Hebrews Chapter 5 Verse 1

• The Jewish reader would have been right at home here. Understanding thoroughly this concept of the high priestly ministry and now maybe beginning to draw a new line from that familiar concept…to Jesus. The thought was introduced back in Chapter 2, this tie between Jesus and this office…and yet the writer says, “Taken from among men.” Bread crumb alert! Hold UP!
• To the common Jew they would think of Aaron…because he was taken from among men…but was Jesus? Someone paying attention, edge of their seat…they’d get that woozy feeling here…they’d notice the bread crumb. Back in Chapter 1, the writer already told us that the Son of God made the worlds. Now, what came after that? What’s in the world? Men! (It’s Raining MEN!) So there’s the bread crumb for anyone looking for it…that Jesus is worthy and right for the office of High Priest (the surface level point being made), but at the same time, somehow, mysteriously, He is even superior to it…
• And so the bread crumb leads to a bread boulder! With that in mind…build upon what we saw last week…that a rest apart from the law, a real rest (since the law is over and over and over again…these sacrifices and rituals), a rest remains available that was not there before and that rest, that liberty, that strength, that reality of not just a covering of guilt but a complete return to innocence has now come through the great (back in verse 14 – megas in the Greek – meaning space and dimension, mass and weight, compass and extent, measure and height, stature and authority…power…the first, the eldest, the preeminent) High Priest Jesus Christ…who passed right through the Holy of Holies and right into the very throne room of God…where no sinful High Priest could have ever gone…why?

Hebrews Chapter 5 Verses 2 – 4

• You see because beginning with Aaron all the way to the High Priest that was in office there in Jerusalem at that time…they all offered sacrifices for sins…including their own! But not Jesus!
• As James and Trifon were teaching Wednesday night, I was listening and heard something that gave me this morning daylight in my heart! Ever have that…a new day of sorts, man? That my life was broken, my eternity was broken, my design was broken (since I was designed perfectly) and so God came with a perfect life, a perfect eternity and a perfect nature…and traded me…He broke His for me…I was broken, He was not…He broke Himself, so that I could be unbroken…whoa…

• The implication though about mentioning that others had to make sacrifice for their own sin is that DUH…He is superior! He is the great High priest! Something else. Something greater! The mind of the Jewish reader would have entered into that A-HA moment...

• And check this out…think on this for a minute just practically regarding ministry…Revelation Chapter 1 Verses 5 and 6 say, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever.” The Bible declares that we have all entered the priesthood as it were. What school did you attend? What discernment did you complete? Man I went to a place called “Love and Washing!” Sounds a little weird, not sure you’d actually walk into a place called that, maybe a laundry mat (or a car wash), but that alone is what qualifies you for the ministry!
• Receiving yourself the love of the Father, the grace of the Father, the cleansing of the Father from all sin through the blood of His own Son…and if that’s you, then you will be as Hebrews 5 says right here, “Having compassion on those who are suffering.” Is that you or you just ‘bout your life? (Why do we say, “lets cut it off” when one of our kids gets a scratch? They want consolation, we want the to stop crying…)
• This word suffering here, (that’s the word there for ignorant…its agnoeo…) those in agony and maybe they, most likely they, most often they don’t even know or perceive it…why? Deceitfulness of sin man! Hardness of heart man…
• So why compassion? Well it certainly is not natural…Because there in verse 5…you know you yourself are subject to the same weakness! You’re aware of your own struggles and setbacks, failures, hurts, pains, problems but now you see reality…that those things…that struggle, that setback…it’s not them or him or her or they or that…the problem is you! Yourself! And repentance has entered, love has flooded and forgiveness has washed over your heart of hearts and standing there free, your heart breaks for the chained.
• That is the essence of true ministry…because now you serve and love and guide and pray for the unsaved out of compassion, seeing them locked up, weighed down – and you remember being there (maybe you’re still there…) - and hearing God’s heart on the matter…and now you serve and love and guide and pray for the saved out of gratefulness and worship towards the King of Kings…
• In both cases, you minister not for what you can get…but simply because you love the One who came down to get you man…and so every soul counts…Let me ask you this…is your desire for them to out-grow YOU? Should be…
• Am I ok with my walk and leaving others to walk their own walks? It should be my desire that they would out grow me…it should be my desire that my life would bring them closer to God. It should be that my life would echo somehow in their hearts, even going unnoticed, to bring them closer to God…This is the true ministry of the priest…not to be higher than the people but to serve the people…support them, love them, make personal sacrifice for them…
• So that they can be more and more free and more and more strong…have more and more joy, love, peace, patience, power and prosperity.
• Yea I said it…not in terms of money, cash, cars, diamond rings, gold chains, orange tang and every material thang…but maybe…I rejoice when someone begins to blows up Psalm 1 style!!!
• Read it with me…whatever he does shall prosper…whatever! Why? Because they are a priest man…their heart is first for the Lord, second for others and their life explodes with this, dawns with this…unworldly power man…attractive even to the darkest of souls…I’ve seen this over and over and over (Matt B. story, Chin story, Tasha story…my own story)
• And so the writer says, you don’t even have to apply…God has appointed you for this…do you know this? Chapter 3 verse 1 of 1 John says that God has bestowed His love on us and made us His children…I learned this Wednesday night, that that word bestowed…it’s like a gift…the implication is one-way…(on-way---eeeee) All we have is a broken life.
• Broken bents, broken egos, broken hearts, broken priorities, broken attitudes, broken filters, broken minds…broken lives…and eventually they end…but He broke His to appoint us to His love…Check this out, final thought as we end…
• He made the nails, He made the cross, He made the thorns, He made the whip, He made the spear that pierced His side, He made the soldiers that mocked Him, He made their lunch that gave them even the energy to do so…He made His point. He loves you…

• Man it’s time to stop being about Christianity and start being a Christian. I tussle the freezer food to get April to come help…but guess what, I’m still hungry…no matter what it cost you…let it…what He has appointed you to…is better than everything…and if you follow the bread crumbs…it’s because it cost everything…