Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

Fix Your Eyes on Jesus

In 1974, Philippe Petit

Tightrope walk - Twin Towers

8 crossings

No net, no harness

1,300 ft above the ground

He said:

"It is treacherous on a high wire to change your focus point and suddenly look down”

Have to keep focused

Keep eyes fixed on a point

Ran cross country

Getting tired - find a focal point

Make it there - then I’ll walk

Keep adjusting - to push myself

We focus on things

Some are good

Some lead us astray

Easy to attach ourselves to people

They claim the devotion we should be giving to Jesus

Jim Jones

Rev. Sun Mynung Moon

Herbert W. Armstrong

Attracted followers - gave money, energy, and committed to their causes

Jesus warned of this:

“Don’t let anyone mislead you, for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many.

Matthew 24:4-5 NLT

B/c he knew people could be swayed

Like sheep - follow

But Jesus - our shepherd

Is greater

Author has discussed - greater than angels

Author of a great salvation

Is great enough to become human to accomplish salvation

Now turns attention to Moses

Moses was first leader of Israel

Wrote the Torah

Jews held him in high esteem

But author points to Jesus being greater

Fix eyes on Moses - but Jesus is so much better and should be our focus - explaining why

PRAY - PRAY - PRAY

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1. The Comparison between Jesus and Moses

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

Hebrews 3:1-2 NIV

a. Faithful to the divine plan (1-2)

Transitional statements - using therefore

He is superior to prophets - angels

And he has taken human nature

And can help us in temptation

So focus on him

When truly focusing on him

See him as apostle and high priest

He is apostle and high priest

Connecting previous thoughts

First sentence reiterates the foundational thoughts - continuing to build on the superiority of Jesus

Also - only time in NT Jesus is called apostle

God “sent” him - God’s representative to all humans

High priest - as our representative back to God

Then begins comparison to Moses

Both were faithful

Jesus faithful to the calling - to be the sacrifice

To be the representative to humanity

To be the face of God to us - who sometimes lack imagination and are quick to follow whatever looks good

Moses - God said

He is faithful in all my house.

Numbers 12:7 ESV

God said he speaks to prophets in dreams and visions

But w/ Moses, he speaks clearly - w/ his mouth

Because Moses is faithful

God’s house - people of Israel

He led - followed God - trusted God

Remained faithful to the directions of God

Moses leads out of Egypt - to the Promised Land

Jesus leads people out of sin and death

Moses like the first leg of the relay race

Jesus the final - he’s the one who brings the race home - finishes everything that began in Genesis

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Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything.

Hebrews 3:3-4 NIV

b. The builder of God's house (3-4)

The only one next to God

Is Jesus

Sitting at the place of honor

Nowhere do we see Moses in a place of honor like this

He had the honor to speak to God

But he was a man - he failed God and could not go into the promised land

He was still a sinful person - required the same sacrifices as other Israelites

But Jesus was the ultimate sacrifice and sits in honor

See incredible houses - don’t say

Look how good this house grew

It is magnificent

It tried really hard and became incredible

No - praise the builders

Frank Lloyd Wright (picture)

Books, tours, celebrated architect

God’s house - Israel (OT)

The Church (NT)

Christ is the builder of the NT Church

He is foundational

you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.

Ephesians 2:19-21 ESV

Moses was a part of God’s house

Had no part in building

v. 4 - God is the builder of everything

Both Father and Son responsible for this house

No matter how important Moses was - God was still the one who gave the Law

He then built a spiritual community w/ Christ as the head

A caretaker looks after the house - keeps it clean

But the builder designs the blueprints and lays the foundation

Moses is the caretaker

Jesus is the architect

Can’t give the highest honor to humans - Honor belongs to God

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“Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Hebrews 3:5-6 NIV

c. A son over God's house (5-6)

Continuing w/ idea of a caretaker

Moses was faithful in his servitude

Quotes Numbers 12:7

Servant - person who willingly did the service expected of him

He was the mouthpiece of God

Pointed toward things Christ would declare more clearly

Some thought Jesus - second coming of Moses

Author makes it clear

He was a Son - position more honorable than a servant

He was over the household

Moses was in all God’s house - part of the household

Jesus given authority over the house

I: magnificent cathedral

Architect designed - builder constructed it

For generations - caretakers have maintained it

Imagine giving more praise to the janitor than the architect

As faithful as he’s been keeping it clean, caring for the building, he simply serves

That’s the point - Moses was faithful in God’s house as servant

Jesus is faithful over God’s house as Son and Builder

He deserves glory and honor

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2. The Failure of God's People under Moses

So, as the Holy Spirit says: “Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the wilderness, where your ancestors tested and tried me, though for forty years they saw what I did. That is why I was angry with that generation; I said, ‘Their hearts are always going astray, and they have not known my ways.’ So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

Hebrews 3:7-11 NIV

a. Hardened to God's voice (7-11)

Psalm 95:7-11

To compare the experience of Israel w/ the Church

Use of “Today”

Immediate attention - 

Hardening heart - disobedience to him

Focusing on self and not God

Tested God in Exodus 17

Complaining of water - until God had Moses strike the rock with his staff

Moses called

Massah[a] and Meribah

Testing - quarreling

Testing, complaining continued for 40 years

Wandering through the wilderness

God angry at their straying hearts

Heart - more about their entire inner being

Thoughts, feelings, and will

All parts of them - whole inner person was astray

Didn’t attempt to know God

Should have known - but chose not to

There were consequences - 

God made an oath - “if they shall enter into my rest . . . then my name is not God!”

Not to enter - cut off from the blessings of God

Blessed is the one who always trembles before God, but whoever hardens their heart falls into trouble.

Proverbs 28:14 NIV

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See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called “Today,” so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.

Hebrews 3:12-13

b. Deceived by sin (12-13)

Allow sin to lead your life

Heart is hardened to God

It’s easy to slowly drift away

Just like the warning in chapter 2

When your focus is sin - you lose sight of Jesus

The heart is deceitful above all things

Jeremiah 17:9 NIV

We live in a follow your heart kind of world

Scripture tells you - your heart b/c sinfulness

Is deceitful - it is easily hardened to the living God

Hardened to his greatest revelation - Jesus

Our goal - then - is to encourage one another

Every day is today - so today, encourage

Fight with - pray with - call sin out and bring God to the forefront if you see someone struggling

The audience - tempted to go back to Judaism

You and I can be tempted back into our sin

But we need one another - that’s why God made us a Church body - not an individual

B/c Satan will tempt and pull you away

Coals in a fire - continue to keep one another burning

You pull one out - it starts to become cool on it’s own

In isolation, sin whispers louder. In community, truth speaks stronger.

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We have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original conviction firmly to the very end.

Hebrews 3:14 NIV

c. In danger of falling away (14)

There is a joy in accepting Christ

But when tangled in the world

Choked out by stress

Pulled down by other belief systems

Suffocated by sinfulness

We become less focused on winning the prize at the end of the race

We focus more on making it through he day

To not hold on to this great salvation and continue to seek Christ

Demonstrates that they never experienced salvation

The mark of genuine faith is not perfection

It’s perseverance

Holding on shows who truly belongs to Christ

And we share in him as we hang tightly

Jesus said:

But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Matthew 24:13 NLT

Paul writes:

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

Philippians 1:6 NLT

So how can we fall away?

Falling away - taking eyes of Jesus

Hardening your heart - rejecting salvation through Christ

So many claim to have known him

Then left the faith

Could they truly know him?

This is called apostasy - the abandonment of faith

See followers of Jesus live a certain way

If wear a Jordan jersey and commit crimes

Will you start thinking poorly of Jordan?

No, so why do that for Christ?

Cause they did not experience the fullness of his love - the grace that paid our debts

I: 3200 m relay race

Each run 800m

First guy - sprinted the first 400

Then got lapped by everyone

Our team was so slow - they were putting out hurdles by the time we finished

Runners don’t win by sprinting, but by finishing strong

Faith that fizzles was never focused on Christ

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As has just been said:

“Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion.”

Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies perished in the wilderness? And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed? So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.

Hebrews 3:15-19 NIV

d. Unbelieving (15-19)

Answers questions w/ questions

Those who rebelled against God

Same people Moses led out of Egypt

Then they died in the wilderness

God’s oath was followed through

It was the Israelites unbelief that resulted in them not entering into God’s rest

Their problem wasn’t ignorance

It was unbelief

They saw God’s power - in the plagues - in splitting the Red Sea

Yet, they did not trust his promises

“How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them?I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!”

Numbers 14:11

He’s angry at them - his wrath will lead to destruction

But Moses objected - b/c he was faithful

God listened to him

It’s the same w/ Jesus - but so much more

We are not smart creatures - though we think we are

We do some incredible things - but we still fall into the same traps people have since the beginning of the Fall

Moses saved them - temporarily

But Jesus, b/c he was faithful, saved us forever

Our unbelief gets us lost b/c we get sidetracked

But seek him - keep your eyes, your thoughts, your hearts on him

Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.”

Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!”

Mark 9:23-24 NKJV

He - as your Savior - has been through it all

He is able to aide you

He is able to help you persevere

But you have to give it to him

Don’t give it to all of these other things

Faith is a focus issue

Israel looked back to Egypt - stopped trusting God

And lost their way

Don’t repeat that mistake

Fix your eyes on Jesus

Because the Christian life isn’t about how strong your grip is on Jesus — it’s about how strong His grip is on you.