You Rule?

I don’t know if they do this anymore but I remember a few years ago it seemed that JC Penney was advertising the biggest sale of the year almost on a weekly basis. They advertised these “you don’t want to miss this!” sale so often that eventually it became meaningless. Really, it seems that the only time you can really be sure it’s the biggest sale of year is on January 1st. We get ads all the time. Tons of things online, on television, as we drive, in the store, everywhere clamoring for our attention and trying to hook us with statements like, “you don’t want to miss out on this”.

It’s a similar type of appeal that the author of Hebrews is making. Now don’t hear me wrong—he’s not trying to sell Jesus like some product. But he wants his hearers to know that Jesus is superior and the kingdom that he is bringing about is far superior and that they don’t want to miss out. But I wonder if we’ve become jaded to that. We’re no longer captivated by Jesus and I think our gospel presentations sometimes reflect this. We often start with how messed up man is and then try to move on from there. Rather than doing something like the author of Hebrews we resort to gospel presentations that are a bit more like saying, “you stink, it’s okay Jesus still loves you.” Or “you don’t belong to the party—being such a loser and all—but you get to come anyways.”

The author of Hebrews as we’ll see here in our text this morning is instead saying, “No, this party actually was created for you. Yeah, we’re boneheads and we’ve messed up our right to be there…but it doesn’t mean that it wasn’t created for…here’s how to get back to the party.” See if you can hear that in the text.

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The first four verses, which we looked at couple weeks ago, was the author saying, “you don’t want to miss out on this.” It’ll be to your peril and your shame to neglect such a great salvation. It’ll end in your judgment. It’s the height of foolish arrogance to not want to be at this party. But apart from diligence—apart from grace-wrought diligence—you will neglect and you will drift. And you don’t want that.

So here is what I want to do this morning. I want to show you the party—what you were created for, the longings, all those things in your heart this very moment. And then I want to show from this text and from even what you know to be true that things aren’t as they were supposed to be. And then I want to show you how all of those things are—and are being—restored and redeemed and made even better than they ever were before.

Most of our text this morning is actually a quote of the Old Testament. We read it earlier in the service, . It’s a Psalm where David looks at how big the world is and how majestic God is and his creation and then he looks at himself and says, “why in the world does such a big God care about such a little dust mite like myself. What is man that you are mindful of him?” But then he goes back to and says, “and yet you’ve placed everything under his feet.” What’s he doing there? He’s going back to Eden. What do we find there?

And then he moves on here and tells us a bit of a story about what God is doing in the world.

In we see that God made man and woman in his image and he places them over all of creation. And he said be fruitful and multiply. Now what is that? It’s God making us as his image-bearers. He’s placing us in charge and tasking us with filling the earth with His glory, His goodness. Make this place look like me. Love. Joy. Peace. Patience. Kindness. Goodness. All that. The whole world should be filled with the greatness of God. And they were placed in this garden to keep it. And the word “good” appears all over this text.

But it’s hard to describe this because it’s a bit like me trying to describe how amazing it is to climb to the top of Mt. Everest and the beautiful view that you have when you are up there. I’ve seen a picture. But I’ve never done that. I don’t know what it looks like. I’ve never been there. And so also when we talk about Eden and what life was like before the Fall…not a one of us has experienced it. But we get glimpses don’t we. Those moments when things seem to right with the world. Sitting on the couch with a loved one, nothing to do but relax, watching it snow as an old scratchy record is playing in the background. A beautiful sunset that just captivates you so much that you can’t look away. A night sky filled with stars. Or going camping and seeing about a million fire-flies light up trees as if it’s Christmas. Conversations that just feel right—where you’re actually connecting with another human and there isn’t all the baggage and fear and distrust or other things so often attached…just honest good friendship conversations. Or when you’re working on a project in your home and you need a board that’s 15 and 3/4 inches and you look in your shop and you see a piece of scrap wood that just so happens to be 15 and 3/4 inches. And you think…man that NEVER happens.

And that’s kind of the point. We see glimpses but what we mostly know is Eden in the negative…by what we don’t have. You see this even in . “No more pain, no more crying, no more death, no more futility, no more distance between us and God”. Notice how he has to phrase this so that we understand. He looks at all the bad stuff—that we do know, oh so painfully well and says, it’ll be no more.” And the big note that we see throughout the Scriptures is this idea of futility. Not being fulfilled at all by your work or your relationships. It’s just never enough. We are haunted by an emptiness.

Tom Brady. There’s got to be more. Madonna. There’s got to be more. Is this all there is. That’s part of the curse and part of the fall. That’s what God said would happen in . When we decided to make the world about us and spread our glory instead of God’s that’s what happened to humanity. And God said, “okay, now everything is gonna come up empty.”

And yet we keep striving and striving and striving to in some sense bring our world back under our rule. We want that control back. We want to be able to say, “here kitty. And it actually come and not just look at us like we’re stupid.” That’s what cats are doing. That’s why they are here…just to remind us of the fall of humanity. Every time you say “here kitty. And it just stares at you remember—that’s because the world isn’t how it’s supposed to be. That cat thinks he’s in charge. The order of things is all messed up and that cat is a painful reminder that we’ve shipwrecked our mighty calling.” But sometimes the cat does come to you and perhaps that’s a reminder that redemption is happening.

Let me show you this from Hebrews.

v5. Remember that we’re in the middle of this discussion about the superiority of Christ and the new covenant. Ultimately this leading us to seeing how Christ is a better mediator…a better priest…and so angels are serving as a bit of a foil to get us there. But here he’s moving on and saying the world to come isn’t subjected to angels.

A couple of notes on that. First, the word he uses here for world isn’t the common word used. It’s not cosmos. It’s a different word that means “inhabited region”. I mention that because I think all of this and on into chapter 3 is kingdom talk. The world to come is talking about the kingdom of promise. All those promises throughout the Bible when they find their fulfillment. So you could kind of phrase verse 5 this way, “God has not subjected the kingdom of promise to angels.”

But that begs the question, well then who is going to rule?

And that’s where the author brings out . Don’t you like the way he says this, “it’s in there somewhere.” But that’s not actually what he’s doing. It sounds a bit like that but what he’s actually doing is highlighting the story of the Bible and what God is saying here and not making mention of King David said. Kind of like if you were quoting a movie and you’d say, “it’s kind of like in Rocky...” you wouldn’t say, “It’s kind of like at the 54 minute mark in that movie when Sylvester Stallone says.” That’s what he’s doing…he’s wanting them to think about the whole story of the Bible and not just a little chunk.

And so he says, tells us who is going to rule. Now there has been a decent amount of debate about this quotation. Is talking about mankind generally or is this a reference to Jesus? To which my response is “yes”. This Psalm is originally talking about mankind in general. It goes back to and our calling to rule…to have dominion…to be God’s vice-regents over all of creation. All of creation. Are angels created? Yep. And so that’s his argument. And it’s made at other places in the NT too that we will rule over/judge angels. (Think that means even fallen angels?)

That’s what verse 8 is doing. He’s saying, “everything in really means everything”. And this is where we connect the dots to earlier. You and I were made to rule over creation. To find fulfillment in creative things. To tell a lion to come over here for a second. All of that stuff we talked about earlier. All those longings for fulfillment and purpose and what in the world is this all about---all that is here. And then the author of Hebrews reads our mind.

Because you’re thinking…man, that’s not how things really are. I don’t like my job. Or even if I generally do, there are days that are just horrible. I don’t fulfilled in this relationship. I ache. I have longing. Who in the world am I. What am I doing. Or maybe you’ve got end of life questions…did I make a difference, did it matter, what was this all about, what’s next, will I be remembered.

You’re looking at the newspaper and the forecast and thinking…we don’t have all of creation in subjection to us. I can’t control the wind. I can’t even control my own tongue. I’m not in control. We like to sometimes convince ourselves we are:

Out of the night that covers me,       Black as the pit from pole to pole, I thank whatever gods may be       For my unconquerable soul. In the fell clutch of circumstance       I have not winced nor cried aloud. Under the bludgeonings of chance       My head is bloody, but unbowed. Beyond this place of wrath and tears       Looms but the Horror of the shade, And yet the menace of the years       Finds and shall find me unafraid. It matters not how strait the gate,       How charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate,       I am the captain of my soul.

      Black as the pit from pole to pole,

I thank whatever gods may be

      For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance

      I have not winced nor cried aloud.

Under the bludgeonings of chance

      My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears

      Looms but the Horror of the shade,

And yet the menace of the years

      Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,

      How charged with punishments the scroll,

I am the master of my fate,

      I am the captain of my soul.

Just be me. I’m not going to care what anybody says. I’m going to rule. But that comes crashing down. We get slapped by reality, don’t we. So many things outside of our control.

But that’s where we are in our cultural moment we understand that things aren’t perfect but we refuse to give up the myth that we’re the captain of our soul and we make our own destiny. And so we come up with all these solutions and fight and war and labor and plot and scheme and everything else to try to wrest control from whoever we think is messing stuff up.

So how do people identify the problem of this world, and what solutions do they envision? Is the problem that people are ignorant? Is it that people who are basically good are simply not enlightened with the right philosophy and culture needed to form a successful society? If that is the problem, then education is the logical solution. Or is the problem that people have had bad childhood experiences, that dysfunctional environments have warped otherwise healthy creatures? If that is the problem, then social reengineering is the most appropriate solution. Or, again, is poverty the problem? Is it true that people’s basic needs are not being met, so they never get the chance to develop high-order skills that will make them model citizens? If so, then surely income redistribution is a good remedy.

If our guy gets in office, or stays in office. If we do this program. If we make this choice. If we teach people this thing. Then we’ll finally be back in control. And you might get there for awhile but there’s one problem.

You still die. And there is NOTHING you can do about that. Oh, we’re trying. But you can eat twigs and barley and kale and see a doctor daily and do everything you’re supposed to do and be really careful and still slip on ice and bust your head open. I like how Piper puts this:

Whatever we have been able to conquer as human beings, we have not conquered death. It triumphs everywhere. It strikes babies and teenagers and young adults and mid-lifers and older people. It scoffs at our medicines and surgeries and diets and vitamins and exercise programs. When all is said and done, rocket scientists die. Politicians die. Doctors die. Professors die. Nobel prize winners die. The rich die and the poor die. The good die and the evil die. Farmers die. Bankers die. Carpenters die. Computer programmers die. And preachers die.

So yeah, “ not all things are subject to him right now” that him is mankind in general. But notice what happens in verse 9. Oh beauty!

But look at our text. He’s honest. “not all things are subject to him right now” that him is mankind in general. But notice what happens in verse 9. Oh beauty!

But we see him…that’s another him. Who is this him?

It’s Jesus, who like us—as a man—was made a little lower than the angels…but he’s now crowned with glory and honor. What’s the author of Hebrews doing? He saying that yes is about mankind in general but Jesus is the ultimate man. Yes, our sin has caused us to make shipwreck of our high calling and we’ve lost Eden. And we keep trying to get it back but it never happens. We keep blowing it and we always will. Stuff isn’t subject to us and we know it. BUT we see Jesus.

What’s that mean? This guy has conquered death! He is crowned with glory and honor over every square inch of creation. Not one square inch where he can’t cry out, “mine”. is fulfilled in him. And if we are in Christ then we too will someday experience the fulness of . No more crying, no more death, no more pain, no more suffering. God is taking you back to Eden…better yet…he’s taking you to a new Eden and eternal Eden a kingdom that cannot be shaken!

“Tasted death for everyone” what’s that mean? It means you are either in Christ or in Adam.

Shipwrecked or Restored.

APPLICATION:

Suffering leads to glory

is your destiny. Stop it with grasping for rule outside of Christ. Stop trusting in princes and horses and other stuff to be your functional saviors. Rest here.

How Deep the Father’s Love. didn’t give up. you need Christ.

Is He Worthy? Celebrate this! Celebrate the victory we have in Christ.