Pastor Stephen Pierce preached from Hebrews 4:14. He said that we can hold on because Jesus is our high priest, the Son of God who ascended into heaven. Lector: Kristen McGee
Pastor Stephen Pierce preached from Hebrews 4:14. He said that we can hold on because Jesus is our high priest, the Son of God who ascended into heaven.
Lector: Kristen McGee
If you’ve been with us for a while you’ve noticed that we’re in the book of Hebrews. But this Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent and we change what we’re preaching for Advent. Except this time! We’re staying in Hebrews. And we’re slowing down even. Why? Because the message the Hebrews is an advent message.
If you’re unfamiliar with the liturgical calendar, that is the formal church calendar, then you might not know what advent is other than you get advent calendars and you light some candles. Advent means “The arrival” and it is a season Advent means the “arrival.” It’s a time to remember the first arrival of the Chosen One but even more so it is a time to prepare and long for the chosen one’s second arrival, when all things will be made new.
And so we come this morning to what might be the thesis statement of the book of Hebrews and what also might be considered a main idea of advent, “Look at Jesus. Hold strong.” Jesus is coming back. Hold strong.
Why does the author have to say this? Because life has a way of hitting you in the mouth and it makes you want to give up. It makes you want to quit. And the people in this letter have been hit. Hard. They’d been abused. They’d been put in prison. The things they had worked their lives for had been taken from them. They are on the ground. They’re spitting blood. Why? For following Jesus. They’re wondering, “Should get back up? Should I lay here? Is it worth it?” And the author of Hebrews comes in and like the coach on the side of the boxing ring he’s telling them, “Get up.”
But the author is not telling them, “Do it because I said so.” He’s not saying, “Here’s the top 5 ways to get up.” He’s doing something more core, something deeper. He’s giving them a why. He’s giving them a reason to get off the mat. He’s giving them something to live for. Once he shows them what they’re living for, he tells them what they should do.
This is the whole book of Hebrews summed up. It answers the question “Why keep going?” and it answer the question “How should I do it?” The author of Hebrews has two simple answers. Your why is Jesus. Your how is hold strong.
The preacher for the whole book has been trying to show the people receiving this letter how awesome Jesus is. He’s better than the angels. He’s better than Moses. He’s stronger than the devil and more infinite than death. He’s the ultimate hero. And here the author sums it up in three categories of why Jesus is awesome.
Jesus is awesome because 1) he is a great high priest, 2) because he ascended into heaven and 3) he is the Son of God.
So let’s look at those three ideas individually. Why does it matter that Jesus is a high priest? Well I don’t want to spoil it for you but that’s what chapters 5-7 are about so if you want some in depth answers, keep coming back. But for this morning I just want you to consider the job of the High Priest in Israel.
His job was to speak to God on behalf of the people. His job was to offer sacrifices on your behalf as a way to move you out of the way of God’s wrath into God’s mercy. He as to teach the people about the orderly way to worship God. However, if you read the Bible, the High Priests were pretty bad at their job. The first high priest, Aaron, decides to make an idol for the people to worship while God is in a giant smoke cloud on Mount Sinai giving Moses the 10 commandments. They are literally in the presence of God’s mercy and the first high priest moves them into God’s wrath. He gets an F.
Eli, another High Priest int eh book of Samuel, lets his sons eat the good meat and give the bad meat to God. Again, instead of moving people out of the way of God’s wrath he moves them into the way.
The high priests were ultimately a selfish bunch, like all humans. And yet this is how God had designed humans to interact with him post fall. And it’s like, “Couldn’t we just get a guy who does the job right?”
And that’s Jesus. Selfishly gives up everything he has to become to perfect high priest, to be the perfect mediator between God and man, who stands in the gap. All humans long for is access to God and Jesus provides perfect access. Reason #1 he’s awesome.
Reason #2. He ascended into heaven. He’s not just a high priest who stands in the gap symbolically like the normal high priests. He ascended into heaven. And if you’ve read Acts, you know that Jesus did indeed physically fly and go into heaven. But this is getting at something more amazing. You know how the temple veil was torn in two to demonstrate that we now have access to God? That’s symbolic, but in a very real way the author of hebrews is saying your great high priest who is going to stand in the gap for you literally crossed the gap from earth to heaven in order to stand in the gap for you at the right hand of God himself. The gap between God and earth is no big deal to Jesus because he transcended is. Jesus is unstoppable and he used his power not for his own gain, but to save you.
Reason #3, he is the son of God. Again, to understand the idea of son of God is not to say God has a heavenly wife and together they had Jesus. To call yourself the Son of God is to equate yourself with God. The author of Hebrews knows this and this might be the biggest one of all his reasons that Jesus is awesome. Jesus is your great high priest, the unstoppable God-man who death couldn’t hold down who ascended into heaven, and is God himself.
So your life’s “why” is Jesus. You live for Jesus. You breathe for Jesus. Every moment your awake is to get more of Jesus, the infinite God made man who is your great high priest who as ascended into heaven. Jesus - salvation himself - gets you out of bed in the morning, he keeps you going at during the day, and gives you peace at night. You don’t live like this because it’ll get you into heaven. You live like this because heaven already within you. Jesus, the God man himself, the being whose presence is heaven, is in you.
See that. Use your mind’s eye to see it. Know that the greatness that is within you is greater than the world. And one day in the new heavens and on the new earth he will unleash you to your fullest self and sin and sorrow and death will be no more. That’s the faith we profess.
But we have to be honest and say life doesn’t feel like we’re filled with a spirit of power and love and self discipline. We don’t live out our days feeling like every moment we’re united to God. Our lives are not filled with incredible moment after incredible moment but of pain, bitterness, and failure. So what do we do?
We hold strong.
I love this word. The Greek is KRA-to-men. It gets translated as hold firm, hold fast, hold tightly. But it’s such a grittier word. It comes from Kratos and if you’re a fan of the God of War video game series think of that guy. If you’re not familiar, Kratos was the Greek spirit who personified strength and was “brutal and merciless.” That’s the kind of hold we’re supposed to have.
But holding on is hard. In large part because we don’t know what we’re holding on for. Our “why” is weak. Our mind’s eye that can see the spiritual reality around us is nearly blind. We’re bored with our Christianity or the pain has made our faith feel fake. And so when the tough times come, we let go.
And the author of Hebrews knows this. Why do you think he spends the first four chapters trying to invoke the minds eye of his people, getting them to see the greatness of Jesus? Because he knows they have to see the extraordinary power of Jesus if they’re going to hold on. If Jesus is just a good moral teacher and a self help coach who gives you the warm fuzzies, then when the hard times come and Satan whispers in your ear, “Just let go, it’ll be easier," we do exactly that.
So first, we really need to sit in and under and meditate on Jesus is your why. Spend a whole lot of time there. Know your why.
But I also want to encourage you this morning to keep holding on. I love being a pastor here but one of the worst parts is knowing how awful all of our combined lives are. We show up on Sunday an smile and that’s a miracle. Some of you have been lied about. Some of you have been cheated out of the life that should have been yours. Some of you have body wracked with pain each and every waking moment. Some of you have watched the parents you love die too soon. Some of you had parents who you didn’t love and they didn’t love you. Some of you have watched your loved ones slowly poison themselves. Some of you have watched your children live with disease that you can do nothing about. Some of you have have watched your children die.
You didn’t just get hit in the mouth. You got stabbed in the back. And you’re down. Bleeding out. And you want to let go. And at this point of weakness Satan. Ones in and whispers. Let go. Just a few more drinks and it will all fade away. Stay in bed and you’ll be fine. If you quit caring you won’t get hurt. Just. Let. Go.
But I want you to hear me this morning. Listen to my voice. I am repeating the words of speaking the word of God to you. Hold. strong.
And I’m telling you this morning, Jesus is offering you more than your life. He’s offering you his. Hold strong. You are not what you’ve done or what was done to you or what you’re going through. Hold strong. Your soul is united to the most powerful being in all the known universes. Hold strong.
You might be thinking, “I don’t have it in me.” You sure don’t. But you are more than you. You empowered by God. Yes or no? Your spirit is united to the God Most High. Yes or no? You are a warrior who fights not against flesh and blood but against the darkest evils in the world. Yes or no? Hold. Strong.
We don’t hold strong to this world. We don’t hold strong even to our own lives. We hold strong to our faith in Jesus.
But how do you hold strong? Not by your determination. Not by your willpower. Not by you trying harder. By prayer. And I mean more than saying words to God. Prayer is the power by which the immortals engage with the Lord of Heavens Armies. Prayer is accessing your soul and turning it to God. Sometimes it will feel like a wrestling match like Jacob with shouts and frustrations, groan and grunts. Sometimes it will feel like a nap in safe spot in the middle of the storm. Sometimes it will feel like letting the waves of numbness wash over you as you feel God’s hand on your back hold your head above the water. Sometimes the act of holding on through prayer will feel like letting go. This kind of prayer is a difficult task. But it is our gift. And it is our calling. It is how we hold strong to Jesus.
We want to become a church that can hold strong in our weakness. I want you to boast all the more gladly about your weaknesses, because that’s how Christ’s power will rest on you. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I want you to delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when you are weak, then you are strong. Hold strong.
So this advent season I invite you to look at Jesus. Use your minds eye to see to really see the great high priest who transcended the heavens Jesus the Song of God. And hold on to him through power of prayer.
Let’s pray. We will hold strong as Jesus taught us too.
Lord’s Prayer