Hebrews 3:1-6 - The Servant and the Son
Notes
Transcript
Handout
Introduction:
The first century Jewish converts who were receiving this letter had a very high view of Moses. In some Jewish traditions, Moses was considered even greater than the angels.
There was good reason for them to respect Moses and hold him in high regard. Moses’s life was amazingly spared in Exodus 2:1-10 as he was placed in a basket and found by Pharaoh's daughter and spared from the Egyptian genocide of male Hebrew babies. Moses was divinely chosen by God Himself as he was spoken to through a bush that never burned up (Exodus 3). He went on to lead the Israelites out of Egypt after a series of plagues sent by God (Exodus 7-12).
In Numbers 12:6-8 we are told that that Moses spoke to God as one would speak to one face to face.
He wrote the first five books of the Bible called the Pentateuch.
And even after he died, he was buried by the Lord himself in a grave unknown to men (Deuteronomy 34:5-6).
With all of these amazing qualities, the author does not want to diminish Moses’s work for the Lord. However, he does want to let his readers know that there is a big difference between a servant and the Son of God.
We will see the author exalt Christ over Moses throughout these 6 verses.
Moses was a great man of God, but Christ is the great God-man!
Let’s go ahead and jump into our verses for today…
Read Full Scripture:
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
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. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Prayer
Today we will see three ways that Jesus Christ is faithful. The first is…
I. Jesus Christ is the Faithful Facilitator of Our Salvation (1)
I. Jesus Christ is the Faithful Facilitator of Our Salvation (1)
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
We have a transition from the incarnation of Jesus Christ and His saving work on the cross into this first verse. Therefore, in light of the truth of Jesus and namely the Gospel - the author now speaks.
He addresses believers as holy brothers. We discussed being a part of the family of God last week and the beauty of that truth. Because of what Christ did on the cross we can be called brothers - children of God - who are holy and set apart for the Lord Jesus Himself.
And we are told that we share in a heavenly calling. This refers to a message coming from heaven and Someone calling us toward heaven.
We are not earthly citizens - no our citizenship is in heaven as Paul asserts in Philippians 3:20.
Friends, don’t get caught up in all of things of this world. You aren’t home yet. No, this doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy things on this side of eternity as we are told that God gives good gifts in James 1:17. However, we must always remember that the things of this earth will pass away. Our focus must be heavenward and focused on Christ.
As we turn our eyes heavenward, we should consider Jesus. We should fix our eyes upon Jesus. This Greek word translated consider here means to given attention to with continuous observation. To consider Christ means far more than just giving Him a quick thought. It means to continuously think about our Savior.
How can we consider Jesus like this?
1 - We must pray that God gives us a desire for Him.
Unfortunately, our passions are often misplaced. We often default to being more passionate about the things that are passing away on this earth - such as sports, food, things, and pleasure - that we don’t desire Christ the way that we should. We must pray that God opens our eyes to the beauty of Christ. As the old hymn asserts, when we turn our eyes upon Jesus… ‘the things of earth will grow strangely dim.’
2 - We must pray that God gives us an awareness of His Presence.
Jesus is working all around us. He has even sent His Holy Spirit in indwell believers! As we learn from Elijah in 1 Kings 19:12, sometimes His voice is a still small voice or a low whisper. And in order to hear it, we must quiet our hearts and lives in order to listen.
For us today, this doesn’t mean we should be trying to hear an audible Word from God. We have the entire counsel of God through the Bible. We can hear Him speak through His Word each time we read it. And we don’t have to try to discern whether what we just heard was from God - we know it was because it is the Word of God! Instead, we must be sure to quiet our soul to allow the Holy Spirit to direct us as we meditate on God’s Word and pray - which brings us to #3.
3 - We must spend time meditating on God’s Word through Bible reading and prayer.
Considering Jesus - namely walking with Jesus daily - requires discipline and dedicated time. We must be diligent in our quiet times with the Lord. They must be regular and they must be protected.
Although not always the case, I am afraid that many who speak of struggling with their relationship with God need only to look at their calendar and see why. How much time are you dedicating to your relationship with Jesus?
If you dedicated the amount of time that you currently give God to your relationship with your spouse, your best friend, or your children - do you think you would have a close relationship with them?
May we remain disciplined with our time spent with the Lord - may we pray that God grows our desire for Him - and may we pray that we become more aware of His Presence in our lives.
4 - We must spend time with other believers.
The Scriptures assert that bad company corrupts good morals (1 Corinthians 15:33). We become most like those with whom we associate. A former church planter who has been an encouragement to me since starting CrossPointe named Pastor Terry Faulkenbury discussed in a message a few years ago how people think about and discuss what those around them think about and discuss. If you hang out with people who discuss politics all of the time - you will likely do the same. If you hang out with people who discuss the stock market all of the time - you will likely discuss stocks and finance as well.
My friends, be sure to spend time with believers who talk about and love Jesus. Talk about the Bible with them. Talk about what God is doing in your life and the lives of those around you. This will aid you significantly in considering Jesus more.
Getting back to verse 1 we see...
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession,
John Piper once made the following statements regarding Christ’s work seen here...
“We need a Word from God and a Way to God. We need a revelation from God, and we need reconciliation with God.”
John Piper
Piper is pressing into the two titles given to Jesus here.
Jesus Christ Is:
1 - Apostle
Interestingly, this is the only place in the Scriptures that Jesus is called Apostle. This should indeed be capitalized as He is the greatest Apostle ever. Note that this does not refer to Jesus like one of the Apostles such as Peter or John or Paul. He is much greater than them as well.
This word is used in its literal meaning - namely Jesus is One Who was sent out. Jesus Christ was sent out by God to humanity.
This sending out of Jesus answered one of Piper’s important issues that he brought up. We needed a Word from God. We need a revelation from God. And Jesus provided that. He brought the Word of God and revealed Who God was up close and personal.
However, there was another important need that we had. And that is answered by His next title…
2 - High Priest
Receiving a Word from God and revelation from God was incredibly needed and necessary. However, Christ didn’t stop there. He also provided us a Way to God and reconciliation with God.
Through His death on the cross, He became our Great High Priest who provided the sacrifice needed for the forgiveness of our sins. If only we will repent of our sins and place our faith and trust in Him, then we can be saved!
In these two wonderful titles, we see that Christ bridged the chasm caused by sin between man and God.
He was sent from God to us and then became our representative to God to provide the reconciliation that we needed to be with God.
In light of these truths, may we hold fast to our confession as seen at the end of verse 1. The word confession here means to boldly agree with God by stating that what He has revealed is true.
The author of Hebrews will exhort us to hold fast to our confession in Hebrews 4:14 and Hebrews 10:23 as well.
What is this confession?
It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
It the understanding that Jesus is God-made-flesh who came down from heaven to earth some 2000 years ago, suffered and died on the cross, and rose three days later in order to provide salvation for all of those who would repent and place their faith in Him.
I pray that all of you have come to that wonderful confession - or profession of faith. That you have repented of your sin and placed your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Lord.
If you need to discuss that further, I would love to talk with you after the service.
Praise be to Jesus for being the faithful facilitator of our salvation. Next we see that…
Scripture References: Exodus 2:1-10, Exodus 3, Exodus 7-12, Numbers 12:6-8, Deuteronomy 34:5-6, Philippians 3:20, James 1:17, 1 Kings 19:12, 1 Corinthians 15:33, Hebrews 4:14, Hebrews 10:23
II. Jesus Christ is the Faithful Founder of the Sanctified (2-4)
II. Jesus Christ is the Faithful Founder of the Sanctified (2-4)
who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.
This word faithful occurs some four times in these six verses. It means to be trustworthy, dependable, and reliable.
What was Moses and what is Jesus faithful over? They have been faithful over God’s house. House occurs some six times in these verses!
But what does the author mean by God’s house? This is a metaphor for God’s people. Moses was faithful over God’s people - namely Israel. And Jesus is faithful to God’s people - namely the Church.
Jesus is the founder of the sanctified. He is the founder of the Church - the founder of the saved.
This was prophesied and seen in 2 Samuel 7:12-13
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
God, speaking with David, tells him of One Who would come after him - namely Jesus who came from the lineage of David. This promised Builder would have an eternal kingdom and build a house for God’s Name.
This is what Jesus did through His incarnation and sacrifice on the cross. He established the Church. He became the faithful founder of the sanctified.
And He is faithful my friends. He is dependable. He doesn’t lose those who are His. He doesn’t forget about you or forsake you. You can put your trust in Him and know that He will carry you to the finish line of this life and into eternity.
As the author will assert in the final chapter of this book.
...“I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Trust in Jesus alone. He is faithful.
As we get into the following verses, we see that Jesus has been faithful since the beginning.
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.)
The author wants us to know that Jesus is greater than Moses. So much greater that there is really no comparison. It is like comparing the builder to the house. The house would never have been there if the builder would not have built it!
It is like comparing the jar of clay to the potter.
2 Corinthians 4:7-18 reminds us that we are but jars of clay as humans. Despite our weakness and smallness, we have a Savior who promises eternal life. He will allow us to persevere. But that perseverance is not because of our greatness. It is because of the surpassing greatness of our Savior.
In the same way, Moses was created by God. His perseverance was only by the grace of God. Moses did not deliver Israel - God did. Moses did not perform the miracles. God did.
Yet when Jesus walked this earth, He performed healing, He raised the dead, and He delivered sinners by His own power and authority as God incarnate.
Because of this the Lord is worthy of more glory and honor than anyone else. This combination of glory and honor is found throughout the Scriptures. We see it in Psalm 2:7, Psalm 8:5, Revelation 4:9, Revelation 4:11, Revelation 7:12. Each of these refers to the Lord.
Jesus is worthy of honor and glory - moreso than anyone or anything else.
So far we have seen that Jesus Christ is the faithful facilitator of our salvation, the faithful founder of the sanctified…
And lastly, we see that…
Scripture References: 2 Samuel 7:12-13, Hebrews 13:5b, 2 Corinthians 4:7-18, Psalm 2:7, Psalm 8:5, Revelation 4:9, Revelation 4:11, Revelation 7:12
III. Jesus Christ is the Faithful Finisher of the Saved (5-6)
III. Jesus Christ is the Faithful Finisher of the Saved (5-6)
Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
Continuing this comparison, Moses was faithful in God’s house as a servant. This is actually directly quoted from Numbers 12:7.
Before discussing how much more important that the Son is than the servant, we need to see the unique honor that is shown to Moses here as well. The author uses a unique term for servant here. The Greek word used here for servant is therapōn (thair-ah-pone). This is the only instance of this word found in the NT. This word is a variant of the Greek word therapeia (thair-ah-pay-ya) which means healing or service. It carries with it the idea of caring for one who is sick or diseased and is where we get the English word therapy.
Moses fits this title of servant very well. He led the people of Israel who were sick with the disease of sin. Time after time he interceded on their behalf to God.
Once such intercession is found in Exodus 32:30-33.
But before reading it, we need some context. The people of Israel had crossed the Red Sea miraculously on dry ground and were delivered from Egypt - this is called the Exodus - which is where the book gets its namesake (Exodus 14). At the end of Exodus 15, bitter water was miraculously made sweet and drinkable. Exodus 16 tells us that the Israelites were miraculously given bread from heaven called manna each morning as well as quail to eat each evening. In Exodus 17, water comes out of a rock for the people to drink followed by the Lord miraculously delivering the people of Israel from Amalek just because Moses’s hands are held up!
And then by Exodus 19:1, we are told that the people come to Mount Sinai and that we are around 3 months since the Exodus from Egypt and crossing of the Red Sea.
Unfortunately, while Moses is up on Mount Sinai some 40 days and nights getting the Ten Commandments from God, the people of Israel led by Aaron make a golden calf to worship (Exodus 32). Moses and the Lord are appropriately angry because of this blatant idolatry. But listen to Moses’s heart for the people…
The next day Moses said to the people, “You have sinned a great sin. And now I will go up to the Lord; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin.” So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Alas, this people has sinned a great sin. They have made for themselves gods of gold. But now, if you will forgive their sin—but if not, please blot me out of your book that you have written.” But the Lord said to Moses, “Whoever has sinned against me, I will blot out of my book.
How amazing is Moses’s dedication to his people. He was willing to lay his own life on the line for them.
He was faithful to the Lord as a servant to Israel.
But even as amazing as Moses was, Jesus is infinitely better and infinitely more faithful.
He wasn’t only willing to lay His life down, Jesus did lay it down. And not just for the people of Israel, but for all who would place their faith and trust in Him for salvation - namely for God’s house - the Church.
Before moving forward, at the end of verse 5 we see another Old Testament quote...
Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later,
Even in Moses’s time, he was told about a greater prophet - namely Jesus...
“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— … 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.
Moses here writes a message of prophecy from God. A new and better prophet will arise. Moses is pointing to someone much better to come - namely Jesus Christ. Which brings us to verse 6…
but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
You see, servants have an obligation to faithful service. Servants must serve out of duty. However, a son has a much more vested interest in the matters of the house. Sons are the heir of the house. The house is theirs. And because of this, the comparison of a servant and a son provides us a huge chasm of difference.
Listen to Jesus directly teach about the difference between a servant and a son...
The slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains forever.
Moses served God’s house for a time. Yet, he died and was no longer over the house of God. However, Jesus is always over God’s house. He will be over the Church forever.
The differences between Moses and Jesus are great. The things that Moses did were not done through His own strength or abilities. We mentioned a few of these a few moments ago, but this comparison bears repeating and expounding…
Moses did not give Israel the Law - God did. He did not deliver Israel from Israel - God did. Although His relationship with God was close, Jesus is God!
Jesus is the Creator of God’s house and the Creator of everything else. Jesus created Moses! Jesus is greater than Moses - the Son is greater than the servant.
And because of Christ’s surpassing greatness, the author gives us a charge at the end of verse 6…
... And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
The author now turns his attention onto his readers. He now encourages us to be faithful as well.
We are going to be given a few of these conditional clauses throughout the book of Hebrews. The author of Hebrews isn’t open to an easy believism or cheap grace. He knows that Jesus requires an ‘all in’ discipleship.
And so he encourages us to persevere in the faith.
Some manuscripts also include firm to the end to complete verse 6. Whether that was in the original letter or not is debated. However, the concept is there already with the idea of holding fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
There is already a charge to persevere - to remain steadfast - to hold fast our confidence in Christ alone.
As believers, our boasting and our hope must be in Christ alone. We bring nothing to the table. Romans 3 reminds us that none of us are good by nature. Only God is good. Ephesians 2:8-9 reminds us that we are saved by grace through faith and not by works so that we have no room to boast in ourselves.
Everything points to glorifying Christ and not us. You see…
The Sent Son became the Suffering Servant in order to show Himself as the Supreme Savior.
Friends, we all need a Savior. And we need Him always. It isn’t just a one time need. For us who are in Christ, we need Him every hour as the old hymn states.
Can you, like the hymn writer, say that?
I need Thee, O I need Thee; ev’ry hour I need Thee; O bless me now, my Savior, I come to Thee.
Friends He is the finisher of the saved. He allows us to persevere. True believers will persevere to the end by His grace.
Theologian Raymond Brown articulates this very well:
“We do not place our hope in what we do, but what he has done. Believers do not rely on what they are; that would be a religion of merit. They base their entire spiritual confidence on what he is.”
Raymond Brown
And what is He? King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
How do we know whether we are a part of God’s house? How do we know whether we are truly in the faith? We know this because we see the Lord continually carrying us forward.
True believers continually walk with the Lord through His strength and power.
There is an old saying that has much truth in it…
Christianity isn’t primarily a religion of do - it is one of done.
Our salvation has been purchased by the Lord. We are bought with a price. And our efforts to glorify Him should only come from relying on Him working in and through us. He will complete the good work that He has started (Philippians 1:6).
Scripture References: Numbers 12:7, Exodus 14, Exodus 15, Exodus 16, Exodus 17, Exodus 19:1, Exodus 32:30-33, Deuteronomy 18:15-19, John 8:35, Romans 3, Ephesians 2:8-9, Philippians 1:6
Conclusion:
As we come to a close may we glorify Christ and thank Him for being so good to us.
He is the faithful facilitator of our salvation. He has paid the price for us on the cross. Be sure that you have repented of your sins and placed your faith and trust in Him alone for salvation.
He is the faithful founder of the sanctified. He is the builder of God’s house. He is our Creator and sustainer.
And He is the faithful finisher of the saved. He will complete the good work He has started in you. Rely fully on Him.
As we will see time and time again in this book - remember that Christ is greater. He is greater than the prophets, He is greater than the angels, and today we have seen that He is greater than Moses. Our God is greater.
And because He is greater, may we always remember how much we need Him.
