Jesus, Builder, Occupant

Bringing Skills

My poor wife. I bring so little skill to our house.

I am lousy w/ tools. If I can’t hammer it or fix it w/ a screwdriver, I’m lost.

It was fun raising our kids in our house.

All 3 are musical. There was always some music being played in or around our house.

Our daughter played the marimba. We rented one and it sat in our living room. The only room big enough for it.

She played in the percussion section of the marching band, the pit.

She’d practice her music in the house. She could play w/ 2 mallets in each hand. We enjoyed watching as much as listening.

Our middle son played the sax in the school band. He’d be up in his room wailing away to the school fight song. He taught himself the Notre Dame fight song the first day we brought the instrument home for him.

Little trouble picking up the reed mouthpiece and figuring out how to make music w/out squeaking and squawking.

He also played the guitar. His room was above our kitchen. We’d be in the kitchen around dinner time and the light fixture would be rattling and swaying in time to the music he’d be playing.

While he’s strumming his guitar, he’s pounding the floor w/ his foot to keep time. That was right above our ceiling.

Sometimes we’d hear him outside w/ friends playing and singing.

Jared plays the French horn. So, he’d bring classical music into the house.

A few weeks ago I helped him buy a car and the first thing we did when we got into it to drive to his house was find the classical music station in PHX.

He played in the Arkansas Youth Symphony. We’d go to the adult symphony concerts from time to time.

One memory I have, I wouldn’t call it a favorite memory, he and I went to the Christmas concert the symphony put on. They were joined by the LR opera company. The star soloist sang the Ave Maria w/ the symphony.

Everything was going great, the opera star, the symphony was performing flawlessly. Then, the woman next to me decided to sing along.

This isn’t a rock concert or even church where everyone is supposed to sing along.

Having the kids in the house was special b/c they brought their talents w/ them.

We’re all game-players. The kids all played and like to go to games.

We’d be out in the yard all the time throwing a baseball or softball, playing football. We had a basketball court beside the house.

Now it’s board games. We did even played games last year during the pandemic via Zoom.

And, my wife. You know the skills she brings into the house. The garden, the cooking, canning. She takes such good care of me. She grows and prepares healthy delicious meals.

And, what exactly do I bring into this relationship?

Outside of my rugged good looks, I am her trophy husband, not much.

Pray for her.

When somebody brings skills into the house it adds a richness, a depth, a quality of life to what would otherwise be a bland existence.

And, what if you wanted to build a house in MP? You know how hard it is to find a good contractor to get any work done on your house, much less build a whole new house here.

Things break all the time in our houses. They were built in 80s, maybe earlier. Roof issues. Plumbing issues. Rotting wood issues. carpenter ants and rodents, we live in a forest.

And, there are the things I break trying to fix the things that broke on their own.

If I just would have called someone in the first place. But who?

What if there was a talented builder who could build you a house and fix everything that breaks in your house?

Last week I talked about Jesus being the Pioneer of our salvation. He homesteaded in Heaven, built a homestead that we will be able to settle when we get there.

We don’t have to wait to live in a house that Jesus built. We are a house that Jesus has built. He built for Himself. He is the builder and occupant of the house.

And He brings skills into the house. He can feed us and fix us when we break.

Jesus is doing something for us right now but we need to focus on what that is. If we don’t we might miss out on it.

This is the 2nd warning of 5 scattered throughout Hebrews.

Fix Your Thoughts

Hebrews 3:1–2 NIV

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.

Therefore.... What’s it there for?

It connects the previous passage to this one.

The previous passage is about Jesus being a pioneer who has gone where no man has gone before and he build a homestead for us to settle when we get there at some point in the future.

What about now? Do we have to wait to be blessed to live in a house Jesus built? No.

Ch. 2 talked about us being brothers and sisters w/ Jesus. God becomes our Father when we come to faith.

We are holy. Set apart. Different. We look different on the inside to God and are called to act different on the outside for God.

He said, Fix your thoughts on Jesus.

This is not just a casual glance or even stare at Him. That’s awkward.

This means engage your head and your heart. Focus. All in. 100% of you focused on Jesus all the time.

Few things in life require this kind of attention. Maybe driving I-17 between here and PHX. There are other stretches of interstate that have been almost as bad.

I-40 across Arkansas.

I-80/90, the tollroad across Indiana.

All demand all your attention all the time you’re driving it.

Accidents, weather, construction constantly.

There are 2 stories in the bible that reflect this kind of attention. 1 negative and 1 positive.

The negative example is Lot’s wife. The angels came to them in Sodom to evacuate them b/c God was about to destroy the city b/c of the decadent immorality of the ppl.

They didn’t have time to pack. They just had to run. As they ran the sulphur and fire rained down behind them. They could probably have felt the heat on their backs as they ran.

The story is, as Lot ran, his wife stopped and turned. It says she looked back and as a result was punished by God in a similar way as the residents left behind.

She didn’t just glance back, or even just stare at the destruction. Her heart was there. Her heart was breaking.

The death and destruction were bad enough. But the worst thing happening that day was the ppl’s eternal destiny being established apart from God.

She would have wept. Not for their separation from God. But she would have preferred to die that day with the immoral than live w/ her husband in obedience to God.

She fixed her thoughts on the lifestyle of the ppl of Sodom and paid a dear price.

The positive example is Peter in the NT.

He and the disciples were told by Jesus to get into the boat and head across the Sea and he would meet them later.

As they sailed, a sudden squall blew up. A violent storm created a headwind that blocked their way right in the middle, at the halfway point of their trip.

For hours they struggled against the wind. It was dark, in the middle of the night in the middle of the sea, they were taking on water as the waves crashed over the sides of the boat.

They were exhausted. But they were not about to give up. Each one would spend his last ounce of energy trying to save them.

The experienced fishermen knew how much trouble they were in. Even the inexperienced guys probably knew, too. They were going down. They were going to die that night. There was nothing anyone could do about it.

Anyone in the boat that is.

About that time, they see a ghostly figure walking up to them as if He’s going to pass them by. He’s walking. Above the water.

If he were walking on the water he’d have an impossible time not falling over b/c the water was moving so violently.

He wasn’t struggling or stumbling. His hair wasn’t blowing in the wind. As far as his appearance would indicate, it was a beautiful night for a stroll.

The disciples thought it was the angel of death who’d come to usher them to the next life. But Jesus spoke to them and they recognized him.

In that moment, maybe a rash in irrational thought crossed Peter’s mind, and he asked Jesus if he could join him out of the boat and over the water.

Sure. Come on.

He climbed out and suddenly it was as if there was no storm, no wind, nor water. He was steady on his feet.

Now, when men are on a sea and in a storm like that, they belong in a boat or else they are going to die.

But, in this case, the men in the boat were going to die and the only safe place was out of the boat but w/ Jesus.

As suddenly as Peter asked Jesus if he could come out w/ him, too, he realized where he was and what was happening.

In that moment he focused his thoughts on the storm and he sank. He didn’t belong out there. That was impossible. The storm should kill him.

He could have tried to make a swim for it. He was out of strength and the storm was stronger than he was.

But then he focused his thoughts on Jesus. He didn’t just glance at him nor stare at him.

Maybe he realized that if he died that night he’d meet him in heaven soon.

And Jesus could have let him die. Ye of little faith. I’ll see you in paradise tomorrow morning. But he didn’t.

Jesus didn’t just come to homestead heaven. He came to save us here and offer us his skills while we’re together here.

Yes Peter was desperate. But he fixed his head and his heart on Jesus and Jesus fixed the problem he was in that night.

For the first hearers of Hebrews in c.1, the storm clouds were building around them. Persecution was already intense but was about to become a squall. Christians were about to die.

The question for them was, would they fix their thoughts on the storm that was about to engulf them? Or, would they fix their eyes on the One who could save them?

When the pressure is amped up and life is overwhelming us can we remain faithful to our commitment to God?

Is there an example for us of someone who stayed faithful even though the pain they were about to endure was engulfing them?

The same one who can save us from our storm or out of our storm stayed faithful to God in His own storm. Since he did, we can too.

In the Garden of Gethsemane he pled w/ God to find a different way. Is there any other way we can do this?

The answer from God was no.So the answer from Jesus was, not my will, but yours be done. Let’s go.

These Jewish Christians in c.1 revered Moses. God gave him the law to deliver to the ppl. He led a stubborn lot thru the wilderness for 40 years.

He officiated over 2 million funerals as that entire group of former Egyptian slaves died, except Moses, Joshua, and Caleb.

They endured so many hardships over those years and Moses remained faithful thru it all.

That was special. He deserved the reverence.

And he built the first temple for God to occupy. It was a traveling temple, a tent they’d fold up and take w/ them as they wandered on in the wilderness.

So, there are similarities between Moses and Jesus. But as similar as they are, the differences are what makes Jesus God and Moses not.

Moses was a pretty good builder and leader.

But, he had to be given the plans by the architect.

Jesus is a Master Builder who makes the plan and puts it together.

Master Builder

Hebrews 3:3–6 NIV

Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.

Moses simply carried out the instructions given him by God.

Jesus designed his house and built it Himself. He didn’t need an architect or a contractor.

No one is more important, of greater value, or worthy of greater honor than the Master Builder.

The house might be spectacular. But the house is just the house. It will never be more not can it ever reproduce itself.

The builder can build another one. He can even tear down the first one.

Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house who built the first temple as God’s house. But, what he built was a miniature facsimile of what Jesus will build later.

It foreshadowed His house.

And the preacher here makes a transition between the 2 houses.

Moses built a temporary temple that God occupied. He had a physical presence there. A canvas or cloth structure w/ specific dimensions and particular furnishings.

And the priests would go in and do the things that priests do.

Primarily, they were the go-betweens between God and the ppl.

So, if God had a message for the ppl he’d tell the priest who’d deliver it to the ppl.

And, when the ppl had an offering for God, the priest would deliver it. The offerings were sacrifices that atoned for their sins.

Remember what atonement is. A D-Back outfielder makes an error allowing 2 Dodgers to score.

The next time that same outfielder comes up to bat, there’s a runner on base, and he hits a home run scoring 2 runs.

He atoned for his error.

We need atonement for the errors we make putting us behind in our relationship w/ God. As long as there is a deficit, we can’t get close to God. The deficit is a chasm. It’s not just a couple of runs or a crack in the ground.

The work that the priest did in the temple represented what God was going to do to cover the chasm and bring the ppl close.

The animals they sac’d did nothing to help by themselves. But, sac’d by faith did the work of atonement.

And Moses’s temple was a foreshadowing of what Jesus would build later.

Later is now. The temple Jesus built is not temporary nor made of fabric. It’s us. We are the temple he built.

No longer is the temple the place where priests do their priestly things. The temple is now the place where the recipients of the priestly things Jesus did receive their benefits.

We are that house and he occupies that house. We remain in close proximity as long as we are in that house.

There is an important conditional statement at the end of this passage.

We are his house IF we fix out thoughts and hold firmly to our confidence and hope.

What’s the condition and what do we risk losing?

This is the warning.

In 11:1 the preacher defines faith at assurance in what we hope for and confidence in what we do not see.

So, is he saying here in ch.3 that we can lose faith if we don’t hold firmly to our confidence?

The word he used that we translate confidence is a different word.

So, he’s not saying we can lose our faith.

The word here means courage or public boldness.

IOW, if we stop living our lives publicly for Christ, then we are going to lose out on the benefits of the priestly work He has done in the house that we are.

If Peter, while losing his battle treading water in the storm lost confidence, lost his courage and failed to publicly cry out for help he would have drowned. He would have gone to heaven. But he wouldn’t have been the church leader he became.

Jesus is the only one who can call us out to walk above the water or pull us out of the water but we have the courage to publicly acknowledge we need Him to do it.

If we don’t, we risk drowning in the storms of life that engulf us.

It doesn’t mean we won’t get to heaven. We’ll just get there sooner and having gone thru unnecessary suffering to get there.

We are his house. Present tense. We don’t have to wait to get to heaven where he homesteaded to settle in a house he built.

Whatever our eyes and thoughts are fixed on, whatever occupies the focus of our heads and hearts, that dictates the direction we will go, publicly and privately.

When teaching my kids to play baseball one of the biggest challenges is to get them to not watch the ball they just hit into the outfield.

They need to look at the base where they are supposed to go.

First base, second base, go there then look at the coach.

But it’s natural to watch and admire the hit you just got.

The problem is, our feet follow our eyes. So the next thing you know you’ve got your baserunner running into right field.

Whatever you are focused on is where you will run. Wherever your eyes and thoughts are fixed on is where you will go.

Shopping networks and websites? Then you may find yourself in an outfield of debt.

Porn websites. Then you will find yourself in a squall of broken relationships.

Or, Jesus. The Pioneer of our Salvation.

The builder and occupier of his own house that he built using us to do it.

Your feet will follow your eyes to Jesus where you will benefit from all the priestly work he is doing in the house that you’re a part of and that he occupies.

Applications

Fix your thoughts

There are some storms brewing around us.

All the usual issues.

Now, there’s still a virus that making the wind blow and water churn.

Eyes off the storm. Stop fixating on what’s wrong and what might happen.

Fix your thoughts on Who can fix what’s broken in your life.

And your feet will follow.

Where are you headed. Is there trouble coming?

Maybe you need to change what you are focused on.

Jesus is the only one

He’s the only one who can call you out to walk above the water and mess everyone else is drowning in.

And he’s the only one who can pull out if you’re drowning w/ them.

Stop trying to swim out, climb out, and do it on your own. Let Jesus lift you out.

Confidence

Live boldly, courageously, and publicly for Christ.

If we shy away from him when we’re out w/ friends we create a distance that causes us to lose out on all the priestly benefits that are available to us.

Don’t be shy about following Jesus and talking about him in public.

The warning is if we lose confidence in Him, we lose benefits from Him.

My kids brought beautiful music to our house growing up.

Jesus will bring music to your life now.

And, he knows his way around a tool box and can fix what’s broken.

We don’t have to wait to live in a house that Jesus built. We are a house that Jesus has built. He built for Himself. He is the builder and occupant of the house.

And He brings skills into the house. He can feed us and fix us when we break.