More Than Qualified!

MORE THAN QUALIFIED! Spring Valley Mennonite; November 10, 2019; Hebrews 5:1-10 Frank Abagnale (A-baun-yo) is perhaps the greatest conman of the modern era. Between the age of 19 and 22 he successfully posed as a physician with no medical school training, an airline pilot with never an hour of flight training, and played the role of attorney, having passed the bar exam in Louisiana--without ever attending law school, although falsely claiming to have a Harvard Law School degree. From these positions of authority he defrauded banks of thousands of dollars, traveling in multiple countries. When caught, he was convicted and served prison time in France, Sweden and the U.S. A movie entitled “Catch Me If You Can” was based on his life. Abagnale faked his way through many roles although he lacked qualifications for any of them other than a supreme confidence in his ability to fool people. But Frank Abagnale was eventually caught and paid for his fraud. He currently works as a consultant for the FBI and founded a firm which helps financial institutions identify fraudulent schemes of criminals. There continue to be many “would-be saviors” to a needy world, but only one person, the God-man Jesus who has the genuine qualifications to be the Savior and Mediator of mankind. Today we continue into the heart and core of the book of Hebrews which presents Jesus Christ as our Great High Priest. The importance of this designation extends beyond relating to those from a Jewish background, for there exists a desperate need for a mediator between the sinful human race and God. Mankind is inherently religious. God has placed eternity in our hearts, and we long to worship someone or something greater than ourselves. We are exceedingly creative in our approaches to God, but all our approaches have this in common: they all are based on what we need to do to make ourselves worthy to approach God; this is called “works salvation.” Every false religion has a list of activities we can do to try and make ourselves acceptable to God. And all religions other than Christianity fail to reach God. Because of our inherent sin nature, and the separation that sin makes between ourselves and a Holy God, our God of love, compassion and mercy has reached down to us. He first chose a man named Abraham, not because he was anyone special, but simply because He decided to do so. God sits in His heavens and does what He chooses to do; He is sovereign and Holy so everything He does is righteous. Abraham responded by believing what God said, and God made a covenant with him promising to bless his descendants and furthermore, to bless all mankind through one of his descendants. Through Abraham’s miracle son Isaac, then through Isaac’s son Jacob and his twelve sons God’s plan for saving the world developed. The plan involved 400 years in Egypt where the fewer than 100 in number family of Jacob grew to several million people. We all know the story of how God called Moses to be the deliverer of the people from slavery in Egypt, and how Moses led the people to a mountain named Sinai where God established a Covenant of Law, specifying how the people should live so as to please a Holy God. But realizing the inability of people to keep the Law God included provisions for the covering of their sinful failures through blood sacrifices. He also instituted the one family within the tribe of Levi to be priests to serve in offering these sacrifices. The Levitical priesthood was led by one God-chosen leader called the High Priest. The office of the High Priest was the highest and most honorable position in the Jewish nation. Even the King submitted to the leading and intercessory work of the High Priest. One didn’t aspire to the office of High Priest, but in addition to being in the line of inheritance, had to be chosen by God to fulfill the role. A High Priest might have several sons, but it was not necessarily the oldest one who became High Priest. He had to be chosen by God for this highest responsibility. His life was very restrictive. Hebrews 5 begins with listing the qualifications that a High Priest had to meet. Jesus above and beyond met these qualifications. Read 5:1-3. I. RIGOROUS QUALIFICATIONS FOR THE HIGH PRIEST As God’s mediator, the High Priest had to meet exacting standards to qualify for his exalted role. Verse 1 lists three qualifications: • He had to be a man, human. While this seems simplistic, it was a requirement that the incarnation-the becoming human- of our Lord Jesus fulfilled. • The High Priest did not aspire or lobby for the position, but he was appointed to his role. The position usually passed to the High Priest’s son, but the son had to be worthy of the position. An example of this was the High Priest Eli, whose sons were wicked men. If no worthy son was found, a qualified man from another family would be chosen. In the case of Eli, the position passed to a grandson. • His main task was to offer gifts and sacrifices on behalf of the people. The required sacrifices included supervising the morning and evening offerings, sacrifices on the Sabbath and monthly at the time of each new moon, sacrifices at the three yearly gatherings (Passover, Pentecost, and Ingathering). It was at the third of these gatherings for all Jewish men that the Day of Atonement required the High Priest’s yearly entry into the Holy of Holies. The offering of gifts was of a different class, being voluntary offerings such as the Thanksgiving offering which a person gave in recognition of something good God had done. There also were the fellowship offerings, brought to the priests, who offered up the fat of the animal. The meat, after the priest’s portion was taken, was eaten by the family of the offeror. This occurred at the main feasts but could happen at other times. • Verse 2 speaks of the High Priest as the one who “stood in the gap” between God and man, the High Priest was to be sympathetic to the people’s sins, yet rigid in fulfilling the requirements of the Law. He had to be balanced between the extremes of cold indifference and uncontrolled sadness, maintaining the middle ground of being patient but not condoning sin, understanding but not indulgent. By the way, this sounds how we should deal with the sins of others. Verses 4-6 tell: II. HOW CHRIST PERFECTLY FULFILLED THESE QUALIFICATIONS Just as the High Priest was chosen and appointed, Jesus was appointed by God. Jesus did not demand recognition, saying in John 8:54: “If I glorify Myself, My glory is nothing; it is My Father who glorifies Me, of whom you say, ‘He is our God.’” Two Old Testament passages are given as proof of His appointment: Psalm 2:7, which established that Jesus was a man (Today I have begotten Thee). At the incarnation, including the conception by the Holy Spirit and His birth in Bethlehem, The Second Person of the Trinity became something more than He had been: He became human. Unless Jesus had been born, He could not have become our Great High Priest. But Psalm 2:8 continues, “Ask of Me and I will surely give the nations as Thine inheritance, and the very ends of the earth as Thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron, thou shalt shatter them like earthenware.” This Messianic Psalm states that the begotten one, Jesus, will rule as King. The second passage, Psalm 110:4, is of vital importance. The Jewish High Priest had to be of the family of Levi. Yet Jesus clearly was of the tribe of Judah, a descendant of King David. The Old Testament prophesies specified that the Messiah would be both a King and Priest. This necessitated another order of Priesthood other than that of Levi, and that order was of Melchizedek. In using these two Psalms, the author unites the offices of King and Priest. Chapter 7 more fully describes Melchizedek, but a few details are needed as background. Genesis 14 tells of the kidnapping of Lot and his family by four kings from north of Canaan. These kings waged war against the King of Sodom and surrounding areas, winning the war and taking Lot and his family as captives. When Abraham heard of the situation, he organized a rescue, and pursued the captors. With God’s enablement, Abraham defeated these four Kings with a much smaller force, and rescued Lot as well as recovering all the stolen wealth-the spoils of battle. On the return trip to Canaan, Abraham encountered the King of Salem (an early name for the town which would become Jerusalem.) Listen to Genesis 14:18-20: “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; now he was a priest of God Most High. And he blessed him and said, ‘Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; and Blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand.’ And he (Abram) gave him a tenth of all.” Melchizedek was a Priest of God, but of a superior and higher order than that of Levi. Jesus was the Great High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek. The Levitical High Priest held office until He died. The High Priesthood passed from one man to another, and the High Priests of Jesus’ day served at the pleasure of the Romans, who switched High Priests at will. But in contrast Jesus is a Priest forever after the Order of Melchizedek. Melchizedek was also a King, whereas the Levitical High Priest was not. Therefore, Jesus’ Priesthood is superior in two ways: He is the Kingly Priest, and He holds the position eternally. We live in a temporary world; everything wears out or if it is living, dies. But our High Priest, the Lord Jesus, is eternal. He is our eternal mediator with the Father. Verses 7-10 speak of: III. THE “PERFECTION” GAINED BY SUFFERING Read vv. 7-10. Jesus is qualified in other ways for His Priesthood. Verse 1 tells us the High Priest presents “offerings.” While on earth, Jesus offered prayers and supplications to God Who heard Him. Why were His prayers answered? Because He was worthy, a requirement of His priestly office. And contrary to the other human High Priests, in His sinlessness, God’s hearing of His prayers was guaranteed. The time of loud crying and tears certainly apply to the time of Gethsemane as our Lord contemplated becoming sin on our behalf, but also it applies to His experience on the cross. Obviously, God did not “save Him from death”, for that was the very reason Jesus came to earth; as one commentator points out, “A more accurate translation of Hebrews 5:7 is, “… save Him out of death.” Jesus was not asking to be saved from dying but to be saved out of death—that is, to be saved from remaining in death. He was not asking to avoid the cross but to be assured of the resurrection (cf. Ps. 16:8–11).1” What Jesus knew through omniscience, He learned by experience. Although all-knowing, Jesus experienced hardship and pain. He experienced suffering of a magnitude no one else could, for in His holiness, the sins of the world were placed on Him: 2 Corinthians 5:21: “He made Him who knew no sin to become sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Jesus learned by experience the full cost of obedience, as He fulfilled the Father’s will and went to the cross. God therefore affirmed Him as our perfect High Priest who offered Himself as the ultimate and final sacrifice for our sins. He is the source of our eternal salvation and having shed His holy blood He fulfilled the primary role of the High Priest. COMMUNION SERVICE: This morning we are remembering Jesus’ sacrifice as our Great High Priest as He willingly offered His body and blood as the eternal payment for our sin. This sacrament of Communion is open to anyone who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Reflecting on the word “Communion”, this is a fellowship time as we share together these representative elements, testifying that Jesus Christ sacrificed His body and blood for my sins. Of greater significance is that this time is a fellowship time, a communing with our Savior Jesus, remembering that He alone is our Savior. This is a time of self-examination, as we would not want to take these elements with unconfessed sin in our lives, so this may be for you a time of confession and repentance. We have the elements in front, proceed by rows and keep the bread and juice until all have received them and we will partake of them together. Read 1 Corinthians 11:23-24. (Bread then the cup)