Consider Jesus

English Standard Version Chapter 3

3 Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2 who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3 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. 4 (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5 Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 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.

Consider Jesus

In flight school, my instructors stressed heavily in all aspects of flight this question: “What are you looking at? What are you focusing on?”

In primary flight training

Doing cross country flights

Used Sectional Charts

The challenge was: chart to ground. Know where you are, or should be on the chart, and then look for those things on the ground

Because you could quickly deceive yourself into thinking you were somewhere that you weren’t.

You could look out the window, and see, for example, a couple of radio towers, and think that you are seeing towers that are outside of Chicago’s airspace, but in actuality, you are almost ready to cause an accident by flying right over top of Chicago O’Hare airport

the question for us is, What am I focusing on? What are the things that occupy my mind and my life?

Whatever it is, it is those things which are going to have a major impact on the course of your life

The challenge for us today is to consider Jesus

Therefore:

Let’s remind ourselves of what we have already established

Because of all the things spoken of previously about Jesus

Therefore, holy brothers.

I love how he addresses his listeners here: holy brothers

What this author is about to say is addressed to holy people.

So, everyone who is holy should pay attention

Who is holy in here?

The fact is, through Christ, you are holy

Holy==set apart, sanctified, perfection

why does he address them as “holy brothers”

Well, it’s connected to a point that he makes previously in chapter 2

look at chapter 2 verses 10-11

10 For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 For he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one source. That is why he is not ashamed to call them brothers

So, he says, “That He, for whom and by whom all things exist (that’s God),

God’s plan was to bring many sons to glory (that’s you and me)

and in carrying out this plan, God made the Founder of their salvation (that’s Jesus), perfect through suffering

Now, in reading this, there should be a question in our minds: “What does he mean by talking about making Jesus perfect through suffering?!”

I thought that Jesus was always sinless and perfect

How can He be made perfect through suffering if He, in fact, always was sinless

Well, I don’t think that Jesus had to be made sinless through suffering. I don’t believe that is what this author is saying

Jesus was the perfect and sinless and spotless Lamb of God

And I don’t think that the author of Hebrews would disagree with that

But there is another way that we could look at this idea of “being made perfect”

That is, completion. Perfection can also carry the idea of completion

God sent Jesus to carry out a mission and the suffering that He endured was part of completing that mission

If your boss gives you something to do and you go out and do it

you can come back and say, “Hey, I did what you asked me to do”

And your boss can say, “Perfect. Thanks”

Now, did you perform your task flawlessly? Well maybe, or maybe not

But the point is, you did what you were assigned to do. You brought it to perfection or completion

And in that sense Jesus completed the will of the Father, and brought His plan to perfection, through suffering.

For, or, because, He who sanctifies (that’s God) and those who are sanctified all have one “source”

So, in a sense, this author is lumping Jesus and us in the same category: those who have been sanctified, or made perfect”

and in that sense, we are brothers with Jesus

We are sanctified or brought to completion in a different sense than Jesus was, but the point is, that we are made holy.

are you still with me? Got your thinking caps on?

This is deep stuff, it’s meaty stuff!

but that’s the whole point. He wants us to have to dig in and really think about this stuff

He want us to

Consider Jesus

Consider—κατανοέω, katanoeō

only appears 14 times in the Bible

KJV, rendered as

consider

behold

perceive

discover (I like this idea. Discover Jesus!)

It means more than a passing thought.

Like weird random thoughts that flash through your head

It means more than just a couple minutes before we run out the door in the morning

It means to think about deeply. To fix your eyes or your mind on something

And of course that should bring to asking the question, what is it, or who is it that we generally “consider” or think about the majority of our time?

Stop and think about that for a moment. What is it, or who is it that is generally on your mind? Was is it that you focus on?

Is it work? Is it all the things that you have to do? Is it sports? Is it hunting, farming, trucking?

is it the political situation?

Is it things that you would rather not talk about? Is it the hurt that you have received at the hands of someone, or at the slander of someone?

Or is it JESUS?

Who else is worthy of our complete attention, our focus, our adoration?

Consider Jesus

No believer can cope with adversity unless Christ fills his horizons, sharpens his priorities and dominates his experience.

As holy, or sanctified people, the exhortation is to think deeply about the One through Whom we are sanctified

And that is Jesus.

And He give us a couple of pictures of Jesus to think about

Jesus is the apostle, and the high priest, and better than Moses

Apostle of our confession (vs. 1)

Normally think about the 12 who followed Jesus and were the first to spread the Gospel

But maybe we should think about there being 13 apostles

I think that this title of “apostle” has been misunderstood and wrongfully used in our church today

i recall years ago talking to a cousin of mine

And their family was part of a group of a certain group of churches, most of whom had come out of conservative Mennonite groups

And we were talking about someone whom we both knew, and she said, “Oh yeah. He’s one of our apostles”

I was confused. I had never heard anyone called that before.

but what she meant was that this man was one of a group of men who led this church group

turns out this group of men had been given a lot of power over this group of churches, and things didn’t really turn out too well in that situation

But that’s not my story to tell

but in any case, this title of apostle has been claimed at times by men and used as a means to exert spiritual power over people

And in other cases, some churches have done away with the term altogether

“there are no more apostles”. Since the orignal 12 died, there are no more apostles, so we just shouldn’t use the term at all

Apostle means: envoy, messenger

we usually think about him being out there on the front lines, initiating something

but he is a messenger for God, doing God’s will

And here, today, we are asked to think of Jesus as the Apostle of our confession, or faith

up in chapter 2:10, he calls Jesus, the Founder of our faith

consider Jesus to be the Founder of our Faith

We give a lot of attention and honor to a group of men here in America that we call “The Founding Fathers”

Why? because they are the ones who “started” this country

They set up the original documents and structure

It was they who decided what this country was going to be like

And today we still talk about the Founding Fathers

who were they? What kind of men were they?

And as we think about matters of the Constitution, Big question is, “What was their intent” as they thought about what this country should be

We think about that because they are the Founding Fathers

Well, for us as Believers, when it comes to our faith, we don’t have a group of founding fathers

yes, we give honor to the 12 apostles as being messengers of God and being the instruments that God used to spread and establish the Gospel message

But we only have ONE Founding Father for our faith

that is Jesus

and for questions about our faith, we consider Him

what does it mean to be a Believer? Well, let’s start by looking at Jesus

How should I respond in this situation? Let’s think about how Jesus would have responded

What should be my goals in life? Well, what was Jesus mission

what are the questions on your heart this morning?

i know that I’ve got some. I’ve got some things that feel heavy.

I want to know what Jesus would have done. I want to know how He would have responded

He is the Apostle and Founder of my faith, and I want to be faithful to what His intent for my life is

High Priest of our Confession

We already talked about this last Sunday, and we are going to talk about it a lot more, so I won’t spend a lot of time on it

But remember, it says at the end of chapter 2, verse 17-18, that Jesus became like us, his brothers, in every respect so that He could become our merciful and faithful high priest

A high priest in the OT had to be an Israelite. He had to be a Levite

he could not be an Egyptian

He could not be a Canaanite.

He had to be an Israelite. He had to be of the people whom he was serving

And following this thinking, the author here makes this point

In the same way, Jesus had to become like us in order to be a faithful and merciful high priest

Pay attention to that word “merciful”

He had to become like us and experience what we experience so that we could not look at Him and say

you have no idea what I’m going through

you have no idea what it’s like to live here on this earth and experience what we experience

You have no idea what it’s like to struggle with temptation and sin

You have no idea to feel rejection and feel like you are being treated unjustly

we can’t say that. Because He became like us, and He does know what it’s like

And so He can be our faithful and, importantly, merciful high priest

Pay attention, and think about that word merciful

He’s not going to look at us and say, “Why can’t you just get it together?

I’m just about reaching the end of my patience with you

You have fallen to the same sin, how many times now? I lost count a long time ago!

now come one! Get it together! Get your life in order!

No! He is merciful because, well because He is God, and God is love

But over and above that, because He became like us and knows from experience what it is like

He became like us! The incarnation! Allow your hearts to once again be humbled and amazed by this thought!

Jesus walked this earth as one of us so that He could be our faithful and merciful high priest

As followers of Jesus, we are also called to be faithful and merciful, just as Jesus was

and the challenge for us, as we consider Jesus today is, is mercy a quality that marks my life?

Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful for they shall be shown mercy”

Is mercy something that marks my life?

How do I show mercy?

Well, Jesus displayed His mercy by becoming like those whom He was serving.

And I believe that a key way in which we show mercy is in the same way: striving to become like those who need our mercy

Too often we try to make a difference from a distance. We send money or something like that, which is OK

But it’s even better when we make human contact. We talk to people face to face, learn their stories, hear their pain, try to understand why they are in the situation they are in

And among our brotherhood, how do we show mercy to each other

It’s really easy, when we have an issue with someone, to go into “fix it” mode. And we come up with solutions for what this person should do in order not to annoy us anymore

And we don’t take the time to stop and think, “I wonder what this person is going through right now”

we don’t take the time to to foster close relationships with each other.

We don’t take the time to sit down with them, hear their story, ask them questions and strive to understand why they are doing what they are doing

Jesus did that for us, and because of that, He is our faithful and merciful high priest

May God help us to become more like that as we strive to walk in unity with each other, and as we strive to reach our world with the Good News!

Better than Moses

Jesus is better than the angels, He’s a better apostle, a better high priest,

and now, He’s better than Moses

Wow, I’ll bet this makes the Jewish listeners really perk up.

Jesus? Better than Moses? Yes! Better than the one who delivered us out of slavery in Egypt? yes! Better than the one who gave us the Law? yes again!

Now, he’s not putting Moses down by any means! He wants his listeners to give Moses honor, but not more honor than he deserves

And he gives us the picture of a house

And his point is this:

The house was the nation of Israel

And Moses was in that house, serving

God appointed him to serve there (vs2)

Moses played a hugely important role, sure. But, in the end, he was a servant in the house

kind of like the point that he made about the angels. They are wonderful, amazing, terrifying, sure! But in the end, they are servants and carry out the will of God

Same with Moses

Moses was faithful in God’s house

But God was the Builder of that house. God built the nation of Israel, not Moses. And for that reason God should get the higher honor

We look at houses and admire their beauty and the details that go into their construction

But the real honor goes to the builder, doesn’t it? A house can look great inside and out, but if it isn’t constructed well, it’s not worth much, is it?

The point is, let’s give honor to God as the Builder of the House

And let’s consider the fact that the house spoken of here, Now, is US! It is the Believers in Jesus

verse 6. We are His house, if indeed (another condition) we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope

Pay attention to that condition.

let’s not think that we are His house if we are not holding fast!

And for us, Jesus is better than Moses was for the house of Israel

because Moses was faithful in God’s house as a servant vs. 5

But Jesus is much better. Why? Because He is faithful in God’s house, HOW? As a Son! vs 6

He is faithful among us, the Church, the House of God, not just as a servant, but as The very Son of God

And look at this word. He is faithful

As the Son of God. He is faithful. That means that He is active among His people

The Book of Ephesians talk about we, the church, being the inheritance of Jesus. He, in a sense, has inherited us

And as His inheritance, He is actively involved, faithfully involved with His people

Some people may inherit property in another state, or another country. And they will hire someone to manage that inheritance. They, themselves are not actively involved with that inheritance

And that is the way that some people think of Jesus.

He is distant, and not all that interested in what is happening in my life or the life of the church

But, this passage says, that as a SON, He is faithful in God’s house. That is, in our lives individually, and in our lives as a congregation

Have you, and are you, experiencing the faithfulness of God?

And folks, that is why we are here this morning.

We are here not because we were born and raised at this church. Not because we are Mennonite....

We are here because Jesus, the Son of God is faithful in God’s house.

And He is actively building us up into His house. I believe that He wants us to be willing participants, yes. The Bible is very clear that we are to hold fast and be faithful to our calling as well

But Jesus, the Son of God, is the One who is over this house. He is LORD over His church and He is building us up

I know that I’ve referred to 1 Peter already in this study of Hebrews, but just to bring again to our minds, the words of 1 Peter 2:4–5 “4 As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, 5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

The question for us is, “Is Jesus building us up?”

and not just in numbers, (although our numbers are slowly growing, and that is something to be grateful for)

But the bigger question is, Is Jesus, the Son of God, building us up spiritually?

individually, are growing? Can you look back on where you were a year ago, and can you honestly say, “yeah, you know what? I believe that I am more Christ-like than I was a year ago!”

I’m not as fearful

I’m more at peace

i’m bolder in my witness

I’m more forgiving. I love the Body of Christ more than I did a year a go

I believe that Jesus is building me up!

as a Body, can we take stock of our lives corporately and say the same thing?

yes, I think we are growing together!

I think we love each other more

We are more honest with each other

We are more eager to forgive each other

We are way more eager to do whatever we can to maintain unity!

Whatever it is, can we say, “Jesus, the Son of God, is LORD of this church and He is building us up!”

If the answer to any of these questions is “yes”, then praise the LORD! That’s growth! That’s discipleship! That is the sign that the Holy Spirit is at work here

If the answer to any of these is “no”, then let’s as Jesus what He wants to do in my heart

What is

Maybe we just need to stop and consider Jesus. Take some moments to gaze at Him, meditate on Him. Think seriously about Him, allow our minds to dwell on Him.

Where ever you are in life, remember this:

Jesus is our faithful and merciful high priest

He not only washed your sins away

Not only does He help you in the time of need

But I believe that He is also urging you to walk even more closely to Him, allowing Him to build you up into a spiritual house which displays His glory

Jesus is

The Founder of our salvation. 2:10

The Apostle of our confession 3:1

The High Priest of our confession