An Eternal God For New Days
An Eternal God for New Days
Hebrews 13:8
Today we’re ordaining two new elders. What would be helpful on a day like today?
Over the last four weeks we’ve looked at some things regarding church leaders.
Today, I want us to look at The Leader, the great shepherd of the sheep. We’ll use Hebrews 13 again as a springboard to do so, and we’ll use what is perhaps the most well-known verse in all of Hebrews.
What is it?
If people only know one verse from the book of Hebrews, then it’s probably:
Heb 13:8,Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
So, let’s have a look. This verse is in the context of some final instructions in ch13.
Immediate context is after v7 and before v9.
V7, Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
I wonder if at least part of the thought is, “Consider how they finally finished.” Maybe even, “Consider how they died. Consider the fact that these leaders who lead you for so long, actually ran all the way and across the finish line. Since they ran across the finish line, since they continued looking to Jesus, the author and finisher of their faith (12:2), make sure that you imitate that.”
In contrast v9, Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings.
There are other people who would like to influence the congregation, and they have all kinds of views and notions. And the result of their influence will be taking our eyes off Jesus and being carried away by all kinds of diverse and strange teachings.
So on the one hand, you have leaders whose faith you may imitate, but who are going to go away.
On the other hand, you have diverse teachers whose nonsense should be avoided at all costs.
So what do you do? Where do you look?
Set between the commendation of good leaders, and the condemnation of bad ones, false teachers is v8. Men will come. Men will go. Life changes. Jesus Christ remains.
What a positive thought to have on a day like today. David and Pete have not even become elders yet, technically, and I’m already talking about the fact that they’re not going to be here forever.
On a day like this, is there a temptation to be pre-occupied with ourselves?
Is there a temptation to forget that we are just a dot along the process of time?
Probably, so what I want to do is paint a bit of a picture of who Jesus is.
Who is this Jesus? What does it mean for him to be the same yesterday, today, and forever?
You might be saying to yourself, “I can think of some ways Jesus has changed.”
I can think of some too. At one point in time, on one day, he was wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. At another point in time, on another day, his body was wrapped in a linen shroud and laid in a tomb. There’s a bit of a difference.
At one point, namely before time, he was enjoying the glory and perfect presence and love of his Father in heaven. At another point in time, he was crying out, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” Again, a bit of a difference.
When the writer to the Hebrews says that Jesus is always the same, he’s not talking about his physical appearance. He’s not talking about his circumstances, or emotions.
What he’s talking about is more fundamental than any of that, and more important than any of those things. He’s talking about his character. He’s talking about who he is.
What is it that makes Jesus, Jesus? Whatever it is, it doesn’t change.
In the context of good influences and bad influences, and a changing world, don’t forget who Jesus is.
Well, who is he?
When we read 13:8, it’s a loaded phrase, and what we’re meant to do is think, “Doesn’t that sound familiar to something we’ve already read in this letter?” Yes it does. “Where have we heard something like this before?” Back in chapter 1. “But Warwick we’ve just jumped straight in at chapter 13, how are we meant to know what’s in chapter 1?” Good point. “And isn’t the practice at Trinity Church…” “And didn’t you say just a couple of weeks ago that the role of an elder is to preach the whole council of God…”
Let’s go back to ch1 and think about ‘who is Jesus?’ I want to do that by asking a series of questions?
Who created the world?
It wasn’t you, and it certainly wasn’t me.
We know don’t we, the Bible makes it clear that God did. God alone made the heavens and the earth. He says so himself in Isaiah 44:24:
I am the LORD, who made all things,
who alone stretched out the heavens,
who spread out the earth by myself.
The angels were present, but only as spectators. God is the only one to make something out of nothing.
Hebrews 1:2 says it was the Son through whom God created the world. In v10, it is the Son who laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of [his]hands.
In other words, Genesis 1:1 is about Jesus. So, who is Jesus?
Who is worthy to be worshipped?
It’s not you, and it’s not me.
If there’s one thing that’s clear in Scripture, it’s that God alone ought to be worshiped. When Satan tried to bribe Jesus into worshiping him, Jesus responded, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve’” (Matt. 4:10). Worship is an honour reserved for God. End of discussion.
According to Hebrews 1:6, the God who commands people to worship him alone also commands the angels to worship Jesus.
And when he [God]brings the firstborn into the world [Jesus], he says “Let all God’s angels worship him.”
Angels aren’t exactly known for being casual about worship. Twice in the book of Revelation, an angel rebukes the apostle John for trying to worship him (Rev. 19:10; 22:8–9).
It reminds us how glorious and mighty angels really are. If we were to actually see one, we’d probably be like John—our first instinct would be to fall down and worship him.
Then, we’d be rebuked. Angels tell men to “worship God” (Rev. 19:10; 22:9). God tells angels to worship the Son, and when angels worship Jesus, he doesn’t tell them to get up.
That should tell us something about who Jesus is.
Who is called “Lord” and “God”?
Not you and not me.
Our questions are getting more and more obvious. “What do you mean? God is called God.”
Sure, there are certain characters in the Bible who tried to be like God – that’s what the serpent said to Eve wasn’t it, “eat this fruit and you’ll be like God” – but that didn’t go to well for her (or us). No, only God is God.
Let me explain. Two of the most prominent names in the Old Testament for God are “Lord” and “God”. They mean different things, that we won’t get into now.
Both those names are applied to Jesus in this chapter.
The first is “God”. v8, But of the Son he says, “Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.”
Here Jesus is explicitly addressed as God. God the Son is distinguished from God the Father, you see that in v9., but he’s still called “God”.
The second name is “Lord.” Look at v10, And “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning”.
The Greek word used here is the same Greek word used to translate YHWH in the Old Testament, “The LORD”, God’s covenant name.
Now, which one do you think is most impressive? Being called “God” or being called “Lord”?
Probably it’s the small, but not insignificant, number of verses calling Jesus “God” that impresses us the most.
However, the astounding number of passages calling Jesus “Lord” should impress more than they do, given that “LORD” is the most commonly used name for God in the Old Testament.
Who created the world? Who is worthy to be worshipped? Who is called Lord and God?
Not angels. No. Jesus is! He always has been, and he always will be. Which brings us to our last question.
Who has the attribute of being unchanging and eternal?
God’s attributes are those characteristics or perfections that make him who he is. Some attributes he shares with us, but others belong to him alone. For example, God alone is eternal and unchanging and all-powerful and all-knowing.
Yet according to vv11-12, the Son is also unchanging and eternal. “[The heavens] will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will have no end.”
Who else but Yahweh could say “For I the LORD do not change”? (Mal. 3:6). Apparently, Jesus can.
In fact, v3, has already said that Jesus shares all of God’s attributes. It describes him as, the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature.
The Son’s way of being God is that he is the exact imprint, the spitting image, of his Father. They share every divine attribute.
Back to our question from before: In what way is Jesus the same?
Well, his sameness is the sameness of God. His unchangingness is the unchangingness of God. The visible universe with all its laws that scientists bank on so heavily to be unchanging (gravity, thermodynamics) is like a shirt compared to God: it was put on at creation, and it will be taken off when God is finished with it. So what the world regards as the baseline of stability is not. God is, and Jesus Christ is God.
Leaders will come and go. Strange teachings will arise. All kinds of notions will bombard the local gathering, and, says the writer, “Remember this. Remember who Jesus is. He is the one who made everything, he is the one who is worthy of all honour, he is to be called Lord and God. Not just yesterday, not just today, but forever.”
If this is who Jesus is, what’s that going to mean for us?
It’s an encouragement personally isn’t it. Particularly when we add this thought to vv5-6, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
We live in a world full of things disruptable, changeable, and breakable.
From holidays being cancelled, to rodents making our home theirs. New viruses emerge and old friends move on. A cough turns into the flu. An old car dings our new one. A soaring stock market becomes a plunging one.
When George Harrison said, “all things must pass away”, he was right. Almost.
There is one part of our lives that will never change, cannot be disrupted, and is always certain. That is Jesus and his great commitment to and love for his children. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. His love for us neither peaks nor dives, it neither waxes nor, it never has a high tide or low tide.
That doesn’t make him predictable, or manageable. It does mean that we can trust him and rest in his grace, no matter what is going on in our hearts, or in our circumstances, or in our world.
Disruption and change don’t have sovereignty; only Jesus does. Nothing is random in this world. Nothing catches him off guard.
All of the tomorrows, of which we know nothing, are all under his care.
There’s no one like Jesus is there? No one even comes close.
So what does this mean for us now as a church?
1. There are some things that mustn’t change
If Jesus is the unshakable king of an unshakable kingdom, then there are some timeless imperatives.
Have a look at 12:28, Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Yes! What does that look like?
Keep reading, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship.
Yes! How do we do that?
Well, that’s what ch13 is about. What is this acceptable worship?
13:1, Let brotherly love continue. V2, Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. V3, Remember those who are in prison.
If Jesus is committed to you unchangingly, how can you then turn around to someone else and say, “Sorry, my concern for you is going to be erratic at best”?
There’s more to worship than that. V4, Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled.
Or v5, Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have.
If that’s who Jesus is, we don’t worship money (v5). We don’t worship sex (v4). We don’t worship self (vv1-3).
We worship him. These things are to be true for any church at any age and in any stage.
We trust adding to the eldership will help to that end.
The message doesn’t change.
The only way we can know Jesus today is by reading about the Jesus of yesterday, because yesterday is when Jesus showed up and showed us what he is really like. We know him and relate to him through the historical Word of God about him.
Which is why the role of an elder is to teach the whole counsel of God.
Not easy to do that in today’s culture.
You mess with the message, you mess with the only way God has ordained to know Jesus. There’s no new revelation about Jesus.
There are no new doctrines. If you hear doctrines being preached that are not old, they’re not true.
If Jesus doesn’t return for 100 years, our hope is there’ll be someone here (behind this pulpit) saying the same things, “Jesus is supreme. Jesus satisfies”, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
We have a great message. Why would you want to change it?
When we’re part of God’s church, we’re part of something far bigger than what we see here.
We trust adding to the eldership will help us to know and show that.
2. There are some things that must change
Just because Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever, doesn’t mean we can just put the car on cruise control and coast. That might work if the road was straight and smooth, but the reality is it’s not like that.
Jesus Christ doesn’t change, but the culture changes.
We have a great message, and because of who Jesus is we’ll want to make him known, then we’ll need to work hard to engage with the world in which we live.
The reality is, in our 21st century we face many complex issues, which earlier generations have not been required to face. New issues require new thinking.
To present Jesus faithfully to this world, it’s not going to be enough to create little communities of people who attempt to live as people did in earlier centuries, using 17th century language and 17th century Bibles.
What are the issues today that present the most serious challenges to our children remaining in our churches? We do our children a serious disservice if we fail to address them.
How are we to affirm the historical truth about Jesus in a postmodern world which is committed to relativism? How can we stand firm for Christ against a plethora of religions and philosophies in a politically correct world, where people are finding, increasingly, that it’s illegal to quote the Bible or disagree with the woke narrative?
The message about Jesus doesn’t change, but our method might change, the way we present it might change, the main issues we address might change. In fact, must change, if we’re to be faithful.
We believe adding the right men to the eldership will help us to this end.
Our passion for making Jesus known.
Jesus is worthy of all honour and praise and glory and power. Who here can say, “Yep, I’ve done that enough now”, or “I now know how to do that perfectly”?
Having a passion for the Lord Jesus, knowing him and making him known, is an ongoing task.
We believe adding the right men to the eldership will help us to this end.
These readers of this letter were in danger of doing the one thing that we dare not do – and that is taking our eyes off Jesus Christ. So as he says in ch12, make sure you are looking to Jesus. Thankful to leaders, aware of the danger of false teaching. The key is to keep our gaze on the one who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
We’re not involved in the building of a reputation for ourselves. We’re not involved in the propping up of some kind of religious tradition.
We’re here to exalt the name of Jesus Christ, who, in his grace and power, is the same everyday and will be forever. We’re here to do that, by his grace and power, better in the future than we have in the past.
V21