A Word about the Greatest Negotiator

Today we will continue in a series of messages from the Book of Hebrews that I am calling the Greatest of All Time. In this episode, we will see that Jesus is the Greatest Negotiator.

One advantage of a life in ministry is that you can experience different cultures in different places. I think that’s why when I visit a new place that I enjoy going into the grocery stores there. To me, when I experience a new place or culture, the more mundane facets of life are often more interesting than tourist attractions or other, more esoteric offerings. When I go into a marketplace, I can find interesting differences between our way of life in the United States, and the new culture that I have the opportunity to explore.

For example, in Europe, any tax on an item in a shop is already figured in before a price tag is placed on that item. Shoppers have no need to multiply a price for an object by a percentage to know their final bill. What you see on the price tag is what you pay. Simple.

On the other hand, markets in Africa or other developing regions of the world are just the opposite. Nothing has a price tag on it, and haggling over what something costs is a way of life. No one ever pays the first price that the sellers offer, and the buyers are expected to make a counteroffer. This process continues until the sellers cannot go any lower or they will lose money, and the buyers must decide to pay-up or walk away. While I was never good at this process; my wife excelled at it. Frankly, I like the European method best, because it is less complicated and I am a simple person.

When missionaries return from overseas after learning to negotiate prices in that way, some confusion can result. A missionary kid (MK), who was home from Africa on furlough, once went to a big box store in the USA. This MK filled a shopping basket with items that could not be found in the country where the MK’s family served. At the check-out, the teller said, “That will be $165.99,” and the MK countered with, “I will give you $90.00.” The teller insisted that the MK pay the full amount, only to hear the child protest, “But, these are American dollars I have here!”

That missionary kid learned early in life how to be a negotiator, although that effort failed at the big box store. What the writer of Hebrews tells us in Chapter 8 is that, as we have seen before, Jesus is the Greatest Negotiator.

Let’s begin our study by reading Hebrews 8:1-6:

Now the main point of what is being said is this: We have this kind of high priest, who sat down at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a minister of the sanctuary and the true tabernacle that was set up by the Lord and not man  For every high priest is appointed to offer gifts and sacrifices; therefore it was necessary for this priest also to have something to offer. Now if He were on earth, He wouldn’t be a priest, since there are those offering the gifts prescribed by the law. These serve as a copy and shadow of the heavenly things, as Moses was warned when he was about to complete the tabernacle. For God said, Be careful that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown to you on the mountain. But Jesus has now obtained a superior ministry, and to that degree He is the mediator of a better covenant, which has been legally enacted on better promises.

The Point of the Deal:

I think it is safe to say that, from the beginning of human commerce, imitation items have been marketed and sold, disappointing naive consumers of every generation.  Ever since the first husband got a “great deal” on a “gold” ring for his wife that turned her finger green, people have been scammed by sellers who traffic in imitation goods. Remember, if a deal is too good to be true, it isn’t! When people settle for imitations, they are most often disappointed.

People often settle for imitations in other parts of their lives as well. We let the world sell us transactional relationships in place of true, heart-felt friendships. We let the world sell us on the acquisition of power, influence, and possessions as the way to find happiness. We let the world sell us fame and fortune instead of being a faithful friend of God. We let the world sell us addictive behavior as the best way to deal with stress and fear and disappointment. The first spoon from a bowl of vanilla ice cream, the greatest food known to mankind, may be heavenly, but no comfort food can provide us real comfort, and no addiction can give us true peace. 

The point of the deal, as stated by the author of Hebrews, is that Jesus is the Real Deal. The life we have on this Earth, the relationships we have on this Earth, even the structures we have on this Earth, these are all reflections of the reality of Heaven. They are good, and often even great, but they are not perfect, and they will not last.

In many ways, what we have here on Earth reminds me of the holodeck in the Star Trek television programs. The holodeck made its first appearance in Star Trek: The Next Generation, and it was a room that could become any place a person could imagine. This made it a great device for the series writers to be able to place the program’s characters in all kinds of various places, times, and situations, which made for interesting viewing. The experiences that the characters had in the holodeck were not real, however, and they were short-lived. 

Because Jesus is the Real Deal, He offers us a real relationship with God. Because Jesus is the Real Deal, He offers us the chance to live with God daily, and also eternally.  Because Jesus is the Real Deal, we can enjoy and rest in His promises which are real and eternal and perfect.

Anyone who has ever been disappointed by an imitation item knows the feeling of sadness and betrayal that buying into falsehoods and false promises gives you. Since Jesus is the Real Deal, and He is the Point of the Deal, we will never feel like we have gotten a bad deal when we buy-in to what He offers us.

Now, let’s read Hebrews 8:7-9:

For if that first covenant had been faultless, there would have been no occasion for a second one. But finding fault with His people, He says: Look, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah—not like the covenant that I made with their ancestors on the day I took them by their hands to lead them out of the land of Egypt. I disregarded them, says the Lord, because they did not continue in My covenant.

The Old Deal:

God has dealt with humanity since He created Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden. If any people ever had a deal that was too good to be true, but actually was true, it was them. They had the entire world at their disposal. All they had to do was restrain themselves from eating from one tree, but they couldn’t keep their end of the deal. 

God also dealt with Abraham. He promised to bless him and make him a great nation. All Abraham had to do was to trust God and to be a blessing to the world by sharing God’s love. That deal didn’t work out either. God held up His end of the bargain, but the Children of Israel didn’t. They were glad to enjoy the prosperity given to them by God, but they forgot their part of the covenant. Instead of being a blessing to the Egyptians, they caused their host nation to become suspicious of them. In the end, that turned out badly for the Egyptians, but if the Children of Israel had shared God’s love like He intended them to do, maybe all that unpleasantness could have been avoided.

Later, God dealt with Moses and the Children of Israel as they were about to enter the promised land. In this case, He tried something different. Until then, God gave His people a clear goal and expected them to get on with achieving it. This was how General Norman Schwartzkopf dealt with the commander and staff of the 101st Airborne Division after they had briefed him on their plans for Operation Desert Storm. His last words to them were, “You’re about to make air assault history; don’t mess it up!” One old master sergeant commented at the time, “Now, that’s guidance I can understand.”

Sadly, God’s people may have understood their part in the covenant that they had made with God, but they could not uphold it. So, God made some changes in the deal. Let’s read Exodus 19:1-8,

In the third month, on the same day of the month that the Israelites had left the land of Egypt, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai. After they departed from Rephidim, they entered the Wilderness of Sinai and camped in the wilderness, and Israel camped there in front of the mountain. Moses went up the mountain to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain: “This is what you must say to the house of Jacob, and explain to the Israelites: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Me. Now if you will listen to Me and carefully keep My covenant, you will be My own possession out of all the peoples, although all the earth is Mine, and you will be My kingdom of priests and My holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to say to the Israelites.” After Moses came back, he summoned the elders of the people and set before them all these words that the Lord had commanded him.  Then all the people responded together, “We will do all that the Lord has spoken.” So Moses brought the people’s words back to the Lord.

The reaction of the Children of Israel at this juncture reminds me of when we buy a new computer or download a new game or piece of software. Invariably we will be presented with a contract on screen, which in modern parlance is called a EULA or an End User License Agreement. As consenting adults, we are supposed to read, understand, and agree, to this insufferably long and binding agreement, something than none of us ever do. We simply click on the button that affirms that we read and agreed to the EULA, and away we go, having agreed to who knows what!

In this case the Lord said, “Whoa, there! Let’s talk about what this agreement is all about.” Then, for the next three chapters in Exodus, He outlined the responsibilities of His people, beginning with the Ten Commandments, and then continuing to deal with issues like worship, how to treat servants, how to deal with accidents and other injuries inflicted on one person by another, how to punish theft, sorcery, and sexual misconduct, how to treat vulnerable people, and how to honor the sabbath. Of course, God also listed His promises that He made to His people, and He warned them to avoid sin.

God gave His people some seriously complete guidance about how to live for Him. In fact, the entire Book of Leviticus was dedicated to teaching God’s people the right things to do to carry out their part of their deal with God. In the pew Bibles of the church I pastor, the Book of Leviticus spans twenty-six double column pages. God gave His people all the information that they needed to have so they would not mess up, and He explained it to them carefully. We can see their response in Exodus 24:3-8,

Moses came and told the people all the commands of the Lord and all the ordinances. Then all the people responded with a single voice, “We will do everything that the Lord has commanded.” And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early the next morning and set up an altar and 12 pillars for the 12 tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain. Then he sent out young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. Moses took half the blood and set it in basins; the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. He then took the covenant scroll and read it aloud to the people. They responded, “We will do and obey everything that the Lord has commanded.” Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you concerning all these words.”

Don’t you appreciate it when a sales agent takes the time to carefully explain to you the parameters of the deal to which you are about to agree? God did that and more, and then He asked the people if they were ready to “sign on the dotted line.” They were, and they did. They said, “Yes,” and they meant “yes,” but they failed to do, “yes.”

Jesus said that we must let our “yes” be “yes,” and our “no,” be “no.” So, unlike us, God kept His part of the deal. Even more than that, God went much farther than the extra mile to make His covenant with His people work.

He dealt with them through judges, and prophets and priests and kings. He dealt with them as a single nation, and also later when they split into two nations. He dealt with them in the Promised Land, and then when they were in captivity, and also when they were restored to Canaan. Despite His stubborn love for His people, they could not keep their end of the deal.

We all know the saying, “If you want something done right, you have to do it yourself.” Since the Old Deal was not working because of the failure of God’s people, God acted to create a New Deal, a deal which was guaranteed to work, because God, Himself, was going to be the guarantee.

Now, let’s read Hebrews 8:10-12. In this case, the writer of Hebrews is quoting the prophet Jeremiah, who said,

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws into their minds and write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be My people. And each person will not teach his fellow citizen, and each his brother, saying, “Know the Lord,” because they will all know Me, from the least to the greatest of them. For I will be merciful to their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins.

The New Deal:

We all know the saying that “you don’t get something for nothing,” but that is not always true. One of my predecessors as director of missions in an association of Baptist churches discovered that many of the pastors there did not have any life insurance. One pastor had died, and his family did not have the money for the funeral.  So, the director of missions decided that was a problem that had to be solved.

He contracted with an insurance company to offer small life insurance policies to the pastors of the association which were sufficient to cover the costs of a funeral. These policies earned cash value from the company investing the premiums. The association would pay the premiums until the dividends grew to pay for the value of the insurance provided, and when a death claim was settled, any cash value left over would go back to the association. The pastors paid nothing out of pocket. All they had to do was to sign on the dotted line. When I retired from denominational service over three decades after these policies were written, about a dozen former pastors still held one of those insurance policies, for which they had paid nothing.

I think this is a great illustration of the New Covenant which was written in the blood of Jesus. God knew we had a debt to Him which we could not pay. He decided to pay that debt for us, without charging us anything. All we had to do is sign on the dotted line, and salvation would be ours.

I will admit to some limitations in using those insurance policies as an illustration of the New Deal offered to us in Christ, but these exceptions prove the rule:

First, those insurance policies were only offered to the pastors of churches in that one association in south Alabama. They were not available to their wives, or their families, or any of their church members. They weren’t offered to pastors of other denominations or to Baptist pastors in other counties. God, however, offers His forgiveness to all who will accept His Son as their Savior.

Also, those insurance policies were never very big, and they could not grow cash value because the cash value was absorbed by the cost of the premiums. While they were sufficient to bury someone when they were written decades ago, their value would only pay a portion of the costs of a funeral today. In the case of Jesus however, we know what the old hymn says, 

Jesus paid it all,

All to Him I owe;

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

Finally, only one person is left alive in that county that knows how the system works or even how to find the files on those policies. At the time of writing, that fellow is 86 years old! He’s going strong, but he won’t live forever! Conversely, the instructions about loving God are written down for all to see, and in fact, the Holy Spirit writes God’s Truth on the hearts of all His people.

The New Deal offered by President Roosevelt to the generation of the Depression era was funded by borrowing money from the succeeding generations. God, however, is a debtor to no one, because His riches in grace are far greater than anyone can imagine, and, through His New Deal, He places those at our disposal.

Finally, let’s read Hebrews 8:12 and 13,

For I will be merciful to their wrongdoing, and I will never again remember their sins. By saying, a new covenant, He has declared that the first is old. And what is old and aging is about to disappear.

The Deadline of the Deal:

We often see deals offered to us that state that they are “for a limited time only.” Also, we will see products offered to us that have a “limited production run.” These statements appeal to our human Fear Of Missing Out (or FOMO). The impact of these marketing statements subconsciously urges us to, “Get them before they are gone!” 

One commentator pointed out that every deal is available for a limited time only, and every product has a limited production run. For example, the association of Baptist churches in south Alabama no longer offers those insurance policies to the pastors of member churches. Also, automobiles that burn leaded gas and that don’t have catalytic converters are no longer manufactured.  The lesson we take away from these facts is to “strike while the iron is hot.” If you need something and you can afford it, you should buy it while you have the opportunity. The next time you look for it, it might be gone forever.

The writer of Hebrews told us that the Old Deal was no longer on offer. Now, to relate to God, to gain His help and assistance, to access forgiveness of sins and life eternal, we must deal with Jesus. There is no other option available to us. 

How long will the offer of salvation by Christ be available? The short answer is that we don’t know. We do know, however, that someday a trumpet will blow, and Jesus will come for His people. Until then, as long as we have breath, we can choose to buy-in to Christ’s offer to us. As Paul wrote in Romans 10:9-13,

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. One believes with the heart, resulting in righteousness, and one confesses with the mouth, resulting in salvation. Now the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on Him will not be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.

Conclusion:

I know a fellow who, as a young man, joined his parents in buying into a limited time offer on a time-share vacation home. Decades later, his parents are deceased and he is unwell himself and he cannot travel anymore. Yet he is unable to dispose of his time-share. It seems that time-share contracts are almost eternal!

The only other deal I know that is eternal is the one offered to us by Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Unlike a vacation home time-share, however, no one has ever regretted taking Christ’s offer of salvation by grace through faith.

What about us? Have we dealt with Christ’s offer to us? There is no better day to do so than today.

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about the Greatest Man

Today we will continue in a series of sermons from the Book of Hebrews that I am calling the Greatest of All Time. In this episode, we will see that Jesus is the Greatest Man.

When I was preparing this episode, I was reminded of an incident from my childhood. My family and I were visiting my aunt, at whose house our son made his first steps decades later, and for some reason we needed to drive out to a back pasture to see something; it may have been a fish pond, but I am not sure. In any case, my cousin, who was an older boy than me and who was also heavy for his age, was going to guide us. He hiked himself up on one front fender of our car, and away we went. 

I was quite impressed by this display of maturity, and I said to my mom, “Wow, he’s big!” My mother quickly shushed me and said, “Be quiet! Don’t say that!” She thought I was commenting on his weight, which is something a person of my size would never do, while I was just admiring him for being far more mature than I was. To me he was a ‘big deal.” 

I think it is a fact of history that the big man always has exerted an outsized impact on society. Whether that person has a big physique like Saul and Goliath, or whether they have a big personality like David and Peter, or whether they have a big intellect like Paul and the writer of Hebrews, the great man has drawn to him the allegiance of people. 

Let’s begin our study by reading Hebrews 7:1-6:

For this Melchizedek—King of Salem, priest of the Most High God, who met Abraham and blessed him as he returned from defeating the kings, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything; first, his name means king of righteousness, then also, king of Salem, meaning king of peace; without father, mother, or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God— remains a priest forever.  Now consider how great this man was—even Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the plunder to him! The sons of Levi who receive the priestly office have a command according to the law to collect a tenth from the people that is, from their brothers—though they have also descended from Abraham. But one without this lineage collected tenths from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises.

Jesus is the Greatest Man Because of His Origin:

In the 21st Century, our culture has made a disparaging meme out of the question, “Who’s your daddy?” but the question can be quite valid in certain circumstances.

For example, in our last episode we considered the concept of the coaching tree, which is a metaphor for the process of a successful head coach mentoring assistant coaches before they go on to be successes themselves. A coaching tree is like a family tree except that it shows the relationships of coaches instead of family members. Jesus has a coaching tree which began with himself and spread out through the Apostles, and the early church leaders who are our spiritual ancestors.

In practical terms, a fellow I knew who came from a small south Alabama county told me that, as a young man, it was important to ask someone whom you wanted to date who their grandparents were. The population of that county was so small and so stable, he noted, that “It was easy to wind up dating a cousin if you weren’t careful.” With that unsettling thought behind us, we must note that in Biblical times, God and His people were interested in genealogy. Who your parents were was important, even vital, to determine your role in Jewish Society. 

Consider this fact: we can know the parentage of all the major figures in the Jewish nation. We know about Abraham’s parents, and from whom Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph descended. We know about the parents of Moses, both natural and adopted, and we know about his father-in-law, Jethro. We know about the parentage of all the kings of Israel and Judah, and on it goes.

We know that a person’s parentage was so important that, in Nehemiah’s day, some priests of the Temple in Jerusalem were excluded from service because they could not prove who their parents were. If you were without father, mother, or genealogy, you were suspect, and you were denigrated, and you were excluded. Except for one man. Melchizedek.

Melchizedek was without father, mother, or genealogy, yet he was given honor because he was from God. The same is true of Jesus. 

One might say, “We know who the father of Jesus was.” But if that is Joseph, that is wrong. Jesus did have human DNA from His mother, but His spiritual DNA was directly from God. Jesus is the Greatest Man because He is from God and God alone. Now, let’s read verses 7:6-10:

But one without this lineage collected tenths from Abraham and blessed the one who had the promises. Without a doubt, the inferior is blessed by the superior. In the one case, men who will die receive tenths, but in the other case, Scripture testifies that he lives. And in a sense Levi himself, who receives tenths, has paid tenths through Abraham, for he was still within his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

Jesus is the Greatest Man Because of His Honor:

When I was speaking about my cousin, I was expressing my admiration for him. He impressed me, because he wasn’t that much older than I was, yet he was guiding us around his family property. Also, he was riding on the fender of our car and not falling off! I was giving him the honor I thought he was due.

We will notice here two ways that Melchizedek received honor. First, it was recognized that he had the power and authority to bless Abraham.  Generally speaking, when a stranger shows up someplace, and no one knows him, and no one knows where he came from, that stranger is not given any respect or credence. Not so here. 

Abraham did not look at Melchizedek and say, “You ain’t from around here, are you, boy?” Instead, Abraham recognized his superiority and Abraham allowed Melchizedek to give him a blessing. Abraham probably kneeled before him when he received Melchizedek’s blessing because this was the normal pose for such an event. 

This reminds me of the centurion whose servant was sick and about to die. This man was not only a Roman, he was not only a soldier, he was not only an officer, but he was a member of the Roman establishment, respected and powerful. Yet he, too, recognized Jesus had the power and authority to bless his servant, even though Jesus was an itinerant rabbi, with no place of his own to lay his head. In fact, the centurion, in Luke 7:6b-8 told Jesus, 

“Lord, don’t trouble Yourself, since I am not worthy to have You come under my roof. That is why I didn’t even consider myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be cured. For I too am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under my command. I say to this one, ‘Go!’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come!’ and he comes; and to my slave, ‘Do this!’ and he does it.”

In Luke 7:9, we see how Jesus responded to this demonstration of faith, saying,

Jesus heard this and was amazed at him, and turning to the crowd following Him, He said, “I tell you, I have not found so great a faith even in Israel!”

Not only did Abraham allow Melchizedek to bless him, but he also actually gave Melchizedek a tithe. As we mentioned before, the only person to whom people give a tithe offering is God. And not only did Abraham give a tithe, in essence, but also all of Abraham’s offspring did as well, including the Levitical line of priests under the Mosaic Law.

Jesus is the Greatest Man because He was honored as God. Now, let’s read Hebrews 7:11-25:

If then, perfection came through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need was there for another priest to appear, said to be in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron? For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must be a change of law as well. For the One these things are spoken about belonged to a different tribe. No one from it has served at the altar. Now it is evident that our Lord came from Judah, and Moses said nothing about that tribe concerning priests.  And this becomes clearer if another priest like Melchizedek appears, who did not become a priest based on a legal command concerning physical descent but based on the power of an indestructible life. For it has been testified: You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. So the previous command is annulled because it was weak and unprofitable (for the law perfected nothing), but a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God. None of this happened without an oath. For others became priests without an oath, but He became a priest with an oath made by the One who said to Him: The Lord has sworn, and He will not change His mind, You are a priest forever. So Jesus has also become the guarantee of a better covenant.  Now many have become Levitical priests, since they are prevented by death from remaining in office. But because He remains forever, He holds His priesthood permanently. Therefore, He is always able to save those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them.

Jesus is the Greatest Man Because of His Endurance:

It is discouraging when your phone battery runs out before your day does. It is more disheartening when your money runs out before your month does. How bad would it be if God’s love for you ran out before your life did?

Baseball great Yogi Berra said, “It’s not over until it’s over,” yet we know many examples of people giving up before the end was complete. In sports, we are scandalized when a player spikes the football before crossing the goal line, or when a baseball player doesn’t run out a ground ball. Giving up before a play is over is a sign of an arrogance that does not foster teamwork.

We also know of many Biblical examples of people who quit before the mission was complete: 

• Noah, instead of allowing God to rebuild the world through him, got drunk. 
• Abraham and Sarah gave up on God’s promises about having a child of their own. 
• The ten Jewish spies told Moses that the Children of Israel couldn’t subdue the tribes of the Promised Land. 
• Saul couldn’t wait for Samuel, and he illegally offered a sacrifice to God. 
• The Temple priests gave up on caring for the souls of the people and became a political force aligned with Rome.
• The disciples could not stay awake and pray with Jesus.
• John Mark gave up on the first missionary journey and He went home.
• Many of Paul’s epistles were written to churches and/or the pastors of churches, encouraging them not to give up, but to persevere for the sake of the Gospel.

Even Jesus was tempted to quit before His task was completed. His disciples warned Him against going to Jerusalem. Peter even told Him to His face that He was wrong. On the night He was betrayed He asked God to spare Him from the Cross. Jesus was different, however. He had the endurance of God that caused Him to see that His mission was completed. That’s why on the Cross He could say, “It is finished!”

God loves us in many ways, and one of those ways is through His chesed love. This is His enduring, stubborn love, a love that will never run out, in this life or the next. This comes from His indestructible, eternal nature, and that means we can rely on the fact that God never rests until His mission is completed. He won’t leave us or forsake us, but He will love us until the end!

Jesus is the Greatest Man because He is eternal, and His love is eternal. Now, let’s read Hebrews 7:26-28,

For this is the kind of high priest we need: holy, innocent, undefiled, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He doesn’t need to offer sacrifices every day, as high priests do—first for their own sins, then for those of the people. He did this once for all when He offered Himself.  For the law appoints as high priests men who are weak, but the promise of the oath, which came after the law, appoints a Son, who has been perfected forever.

Jesus is the Greatest Man Because of His Purity:

The most significant failing of every great person is that they all are people! No one is perfect, and we all have feet of clay. We all make mistakes, and we all fail, even someone so great and so revered as George Washington.

When the Continental Congress appointed George Washington as the commander of the Continental Army, they offered him a generous salary. He declined the salary, asking only that his expenses be reimbursed. Congress agreed to this, but they probably should not have.

You see, by the end of the War of Independence, George Washington’s expense account had cost the new country ten times what his salary would have been. It is also telling that, although the Continental Army was well run administratively, and although it maintained extensive records of its operations and organization, Washington’s own expense accounting was incomplete and not well documented. Was Washington corrupt? Probably not. But he was a spendthrift in a time when his new country was struggling to pay for the war.

An even more serious failing was that Washington, like Jefferson and other renowned leaders of the Revolution, were slave owners.

The pastor that performed the wedding ceremony for my wife and I was very popular with our church members, but he often gave us a warning. He would regularly say, “Don’t put your trust in me, because I am human, and I will fail you. Put your trust in God, who will never fail you!”  

Again, the Bible is full of accounts of God’s people who failed:

• Cain killed his brother.
• Ham embarrassed his father, Noah, after he had gotten drunk. 
• Abraham sinned against God by forcing Hagar to bear his son.
• David sinned against Bathsheba and conspired to have Uriah killed.
• Solomon yielded to his passions and to extravagance.
• Judas betrayed Jesus and sent his Master to His death.
• The disciples all ran away when Jesus was arrested
• Peter denied Jesus three times.
• Ananias and Saphira lied, and then they died!
• Paul had to confront Peter about shunning Gentile Christians when the representatives of the Jerusalem church came to visit.
• Apollos eloquently preached an incorrect Gospel message.

Instead of weak humanity, look at the description of Jesus our High Priest forever:

• He is holy, innocent, and undefiled
• He is separated from sinners
• He is exalted above the heavens
• He is perfect forever.

This is what Paul said about the purity of Christ in Philippians 4:7-8:

But everything that was a gain to me, I have considered to be a loss because of Christ. More than that, I also consider everything to be a loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Because of Him I have suffered the loss of all things and consider them filth, so that I may gain Christ.

Conclusion:

Jesus is the greatest person of all time because of His origin: He came from the Father above.

Jesus is the greatest person of all time because of His honor: He clearly deserves the praise and worship we give Him.

Jesus is the greatest person of all time because of His endurance: He finished His work on our behalf and is even now at God’s right hand, interceding for us.

Jesus is the greatest person of all time because of His purity: He is perfectly holy, just, and righteous, and He imparts his purity to us, even when we don’t deserve it.

There can be no question that Jesus is the greatest person of all time. The only question that remains is this: who is Jesus to us today?

Every Blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about the Greatest Mentor

Today I want to share a word about Jesus as the Greatest Mentor as I comment on Hebrews Chapther 5 and 6.

From time to time, someone will be described as an overnight success. In other words, like we saw in our last episode with Melchizedek, a character will suddenly appear in the spotlight, seemingly from out of nowhere and make a huge splash. One example was basketball player Michael Jordan.

Michael Jordan burst on the scene when he hit the game‑winning shot in the 1982 NCAA championship as a freshman at University of North Carolina. Suddenly, commentators began talking about his seemingly natural abilities, his maturity, and his poise during clutch moments. It was as if he appeared from nowhere as a fully formed basketball star. Most people viewed him as a phenom, with unnatural talents and skills.

What many people didn’t know was that Jordan had been cut from his high school’s varsity basketball team by his Coach, Clifton “Pop” Herring. But instead of tossing Jordan to the side, Herring became his mentor.  Herring played him on the junior varsity team and demanded that Jordan become a disciplined player who focused on the fundamentals, not flashy and risky movements and actions. Jordan later said that Herring’s insistence on complying with his standards were the first time someone treated Jordan like a player who could be great, and not just a kid who liked basketball.

Like Mike, mature Christians do not appear from nowhere. Like Jordan, we are blessed to have a mentor who will coach us into maturity. In our Scripture for this episode, we will see that Jesus is the Greatest Mentor. Let’s begin with Hebrews 5:11-14:

We have a great deal to say about this, and it’s difficult to explain, since you have become too lazy to understand. Although by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the basic principles of God’s revelation again. You need milk, not solid food. Now everyone who lives on milk is inexperienced with the message about righteousness, because he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature—for those whose senses have been trained to distinguish between good and evil.

We Need Milk:

One thing that we can overlook in this passage of Scripture, is that we all start our life in Christ as babies, as spiritual newborns. Of course, it follows then, that newborns need milk.

A baby cannot thrive if it is not fed the milk that it needs, because nothing else will do. Babies don’t have teeth, so they cannot eat solid food. Also, babies can’t digest solid food, so even if they could eat it, it would not help them grow, and they’d probably become ill. In fact, if honey is fed to newborns, it can make them grievously ill with a disease called infant botulism. So, babies need milk.

Not only do babies need milk, but they also need the right kind of milk. Immediately after birth, mother’s milk contains colostrum, which helps to reinforce a baby’s immune system. Besides that, some babies need special formula mixtures to thrive or overcome colic. Both of my children needed to be shifted to a soy-based formula enhanced with a dollop of Cairo syrup before their stomachs settled down and before their mother and I could get any sleep! So, what is the proper milk for a newborn Christian?  It is nothing more than the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

• The newborn in Christ must know from John 3:16 that God loves everyone in the world.
• The newborn in Christ must know from Romans that all of us have sinned and that we have fallen short of God’s perfection.
• The newborn in Christ must know from Ephesians that the wages of sin is spiritual death, but that the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
• The newborn in Christ must know from John 3:16 that God loved everyone in the world so much that He gave His Only Begotten Son as a sacrifice for our sin.
• The newborn in Christ must know from Romans 10 that if they trust in what Christ did for us, and confess that openly, that they will be saved.
• The newborn in Christ must know, that like the thief on the cross, we can be with God in heaven only because, “The man on the middle cross said I could come!”

So, today, before we go any further, let’s ask each of us: have we got milk? Have we drunk the milk of the Gospel? We must do this before we can move on to anything else!

Now, let’s read verses 6:1-8:

Therefore, leaving the elementary message about the Messiah, let us go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, faith in God, teaching about ritual washings, laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. And we will do this if God permits. For it is impossible to renew to repentance those who were once enlightened, who tasted the heavenly gift, became companions with the Holy Spirit, tasted God’s good word and the powers of the coming age,  and who have fallen away, because, to their own harm, they are recrucifying the Son of God and holding Him up to contempt. For ground that has drunk the rain that has often fallen on it and that produces vegetation useful to those it is cultivated for receives a blessing from God. But if it produces thorns and thistles, it is worthless and about to be cursed and will be burned at the end.

We Need Meat:

When we see the Scriptures saying that as Christians we must eat meat, God is not excluding vegans or vegetarians. The writer here is simply pointing out that for children to grow and thrive, they must eventually transition to solid food. Milk is required for a healthy start, but solid food is required to grow a healthy body.

When my wife and I were appointed as missionaries with the International Mission Board, we, and our children also, had to attend an orientation at the Missionary Learning Center in Rockville, VA. This was a full-service campus, including providing daycare or preschool for small children, as well as a school for older children and youth. The children ate separately for lunch, and we had been told to bring baby food for our daughter, who was just one year old at that time. So, we packed several cases of baby food and took it with us to Virginia.

Of course, you can guess what happened. Only days after we arrived, our daughter decided that she wanted to eat regular people food! We were told that as soon as the Missionary Learning Center staff tried to feed her the baby food, she turned up her nose at it! So, she moved on to solid food, and we donated all that baby food for use by future missionary families!

An observable fact in nature is that every healthy creature reproduces, and that every healthy baby grows and matures. For over a decade while my wife and I lived in rural Alabama, we kept a small flock of goats to reduce the amount of grass I had to cut. Over those years we saw several kids born, and invariably, their mothers weaned them from nursing. Sometimes, a nanny goat would just walk away from an older kid who tried to nurse from her. If they didn’t get the message, however, the mama goat would, more or less gently, butt the kid away who needed to be weaned. The point is that growth and maturity is a natural process and it is also a spiritual process as well.

James, the pastor of the Jerusalem church, wrote to his congregation this counsel in James 1:1-8,

Consider it a great joy, my brothers, whenever you experience various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. But endurance must do its complete work, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. An indecisive man is unstable in all his ways.

Paul also urged the church at Rome to grow up in Christ. In Romans 13:11-14 he wrote,

Besides this, knowing the time, it is already the hour for you to wake up from sleep, for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is nearly over, and the daylight is near, so let us discard the deeds of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk with decency, as in the daylight: not in carousing and drunkenness; not in sexual impurity and promiscuity; not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no plans to satisfy the fleshly desires.

Like the way that milk builds healthy bones, the milk of the Gospel is our spiritual foundation. We must exercise our spiritual muscles, however, if we are to mature and grow closer to God every day and in every way!

Now, let’s read Hebrews 6:9-12.

Even though we are speaking this way, dear friends, in your case we are confident of the better things connected with salvation. For God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you showed for His name when you served the saints—and you continue to serve them. Now we want each of you to demonstrate the same diligence for the final realization of your hope, so that you won’t become lazy but will be imitators of those who inherit the promises through faith and perseverance.

We Need Motivation:

I knew a fellow once who had many witty and pithy sayings. One that has always stood out to me was what he said about work. “Work fascinates me,” he would say wryly. “I can sit and look at it all day long.”

We must not be lazy in our spiritual growth and development. As I mentioned above, when Michael Jordan relied on his natural talent, he was a flop. After he had worked long and hard to develop his skills and to learn discipline, however, he became the best basketball star we will probably ever see.

Diligence is not a flashy word, but God does affirm it as an important quality for growth. In the Parable of the Talents, Jesus did not correct the man who only doubled the funds given to him by his master. Jesus did, however, commend him for his diligence.

Laziness is not the only factor that keeps us from growth in maturity. Fear can also keep us from moving forward.  I remember the first steps our son took. We were visiting with my aunt, and he was standing next to us, holding onto the couch where we were sitting. He saw my aunt across the room, whereupon he turned loose of the couch and staggered across the room to her chair. It scared him so badly that he did not walk again for two weeks!

The third man in the Parable of the Talents gave into his fear. He was so afraid of doing something wrong that he did nothing at all with what his master had given him. We must not bury our talents, but instead we must use them, and yes, we will fail when we use them. Again, Michael Jordan failed before he succeeded. As the saying goes about the turtle, he doesn’t get anywhere until he sticks his neck out. 

When we take risk for God, we are not walking a tightrope without a net. God will catch us when we fall, and then He puts us back on our feet, and pushes us out of the nest again. I know these are mixed metaphors, but they help explain that when we embrace growth and maturity in the Lord we have nothing to fear but fear itself (sorry . . . yet another cliché!).

So, sometimes we are lazy, and sometimes we are fearful, but sometimes we just tell God, “No.” That is a risky thing to do but we still do it. We need to develop the same understanding and wisdom that a high school friend had. He told me once that instead of praying, “Lord help me want to be more like Jesus,” he had to pray, “Lord, help me to want to want to be more like Jesus.” 

We must remember what the writer of Hebrews said in chapter 2:1ff:

We must, therefore, pay even more attention to what we have heard, so that we will not drift away. For if the message spoken through angels was legally binding and every transgression and disobedience received a just punishment, how will we escape if we neglect such a great salvation?

Blessedly, we have someone who can help us with all these failings. Let’s read Hebrews 6:3-20,

For when God made a promise to Abraham, since He had no one greater to swear by, He swore by Himself: I will indeed bless you, and I will greatly multiply you. And so, after waiting patiently, Abraham obtained the promise. For men swear by something greater than themselves, and for them a confirming oath ends every dispute. Because God wanted to show His unchangeable purpose even more clearly to the heirs of the promise, He guaranteed it with an oath, so that through two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to seize the hope set before us. We have this hope as an anchor for our lives, safe and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain. Jesus has entered there on our behalf as a forerunner, because He has become a high priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.

We Need a Mentor:

As we already observed, Michael Jordan did not blossom as a basketball player until he had the help of a coach and a mentor. The same is true of Christians. We cannot achieve maturity on our own, but we need help outside of ourselves. That help comes to us from Jesus, who is the Greatest Mentor.

Jesus, of course, was a rabbi, which means teacher. It actually means more than that, because He chose disciples who would live with Him, learn from Him, and become like Him.  We are to become His disciples too, and He can teach us in the same way that He taught those who followed Him on this Earth. We have records of His lessons, and how He applied those lessons in the lives of those who followed Him. When we read and meditate on the Gospels, we, too, can sit at the feet of Jesus. We can ask Him questions in prayer, and like James said above, He will give us wisdom.

If that is all we had, it would be enough, but in fact, Jesus multiplied Himself. He sent out his disciples to make more disciples and to teach these new disciples all that He had taught them. In modern sports, we would call this a coaching tree.

The coaching tree that I am most familiar with is that of Nick Saban, the retired head coach from the University of Alabama. At one point, over two dozen former assistant coaches who were mentored by Saban were head football coaches at the collegiate or professional levels. When the 2025 NCAA National Championship playoffs reached eight teams, five of them were coached by former Saban assistants. Of course, Nick Saban did not materialize out of the ether as a coach; he was mentored by Bill Belichick, when Belichick was head coach of the Cleveland Browns and Saban was one of his assistants. 

Jesus has a coaching tree also, as we see in Hebrews 4:11-13:

And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ, until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of God’s Son, growing into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fullness.

Paul was our model for how God’s coaching tree works.  As 2 Timothy 2:1-2 tells us,

You, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses, commit to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Finally, we need to remember that Jesus sent to us the Holy Spirit, to mentor us from inside our lives. The Spirit enlightens God’s Word, and He reassures us of God’s Presence. He also gives us spiritual gifts to do ministry that no coaching or practice will qualify us for. 

In all these ways, Jesus transforms weak babes in Christ into people of faith who Paul says are “more than conquerors in Christ Jesus our Lord!”

Conclusion:

The invitation to us is clear:

• Have you got milk?
• Have you begun eating solid spiritual food?
• Have you reignited your motivation?
• Have you committed yourself to coaching by the Greatest Mentor?

What will our response be?

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word about the Greatest Priest

Today we will continue in a series of sermons I have entitled The Greatest of All Time as I share a word about the Greatest Priest and as I comment on Hebrews 4 and 5.
 

I don’t know if you have noticed, but whenever a religious leader is featured in some way in modern media, as in television shows or in cinema, that the character is most often a Catholic priest? When I see such a character appear in a television show or in a movie, I will say to my wife, “Just watch. That priest will either be a victim of a crime or the criminal.” Usually, regarding 21st Century media, I am right.

This lack of respect for priests is a post-modern phenomenon. Traditionally, our culture treated priests with respect, and Biblically, priests were honored and respected. I suspect that many reasons exist for this apparent fall from grace, but today we want to return to the Biblical perspective on priesthood.

We must obtain a Biblical view of the priesthood, because the writer of Hebrews has asserted that Jesus is the Greatest Priest in Hebrews 4:14-5:10.  Let’s begin with Hebrews 4:14-5:4:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin. Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time. For every high priest taken from men is appointed in service to God for the people, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins. He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also subject to weakness. Because of this, he must make a sin offering for himself as well as for the people. No one takes this honor on himself; instead, a person is called by God, just as Aaron was.

The Ministry of the High Priest:

In our lives, we are familiar with the idea of an intermediary, or someone who stands in-between two parties in a transaction. A common example of that might be a real estate agent. When people sell a property, they engage a real estate agent to conduct the negotiations for that transaction. Their agent communicates with the buyer’s agent until an agreement on a purchase price and conditions is agreed upon that is acceptable to both parties.

I found it interesting that the last time we bought a home, my wife and I were scheduled to arrive at the attorney’s office at a different time than the sellers were scheduled to arrive. It was as if the real estate agents were afraid that we might get in a contention with the sellers over the deal they had brokered. I think they imagined one of us saying, “Hey, I’ll arm wrestle you for that extra $5,000.00 on the price.” I am not sure why it was necessary to keep us separated, but they did, and all the details were processed through their offices.

Another example of an intermediary, one with which a westerner would not be familiar, but which the people of Biblical times might be, is found in the Mandinka People of West Africa. My wife and I worked among the Mandinka People when we served with the International Mission Board, and we learned that in their culture, marriages were arranged between the parents of the bride and the groom. All these arrangements were negotiated by a man called a silañtonko, which word essentially means way maker. 

Again, one of the issues that a silañtonko, must carefully deal with is money, specifically the details of the bride’s dowery. As our local language coach told me, “No money goes from the hand of the father of the bride to the hand of the father of the groom without going through the hand of the silañtonko. Not even a penny!” The goal is to maintain harmony and avoiding direct confrontation between families.

As we see in the Scriptures in general, and in our specific passage for today, the role of a priest was also to be a go-between, or an intermediary. In the priest’s ministry, the stakes were much higher, however:

• Instead of standing between the buyer and seller of a property, and instead of standing between the family of a groom and the family of a bride, a priest stood in the gap between God and people. 
• Instead of dealing with human commerce or human culture, a priest dealt with human culpability, human sin. 
• Instead of concluding his work by presenting an acceptable cash settlement, a priest presented an acceptable sacrifice to God for the remission of human sin.
• Instead of negotiating the details of human society, a priest negotiated the salvation of the human soul.

Thus, the priest’s role was a serious one, and God’s law required that he was chosen for it, and that he had to meet certain criteria. That’s why Saul sinned by making an offering instead of waiting for Samuel. Also, Nehemiah records that, at the time of the return from exile, some men were acting as priests in the Temple who were not qualified, and so he excluded them until they could provide proper credentials. When you stand between God and people with their souls in the balance, no random person off the street will do!

If the priest’s role was a serious one, the role of the high priest was even more serious. While the priests would offer sacrifices for sin daily, they only did so in what was called the Holy Place in the Temple. Even they were banned from the inner-most court of the Temple which was called the Holy of Holies. This was where the Arc of the Covenant was kept, and this was also the place where the Jews believed that God resided with them.

Once a year, on the Day of Atonement, the high priest, and only the high priest, could enter the Holy of Holies. The only reason that the high priest could enter into the Holy of Holies was to present to God a sacrifice for all the sins of God’s people during that year. This was such a high-stress and tension-filled task that legend has it that some high priests were afraid that, instead of presenting the offering for sin, they, themselves, would be struck down by God for their own sin.

The priestly ministry, and particularly the ministry of the high priest, was all about making atonement for human sin, and acquiring God’s forgiveness and pardon for it.

The Model High Priest:

Now, let’s read verses 5:5-10:

In the same way, the Messiah did not exalt Himself to become a high priest, but the One who said to Him, You are My Son; today I have become Your Father, also said in another passage, You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek. During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Though He was God’s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered. After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him, and He was declared by God a high priest in the order of Melchizedek.

We have seen the importance of the ministry of priests, but next we will see the importance of the character of priests. Not every line of priests is the same. 

To illustrate this point, let’s consider the law enforcement agencies in your community. It would be surprising to tally the number of agencies in your local area with the powers of arrest. In many ways they are the same, but at the same time they are different. The police of one town have a certain jurisdiction, while those in a different town have a different jurisdiction. Some sheriff’s deputies may patrol like city police officers do, while some may only support the courts and operate a jail. St. Louis County, MO is unique in not having an office of sheriff, with other agencies fulling that role. Thus, all law enforcement agencies are the same, but at the same time they are all different. The same is true for priests.

The Bible records at least three different lines of priests. One line of priests that are found in the Bible are pagan priests.  These, of course, served false gods and they led people astray. A modern example of these false priests and prophets would be the political commissars in the Soviet Army in the last century. Instead of chaplains, the Soviet Army had political commissars who were responsible to indoctrinate their troops with godless communism. Now, in the 21st Century, our society is still replete with people who lead others astray.

Another line of priests was established by the Mosaic Law, and these are the priests we most often think of in terms of the Jewish faith. Many of these priests were God-fearing men, but some were not. As I mentioned before, some men who were not qualified to be priests were serving in the Temple during Nehemiah’s time, and the rot became so bad that by the time of the New Testament, the high priest was appointed by the Romans, of all people. This priesthood no longer served God, or God’s people.

I know of a small town in Alabama whose police department turned rogue. The officers fraudulently wrote speeding ticket after speeding ticket to both the citizens they were sworn to protect, as well as other members of the public who were passing through on their way to other places. People who were minding their own business were stopped without cause and cited for violations that they did not commit. The town’s coffers swelled, as did the number of police officers. The police chief had become a minor warlord, and the police force was an occupying army.

Eventually, state authorities became aware of this situation. After a thorough investigation, the agency was judged to be unredeemable, and it was disbanded. Not long after this, the former police chief was arrested for impersonating a police officer by displaying his badge to try to avoid receiving his own speeding ticket in another part of the state!

Jesus was obviously superior to the pagan priests, and He was also superior to the Mosaic priesthood as well. In fact, He was a priest of a superior lineage, the line of Melchizedek. But who was Melchizedek?

Let’s read Genesis 14:17-20.

After Abram returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). Then Melchizedek, king of Salem, brought out bread and wine; he was a priest to God Most High. He blessed him and said: Abram is blessed by God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and I give praise to God Most High who has handed over your enemies to you. And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

As you can see, we don’t know much about Melchizedek, but what we do know is impressive. First, he was a priest before the Mosaic law. His priesthood came first, and it never degenerated into the hot mess that the Mosaic priesthood became.

Next, his name meant king of righteousness. This meant he had authority, but that he would never abuse his authority. He would be upright, honest, and an honorable priest and king. Also, he was king of Salem, which means peace. Many scholars believe he was the king of the area where Jerusalem was founded years later. 

Another factor we can see here is that he blessed Abram, and he brought to him the elements of what became the Lord’s Supper. He is also the only person to whom Abram paid a tithe offering. In addition, we don’t know where he came from to bless Abram, and we don’t know where he went after this event. Melchizedek was certainly a unique priest from a unique line of priests. 

All the evidence we see adds up to Melchizedek being a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus. This makes perfect sense when we remember that the ministry of Jesus was all about making atonement for human sin and providing God’s forgiveness and pardon for it.

The Matchless High Priest:

Because Jesus was a high priest from His own line, He was unequalled; He was matchless. First, He was just like us, only different. Hebrews 4:15 says:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tested in every way as we are, yet without sin.

Jesus has lived our lives. He has walked our path. He has experienced the joys and the frustrations of living with people. He knows what our lives are like, but unlike us, Jesus never sinned.

Jesus never got tired along the way and quit, nor did He leave the path. Jesus never became angry with someone over the way that they treated Him, and He never got depressed and defeated either. Jesus never gave into to the temptations which we all face, and that made him a perfect match to be our high priest, and that made Him the matchless high priest.

Next, let’s read Hebrews 5:2:

He is able to deal gently with those who are ignorant and are going astray, since he is also subject to weakness.

As I have said before, a major challenge in ministry is to balance conviction with compassion. Humanly, it is nearly impossible to keep those two elements of ministry in balance, but Jesus did. Many scriptures refer to His great compassion.

• In Matthew 10:29, Jesus said that a sparrow does not fall in the field without God’s knowledge and care.
• In Matthew 11:28, Jesus said that His yoke was light and His burden was easy.
• In Matthew 23:37, Jesus said that He longed to gather God’s children together, like a hen gathers her chicks.
• Jesus told the Parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10 and the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. All of these focused on kindness to those who were lost and needed saving.
• Jesus even healed the ear of the high priest’s servant in John 18, and He healed the soul of the thief on the cross in Mark 15.

Jesus balanced compassion and conviction perfectly. He could be compassionate towards us, because He came to fulfill the law and He did fulfill the law. He did for us, what we could not do for ourselves and set the conditions so that He could be compassionate towards us.

Let’s also read Hebrews 5:7-9,

During His earthly life, He offered prayers and appeals with loud cries and tears to the One who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence. Though He was God’s Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.  After He was perfected, He became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey Him.

Because of His righteousness, the compassion of Jesus was not temporary, but permanent. Priests made sacrifices daily, and every year the high priest had to make the offering in the Holy of Holies. Jesus came, lived a perfect life, and He permanently fulfilled God’s law.

If the law was fulfilled there is no more guilt as Paul said in Colossians 1:21-22,

Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds because of your evil actions. But now He has reconciled you by His physical body through His death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before Him — if indeed you remain grounded and steadfast in the faith and are not shifted away from the hope of the gospel that you heard. This gospel has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and I, Paul, have become a servant of it.

The matchless ministry of Jesus was all about making permanent His atonement for human sin and providing God’s forgiveness and pardon for it.

We Must Magnify our High Priest:

So, what does this mean for our daily lives? What difference does this make to us? What difference should it make? Let’s go back to Hebrews 4:14,

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to the confession.

We have a great high priest who is our loving advocate with our Father in Heaven. We must hold fast to Him! This means that:

• Jesus must be more precious to us than the most precious things in our lives. 
• 
  
• Jesus must be more powerful to us than the most powerful things in our lives.
• 
  
• Jesus is more perceptive of our needs and wants than the most perceptive people in our lives. 
• 
  
• Jesus wants to be more personal to us than the most personal things in our lives.
• 
  
• Jesus can perform for us what no one else can perform in our lives.

Because ministry of Jesus was all about making atonement for our sin and providing God’s forgiveness and pardon for it we must make much of Jesus in our lives and in the lives of those whom we love.

Conclusion:

The invitation to us is clear,

Therefore let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us at the proper time.

What will our response be?

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt

A Word abpout the Greatest Promise

Today I want to share a word about the Greatest Promise as I comment on Hebrews 4:1-13.

 

We are continuing in a series of sermons from the Book of Hebrews that I am calling the Greatest of All Time. In this episode, we will see that Jesus is the Greatest Promise. In our last episode, we noted that a person’s voice is one of the most distinctive elements in their personality. Another distinctive part of our lives is whether or not we keep our promises. How we deal with the promises we make and how we keep our word, or not, will cast either a ray of sunshine or a shadow of cloud on our reputations. During World War Two, solemn promises were made by two different men, and both kept them, but in very different ways.

It is a well-known event in history that the Japanese began hostilities with surprise attacks on the United States at Hawaii and at the Philippines. Though great damage was done in Hawaii, Japanese forces invaded the Philippines, and after a four-month-long struggle, they captured it.

The American Commander was General Douglas MacArthur, who was ordered to Australia to organize a counterattack. When he arrived there, MacArthur, without consulting Washington, pronounced, "I came through and I shall return".

To fulfill that promise, MacArthur had to fight the Japanese, the horrible Southwest Pacific climate, and the power structure in Washington, where many leaders did not think that it was worth the effort to return to the Philippines and free them. It took about three years, thousands and thousands of troops, and MacArthur’s absolute determination, but it did come to pass.

On the other side of the war, a young Japanese officer, Hiroo Onoda, was sent to a small Philippine island to conduct guerilla warfare against the American counterattack. He promised never to surrender and to hold out until his commander returned and released him from his assignment. He determined to be faithful to the promise he had made.

In fact, his commander never returned, the war ended, but Onoda soldiered on. He continued to fulfill his duty for almost 30 years, until a man named Norio Suzuki found him and told him the war was over. Still, Onoda refused to quit his post. Suzuki returned to Japan, found his former commander, and brought him to that small island. Only then did Onoda put down his weapons and returned home, saying, “I was ordered to fight, and I fought. I kept my promise.”

These are great examples of keeping a promise, but today we will see a greater example from Hebrews 4:1-13. Let’s begin with Hebrews 4:1-3:

Therefore, while the promise to enter His rest remains, let us fear that none of you should miss it. For we also have received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith (for we who have believed enter the rest), in keeping with what He has said: So I swore in My anger, they will not enter My rest. And yet His works have been finished since the foundation of the world, for somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all His works.

The Promise of Rest:

We begin by observing that Christ has given us a promise of rest. If time is a precious commodity, as we saw in our last episode, rest is nigh unto it.

Sometimes rest is scarce because of our sin. Not so much our individual sin, but because of the sinful state of mankind as a whole. Adam and Eve had a lush garden at their disposal, but when they sinned, God said that they would have to work by the sweat of their brow.

The very day before I wrote this message, I had an experience that illustrates why rest is scarce. A few days before, the cable broke on the footrest mechanism of our couch; specifically, it broke on the side of the couch where my wife sits. So, I had to repair it. 

I searched for the part on-line, and I found two items which looked like they would work, but which were listed as having different lengths. I bought both, just to be sure, only to find that they were identical!

That cable was never intended to be replaced, and so I had to disassemble the entire couch to fit the replacement part. It took over two hours to complete the job, but with bruised and bloodied hands I could say that not only did I repair the cable, but I had no parts left over, and it worked. On the other hand, I felt like I had been runover by a truck! Things in life are just hard, and they are harder than God intended them to be.

Another reason that rest is scarce, is due to our own, individual natures. As a child, my mom would send me to bed at a good hour, but I knew that she and my father and my oldest sister were still awake and watching television or listening to music. I couldn’t sleep because I felt like I was missing out on parts of life that others were enjoying. FOMO was a thing with me before it was a thing!

Rest is more than physical, of course. Paul said he had learned to be content in whatever state in which he found himself, but he also admitted that his concern for the churches that he planted weighed heavily on him. In 1 Corinthians 11, Paul describes all the troubles and tribulations he had had in ministry, concluding with this in 1 Corinthians 11:28,

Not to mention other things, there is the daily pressure on me: my care for all the churches.

This is like the conversation I had with the father of a groom in a wedding I performed. I asked him, “So, I guess now that your son is married and out on his own, you don’t have to worry about him anymore?” He replied, “No matter how old they are, you never stop being a father.”

Here’s the good news for us: Christ has prepared a rest for us. If we trust Him and invest our faith in Him, we will someday hear these words, 

Well done, good and faithful servant; you have been faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.

Jesus offers us rest, and it is a greater rest than any rest offered on this earth. This is because it is a perfected rest.

The Perfection of Rest:

Let’s read verses 4-10:

For somewhere He has spoken about the seventh day in this way: And on the seventh day God rested from all His works. Again, in that passage He says, They will never enter My rest. Since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, again, He specifies a certain day—today—speaking through David after such a long time, as previously stated: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.  For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. Therefore, a Sabbath rest remains for God’s people. For the person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His.

If humans can’t find rest, we need God to help us and give us His rest, and He has promised to do so. We know He can because He has perfected His rest.

The example that the writer of Hebrews has given us is God’s work of creation. As we know, Jesus created everything, and when He finished, it was perfect and complete. Then, because He was finished, He rested because there was no more creating to do. 

When I was active in Southern Baptist Disaster Relief, we knew our workday was complete when our team leader told us, “Let’s go get a shower and get ready for supper.”  No one would take a shower and then go back out and run chainsaws and pull limbs, but the thing is, that respite was just temporary, because on the next day, we’d be back out running chainsaws and pulling limbs and getting hot and sweaty and dirty, because the job was not yet done.

Although it is beyond human ability to find rest, Jesus not only completed creation, but He also completed the process of salvation. On the Cross Jesus proclaimed, “It is finished,” and then He went to sit at the right hand of God. Then, because He was finished, He rested because there was no more to do to provide us salvation. He is enjoying His sabbath and He is looking forward to giving us that eternal sabbath also!

Joshua may have led the Children of Israel into the Promised Land, but he could not lead them to capture it and subdue. The task was not completed. And Israel has never been at rest in their own land. Jesus perfected His rest because it is complete. He also showed us how to have that rest by giving us a manual to find it.

The Manual for Rest:

Let’s read verses 11-13:

Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience. For the word of God is living and effective and sharper than any double-edged sword, penetrating as far as the separation of soul and spirit, joints and marrow. It is able to judge the ideas and thoughts of the heart. No creature is hidden from Him, but all things are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give an account.

As I have said before, God does not play peek-a-boo with his children. He does not play hide-and-seek, nor does He play pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. He is open and honest with us, and in fact, we are the ones who hide from Him, just as Adam and Eve did after they sinned. 

Jesus told us plainly how to find the rest that we need in Matthew 11:28-30:

Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.

In John 14:27, Jesus also said,

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

So again, as we have seen before, the rest that we seek is not found through the accumulation of wealth, or by following a list of mystic principles, or by discovering “one weird trick” on the internet that will radically change our lives. We find rest in none of these, but we find rest in a person, Jesus. This is what the Word, our manual for finding rest, teaches us.

The writer of Hebrews discovered another facet about God’s Word in addition to it being the source of our rest and peace.  Yes, God’s Word reveals to us how to find rest in Jesus, but it also reveals the truth about us also. Paul also discovered this as we have seen previously in passages from Romans.

The Word of God is able to pierce our very soul and to expose all that is in it. In fact, the writer of Hebrews says that we stand naked before God. As much as Adam and Eve tried to hide their nakedness, and despite the fact that God had to kill animals to give them physical clothing, spiritually they, like we are today, were totally exposed to God.

When we served in England with the International Mission Board, our assignment was in what we now call church revitalization. The church we served there had gone through hard times, not the least of which was losing their church building because of dry rot. 

A hidden part of the wall of the church had gotten wet from a leak in the roof, and a dry rot started growing. In fact, its tentacles slowly wrapped around the outer walls of the building, destroying their soundness, but silently, hiddenly, inexorably and definitively. By the time the problem was discovered, and the original source of the dry rot was exposed, it was too late. One deacon described it as a horrible, alien-looking thing. In truth it was just dry rot, but it destroyed their beautiful Victorian chapel building.

This is just like an infected abscess in one’s body. The symptoms can be treated, but the infection cannot be cured until it is exposed and excised. It is painful, but to be healed it must be done. Sometimes this is what the Word is like in our lives. In fact, it must be that way, so that our spiritual lives can be healed.

The Japanese officer that I mentioned above, Onoda, took advantage of the jungle to hide from his adversaries. Sadly, it also hid from him the truth of the end of the war.  Jesus is the Word of God and He was given to us so that we can know about the rest that God has offered us. 

The problem of knowing how to find rest is not with God but with us, because we hide from Him and His Word.

The Rejection of Rest:

Finally, let’s look at some verses that reveal a real tragedy.  Let’s read verses 2-3a,

For we also have received the good news just as they did; but the message they heard did not benefit them, since they were not united with those who heard it in faith  (for we who have believed enter the rest), in keeping with what He has said: So I swore in My anger, they will not enter My rest.

It is a tragedy that some people have heard the message of the promise of rest, but they ignore it. Again, the Japanese soldier Onoda is a sad example. 

When Japan surrendered, leaflets were dropped on the Jungle where Onoda and his small band of followers were hiding. Onoda rejected them, and when one of his soldiers decided that he was going to surrender, those who remained considered him to be a traitor.

Even after all of his followers died or left him, Onoda refused to believe the word of Japan’s surrender. He would not even believe the testimony of Norio Suzuki. Suzuki had to bring Onoda’s former commander to him. This is an apt illustration of what many people have done with the message of rest in Christ.

• First, when God’s Word came to them, they refused to believe. 
• Next, when prophets, God’s messengers came to them, they also refused to believe.
• Finally, God Himself came to them in Christ, and unlike Onoda, they continued to refuse to believe!

If anything can be more tragic than living in the jungle for 30 years because of a hasty promise made to the representative of a corrupt and morally bankrupt cause, it is to reject the opportunity to find the rest that no human can provide.

Verses 10-11 also say,

For the person who has entered His rest has rested from his own works, just as God did from His. Let us then make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall into the same pattern of disobedience.

It is a tragedy that some people have thought that their own works are equal with God’s work. This is simply not the case. 

• God is sinless, and we are sinful.
• God gives us rest, and all we give ourselves is strife.
• God has quit His work, because His task is complete. 
• People quit work because they have made a mess of it.

In some ways, this was Douglas MacArthur’s situation. He reclaimed the Philippines, and he reformed the Japanese government and society. Surely that was enough, right? No, it wasn’t.

He continued on serving through the first months of the Korean War. Again, MacArthur had success, but then he pushed things too far. He had always thought highly of himself, and he always valued his own opinions above those of others. When the Chinese intervened in the Korean War, MacArthur developed strong opinions about how the United States should react. The leadership in Washington disagreed, and unlike during World War Two, he ran into a President who was not reluctant to fire him. And so, he did.

If MacArthur had not been proud and arrogant, he could have been the old soldier who could fade away in dignity and honor. Sadly, he was proud and arrogant, and he paid the price. Even more sad are the ones who value their opinions more highly than God’s. They will never see the rest that God offers those who listen to Him!

Finally, let’s read verses 5-7,

Again, in that passage He says, They will never enter My rest. Since it remains for some to enter it, and those who formerly received the good news did not enter because of disobedience, again, He specifies a certain day—today—speaking through David after such a long time, as previously stated: Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts.

If we think carefully about the actions of Onoda and MacArthur, we might find a different motive for their actions. Instead of keeping promises, they may well have just been stubborn. 

In the movie Gettysburg, Tom Berenger plays the role of Lieutenant General James Longstreet, Robert E. Lee’s “Old War Horse.”  In a reflective moment, the Longstreet character admitted that maintaining the institution of slavery was a losing strategy for the Confederacy saying that, “We should have freed the slaves and then fired on Fort Sumpter . . . we’d rather lose the war than admit the mistake.”

The biggest mistake we can make is to be stubborn and hard-hearted, and to refuse to admit our needs. A mistake that is like unto it is to admit our mistake but stubbornly insist that Jesus is not that answer to our problems. Either way, our stubbornness robs us of the promise of rest pledged to us by Jesus.

Conclusion:

Are you sick and tired?  Are you sick and tired of trying to do the right thing, but failing?  Are you sick and tired of trying to make your own way in the world?  Are you sick and tired of trying to justify yourself to everyone, even God? Are you sick and tired of being sick and tired? Our solution is to find rest in the Greatest Promise: Jesus!

Every blessing,

Dr. Otis Corbitt