THE PERFECT KING AND PRIEST
(INTRO) WE ALL WANT SOMEONE TO MAKE US RIGHT
[1]WELCOME: Good morning Brothers and Sisters. If you’re new with us this morning on campus or online, my name is Nic Cook and I’m one of the pastors along with Joe and the other elders. Thanks for choosing to be with Jesus and his family this morning. We’re continuing our teaching…
SERIES: called ANCHORED based on a book in the bible called Hebrews. This was a letter written most likely to followers of Jesus in and around the city of Rome. They were struggling with a lot of different things. And in their struggle, they were trying to decide if following Jesus was worth it. They were wondering if Jesus really could help them deal with their hardships. One of the things they were considering was, whether to go back to their old way of life. It appears that many of them had grown up in Jewish households. If following Jesus wasn’t working out, maybe he wasn’t the Messiah, the King that God had promised would bring hope and peace to the whole world. Maybe they should go back to worshipping the way their parents had with priests, temples, and sacrifices. Now, this often seems silly to us because we didn’t grow up with all of these various things. We don’t really see the need for priests, or why animal sacrifice was so important. But here is why priests hold such an important place in the life of humanity.
· [2]WE ALL FEEL UNWORTHY OF APPROACHING GOD, AND WANT SOMEONE TO GO TO HIM ON OUR BEHALF. WE WANT SOMEONE TO HELP MAKE OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD RIGHT SO WE CAN APPROACH HIM: This is true for both Christians and non-Christians alike. Let me illustrate this for you if you’ve grown up in the church and
· WHAT THIS LOOKS LIKE FOR THOSE WHO BELIEVE IN GOD. Way back in beginning of the human story, we see that God and people were in relationship. It says that God walked in the garden. That he spoke to them, spent time with them. No special rituals, no special spaces, just people and God directly together. Then when they disobeyed God by trying to decide for themselves what is right and wrong, they sinned. They broke God’s command and his heart. And it says in [3][Gen. 3:8] 8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” 10 And he said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” Immediately, they knew that there was something wrong both with them and between them and God. So, they ran when God’s presence came near. Story after story in the bible is filled with people who get close to God, and it reveals how unworthy they feel. There’s the story where Jesus stepped into the boat of one of his first followers named Peter, and after a night of not catching any fish, he does a miracle, and they catch so man fish it almost sinks their boat. [4]When Peter realizes the power and glory of Jesus, he falls on his knees and says, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” [Lk. 5:8] We can try to avoid it, numb it, cover it up, but deep down there is a recognition that we are not what we should be and it makes us feel separated from God. We long for someone to change that for us. But this isn’t just for those who believe in God. It’s the same for…
· [5]THOSE WHO ARE UNAWARE THEY ARE LOOKING FOR GOD: While they may not realize they are looking for God, they are seeking for something to show them that they are okay, that they are significant, that they are important and valuable. There is a deep desire to know we’re wanted. Every hallmark movie, every pop song, is about the longing to be near to someone that will make them feel whole and complete. It’s not always about romantic relationships. Sometimes it’s the longing to prove we’re valuable and good enough by achieving and winning. It’s all about winning, looking good, being known by everyone, being at the top of the ladder, because deep down we want someone to tell us that we’re loved and accepted. It’s this deep knowing in us all that makes us long for someone who can make us right, both with God and with ourselves. This is what makes Jesus the High Priest so important to all of humanity. So, let’s open our bibles to [6][Heb. 7]. Let’s pray!
(TEACH/APP) NAMES, ROLES, BLESSINGS, OFFERINGS (God)
[7]WHO IS MELCHIZEK? Before I talk about how Jesus is the priest that we need, we need to talk about someone named Melchizedek. Way back in the beginning of our bibles, we’re told in Genesis 14 about how Abraham, the man who the Hebrew and Jewish people all descended from, is living in the land of Canaan. His nephew was named Lot and was living in the town of Sodom. During this time, 5 Kings combined their armies to go and defeat another 5 Kings and their armies. One of the kings defeated was the King of Sodom. When Sodom fell, they plundered the city and took the people as prisoners and slaves. Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family were among those who were captured. But one of Lot’s servants escaped and goes to Abraham and tells him what happened. Abraham assembles an army of 318 men and goes and chases the enemy and attacks them at night and wins. He rescues his nephew and takes back all the wealth that had been stolen. This is where we meet Melchizedek. It says in [8-9][Genesis 14:17-20] What do we learn about Melchizedek in this passage? We’re told what…
· [10]HE’S CALLED, HE DOES, HE SAYS, HE’S OFFERED: (NAMES) Names in the Bible are always important. People would name their children various names either describing the circumstances they were born into, the hopes that their parents had for them, or characteristics that they might show. Sometimes people’s names would be changed after a significant event and their name would reflect what had happened to them. So Melchizedek means “King of Righteousness”. Basically, his name means, a King whose actions are always right, what he does is considered to be right by God. [11](ROLES) Next, we have his roles. He is both a King and a priest. These are two roles that were not to be combined. A King was the one who made laws, judged those who broke it, and enforced justice. A priest was someone who offered forgiveness and mercy. Other than Melchizedek, we never see these to roles together. God specifically broke them apart because no human being can have that kind of power and not abuse it. Yet here we see someone who is both King, the ruler and judge and the one who brings justice, and someone who is priest, the representative of God who offers forgiveness, mercy, and a clean slate. Not only is he a priest, but he is a priest of “God Most High”. At this time most people believed there were many Gods, some higher than others, but this priest claims to represent the God above all Gods. [12](BLESSING) This King Priest then speaks a blessing. A blessing was basically saying, this is how God feels about you and has acted towards you. He says “blessed by Abram by God most High.” He speaks for God to Abraham. Abraham, God is for you, you have his favor! [13](OFFERING) Then we see that Abraham is so grateful for what God has done, he’s protected his nephew and their family, he’s protected him and his men in battle, he wants to worship God. So, he finds this man who represents the God he believes in and makes a sacrifice to God. It says that Abraham gave a tithe or 10% of the wealth that he had captured to God by giving it to Melchizedek. The author of Hebrews is saying, pay attention to this King Priest! He’s giving us a picture of something that is so much better than what you’re tempted to run after. The author of Hebrews mentions all of these things, but they also talk about how he has…
· [14]HE APPEARS TO HAVE NO BEGINNING OR ENDING: If you look back at [Heb. 6:20] it says, “20 where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” The only other place Melchizedek is mentioned in the Old Testament is in [Psalm 110:4]. It says, “The Lord has taken an oath and will not break his vow: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.” This is an important psalm because it was one that the entire Jewish people believed to be a prophecy about what God’s promised King would be like and what he would do. It’s known as a Messianic psalm, that gave promises about God’s plan to save his people. And it says that this messiah will be both a King but also somehow a priest like Melchizedek forever. The Jewish people kept detailed records of the birth and death of those who were qualified to be priests. Yet, when you look at Melchizedek, there’s no record of when he was born and no record of him dying. He’s this mysterious king priest who steps into history and then no one seems to know where he went or what happened to him. The writer of Hebrews is saying compare Jesus to Melchizedek and you’ll see that he doesn’t just appear to be without beginning or end…[15]
(JC) JESUS IS THE PERFECT ETERNAL KING & PRIEST (JC)
HIS NAME IS: King of Righteousness. Jesus is a ruler who is completely perfect in his life and leadership. Everything he does is beautiful, right, and in line with the way God wants us to live. The life of Jesus is amazing! He is literally the most compelling human being that has ever walked the earth. Read the gospels and see the amazing love he had. He made every single outsider feel like family. He embraced and ate with the unwanted and hated of society. His teaching is unlike any other teaching. So much so that it has shaped the majority of cultures on this planet. He both told us how to live rightly and showed us how to do it. He’s also the King of Salem, or Shalom.
The King of Peace. Most of us are looking for a place where there’s no stress, anxiety, fighting, division, or pain. However, when we allow Jesus to rule our lives, it’s not that those things go away, we simply respond to them differently. We respond like Jesus did. Instead of fighting those who have hurt us, we pray for them, we learn to serve them. We entrust that Jesus will deal with other people in the way he wants. He helps us love them. We trust that Jesus loves our kids, our spouse, more than we do and helps us surrender control to him and not live in fear about their choices. He gives peace. Jesus is the ultimate King of righteousness and peace. His decisions are right. His laws are perfect. His judgement of what is sin and what is evil are perfect. And even though we all sin, even though we all try to be king, he is…
The perfect priest. It is God’s great desire to make us right. For our sin and shame to be erased. For us to experience the love of God and to know we are accepted, safe, and significant. The priests in the Old Testament were a temporary picture of how God wanted to accomplish that. The first problem with the priesthood was that if God’s forgiveness was dependent on a human to continue to make sacrifices to deal with sin,
· HUMAN PRIESTS DIDN’T LIVE FOREVER. They died. If they died, they would have to have another priest keep making sacrifices. But Jesus is eternal. He will never die. He can continue forever to do the work of showing us mercy and making people right with God. The second problem with the old way was that…
· HUMAN PRIESTS WERE SINNERS THEMSELVES. They had to offer sacrifices for themselves in order to experience God’s mercy before they could offer sacrifices for everyone else. One of the major problems is that often, these priests failed to live the lives they called others to. There were times they took advantage of the people they were called to help. They enjoyed the power and prestige of their position and were more worried about staying in control than they were about loving people well. In fact, the high priest during the time of Jesus was part of the plot to have Jesus murdered. See how flawed the system had become. But Jesus was perfect. Because he didn’t sin, he only had to make one sacrifice. A sacrifice for the people he represented. Now let’s get really practical…
If the old way of priests who made sacrifices is how we were forgiven and made right, everyone living past 70 A.D. the last 2,000 years would be without hope. Because the temple was destroyed and there have been no priests and no sacrifices made since then. That would be it! You and I would be separated from God not only in this life, but in the life to come for eternity. There would be no forgiveness. No ability for us to experience a release from our guilt and shame. No reassurance that God was for us. But because Jesus lives forever, he is able to represent everyone across all time, all places, all cultures. I want to speak this truth over you…
[16]25 Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost[b] those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them.
If you would, I’d like to ask you to close your eyes. Now I want you to place yourself before the God of the Universe. He is surrounded by glory, and power, his light is overwhelming. There is no shadow in his presence. And as you enter his presence, you know that he can see everything about you. Every single thing about you and your life is visible to him. He sees through every pretense and every illusion and knows who you really are. How do you feel as he looks at you? What does it make you want to say or do? (pause)
Now I want you to realize that he has not cast you out of his presence. All the things you thought would keep him from loving or wanting you are not being held against you. Instead, you are wanted. It is his great desire that you be right here with him.
Now I want you to see that out of the light of the Father’s presence comes the outline of a man coming towards you. After a moment you realize that Jesus has approached you. How does he look at you? How does he feel about you? What do you want to say to him? (pause)
Scripture tells us that this is how Jesus feels about us. As he places his hands on your shoulders and looks into your eyes, hear the truth today.
Only I am perfect and righteous. But I have given you my righteousness. I am the king of peace. You and I are not enemies. You and my father are not enemies. You are at peace. You are welcome here. You are wanted here. This is where you have always longed to be and it’s where you belong. I have saved you. I am saving you. I will continue to save you.
You are blessed. You are favored by God most high. You are welcome here. You don’t have to try to be significant. You are mine and you belong to me.
THIS IS OUR PRIEST, JESUS. THE ONE WHO CALLS YOU WORTHY. THE ONE WHO MAKES APPROACHING GOD AND CALLING HIM FATHER POSSIBLE. Amen.
