Sermon Tone Analysis
Overall tone of the sermon
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Opening prayer, dedication
Music Ministry
252 Sweet, Sweet Spirit
Give Me Faith
493 It Is Well With My Soul
Word of God -
Hebrews 7:1-10 [Liturgist]
Message: “Bearing Righteousness and Peace”
We are all known for something now and something later, after we have passed away
And our true legacy is what we’ll be known for after God calls us home
For some, our names or nicknames reflect what we know for
We have likely all heard of William Shakespeare's’ Romeo and Juliet
“What’s in a name?
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet”
It speaks to the power, or lack thereof, of names.
A name cannot truly make you into something you are not
But a name sure can
Reinforce how people, including yourself see you
But, a name can’t make a short man tall
However, in our core text today, we see the significance of the name associated with Melchizedek
We have talked about Melchizedek quite a bit, but today I want to dig into his name more
As I was thinking about the meaning of names, I was realized that we are lazy
So many times names are giving because they “sound good”
Thankfully, we don’t ALWAYS live up to the meaning of the name we are given
Take “Kennedy” for example
The Irish root for that name means “misshapen head”
I Like the SOUND of that name,
but clearly most parents wouldn’t be labeling their child with the expectation that they would forever be known as “misshapen head”
It doesn’t even mean that the person truly has a irregular head shape
Perhaps for those named “Joy” it would be nice to assume that the parents either were filled with JOY or they wanted their child to be filled with JOY
So, what of this name “Melchizedek”?
His name has two main parts
“melekh”, which means “king”
followed by the Hebrew “tsedeq” which means “righteousness”.
His very name means that he is the “king of righteousness”
Now let’s re-read Hebrews 7:1(a) [through “God,]
Let’s start with the word “Salem” (Shelem in Hebrew)
This is related to the Jewish greeting “Shalom” which means peace
For Americans, we say “How are you?” when we greet one another and “Have a nice day” when we leave.
For the Jews, the words are “shalom aleichem” (peace be to you) upon greeting and
“aleichem shalom” (to you, peace) when they say goodbye.
Truly, Shalom refers to a total sense of wellbeing that comes from God’s presence among His people
This man, the “king of righteousness” is also called
“king of Salem”
Oh, and “Salem” means “peace”
“Priest of the Most High God”
That’s OUR God!
That’s the one who met Abraham in Hebrews 7:1
Melchizedek is the first person to ever be identified as a priest in the Old Testament
Serving what was called in Genesis 14, “the God of the most high”,
This is from the story of Abraham defeating a group of kings to rescue his nephew Lot
Then Abraham gave 10% of the spoils from the conquest to Melchizedek (likely because he was a priest)
Melchizedek was righteous and even turned down the 10% offering
Asking for the people, not the money
The High priest Melchizedek was of pure heart, like Jesus
For such an important person it is interesting that the Bible doesn’t give his genealogy
Look back at Hebrews 7:3
We don’t know if his name was given at birth or when his name might have been changed
I have come to the conclusion that God wants us to focus on the most important things
Don’t get lost in where Melchizedek came from
His parents and other relatives didn’t qualify him
Don’t even focus on his seminary education
No human training qualified him
Kids, this is true for you too
Never make fun of a person’s name
If others make fun of your name, pray for them to grow up to be more kind
Your given name does NOT make you into something
You are special because GOD made you in His image and He loves you very much
Two things stand out for Melchizedek
First, it was God who prepared, qualified and called Melchizedek to be high priest
Second, there was a legacy created in that Melchizedek will be a high priest forever
That is the very essence of legacy, right?
Something that lasts long after we have passed from our human frailties
This is a key point for us, so we’ll make it a “Takeaway”
Takeaways
Legacies Come from God
At least, “Good” legacies come from God
Melchizedek was revered not because of his family lineage, but because
First, God called him
Second, Melchizedek obeyed God in all humility
We must be imitators of Christ in order to be people of Righteousness and Peace (1 Cor 11:1)
Paul imitated Christ and we are to imitate Him as well
That means we should all have the marks of righteousness, peace, humility, the whole package
You can’t help but to think of Paul’s letter to the Philippians, in Phil 2
2 components:
Righteousness
Peace
Peace and humility are cousins
We Believers must be “of one mind” or united in sympathy, affection, joy and love as we humbly serve God
We must be imitators of Christ in order to be people of Righteousness and Peace (1 Cor 11:1)
Our lives will NOT be easy because of our faith
Instead, the promise is that if we want to fully enjoy the benefits of Jesus’ labor,
then we need to become One with Him in His crucifixion
as in Galatians 2:20 where
This does not mean we physically get punished and hung on a cross
It means that Jesus did that for us that we might be freed from our sin-debt
We now are connected in a very real sense
It means that when someone verbally attacks God
Then we are being attacked
It means that our names, race or ethnicity don’t matter because we are children of God
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