Sermon Tone Analysis

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message.

The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

You may have seen the story a couple months ago of an Arizona priest who got one word wrong when he “baptized” thousands of infants.

Reverend Andres Arango mistakenly said, “We baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son of the Holy Spirit” rather than “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit”.

According to the Catholic Church that made the “baptisms” invalid because it is not the “we” of the congregation doing the baptizing but the “I” of Jesus Christ, working through the priest.

As a result, Arango resigned from his parish and was reassigned to the task of making right the botched baptisms.

Since it’s not really relevant to our message this morning, I’m not going to address the fact that biblically speaking what Reverend Arango did was not really a “baptism”, but rather a “christening”.

And I’m not going to focus on the words he used either.

But what I do want to talk about is the need for a priest in our lives.

Priests have actually been around since the beginning of history, probably because man innately senses that he is incapable of approaching God on his own.

In the book of Genesis, we read that other cultures had their own priests long before God appointed Aaron to be the first priest for the people of Israel.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a priest like this:

someone who is authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion especially as a mediatory agent between humans and God

So in a sense a priest is essentially a bridge between God and people.

He represents God to people and people to God.

That is what Arango was supposed to be doing when he baptized those children.

Tension

So let me ask you a question this morning.

And before I ask it, let me caution you to think about this before you answer:

Do you need a priest?

The answer to that question is the main idea in the passage we’re going to look at today.

So I’m going to give you that answer right now and then we’ll use our passage to explain why that is the correct answer:

I need a priest and Jesus is the only one qualified to fulfill that role in my life

Truth

The passage that we’ll look at this morning doesn’t directly address why we all need a priest, so let me talk about that briefly.

We’ll get to this verse eventually in our study of Hebrews, but it’s essential to understanding why I need a priest, someone who can build a bridge between me and God:

We are commanded to strive for holiness, because without it, no one can draw near to a God who is completely holy.

But the problem is that on our own none of us can achieve that kind of holiness.

Most of you are probably familiar with Paul’s take on that idea:

Because of that we need a priest who can bridge that gap between us and God.

In the Old Testament, God established a priesthood for Israel.

But that priesthood was always intended to be temporary and to point ahead to an eternal priesthood that would provide a permanent way to have a relationship with God.

And nowhere do we see that truth so clearly expressed than in the book of Hebrews.

This morning, we’re going to return to our study of that book.

Because it’s been a while since we last spent some time in Hebrews, let’s take a few minutes to remind ourselves of what we’ve learned so far.

Although we don’t know who authored this letter, the contents give us a pretty good idea of its intended audience and its purpose.

The author is writing to a group of Jewish Christians who are undergoing persecution for their faith and who are considering returning to their Jewish religion.

So the overall theme of the letter, which is the basis for our series title, is that Jesus is “Greater Than” every facet of their Jewish religion.

He is greater than angels.

He is greater than Moses.

He is greater than the high priest and system of sacrifices that characterized the Jewish religious system.

But these Jewish Christians were considering going back to that system.

So the author of Hebrews is making the case that Jesus is the perfect great high priest and that His priesthood was far superior than the one that his readers were used to and comfortable with.

That idea is at the heart of this letter.

It begins at the end of chapter 4 where we learn that Jesus is qualified to be our great high priest because even though he is fully man who was tempted just like us, He lived a sinless life.

That section continues through the middle of chapter 5.

At the end of that section, the author quotes from Psalm 110 and calls Jesus a high priest after the order of Melchizedek:

When we first looked at that passage back in October, I promised that we would go into a lot more detail about Melchizedek when we got to chapter 7, so this morning, that’s what we’re going to do.

Right after verse 10 in chapter 5, the author inserts what is essentially a “parenthesis” in which he warns against falling away from their faith in Jesus.

He reminds his readers that they need to continue to mature in their faith and move on from spiritual milk to solid food.

But now in chapter 7, he is going to return to the idea that Jesus is a high priest in the order of Melchizedek and he will continue to develop that idea all the way through the end of chapter 10.

So go ahead and turn in your Bibles to Hebrews 7 and follow along as I begin reading in verse 1:

Melchizedek is an interesting character in the Bible.

He is mentioned only two places outside of Hebrews:

In Genesis 14:17-20 we read about an encounter that Abram has with Melchizedek after defeating four kings and rescuing his nephew, Lot.

I’m just going to read that passage without any commentary right now, but we will come back and look at a few key elements throughout the message.

He is also mentioned in Psalm 110, which is a Messianic Psalm.

That is the verse that the author of Hebrews quoted back in chapter 5.

Up until the book of Hebrews that is all the information we have about Melchizedek.

And yet, the author of Hebrews devotes a significant portion of his letter to explain how Melchizedek is a type of Jesus.

So this must be really important.

Let me explain what I mean by a “type”.

“type” =

a person or thing in the Old Testament that foreshadows another in the New Testament.

Probably the clearest example of a type is found in Romans 5:

Paul specifically tells us here that Adam is a “type” of Jesus.

When we say that someone is a type of Christ, we are saying that a person behaves in a way that corresponds to Jesus’ character or actions in some way.

It is important to note that all types fall short of the reality of who Jesus is.

But they are helpful in giving us a deeper understanding of the character and ministry of Jesus.

So while Melchizedek is in no way equal with Jesus, the author uses him as an illustration to prove why Jesus is greater than any human priest.

Remember the purpose of the author’s argument here.

He is trying to convince his readers not to go back to their Jewish religion and depend on any Jewish priest because that was inferior to the priesthood of Jesus.

And the way he is going to make that argument is by showing them that even the priesthood of Melchizedek, though imperfect and temporary, was superior to the Jewish Levitical priesthood in every way.

And since that was true, then Jesus, whose priesthood is similar, but far superior to that of Melchizedek, must be far greater than any human priest and therefore worthy of their allegiance.

And that is true for us as well.

FIVE REASONS JESUS IS A SUPERIOR HIGH PRIEST

His priesthood is universal

The author of Hebrews calls Melchizedek “priest of Most High God”, the very same description we saw earlier in the account of Abram’s encounter with him:

The name that God used to express his covenantal relationship with Israel was YHWH.

That name is usually translated “LORD” in most of our English translations.

But in both Genesis and Hebrews, Melchizedek is called a priest of “God Most High” or El Elyon, the universal name of God, the God who transcends all national distinctions, including that of Jews and Gentiles.

While the Aaronic priesthood only related to Israel, the priesthood of Melchizedek was universal.

I don’t think we can possibly understand just how revolutionary this idea was to the readers of this letter.

It meant that the priesthood of Jesus was not just for the Jews, but also extended to the Gentiles who they despised.

His priesthood is royal

Four times in this passage, Melchizedek is called “king”.

This is something that was totally foreign to the Aaronic priesthood.

There was never a Jewish priest who was also a king.

In fact, the Jewish priests were actually subject to kings when it came to civil matters.

But Jesus, just like Melchizedek, is both priest and king, which is exactly what was prophesied by Zechariah:

Although right now His kingdom is spiritual, when He returns to this earth, Jesus is going to establish a physical kingdom that He will rule over.

That is something no human priest has ever done or will ever do.

His priesthood is one of righteousness and peace

In verse 2, Melchizedek is identified by his name, which means king of righteousness:

melek (king) + sedeq (righteousness)

He is also the king of Salem.

Salem comes from the root word “shalom”, which means “peace”.