Jesus is Greater than Moses

 Read Hebrews 3

Some of you probably won’t agree, but that’s fine. You can just be wrong.

There has never been a team like the New York Yankees.  Think about it.

Babe Ruth

Lou Gehrig

Joe DiMaggio

Mickey Mantle

Reggie Jackson

Thurman Munson

And that doesn’t even take us into the current era. Some of you kids might know Derrick Jeter. I have omitted some, many.

And you can’t leave off the center of universal wisdom, Yogi Berra.

There was no one quite like the Yankees.

You don’t have to like the Yankees. You can love Boston, Chicago, or even the Rangers, but no team past or present compares to the Yankees.

Why is this important?

If I were to say to you that now the Rangers have superseded the Yankees as the greatest team ever, you might be a little skeptical. That would be natural.

What now? Are we going to compare Michael Jordan and Lebron James?  No. There is no comparison. MJ is the GOAT. That’s too easy.

What’s the point?

The point is that we cannot understand Chapter 3 in its original context. We can try—and we do.  There is a lot that falls under the category of biblical criticism to help us have some empathy and understanding, but we can’t put ourselves in the shoes of the original audience. It’s a bridge too far, but we try; hence the New York Yankees.

Why can’t we truly empathize? They, like their fathers and their fathers before them, grew up with Moses. Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt. Moses parted the Red Sea. We know that God did it but Moses had the backbone to park those who were with him in a place where there was no escape from Pharaoh's army and the only route open was through the Red Sea.

The law came through Moses.

Moses persuaded God not to wipe out his chosen people and start over.

Moses. Moses. Moses. People knew of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and those who followed, but the story of God’s Chosen People began in Exodus when a Pharaoh did not remember what Joseph—a Hebrew—had done to save Egypt’s bacon. The Hebrew people became a threat to Egypt’s national security, so they were enslaved.

God sent Moses to deliver them.

Out of all of this Moses stuff that pervaded the Hebrew life and culture and way of life, the Law given through Moses surely was the pinnacle of all of them.

The law governed life among God’s Chosen People.

And now, there is this person that we know by the name of Jesus, and suddenly everything is about him.  What happened to Moses?

He is still important. The law is still important. They have simply been surpassed by Jesus. Jesus takes us so much farther than Moses or the Law ever could.

We accept this much more easily than the Hebrew people did 2000 years ago. Why? Most of us grew up with Jesus is Lord! We didn’t go through a season of Moses and the Law. We started with Jesus and had to look back to get the fullness of the story of God, his creation, and his love.

We knew the 10 Commandments. We thought there were a lot of death penalty offenses in the Law and probably wrestled with God being love in his very essence. We know about parting the Red Sea, water from a rock, and manna from heaven.

But for most of us, these things were not part of our formative years. Most of us started with Jesus. Last week when I said PAY ATTENTION, I knew that most of you had already paid attention and received the salvation of the Lord and were responding to that salvation in your discipleship.

The second half of that message was mostly for you, but both the second and third chapters of Hebrews lay a foundation. Pay attention. Salvation is through Christ alone and Jesus is greater than Moses. I can say that here and nobody will get their feathers ruffled.

But as we come to chapter 3, the author wrestles with the predisposition of his original target audience. That condition is one governed by Moses and the Law.

What do we need to know?

Jesus came and said he did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill it. He did just what he said he would do. He fulfilled the law. He confirmed this from the cross.

Some twist this verse to mean that Jesus came to enforce the law. He came to and did fulfill the law. Why is this important? Why is it important to us?

We get to move forward into living the abundant life that God intended. We get to finally do the good works that God intended. We don’t do them for our salvation, but because we have been saved.

We have passed from death to life!

The cycle of sin and sacrifice repeated again and again has given way to the one and only sacrifice required to make us right with God forever.

Nobody other than Jesus ever fulfilled the law. Through him, we live in right standing with God. The righteousness of the law was imputed to us in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus.

It’s just not as big of a challenge to us to receive Jesus as Lord and Savior and more important than the law or Moses.

Do you think Moses had an issue with this? Consider that Moses was with the Lord at this transfiguration. Moses was all in. Moses knew his part.

Do you remember the Corrie Ten Boom quote that I gave you a few weeks ago and told you that you would get it again?  Don’t try to tell God what to do. Just report for Duty.

I don’t think Moses filed a complaint with the HR department because Jesus got the better position. Moses knew his part and that his part would be surpassed by what Jesus came to do.

That was the plan. That was God’s plan.

Just as John the Baptist knew that he and his ministry would lessen as the work of the Lord kicked into high gear; I’m certain from the full biblical witness that Moses was and is good with Jesus surpassing him and the law. There was not competition between Jesus and Moses, except those concocted by humankind.

Just as Jesus told the Pharisees that tried so hard to trap him with Sabbath offenses, I am Lord of the Sabbath; we must acknowledge that he is Lord of and over all, and that includes Moses.

Here’s the cool beans part. God has made us brothers and sisters with Christ. That means we are brothers and sisters with Moses too.

For the next part, and we are getting into law and grace as well as old and new covenants, I will use my old faithful analogy of headlights.

Over the past 16 years, I have used this a dozen times. That’s ok, sometimes it takes 20 times to catch the idiom here.

Imagine driving late at night on State Highway 152 west of Cordell and the vehicle coming at you has those bright, halogen or some space-aged headlights.  They are blinding.  You can barely see as the two vehicles pass.

You might even say a mean word or two as the two vehicles pass in the night.

Imagine driving exactly the same road at exactly the same spot and meeting the same vehicle 12 hours later.  He still has his headlights set on obliterate. You hardly notice.  Their intensity is the same as the night before, but they don’t affect you at all.

Why?

Because the light from the sun is so much brighter.

Now consider Moses and the law that came through him.  It was engraved in stone, written in ink, and it had and still has its glory.  The law came from God and by definition that makes it good, and as it turns out, for our own good.

But that law was like the headlights.  They shone brightly at midnight but at noon they paled in significance when the sun shone so brightly. Their intensity had not been diminished. It was surpassed.

The sun is the Son and the New Covenant.

Some of the Jews have veiled faces.  They cannot see what we see.  They were anchored in the law and this chapter is aimed mostly at them.  Don’t give up on them, read the rest of the book.

Of course, Jesus is greater than Moses. The New Covenant is the follow-on to the Old. The law is still good and continues to benefit us. Moses is still Moses but we should realize that he is onboard with Jesus surpassing him. He gets it.

C’mon, this is the guy that had to pass the mantel of leadership to Joshua before the people entered the land promised to them. Moses got it that his part did not include a river crossing at the Jordan.

Jesus takes us where we could never take ourselves—right standing with God. That’s some good geography right there.

Jesus did not do away with the law. The law was not nailed to the cross. The invoice for our sins was nailed to the cross.

Don’t go down the rabbit trail of multiple fallacies based upon the bogey of the law was nailed to the cross. Just know without having to play this game that the law was not done away with, it was surpassed.

Jesus is the way to the Father.

Is Jesus greater than Moses? Are you ready for a highly theological term? Duh.

Yes. He is greater than us all. Remember, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Jesus who is above all things is the ultimate manifestation of God’s love for us.

We get this but it was a hard sell to many Jews in the mid-first century.

We talked about the remainder of this chapter in the first service.  It reiterates much of what you got last week.

Today is the only day in which you can act upon anything. Yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not promised.

So, this message wasn’t written just for me? I could have slept in or had an extra breakfast burrito.

Or you can add another arrow to your quiver as you stand ready to defend your faith. For many will come at you in this modern age and present the law and Moses and everything that according to modern Judaizers was greater than or equal to Jesus in opposition to the surpassing glory of God that we know in Christ Jesus.

Stand ready against all Jesus Plus anything else gospels.

Yes, this book was mostly for the Hebrew people two millennia ago, but your charge to make a defense for your faith is in effect every day.

You need to be ready to answer all questions as to why you believe that salvation comes in Christ alone.

Amen.

Pay Attention!

 Read Hebrews 2

Man, I am so broke that I can’t even pay attention.  That’s the tongue-in-cheek expression of these modern times.

Pay attention!

That’s how this chapter begins:  Pay Attention. People must have been checking their phones back then too. Their minds must have been wandering to places such as what’s for lunch or that trip to the beach. Maybe they were thinking ahead to Taco Tuesday.

Pay attention!

It’s not hey bruh. It’s not yo, yo, yo! It’s plain and simple pay attention.

Pay attention to what?

I gave you some Greek last week. Per my contract, I have to throw in 5 Greek words per year. But today, I give you a little Latin. It’s not that we use Latin much in our worship.

What Latin? Sine Qua Non.

Plain and simple, it’s: Without which, nothing.

Pay attention to this! If you miss this, you are spittin in the wind. OK, I am ready. Give it to me.

Read the Law of Moses sometimes with a focus on punishments and consequences. Sometimes the consequence is a punishment. There’s some mean stuff in there.

·       Kicked out of the group.

·       Parts of your house thrown away (mildew).

·       Dishonor.

·       The land will go the way of wickedness.

·       Death.

It’s sort of like signing one of those forms at the hospital before an operation where you acknowledge that everything doesn’t always go as planned. You may have side effects, discomfort, soreness, and let’s not leave out death.

Death! I’m just here for a simple procedure!

Many of God’s laws and directives include death as a consequence. Those without named consequences fall under the ubiquitous, the wages of sin is death.

If you have read Acts 15, you know that no person other than Jesus ever fulfilled the law. He said he came not to do away with the law but to fulfill it.  We know that he did exactly what he said he would do.

So what exactly is it to which I must give my full attention?  Without Christ you are already dead.

You have a preexisting condition that disqualifies you from living in God’s presence.  That condition is death. You are already dead. This terminal illness was brought on by sin, but there is no earthly cure.

Only Jesus can save you. He told us. His disciples told us. His holy word that we read daily tells us.  Without Jesus, we remain in our sins and have not only accepted but embraced our condition of death. We are content to live eternally without God.

That’s a terrible prospect. It’s been described as everything from a garbage dump that’s always burning to living in a fire that burns but does not consume us for all eternity.

Eternity is longer than you had COVID or the Flu or that the store was out of toilet paper. That’s a long time. You don’t want to miss this boat, this ark of salvation.

Pay attention! You can’t miss this boat. God doesn’t want you to miss this boat. I don’t want you to miss this boat. Do not miss the boat of salvation.

Salvation comes through Christ Jesus alone.

Obedience to the law won’t get you there. It never could. Sacrifices and offerings for our transgressions under the law only lasted for a year at best.

Christ was the perfect sacrifice—remember, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world—and his atonement for our sins is forever. You do not want to miss out on forever.

Pay attention!

If you mess up everything else in your life, get this part right. JESUS IS LORD! Profess it. Believe it. Live it as the way that God has given you.

Everything else that promises God or eternity or calorie-free chocolate in the hereafter is a rabbit trail that leads to destruction.

Jesus is Lord! Salvation is in him alone. He fulfilled the law for us. His righteousness is imputed to us so we may stand before God Almighty and be in right standing with him.

Pay attention. Don’t miss this boat. Pay attention.

It’s not like this is a blind leap of faith. We have each been given a measure of faith from God. It’s faith, but we have been given the accounts of God’s signs and wonders, his word given through the prophets, and in what the author would call these most recent times, a message delivered by God himself in the person of Jesus.

It's not blind faith. We have been given eyes to see the things of God and receive his gift of grace by faith.

We are without excuse; yet, we make excuses all the time.

Don’t worry, this topic of faith gets its own chapter later on.

Jesus didn’t just pop in for a quick sacrifice. He set aside his status as God for a time in which he would live a fully human life. He was and is God and human. He knows us and what we go through.

Jesus became a little lower than the angels for a time. God has put him in his right place for eternity, but for a time, Jesus had to live like we live.

When I went to Africa to teach pastors and church leaders, our host would often interject this phrase into our recurring introductions. He or they have left their comfortable beds in America to bring you God’s word.

OK. My bed at home was more comfortable than the kids bed that I slept in. Plus, I get my own personal towel at home. It’s a home with heat, air, and running water.

And we have indoor plumbing. The toilet is something you can sit upon and not just a hole in the ground to aim at.

While we complain about highway construction ad nauseum; the roads here are twenty times better than in Western Africa or Uganda.

In these United States, we drive on the right. In western Kenya, they drive on whatever is left of the road. The bigger your vehicle, the more likely you are to get that 20-meter stretch of asphalt for your use.

I left the comfort of America and went to Africa on a mission from God, and the people there noticed what I had given up for a time.

Jesus stepped out of heaven to live as a man, fulfill the law, teach us how to live, die as a man to atone for our sins once and for all time, and be raised to life as a promise of life eternal for us, and sometimes we forget what he did for us.

Sometimes, we forget. Pay attention!

Sometimes we forget how great the sacrifice was and how great the gift of life is.

For those who have not believed and professed Jesus as Lord and Savior, they need to take care of that business today.  That’s the only day which we can impact.

Yesterday is gone. There is no time machine to go back and fix things.

Tomorrow is not promised. Eternity is promised in Christ whom we receive by faith. But life in these bodies is not promised beyond the moment that you now live, and that makes now the only decision time that matters.

The author makes it a point to put a little hierarchy to this so that we may understand the magnitude of the sacrifice and gift.

Jesus was made a little lower than the angels. We were made a little lower than the angels, though if you receive the full biblical witness, you know that a redeemed man is a little above the angels. We will judge the angels one day.

If you do not know Jesus as Lord, don’t end the day in the same lifeless condition.  Repent and believe! Are you paying attention?

But most who receive this message have professed Jesus is Lord.  Most have been baptized. Most read their Bibles and participate in some Bible study.

Most of this message has been for people who are not here. But not all of the message was for them.

We still fall short. What must we do?

You don’t have to do anything for your salvation. Christ did it all, but…

Always beware of what follows the but in a sentence. We too should remember what Christ has done for us. We should remember not only his sacrifice on the cross but also the fact that he stepped out of heaven and lived as a man. We should meditate upon that on a regular basis.

God thought you were worth enough to make the sacrifice for your sins himself—even a sacrifice that involved death on a cross. God thought you were worth enough to make you worthy of living in his presence.

But we are saved from our sins and death, must we do anything else? Christ did it all. Is there anything left for me to do?

Not for salvation. That’s a done deal, but how we live says a lot about whether we just want to escape the flames of hell or do we really want to live.

For the believer, escaping the flames of hell is an incidental benefit to living the full life that God intended. It’s something of a carrot or the stick approach, but the carrot is really being able to live as God designed you to live.

Are we paying attention yet?

If I consider all that God did for me by sending his Son into this world to live the human life and die for my sins, would I not take his yoke and learn from him—from the One who gave so much for my sin-governed life.

Would we not desire with all of our being to put his words into practice?

He fulfilled the law so that we could move forward through him, the one and only—the unique Son of God. We use the term one and only quite a bit, but the word monogenés (mon-og-en-ace') also means unique.  How was Jesus unique?

Nowhere else is there an account of one who lived with God as God who put his divine status aside to live and die as a man. He did this all for us.  That’s unique.

This second chapter of Hebrews asks us to remember his uniqueness. Remember what Jesus did for us. Nobody else did or could have done for us what Jesus did.

Don’t miss the boat on salvation by not taking this to heart.

Don’t miss the boat on abundant life by relegating this part as a minor detail in a big story.

Do profess Jesus is Lord.

Do take his yoke and learn from him.

Do put his words into practice.

Do pay attention.

It’s time for those of us who believe to live in the fullness of our salvation. It’s time to value our gift so much that we will be the best disciples that we can be.

Are we paying attention?

Amen.

I'm not seeing it yet...

 Read Hebrews 2

In the next service I will focus on 2 words:  PAY ATTENTION.

I thought about preaching two other words:  CALM DOWN. That never seems to work.

I thought it went well with Be still and know that I am God. Actually, it works about as well. We don’t know how to calm down or be still or trust in the Lord with all of our hearts.

We struggle. Sometimes we go for a good stretch trusting God or at peace with God and our neighbors, but then we give into our human nature and own understanding.

We struggle.

Can you blame us? God is in control and this world looks like an absolute mess.  How can I calm down? How can I be still?

Why do I even want to PAY ATTENTION? We will spend more time on that later.

There are a few other words in this chapter that I want to spend some time on as well. Most folks don’t focus on them, but you are getting them this morning.

For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

We have yet to see all things put under him. We don’t see the orderly world that we think we should see. What does that mean?

Sin is still thriving in the world.

The Devil has not yet been consigned to his fiery eternity.

The righteous must endure the rule of the wicked for a while longer, though the faithful know this time will not endure.

We just don’t see everything falling into place like it should be, or like we think it should be. So, does that mean that God’s plan has gone awry?  

If you ever pay attention to a card trick, you will find that the owner of the trick wants you to follow along closely. He or she just wants you to follow the wrong things, so that he can pull off the trick.

We don’t see the perfect things of God because we get distracted. It is not God who is distracting us. We distract ourselves by relying on our own human nature which includes our own understanding.

Think of Peter being distracted by the storm and taking his eyes off of Jesus.

We don’t need sleight of hand to distract or deceive us. We deceive ourselves by not believing the promises of God.

We must affirm the statements and promises of God as we go through our lives.

It’s not a once-a-week thing to affirm that God has good plans for us. That’s a daily thing. In this upside world, it might need to be an hourly thing or a moment-to-moment thing.

We need to affirm to ourselves and each other that God really does love us.

We need to affirm to each other that God is love.

We need to affirm that God really is in control.

We need to affirm that God is indeed sovereign.

We need to affirm that the blood of Jesus really did take away our sins.

We need to take on his yoke and follow him.

We need to put his words into practice.

If we affirm these things on a regular and recurring basis, we might get a glimpse of the world turned right-side-up. It won’t happen on our schedule but we can see what is to be in the kingdom of God.

Therefore, we should live by what God has told us is true and will come. Thus…

We are never discouraged. God wins.

We never lose hope. He is faithful and just. He’s got us.

We never throw in the towel for we know what God did for us in the person of Christ Jesus. He stepped out of heaven and lived and died as a man so our sins would be forgiven and we would have a great High Priest who knows firsthand what it is to live the human life.

Jesus was tempted in every way but did not sin. What advantage did he have?

He knew his Father's kingdom was for real. He knew the journey, no matter how arduous, was worth it.

In his blood we receive his righteousness. Let us also receive his assurance that these trials are temporary and that heaven is real.

We are to be strong and courageous.

We live to be known as his disciples by our love.

We don’t know the whole story now, but we trust the Author.

We can’t see the whole picture now, but we trust the Artist.  OBTW—this is the same Artist that made you into a masterpiece.

We don’t know what tomorrow holds, but we know Who holds tomorrow.

Amen.

Free those held in slavery by fear of death

Read Hebrews 2

It might seem strange to jump from the Christmas story to Hebrews.  Aren’t we supposed to talk about the Magi on the one the Sundays after Christmas?  How did we get to Hebrews?  We don’t even know who wrote it and yet it is in our Bibles.

In the spirit of Christmas, we are going to look at this bundle of joy wrapped up in swaddling clothes from the perspective of the author of Hebrews.  Just who is this child?  What Child is this who laid to rest on Mary’s lap is sleeping.

We know from the Bible and the verses that follow in the song that this is Christ the King whom shepherds guard and angels sing.

He is Savior.  He is Lord.  He is God with us.  He is King of kings and Lord of lords.  He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  He is the Lamb of God who takes away our sin.  He is risen from the dead and he is Lord.

He was there at the beginning.  Nothing that we know was made without him.  He is the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.

The author of Hebrews adds a few more.  Most of us remember this one.  He is the Pioneer and Perfecter of our faith or some prefer the Author and Finisher of our faith.  But in Hebrews we gain even more insight into the person we celebrated at Christmas as a Babe in a manger.

·     He is heir of all things.  

·     He is the one through whom God made the worlds. 

·     He is the brightness of God’s glory.

·     He is the express image of God’s person.

·     He upholds all things by the word of his power.

·     He is seated at the right Hand of our Majestic Father in heaven.

·     He is better than the angels.

·     He is the captain of our salvation.

·     He is the destroyer of the devil.

·     He is a merciful and faithful High Priest.

·     He is worthy of more glory than Moses.

·     He is a High Priest who can sympathize with our weaknesses.

·     He is always alive to make intercession for us.

·     He is the Mediator of a better covenant.

·     He is our model for enduring hostility from sinners.

·     He is the great Shepherd of the Sheep.

This Jesus that we claim as our Savior and Lord and Master stepped out of heaven to enter this world as helpless baby and endure the human life.  He made himself lower than the angels for a time so he could live completely as a person like you and me.

The human child is perhaps the most helpless of all of God’s creatures at birth.  Many animals stand upright, though a bit wobbly, moments after birth.  The sea turtle after getting a mouthful of sand heads for the ocean.  The human child is virtually helpless in all things.

But Jesus stepped out of the heavenly realm into this harsh world in a helpless state for us.  He is all the things that were just mentioned, and more: yet he came into this world as a child fully dependent upon human parents.

When I went to Africa, part of the introduction was that I had come from my comfortable bed in America to preach the good news and teach pastors and church leaders.  Of all the things that our friends in Africa valued, the comfortable bed seemed to be among the best.  They could have mentioned air conditioning, modern indoor plumbing, highways in which paved meant more than splotches of asphalt every few miles for aesthetic effect; but they mentioned comfortable beds.

Imagine leaving everything that we take for granted in America and living in primitive fashion for a couple of weeks.  Most don’t want to go after looking at the bathroom facilities.

Now consider stepping out of heaven into the domain of humankind and being at the mercy of a human mother and father for your first couple of years.  Consider stepping out of paradise into a world where sin and death prevail.  

Consider that on top of just giving up the perfection of the divine realm, entering into this world was accompanied by the purpose of being a sacrifice for sin.  Human birth would require a human death, not from old age but from crucifixion.

I’m thinking that I might have wanted to hang out in heaven a couple more millennia and just sent out a universal tweet that said, “Get your act together or burn in hell.”

But God is love and his love is for his entire creation, but especially for us.  The psalmist queried the Creator of all things and asked, who are we that you are mindful of us?  Just how did we deserve your attention, much less your love?

But we received much more than God’s attention.  We received life, real life, and eternal life through this Jesus who came into our world as a Babe in a manger and lived the human life for over three decades until it ended brutally on a cross.  He came so that we could live and yet so many live as if he never came.

Too many see salvation only as a get out of hell free card.  So many see believing in Jesus just only as a way to escape the flames of perdition.  So many see salvation only in terms of what we have escaped and not what we have come into.

Many of God’s Chosen People idolized Moses.  He led them out of slavery in Egypt.  That was a great thing and the Passover was the remembrance of these mighty acts of God effected through Moses. But the story of Moses is incomplete with considering that the Promised Land was realized through Joshua.

Moses led the people out of slavery in Egypt.  Joshua led God’s people into the Promised land.  The people are incomplete without both parts of the story.

Jesus delivered us from slavery to sin and death.  For some that’s the definition of salvation, but for those who seek after the Lord, that definition is incomplete.  We have escaped death but we have entered into life and realized our salvation.  Our salvation is more than an escape; it is knowing the fullness of a life lived for Christ.

Oswald Chambers once wrote:  “All of heaven is interested in the cross of Christ, hell afraid of it, while men are the only ones to ignore its meaning.”

It’s time to stop minimizing the work done on the cross and live as people responding to the greatest gift of love ever known.  It is time to live knowing the work on the cross was complete.  We are a forgiven people.  We are fully—completely—loved by God and that’s forever.

Let’s quit doubting that!

Here is our struggle as believers seeking the fullness of salvation in Christ.  God placed everything under Jesus.  There is nothing that is not subject to his authority; yet, in the present age we do not see everything behaving as if it is subject to Jesus.  The creation still seems to be acting up like a rebellious teenager.

Our challenge as disciples is to live fully in the freedom that Christ gave us in a world that does not yet know it belongs to him.  Our challenge as a disciple is—borrowing a phrase from Paul—to live by faith and not by sight.

We can’t see the creation in complete obedience to God just yet but we can see Jesus—that is we can know Jesus as the way and the truth and the life as John’s gospel quoted our Savior. 

We can stop short if we want at the get out of hell free card or we can live as God has intended us to live from the inception of the world. 

It is a new year and while we have arrived with the same bodies and minds that we ended the previous year; somehow, we are disposed to raising the bar of our expectations at this time of year.

What if, we began this year knowing with certainty that the blood of Jesus took away my sin and that death—separation from God—is not something that I will ever know.  I have been saved by the blood of Jesus.  I am redeemed.  I have been rescued.  Sin and death do not own me anymore.

Now get rid of those two words—what if? 

Begin this year knowing with certainty that the blood of Jesus took away my sin and that death—separation from God—is not something that I will ever know.  I have been saved by the blood of Jesus.  I am redeemed.  I have been rescued.  Sin and death do not own me anymore.

What if that is our starting point for this new year?  Now, let’s remove the what if from that statement.  That is our starting point for this year.  We will only revisit these things in a spirit of thanksgiving to our Lord who rescued us.  We will not wrestle with them.  The fires of hell or eternal separation from God are things that we will never know and we will stop fighting battles that are already won.

OK.  I’m in.  So what is next?

Living!  Living fully and completely doing our very best to bring glory to God.

Mark Twain once said:  "The two most important days in your life are the day you were born, and the day you find out why."

Isn’t it time to find out the “why” of our lives.  Isn’t it time to live the purpose that God gave us.  Isn’t it time to stop going from one day to the next and just live this day as fully as you can trying your very best to bring glory to God?

Isn’t it time to take the gifts and talents and abilities that we have and put them to use fully and completely without any hint of doubt.

We have been set free from sin and death having power in our lives.  What we do in response to that should be to please God.  Isn’t it time to start living the “why” of our lives with everything that we have and that we are.

Too often we try to equate the “why” of our lives with educational and vocational choices.  Too often we try to restrict the why of our lives to our geography, or genealogy, or even  the chronology of events. 

We come to know the “why” of our lives as we come to know Jesus more and more.  In the year ahead we will study many of the parables of Jesus.  Parables give us unique insight because Jesus has unique insight into heaven and into living a human life.  Parables set one thing beside the other.

In the year ahead, I challenge you to permeate you prayer life with the words, “Lord, your will not mine.”  Do it without fear.  That means without caveat to your prayers.  What do I mean?

Lord, I am yours.  I am ready to do whatever you have planned for me, with the following exceptions…

This year, let’s take a big step in discipleship and just pray, “Thy will be done.”

This year, begin or continue in a serious reading plan.  Make it more than what we are reading for Sunday school or Wednesday night groups.  Just set out on a course of reading that is just you and God.

This year, live in hope.  Too many Christians forget that hope is a big part of who we are.  The author of Hebrews said we can’t see everything coming into obedience to God but we know that it will because we know Jesus.  We live knowing that everything will one day be reconciled.  We live in joyful obedience to God now not having to wait for someday.

In the year ahead, start doing things that you might have been afraid to do because of what others might think of you.  Fear does not govern in our lives.  Perfect loves casts out fear.  Jesus is our Lord.  We live to please him and not public opinion.

In the year ahead, take the first steps to reconcile relationships that are broken.  Be the first because we are not afraid of failure in our human relationships.  Our relationship with our Lord is intact and permanent and that gives us permission to be bold where there is brokenness among us.

In the year ahead, live as if Jesus really is your friend.  We are his brothers and sisters.  We can live with the utmost reverence and in the most intimate friendship.  The two are not exclusive.  He is Lord.  He is friend.  He is God.  He is Brother.

Sportscasters talk about playing in the zone.  That’s what we should be doing as his disciples.  Fear does not come into play.  Fear has been taken out of the picture.  We are liberated from death and now we live liberated from the fear of death.

Jesus is the captain of our salvation.  That’s a cool title but what it translates to is that Jesus is saying “Follow Me,” and we as his brothers and sisters need to do so because he is our Lord and because he is our teammate. 

We respond by saying “Thy will be done.”  We respond knowing that his will is the best will for us and contained within that will is the “why “of our lives.

We respond by living the words of the psalmist as he said, “Calm down, stop fighting, be still and know that God will bring everything into order.”  God is God and he is on our side.  He is with us and wants us to live completely.  He wants us out of fearing anything in the world to include death.

Let’s be still and know that God is God and he is not letting go of us.

Jesus, our High Priest and closest Friend, knows what it is to live in these fleshly vessels and he has liberated us to live without fear of death. 

He has atoned for our sins, actively makes intercession for us, and wants us to live fully liberated from the fear of the world and the fear of death.  Jesus wants us to live in the zone.

Today’s message is about heading into a new year unencumbered by fear, ready to really live for Jesus, and in the words, “Thy will be done,” fully expectant of knowing the “why” of our lives.

That’s a year that I am looking forward to living.

Happy New Year and Amen.