Whatever You Ask Me To Do

Once we trust Jesus, He will make our path straight.

This week has been so busy, it’s hard to remember Renee’, Luke and I were on vacation last week. Once again, I want to thank Austin for filling the pulpit so ably especially with a hard topic like Milchezedek! Austin is working really hard for us all right now so make sure you give him some encouragement every chance you get.

When I was 20 years old, Susan Rinaldi, an HR specialist, offered me a position with IBM.

I was really a struggling young man.

I was a bit of a dreamer in a world that rewarded work much more than dreams.

Susan explained to me the perks and privileges of working for IBM

And in return, I agreed to do whatever IBM needed for me to do.

I started in the mail room tossing mail bags and sorting and delivering mail.

Fairly soon, I became the office tech - a fancy name for the mail room supervisor.

I moved from the General Systems Division headquarters in Marietta to the Regional Administrative Support Center in Colony Square in Midtown Atlanta.

My first job there was as a Customer Service rep taking service calls for people with computer problems.

Then I became a back up dispatcher for the Atlanta and Tampa branches.

Then I became the lead dispatcher for the Atlanta branch.

And then I was promoted to be an Administrative Specialist.

A really fancy name for a Billing and Inventory Control Clerk - IBM was big on fancy titles.

And then I left IBM.

For five years I was a dedicated IBM’er - that’s what we called ourselves.

But one day as I have testified to you before, I finally found the courage to follow Jesus into ministry.

I’ve listened to a bunch of ministers over the years talk about “surrendering to the call” like it was some grand struggle with the Lord.

The Lord wanted them so badly that He wrestled with them until finally they gave in to Him.

That’s not really how I see it though.

Have you ever seen in the New Testament where Jesus wrestled anyone to the ground to follow Him?

Me neither.

Jesus simply said follow me.

The fight was not with Him, it was with me.

Why this story?

In a sense, IBM and I made a covenant.

As long as I followed their rules, they would ‘bless’ me with the perks of being an IBM’er.

One of those perks was a substantial raise in salary from my former job.

I followed them exactly where they needed me to go and they were faithful to do exactly what they promised to do.

Until one day, five years later, I broke the covenant.

And when I did, they showed no concern for me any more.

They simply stopped sending paychecks.

Normally, its about here that I speak to the kids while the adults are finding the scripture we’re going to read

By the way, we’ll be in Hebrews 8 this morning.

But this morning, I’d like to speak to children and adults alike.

We like the idea of Jesus as a transaction - and here is what I mean by that.

If I give you 10 dollars, you can go to Cone Crazy and buy an ice cream cone that is pretty delicious.

That’s a transaction - I give you something, you give me something.

We think of Jesus that way - We ask Jesus to be our Savior, and He saves us from our sins and gives us heaven when we die.

But that’s not what Jesus is looking for.

Jesus is looking for someone to follow Him wherever He leads them.

And today, we’re going to look at some more reasons why we would want to do that.

Kids, the three words you are listening for on your worship guide are Jesus, Covenant and Wonderful.

Here now the Word of the Lord from Hebrews 8:1-13

Hebrews 8:1–13 ESV

Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; thus it is necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if he were on earth, he would not be a priest at all, since there are priests who offer gifts according to the law. They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.” But as it is, Christ has obtained a ministry that is as much more excellent than the old as the covenant he mediates is better, since it is enacted on better promises. For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second. For he finds fault with them when he says: “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall not teach, each one his neighbor and each one his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest. For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.” In speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away.

This is the Word of the Lord.

Thanks be to God.

Let us pray:

Heavenly Father, Your Holy Spirit is with us.

Please Lord, as Your Word say, cause the Holy Spirit to convict us of our sin

And point us to Jesus.

And Lord, help us to rejoice in Jesus. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

We have such a high priest

That’s how the Pastor starts chapter 8, Hebrews 8:1 “Now the point in what we are saying is this: we have such a high priest…”

Let’s remember why he’s writing this letter to the Hebrews.

They are doubting - seriously doubting.

Life has gotten harder for them than they ever imagined it could.

And they didn’t expect it.

I’m certain many of you can relate to that.

You never dreamed the word cancer would enter your vocabulary

Or addiction, or unemployment, or divorce, or death.

I started to say those are all curveballs in life but they aren’t, they are knuckleballs.

Even the pitcher doesn’t know where a knuckleball is going to go

When life throws a knuckleball at us, we all do the same thing that they did.

We reach for something to grab ahold of - something familiar - that we kind of know how it works.

That’s exactly the case for the Hebrews.

Life was rolling along pretty good - then along came the knuckleball - life became unstable

So they reached for something and in their case, they decided to change churches and go to their old church.

I know how the old way operates - let’s go back to that and we’ll be ok.

And the Pastor says no and let me tell you why that’s a bad idea.

This new high priest is “seated at the right hand of the throne of Majesty in heaven.”

There is one thing in that statement that I’ll be very surprised if you know - I didn’t.

What we do know is this refers back to Psalm 110:1 again

Psalm 110:1 ESV

The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”

We know that God is on the throne in heaven

We know that Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father, right this minute

In His position of power and prominence.

But what you might not know is what the word Majesty means.

We’ve heard it in relation to kings and queens and of course God.

But what does the word Majesty mean?

It literally means “the one who is truly wonderful.”

Of all of the things in our lives that we have called wonderful.

God the Father is truly wonderful.

Now, just play with me for a moment here.

I want us to try to grasp this.

We sat on the shore of Lake Erie one evening and watched the sun go down and that was wonderful.

It was an amazing feeling to be with my family with a soft breeze blowing and watching the sun go down.

When our children were born, that was wonderful.

The whole process of birth and everything that entails

To the moment that the baby is resting on mom’s chest - such a sublime contentment

Many of you know that feeling - it was wonderful.

Now take the wonderful experiences of your life and all of the deeply felt emotions that you remember

And consider that there is one experience that will be ‘truly’ wonderful.

Wonderful above anything that we can imagine.

This is where Jesus is now.

And in this place, Jesus is a minister “in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man.”

In verse 5, the Pastor will call the temple a “copy and shadow of the heavenly things.”

Think of the most incredibly holy, awe inspiring Church you have ever been in.

Have you got it in your mind?

Do you see it?

Now realize, as deep as your inspiration is, what you are feeling, what you are experiencing

What you are seeing in your minds eye is a copy, it is a shadow of the heavenly things.

The most beautiful thing, the most awe inspiring thing you have ever experienced, is dull in comparison to the things of heaven.

These people would have known about the Temple built on the highest place in Jerusalem.

Much of it covered in gold so that it reflected the sun like a mirror.

People could see it rising above the hills for miles away.

They would see it and think, “that is where God is.”

These doubting people were thinking, we know that God is there.

And the pastor is saying to them, “why would you go back there?”

“As beautiful as it is, as amazing and wonderful as it is, it is but a copy and a shadow of where Jesus is right now.”

You would be going back to second best.

And the covenant it represents is faulty

Not because God made a mistake when He made it

But because we have never had absolute determination or the ability really to follow it.

Look at Hebrews 8:7 “For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion to look for a second.”

The first covenant would not get us where God wanted us to go, we weren’t capable of doing it.

Verse 9, Hebrews 8:9 “not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt. For they did not continue in my covenant, and so I showed no concern for them, declares the Lord.”

The Lord gave them food and a safe place to sleep and led them and what did they do?

God knew if any of us where to be saved, He would have to do it.

So God presented us with a better covenant

The pastor looks back to the Old Testament to Jeremiah 31:31-34.

This quote fits here for a couple of reasons.

First of all, these folks are facing hard times but they are nothing compared to what Jeremiah went through.

The city of Jerusalem was under siege and they still beat Jeremiah and tossed him into a dry well to die.

Talk about hopeless - even after the fighting is over and even if some of the people are spared

Jeremiah is still stuck in the bottom of a well with no food and no water

Jeremiah was going to die - life couldn’t get any worse.

And yet, the Lord delivered Jeremiah and then gave him these words Jeremiah 31:31-34

Jeremiah 31:31–34 ESV

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

Just so you can win a trivia contest, this is the longest Old Testament quote in the New Testament.

Now think for a minute, if you are going through a really hard time, what do you need to know about God.

You need to know that He cares, right?

That’s in verse 8 - even though the Israelites disobeyed God, what did he do?

He made a new covenant.

Nobody would have found fault with God if He had washed His hands of them

Just like nobody would find fault with God is He washed His hands of us either.

But He doesn’t, because He cares.

What else do you need to know about God when we are going through a hard time?

You need to know that God knows that you can’t do it.

I don’t know about you but I know me.

My vacation came at just the right time - I was at a place where I just couldn’t take one more thing.

One more sickness, one more complaint, one more anything.

You know exactly what that’s like - we all do.

These Hebrews are there - they can’t do one more thing - so what does God do?

What does verse 10 say, “Hebrews 8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws into their minds, and write them on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”

Do you hear it?

I will put, I will write, I will be their God AND they shall be my people.

The Lord knows you are at the end of your rope - there is nothing else you can do.

So He does it Himself.

What else do you need to know about God when we are going through a hard time?

We need to know what God will do with the guilt we feel for getting ourselves into this mess in the first place.

Listen to verse 12 “Hebrews 8:12 “For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more.””

This particular word for merciful means happy, friendly or gracious.

It doesn’t mean Jesus is happy we sinned

It means He is happy to forgive us and even more, He is happy to “remember [our] sins no more.”

He wants us back.

The sins that we want to hold on to, he chooses not to remember them ever again.

Think of it this way - He’s the friend who you’ve offended but they love you so much, they’ve already forgiven you.

And the reason you aren’t friends with them, is you are too arrogant, too proud, too stubborn, too ignorant, pick your word

You are too something to realize, this person isn’t mad with you, they just want you back.

Jesus is happy to forgive your sin.

Now let me say this about that

Every one of us has gone through a hard time - some of us are in one right this moment.

What did the Lord just say to you?

What did you hear in your heart and mind?

Listen to me, God is not mad at you.

God isn’t holding hell over your head telling you to straighten up and fly right.

He knows you and I can’t straighten up and fly right.

No, hell is waiting for those who can’t bring themselves to give up the fight.

They can’t bring themselves to do what Jesus is asking us to do.

And listen, He’s not listening for a transaction.

He’s not asking you to let Jesus come into your heart.

He’s simply saying, “Follow me.”

That’s what He said in the gospels, right?

“Follow me.”

It’s not easy to follow Jesus

To say, I’ll go where you want me to go

I’ll do what you want me to do

I’ll accept whatever you bring into my life.

And yet, when we do that, we find out what wonderful really means.

We find out what it means to be free in Jesus.

I invite you right now to follow Jesus.

Let us pray: