Blessings Paid Forward

Hebrews 5 and the first part of 6 - He tells the people that they have stalled out in their faith, they have ceased growing spiritually and have become dull; this is a warning to continually grow

Hebrews 6

- Gods promise is true and reliable because He is the one that made it

The writer of Hebrews is using what would be familiar to His audience, Jewish ancestry and the life of Abraham to make a connection to Jesus

We will look at the connection next time

Ancestry

Story of mistaken heritage

23 and Me - 75.9% Irish then mostly Northwestern Eurpoean

Ancestry show - some are shocked either proud or ashamed of their heritage

Heritage comes from heriter which is the recipient of what is inherited

We know that we pass on all kinds of things some intentional some unintentional

Think about your heritage

Today we will try and understand a little more about this Melchizedek and what made him so special

Hebrews 7:1–3 ESV

For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

You can read the account in Gen 14

Abraham had a nephew named Lott

The area where they lived had lots of kingdoms

At this time the kings were teaming up with one another and going after other kings and kingdoms for all kinds of reasons

Well Lott lived in the area of Sodom and Gomorrah;

At this time Sodom and Gomorrah were overrun and the people of these cities fled into the hillside while their enemies looted their stuff and people

Among the captured was Lott

Someone sent word to uncle Abraham who then assembled 318 very well trained men and went up and got his nephew back

Not only did he rescue his nephew, he returned all the possessions of the people

He didn’t keep any of it

Now on his way back from this mission; he is met by the King of Salem named Melchizedek

He is described by the Bible as priest of the Most High God

The writer of Hebrews reminds his readers that He is a King of Righteousness

That means He is just and right in every way

He upholds justice no matter what

Like God who is righteous and says the punishment for sin is death

It must be so, or he is not righteous and just

But also the writer of Hebrews reminds us that he is also the King of Salem, that is, King of peace

That means he is not a man of war rather he seeks peace

But never at the expense of righteousness

He is both

Like God is both a God of righteousness and mercy and grace

The Bible does not put these two characteristics in tension with eachother

Society does

The Bible doesn’t

In fact, the Bible labors hard to show that righteousness, mercy and grace are all necessarily attributes of an all-good God

There is only one point in human history where these two characteristics intersect

The cross of Jesus Christ

Where righteousness is upheld perfectly but peace is sustained sacrifically

Now this Melchizedek seems to come out of no where

The Bible records no genealogy

No record of Birth

No record of death

Many scholars say this is a pre-incarnate encounter with Christ

That is, an encounter with Jesus before he entered into creation as we celebrate on Christmas

No matter what you believe about this Melchizedek Priest here is what we know for sure

Hebrews 7:4–10 ESV

See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

Abraham thought he was special

Now you might think you are bad, but you ain’t mount up with a small force and go beat up several kingdoms bad

Abraham is a serious warrior with serious power at the time

But he is honest at a time when most kings around him are seeking to expand their territories and riches

Melchizedek meets him on his way back with bread and wine

Abraham is so blessed by Him and His presence he gives him a 10th of everything he had on him at the time

The writer of Hebrews says It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior

That is that as honest and great as Abraham was at the time he was still inferior to Melchizedek in every way

He knows this and is blessed by this

He responds with a form of worship; he gives toward the King’s ministry

Heritage

This is our highest heritage

It is through this act, this people group, this priest that Jesus enter’s into humanity

Living a righteous life and dying to give us peace

It has nothing to do with your

Citizenship

Political party

Opinions / views

Race

Family origin

Economic status

None of that matters in God’s kingdom

Repenting; that is turning from your sin

And placing your faith, hope and trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ is all that matters in God’s Kingdom

Are you in God’s Kingdom?

We are not promised another minute;

Next week the writer of Hebrews is going to compare Jesus to Melchizedek and will tell us how much more superior Jesus is to him

We will also celebrate communion together

Amen! Amen!

Lets pray

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