Hebrews 1: The Preeminent Christ

So about 12 years ago, I took a group of college students to Guatemala.

In fact, through the same ministry that David was talking about, that we get to support on an ongoing basis.

That you you support, we support these places.

That's why we want to tell you that we're giving money to them, is because these are things you're doing.

You don't realize it, but you're doing it.

And so we want you to know you are a part of this as you support our church and our church running, and then we get to take a little bit of that money and help other places.

Uh, you're a part of that.

Um, so I took a group of college students, this is about 12 years ago at this point, down to Guatemala.

I had been one time before, so I knew the place we were going.

I knew how beautiful it is, and it's up in the mountains, and it is a lake and a cauldron of an ancient volcano, and so it is just mountains shooting up all around this beautiful lake.

It is known around the world to be one of the most beautiful lakes in the world.

It's called Lake Adelon.

You may have never heard of it.

If you've never heard of it, it just means you're not a hippie.

The hippies have found it because you can live for cheap.

You have a little bit of freedom, if you know what I mean.

And so they're there having their freedom, having a good time.

And so we go down there and we do different work in these different villages, and so I was taking these college students, so we fly down, get on this old bus, you drive through the city, it's super hot, but slowly you get higher and higher up into the mountains and it cools down.

But and by the time we got there on this particular trip, before we kind of crossed over that ridge, it had gotten dark, and so none of the students could see how unbelievable this place is, and how just beautiful it is.

And so it's pure dark, and we're crisscrossing down this mountain to get down to the lake, and you're praying over the brakes of this old school bus.

Did anybody check them?

You don't know.

You're just holding on.

Hopefully, you're gonna make it down there.

So we get down there, it is dark.

We get to our hotel on the shores of this lake, and they can't see it, right?

They can't, it is pitch black, they cannot see the very thing in front of.

I know it's there, I've been.

I like I am so excited for morning to come to be able to see this place again, but they can't see it right in front of them.

They cannot see it.

And so we get the rooms arranged, and you're in this room, and you're in this room, and all that kind of stuff.

And then I say, hey, you know, we need to wake up at you know 7:30, that's kind of the wake-up time.

And I'm like, hey, trust me, trust me, you want to wake up early.

You want to have time to get out and just sit and look at this, because this is this is majesty beauty.

I mean, this is unbelievable, beautiful.

And of course, they stay up and they're playing cards, and I'm an old man even when I was younger, and so I have the earplugs, the sound machine going, and I go to sleep.

And you don't need an alarm clock in the morning, the roosters wake you up, so you wake up and I'm out the door right away because I want to see this again.

I want to see this place again.

And so I'm just sitting out there, and finally, you know, one college kid, another college kid, they start coming out because they can't take the roosters anymore, and they eventually come out.

And it's all the same.

It's all like they come out and it's like, oh, unbelievable.

Whoa.

I mean, picture, picture, picture, picture, right?

I mean, like, like over and over again.

Like, like, how many pictures can we get?

And then finally, like, once you've satisfied yourself with the pictures, finally, just everybody's just sitting, like scattered, like like just sitting, taking this.

Maybe you've been to been in a place like that where you just want to sit in front of this, right?

Before something so majestic.

And this is our text this morning.

It's this sort of majesty that is over what super intense, very dense passage, and it puts us before majesty.

It puts us right before it.

And my hope and my prayer all week has been that we would see the very thing that the text is telling us about that the morning would come, right?

Like, because so often it's like us arriving in the night, and somebody's like, hey, like this place is incredible.

This Jesus is actually incredible for your life.

But like, will the morning come and will you see?

Will you be able to see it?

Will you be able to see it?

See him for who he is.

How supreme, how sufficient he is.

So the lectionary, we've been using the lectionary, this layout of the scriptures, it runs on a four-year cycle.

We've been using this for our text, we've been going through the gospel of Mark, through that.

But the passage this week in Mark was on divorce.

I'm not scared to preach on divorce.

I just thoroughly preached on it two years ago, and so you can listen to that.

So I jumped over to the epistle in Hebrews, and that's how we ended up in Hebrews for today.

And this is written to an urban people, pluralistic society, lots of views on God and life and what's going on.

And not only that, but life for them has gotten difficult.

It's hard.

I mean, can you imagine?

Can you imagine believing Jesus and life getting hard, right?

I mean, can you imagine that?

Like it being imperfect, or you being imperfect, or your spouse, or your kids, or your friends, or school, or culture, right?

Like it's difficult, and these people, they're slowly starting to think, I don't know.

I don't know about this Jesus thing.

I might, I might start looking for something else, and this writer is writing to that.

That's what this writer is writing to.

He's saying, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Don't give up.

Like, you gotta see him.

Like, like, like keep keep seeing them for who he is, the radiance of God's glory.

Like, don't move into doubt, don't move into cynicism, don't move on.

Like, just stay in front of him, for he is real and he is kind and he is good.

Listen to the text, Hebrews 1, 1 and 2.

Long ago, at many times in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets.

So talking about the Old Testament, how much God was speaking to people.

But verse 2, but in these last days, he has spoken to us by his son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom he created the world.

So, point number one is this is we need a final word.

And do you ever feel like that?

I mean, do you ever feel like you're just looking for a word for you?

Like, I just need a word.

I just need a word to validate me.

Like, I mean, I feel like I'm waking up every day for that.

Like, I mean, if I can get a word from somebody or like a majority of people, if I can get a majority to kind of like agree on something.

Like a can I get a word to validate me?

Or some word that'll make me feel forgiven or absolved today.

Right?

Some word that your mistake is over, like the mistake you made, and you keep replaying it over, like some word that could relieve you of that, some word that would deem you pure.

And the text is saying God has been speaking.

He has been seeking for a long time through prophets and dreams and all sorts of stuff, right?

In the Old Testament.

And then he's saying, hey, hey, here's the final word.

Like this is the word for you.

Then he goes into verse 3.

He, Jesus, is the radiance of the glory of God, the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

Feel how dense this passage is.

After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

So point number two is this is Jesus gives us a perfect understanding of God, and he gives us a perfect salvation for our souls.

That's what we get in Jesus.

We get the perfect understanding of who God is.

The text is saying Jesus created the world and he upholds the world.

So this is saying Jesus, big word, is preeminent.

Jesus is the preeminent Christ.

I know that's a big word.

That's here's what it means.

It means utmost.

He is utmost.

He is before all things, right?

So Jesus, baby in a manger, Merry Christmas, right?

Little Christmas story.

And you're like, oh, God is a baby, like you know, oh great.

Jesus is a little boy and teenager, turns into a rabbi, dies on a cross, he's raises from the dead.

Jesus, the historical man, God man, is the preeminent Christ.

That's what makes him unique.

He's utmost, he's before all things.

Christmas is the incarnation of the Christ.

Jesus is the incarnation of the Christ.

The Christ existed before Jesus.

Jesus is the human, the incarnation of the Christ.

And this is how we have a perfect understanding of God.

I mean, what is God like?

What would God be like?

What is he like?

I mean, is he is he disappointed?

Like is he like a policeman?

Is he like a distant father?

Does he care?

Who's he care for?

How does he care?

What does he ask of us?

What does he not ask of us?

I mean, maybe you're driving down I-75 every morning and you're listening to 7 50 a.m.

and you're just hearing that about the traffic you're already in, and somewhere along the way, you just start going like, like, what is my life about?

Like, what is this?

What am I doing?

And like, what is my husband doing?

Like, I don't even know about him, and then my kids and my friends, and I don't even have friends, and I'm 28, and I thought I was gonna have friends, and I don't have friends anymore.

Like, and you're wondering all this, and like, why do I still have stress?

Why can't I, why can't I get that solved in my life, right?

Like, you're wondering all these things, and you're driving down this expressway, you're driving back up this expressway every day, and you're asking God for a word.

God, give me a word, give me a word for my marriage, give me a word for my kids, give me your word for my stress.

And you may or may not ever get that word.

I hope you do.

I think it's good for you to voice all that, like let that rip, like send it to God.

Like that is a good process.

But you may or may not ever get some concrete word on that situation, but there is a final word.

This is what Jesus the Christ gives us is a final word amidst all the other, the difficulty, and we want a word, and sometimes we get something, and we want a word for this, and sometimes we get it, sometimes we don't, and that's hard, and that's hard.

But Jesus gives us a concrete word for us to be able to be held by.

That speaks to our shame and our guilt and our sin that we're all, that we're all dealing with or ignoring one or the other.

John 1, 1 through 3 says, in the beginning, Genesis, in the beginning was the word.

And the word was with God, and the word was God.

He, okay, so the word, he, and John's writing about Jesus, Jesus was in the beginning with God.

So Jesus was the word.

All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.

So, so see, Jesus is connecting that.

I mean, John is connecting that Jesus, the baby.

Merry Christmas, the baby.

He's connecting that Jesus to the word that was in the beginning, to the preeminent Christ.

He's saying the preeminent Christ was part of the triune God, and the early understanding of that was not like apple pie cut in three, and it sort of overflows on top of it.

You remember that?

Maybe you learned that.

Maybe water, you know, it's like three different things.

It's gas and water and ice, and that's the Trinity.

The early understanding was a dance of love.

I love that.

I mean, that's the artist thing in me, gets going with that idea.

Like the dance of love.

That in the beginning was Elohim, God.

There was spirit, and there was the Christ in the very beginning.

A dance of love.

And that that's that's your origin story.

That's what we're wondering.

It's like, what's my story?

What's the word for me?

Like, in my is my story that I'm a pastor who tries to preach decent sermons, and um that that's my story, or that you work at IBM, or you're an educator, or you stay at home and you raise your family, or is that your story, and you're accumulating how much praise you might be able to get from that?

Is that like the story that is gonna save your soul?

And oh, what relief to hear that your origin story is that you were created out of love, you are saved by love, and you are held by love.

You were created by Christ and for Christ.

It's your core story.

Your core story is not tied to your looks or your children or your romance or your lack of any of those.

It's this.

It's this preeminent Christ that has been there since the beginning.

And we know him and Jesus the Christ, so we know God concretely.

And in his work, that he died on the cross for our sin.

Our sin is put upon him, and his righteousness is given to us, so we are forever his beloved.

We know we are created out of love, we are saved by love, and we are held by love, and that is Jesus for us.

That's the final word.

You may or may not get a word for some other stuff along the way.

I hope you do.

But that's the final word about you.

I had a meeting this week with our financial advisor, right?

One of those yearly things, right?

You meet and you talk about how much you make, uh, how much you uh how much you give, how much you spend, how much you save, and you do all of that.

And I'm geeking out.

I'll be honest like I get going on this stuff.

I am geeking out.

I'm geeking out about a mutual fund I found with a five-star rating, and it has a no front load and a low expense ratio, and some of you know what I'm talking about, and some of you don't even care, but I am geeking out on it, and I'm old as old can get and nerdy as nerdy can get in these moments, because I'm on the web and I'm reading like a prospectus of a prospectus of like I'm Warren Buffett, like I actually know what this is.

I'm reading because oh yeah, that sounds great, yeah, blah, blah, blah.

You know, like I'm talking to him.

Planning's one thing.

Planning is one thing, but somewhere along the line, always in this for me, always, my heart starts to adopt a different story.

Not that I'm redeemed, saved, and justified and valued by Christ and for Christ.

But somewhere along the line of this, like a really good five-star mutual fund with no front load and a low expense ratio, and it's been performing really well over the last 15 years, my heart starts to get a little attached to something like that.

And maybe that's not yours, maybe it's something else.

But it's this idea of like, oh, if I plan enough, if I have enough, if I'm affirmed enough by whoever, then I'll feel forgiven.

Or I'll feel safe, or I'll feel accepted.

Maybe I wouldn't feel insignificant at that point, or maybe I won't feel wounded anymore, or just maybe I won't feel ashamed.

Maybe that five-star mutual fund will perform really well, and I won't feel really good about my choice.

That's all just adopting a different story, a story that ultimately cannot deliver you unto any salvation.

Definitely has nothing, no power to deal with your sin or your standing before God and can't speak even to your value.

But Jesus, the preeminent Christ in history for us to know, God Himself.

If you want to know God, what God is like, what does God want of you?

What does he how does he think of you?

You don't need a next level, you don't need another book, like you don't need it, you don't need another system or some secret knowledge.

It's just him.

You need to know and rest more in the very one who is already in you.

Jesus Christ, hope of glory.

I skipped over verses two.

Verse two says uh the world was created through him.

Verse three says he holds all things together, which blows my mind because this week I read that our solar system has a diameter of 7.5 billion miles.

So if you get in a car and you go 65 miles per hour, you could cross this in 13,172 years.

That's our solar system.

So I get interested here and I go, okay.

Uh how many solar systems are in our galaxy?

You remember the name of our galaxy, anybody?

Milky Way, thank you.

All right, good job.

None of you knew.

Does anybody know how many?

Approximately.

A lot is the scientific.

Actually, it's kind of that is kind of the scientific definition.

But the thing I read said a hundred billion stars are in our in our galaxy.

And I'm like, oh, that's interesting.

And then I sort of note, like, this is a few years old, this data.

And so I Google, let's get the fresh data on this, and it says 200 billion.

Something's happened in the last three years.

I'm not like scientific enough to know, but they had a big jump in the approximation here.

That's just an R galaxy alone, and there are 10 billion galaxies in the universe.

We're still debating on that.

Jesus, the preeminent Christ in the beginning, God spoke.

That's the preeminent Christ, the word, the speaking out of Elohim.

He created it all, and he holds it together.

Now, you go, oh, that's great.

That's glorious.

I think you get caught up in that.

That would be a big enough story for your life, probably.

But here's how it, I think it impacts is it possible that that sort of sufficient and supreme, preeminent Christ who could speak all of that?

Plus, I learned this week 10,000 different types of grasses?

Do you know that?

I thought that was pretty unique and cool too.

Like, like not just like this big, like 10,000.

I was going through like Zorja, uh, fescue, like I can name like five.

10,000.

Like, did we need 10,000?

Probably not.

But that's a pretty impressive thing.

Let's just create so much we overwhelm these people by the creative power, and he holds it all together.

Is it possible that preeminent Christ?

Is it possible that preeminent known in Jesus grants us salvation?

By his word without you having to add to it?

By grace alone, through faith alone, create all the stars in the whole world.

Could he handle your sin?

Could he handle that mistake you keep using to beat yourself up?

Can he handle your shame?

Can he handle that wound?

Could he hold enough power to give grace and love to you?

Point number three.

In God's grace, we get to obsess on God's grace.

I love that point.

In God's grace, we get to obsess on God's grace.

So chapter two begins, and in verse one it says this, therefore, because of chapter one, therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

Which I love the admission there, like, you know what?

We can just easily forget some really important things in life.

We know what we're talking about.

And he's saying, hey, because of that, pay much closer attention.

And that word means to obsess.

My wife's commentary on that is like a high school crush, right?

Do you remember?

Where you just can't get it out of your brain.

You're just like you're upset, you can't move on.

You're thinking about the boy all the time.

You're thinking about that girl all the time.

What can you say?

What can you do?

How do you get in touch?

How can I get how can we go out again?

Like it's an obsession, it's a crush.

Like it's like that.

It's the hum before behind all things.

The hum inside of you.

So instead of anxiety humming in you behind all things, that you obsess on God's grace so much that that's the hum inside of you that is behind all things.

So rather than like 50 texts a day to your crush, it's like 50 times a day you're obsessing over how much God loves you, how sufficient the preeminent Christ in the triune God known in Jesus.

The Christ and His work for us on the cross, that that is an obsession to you because it is a relief to you and salvation to you and forgiveness and absolution and acceptance.

It defines you.

It's the thing that frees you to go in relationships to serve.

It's the thing that frees you to go to work and not be defined by your work or by your parenting or your romance.

It's your core story.

Twenty years ago, I was a sophomore at UGA and I began to read the pastor and author John Piper.

I don't know how I ended up getting to him, but somehow 20 years ago, I started to read his writings, and I was in the business school, and it was before we all had laptops at home.

I mean, none of us had laptops or anything at our apartments.

And so you had computer labs.

Some of you remember that you go to the computer lab, and that's where you worked on stuff, or you printed off stuff.

And so in the business school, we had free printing.

Now, what they did not think about was there might be some theological nerd up in this business school printing off hundreds and hundreds of pages of John Piper articles.

They didn't plan on that because I'm showing up at the counter to get my print offs and I'm always getting a weird look.

Like, you just printed off 300 pages of theological documents in the business school.

And I'm, hey, I'm I'm a business major.

Like, I paid for this.

I'm getting all my money out of this.

I'm gonna get all of it.

Keep it sending.

I'm devouring this material.

I'm going back to my apartment.

I'm just reading, I'm devouring it.

And I'm reading about this Jesus that is so glorious and so big and so sufficient.

He's big enough for my life and my sin and my mess ups.

And he's more glorious than I originally thought.

Like a story of glory that my life could get caught up in.

And then to top it off, he loves me without conditions.

And then this faith thing, I start to learn, like, oh, this faith thing that I've been trying to muscle so much.

Like, like it's not just my love toward him, but it's actually more his love toward me.

And that's incredibly relieving.

And then somewhere along the way, third day, hello, 20 years ago, anybody?

Was anybody rocking out?

20 years ago, third day, they're still doing it.

Marietta Jordan, they're from here.

We'll recognize that.

20 years ago, here's the lyric.

Don't you know I've always loved you?

Even before there was time.

Though you turn away, I'll tell you still.

Don't you know I've always loved you?

And I always will.

So, my brothers and sisters, in Jesus, you are forever accepted and loved and redeemed by his word.

This is your final word.

Let's pray together.

God, thank you for your grace and mercy that while we so easily drift away, you love us still.

We confess this morning that we love to look at ourselves more than you.

We love to feel forgiven or righteous based on our work rather than your work.

We love to try to feel validated and important in this world based on what we do rather than how we're loved by you.

And for this we say we are sorry.

This is all of our self-saving sinful hearts at practice.

And God, we thank you that you love us in it.

You never stop.

You're fully sufficient.

You are that.

You are that supreme and sufficient.

Help us to obsess more on your grace for us.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.