Hebrews 5:11-14

Summary retelling of Hebrews 5:11-14

The author of Hebrews now tells his audience that he has much to teach them about the priesthood of Christ, but they have become lazy in their desire to understand.  By this time in their faith they should be teaching others; yet they are themselves still at the point of needing to be taught.  They are like infants who need to be nursed rather than people who can sit at the table and endure solid food like an adult.  Those who can endure solid food become that way by practicing the discernment between good and evil every day.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The author is quick to chastise his audience and remind them that they have become lazy.  This isn’t necessarily an attack on their personality in this world, for there are many hard-working individuals in this world who are spiritually lazy.  This is an attack on their spiritual persona.  The audience should have been growing ever-closer to God and they are not.  They are slow, struggling to retain and remember even the most basic of truths.

Why do people – even good, honest, hard-working people – become spiritually lazy?  What are some of the distractions in life that keep us from growing spiritually?  Are all of those distractions bad things?  How does this section of scripture challenge us to remain spiritually active?

Second Thought:

The author indicates that the people to whom this book is written should be teachers of the faith, yet they are still basic students.  I think there is a really fundamental principle to be found in this passage.  We only become masters at a skill when we endeavor to teach it to others.  When we know we have to learn a skill well enough to explain it to others and guide them in the practice of it, then we will master it ourselves.  So many times people believe the lie that “they could never teach this to others” or “they don’t know enough to teach their faith to others.”  What they are doing is creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.  They will never be strong enough to teach others so long as they believe they aren’t strong enough in the faith to teach others.  Only in teaching others will they become strong enough to teach others.

Does this logic seem somewhat circular?  Can you buy into the idea that being a teacher in the faith is something that one can become only through making an attempt at being a teacher in the faith?  In what ways does this really make sense?

Third Thought:

The author speaks about spiritual food.  Infants need milk.  Infants need to have easily digestible material.  New Christians need to know about the love and grace of God.  They need to know about the faithfulness of Jesus.  They need to know about Jesus’ passion.  They need to know about the comforting presence of the Holy Spirit.  New Christians need to be reassured all the time.  This is spiritual milk.  However, if this is all that is happening then growth will not occur.  When ready, all Christians need to be challenged.  All Christians need to have their perspectives broadened.  All Christians need to see their sin and how their sin keeps them from being obedient to God.  These things are the spiritual meat that brings about true relationship with God and one another.

Which do you like hearing from your spiritual leaders: spiritual milk or spiritual meat?  Why?  Was this always the case?  When might you like to hear spiritual milk?  When might you like to hear spiritual meat?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 6:1-3

Hebrews 5:8-10

Summary retelling of Hebrews 5:8-10

Although Jesus was God’s own Son, He suffered.  Through that suffering, Christ learned obedience.  Through that suffering, His perfection was displayed and He became the source of salvation for all who obey.  God designated Jesus as a priest among the order of Melchizedek.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Christ suffered.  He suffered again and again.  Time and time again Christ taught the crowd, only to have the majority of them turn away.  Time and time again Christ taught His disciples, only to watch them backslide into the ways of the world.  Of course He was handed over to the Romans, tried by the Jews, mocked by the soldiers, abandoned by His own disciples, and crucified.  Yes, He suffered.  Through it all, He was obedient.  He was perfectly obedient to the will of the Father in spite of His worldly circumstances.

How difficult do you think it was for Jesus Christ to be obedient to the Father – especially knowing that He was not only fully divine but also fully human?

Second Thought:

This passage speaks of Jesus Christ being salvation to all those who obey.  Here we understand yet again the significance of being obedient to God.  As we’ve heard many times, perfection is not attainable by human beings.  But while perfection is not attainable, obedience is.  We can do God’s will some of the time.  We can be repentant all of the time for those moments when we don’t do God’s will.  We can be humble and acknowledge God’s control all of the time.  Obedience – living a life dominated by the will and ways of God – is attainable because of the Holy Spirit and His grace, mercy, and forgiveness.

Are you obedient?  Why might you say yes?  Why might you say no?

Third Thought:

Here we have another reference to Melchizedek.  We know from the exodus story that God’s priests are descendants of the tribe of Levi – and the high priests are especially descendants of Aaron, Moses’ brother.  We also know that Jesus’ lineage is traced through David (and therefore the tribe of Judah) rather than Levi.  Melchizedek becomes the answer as to how Jesus can become a high priest even though his lineage isn’t from Levi (or specifically, Aaron).  In Genesis 14:18, we hear about Melchizedek, who is a priest of God but also the king of Salem.  Salem is the name of Jerusalem in the book of Genesis (Notice the word Salem even within Jerusalem?).  From Genesis, we hear about the tradition is that the kings of Salem are also high priests of God.  Thus, when David conquered Jerusalem, he became a priest – not because he was of the right lineage through Levi but because of the geographical order of priests through Melchizedek.  Therefore, since Jesus came from David and is believed to sit on the spiritual throne of David, Jesus is a high priest through the order of Melchizedek.

How neat is it that God worked through David a thousand years prior to Jesus in order to provide for a way that a descendant of Jesus could also be a high priest?  What does this explanation reveal to us about God’s plan and His patience in bringing about His plan?  What can it also teach us about God’s ability to work in ways that are not expected by us?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 5:11-14

Hebrews 5:7

Summary retelling of Hebrews 5:7

When Jesus was here on earth, He offered up many prayers and pleas.  His prayers involved His whole spirit.  He prayed to the Father, who is capable of saving people out of the clutches of death.  He was heard because of His reverence before God.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Even though Jesus was God, He still prayed while He was on earth.  Even though He was God, He understood the purpose of prayer and the need for prayer.  He not only modeled prayer; He lived a life of prayer.  He knew that prayer is important for helping us maintain the focus in life that God would have us to have.  He knew that prayer is important for helping us to find peace in our life.  Jesus demonstrates to us that prayer is a significant part of the Christian life.

What does it mean to you that Jesus prayed when He was on this earth?  If we say that we are a follow of Jesus, what attitude towards prayer must we have?

Second Thought:

Jesus not only prayed; He prayed hard.  When Jesus prayed, He poured His whole spirit into His prayers.  We know in the garden of Gethsemane that Jesus prayed so hard that he wept blood.  We know when He was tired after teaching all day that He still sought out time between just Himself and the Father to pray.  Prayer wasn’t something He did.  Prayer was something to which he devoted Himself.

Are you devoted to pray?  Are there certain times that you are more devoted than others?  What are some times in your life that you could be more devoted or invested in prayer?  How can you change those times in your life?

Third Thought:

Jesus was heard because of His reverence.  He wasn’t heard because of His perfection – although He certainly was perfect and blameless.  No, Jesus was heard because of His reverence.  Jesus was humble before God.  Jesus submitted to the will of the Father.  Jesus was obedient to God’s calling in His life.  God doesn’t require perfection from us, either.  He knows we can’t be perfect – we don’t have it in us.  But He does require reverence before Him.  If we are going to call Him our God, we need to act like He is our God.

How do you show reverence to God?  How often do you show reverence to God?  Would you call yourself a very reverent person, a reverent person, a sometimes reverent person, or a seldom reverent person?  Why would you put yourself in the category that you do?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 5:8-10

Hebrews 5:5-6

Summary retelling of Hebrews 5:5-6

Christ did not exalt Himself.  He was appointed to the office of High Priest.  He was begotten of God, a Son of the Most High.  He is a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Christ did not exalt Himself.  Think about it.  Do you ever remember Jesus talking about how great He was?  Do you ever remember Jesus talking about how much better He is than other people because He was God?  Yes, Jesus is confident.  He taught harsh lessons with absolute confidence.  But never did He exalt Himself.  Even when He is praised, it is the Father who gives Him praise.

Do you exalt yourself?  Why do you exalt yourself?  What does it mean to you to realize that Christ never did exalt Himself?

Second Thought:

Jesus was appointed to the position of High Priest.  As we’ve seen over the last few days, Jesus is a high priest in that he offered a sacrifice for atonement of sins.  However, Jesus was not a priest because of His lineage to Aaron or Levi.  Jesus was a high priest because He was the Son of God and it was the role for which He came.  {We’ll save the Melchizedek conversation for a few days from now.  But I’ll talk about it eventually.}

Why does it make sense that Jesus was appointed to the role of high priest?  What role do you think His lineage (or lack thereof) played in the rejection that He received from the ruling elite Jews?

Third Thought:

Jesus was begotten.  Jesus was not made.  To be made would imply that Jesus was a part of creation.  Instead, Jesus was begotten.  God came to Mary and Jesus was begotten through her.  In fact, Jesus could not be made because creation was made through Him!

What would it mean if Jesus was created instead of begotten?  What do we know about all of creation (See Romans3:23)?  Why does this stress the importance on the fact that Jesus is begotten of the Father?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 5:7

Hebrews 5:1-4

Summary retelling of Hebrews 5:1-4

Every high priest that is appointed from the ranks of humanity was appointed so that they could offer sacrifices for our sin in an attempt to honor our relationship with God.  Because the priest is human, he can understand and deal with all kinds of ignorance and mistaken behavior.  Because he is human, he is obligated to first offer up a sacrifice for his own sins and then offer up a sacrifice for the sins of others.  Priests do not pick up this honor because they desire it.  They should pick up the honor because God has called them to it – as God called Aaron, Moses brother.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

The duty of the high priest was primarily to make sacrifices.  They were concerned about the relationship with God and Hebrew people.  The duty of the priest in the Hebrew scriptures is that of a mediator between God and mankind.  The priest was to call attention to the people’s sinfulness and move the people to a position of repentance and humbleness before their God.

In what ways do you think a priest in the Old Testament is like a disciple of Christ?  In what ways are priests even like pastors?  In what ways are the Old Testament priests not like followers of Christ?

Second Thought:

The high priests were always human.  Thus, to be correct, the priest must start with his own sinfulness.  The priest must make atonement for his own guilt and fallen nature before even attempting to deal with anyone else’s guilt.  The priest had to offer up a sacrifice for his own cleansing before being able to even have a chance of positively helping anyone else.

What does this passage help us understand about why Christians need to reflect on their own lives?  How does this passage relate to Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 7:1-5?

Third Thought:

Priests are called by God.  It has to be that way.  It is difficult enough to follow God and remember to put God first that it can only be accomplished through God’s strength given out at God’s calling.  It is even more difficult to help other people to focus properly on God.  This, too, can only be accomplished through His calling.  People who think to become priests on their own strength will find that they don’t have what it takes to do the job properly – for even those who are genuinely called by God struggle with this!

How do you think a priest was called by God?  How do you think that such a calling was validated within a person?  We’re basically talking about the discernment process – how does discernment happen?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 5:5-6

Hebrews 4:14-16

Summary retelling of Hebrews 4:14-16

We have a great high priest – Jesus Christ.  He has seen the heavens.  He is the Son of God.  Because of Him, we should hold onto our confession of faith.  We don’t have an unapproachable God; we have a high priest who can know our temptations because He Himself was tempted.  Because we are in Christ, we should approach the throne of grace with confidence.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus has seen – or passed through – the heavens.  He’s been with God.  He knows what life is like in the real presence of God.  What is really awesome in all of this is that in spite of knowing how great heaven was and how sinful the earth is, He still came here.  In spite of being the Son of God, He still came for our sake.  Jesus did what we could not do for ourselves. 

Why would we want anything else but Jesus?  What do you think it was like for Jesus to leave the Father and come to earth?

Second Thought:

Jesus Christ was tempted.  He knew the real presence of Satan and He was offered dominion over this world.  He could have succumbed to temptation even once – but He did not.  He looked temptation into the eye and chose God instead.  He desired the ways of God more than the ways of humanity.

What does it mean to you to know that Jesus was able to resist temptation?  If Jesus resisted temptation, how do you think He can help us resist temptation?

Third Thought:

We can approach the throne of grace with confidence.  We know that we are guilty.  We know that we do not deserve mercy.  We know that we have no right to even be in a relationship with God.  However, we are in a relationship with Him.  We can have grace and salvation.  We can come to God and know that He will forgive us because of what Christ has done for us.

What does it mean to you that you know that you have forgiveness?  How confident are you about your relationship with God and the salvation contained within?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 5:1-4

Hebrews 4:11-13

Summary retelling of Hebrews 4:11-13

We should be well motivated to enter God’s rest, lest our hearts be swayed into disobedience and we find ourselves on the outside looking in.  For the Word of God is a sharp sword, capable of cutting and separating into two.  It pierces deeper into the body than we can imagine, separating not only joint from marrow but soul from spirit and thoughts from the discerning of the heart.  Nobody is able to hide anything from God; we are completely exposed before Him.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Again, note the importance of obedience.  Our obedience isn’t about earning salvation.  Our obedience is about keeping us from losing the gift that God graciously gives to us.  Our obedience is about keeping us in the fold, not getting us in there to begin with.  To make an analogy from school, we do not get to go to school because we earn it.  We go to school because we are invited to come.  However, once we are at school our hard work helps keep us there.

Do you have a spiritual work ethic that will help keep you with God?  How important is it to ask God into your spiritual work ethic?  Why is God important as a regular part of your spiritual walk?

Second Thought:

Nothing can be hidden from God.  Everything we do will be exposed to God.  We will be accountable for every one of our actions.  As we confess in worship, we are guilty of what we have done and what we have left undone.  We will be guilty of what we meant to do and even the things we did not mean to do.  Thankfully, we know that the repentant heart will find God’s forgiveness.  But that does not mean that we should take advantage of God’s grace.  We need to practice obedience so that we are prepared to represent God whenever He asks and to be humble when we don’t.

How does it make you feel to know that nothing can be hidden from God?  What do you think about when you read passages like this?  Do you ever become numb to the idea that God hears all and sees all?

Third Thought:

God’s Word is sharper than a two edged sword.  God’s Word can separate our thoughts from our actions.  God’s Word can pierce us to our heart and force us to reconsider what we are doing.  God’s Word speaks truth into our lives like nothing and nobody else can do.  Our human ability to rationalize out thoughts and actions cannot stand against God’s immovable and consistently truthful Word.

Why is this passage able to speak to the importance of a person being engaged in God’s Word daily?  Do you think there is any relationship with a human being that can be more important than your relationship with God’s Word?  What is it about God’s Word that can speak truth more consistently and more directly than a friend or a parent can?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 4:14-16