April 15, 2018
It's All About Jesus
- Hebrews 1:1-3
- Josh Akin
Hebrews 1:1-3
It’s All About Jesus
Hebrews was written to Christians who knew scripture, but have begun to forget what scripture is all about. Is that you today?
The book of Hebrews was written to those who knew all about religion— the services, the sacrifices, the traditions, the nuts and bolts of their faith. But they had forgotten who their faith is in.
Where do you begin with that friend who once was so passionate for God— serving others, sharing the gospel, giving to prayer. And now their passion is gone? You take him or her to the book of Hebrews.
God, who at various times and in various ways, spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son,
Hebrews 1:1-2a
Have you ever tried to tell your dog about dog heaven? Where would you begin in expressing your undying love to your pet fish? Your pet turtle is old enough for you to teach him about life and death. What do you say?
In a way this is the problem God has. His ways are higher than ours than the Heavens higher than the earth. He’s spirit. He’s way are from everlasting to everlasting. Where does He even begin? Well, the Bible says He began by speaking to us through the prophets. And so through the prophets wrote and spoke and shared and loved from the beginning of mankind. And mankind just didn’t get it. So ‘in these last days He spoke to us by His Son.’ God knew the only way we could learn of the truth of life, and the truth of his love and plan to give us life—real life!—is by sending God the Son, Jesus Christ, as a man to show us thru His life.
Illustration: Ants
Here comes the vacuum! Oh no! It’s going to suck up this entire row of ants. The only way to save this row of ants inevitable destruction to get them to go outside.
So you show them sign in English… they can’t read it!
So you show them pictures of ants getting sucked up by a vacuum. But they won’t even look at your pictures.
So you get down on your knees and start crawling around on the floor. They think your a giant monster and scatter everywhere.
The vacuum get plugged in, and turned on. Rrrrrr. Your precious ants are gonna get it. They only way you can save them is if you become an ant and lead them to salvation.
Jesus is…
SHOW: The Message
If you’re wandering in your faith, let your eyes fall on Christ. He won’t just show you the way, He is the way. Stick fast to Him.
whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds
Hebrews 1:2b
Creator God is spirit. How can something spiritual, eternal and holy, create all that is physical? The answer is Jesus God the Son; thru Him God made the all that is.
In the beginning God created the Heavens and the earth. … Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.
Genesis 1:1,3 NKJV
God the Father, who is Spirit, creates all that is physical, thru the Word, which Is Jesus the Son of God. You Jesus, God’s Word to us is a bridge between God and creation. He is the bridge between the world of life and the world of decay.
Jesus is…
SHOW: The Creator and Inheritor
But what is this about Jesus being “the heir of all things.” in verse 2?
Matthew 13 shares a teaching of Jesus where He describes a man who found a treasure so great he gave everything he had to purchase the land around the treasure thereby becoming the “inheritor” of the treasure. That’s the Lord giving all He has, His beloved Son, to inherit the treasure of the world—you and I!
In the Old Testament book of Ruth, we meet a man named Boaz who fell in love with a foreigner named Ruth. She too loved Boaz but the world of that day kept them apart. Not only was she a foreigner but also a widow, in that culture at that time, she was scorned and alone and impossible to marry. There was only one way Boaz could marry the love of his life, in that culture at that time, he had no choice but to pay an enormous sum and purchase the land the belonged to Ruth’s family. So after paying this enormous cost for the land, by becoming “the inheritor” of the family land, Ruth and Boaz would be able to marry.
Jesus, after creating the world, gives it all, even His life, to become inheritor of the world, if that is what it takes for Him to win the hand of His treasure and His bride— all of humanity who will receive His love and salvation.
Who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person,
Hebrews 1:3a
So here we learn that Jesus is image of the Father. The Father who is Spirit has no shape, no representation, no image. God the Son is that image for us.
Imagine a kingdom with a great and loving king who lived far away in a great castle. But in each hamlet and town there was a chapel with a a stained glass window that perfectly depicted the king.
Jesus is that stained glass window. He shows who the Father is, what He’s like. Jesus said to his disciple Philip, “he who has seen Me has seen the Father.”
But Jesus is not only the “express image” of God the Father, but also the “brightness of His glory”. In other words He’s the stained glass and the light that shines thru allowing you to see it.
Jesus is…
SHOW: The Window and the Light Between
Do you ever think that ‘some are spiritual, and some aren’t’? Some have strong faith, and maybe you don’t, so, in your mind, you just can’t believe in God? JESUS OFFERS YOU ALL THE LIGHT YOU NEED TO SEE THE FATHER.
Unlike the ant story earlier in truth Jesus isn’t just wanting to lead you to safety in Heaven. He wants to usher you into True Life right now. He is not a bridge to the eternal that only helps us once we die. Jesus as the Message seeks to show us and offer us “life and life more abundantly.” right now. He offers you all the light you need to find God.
…and upholding all things by the word of His power, …
Hebrews 1:3
Jesus is…
SHOW: The Empowering Word
So James, in the Bible, warns us about our words. They are the power of life and death.
So we teach our kids the word of our power.
So we seek to be always in His word. As we do His words hold us together.
There are things coming down the line for everyone of us. God knows you do not have the strength to handle them. But when that trial comes God will give you the ‘word of His power’ and by that word you will prevail. You’ll see in it the wisdom to thrive despite this trial. And very often I find that the ‘word of His power’ that He uses to uphold us is a word from scripture we’ve familiar with but we’ve never comprehended. So we see that He releases the power needed for every situation, by giving light of understanding of His Word right when we need it. So we can say with Psalm 119:71
It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.
when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.
Hebrews 1:3c
Explain
Jesus is…
SHOW: The Refiner & Recliner
STORY: Wood Carver searching to carve found wood into the perfect work of art.
The woodcarver searches, cuts away the shrub, and finds the weathered wood, carves, sands, lacquers it.
HE DOES THE WORK of carving, sanding, finishing.
As soon as sees the wood HE RESTS He knows He’ll finish it. He’s not sweating it. His brow is not furrowed. He knows what he can turn that wood into.
The work is all His.