Would You Hire Him?
Notes
Transcript
Job Searches
Job Searches
Do you remember what it was like to look for a job and interview?
I’ve been here 6 years and I still remember the process that led to us coming here.
There was committee here that started by praying and deciding what kind of pastor they would search for. Ken Van Doorne, Cheryl Parker, Mac Jett, and Mike Sims.
They put together a job description and started looking for someone to fill it.
You have to know what you are looking for before you will ever find the who.
What’s the job. Who fits it best.
They posted the job on a placement website where Sara and I saw it. Sara jumped on it right away. Munds Park. We could get back to AZ close to her family. She was familiar with the lifestyle as her parents had a cabin in Pinetop for years.
I sent a resume’ along with 100 others. Needle in a haystack. How do you pick from among so many qualified people?
Obviously, God is involved in the process, leading the committee thru the weeding and cuts. Just like He leading the ppl looking for a ministry.
My resume’ was typical of all of them. Education, experience, and ref’s. Don’t send a novel, just a page or two of ministry highlights.
They called my ref’s. I remember talking to one of them about his convo w/ Ken. He said it went really well. The church sounded like it was a good situ for us and they knew what they were looking for.
Next came the Skype interview. I remember seeing them sitting behind tables in the fellowship hall. They fired Q’s at me and I had questions for them.
I remember one phone call w/ Mike in January. I asked about how church was going. I know it’s hard when you don’t have pastor in the church in in the process.
He said there had been a snowstorm and 6 people showed up.
Shortly after, I got the phone call that I was one of 2 finalists. We were excited, but careful not to go too far b/c it’s not done until it’s done.
I’m sure the other guy is a great guy and we were all trusting God to lead all parties in the best direction.
2 consecutive Sundays in March. The other guy was here first. He had the chance to make the first impression.
When we got here we figured out pretty quickly that it was a good impression. Temper the feelings. Trust God for the process.
My Sunday came, I preached. I thought it went well. My message was clear. God was at work. I thought it was a good Sunday either way, no matter how it played out. We worshiped well.
Good for me and Sara as well as good for the membership here. I had the chance to interact w/ you, answer questions. I asked a few myself.
Toward the end of the lunch they called us into the office to meet w/ the leaders. We did not see this coming. I was expecting to hear that they were going to meet and call me in a couple of weeks.
But, they offered me the job on the spot. I was shocked and thrilled all at the same time.
Sara was immediately in tears, in the few days were here we fell in love w/ the ppl and this place, our search was over and we’d be moving to AZ.
We had already planned to go to Tucson after here b/c we were so close. But she got to tell her parents that we were moving to AZ.
It was a great moment.
I’ve seen the process from multiple sides. I’ve been a staff member when the church hired a new senior pastor.
I’ve hired ppl.
Recently, I watched Sara as she and her brother and SIL hired care-givers; first for her mom, then for her dad.
Her mom passed away in Feb. And we kept the care-givers for her dad. Then, down-sized as he demonstrated he didn’t the round the clock care.
I’m reading or watching TV while she is interviewing candidates on her computer thru Zoom.
I felt for her. I prayed for her a lot. Imagine, hiring people to care for your parents in very vulnerable situations so they need t/b compassionate, caring and professional.
So many things to consider.
Finding the best ppl. So important.
Experience, education, ref’s, impression on video.
Some did not appreciate the importance of a professional appearance. A little too casual.
So, if you interviewed Jesus for the job of your Savior, would you have hired Him?
Do you know WHAT you’re looking for in a Savior? B/C, you have to know the WHAT before you’ll ever find the WHO.
Are you looking for Santa Claus or a subordinate?
He is neither.
But he is eminently qualified to be our Savior because He has experienced worse that we ever would to provide for us what we never could.
His experience proves he can do the job. And he has really good references.
The theme of Hebrews is Christ above all.
Jesus has the best qualifications, best education, best experience, best references for you commit to Him as your Savior.
Hebrews 5:1-10 reads like the process of a committee interviewing a candidate to be accepted and committed to for the ministry job of Savior.
Job Description
Job Description
Every high priest is selected from among the people and is appointed to represent the people in matters related to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he himself is subject to weakness. This is why he has to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well as for the sins of the people. And no one takes this honor on himself, but he receives it when called by God, just as Aaron was.
The first thing the committee would do is come up with a job description. What is the job we are hiring for.
Have to have a clear idea of the job so you know what qualities and characteristics you are looking for.
This was the job for every high priest. And, there had been one since Aaron and Israel wandering thru the wilderness.
The high priest was one of them. He had t/b chosen from among the ppl in the community.
He has got to understand the culture and community he’s being called into to serve.
As a mid-westerner, I can tell you that cultures vary across the US. New England is different than the upper left coast. CA is different than the South.
Kansas is right next door to Missouri and Arkansas. I can tell you AR is much more like Tenn and GA than it is KS, NE, or OK.
OK is a lot more like TX than KS.
The high priest had to be one of them.
The main reason was he had to rep the ppl in matters related to God. His primary task in his job description is to offer gifts and sacrifices to God to atone for the sins of the ppl.
So, he needed to know the sins of the ppl and what was req’d to make up for the deficit w/ God.
And he also needed to know God and what He req’d from the ppl to make things right.
Annually on the Day of Atonement, the high priest would select 2 goats. 1 he would kill and sacrifice to for the sins of the people.
The other he would release to run away never to return to take away the guilt of the ppl.
Jesus could handle that.
The high priest need to be a man of compassion. That’s the root of the word where the preacher says to deal gently w/ ppl.
His compassion is born of his own weaknesses. He would feel sympathy for the ppl who sinned b/c he sinned himself.
He would have to moderate his feelings to avoid extremes.
On the one end, cold indifference. You got what you deserved and what you had coming to you.
Other other end, uncontrolled sadness as if he too closely ID’s with their failings wanting to take those bullets for them.
Every high priest up to that point was weak in his own right and incapable of paying for others’ sins.
And b/c his compassion was born of weakness, he knew he had his own issues w/ God, it prevented any hint of arrogance.
Humility b/c he knew he had no leg to stand on that he was any better than the ppl he was representing to God.
He had his job to do. But, personally, he was as weak as they were.
So, it was expected, that he would first pay for his own sins by sacrificing an animal. Then, deal w/ the sins of the ppl.
But in this case the preacher is considering Jesus. He needs to be a man of compassion.
Jesus wept.
The story was when he was about to call Lazarus out of his tomb after he died. Why did Jesus cry? He knew what he was about to do.
He cried b/c his heart was breaking b/c Mary and Martha’s hearts were broken. He felt compassion for them in that moment even though he knew in the next moment Lazarus would walk out of his grave.
Jesus is compassionate, not out of his own weakness, but out of his strength.
He was tempted just as we are. In his humanity he felt the attraction to sin, but in his divinity he was able to stand up to it.
He knows what we are up against and even in his success remains humble as he helps us.
Those he helps are those who are ignorant and are wandering astray.
These words reflect an innocence, naivety, a desire to get back on track and in God’s good graces.
He is not referring to those who willfully, intentionally, sin and go in a different direction.
These are ppl who genuinely regret what they did and want to return.
These are the ones w/ whom the high priest is tasked w/ dealing gently. Those who should receive compassion.
This is not a democratic process where one campaigns nor is he chosen by any individual or group of ppl. This is not an activity taken on. But passively rec’d from God for the one He wants in the job.
He is chosen by God and called to this job.
Chosen by God. Gentle. Compassionate. Making things right between the ppl he knows well and the God he knows well.
Sounds both simple and hard all at the same time.
High priest and Savior.
He’s going to have to have some good references. Who can we talk to to find out how he really functions under pressure?
References
References
In the same way, Christ did not take on himself the glory of becoming a high priest. But God said to him,
“You are my Son;
today I have become your Father.”
And he says in another place,
“You are a priest forever,
in the order of Melchizedek.”
His first reference is God, Himself.
God chose Him for this role. Jesus did not take it on Himself just like the men before Him did not.
If you want to know if Jesus can do this job ask God.
And, the answer is yes. God would not have chosen him for the job if he couldn’t do the job.
The second reference is buried in here a little bit, but it’s David.
Jesus is destined t/b King from the Davidic line.
He is quoting Psalm 2
I will proclaim the Lord’s decree:
He said to me, “You are my son;
today I have become your father.
Then, the end of Psalm 2 David describes the Messiah as heir to his throne.
Jesus’s mother, Mary, was a descendant of David. So was his step-father, Joseph.
But Jesus qualified to sit on the throne by virtue of having David as an ancestor.
So, ask David if Jesus can do the job.
Obviously, David was long dead and they couldn’t ask him. But, they could read what David wrote about what Jesus would be like and do when he showed up on the scene.
He would be a descendant of his.
His 3rd reference is Melchizedek.
Who is that?
Just a few verses in Genesis 14 talk about him. He was the king of Salem and a righteous man of God and a priest.
Abraham was not the only believer on earth at the time and when Abe encountered Melchizedek he worshiped w/ him.
Jesus is described as a priest in the line of Melchizedek like he is a King in the line of David.
More on Melchizedek in the weeks to come.
The preacher maintains the theme of Jesus, Son of God, High Priest and King.
These all speak to the qualifications of Jesus to be able to do the job as Savior that we need for Him to do.
How would you like to have references like this?
Now, you’ve got the job description. And you’ve had the chance to communicate w/ Jesus’s references. Next on his resume’ is his experience.
Consider the experience Jesus would to the job.
Experience
Experience
During the days of Jesus’ life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with fervent cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. Son though he was, he learned obedience from what he suffered and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
This starts out sounding like Jesus’s experience in Gethsemane. It probably is. But, it’s more than that.
There, in the Garden he cried to His Father that if there was any other way, could he take a different route. But there was no other way and respectfully submitted to God’s will.
A biblical definition of death is not the end of brain function or a heartbeat. The technical biblical definition of death is separation from God.
In this sense, a Christian never dies. We leave this life and enter the next w/out ever leaving God’s presence.
So, Jesus, pleading to saved from death, takes us to the cross where God turned his back on Jesus.
God cannot even look at something that is sinful and on the cross Jesus took all of our sins from us. God had to turn his back. But only momentarily.
As Jesus died, paying for our sins, God welcomed him back.
So, when Jesus beat death, we think about him walking out of his tomb, which is accurate. But in a greater sense, Jesus beat death in that he was briefly, but completely separated from God, and then was able to return.
He did that so that we never have t/b separated from God.
Here, referencing Psalm 22
For he has not despised or scorned
the suffering of the afflicted one;
he has not hidden his face from him
but has listened to his cry for help.
It starts out this way:
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me,
so far from my cries of anguish?
My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer,
by night, but I find no rest.
Sound familiar? These are the words of Jesus on the cross. He quoted the Psalm when his father turned his back on him.
So, when the son needed his father the most, the father turned his back.
It sounds like a horrible moment of failure. If it stopped here, then no, Jesus is not qualified to do the job.
But the Psalm ends w/ this:
All the ends of the earth
will remember and turn to the Lord,
and all the families of the nations
will bow down before him,
for dominion belongs to the Lord
and he rules over the nations.
All the rich of the earth will feast and worship;
all who go down to the dust will kneel before him—
those who cannot keep themselves alive.
Posterity will serve him;
future generations will be told about the Lord.
They will proclaim his righteousness,
declaring to a people yet unborn:
He has done it!
What looked like Jesus experienced failure, became victory.
Jesus wins in the end.
Paul drew on these verses when he wrote Philippians, every knee will bow and tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
Everyone who dies, the moment they pass from this life to the next, they will bow.
Imagine having to bow down to someone you did not believe in while you were here.
Everyone has a choice to make. Willfully bow before Jesus now. Or, be forced to bow before him later.
And, our children will be told these stories about the message and miracles of Jesus.
Here we are 2000 years later still talking about him.
Who else who lived so long ago are we still talking about. The list is short. But at the top of the list is Jesus.
This is Jesus’s experience. Just like any resume’, a short summary of the highlights. If you want more, read Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.
This is the highlight of his experience.
He says he learned obedience. You say, wait. I thought Jesus already knew everything. What did he learn.
It’s like reading a recipe. If you know the recipe you know how to make the dish. But then you make the dish and it adds depth to your knowledge.
Cognitive vs. experiential knowledge.
And he says Jesus was made perfect. Again, you say, I thought he already was perfect.
He perfectly carried out his purpose for being here. This is the reason why Jesus came to earth.
John 3:16. God sent his son to die so that we can live.
In that experience he became the source of salvation. He is the way to get to Heaven. Every road every person takes to heaven goes thru Jesus.
The first step of obedience to Jesus is belief. We tend to think of obedience as keeping rules. Jesus commanded us to believe him.
So, in this sense, salvation is based on obedience. Believe then behave.
So, does Jesus have the experience necessary to do the job?
Do you know WHAT you are looking for? If you don’t know the what, you’ll never find the WHO.
Santa Claus, who gives good gifts to boys and girls?
A subordinate who will do what ever you say?
He is neither.
He is God who has done more for us than we could ever ask or imagine to provide for us more than we could ever dream up.
Applications
Applications
Believe
Believe
Jesus is the only source of salvation.
He is the only One who has the experience and ability to do this.
No other has done what he has done.
The preacher said, Jesus is the source of salvation for all who obey. And, the first step of ob is belief.
Believe in the right Jesus. Not the Santa or the subordinate.
Believe in the Jesus in the bible as he makes Himself known.
Bow now. Don’t wait till later.
Compassion
Compassion
Do not reject Jesus b/c you think he has rejected you.
Anybody who wants t/b close to Jesus, who recognizes they don’t do everything perfectly, he accepts graciously.
Back to the 1st app, believe.
Even those of us who do believe can reject much of what Jesus offers us w/out realizing it’s all still available.
Jesus is the goat who paid for your sins and he is the goat who removed took away all your guilt.
Don’t let your own feelings of guilt or insecurities keep you from experiencing the gracious compassion of Jesus.
Learn
Learn
Learn like Jesus
I can explain this stuff, you can read it, others can tell you, too.
Then, Jesus will lead you into the lab where you will have the chance to apply it and take your knowledge to a deeper level.
Welcome the opportunity learn obedience thru experience.
Jesus is more capable and more qualified than any other candidate to be your Lord and Savior, King and High Priest.
So, if you interviewed Jesus for the job of your Savior, would you have hired Him?
Do you know WHAT you’re looking for in a Savior? B/C, you have to know the WHAT before you’ll ever find the WHO.
He won’t be your Santa or your Subordinate.
But he is eminently qualified to be our Savior because He has experienced worse that we ever would to provide for us what we never could.
And, He has great references.