Faith in All God's House

One of the factors that sets Hebrews apart from other letters in the New Testament is that while it addresses profound theological concepts, it doesn’t want until the end to get to the exhortations and applications.

In Romans, for example, we have 11 chapters of theology. And then the final 4 chapters focus on the practical applications. In Galatians, we have 5 chapters of doctrinal teaching and then 2 chapters focused on practical instruction. In Ephesians and Colossians, the first half of the book focuses on theology, or Christian doctrine, and then the second half focuses on Christian duty.

In Hebrews, however, we get weighty theology with a practical exhortation throw in every so often. And these exhortations are very strong because the author understood what was at stake in the lives of his hearers. These were Jewish believers who had turned to Christ, or were beginning to turn to Christ, but because of persecution from the Jews and the Romans, were tempted to go back to Judaism. So, this entire book is aimed at preventing that.

In chapter 1, you might remember, we saw that Christ is the exalted Son of God, superior to every angel. He is the Word of God who upholds the universe by His power.

And then, in chapter 2, we saw the first exhortation—We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away. And that was followed by a warning of God’s inescapable judgment for disobedience.

The rest of chapter 2 is a teaching about the greatness of Jesus as the Son of Man. He is the perfect Man who, through His death, will restore His people to God’s glorious design, and He also helps us in our temptations.

And with that, we come to chapter 3, which starts with the word “therefore.” In light of all we’ve already learned about Christ, here’s the exhortation: Consider Jesus. Consider Jesus.

“Consider” really isn’t a word we use today, but it’s an idea that impacts every moment of our lives. The word means to focus your attention, to look, to think about, to observe, to contemplate. In every moment of your life, your attention is somewhere. Even now, your mind might be on what’s for lunch. Your mind might be on whatever you need to do at work tomorrow. Your mind could be anywhere.

The call here isn’t to ignore the things of this life, but in whatever we are doing, our focus is to be on Jesus Christ. This isn’t calling for some generic religious life; this is calling for intense focus on Jesus Himself. Think about who He is and what He has done.

And to help us do that, the writer reminds us of 4 glorious realities about Jesus—4 beautiful reminders about who Jesus is.

Number 1, Jesus is the One who mercifully declared you holy. He mercifully declared you holy.

Notice how this exhortation starts at the beginning of chapter 3. The author refers to these people as holy brothers. Remembers, this was originally written to a Jewish audience, and they understood the concept of holiness. In contrast to something being holy, there were things that were common or unclean. They were unworthy of being used for worship. That’s what life is like apart from Christ, you are a child of wrath. You are not worthy of God’s glory.

But what did Jesus do? By His own sacrifice, He paid the price of our sin, and He has credited to us His perfect righteousness. Practically, we’re not as holy as we should be, but positionally, before God, we have been declared to be holy. That’s what it means to be justified. We are declared righteous. We are declared holy.

And in being united to Christ, we are also united to one another. We are all part of God’s family, that’s why we call each other brothers and sisters. We are holy brothers because we’ve been drawn near to Christ and reconciled to our heavenly Father.

If you reject Christ, you are not holy. You are unclean before God. All you can expect in the next life is judgment. But if you humble yourself before Christ, calling out to Him for mercy and trusting in His death and Resurrection, your sins are wiped away. Your conscience is made clean. You are a holy brother. This is what Christ has done. He is the One who mercifully declares us to be holy.

When we stop looking at Christ, we forget who we are in Him. It’s like if tomorrow, some local news station showed up at your door and did a news story on you saying you had been named “Father of the Year” or “Mother of the Year.” It’d be an amazing honor, but it would also change the way you did things, wouldn’t it? You’d have to live up to that title for as long as people knew who you were.

It’s the same with Christ. He has declared us to be holy, and with that new identity, we need to live up to it. We didn’t earn the title through our works; it was given to us because of Christ’s work. But now, we need to live up to it. Christ has declared us to be holy.

Here’s a second reality about Christ: Jesus is the One who authoritatively called us together. He authoritatively called us together. Look at the next phrase in verse 1, as the author, once again points out our status in Christ. We share in a heavenly calling. A heavenly calling.

Whenever the Bible talks about God calling us, it’s not talking about evangelism. It’s talking about salvation. That’s so important to remember. When we call people to Christ, that’s a human call. People might respond appropriately, or they might not. But when God, by His Spirit, calls someone, they come. This is a divine summons.

This is like when Jesus called dead Lazarus out of the tomb. He gave him life and empowered him to obey. This is like when God opened Lydia’s eyes in Acts 16. This is like what Paul describes in 2 Corinthians 4; God says “Let there be light” in our hearts with the Light of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

We share in that calling. I like the New American translation better here, or the Legacy Standard Version; it says we are partakers. It’s better translated as a noun rather than a verb. We are sharers. We are participants in God Himself.

A verbal form of this word was used back in Hebrew 2:14 where it says that Jesus partook of flesh and blood. And it highlights a beautiful reality. Jesus shared in our human nature, so that we would share in the divine nature. That doesn’t mean we become gods; there’s only one God. But we are united to Him; we are in Him, and He is in us, to use the words of Jesus. We’ve been called together.

And it is a heavenly calling. We have been called by heaven, and we have been called for heaven. That’s why we’re told to walk in a manner worthy of our calling. We’re citizens of heaven. That’s why Paul says, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Php 3:14). God in heaven called us to Himself. And He did it through Jesus Christ. He’s the One we serve.

Second Timothy 1:9 reminds us that God saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, you and I were headed to eternal judgment, but God ordained in eternity past that He would save us. And in bringing that plan to completion, there came a day when, as a result of hearing the gospel, Jesus called us. He called us to Himself. And the calling of God is irresistible and irrevocable. Jesus called us to Himself and to God with authority. In Christ, we have a heavenly calling.

What else Has Christ done? What else should we be focusing on in our daily lives? Number 3, Jesus is the One who faithfully fulfills God’s plan. He faithfully fulfils God’s plan.

This is the final part of verse 1. The first two aspects of Christ were more implicit, based on what the author tells us about ourselves. But this one is explicit. He says—Consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession. And then, verse 2 continues. He is the One who was faithful to him who appointed him.

This is the only time in the Bible that Jesus is referred to as an Apostle. What does that mean? The word Apostle literally means “sent one.” It refers to an official, or authorized, messenger. This is someone who comes with the full authority of the one who sends him. There were no self-appointed apostles. Someone had to choose you and send you. You went on behalf of someone else.

Most commonly, when we hear the term “apostle,” we think about the apostles of Christ. There were the Twelve chosen during Christ’s earthly ministry, although Judas was replaced after his death, and there was also Paul. The term was also used for certain messengers sent by a local church.

But set apart from the apostles of a local church, or the Apostles of Christ, we have Jesus Himself, who is the Apostle of God. He was sent by the Father. This is one of the main themes in the gospel of John. Jesus is the One whom the Father has sent. He is the Supreme Apostle, coming with the full authority of the Father.

Jesus is also called our high priest. And we talked about this when we looked at chapter 2, and we’ll talk about it a lot more when we get to chapters 4-10. But the basic idea is that a high priest represents His people to God. So, as the Apostle, Jesus represents God, and as the high priest, Jesus represents us. As Apostle, He declares the word of God, and as high priest, He does the work of God.

When it talks Christ as part of our confession, there are two ways to understand what it’s referring to. One way is to think of it in terms of what we profess with our mouth. This is what we say we believe. The other way to understand that term is as a reference to the doctrines of our faith, whether we profess it or not. It’s kind of like talking about the Christian faith. There’s a body of doctrinal truth, that’s objective faith, but there’s also our own confidence in that truth, and that is our subjective faith, it’s personal to each of us.

If we have confessed Christ, if this is what we claim to believe, how could we turn away from that?

In both roles, Apostle and high priest, Christ has completed everything exactly as God planned. He did it perfectly. He did it faithfully. That what it means that He was faithful to Him who appointed Him. He perfectly completed God’s mission. He said and did exactly what the Father sent Him for. He came to do the Father’s will.

 In this description of Christ as the faithful Apostle and high priest of God, there was a prodding for the original audience, and there’s a prodding for all of us who claim to follow Christ. Jesus was perfectly faithful to God; are you being faithful? Are you saying and doing what God would have you do?

Remember, you’ve got a group of people tempted to drift away from Christ. Talk about Him less. Focus on Him less. Just look like the rest of the people around you, and life will be much easier. And to do that, it to turn your back on Christ. It is to be unfaithful to Him.

We need to praise God that Christ was faithful. We need to praise God that Jesus completed the mission He was sent here for—to seek and to save the lost. But we also need to follow Christ’s example. In the way we work, in the way we talk, in the way we love our spouses and our kids, in the things that we watch or listen to—we represent Christ. We belong to Him. We’ve been declared holy. We have a heavenly calling. Are you being faithful to that? Or does your life look just like everyone else’s?

You know, the people in this life that you spend time with and give your attention to—those are the people you become like, right? That’s the direction you’re heading. That’s why parents are so cautious about the type of close friends their children have. That’s why the saying exists: “Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.”

Well, when you’re looking to Christ, you grow in faithfulness. You grow in perseverance. You learn to suffer for the sake of righteousness and holiness. When you’re consciously meditating on who He is and what He’s done, you are being conformed more and more to His likeness.

That’s what is says in 2 Corinthians 3:18. As we are beholding the glory of the Lord, [we] are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.

Despite the pain, despite the shame, despite the rejection, despite the temptation, despite the mocking, Christ endured. Christ was faithful to God. And the more we focus on Him, the more faithful we will be as well.

The Christian life isn’t, ultimately, about trying harder to be holy, or to behave better. It’s about Christ. In his discussion on this passage, John MacArthur said that to focus on the external things of life is like trying to run a race while looking at your feet. You don’t look at your feet, you look up ahead. You look at the finish line. And in the same way, you shouldn’t get so caught up in the external stuff and lose sight of what matters most, which is Christ Himself. Look to Him. Focus on Him in every moment. Depend on Him. Allow Him to make you more and more faithful.

Jesus has mercifully declared you holy. He has authoritatively called you. And He has faithfully fulfilled God’s plan. Now, we come to a fourth facet of Christ to consider, and this really is the focus of this new section we’ve begun. Number 4, Jesus is the One who is immeasurably greater than Moses. Jesus is immeasurably greater than Moses.

This entire section is making to a comparison. Remember, this message was originally given to a Jewish audience, not a Greek one. So the people weren’t focusing on the Greek stories of gods and demigods. Their hero was Moses.

And maybe as a way of drawing them in, the author starts with a positive comparison. Look at the end of verse 2—Jesus was faithful just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house.

This would have gotten the people’s attention. That idea of Moses’ faithfulness is taken out of Numbers 12, which is the story of when Moses’ sister and brother decided to question Moses’ authority. They said, “Who said Moses gets to be in charge? What makes him so special? Doesn’t God speak through us as well?”

And God heard what they were saying, and He appeared to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam. He said, “You three, I want to talk to you!” And God comes down in a pillar of cloud and affirms Moses. God said, “I speak to prophets in visions and dreams, but not with Moses. With Moses, I speak to Moses directly. He is faithful in all my house.” That was a divine affirmation of Moses.

What was Moses’ role in God’s house. God’s house was a reference to God’s people, the nation of Israel. Through Moses, God formed them into a nation. He multiplied them in Egypt. He freed them from slavery, He gave them His law, and He brought them to the Promised Land. Obviously, Moses wasn’t perfect, but the point was that Moses was obedient, and God used him in a mighty way.

Moses’ ministry, though, was a preview of something greater. Moses was not a high priest; that was Aaron. And Moses’ work was earthly, at least in its appearance. Moses’ role in Israel’s history was a pointer to the role of Christ over God’s people. He freed us from sin. He called us as His holy nation. He gave us God’s word.

So, it’s fair and helpful to compare Moses with Jesus Christ, but let’s make sure we don’t put them in the same category. Jesus was not simply another prophet or another earthly leader that God chose to use. No, Jesus is infinitely greater than Moses.

Look at verse 3—For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses—as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself.

Moses wasn’t set apart from Israel; he was part of it. He was part of the house, if we want to continue the analogy. But Jesus is the builder of the house. It was Christ who called out the saints of the Old Testament, including Moses. And it is Christ Jesus who calls out His own people today.

There are many, many houses today that we could be impressed with. And the same is true with any other gadget or instrument. We might be impressed with a guitar or a painting or a sculpture, but the reality is that no house, or no work of art can make another one, right?

Left alone, the house, or the work of art will deteriorate. But the man who designed it, or who made it, can make another house. He is the one we should be impressed with. The designer is worthy of much more glory than the thing.

That’s why they don’t give Academy Awards to movies. They give awards for movies. The awards go to the producers or the directors or the actors. Someone has to come forward to get that little statue. Someone gets the glory.

Well, when a Jew looks back on his glorious history as the people of God, the glory isn’t supposed to go to Moses; it goes to Jesus Christ. It’s all pointing to Him.

If you’re reading through the Old Testament right now, keep this in mind as you read. It’s not, ultimately, about any of the human characters in the story. This is all preparing and pointing to the work of Christ.

The greatness of Christ continues in verse 4 of chapter 3, which says—For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.

If everything is built by God, and Jesus is the builder of the house, what does that mean? It means Jesus is God, which is what we saw in chapter 1. Jesus is the agent of creation. All things were made by Him and through Him and for Him.

Look at verses 5 and 6, which keep pressing the distinction—Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son.

Again, Moses’ had an important role. But what was done through him was pointing to something greater. Moses was a servant of God. He did what He was asked to do, but whatever authority he had was delegated. Christ was faithful as a Son. He is the rightful heir. He has inherent authority.

If anyone values Moses, if anyone wants to elevate Moses as a special man of God, but doesn’t want to exalt Christ far more, they don’t understand Moses’ true function. He was pointing to something greater. The nation of Israel, as the people of God under the Old Covenant, were preparing the world for a far more expansive people of God, a people that would come to God by faith from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And Christ is the One who calls them to Himself. Christ build His church. Jesus builds His house.

And the final portion of verse 6 tells us—And we are his house, if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

That should be a stunning reality. We belong to Christ. We are part of His house. But there’s a qualification here about who really belongs.

How can you know who truly belongs to Christ? You’ll know because those who are truly His will hold fast. They will not abandon the confidence and the boasting of their hope. They will not shy away from the opportunity to make their faith known by what they say and what they do.

Brothers and sisters, embrace the pain and the persecution of standing up for Christ and His kingdom and His righteousness. Face the mockery and rejection of this world with confidence. Glory in it, because you belong to Christ. There’s no need to be ashamed. There’s no need to apologize for your faith. Glory in it.

And if you remain faithful, you demonstrate that you truly belong to Him. You’re part of His family. You’re part of His house. And you will be with Him in heaven forever.

Let’s consider Jesus, brother and sisters. And let’s help one another consider Jesus. Everything we do should be focused on Him, depending on Him, seeking to please Him. Let’s turn our attention to Him in everything we do, so that He will be exalted and so that we will be fruitful and joyful in Him.