1Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, 2who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house. 3For 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. 4(For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) 5Now Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, 6but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
Last week we heard God’s call in Hebrews 2 to “pay much closer attention to what we have heard” from and about Jesus, “lest we drift away from it.” This passage is a continuation of that call, giving us two tools to use as we dock our ships to Jesus together.
Tool #1: Remembering Who You Are
Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling…
In the midst of his exhortation, God pauses here, grips us by the shoulders, looks us in the eyes and reminds us of our identity as Christians. We are holy brothers who share in a heavenly calling. We drift when we forget who we are in Christ. So in order to “pay much closer attention to what we have heard,” we need to remember our identity.
Holy
Christians are set apart, different and sacred. Like a holy day is different from common days, Christians are different from common people. If you are a Christian, you are not like the people of the world. You are holy.
Family
Christians are not an association of people with shared interests. Christians are family. Family belongs together, and every Sunday worship service is a family reunion. This is why empty pews break pastors’ hearts. We want the family to be together.
Partners
Christians are more than family, they are also partners. Like a family who runs a business together, we are passively connected and actively connected. We were passively born into the family of God and we’re activity in partnership together. We’re brothers and partners.
It’s not that we should be partners. We are partners. This means that as you go, we all go. If you drift, we all drift. If you tie tightly to Jesus, we all tie more tightly to Jesus.
Sharing a Heavenly Calling
We are not just partnered together to make a church work. We share in a cosmic, eternal calling that transcends and fulfills everything else that we do. As a Christian, you are called to share the heavenly calling. One calling with many different expressions. We’re all called together as brothers and partners to be ambassadors, saints, mentors, evangelists, minister and the very body of Jesus Christ.
When you look in the mirror, that is the face of a holy brother or sister, who is partnered in the heavenly calling of Christianity. This is who you are. Forget this, and you will drift away from Jesus. Forget this, and you will begin to believe that you are someone who may drift–that drifting is an option. But it’s not an option, because of who you are.
Tool #2: Considering Jesus
…consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God’s house.
C.S. Lewis wrote, “I believe that many who find that “nothing happens” when they sit down, or kneel down, to a book of devotion, would find that the heart sings unbidden while they are working their way through a tough bit of theology with a pipe in their teeth and a pencil in their hand.” This pipe-in-the-teeth, pencil-in-the-hand thinking is what we’re after here. Not eastern meditation, emptying our minds. This is meditation that fills the mind with deep and specific thoughts about Jesus.
Apostle and High Priest of our Confession
Jesus is the apostle of Christianity, which means that he is the ultimate messenger, bringing God’s word to us. Jesus is also the high priest of Christianity, which means that he is the ultimate priest, bringing us to God. As one commentator put it, Jesus is the “golden link” between God and mankind.
Faithful
This means that Jesus is trustworthy and reliable.
I recently did a high ropes course. In spite of the 100 foot height, my inexperience, the discomforting youth of those in charge of the course (teenagers!)–I did the course fully. Why? Because of the trustworthiness of the tether. This is the idea here. Jesus is faithful. Jesus is trustworthy. Jesus is reliable. Jesus is the ultimate tether.
How faithful is Jesus? Think of the most trustworthy person in your life? As faithful and trustworthy as that person is, Jesus is infinitely more so. This is why the writer of Hebrews talks so much about Moses in this passage. As faithful as Moses was, he was faithful as a part of the house; Jesus is faithful as the builder of the house. Moses was faithful as a servant in the house; Jesus is the son over the house.
If We Hold Fast
And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.
At first glance, this sounds as though a Christian can lose his salvation, but if we look more closely, we see that this is an implication. It may sound like, “You belong to Jesus as long as you hold fast. But if you let go, you are no longer Jesus’.” But what it’s really saying is, “If you are Jesus’, you will hold fast.” The holding fast is a result of belonging to Jesus. Holding fast is not a third tool, it’s the result of using the tools.
The proof that you are indeed a Christian is enduring to the end. Holding fast is not the action you need to pursue; it’s the outcome of remembering who you are and considering Jesus Christ as a Christian. If you’re drifting, don’t try to hold tighter to religious stuff. Remember and consider you’re identity and Jesus’ faithfulness as the “golden link.”
Discussion Starters
- Start by briefly sharing your ‘high and low’ from the past week (one of the best parts of your week, and one of the worst).
- Read Hebrews 3:1-6 together.
- Looking at the first part of verse 1, how does this description of you differ from how you usually view yourself? How might viewing yourself according to this description change the way you live? What would Dulin’s Grove Church look like if we all lived according to this description of our identity? What would be different?
- What causes us to forget our true identity in Christ? What are some practical ways we can remind ourselves and each other of the truth here?
- Looking at verses 1 and 2, consider together Jesus as “the apostle and high priest of our confession.” What are the implications of Jesus’ dual role for you individually? Your family? Our church? The world?
- Looking at verses 3-6, consider Jesus’ faithfulness. How do we know he is faithful? What are the implications of his faithfulness? What might it look like to live fully trusting in Jesus’ faithfulness?
- Talk about the second part of verse 6. Does this mean one can lose salvation? Why or why not?
- Take some time to pray for one another.
