MCS Chapel: How are your responding to this Jesus?

Us, Our Response: How are you responding?

Text: Hebrews 2:1

What is the goal of this message?

That the students will identify with 1 of 6 responses about which the writer of Hebrews cautions the believers.

How will you meet this goal?

By listing and giving examples of each of the major response portions of the book of Hebrews.

Why is this message necessary?

Because there are some students who need to see that they are unsaved.

Because there are some students who may not be aware of their responsibility to respond to Jesus.

Because there are some students who have become lazy in their response to Jesus.

Because there are some students who need to be encouraged to continue to respond to Jesus.

How will you go about explaining this humility of Jesus sermonically?

By answering the question: How are you responding?

General Intro:

What is Jesus like? He is astonishingly humble. He could have hidden himself, but he chose vulnerability instead of anonymity.

Why does this Jesus matter? This Jesus matters because of his finished work and his future work.

How are you responding?

Explanation: When you enter into a relationship, you begin a life of living in that relationship by how you got into it. The hope is that the feelings and thoughts that led you to enter into that relationship would continue to grow. It is not that you responded to that relationship and, all of a sudden, you stopped responding but rather, communication increases, thoughts increase, emotions increase. There is progress, and this progress does not happen by accident.

So, the question today is not, “How did you respond to Jesus when you were a child, but rather, how are you responding to Jesus right now?”

Big Idea:

Our ongoing response will either confirm/strengthen or deny/weaken our ongoing profession.

Preview:

1. PERSONAL Responses: Responses within your person

2. MORAL Responses: Responses towards something or someone

Identify with one.

Responses within your person (Personal Response):

(1) The response of the mind. Hebrews 2:1

The response of mind is whether you are responding by attention or distraction?

Example: Texting while driving

Explanation: [Because this Jesus matters deeply....] You should consider whether you are disciplining your mind to pay attention to Jesus are whether you are actually distracted from Jesus.

The concern here for the distracted person is not that they are a distracted Christian but that you are so wrapped up with the cares of this life that they never anchor down in Jesus and they are ultimate NOT saved. (i.e. the relationship, the job, the girl, the sport, the scholarship, the money, the sex, the gaming…etc)

(2) The response of the heart. Hebrews 3:12

The response of heart is one of caution versus rejection. This is a matter whether you care about faith in Christ or have become hardened by your ongoing practice of sin.

Example: “Proceed with Caution” in matters of the heart.

What do you care about?

Explanation: [Because this Jesus matters deeply....] you should consider that if you are living recklessly with sins of your heart, then you are on a trajectory towards eternal destruction.

The context of this response is that this person was externally ok and around the people of God but internally they were reckless. They have a thirst for sin.

Ill: Hunting for a Wolf

(3) The response of the body. Hebrews 5:11; 6:12.

The response of body is whether you are actively learning or inactively lazy?

Example: Intentional listening

(Illustration: cups on the string…etc)

Explanation: [Because this Jesus matters deeply....] The intentional listener cares deeply for when the word of God is being read, preached, taught, studied, and prayed. They have a ready ear, a ready pen, a ready mind....The alternative is laziness.

They do not wait to be asked to obey the word, but they are actively applying with their body the word they have intentionally listened to.

They understand that it is not just the hands, feet, and eyes which should be intentionally serving Christ; but they should be intentional with their ears.

Responses towards something or someone (Moral Responses):

(4) The response towards the church. Hebrews 10:19-24.

The response towards the church is whether you are drawing near or departing from the church? There are two aspects: God and others.

Example: Do you care more about your own comfort/pleasure than the gathering of your church?

Explanation: [Because this Jesus matters deeply....] We should be drawing near to God and one another as part of a particular body of Christ.

Objection: “I can get near to God without a community of believers called the church.”

The response in this passage is two-fold. It is a response to God and to the church.

(5) The response towards sin. Hebrews 12:1.

The response towards sin is whether you are running light or running heavy?

Example: This is not only getting rid of sin but also getting rid of things that keep us from faithfully following Christ.

Illustration: Selling my X-Box

Explanation: [Because this Jesus matters deeply....] You should get rid of the sin of pornography and the weight of excessive entertainment.

Practical rule for consideration: Sin-care requires soul-care. Soul-care requires spiritual accountability.

Practical rule for consideration: Don’t seek the pleasure of self until you sought the pleasure of service.

(6) The response towards Christians. Hebrews 13:1.

The response towards Christians is whether you are loving or neglecting.

Example: This is the greatest kind of life because it lives according to the greatest commands.

Explanation: [Because this Jesus matters deeply....] You live hospitably towards other Christians.

Our ongoing response will either confirm/strengthen or deny/weaken our ongoing profession.

Conclusion:

Which one do you identify with from the book of Hebrews?

(1) The response of the mind. Hebrews 2:1

(2) The response of the heart. Hebrews 3:12

(3) The response of the body. Hebrews 5:11; 6:12.

(4) The response towards the church. Hebrews 10:19-24.

(5) The response towards sin. Hebrews 12:1.

(6) The response towards Christians. Hebrews 13:1.

Invite:

I am a true believer in Jesus, and there is a particular response I need to grow in?

I thought I was a true Christian, but I am concerned that I am not.

I was not a Christian, but since Wednesday I have reconsidered Jesus and now I believe in Jesus.