your law is within my heart.”
The AH ascribes the words of David in the Psalm (in Greek) to Jesus himself
While the OT is filled with the disobedience of God’s people, the life of Jesus culminates in obedience
He obeys throughout his life
His obedience reaches a crisis point at Gethsemane
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.” 40 Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. 41 “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” 42 He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”
Through his death he demonstrates ultimate obedience
8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
The result of his obedience is our holiness
Hebrews 10:9–10 “Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.”
Jesus offers a permanent sacrifice
Jesus offers a permanent sacrifice
11 Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12 But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, 13 and since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool. 14 For by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.
The old system was repetitive because it never finally cleansed the participants
Our great high priest’s sacrifice was final
“He sat down”
Ruling (Ps 110)
Fellowshipping with the father
He bore our sins but still fellowships with the father (conquered them)
Resting
It is finished
Jesus offers a sacrifice with better results
Jesus offers a sacrifice with better results
15 The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says: 16 “This is the covenant I will make with them after that time, says the Lord. I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.” 17 Then he adds: “Their sins and lawless acts I will remember no more.” 18 And where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary.
The sacrifice enacts the new covenant with two results
The law written on their hearts
We are forgiven
Application
Application
Introduction
Introduction
Jesus is better than what?
Today we will look at a specific example of the superiority of Jesus over something that many of us struggle with – food and our appetite.
Jesus is better than Food
This passage is not about food; it’s about Jesus, but food may be competing with Jesus.
Food struggles have a unique intensity and expression in modern society
Gluttony was always a problem for some, but in our post-subsistence, globalized world it presses us in new ways
So how does food compete with Jesus?
Gluttony – the endless pursuit of food to fulfill my desires
The most American of sins – Costco
Food porn
Asceticism – the refusal of enjoyment for the purpose of spiritual enrichment
“Guilt-free”
Fad diets (Bible diets)
The changing nature of food “rules”
Fat -> Sugar
Don’t waste -> don’t overeat
The replacement of sexual sin with food sin
Both issues ask food to do what Jesus does
Satisfaction
We are suppose to live with a sense of longing
Righteousness
Eternal life
A better way to think about food
Biblical Theology of Food
Biblical Theology of Food
Eve
Eve
The first sin was one of consumption
Eve thought eating would provide what she really wanted
Of course, Eve’s sin was more than overeating, but it included the same heart that overeating comes from – if I eat this I will have what I really need
Israel
Israel
God provided his people with food in the wilderness
4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.
The people needed regulations for this
They were not to take too much
They were not to take it on the sabbath
The emphasis of the restrictions was faith
This showed God’s care for them
6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt,
God made laws about food for his people – laws which pointed to Jesus according to Hebrews
1 The Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
Part of the conditional covenant blessings given to Israel included food prosperity
15 However, if you do not obey the Lord your God and do not carefully follow all his commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come on you and overtake you: 16 You will be cursed in the city and cursed in the country. 17 Your basket and your kneading trough will be cursed. 18 The fruit of your womb will be cursed, and the crops of your land, and the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks. 19 You will be cursed when you come in and cursed when you go out.
Enjoying food honors God
7 Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.
Food is used as a metaphor for the delight of coming to God through the Messiah
1 “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.
Jesus
Jesus
When the Messiah comes he comes eating and drinking
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
Wedding at Cana
Meals with sinners
Meals with Pharisees
Jesus declares all foods clean
18 “Are you so dull?” he asked. “Don’t you see that nothing that enters a person from the outside can defile them? 19 For it doesn’t go into their heart but into their stomach, and then out of the body.” (In saying this, Jesus declared all foods clean.)
Jesus gives a meal as an act of remembrance of his ministry
The Church
The Church
The church eats together
46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,
All things are declared clean within the church
Peters dream (Ac 10)
Hospitality characterizes the early church
13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
Hospitality is a qualification for elders
2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,
The Future
The Future
We are headed to a feast
6 Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder, shouting: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. 7 Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. 8 Fine linen, bright and clean, was given her to wear.” (Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of God’s holy people.) 9 Then the angel said to me, “Write this: Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding supper of the Lamb!” And he added, “These are the true words of God.”
Jesus is Better than Food
Jesus is Better than Food
So how does this relate to our passage today?
Whether you are struggling with the lust of gluttony or the self-righteousness of asceticism, give it to Jesus
He has made sacrifice for you and offers you his complete righteousness
You will not be satisfied by consumption
You will not satisfy God by self-denial
Jesus’ sacrifice allows us to redefine our relationship with food
God cares more about how we eat than what we eat.
Eating does not define my worth, but is an act of worship
Generalize – Jesus > Everything
Generalize – Jesus > Everything
Though you may not specifically struggle with food issues, the same applies to anything we use to justify ourselves before God - to feel self worth (measure up)
Charity
Work
Relationships
Finances
Jesus has given us all that we need by allowing us to stand righteous before the father
Jesus made sacrifice and sat down
Airline seating pilots chair
Get out of his chair