Return to In a Class By Himself Series

Main Idea: Hebrews 3:1-6 calls us to Jesus-focused living. In practical terms that means we must live with two thoughts in mind.

You are in a church worship service this morning, and I’m glad you are here, for many reasons. Chiefly, God deserves our praise and worship. Secondarily, we benefit when we worship our Maker.

I want you to think about something. There are two kinds of people in church right now, in this church and in just about any other church. Simply put, there are people who add Jesus to their life, and there are people who put Jesus at the center of their life.

To borrow from an illustration I’ve used before, think of a bicycle wheel. At the center there is a hub and coming out from the center there are spokes. For some people, Jesus is like a spoke. Oh, He’s part of the wheel of life, along with family, job, recreation, church, money, retirement plans, and many other spokes. But Jesus is a just a spoke in the wheel, an important spoke perhaps, but nonetheless, just a spoke, one that’s been added to the collection of other spokes.

To others, however, to those who have been gripped by God’s amazing grace, Jesus isn’t merely a spoke. He’s the hub of the wheel. Life revolves around Him, and all the spokes are connected to Him. Family, job, recreation, church, and the rest, they all point to Him because He is at the center of their lives.

Quite frankly, it’s hard to tell these two groups apart on Sunday. The person who adds Jesus to his life has made a profession of faith in Jesus, just like the one who puts Him at the center. He may have been baptized, and quite possibly even joined the church, as if to say, “Jesus is a really important spoke in my life, and so is church.” But the fact remains, He’s just a spoke.

Here’s a good question to ask yourself if you want to know which category fits you. Who is life all about…Jesus or me? The tragic reality is that in

America

church rolls are full of people who have merely added Jesus to their lives, a fact that may not be apparent on Sunday but becomes hauntingly clear on Monday through Saturday.

According to George Barna research, there were 101 million born again Christians in America in 2006. They’re called “born again” based upon their answers to two questions. The first is "have you ever made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in your life today?" If the respondent says "yes," then they are asked a follow-up question about life after death. One of the seven perspectives a respondent may choose is "when I die, I will go to Heaven because I have confessed my sins and have accepted Jesus Christ as my savior."[1]

More than four out of ten Americans answered both questions yes.[2] But ponder this. Of those who call themselves “born again,” only 36% say they believe in moral absolutes. In a 2002 study, Barna concluded the following, “Born again individuals were twice as likely to not watch a movie because of its rating (27% vs. 14% among the non-born agains) and somewhat more likely to turn off a TV program that presented values or viewpoints they did not like (47% vs. 39%). However, there was no difference evident when it came to the likelihood of viewing adult-only content on the Internet, discussing a specific moral issue, or reading magazines or watching videos with explicit sexual content.”[3]

How can this be? How can people who say they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ be just as likely as a non-Christian to view pornography on the internet, or watch a video with explicit sex? It’s because they’ve got a spoke and not a hub. Jesus is a merely spoke in their life, not a hub, which means He doesn’t touch the rest of the spokes as the wheel of life turns.

My friends, we need the book of Hebrews. The book of Hebrews exalts the supremacy of Jesus Christ. You see, if Jesus is just a Genie in a bottle, then you can add Him to your life. But if He is who the book of Hebrews says He is, then adding Him to a cluttered life is unthinkable.

This morning we come to Hebrews 3:1-6, a text that calls us to Jesus-focused living. In practical terms Jesus-focused-living means we must live with two thoughts in mind, and that’s true when we’re watching a movie or sitting in church.

Verse 1 begins, “Therefore,” which points us back. Hebrews 3 builds on Hebrews 1-2 which exalts the superiority of Jesus Christ. Christ is God’s Son, the creator of the universe (1:2), the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of God (1:3). He is greater than the angels (1:4), but He made Himself lower than the angels by entering the world as a human (2:9), in order to rescue sinful man by means of His death and subsequent resurrection. That means that Jesus Christ is not one religious option amongst many, but is in a class all by Himself.

“Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling…” Here’s the first time in the book that the writer addresses the readers directly. Note the writer calls them “holy brothers” which indicates he considered them to be believers. The term “brother” (adelphos) means “from the same womb” (a combination of apo and delphus). Spiritually, they came into existence from the womb of God by the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit (he refers to them as “brothers” again in 3:12; 10:19; and 13:22; and refers to Timothy specifically as “our brother” in 13:22).[4]

Furthermore, he calls them “holy brothers” indicating they had been set apart by God. Sanctified ones, saints—that’s what the word hagioi means. Hebrews 2:11 says that God is “the one who makes men holy” and that His people are “those who are made holy.” Hebrews 10:14 explains that our holiness is both a reality and a process, “Because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.”

In addition he says these holy brothers “share in the heavenly calling,” with the word “share” referring to people who are partakers or partners (the same word appears in Luke 5:7 speaking of some men who were partners in a fishing business, meaning they shared the fishing business together). Here the writer says his readers shared together, not a fishing business, but in the heavenly calling.

God, of course, is the subject behind this heavenly calling. In eternity past God initiated a plan to rescue helpless sinners and chose the very people whom He would liberate. “Those He predestined, he also called,” says Romans 8:30, and “those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified.”

If you are right with God today, here’s why. It’s because of what God graciously did for you. He not only provided salvation for you through His Son’s work on the cross, for a sinner who is dead in sin needs more than the provision of salvation, just like a drowning victim who has fainted in the water needs more than a life preserver tossed his way. When you were dead in your sins He called you. Hebrews 9:15 explains, “For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance…”

What’s the appropriate response to the One who called you out of your dead state and birthed you into His family? Is it to go to church a couple of times a year? No. A couple of times a month? No. A couple of times a week? No, He deserves more than that.

Here’s the appropriate response. Verse 1—“Fix your thoughts on Jesus.” The verb (katanoesate) means “to give careful consideration to, to pay attention to, to immerse oneself in.” For instance, in Matthew 7:3 Jesus asks, “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?” There’s our word, pay attention to. It would be ludicrous to try to get a speck of dust out of your brother’s eye and fail to pay attention to a log hanging out of your own eye. Likewise, it’s ludicrous to claim to be a Christian and yet fail to pay attention to Jesus.

Fix your thoughts on Jesus, says Hebrews. A casual glance now and then won’t cut it. A once a week Jesus-fix won’t cut it either. This is a call for a careful, continual, concentrated focus on the person and work of Jesus.

And what is it about Jesus that warrants this command to fix our minds on Him? Our text tells us five things about Him.

A. He is the one that God sent to us (1a). He’s called “the apostle,” a word that means “one sent.” It’s the same word Jesus used to identify the twelve men He chose and then sent out to do His work. They were apostles, “sent ones.” Now Hebrews 3:1 tells us that Jesus, too, was an apostle, indeed, the apostle, the One that God sent to the world.[5]

1. God initiated a plan to save sinners. In eternity past God designed this plan, the plan of redemption. And then…

2. God authorized His Son to accomplish it. That’s what Jesus acknowledged when He prayed in John 17:3, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”[6] And later He had this to say to the apostles in John 20:21, “As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”

What’s true of the One we are to fix our minds on? First, He’s the one that God sent from heaven to us. Secondly…

B. He is the one that represents us before God (1b). Jesus is “the high priest whom we confess.” As an apostle, Jesus represented God to men. As a high priest, He represents men to God.[7] That’s what a priest does. He’s a go-between, a mediator, a person who represents sinners before God.

Yet Jesus isn’t merely a priest, but a high priest, and as we saw last time “a merciful and faithful high priest (2:17).” And He isn’t simply a high priest, but a high priest whom we confess.

The word “confess” simply means “to say the same thing.” “All true Christians ‘say the same thing,’” says Warren Wiersbe, “when it comes to their experience of salvation.”[8] There’s only one person who can take us to heaven, and there’s only one confession that connects us to this person, as Romans 10:9 declares, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

1. To be right with God involves verbal profession. The fact that there is a high priest does me little good until He become my high priest. I must confess with my mouth that He alone enables me to approach a holy God. That’s what baptism is all about. When a person is baptized he is making a public confession, saying, “I don’t come to God in my merit, but in Christ’s.” But is verbal profession all there is? No.

2. To be right with God involves life support. In other words, if Jesus is truly my high priest I will demonstrate that belief not only with my words but my life. There will be life support.

Yes, there’s an apostle, the one that God sent to us. And there’s a high priest, the one who alone can represent us before God. And who is He? In the Greek text the writer actually puts the name “Jesus” at the end of the verse, stating, “Fix your thoughts on the apostle and high priest whom we confess, Jesus.”

By the way, by using His human name, “Jesus,” the author is emphasizing that the Son of God accomplished His tasks as apostle and high priest as a man. He had to become a man to do His life-saving work.

My friend, if you truly believe that Jesus is the only one who can reconcile a sinner with His Maker, then you won’t just add Him to your life, but will gladly make Him central as the hub around which all of life revolves.

C. He is the one who is faithful (2). “He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house.”

Remember, Hebrews was written to a Jewish audience. In the eyes of the Jews, Moses was perhaps the greatest of men. Was Moses perfect? Far from it—he killed a man once, struck a rock another time when God told him to speak to it. But the author doesn’t criticize Moses by pointing out his flaws. Instead, he affirms that…

1. We can learn from Moses. Moses was faithful. Exodus 40:16 says, “Moses did everything just as the LORD commanded him.” He led two million Hebrew slaves out of bondage in Egypt , through barren desert, and took them to the brink of the Promised Land. As a prophet he spoke for God, even when his message just about got him killed.

Yes, Moses was a great man of God and we can learn from him. He did the work God gave Him to do. He was faithful.

How much more so was Jesus! Was He faithful? Perfectly so. He did exactly what His Father told Him to do, including dying in the place of rebel sinners. That’s why, even though we can learn from Moses…

We’re told something quite significant about Jesus in verse 2. We’re told He was faithful “to the one who appointed him.” The verb “appointed” commonly is translated “make” or “create” (for instance, in the LXX of Genesis 1:1 we read, “In the beginning God created…”). Not surprisingly, in centuries past a group known as the Arians used this verse as a proof-text to say that Christ was not the eternal Son of God but one of God’s creatures.

How shall we respond to the Arians, and others like the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who deny Christ’s deity? For starters, while this word may be translated “created” it may also be translated “appointed” (as it is here in the NIV and KJV), just like it is in Mark 3:14 which says Christ “appointed” the twelve (that verse isn’t saying that He created them but appointed them to be His apostles). Likewise, in Acts 2:36 Peter says, “Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ,” where the word “made” doesn’t mean that God created Jesus but rather appointed Him to be Lord and Christ.

To illustrate, I could say that in 1987 you made me your pastor. Does that mean you created me, that you brought me into existence at that moment? No. It means you appointed me with a task, a calling, a ministry.[9]

So in Hebrews 3:2. While the word itself can be translated “made” or “created,” our text isn’t saying that Jesus was made or created (for too many other texts insist that God’s Son has always existed, including Heb. 1:2-3; John 1:1-4; Col. 1:15-17). The context of Hebrews 3 makes it clear that the word here means that Jesus was appointed to be something, namely, appointed by God the Father to serve in the dual role of apostle and high priest. And Jesus did so faithfully. But there’s more…

D. He is the one who is worthy (3). “Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself.”

It’s often said that people are more important than things. That’s true. No matter how valuable a house may be, the person who owns the house possesses greater value.

As Christians we ought to have a great appreciation for our Jewish heritage. As Paul reminds us of the Jews in Romans 9:4-5, “Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised!”

Yes, we ought to have a high view of Moses. He’s worthy of honor. But Jesus is worthy of greater honor. He alone possesses inherent worth for He’s not just a part of God’s house, like Moses was. He’s the builder of it. “I will build my church,” Jesus said (Matt. 16:18). But there’s more, for in addition to being the builder…

E. He is the Son who is over God’s house (4-6a). “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, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God’s house.”

1. Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house. The Bible repeatedly calls Moses God’s servant. For instance, Exodus 14:31 states, “The people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” Deuteronomy 34:5 says, “And Moses the servant of the LORD died there in Moab , as the LORD had said.” Revelation 15:3 likewise refers to him as “…Moses the servant of God.”

It’s worth noting that when Hebrews 3:5 calls Moses a “servant,” it doesn’t use the more common Greek words for servant, doulos or diakonos, but rather uses the Greek therapon, which in the verbal form means “to heal.” We get the English word ”therapy” from it. Gromacki observes, “Moses’ service was in a ministry of moral and spiritual healing, prescribing positive areas of nutrition and eliminating the destructive elements. He did what he could in the best interests of the national health of

Israel

.”[10]

Yes, Moses was a faithful servant in God’s house. But Jesus? His credentials are far greater…

2. Jesus is the builder and master of God’s house. Verse 6 begins, “But Christ.” This is the first time the book of Hebrews has called Him “Christ” (although the KJV follows a later manuscript and uses it in verse 1). Until now He’s been identified as “the Son” (1:2, 3), “the Lord” (2:4), and “Jesus” (2:9, 11, & 3:1). Now Hebrews calls Him “Christ.” Christ comes from the Greek word Christos which relates to the Hebrew word Meshiach, or “Messiah.” Jesus is His name. Christ is His title. God’s Son who entered the world as a baby is Jesus the Messiah.

And what’s true of Christ? Moses was a servant in God’s house, but Christ, God’s Son, is the builder who is over God’s house.[11] Here we see another powerful argument for the deity of Christ, as Wiersbe explains, “If God built all things [as verse 4 says], and Jesus Christ built God’s house, then Jesus Christ must be God.”

So Jesus is the one God sent to us. He’s the one who represents us before God. He is the one who is faithful and worthy. He is the Son who is over God’s house. Now remember why the writer is telling us all this. Remember his exhortation back in verse 1. Fix your thoughts on Jesus.

What does it mean to “fix your thoughts on Jesus”? In Acts 27:39, after nearly dying in a storm at sea, Paul and his companions were “looking intently” for a safe place to land. That’s our verb, and that’s what we must do. We must look intently to the only safe place where we can anchor the ship of our lives. We must fix our thoughts on Jesus.

You cannot be God’s kind of person without getting serious about the proper use of your mind. Hebrews says that we must get intentional about fixing our thoughts on Jesus. But how do we do that? Robert Gromacki offers this helpful counsel, “It involves reflective study, attentive examination, and careful thought. The immaturity and insecurity of the readers were caused by an unhealthy preoccupation of self and problems. The moral remedy was an active meditation on the merit of Christ in His person and redemptive work.”[12]

Ponder carefully Gromacki’s wise assessment. If you’re serious about Jesus-centered living, you must devote yourself to reflective study, attentive examination, and careful thought. That is, you must avoid a feeling-oriented approach to life, and take steps to engage your mind, to use your gray-matter in a very specific way. It requires active meditation (not passive thinking, like what you do when you watch television and mindlessly take in whatever happens to come at you from the screen). No, we must engage in active meditation on the merit of Christ in His person and redemptive work. Simply put, we need to think about who Jesus is, what He is like, and what He did for us (particularly what He did for us on the cross), over and over and over again.

To put it plainly, coming to church on Sunday morning is great, but it isn’t enough. If I am to fix my thoughts on Jesus, it’s going to take more than a couple of hours on Sunday morning. You can add Jesus to your life by doing that, but you can’t make Him your hub that way. “What’s necessary?” you ask. I’m glad you asked!

For starters, I need to carve out time on a daily basis to spend time with Jesus. I need to read His Word and meditate on it so that I carry it (and Him) with me throughout the day.

And then, I need to get serious about this house the Bible says Jesus is building, this house called the church. Once again, I’m not living a Jesus-focused life if I’m merely adding His house to my life. I need to make His house central. I need to take advantage of the whole life of the church, not just one service now and then.

To change the analogy, it’s important to be a “clean-plater.” That’s what my mother always told me. “Brad, if you want to grow up and be strong and healthy, then don’t waste what I put on your plate. Be a clean-plater.”

Did you realize that as a church we work hard, as your mother probably did in the physical sense, at providing a balanced spiritual diet? The corporate services of the church are not intended to be a pick-and-choose smorgasbord. No, we seek to provide a well-balanced diet, and all the services work together to provide that diet.

On Sunday mornings at 10:30 a.m. we offer a worship service. That’s what you’re experiencing right now. It’s the meat of the church life. And we need the meat of God’s Word! But what happens if our diet consists only of meat? We won’t be spiritually healthy, not because meat is bad but because God created us to need more than meat.

That’s why on Sunday mornings at 9:30 we offer another critical part of a balanced diet—small group Bible study classes for all ages, from the cradle up. Our Sunday School classes are designed to be learning centers and caring centers. So if the morning worship service is the meat on your plate, Sunday School provides the vegetables. When we study God’s Word together, and discuss it with others who know and love Him, and pray over it, and encourage each other to apply it, we’re gaining additional vitamins that are vital to spiritual health.

But there’s more. On Sunday evenings at 6:00 we have what we call our church family service. In the Sunday morning service we look up, for that’s what worship is, a vertical focus. But on Sunday evenings we look around us at the church family. We take time to learn what the Lord is doing in the ministries and lives of people in the church family. We get to know Christ better by looking carefully at His Body. That’s why on Sunday evenings, in a more relaxed atmosphere, we do a lot of sharing and praying. And this year we’re also going to start using part of the evening service to discuss the morning’s sermon in small groups. You might say you get your bread on Sunday evenings.

But any doctor will tell you all intake isn’t good. Exercise is key, and that’s what Wednesday evening is all about. It’s our ministry night where you have the opportunity to serve others, by teaching children in Awana, or discipling teens in our youth ministry, or by praying for our missionaries in our adult Bible study and prayer meeting.

So I urge you this year to be a clean-plater. It will help you fix your thoughts on Jesus if you will make His house, not just another spoke in your life, but the hub of it.

You say, “But if I do that, it sounds like I’ll have two hubs in my wheel, Christ and the church.” No, not two hubs, just one, as long as you keep in mind what the church is. It’s Christ’s visible Body, which means that focusing on the church is by God’s design one of the prime ways we can fix our eyes on Christ.

I mentioned at the outset that Jesus-focused-living means living with two thoughts in mind. The first is living in light of who Jesus is (1-6a). The second?

A. God says we are His family (1). His Word calls us “holy brothers,” indicating that we are members of a holy brotherhood. What’s more…

B. God says we are His residence (6b). “And we are his house,” verse 6 states. God’s house, of course, isn’t a building. It’s people, a household of people, the very people of God. In the Old Testament the Israelites were the people of God, but now in the present age we the church are God’s people.

Yes, we are God’s residence, a theme the New Testament writers celebrate over and over. Such as in 1 Corinthians 3:16, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?” And in Ephesians 2:21-22, “In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.” And in 1 Peter 2:5, “You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”

2. To ignore the church is to ignore Him. It’s kind of like the workaholic dad who says, “I love my family,” but he’s hardly ever at home. He’s sending a conflicting message. And so is the person who says he loves Christ but stays away from Christ’s house.

What about the person who does that, who ignores Christ and His house? Verse 6 ends with a sober warning, “And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.”[13]
Notice how the writer includes himself in this. He doesn’t say, “If you hold on,” but “If we hold on.” This is a serious caution for all who profess Christ because the God who says we are His family and His residence also says…

C. God says that we are to persevere (6b). We are His house if we hold on.[14] Does the “if” mean that a saved person can lose his or her salvation? No. The Bible is full of passages that teach that salvation is the work of God, and that by His grace He saves sinners and keeps them secure (such as John 10:27-29; 1 John 5:11-13).

But not all who profess Christ truly possess Christ. In the parable of the four soils Jesus warned about people who, like seed sown in rocky ground, look good at first, but wither in the sun because they lack a proper root system. A positive initial response doesn’t guarantee there will be fruit, and if the fruit of Christ’s life isn’t seen then the person was never truly connected to Christ the vine to begin with.

Don’t water down this warning in Hebrews. It says something to us about faith…

That’s what Jesus Himself said in Matthew 10:22, “All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved.” And in John 8:31, “To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, ‘If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples.’” Notice it’s possible to “believe” Jesus and not necessarily be one of His disciples. True faith holds on, by the enabling grace of God, to the end.[16]

1. Is Jesus at the center of my life or merely an add-on? A spoke or the hub? Which is He in your life?

**Note: This is an unedited manuscript of a message preached at Wheelersburg Baptist Church . It is provided to prompt your continued reflection on the practical truths of the Word of God.

[1] http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=Topic&TopicID=8

[2] More than one out of three (37%) “born again” people believe that if a person is good enough they can earn a place in heaven.

[3] http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=123

[4] Observation by Robert Gromacki, p. 54.

[5] It’s the only time in the Bible this word is used to depict Jesus.

[6] See also 1 John 4:10, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

[7] Observation by Wiersbe and others, p. 286.

[8] Wiersbe, p. 285.

[9] Philip Hughes offers a very helpful explanation on this on pages 129-30.

[10] R. Gromacki, p. 59.

[11] Wiersbe, p. 286.

[12] R. Gromacki, p. 56.

[13] At the end of verse 6 some manuscripts add “firm to the end.”

[14] This warning will continue throughout the book of Hebrews (see 3:14; 6:11; etc).

[15] Philip Hughes explains, “His readers…are in danger of wavering under the influence of strange ideas and hostile pressures. Like Christians in every age, they are face to face with perplexities and temptations. They are exhorted accordingly not to weaken and retire from the struggle, and reminded that only if they hold fast are they God’s ‘house.’” Philip Hughes, p. 139.

[16] Philip Hughes: “Security in Christ does not absolve one from personal responsibility: quite the contrary, for the regenerate man is under total obligation to God. Seriousness in believing should manifest itself in seriousness concerning doctrine and conduct.” p. 139.