Consider Jesus

Introduction

A young entrepreneur has just created a product that he believes will revolutionize his industry and he lands a meeting with top CEO. He pitches his guts out and at the end of the presentation the CEO shakes his hand and says, “You’ve given be a lot to consider.” An eager screenwriter has spent the last decade of her life in latest script, she meets with the movie producer over lunch and as they pay their bill she says, “I appreciate your consideration, you have my number.” A nervous young man meets with who he hopes will be his future father-in-law. He expresses his love for the man’s daughter and explains he plans to care for her. The future father-in-law says, “It sounds like you’ve given this a lot on consideration.”

In our culture the word consider can really mean several things. In the case of the of the entrepreneur it is probably a polite no, but oh how he hopes that the CEO will truly consider his product. The screenwriter knows, that the movie producer isn’t buying, but thanks the producer for her time. The father-in-law on the other hand sees that this young man before truly loves his daughter. He has plan for their future. He means it when he says, “It sounds like you’ve given this a lot of consideration.” Love tends to do. That which we love we will give a considerable amount of consideration. This morning we are told from our text to consider Jesus. I wonder as we look at this text this morning how will you take that word? Will love compel you to truly consider Jesus. To consider his role, his faithfulness, and your faithfulness.

Read Hebrews 3:1-6.

Consider Jesus’ Roles v. 1

Hebrews 3:1 “Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,”

First, we will consider the two roles of Jesus that this passage presents us with but before we can do that we will need to consider what this passage says about Christians. The author calls them holy brother, who share in the heavenly calling. This is preceded by the word “therefore” which connects this passage to the two chapters that precede it. Because in chapter 2 Jesus tasted death for everyone and sanctifies us and makes propitiation, or appeases God’s wrath for our sin, as our high priest and because he is not ashamed to call us brothers… we are therefore holy brothers you share in a heavenly calling. Because of what Jesus has done for us, we who are sinners are made holy. We who are far from God are brought into his family as brothers and sisters. We were destined for an eternity in Hell now have the hope of heaven which we read in 1 Peter 1:4 “to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you,” If you are a Christian this morning this is what is won for you through the death of Jesus. And in light of all this wonder that God provides to us he calls us now to consider Jesus.

The word translated consider carries with it the connotation of meditation. The consideration we are encouraged to take part in is not a polite way to say no. It is not apathetic contemplation when you get free time while driving or in the shower, but rather it is a focused mediative consideration that we are being exhorted to do. God wants us to give ourselves to mediating on who Jesus is. We were told in Hebrews 2:1 “Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.” Overflow will the attention and consideration you give to Jesus. And as we consider Jesus we consider him this morning as the apostle and high priest of our confession.

Now this is the only place in the Bible where Jesus is called and apostle and it might seem a strange thing to think of Jesus as an apostle. After all, the 12 apostles are of lower station than Jesus. But we must understand what the word apostle means. It is simply a person who has be sent out with a mission. In fact, in second temple Judaism (Judaism as it existed between the end of the OT and the early stages of the NT) would sometimes refer to Moses as an apostle. And the verb which we get the word apostle from is used of Moses in Exodus 3:10 in the LXX, the greek translation of the OT when it says “Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.””

In fact, I believe this is an introductory sentence for this next section of the book of Hebrews. Jesus will be compared to Moses and Joshua and their time leading the people into the promised land. And in the sense that apostles are ones sent on a mission Moses and Joshua are apostles. Jesus, was sent by the father with the mission to save the world of sin and bring his people into eternal rest. The eternal rest is compared to the promised land in chapter four. Moses and Joshua are foreshadowing the work fully accomplished by Jesus. The next section of Hebrews will pick up the discussion about Jesus being our high priest, something that has already been mentioned in the book, but will be unpacked with greater detail later.

So, we are to consider Jesus as one who has been sent out on a mission. And as the founder of our salvation, mentioned in chapter 2 he has accomplished that mission. Consider him who is the hero. The one sent to save his people, which he did. And the one who is leading them home, which he is!

Because he is the apostle and high priest of our confession. Our confession is that Jesus Christ is the Messiah come to save his people. He is as the author of Hebrews has stated the one who came with a message to believe in Him to receive eternal life. He is the founder of our salvation, the high priest that satisfied God’s wrath, the radiance of the glory of God himself, the inheritor of all things because he tasted death for everyone, the creator of the world who will set all things in subjection to him through his suffering, and the capital “S” Son of God. This is our confession. In a short phrase: Jesus Christ is Lord. Will you consider him?

T/S- And in this text we are encouraged to specifically consider his faithfulness.

Consider His Faithfulness v. 2-6a

Hebrews 3:2–6a “who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son…

Even without Hebrews, a careful reading of the Pentateuch and the Gospels would be enough to demonstrate that Christ is greater than Moses. Moses was a man; Christ is the God-man. Moses was a sinner judged for his sin; sinless Christ is judged for the sins of his people. Moses turned the water of the Nile into blood; Christ changes water into wine. Moses led the children of Israel out of bondage to Egypt but failed to lead them into the land of promise; Christ, the second Moses, leads his people out of bondage to sin and takes them all the way into the eschatological land of promise. - Al Mohler Christ Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in Hebrews pg. 44 but this not the point of this specific text.

This text is comparing a positive attribute of Moses: faithfulness to the even greater faithfulness of Jesus. The rationale laid before us is that Moses was in fact faithful in all of God’s house. But Jesus is counted worthy of more glory than Moses. That the faithfulness of Jesus eclipses the faithfulness of Moses. The text compares Moses to a faithful servant of the house of God. And in fact suggest that Moses is a part of that house himself, because in verse 6 we are told that we are the house of God. The house of God is not a building, but a household of people, the people of God who Jesus came as an apostle to save. Moses is one of those people. The argument is that when a great building is built it isn’t the building that gets the glory, but the one who built the building that gets the glory. Yes, Moses was faithful, but he’s a part of the building, not the builder of the building. The building of all things is God, and Jesus has already been stated as the one who is the exact imprint of God’s nature in Hebrews 1. Jesus in Hebrews 1:2-3 is the one who created all things, upholds the universe by his power, and sits at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Jesus is the builder of the house who gets more glory than the house.

This does not make little of Moses though. He is a servant of the house, but the greek word translated servant is not the typical greek word translated as servant or slave. Typically, in the Bible when you see the word servant or slave the greek text uses the word doulos. However, hear the author uses the word therapon. A Therapon held a position of nobility under the one who appointed him. This is a high ranking and dignified servant. Moses in Jewish the worldview held incredible esteem. He is like George Washington or Abraham Lincoln to the American psyche. He was considered a great man. In Deuteronomy 34:10–12 we read what is basically like a short eulogy this about Moses “And there has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face, none like him for all the signs and the wonders that the Lord sent him to do in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, and for all the mighty power and all the great deeds of terror that Moses did in the sight of all Israel.” He was the prophet of all prophets. He’s Micheal Jordan, Tom Brady, and Babe Ruth to the religious Jews. But the writer of Hebrews is saying as faithful as he was, he is not as faithful as Jesus.

Moses himself tells in Deuteronomy 18:15–19 ““The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your brothers—it is to him you shall listen— just as you desired of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God or see this great fire any more, lest I die.’ And the Lord said to me, ‘They are right in what they have spoken. I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”

Hebrews 3:5 “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,” Jesus is who Moses was testifying about in Deuteronomy 18. Jesus is the one who would speak later. Hebrews 1:1–2 “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,… Hebrews 3:5–6 “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, …. but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. …

As great and faithful that Moses is.. He is not as faithful as the son. The Son is deserving of even more glory. Now, what does the mean for us? Does Jesus get glory in life? The Hebrew word for glory means weight. This idea is captured in an idiom that we often use in our culture when we say something like he really threw is weight when referring to a person with clout using that clout to get what he wants. Weight matters, it can get things done. It carries authority and honor with it. How much weight does Jesus hold in your life?

This Jesus the author of Hebrews describes is a glorious individual. Does he guide your life decisions? When you bought your house, got married, took a job? How much weight did Jesus get in the decision? When you makes smaller decisions of how you’ll spend your weekend, how many extracurriculars you’ll sign the kids up for, will you guard Sunday mornings from other obligations? If I could attach a body cam to you this week and give a stranger the first 3 and half chapters of Hebrews, let them listen to these last 5 sermons, and them to watch the footage… would they say, o yeah, that person actually believes those passages of Scripture he or she listened to your sermons Josh and Jimmy.

The building situation was disappointing… but it is inconsequential to the health and long term status of our church. Jesus is faithful to the house of God, which means he will not withhold any good gift. And if we become a people who consider him, who pay close attention to the message we have heard, then Satan will tremble. Because the gates of hell will not prevail against the church.

T/S- Brothers and sisters give your life to God’s church. Let the glory of Jesus carry the weight that is due him in your life. Because Hebrews 3:6 “…. we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.”

Consider Your Faithfulness v. 6b

Jesus is faithful, more faithful than Moses and he is faithful to us. The household of God as we read in Hebrews 2:14-16. he partook in our flesh and blood that through death he might destroy the devil and deliver us from slavery. Because he helps the offspring of Abraham, his brothers and sisters. His household. And we cannot truly consider Christ faithfulness to us and not consider what it looks like to be faithful to him. Coming face to face with the reality that the Son of God died for you requires us to have confidence in his work and to boast in the hope that he provides.

Our confidence and our boasting are not in ourselves, but they are in the work of Jesus. His deity, his superiority to angels, his death for sinners. We must hold fast to these truths in order to remain in the house. Perseverance is a mark of truth belief. It is a part of having the family name. Those who are really a part of the family will persevere til the end. But we must actually persevere.

Text like this which appear again in the book of Hebrews can often cause the Christian much anxiety. In the worst case scenario Christians are caught questioning am I really a Christian. And in other cases we watch people appear to be children of God only to see them walk away from their faith. We ask, did they not hold fast their confidence and boasting in our hope? How can we believe our own statement of faith in light of passages like this?

Our Statement of Faith states in article 14 All those whom God has regenerated will never totally or finally fall away from the state of grace, but shall certainly persevere to the end. Though they may fall through neglect and temptation, into sin, where they grieve the Spirit, hinder communion with God, impair their comforts, bring reproach on the church, and temporal judgments on themselves, but they will be renewed again unto repentance, and be kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation (John 6:37-40; 10:28-29; Rom. 8:28-39; 1 Cor. 1:8-9; Phil. 1:6).

Yet, the warning in Hebrews is clear… we are in his household if we hold fast.

6 considerations for us

Jesus is the one who holds us as we hold on to him. 1 Corinthians 1:7–9 Paul is praying and he prays “so that you are not lacking in any gift, as you wait for the revealing of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will sustain you to the end, guiltless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.”

Hebrews and other warning passages of scripture point to the object of our faith not the quality of our faith as the source of our perseverance.

Nothing, even our own sin can separate us from the love of God Romans 8:37–39 “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

Sin will never bring us closer to God. James 1:14–15 “But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.”

All soils look the same until they bear fruit. Matthew 13:1-8; Matthew 13:18-23.

God ordains the means, not only the ends.

Conclusion

I give these considerations primarily as a means of comforting the Christian. If you believe in the Jesus of Hebrews 1 and 2 rest assured he holds you in his hands and nothing can pluck you out. Jesus will hold you fast as you hold fast to your confidence and boasting in him. Your salvation is not contingent upon the quality of your walk with Jesus. It is all rest upon the finished work of the Son of God who tasted death for us, who appeased the wrath of God as our high priest, and who rose again from the dead. I do not believe God has willed for Christians to worry about their standing before him. If you’re feeling unsettled lets grab coffee and chat some more. If you’re convicted of the amount of weight Jesus holds in your life then that is evidence of your salvation, but don’t just do nothing about it. Know God ordains the means, therefore give him glory in your life.

However, if you are here and you don’t believe in that Jesus, then I invite you to repent of your sin and trust in him today. Cry out to Jesus in your seat even now and ask him to save you. Admit your sin, confess that Jesus is Lord, and commit to follow him. And if you do that then you need to let someone know. We want to help you walk with Jesus through baptism, church membership, and daily Christian living. I’ll be at the back during our last two songs feel free to come talk.