Consider Jesus WK-1

Big Idea:

Deconstruction of faith is not a new phenomenon. It is as prevalent today as it was in the first century. The difference today is how we approach the topic. While the modern church is looking at the world and pointing fingers at liberalism and politics, the 1st century church was looking at Jesus. Today, let’s explore 3 keys to an indestructible faith.

INTRO: Good morning and welcome to Living Faith Church. I am so excited to be able to worship Jesus Christ with you on this amazing Sunday. If you are a guest today, welcome, we are honored you are here, and if we have never met before, my name is Aaron. My wife Stella and I are privileged to be able to serve on the Pastoral team at LFC. Today we are going to begin a brand new teaching series called Consider Jesus.

In a season of life where there is so much to consider, finances, kids, vacation, job, economy, the stability or agility of ones future — considering Jesus can easily take a back seat.

In 2018 I attended a pastors retreat on the Oregon Coast. One morning I woke up early to take a run in the sun and wet sand. It was a beautiful morning, clear blue skies, birds everywhere, waves, the water beneath my feet, there literally was not a more perfect scenario for a morning run. Running a full speed ahead, I came to a dead drop and stop when all of a sudden I found myself at the bottom of, what I thought was a shallow puddle, but was actually a two foot deep hole full of water.

I find many Christians today in a similar place, running full ahead in life when all of a sudden, without warning, crisis hits, unaware, unprepared.

Hebrews 2:1–3 NASB95

1 For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it. 2 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty, 3 how will we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard,

An Intro To Hebrews

The book of Hebrews was written to the Jewish people who were facing ostracization and at risk of apostatizing their faith due to the fact that there was strict persecution against the Christians.

These were men and women who were raised in the Jewish faith and had converted to Christianity.

Much of the persecution was coming from their own family members who remained loyal to the customs and traditions of the Jewish faith.

One may wonder why does this apply to us today.

And the truth is is that many people, I would dare to say all people at some point in their life face a similar experience.

An ostracization from family members due to their faith or maybe the same from coworkers friends the unwelcome closed door to an affiliation or network due to our Faith.

And there was one thing that all of us must remember when we faced these moments in our life and that is exactly what the author of Hebrews tells us:

Hebrews 3:1 NASB95

1 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession;

Jesus Is Beter

I have found, just as you probably have, that often the urgent takes priority over the important. This is how so often car crashes take place. Something urgent happens, a deer in the road, a car swerving into our lane, a text message we’ve been waiting for, and our attention is moved from the important to the urgent.

The same happens with our faith. But the author of Hebrews challenges us to keep our eyes on Jesus.

Hebrews 12:2 NASB95

2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

In the middle of crisis, family drama, financial struggles, ostracization in the home or workplace because of our faith, what should we look at? What does it mean to consider Jesus?

Hebrews gives us a clue. There is actually a running theme through out this book, it begins in Hebrews 1 and concludes in Chapter 12.

Hebrews 1:4 NASB95

4 having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they.

Better, the greek word “kreitton” [cree-tone], defined as better, good, stronger, mightier. One Greek lexicon says:

“having the upper hand, superior, to prevail.”

*Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, and Roderick McKenzie. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

This word better is used twelve times in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews 1:4 Better than the Angels

Hebrews 6:9 Better things

Hebrews 7:19 A Better Hope

Hebrews 7:22 A Better Covenant

Hebrews 8:6 Better Promises

Hebrews 9:23 Better Sacrifices

Hebrews 10:34 A better possession

Hebrews 11:4 A Better Sacrifices

Hebrews 11:16 A better country

Hebrews 11:35 A better Resurrection

Hebrews 11:40 God has provided something BETTER For us

Hebrews 12:24 Blood which speaks BETTER than the blood of Abel

This exhortation challenged the Jewish Christians who considered returning to their old traditions of the Mosaic law; Sacrifices, purification rituals, festivals, etc. Returning to their former ways meant, no more persecution, an easier faith, no more ostricization from family members.

But as one author says:

Jesus brings a superior hope that enables direct access to God rather than leaving believers outside a drawn veil; Jesus provides a superior covenant relationship anchored in better promises and guaranteed by a better sacrifice than Old Testament animal offerings; and while Old Testament saints were commended for faith, believers now possess what they merely hoped for—God has planned something better for us.

*Lawrence O. Richards, in New International Encyclopedia of Bible Words: Based on the NIV and the NASB (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999), 125.

The same message holds true for us today. While our old life may offer certain comforts, an easier path, a more visible and logical way forward, what God has planned, even in it’s mysterious way, is better.

I sense that at least one person hearing this message is being called by God to make a job change. You know that it may require a decrease in pay, the question is; do you believe that what God has for you is better?

Another of you God is calling you leave a relationship, you are engaged, and you know that this is going to make waves, you are questioning God. I have a word for you, God is Better.