This sermon was preached on Sunday 26th February 2014 in Church of the Resurrection in Blarney. This is the Second in our current Hebrews Series
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be now and always acceptable in thy sight O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen
Last Sunday we gazed upon the Glorious Son of God … in all his splendour … above all powers, above all thrones, we recalled how all creation worships him … seated on the throne.
Today we get another view of Christ … the one which we remember at Christmas… the one who is born, lived and died and rose again for us. The Incarnate Son … the God who is with us.
This is a dense text this morning … Take a look at Hebrews 2:5-8 – in this Jesus has been given the crown of Glory and honour … and every thing is subject to him … but not all is as it should be yet
This is pointing to living in the inbetween stages of the kingdom now and the kingdom not yet.
This passage is dealing with the realistic world … concerning that bit when the rubber hits the road, when the painful days come, when there is pain and suffering, when the medical tests come back positive … when we were hoping for the opposite … highlighting that life wont be the same again.
The word confidence … appears in Hebrews so many times … There are things which knock our confidence … things we encounter, challenges we face and all sorts of experiences we have.
The same was true for the hearers of this letter … things were there to knock their confidence … people, events and culture around them but the writter is calling them back to basics … and the basics have not changed in 2000 years
The writer of this letter wants to explain that despite living in the in-between times we do know that Jesus has been effective & things have changed forever.
There are a few we can look to as reasons for the God plan of the incarnation from this passage .
We’re looking at the Effects of Jesus coming among his people … Basically its the So what ? of Christmas
This Passage suggests 4 Things …
1. Liberate us from Fear of Death … Death and taxes cannot be avoided … its part of the human experience. Jesus is the one was the one who tasted death for everyone. This is the good news we proclaim on easter day … at funerals and at bedsides.
But there’s more to this … It doesn’t say that he’s liberated us from Death … but from the fear of death – part of the whole restoration of Christ is there in verse 15 “Free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.”
This fear of death causes huge issues for humans …
- We fear a real loss of control
- We fear incompleteness and failure. Especially for those who have enjoyed life and sought certain achievements, whether personal or professional, life can hold a great deal of joy and fulfillment. There exists a stark finality to death
- It leads us to place we’re unfamiliar about.
That’s’s the fear … but let’s look at the Christian Hope …
Elisabeth Elliot tells of an occasion in the jungles of South America when, as she and her native guide were traveling a primitive path, her trail suddenly dropped into a ravine. The only means across was a fallen tree. The guide nimbly jumped onto the tree and started across. Elliot, who confesses she was mortified at the prospect of falling, hesitated.
Her guide, perceiving her apprehension, came back across, held out his hand, grasped hers, and led her across safely. The stability of one who had obvious mastery of the situation gave her the needed confidence. Paul tells us that Christ is “the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep” (1 Cor. 15:20), an agricultural image that speaks of the initial produce of a crop to ripen. As the first to come through death, Jesus gives us confidence and stability as we face our own
Our sense of incompleteness and failure is counterbalanced with hope of an eternal future—a future bought by Jesus’ sacrificial death
2. to make us holy through the forgiveness of sins
The implications of the incarnation in this passage is … the making the way for us to be Holy through the forgiveness of sins. Sometimes we’re so familiar with this that we don’t listen to it … Its what I say sunday by sunday but actually when we get our heads around it … something changes
And this is huge … all of us at times feel guilty … we know we’ve messed up … we know that we’ve done and said things we shouldn’t have and we’ve not done things we should have. There are times that we’d just love to have a clean sheet to start over again.
That clean sheet is something which we have through Jesus’ work on the cross … That new heart is possible. and we are called to simply be part of that
3. The Destruction of the Devil
We see in this passage … that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
By dying he destroyed death and by rising he restored life.
Again this is the in-between times … Kingdom now and future. The devil is still at work … but Christ is above all things and he is in control… we see evil is still at work … The war is over but there is still those skirmishes.
But we see through Jesus’ ministry how evil was cast out and how things changed forever.
4th Things is that the Jesus is here to help us
This help comes in a number of ways …
v16 For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham’s descendants.
v18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
This help that we get from God is practical … its what we need and its from expereince.
Today we’re thinking in this service of what we need, of the thing we’re facing day and daily … and we’re asking God simply to meet us where we’re at … in our fraility, in our struggles, in the issues which face us.
Healing and wholeness is something which we all struggle with from time to time sometimes day and daily… whether it be health concerns, family issues, our own faith or whatever.
God is close to us … closer than a brother … and we’ve been grafted into his family… as we catch a glimpse of what this one relationship with the almighty does then it gets really exciting
Let’s re-cap
· to liberate us from the fear of death,
· to destroy the devil,
· to make us holy through the forgiveness of sins
· to give us help,
And that’s what God is up to in the incarnation and in our lives to this day …
And its not just theory but a new reality which we as the church declare to the world.
This is the Gospel in a nutshell … but the challenge is we’re called to respond to this
An Illustration … Climbing rope … trusting it … you’re only going to trust it by using it & putting it into practice … trying it.
Time and again Christ has been trusted and we can see that he is faithful … becuase of who he is and what he’s done.
Are you going to trust him? in the small things and in the big things?
Are we prepared to trust his words? are we prepared to trust him to see us through our fear of Death, trust him to forgive our sin, trust him to help us in all things, and trust him that he’s defeated evil?
BUT ALSO …
Trust him that he’s given us a new identity as sons and daughters of God.
Since the One who saves and those who are saved have a common origin,
Jesus puts himself in the same family circle when he says,
Even I live by placing my trust in God.
And yet again,
I’m here with the children God gave me.
So If he says this … and he means it … we are CHILDREN OF GOD!
As the chorus of Praise my soul says …
We are … “Ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven
Sunday 26th January - The
greatest Man. Heb 2.5-18
Big Idea: Jesus became a real human being and
suffered death so that he could destroy deaths power and free us from it’s
slavery and reconcile us to God. (Jesus divinity).
Jesus has been
tempted, in every way, and can help those who are tempted (2.18). Struggling
with suffering? Jesus the author of our faith was ‘made perfect through
suffering’ (2.10).
·
Why would verses 8-9 be comforting to suffering
Christians?
·
What stops be from believing that nothing is outside
the sovereign control of Jesus? What can help me rest in this truth?
·
How should a Christian view of Death be different
from others, according to this passage?
·
V17 – In what way is the word Brother a helpful term
for understanding Jesus and the relationship Christians have with Him?
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