Although it ends like a letter, note that its opening is very direct,
there are no greetings and thanksgivings
so typical of Paul's and the other New Testament letters.
a sermon addressed to Christians from a Jewish background
to encourage them to keep looking to Jesus and not to give up.
Hebrews 1.1-14
When I swim in the sea I much prefer to plunge into clear deep blue water
than to endure the agony of a gradual approach from the beach.
Hebrews throws us in at the deep end.
What a way to start a letter!
No greetings, no how are you, hope all is well
the letter to the Hebrews just gets on with it
it throws us in at the deep end into theology
But I hope theology is not a bad word for you.
'Theology' means words about or study of God
and this is what 'Hebrews' does
it tells us what God has said and what he has done in Jesus
urging us to keep looking to Jesus and never to give up.
I was talking to someone recently about doing a personal Bible Study
and suggested the letter of James.
With a sigh of relief, he said 'I thought you were going to suggest Hebrews'.
That's a view shared by the famous preacher Spurgeon
who confessed that as a young man
he had been put off Hebrews by some boring lectures on it
But 'Hebrews' need not be boring.
There are things in it which I don't understand
and things which perhaps only its first readers
with their first century Jewish background
could really understand
But its basic message is straightforward and vital
and I hope that you may go away today or at the end of the whole series
with this message in your heart and life
that we are to keep looking to Jesus and only Jesus
and we are not to give up.
If you could encourage someone else to do the same
that could be of eternal significance
We don't know for sure who wrote 'Hebrews
but wouldn't it be good in heaven
not so much to find out who it was,
but more importantly to thank them for writing
such stirring, encouraging, challenging words?
1 ' In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets
at many times and in various ways,
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things,
and through whom he made the universe.'
3 The Son is the radiance of God's glory
and the exact representation of his being,
sustaining all things by his powerful word.
After he had provided purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.
4 So he became as much superior to the angels
as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.'
These opening verses are a sort of overture to 'Hebrews'
like a piece of music which sets out the main themes of the musical to follow
vv 1&2 say that God has spoken finally and decisively to us in Jesus.
The prophets of the Old Testament spoke truly
but only in part and at second hand.
They could speak about God to some degree;
but Jesus is God's final direct word to us. 'in these last days'
There is nothing more that God can add, can he?
Here is one who is 'heir of all things'
and through whom he made the universe.
That is a phrase for a sermon in itself and hours of personal meditating.
Everything that there is was made through Jesus and for Jesus, God's Son!
Take those words away and chew them over in your mind and soul
'in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son,
whom he appointed heir of all things,
and through whom he made the universe.'
V 3 shows the divine and the human aspects of Jesus
He is the radiance of God's glory
one with God, just as the brightness of the sun
cannot really be separated from the source of the sun;
and yet he is also distinct from God as a separate person
'the exact representation of his being'
using an expression meaning like a seal bearing the mark of its owner
Truly one who is both one with God
and a human being who is exactly like God
All human beings are made in God's image;
we carry some reflection of his nature in us
but we know it is spoiled and flawed.
But Jesus the man carried the exact likeness of God, without defect
so that it could be said that whoever saw him had seen the Father.
And because he is God's Son, one with him, just like him
Jesus continues to have a special role at the heart of everything
'sustaining all things by his powerful word.'
Isn't it awesome, mind blowing what Jesus is still doing.
That we breathe today, that there is sunlight and rain
that plants grow and microscopic cells multiply
that the stars hang in the sky and the earth keeps a regular orbit
is all because the Lord Jesus keeps them all going by his powerful word
This came home to me years ago when I struggled at college with logic.
Logicians love to take the ordinary everyday ideas we have
and challenge us to as to how sensible they really are.
Take the idea that there are laws of nature
the law of gravity e.g. and of motion
which make a ball bounce in certain ways time after time after time
so that we measure it and predict what it will next do.
Logically speaking we have no way of knowing beyond contradiction
that the ball will continue to bounce in the same way
under the same conditions.
We have no guarantees
that things will continue to hold together the way they do
All we have are observed regular patterns of how things have been
which enable us to make reasonable assumptions about they shall be
That's why when you turned the key in your car today
you could assume without anxiety that the petrol was still petrol
and had not turned into water.
Now such 'logic' does not prove that there is a God
but it certainly leaves a lot of space for the idea
that there is a being sustaining all things by his powerful word
and without whom there would be literally chaos.
The question why are things as they are, why do things hold together
when there is no logical guarantee that there should
puts pressure not on the believer but on the atheist, the denier of God
who has to find a way of explaining why things go on the way they do.
Hebrews 1.3 says they go on because God's Son says so
And Hebrews goes on to say that as well as what God's Son keeps on doing
without which we would disintegrate
there is what he has done in the past, once for all
'After he had provided purification for sins,
he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.'
He has made it possible for our sin to be forgiven, to clean us purify us
he crowned his life on earth by the disgrace and humiliation of the cross
and now he struggles no longer, he sits in royal power in heaven.
What does that mean for you and me
as well as for those Hebrew Christians long ago?
It means God has spoken decisively to us through Jesus
and we find all we need in him.
It means Jesus Christ is the one who reveals God to us
It means that life has a meaning
and without God in Christ even everyday things would disintegrate.
It means we can be made clean.
It means there is a victory in all our struggles
that Jesus will have the last word over all that is wrong and evil.
And it means,
although this might have meant more to the first readers of this book than to us
that Jesus is superior to the angels.
Angels are the usually invisible messengers of God.
There was lot of angel worship in Bible times.
More than once people want to fall down and worship the angels they see
but they are told firmly in the Bible not to do it, but to worship God.
Angels are God's servants and messengers
but Jesus is God's son and his great message
which is addressed to human beings and not to angels
What follows is only a speculation about what angels might say to each other
but it is saying the same thing as Hebrews 1
'Watch that small planet particularly'
said the senior angel, pointing with his finger.
'Well, it looks rather small and dirty to me' said the little angel'
What's special about that one?'
The little angel listened in stunned disbelief as the senior angel told him
that this planet, small and insignificant and not overly clean,
was the renowned Visited Planet.
'Do you mean that our great and glorious Prince went down in person
to this fifth rate little ball? Why should he do a thing like that?...
Do you mean to tell me that he stooped so low as to become
one of those creeping, crawling creatures of that floating ball?'
I do and I don't think he would like you to call them
'creeping crawling creatures' in that tone of voice.
For, strange as it may seem to us, he loves them.
He went down to visit them to lift them up to become like him.
The little angel looked blank.
such a thought was almost beyond his comprehension.
(JB Phillips in Yancey The Jesus I never knew p 42)
We matter to God more than angels.
His son the mighty sustainer of all things
became one of us that we might be brought back to God.
Isn't that amazing?
Keep looking to Jesus! Don't give up!
Lord God almighty
help us to do true theology this autumn
simply to think through what you are saying and what you are doing
and what you have done for us in Jesus Christ
Take hold of our minds and hearts with an awesome appreciation of you
that we will want to worship and give thanks
and that whatever happens
and however much we don't understand
we will keep looking to Jesus and we will not give up
May Christ in whom all things hold together
hold you in peace with God and one another
through his blood shed on the cross
May you ever look to him who is Lord and Saviour
seated at God's right hand
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