A Mediator for Now

Auto-generated from the audio — may contain errors.

0:00 But we're now looking at the Apostles' Creed. We're looking at the next text that they have laid out for us in the election area as we go through Lent getting ready for Easter. Glad that you made it this morning. We've been looking at the text that the church has laid out. Remember that each week they lay out an Old Testament, a Psalm, a New Testament reading and a Gospel reading. We've been picking one of those texts to look at as we move towards Easter.

0:31 And the text that we're looking at this morning, I want to get right to it. It's into Hebrews chapter 9 starting at verse 11. The reason I want to get to it is because there's kind of a lot of backstory to get to understanding that. I mentioned last week one of the benefits of following an election area is it's not the text I would normally pick. This is a great text, but it's complex in getting to its understanding kind of like how it was last week. And so there's a lot of backstory for us to get to appreciate what the writer of Hebrews

1:05 is saying. The first thing that it's worth mentioning is that Hebrews is one of these books in the New Testament where we're not sure who wrote it. There's very few in the New Testament where we're not clear on who wrote it because part of what helped a piece of literature qualify as the New Testament, meaning when the Council assembled, the Council of Bishops assembled in 300 and started to outline which books

1:38 would be in the New Testament, one of the qualifications for voting to decide, yes, this would be canonical, this one would not, would be authorship. So most of them we know who they were written by, Paul or one of the Apostles. Hebrews is one where we're not sure who wrote it. It used to be attributed to Paul, but when you read it even in the English you can see that the style of writing is very different from Paul's other letters, especially then

2:10 if you go into the Greek it's clear that the style of Greek that Hebrews is written is much more sophisticated than Paul would usually write in. The reason that it's included in the New Testament is because its theology is so clearly in line with the theology of Paul. And so most scholars think that the writer of Hebrews was actually a student or maybe even a scribe of Paul, someone who had followed him around and Paul would dictate letters to him and this person would write them down and send them and then this person either

2:45 had Paul dictated and wrote it down for him or just wrote it down from what he had learned from Paul and applied to the history of the Hebrews. The other thing that's really interesting about the letter to the Hebrews is it's really that. It's like Paul's theology going, remember he's the Jew of Jews, a student of Rabbi Gamaliel, he understood the not only the teachings of the Old Testament, the Jewish Bible, but also the culture and the cultural appropriations and applications of the Jewish Bible.

3:15 And so Paul is uniquely equipped to go here's how Jesus is in line with the teaching of Israel and here's where he's departed and this comes into our reading for this morning, the way in which Jesus is in line. And the reading that they gave us is in chapter 9 verse 11 but to understand it you have to get the context for just a minute and look back to chapter 7. The writer of Hebrew starts a kind of description about who Jesus is, the role Jesus plays for

3:51 the people of faith. In chapter 7 when he's saying he starts to go through this person Melchizedek and then from Melchizedek to the high priest and the Levites. So I want to think just a few minutes and remind us who the priest really was in the Jewish Bible. When I say priest, I don't know what image comes to your mind. If I were to say priest, maybe a person in black clothes with a little white collar on,

4:28 maybe a person robed at the front of the church. Comes to mind when you think of priest, maybe you've had experiences with priests, maybe you haven't. Priest really came into existence in the story of Israel. We our people began their own priesthood as they built the tabernacle. Remember that the tabernacle comes into the history of Israel as our people move out of

5:00 Egypt. God delivered them from slavery in Egypt. And they come to worship him on Mount Sinai and he gives these 10 words that then describe what the life of people who have the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as their God. These 10 words that describe the life of those types of people. And then he does something unique for the people of Israel after Sinai.

5:31 Remember that humanity was created to live in close proximity to the God. Remember in the garden in the very beginning, the story of the first ones walking in the cool of the day with the God. There's something about life. Remember they were close to the tree of life that they had this source, this capacity as image bearers of God to be in close proximity to God. And something happens in the beginning where humanity succumbs this fatal flaw that says

6:02 God does not have my best interest at heart. In fact, I know better than God. I can make decisions that were reserved for God between right and wrong. There's a break in the relationship where now no longer can humanity be near God and be well and healthy. They need to separate. So God moves them outside of the garden and for generations they live without proximity to God. Until when you follow the story through Genesis, you see it culminates in the generation of Noah where he says all desires of their heart were all evil all the time.

6:38 And God starts over with Noah's family thinking he'll get it right and then you see the story comes to the tower of Babel where they realize we're building a tower to say we don't need a God to get to heaven. We'll build a tower to get to heaven ourselves. And at that point that God changes his strategy. He pulls a separate group of people together and says I'll establish a close group of a close relationship with this group of people. There'll be like a little vineyard for me that I tend and maintain this little group of people. And the way that they'll be different is I'll make commitments, unilateral commitments

7:12 to them. This is when he calls Abraham. We talked about this a little bit last week. He makes a unilateral commitment to Abraham and goes towards him. And then when he comes, when he takes that group of people that he's been pending as a vineyard to be his group of people that all the world would see that life is better when you live with the God of creation in life. He brings them out to signings as I'm going to take a step even further. I'm going to bring the actual physical presence. In the Hebrew it's called the shikai-neh, the physical, the manifest presence of the

7:45 Creator God out from wherever it dwells eternally in the garden or wherever. And I'll bring that presence down and I'll put it right in the middle of the people. Once again humanity will have proximity to God. And so he describes to Moses how he's going to do this. And the writer of Hebrews in the build up to our text reminds us that when Moses was on the mountain God whispers to him a shadow of what the heavenly city looks like.

8:15 And the shadow of the heavenly city takes shape in the form of the tabernacle. And the tabernacle has a very elaborate system in order to bring the presence of God out into the midst of sinful people. People who have this fatal flaw who believe they know better than God, the God who ultimately knows all is going to be right next to the ones who think they know better. And there has to be a process to mediate that presence of God out to the people.

8:46 Because when you upfront, what we find in a couple places in the story of Scripture, when you bring it into the presence of the almighty infinite God, a notion that you know better, right? God wins immediately. And so people when they come unmediated into the presence of God, they die. You can't bring that like arrogance into the presence of God, the presence of God wins

9:17 every time. And so pre-develop to mediate the holiness of God out to a world that needs God. And there's a system, right? Where they go, there's a holy room where they go and make offerings and say that the people of God recognize their sin, need forgiveness. There's a sacrifice system that happens where there is payment for sin.

9:48 There's a place where priests go regularly to mediate the holiness of God so that the people of God can live in the midst of God. But inside that holy room, there's what's called the most holy room in the shadow of the heavenly city, the tabernacle, the tent, and eventually the temple as well. A most holy room that even the priests only go into once a year. Because in the most holy room is the manifest presence of God.

10:18 They burn a bunch of incense so that they don't look at it. They wear certain things to remind themselves of their need for sin. They've accomplished a few sacrifices to recognize the significance of the sin. And then they go in and offer the sacrifice to the actual physical presence of God in the midst of the people. This transforms Israel. Israel goes from a couple million slaveholders to landholders to fortified cities to vineyards,

10:56 to fruitful kings that rule over countries. The presence of God transforms Israel even when it's mediated through sacrificial systems and priests in the order of Aaron. The presence of God is what humanity was created for. But as long as we have this fatal flaw, it will need to be mediated. And God had set up a system. And what the writer of Hebrews says is that Jesus blows the doors off of the old system.

11:30 Right? Okay. I told you it was a long setup. Verse 9, verse 11, you know it's a good story if it has to get to creation in the garden to get back to where we are today. Hebrews chapter 9, verse 11. But when the Christ appeared, the Messiah, the delivering king, as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater, more perfect tent, not the hands,

12:07 not with the hands, which is made, not this creation. He's saying Christ appeared. The one who would go into that most Holy room once a year is the high priest and make offerings for all of Israel in order to mediate the presence. So the presence of God could continue to stay in and amongst the people transforming them. And remember we said that that tabernacle is a shadow of the heaven of city and the writer of Hebrews is saying when Jesus comes as the high priest, he moved into the most holy room that's not the shadow, the actual most holy room.

12:40 He moved into the most holy room wherever the presence of God dwells infinitely, wherever that is. The Messiah Christ goes into that holy place and then he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of blood of goats and calves, but by means of his own blood, thus securing eternal redemption. I was thinking about this, that the priest had this day once a year where they would go

13:13 into the holy place, the most holy place and offer this sacrifice. This was right around the time of the Passover, it would be called the Day of Atonement. And I was thinking about when you read the accounts, like if you get into the Talmud and you read the accounts of the Day of Atonement, there's a lot of circumstance around it. There's a certain thing that the priest wears with these particular jewels on it in the right places. There's a specific hat, a diademist, a

13:47 hat that the priest wears when he does this. They had a habit of tying a gourd with a rattle in it and a rope to the ankle of the priest when he goes into the most holy place because it would happen more often than once, that the priest hadn't dealt with his own sin well enough before he goes into the most holy place and he doesn't come out. So when they hear the rattle stop rattling around, they pull them out by the rope and get the next high priest to send in and make the sacrifice in the most holy of places.

14:20 When you read the record now, the Day of Atonement looks like a very significant day, but I was thinking as I was reading this and considering the Day of Atonement, like what it meant out in Capernaum, like where the disciples grew up. A couple days walk away from Jerusalem, what it meant down in crowded Bethlehem, what the

14:52 Day of Atonement meant. Of course, some people probably didn't know it was going on. Maybe there were some people who it was nice to know that the Day of Atonement was happening and forestalling the judgment of God against their shortcomings, failings, iniquity sin, pride for the year. Like it's nice to know that that's happening out there.

15:23 Some people might come to that realization if they paid attention to it, but it's very much something happening in a particular room. It's interesting to me that the Day of Atonement could happen over and over again and the rest of the world go on. Of course, Rome pays no mind that God is forestalling the center of people. That someone has walked into the physical presence of God. The whole world continues to happen. Well God is finding a way to get God's presence out into the midst of people and transform

15:57 them and make them the pinnacle of hope for the world, the light on a hill. I was thinking about that because what the writer of Hebrews is saying is that Jesus, the Christ, has gone into the actual holiest place in existence, stands in the presence of God and accomplishes the same thing that the high priest did, meaning accomplishes your forgiveness and that happens amidst all the regular runnings around of your life.

16:38 I had a nice Lent moment this week. I found in my closet, it's cleaned out of closet several weeks ago, maybe a couple months ago, CDs from high school. My CD book from high school in the beginning of college and I realized I have a CD player at the house but I have one in my car.

17:09 I have a CD player in my car and so I started bringing, I put through my CD book from high school and college into my car and started going through CDs and this week I had one, I put one in that I hadn't listened to, I mean maybe since freshman year of college for like twenty one years. There was a song in there that the refrain says, Dad, I broke my promise to you.

17:46 I thought I knew what I was doing but I was wrong. If you're wondering where I've been, I thought I knew what I was doing but I was wrong. And this guy, like all of the, the musician always has this tenuous relationship with faith and that runs through his music. And I was sitting with that friend, Dad, I broke my promise to you if you're wondering where I've been. I thought I knew what I was doing but I was wrong. And it felt like a Lenten moment to me.

18:20 Dad I broke my promise to you if you're wondering where I've been. I thought I knew what I was doing but I was wrong. There was something so kind of cathartic for me in the season of Lent. I don't have to have an answer or do not have to be right or to have a God who I could just go, I could just, I thought I knew what I was doing but I was wrong.

18:58 The writer of Hebrews is saying Jesus has done something, y'all. That we had a crude version of for a while which means, which is this, there is a way God is committed to getting out to you. So committed that he'll come up with a way. Don't worry about it. He's got a people, he's got a priest, he's got a room, he's got a system.

19:31 He put it all together in order that he could get out to you. And it's going to happen whether you're down in Bethlehem, up in Galilee or in the temple, the day of the time it's going to go. And you don't have to be the one to go into the room. We set up a mediator, go in the room for you. You keep living. God has set up a whole system in order to, so that all the hardest questions of your life are resolved and will stand resolved. And when you were ready to acknowledge, well I thought I knew what I was doing, but I was

20:04 wrong, the day of a tournament comes around. The writer Hebrews says, hey, people have got it. Christ has done something here which cannot, will not, shall not be undone. Okay, he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats

20:36 and bulls, but by means of the zone blood, thus securing an eternal redemption for if the sprinkling of the filed persons with the blood of goats and bulls and with the ashes of a heiferous sacrifices for the purification of flesh. How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal spirit offered himself without blemish to God purify our conscience from the dead works to serve the living God. This is what happens when you're able to have a moment where you're okay saying, dad,

21:09 I broke my promise to you. I thought I knew what I was doing, but I was wrong. When you're able to say that and it's not shame or guilt, it's just release. Then you realize you don't have to make it up. You don't have to, you acknowledge that I thought I knew what I was doing, but I was

21:39 wrong. I don't have to not know what I was doing. I'm sorry. Then it's done. You don't need work in order to repair in order to stack up more right than you have stacked up wrong. He's saying that the work of this high priest resolves your conscience to free you from works that only bind you on a treadmill of more works. If you're trying to stack up good works that outweigh your bad, you'll run on a treadmill

22:10 and never get to the end. But he says this high priest resolves your conscience so that you no longer have to run with dead work, but you can serve the living God. So when I rest in the acknowledgement that I thought I knew what I was doing, but I was wrong and I received the gift of forgiveness and don't carry guilt or shame, then I am set free to live. This is the point of the high priest that you might live.

22:43 When you live, you make stuff. You love people. You serve others. When you make stuff, you go out on adventures. You explore. You create. When you live, you encounter love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, and

23:14 self-control. The beauty for us of this high priest is that the safety net, the forgiveness is secure, not going anywhere, but also it is redemptive in a way that sets us free. Therefore he is the mediator of a new covenant so that those who are called may receive the

23:45 promised eternal inheritance. So say death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions committed under the first covenant. This is the last thing that I thought about as we had this text is that as long as there is sin, as long as we carry the fatal flaw of humanity that says God does not have my best interest at heart. In fact, I know better than God. We are going to need a mediator between us and God.

24:18 We are going to need a priest. As long as we carry that fatal flaw, we will need someone to mediate the presence of God and come out this. That is lifeblood because we were made to live in proximity to God. The new covenant means that that day we won't carry the fatal flaw forever. The new covenant means there is inside of you a capacity to live in a way that allows

24:53 God to be God fully. On this side of the grave, we live in tension between fatal flaw of humanity and Israel. Let God be God humanity. These things go back and forth in us. So we are going to need a priest as long as we are here to mediate the presence of God and call out on us this one. But the day is coming when this old man, when this old person dies forever and the new

25:29 creation takes over, an eternal inheritance where we stand unmediated before God. Next to the Christ our brother co-heirs with him of the kingdom of God. This season I hope that you are able to allow the Christ to be your priest, your mediator

26:07 to God. And that the taste that you get of proximity to God now would be just a little fortace, a little sand plane of what you will have forever unmediated. Let me pray. Hey Lord, thank you for the gift of your son, that high priest.

26:41 We thank you that it means that we can encounter you now. And Lord, we pray that we would encounter you now in such a way that we move towards that eternal inheritance unmediated joy in your presence, rest in your presence, peace in your presence. Give us a taste now and prepare us for eternity with you.

27:12 In Jesus name we pray. Amen.