Jesus: The Greater Faith
Greater Than: A Study in Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsAs Israel was in captivity, they placed their faith in Moses, their rescuer, who was appointed by God to deliver them to the Promised Land. Their faith though was rooted in the workings of a man who was limited by his humanity. Jesus was sent to us to lead us out of captivity to sin and death and into new life and restored relationship with God. In Christ though, our faith is not rooted in the limitations of man but rather is firmly placed in the limitless One through whom all things were created, set into motion and sustained. It is in Christ that our hope, courage and faith find their divinely designed resting place.
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Transcript
Our Hope is in Rest
Our Hope is in Rest
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
Hebrews 3:
In six verses, the writer of Hebrews makes reference to the house seven times. For millenium, the emphasis of the nation of Israel has been focused on the dwelling place of God. David’s great desire was to build the temple that would be the dwelling place of the Lord here on earth.
Scripture though makes it clear that the dwelling place of God is not a temple or any other building constructed by the hands of man.
This is what the Lord says:
“Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Where is the house you will build for me?
Where will my resting place be?
Has not my hand made all these things,
and so they came into being?”
declares the Lord.
“These are the ones I look on with favor:
those who are humble and contrite in spirit,
and who tremble at my word.
This is not just an Old Testament pursuit. In the New Testament, Paul will further solidify this truth.
“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands.
Acts
This is significant because here is the Jew of Jews stating that the Lord does not dwell in temples and this is before 70ad so the temple was still erect in Jerusalem.
So this begs the question then, where is the dwelling place of God. The writer of Hebrews answers that in verse 6
But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
The people is the dwelling place of God. We are his house. The people of God have always been the place that the Lord would dwell. It has never been about a building. It is about a king and his people. The writer of Hebrews shows this progression of God dwelling among his people as he compares Moses and Jesus.
Moses’ Example
Moses’ Example
He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future.
Hebrews 3:
Moses is the Father of the Nation. The nation of Israel as we know it traces its roots to Moses. While the people were birthed through Abraham, the nation is birthed through Moses. Moses takes the people of God out of slavery in Egypt to the promised land. God promises to lead the people out of bondage to a land where they will find peace, hope and rest.
The Lord leads Moses and His people through the wilderness. In the midst of their whining, He provides for their every need. He makes Himself available and visible each moment of each day. He comes after His people with such veracity that He seeks to remove all obstacles. He gives to them a tent of meeting to know and see visibly God amongst them.
He leads them to the land of promise and Moses sends twelve spies into the land. These spies return with the hope of the land that the Lord had promised. The land truly was flowing with milk and honey. It would be the land of rest that the Lord had promised save one detail, the land is full of giants. The people of Israel become overwhelmed with fear. They lose sight of God and succumb to their surroundings.
Here we see the shift occur in the hearts of the people. Their hearts turn against the Lord and cry out that surely the Lord hates them. Their hearts become hard to the Lord and the hardness of their hearts keep their eyes from seeing God at work right in front of them.
Was it not the Lord who just led them across the sea? God literally held back the waters of the sea for hours on end, while still covering the Israelites from the Egyptians view. Was it not God who right before that poured out plagues upon the nation of Egypt? Was it not the Lord that flowed fresh water from a rock? Was it not the Lord who brought manna each morning and birds each evening?
When our hearts become hard, we will be blind to the work of God. We will attribute the works of His hands to chance, coincidence or the universe finally falling in line. The Scriptures violently warn against the hardening of our hearts for this exact reason. When our pursuit is God’s rest and not the Lord, we will always find ourselves whining in the middle of the desert feeling deserted by the Lord.
Jesus’ Example
Jesus’ Example
Hebrews 3:
He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future.
But in Christ, we find where our hope, courage and faith is divinely designed to rest. You see it is Christ who is the builder of the house of the Lord. It was through Christ that all things were made and it is through Christ that we go from being objects receiving common grace to dwelling places for the author of grace. Before Christ, we were recipients of common grace. We experienced things like God’s beauty through the lens of what our flesh desired. In other words, we experienced things in a diminished understanding of their designed weight. We experienced the love of a person, but that love was something that we would fall in and out of. Our worth and value is based on merit.
In Christ, we experience the grace fo the Lord as children, dwelling places of God. We experience love as one who knows the author of it. We experience beauty for the gift that it is because we know the giver.
What Moses sought to build, the law, the sacrificial system, the house of the Lord, is only truly made complete in Christ. Apart from Christ, the law is rules to follow. In Christ, the law is a guide to reveal how we need God to live our lives. Apart from Christ, the sacrificial system is a burden of making clean that which is eternally dirty. In Christ, the sacrificial system is a beautiful picture of unconditional love. Apart from Christ, the house of the Lord, our true resting place is in heaven, unreachable by man. In Christ, the dwelling place of God, our hope of rest, resides in our souls and is ever accessible.
But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.
Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.
Our access to this rest, to the dwelling place of God rests in our willingness to say yes to Jesus. Jesus leads us each day to the source of rest. He lived his life in perfect step and dependence upon the Lord. He then offers to lead us in the same way.
Hebrews 3:6
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Our access to this rest, to the dwelling place of God rests in our willingness to say yes to Jesus.
He offers us rest. Will we say yes?