NOTE: This lecture was given as part of the Precept Upon Precept Bible study on Hebrews and corresponds to Lesson 9 in Hebrews Part 1. This would make an excellent outline for a sermon on Hebrews 3:1-6.
How many times in our life we look at the "lions" in our life
rather than the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
DIVINE DIGNITY
"Therefore" Hebrews 3:1. Sometimes the experiences of this life can so beat us down that we forget who we are in the Lord Jesus. We forget that we were created NOT for this world but for another age that is coming (Php 3:20-21+), when we will reign with Him (Rev 5:10+). But since that age is not here, we tend to forget who we are in Christ. Accepted in the Beloved as "holy brethren", in the world but not of the world (Jn 17:13-14+), having been set apart as vessels for God's use (2Ti 2:21+) much as Jn 15:5+ teaches that the purpose of a branch (believers) is to yield to the Vine (Jesus) so that the Vine can produce its fruit through the branch. The branch cannot produce fruit on its own. The branch does not have its own purposes but is entwined with that of the Vine. Such it is with believers who are on this earth for a divine purpose (Eph 2:10+), knowing that we have not yet seen all that He has prepared for us.
1Pe 1:1-2+ speaks of being chosen according to the foreknowledge of God. What we have as believers is ALL God's idea. There is a balance between God's sovereignty and man's free will but this area is holy ground. Jn 15:16+ Jesus told His disciples that they did not chose Him but He chose them. In the midst of all the real "rejections" in this earthly life, what does it matter in comparison to our having been chosen by God Himself. He has given us a DIVINE DIGNITY. Brethren (adelphos) means from the same womb, so he is talking about believers.
DIVINE PRIVILEGE
Partaker (metochos) means to be partake of something never partaken of before, in this case of a heavenly calling. So many Christians try to get all of what has God for down on this earth ("name it/claim it") but that is a lie because so much of what we have partaken of has not yet been realized. We have been saved (justification), are being saved (sanctification: daily entering into the restfulness of Christ as we obey), and we shall be saved (glorification: delivered from the presence of sin, with a body like Him) (cf Three Tenses of Salvation). Don't take your eyes off your divine dignity, your divine privilege. So many want it all now but it does not work that way. Don't fix your eyes on the earthly, but on the heavenly (Heb 12:2+, cf 1Pe 1:13+), that which we have inherited in the Lord Jesus Christ (cf Ro 8:17+).
A HIGHER MOTIVATION
1). Philippians 3:14+: A Higher Motivation: produced by a higher calling ("Heavenly Calling")
Paul fixed his eyes on the heavenly call: pressing on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We have a heavenly calling. We have a higher calling that motivates us live with integrity on earth…not because we are serving men, but bc we are serving a God Who has given us an upward call, a heavenly calling. This upward call gives a HIGHER MOTIVATION that cannot be explained.
A HIGHER CITIZENSHIP
2). Philippians 3:20+: A Higher Citizenship: in heaven.
Jesus is coming for His bride (Rev 19:7-8+). We may live on earth but it is not our true home. We are citizens whose names are written in the Book of Life. When you know what you have down here is temporary, but what you have in heaven is eternal (cf 2Co 4:18+), you can suffer many things in this life (Jas 1:2-4+). How many become double-minded (Jas 1:8+), having forgotten their true citizenship with the result that they are miserable (cf 2Pe 1:9-11+). They are chasing perishable wreaths not imperishable ones (1Co 9:24-25+). God laughs when we put our names on our property.
A HIGHER BLESSING
3). Ephesians 1:3+: A Higher Blessing: God has not promised us everything down here, although there are some believers of course who have material blessings.
Material blessings are not the problem. It is not what we own but what owns (possesses) us, what motivates us, what we are pursuing (cf Mt 6:24+). If wealth is our end, this will cause us to side-tracked. We are blessed with every spiritual blessing (where?) in the heavenly places in Christ. The blessings of our better covenant are in a heavenly kingdom, so we cannot get wrapped up in this world. Don't look for rewards down here, but in the next age when Jesus shall come & bring honor & glory to those who have been faithful to His name. We are not home yet. Stop looking for rewards down here. We have blessings that are so heavenly that nothing on this earth could even come close! Yes we will have blessings here, but they are more the "inner" blessings, not the outside circumstances (see Jn 16:33 re external tribulation but internal peace). Look to Jesus and you'll grow to be a partaker of a heavenly calling.
A HIGHER POSITION
4). Ephesians 2:6+: A Higher Position: seated with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
This is our position and we can live in that truth today, but one day the full-orbed significance of that glorious truth will be unfolded. The writer in Hebrews is trying to tell his readers to DIE TO THIS WORLD (cf Mk 8:34-36+), cut the attachments that bind you to this world. You may be working long hours, chasing perishable wreaths, bound to things temporal, not realizing you are to be a branch, a vessel of the Holy Spirit of God to continue His purposes though and to be conformed to the image of His Son. This is our higher purpose. Your job is simply that which funds the ministry that God places before you. Take your eyes off your circumstances & place them on the God of those circumstances.
Except a grain of wheat falls into the ground & dies it cannot bring forth fruit (Jn 12:24+). There has to be a death to self. As I am willing to die to this world (cf Gal 6:14+, Jas 4:4+, 1Jn 2:15-17+) and the pursuits of the flesh life (Ro 6:11-13+) and willing to commit totally to Jesus, only then is the beauty of Jesus in me truly manifest (cf Jn 14:21+). Only Jesus can fulfill what we are looking for in this life. Fix your eyes on the One Who became poor that we might become spiritually rich in Him (2Co 8:9+).
When a person is richly blessed inwardly, his outward circumstances mean very little. You don't change a man by changing his outward circumstances. You change a man in the midst of his circumstances and then he sees his circumstances quite differently. The author was telling them fix your eyes on Jesus. Don't go back to Judaism, to an earthly covenant, with earthly promises but to Christianity, a heavenly covenant with heavenly promises. Israel was a symbol or shadow of that which believers can have in the Lord Jesus Christ.
DIVINE PURSUIT
CONSIDER JESUS: means to gaze upon, consider carefully (Aorist: do it now ; Imperative = a command ; Active Voice = choice of one's will. God won't force us.). See Heb 12:1-2+: same thought "Fixing your eyes on Jesus". Stop looking at your circumstances and gaze at Him (cf Vertical Vision). We too often "try" to use God to make life easier for us. Instead cry out "Lord (Heb 2:18+), in the midst of these miserable circumstances continue to conform me into the image of Your Son (Ro 8:29+, cf 2Co 3:18+), using suffering as a tool in my life so that one day in glory I can receive honor and glory (1Pe 1:6-7+)." Don't get in front of Jesus. You can't fix your eyes on Him that way. Instead follow Him (Mt 4:19+, Jn 10:27+). Don’t get in His way but get in "the Way" (Jn 14:6+)!
APOSTLE: the One God sent (Jn 3:17, 34+, Jn 5:36,38+, etc) is the Ultimate Apostle Who brought God to us as the God-Man.
HIGH PRIEST: brings us to God as the Mediator of a better covenant. Jn 14:6+ No one comes to the Father but through Me.
MOSES: he was a faithful man and a godly man but Jesus was THE God-Man. God used Moses as an instrument to bring in the Law, which was temporary and exposed man in his sin (Ro 7:9+ I was once alive apart from the Law; but when the commandment came, sin became alive, and I died). Jn 1:17+ Grace and truth came through Jesus Who brings in the heavenly covenant. The writer is saying if you go back to the Law you go back to the temporal and earthly covenant and you are insulting a holy God. He is not insulting Moses but commending his faithfulness. The idea may be that if you embraced this faithful servant Moses, than surely you would embrace Christ.
HOUSE: in Heb 3:3 refers to the people of God. Moses was faithful as a servant in God's earthly house.
Jesus was the God-Man building a heavenly house. Moses was an instrumental part of this plan but only of the earthly part. Jesus is the One Who is the Builder of the eternal household of God. Because a man is a Jew does not mean he is in God's house bc the only way into the heavenly house is by faith and repentance in Messiah.
Eph 2:19+ So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household,
1 Pet 2:4-5+ And coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected by men, but choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
Moses the faithful, godly man was part of a plan of God & a people of God that pointed to Christ. Jesus Himself said all must enter in by faith without exception. How do we proof we are IN God's house?
Hebrews 3:6+ begins with "IF" which is a 3rd class conditional that expresses possibility or probability compared to First class which is certainty. This may convey that the writer suspects some of those thinking about going back to Judaism never really knew Jesus to start with, having neglected what they had heard (Heb 2:3+). You know a person is truly in God's household IF he continues in the faith. You don’t continue in the faith to prove you are in His house. There are many who are religious but have never bowed their knee before Jesus Who is God, confessing Him as Lord (kurios) (Ro 10:9-10+). We don't pay much attention to this in America. Kurios means Master.
Fix your eyes on
the God-Man, the Lord Jesus.