See Jesus

Good morning!

It is good to see all of you this morning.

I’m particularly excited about the message that God has for us today.

It is a question that I have certainly struggled with in my life and I know that many of you have as well. If you haven’t, just give it time. It’s coming.

If you haven’t, it is my hope that you will remember the words the Lord has for us this morning.

Before the question though, let’s remember how we got to where we are.

The condition of the church that Hebrews was written to.

All that had been given up by the members when they choose to follow Christ.

Last week our focus was on the fact that Everything Is Under God’s Control.

Our lives are a series of transitions… moving from one stage in life to another.

We are also in the middle of the transition in the redemption of the world.

These transitions are often uncomfortable and difficult.

I don’t know if you have noticed, but we have talked a lot about difficulty over the last year, but it has been a difficult year.

And that brings us to the question that I want to attack today.

“What is going on when, in our immediate situations, Christ does not seem to be in control?”

Me

Bethany’s diagnosis CVID

I found myself asking God, what in the world is going on!?

We

Serious illness. -Miki

Relationship difficulties.

Losing a job.

God

In our text last week, we saw that everything is under God’s control, but what all of us have experienced in some way is that it doesn’t always feel that way.

How do we make sense of what scripture tells us and what we are experiencing?

Because Jesus has not returned, the second half of the previous verse tells us...

Hebrews 2:8b CSB

8 and subjected everything under his feet. For in subjecting everything to him, he left nothing that is not subject to him. As it is, we do not yet see everything subjected to him.

We are in the middle of this transition and our struggle is in seeing that while it doesn’t feel like it at the moment, God has already won.

What we need is His perspective on our current situation.

Where do we normally place our hope?

In relief of whatever we are dealing with.

List out each example and the normal hope that we are looking for.

Look at our verse for today with me and pay particular attention to the first five words.

Our knee-jerk desire for hope is in the fix, but look at where the author points us.

Remembering the last phrase in verse 8…

“…we do not yet see everything subjected to him.”

Hebrews 2:9 CSB

9 But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.

Let’s just pause right here.

I want you to answer this honestly for yourself.

With your specific struggle in mind, how did your heart respond to those first five words?

For me, when I was studying this passage, I had read a lot of what I’m about to share with you, but when I went back to the scripture and read it again with my situation and a friends struggle that I was praying about, it literally set me back in my chair.

The hope that I need, that you need, and that our friends need is to see Jesus.

The problem we all have is that we have been trained to look for hope in the world.

Hebrews Hebrews 2:5–9

The answer to our dilemma lies in our perception of reality and, specifically, the nature of the Christian faith.

We are looking in the wrong place for what we need!

Hebrews Hebrews 2:5–9

Feeling better has become more important than finding God.

In my notes, I wrote “BOOM”!

Hebrews Hebrews 2:5–9

“we have become committed to relieving the pain behind our problems rather than using our pain to wrestle more passionately with the character and purposes of God. Feeling better has become more important than finding God. And worse, we assume that people who find God always feel better.”16

I don’t know about you, but I felt personally attacked when I first heard this.

But isn’t it true?

What we are looking for is relief, not revelation.

Since we’ve already agreed to be honest with ourselves let’s ask another hard question.

In your circumstances, what do you really need?

This world and its troubles are temporary and therefore, what we really need is to see Jesus because He is everlasting.

What we also want and need is to know that we are not alone.

We want to know that someone understands what we are going through.

We want and need that because we were created to live in community with one another and God.

Look at the rest of verse 9 with me again.

Hebrews 2:9 CSB

9 But we do see Jesus—made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God’s grace he might taste death for everyone—crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death.

Jesus knows greater suffering than we ever will.

Since he has suffered, we can find comfort in knowing that when we suffer, he gets it.

He understands better than anyone else can.

This is the point where we have to make a decision about what we are going to believe and act on.

We either choose to let our circumstances define our lives or we let Jesus define our lives.

We have seen Jesus and we know, by experience, His ability to overcome anything.

Hebrews Contemporary Significance

Yet, in these experiences we walk in the way of Christ, who was persecuted, wept, and died. “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

I can’t speak for your experiences, but I can tell you that when I have chosen to see Jesus in my life rather than the troubles, He has been with me.

This song came on while I was finishing things up this morning.

You always finish what You start What You have grown into a garden You planted in the dark You always finish what You start

Good things just take a little time Your hands are working in the soil And bringing me life Good things just take a little time

I will trust You in the famine I will bless You in the feast When I'm standing in Your victory When I'm on my knees I will praise will praise You at the rising And the setting sun You're gonna catch me singing when the spring time comes

This story has an empty grave Jesus the process is a mystery But Your promise never fades This story has an empty grave

-Sean Curran, Catch Me Singing

You

So what does this mean for you in your circumstance?

How do you bring this truth into your life so that it makes a difference?

How does a person just choose to see Jesus in the difficulties of life?

Acknowledge, that while significant, your troubles are temporary.

Seek revelation from Jesus.

Walk with Jesus through your suffering.

We

All of us struggle and all of us tend to seek the hope of recovery rather than revelation.

As we discussed, that is our knee-jerk reaction.

But, if we are going to See Jesus in our circumstances, we need to be reminded that He is with us.

When those curveballs in life show up, we need people around us that can remind us that God’s perspective is vastly different from our own.

Together, we can remind one another that true hope is found in Seeing Jesus.

When you or someone you know is dealing with a problem, don’t dismiss it and don’t look for hope in the temporary.

Seek God together and allow Him to reveal himself to you.

Uplift one another, help one another and just be present.

All of us are going to need help.

Some of us more than others.

At the end of the day, loving our friends and family enough to point them to Jesus will make the difference between hopelessness and joy.

Sometimes you can’t see the forest for the trees, but a friend that isn’t in the forest can tell you that you are.

Let’s pray together.