December 1, 2024: Sunday School

Order of Service

• Prayer of Invocation
• Sermon
• Closing Prayer

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Sermon Title: The Greatness of the Son Over the Servant

Scripture: Hebrews 3:1-6

I. The Identification of the Audience

A. Addressed as "holy brothers" — those whom Christ is not ashamed to call brothers (Hebrews 2:11-12, 17)

1. "Holy" is both a categorical and moral term — set apart and being sanctified
2. Christ makes believers brothers by his incarnation and identification with them

B. "You who share in a heavenly calling" — a vocation distinct from and superior to any earthly vocation

1. To share in a heavenly calling is to be identified with God himself (Donald Guthrie)
2. Earthly vocations are good, but the heavenly calling must permeate how believers live them out
3. The plural language ("our confession," "our hope," "we are his house") emphasizes shared participation

II. The Identification of Christ

A. "Consider Jesus" — the central exhortation of Hebrews 3:1

1. The entire word of God calls us to consider Jesus — the Old Testament by types and shadows, the New Testament by looking back to Christ
2. Preaching of the word exists to call people to consider Jesus, not the preacher

B. Christ as Apostle — the only place in Scripture where Jesus is explicitly called the Apostle

1. "Apostle" (Greek: apostolos) carries the sense of one sent out on a mission, like a ship dispatched on an expedition
2. Jesus is appointed and sent by the Father — consistent with the New Testament portrait of his mission
3. The office of the twelve apostles derives from and points back to Jesus as the great Apostle
4. Hebrews opens with this foundation: God has spoken in these last days by his Son (Hebrews 1:1-2)
5. "The Apostle of our confession" — what believers confess is constrained by and centered on the message he brings; the confession of Christ is not a one-time event but a whole-life confession

C. Christ as High Priest — introduced in Hebrews 2:17-18 and the subject of much of the book

1. The one confessed is the one who perfectly and finally fulfills the office of high priest

III. Jesus Compared to Moses

A. Moses holds a unique place in redemptive history and Jewish religious consciousness — arguably the central figure of the Old Testament, to whom all others were compared

1. The comparison is not a diminishment of Moses; he is genuinely called faithful (Numbers 12:7)
2. Context of Numbers 12:7: God rebukes Miriam and Aaron's rebellion by affirming Moses' unique faithfulness — God spoke to Moses openly, face to face

B. Moses is faithful as a servant in God's house; Christ is faithful as a Son over God's house (Hebrews 3:5-6)

1. Moses' role as servant is to testify to things yet to be spoken — the Old Testament word looks forward to completion
2. Moses is both a member of the house and a servant to it; his mission prepares the way for the far greater mission of the Son
3. The builder of a house always has more honor than the house itself (Hebrews 3:3-4) — Christ is the builder; Moses is part of what is built
4. In every context a son is greater than a servant; the Son superior by nature proves a superior servant by what he does

IV. The House God Is Building

A. What is the house? — the people of God

1. 1 Corinthians 3:16 — believers are the temple in whom the Spirit of God dwells
2. Ephesians 2:19-22 — fellow citizens and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ himself the cornerstone, growing into a holy temple
3. 1 Peter 2:5 — believers as living stones being built up as a spiritual house
4. The temple throughout redemptive history is the place where God meets and dwells with his people — from the Garden of Eden to the physical sanctuary to the people of God indwelt by the Spirit

B. How is the house built?

1. Built on the word of God — on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ as cornerstone (Ephesians 2:20)
2. Built through faith — believers holding fast to the confession of Christ as Apostle and High Priest
3. The living stones are each unique; God builds his house with diverse living stones (1 Peter 2:5)

C. The warning implied in Hebrews 3:6 — "we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope"

1. Only those consistent with what they profess over the course of a life have any claim to be part of the house (Donald Guthrie)
2. The call is not merely a one-time confession but a lifelong holding fast to Christ
3. Introduction to the next warning passage — don't drift away; keep believing; consider Jesus