Tuesday, February 22, 2011

20.2.2011 Why is it "All about Jesus"?

Why is it “All about Jesus”?
Hebrews ch.1
Sunday 20 Feb 2011.

Introduction…

God is reaching out through... (sending God)
Creation – nature it just happened
Creation – human we are not animals
Prophets (priest and kings) got it wrong many times – trust
Angels modern confusion (spirits, powers, evil influences
Jesus, Son of God, son of Man

He is the Radiance of God’s glory… v3. Simply put, we see God in Jesus. He is the exact representation of God. There’s no need to go outside of Jesus to know God, to understand God. This is why the Gospels are SO important to us. We can’t do any better than to read and study the Gospels over and over again because that is where we meet Jesus – nowhere else! (Not Shine TV, Radio Rhema, Bob Gass or Praise Be, Equip or Parachute). Good that all these are, they have their place for sure, but do not replace the personal reading of the life of Jesus for ourselves.

You see, the Gospels are His powerful Word to us and for us. Now I know there are some here who got a bit scared or switched off 2 weeks ago when I enthused over the No. 11. But friends, I put it to you, unless we grow in the Word, we will go nowhere. How are we to grow our Christian lives and make them more meaningful within our family and neighbourhood? There is no simpler, more effective way than to add 11 more minutes to your reading, to add 11 more verses a week etc.

Reading about Jesus will make us more like Jesus. That way your neighbour will see Jesus in you, as we see God in Him.

He made purification for sin…(v3), then He sat down. Can the finished work of Christ be put any clearer? No. As my eye surgeon said to me after my eye operation and follow-up treatment, “This is as good as it gets.” There is no other solution to the problem of sin. God in Jesus Christ has done it, and when God does it it is GOOD. Ref Gen 1 (creation)

The blood of Jesus flowing down that cross, from His head, His hands and His feet was (and please excuse the apt pun), THE SOLUTION to rid sin of its hold on all who will call on Him, turn from their sinful ways and believe in His power to save to the uttermost.

With nothing more that could be done for sin either then or now here today, Sunday 20th Feb 2011, is it any wonder that Jesus sat down? “It is finished,” was His final cry from the cross that day outside Jerusalem, and it still rings true down the ages. Do you hear it today? Do you believe it today? Christian, do you STILL believe it today? 1Cor 11:27-32: taking communion “without recognizing the body of the Lord”. Although we have a quarterly routine for communion at Calvin, it is no routine thing for God. He is still looking for that “broken and contrite spirit” that recognizes in Jesus’ dead body and the glorious resurrection that followed, the ONLY solution to sin and its blight on the human race.

We live in an age that often renames sin as “deviant behavior” or “heredity influence” or “social disease.” As Christians we must uphold the root cause and cure for all such so-called ills. There is no short-cutting the need for recognition and confession of sin before God and our fellow humans by kneeling at the Cross of Christ and returning to our maker for permanent healing.

He is at God’s right hand…v3. The Majesty in heaven is the God of all creation and of all people. Could this be the derivation of a “right-hand man”, the one we cannot do without, the one who gets the job done? Jesus is the Son of God. As such He has inherited the Majesty. This passage goes on to tell us God has put all things, including all His enemies, under His feet, v13. He has the mind of God (for our guidance), the ear of God (for our prayers), and the heart of God (for our allegiance). What more, who more do we need?

And I am blown away when I read on in v8-9 that all that Jesus has done for us, his life and death, his agony and rejection (by God and man), has ended up by bringing JOY. There is perhaps no more amazing verse in scripture than Hebrews 12:2: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the JOY set before Him, endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” “Consider Him”, it goes on, and demands we answer, “Yes”, if we are not to grow weary and lose heart. Today there should be no greater mark of the Christian life than JOY. If this was Jesus’ experience in all He went through for us, surely we His children have inherited the same. I believe this is a very practical thermometer of our day to day Christian life.

He is greater than angels and powers…
This book of Hebrews goes out of its way to emphasize the supremacy of Jesus, both at the visible human level and at the spiritual and at times mystical level. We will see this later in the book as regards Moses and Melchizedek. But here it is angels that are highlighted. One of the first issues faced by the early church was just where did Jesus fit in the commonly-held belief in the world at that time, that there existed a long chain of spiritual beings between God and man, between heaven and earth. Sadly the early church did lean this way at times. Even today there are churches that elevate saints to become intermediaries, or bishops who become all powerful. Primal religions are built around the placating of many, many spirits. Some of these spirits are real – messengers of Satan; others are generated internally through fears and indulging in known human dangers, as in the all too common drug scene.

We will talk more about this in later chapters. But for now we are told that angels are for us: – v 14 they are ministering spirits, sent from heaven to serve those who are serious about being saved. - Are you such a one? Have you ever been touched by an angel?

He will roll up earth and heaven…v10-14. Jesus is not only the beginning and creator, the present day sustainer and forgiver, he is also the end and judge of everything. We are so comfortable with our present- day situation, our homes, families, cars (not the BMW series 7), that we rarely stop and think about where all this is heading. The writer of Ecclesiastes had some insights 3,000 years ago when he wrote about the things we invest our time in as “vanity, meaningless, a chasing after the wind”. He, Jesus, will of course “remain the same”, v12, for He is God and remains in control and care of the very purpose of creation, namely us, His people, His children.

Where will you be at when all this happens? How well do you know Jesus? Events in the Middle East right now shout loud and clear giving an authentic echo of much Bible prophecy. You cannot shake Israel, Egypt, Palestine out of the equation. Jesus’ earthly life spanned all three of these countries. He remains at the centre of world-shaking events. Today, is He at the centre of your events, of your daily life?

I am giving you a moment to answer this question and then invite anyone who wants to connect or reconnect with Jesus to come to the front right hand side of the church while we close. Members are here to talk and pray with you.

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