Longings, Jesus - Hebrews 1

In the beginning, there was nothing. Just God and nothing. God spoke, and created the entire world. From the animals in the woods, to the birds of the air, fish in the sea - God created it all. Last but not least God created humans. And for a while things were good. God and humanity were getting to know each other. But then humans broke God’s heart, betrayed his trust, disobeyed - and so they fell. From that moment on, humans have never really been able to understand God. In different places of the world they worshipped random things that seemed powerful to them. The sun, the moon, the ocean, cats. We knew there was something more out there. There is this urge, this pull in our gut, on our heart - but we couldn’t see it, we couldn’t understand it. But we knew it was there. We knew our time is more than just this life, there is a tiny piece of eternity in each of us. A shred of knowledge, a glimpse. Some people call it curiosity, others call it hope. We had a belief that there was something more, but we didn’t know who it was. And so they would have strange rituals and sacrifices and chants all trying to make the “something more” happy. Trying to figure out how to appease whatever was out there. 

And then God spoke again. God gave the people a method of connecting, with sacrifices and circumcision, rituals to say, “We belong to God” But it wasn’t enough, and the people were still lost. A world without guidance. And so God gave them the law. It was a set of rules to live by, we know them as the ten commandments. But those ten are just the beginning. Hundreds of rules to keep humans from hurting each other. To teach us how to live together, how to interact in a society. It introduced ideas like justice, fairness, punishment, reward. Vague concepts that we had felt before, but now we had name, clarity and definition. And humans were really excited about the law. If we follow these rules, “the something more” that’s out there will be happy with us. And for a while that worked, leaders came and went, generations passed. But humanity kept falling away from the law. Because the law failed to capture our heart. We couldn’t seem to follow the rules. Humans kept making mistakes. Eventually the people of God saw that some other countries came up with an idea of these rulers called “kings”. And Israel wanted kings. God told them, “this is a bad idea.”’ If you create this system of leadership, they will become corrupt. Leaders will lie and cheat and steal from the people. And God was right, but they didn’t listen, and so Israel had kings. And the Kings went corrupt. And so then God sent prophets to speak to the kings. To show them how they had fallen away from the law, away from God. As time went on the kings were destroyed by other countries, empires came and went. 

But then something else happened with the law. The leaders in the temple, the religious leaders, they created a very rigid set of rules and claimed that it was the only way to connect to God. Follow the rules, sacrifices, ritual cleanings - the rules are the most important. They took the law and made the law their god. They forgot that the whole point of the law was to bring us closer to the “something more’ that’s out there - to bring us closer to God. I mean, most people, they just wanted to get in, do the sacrifice thing, and get out - feeling awesome about how perfect they were. We chose religion and ritual over relationship. God watched as again humanity missed the point. And then God decided to connect with us in the most direct and obvious way He could. He stepped into our world. The baby born in the manger.

Today is Christmas Eve! This is my very first Christmas Eve with you all - the first of many is my hope and prayer. And we’ve been going through this series called Longings, and discussing the deepest longings of the human spirit. What do we REALLY want for Christmas? And if you’ve been with us for the entire series, you probably noticed that as we have talked about each longing - hope, joy, peace and love - really each of those has been a code word for the deepest longing any of us has, the longing in our soul for Jesus. Jesus is our hope, Jesus is our joy. Jesus is the prince of peace, Jesus is love. And so to finish this series up - we’re going to dive into Hebrews chapter 1, but of course we’ll dabble a bit over in Luke 2, but we’re going to start in Hebrews 1.

If you want to open up your bibles, or look it up on your phone - Hebrews is in the New Testament - towards the back of the book. Now I want to encourage you, feel free to grab a bible off the back wall if you’d like a physical copy - but know that tonight I am using the New Living Translation of the bible. Hebrews chapter 1, verse 1, where it says, [read v.1]. In the past, God has reached out to his people in all sorts of ways. And we’ve seen this all over the bible - sometimes I’ll hear from atheists, sometimes their friends of mine, or sometimes it’s even on the internet,- and they’ll say something like, “Well - if God is real, then why doesn’t he just prove his existence and show himself to us.” And it’s like, if you look at history - the truth is, he HAS. God has spoken to the people through the prophets and the law, through burning bushes and pillars of clouds, angels and visions and yeah, God has spoken to his people at many times and in various ways, and then Jesus himself comes along, verse 2 [read v.2]. Jesus Christ stepped into our world to show us that this whole time, what all of this has been about - it’s about connecting to the creator of the universe - it’s about knowing God. There were lots of different methods throughout history, but now we have God with us, there’s a fancy word for that - Emmanuel, God with us in the person of Jesus. 

Here’s the trouble though - some of us want to go back. Some of us want to go back to worshipping the law. Some of us are here today because of peer pressure, or ritual obligation. We just want to do the church thing, get it over with and get home. And to those people who are here tonight, or if you’re tuning in on the livestream. I just want to say, “I’m so sorry’ because the church has failed you. If you think that church is just dressing up and showing up - we’ve missed the whole thing. And most churches get that wrong. I got it wrong for a lot of years in my life. We have spent so long focused on an institution, on a building, on a ritual - we have forgotten the purpose of this place. And so I want to ask you today, do you KNOW God? Not, have you heard about God. or read about God - but do you KNOW him? Do you talk to God, learn about God, spend time with God? Is God a priority and a presence in your life? There is something out there, I swear to you it’s true, and it has been trying to connect with you all this time - and we’re going to settle for “I sit in a special building for an hour once a week?” Is that what faith means to us? God spoke through our ancestors, through the prophets and now he speaks through Jesus. God wants to know you, to love you, to overwhelm you with his goodness. 

Think about it this way - when a pregnant mother goes into a delivery room, you don’t just get in, pop out a baby, and then get home - with nothing different. When a child enters the world, gravity shifts. Nothing is the same. There is the way things used to be, and there’s the way things are now and it’s RADICALLY different. In the church, it’s the same way. There’s the way things USED to be, focused on the law. They used to have sacrifices designed to appease God, and then later we built up these great big institutions where the height of obedience to God was that you have a wear a suit and watch your language - the way things were. And there is the way things are now - focused on love, actually trying to follow the way of Jesus. Jesus came so that we can be closer to God. The way that works is that Jesus IS God. Listen to this, verse 3, [read it]. I have never heard such an amazing complimentary line. Can you imagine if somebody said that about you? My dear, you are just the radiance of God’s glory this morning. Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory, and the exact representation of his being. So Jesus IS God. He is the radiance of God’s glory, and THEN - and then it says, “after he provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” They’re really pumping up this Jesus guy. 

And the whole rest of the chapter is basically just a list of ways that Jesus is better than the angels. It says in verse 4, [read it]. Verse 5 and 6 he says, “I will be his Father, he will be my son” Jesus is the son of God. Verse 8 and 9 - God says, “Jesus your throne endures forever, you rule with a scepter of justice.” Verse 10, listen to this one, [read v.10-12]. To recap: Jesus is better than angels, He is the son of God, his throne endures forever, he has a scepter of justice, he sits at the right hand of God and he created the heavens and the earth. Everything else passes away, folds up like old laundry, but Jesus is forever. So here’s my point with all of that - as some of you have probably picked up from my short time as your pastor, beneath the beard and tattoos - which I think is a pretty good disguise - but underneath all that I’m just a huge bible nerd who gets really excited about all the stuff this book says about Jesus. Now, I won’t go too much, but let me just give you a peek. John Piper has this quote, where he talks about the incarnation - incarnation, which is just a fancy word for God in human form. And he’s talking about why God had to come to us in human form as Jesus. And he says, “The incarnation is the preparation of nerve endings for the nails. That’s what the incarnation is. The incarnation is the preparation of a brow for thorns to press through. He needed to have a broad back so that there was a place for the whip. He needed to have feet so that there was a place for spikes. He needed to have a side so that there was a place for the sword to go in. He needed cheeks, fleshy cheeks, so that Judas would have a place to kiss and there would be a place for the spit to run down that the soldiers put on him. He needed a brain and a spinal column with no vinegar and no gall so that the exquisiteness of the pain could be fully felt - for you.” Now if you’re in here tonight and you have no idea what I’m talking about - that’s okay, I’ll connect the dots for you. He’s describing the way Jesus died. Jesus put on flesh so that he could give up his life - for you. Because to Jesus, you are worth dying for.

And I could spend a lot of time outlining how this child Jesus of Nazareth, born in the manger is the perfect culmination of the entire biblical story. I could spend a lot of time combing through the prophecies and pointing out how Jesus and ONLY Jesus ever fulfilled every single prophecy. They’re written over hundreds of years in multiple countries in four different language and it all comes together in this impossibly perfect way at this nexus point to creation. I could wax eloquent with philosophical thoughts about fancy words like incarnation and how Jesus is God with flesh, God with us. And I love to get into the hebrew and the greek to teach you little tidbits of information that maybe you haven’t heard before. To give you a fresh perspective on a story you’ve heard a thousand before. Even if you didn’t grow up in the church - you probably saw a movie or two. But here’s my problem - for all my love of the nerdiness, none of it matters, if you don’t know him. If you don’t know what he did for you. What he means for you, and your connection to… that “something more” that’s out there. 

Jesus is everything the bible says and more. But if all you have is knowledge in your head and rituals in your past - you’re missing something. I think we see this best with the Shepherds. I’m going to jump over to Luke chapter 2, and it says in verse 8 [read v.8-12]. Classic. Beautiful. Bunch of shepherds, never heard anything about Jesus, maybe weren’t even that religious. Verse 16 picks it up, [read v.16-20]. I want you to imagine these guys for a second. It says that they went and saw the baby, and then they go through the streets of Bethlehem praising God, glorifying him, telling everyone they could find about what just happened. They burst out of the stable, all pumped up - ready to tell everyone. And imagine they bump into an average villager from Bethlehem. And they shout, “the messiah is here!” And the Bethlehem villager rubs the sleep out of his eyes and goes, “wah? Well - does he fulfill ALL the prophecies? Was he born of a virgin from the line of David?” And the shepherd just gushes, “I don’t know, savior of the world, he’s over there. It’s the one in the manger.” And the villager replies, “Okay, sure - but like how does all that work with some of my theological questions? I’d really like to know if his positions line up with how I prefer to live my life before I get too excited.” And the shepherd, leans over his knees, trying to catch his breath, “i have no idea what you’re talking about - the angel said the messiah was over there, and that it would be a kid in a manger, and we went and everything they said came true. And it was amazing.” And now the villager strokes his beard and says, “Riiight, but I’ve got some concerns about how much I have to get into this - I mean, how many times do I have to go to church for this… whole thing? What if I don’t really care for the music?” And finally the exasperated shepherd grabs the front of the villager’s robe, pulls him in close and says, “I don’t care about any of that stuff. All I know is that good news that brings great joy is in stall three. You should go meet him.” 

Jesus is everything the bible says he is and more. And there are answers to every single question and pondering we have. For every doubt and argument, for every hesitation and resistance - there are answers. But none of that matters if you have not met Jesus. Some folks want to treat Jesus like a politician. Well, now hold on. I need to hear his position on everything I think about to see if I agree before I decide whether or not I want to vote for him. Some folks want to treat Jesus like a country club. Well, now hold on - how much are the membership dues before I sign up? What are the benefits? But sometimes it takes a good ol’ shepherd, with mud on his robes and excitement in his voice to come in and say, “what are you talking about? Are you insane? Good news that brings you great joy, salvation that brings you from death to life, a way to be forgiven of your sins to be reconnected with the God who created you - what could we possibly let stand in the way of that?

And this actually happens all over the bible, it’s not just limited to the baby in the manger. There’s a part in John chapter 9 where Jesus heals a blind man. And the teachers in the church were so baffled and they question him, “how did this happen?” and he sort of shrugs. I don’t know - I was blind but now I see. And they question him and they question the parents, “What’s your opinion of this Jesus guy? And they respond, “I don’t know, our son was blind, but now he can see. John chapter 5, verse 9 - a paralyzed guy can’t walk. Jesus heals him. Says, “get up, pick up your mat and walk.” And people are baffled. How can you do that? You can’t carry around your sleeping mat like that. And you can kind of hear the shrug in his response. He’s like, “I dunno. What are you talking about?” It says in verse 11, the guy says to them, “the man who healed me told me, “pick up your mat and walk.” I’ll give you one more - John chapter 11, Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead. He’s been dead for four days, Jesus says, “nope - roll the stone away.” He calls out to Lazarus, and Lazarus comes out of the tomb, alive. Can you imagine walking up to Lazarus and asking him, “wait, what did you do?” How did you DO that? Lazarus is going to look at you like you’re the dumbest human being alive. Because HE didn’t do anything. HE was dead. It was all, only and ever, always Jesus. Do you catch the theme? The shepherds, the blind man, the paralyzed man, Lazarus - they don’t KNOW anything. They just know Jesus. 

What I want you to realize with all of this is that the gift of Christmas - it’s not religion. It’s not ritual. It’s not even deep metaphysical truths about the universe. The gift is Jesus. The person of Jesus. And if you call on his name. If you know him, love him, surrender to him. Ask him to wash your sins away, give your life to follow him - to restore your connection to the divine. If you make room for Jesus - everything else just sort of falls away.

I think this works on a number of different levels. First - if you have never given your life to Jesus, if you’re in here tonight and maybe you went to church a couple times as a kid, but you never really got into it all - the message of the shepherds is such incredible good news. The gift of Jesus doesn’t come with hidden fees. They didn’t sit down with the blind man and ask him if he was a good person - they asked him, “do you want to see?” They didn’t sit down with the paralyzed man and outline - alright, now here’s the specifics of the church teachings and here’s our vision statement and our core values - no, there’s no seminary exam for salvation. For the blind man it’s - do you want to see? For the paralyzed man it’s - do you want to walk? For the dead man it’s - do you want LIFE? And for ALL of us who have SINNED (which is EVERY SINGLE PERSON in this room) the question is - do you want forgiveness? And if the answer is YES, then all you have to do is claim that gift. Like we say in the Zero Collective - you don’t wash yourself off before getting into the baptism tub. We don’t have to fix our lives BEFORE we accept Jesus. There is no level where we are good enough for Jesus. Romans tells us that while we were still sinners, Jesus comes. We come, just as we are. We accept Jesus, give our lives to him, call on his name and let HIM do the healing. Let HIM do the transforming. And there are some in this room who are ready to make that step. God’s been nudging you, pulling on your heart strings a little bit here, and a little bit there. Speaking to you in your life in different ways and different places. And he has led you to this moment. The moment when you actually start to believe this stuff. To say yes to Jesus. Because remember Hebrews showed us that the way God talks to us in this world, in this time - is through Jesus. And I’m going to give you a concrete way to say YES tonight, but first I need to expand it out to the rest of the room.

It’s true - maybe some of you have never even heard of the gift of Jesus - have never taken that step. But I also know there is another group in the room tonight. I think there’s some of us who are here because of ritual obligation. We come to do the “church thing” because that’s what we do on Christmas Eve and that’s that. Went to church as a kid, maybe even did the Sunday School thing - graduated high school and maybe left all that Jesus stuff behind. Eh, I’ll show up a couple times a year - make sure to hit the big holidays, but hey, Life gets in the way. Sports. Work. inconvenient moral codes and honestly - sometimes church, especially back in the day - sometimes it was just plain ol’ boring. For those of us who reduce our connection to God down to just regular ol’ religion - I get it! I can see where you come in with that bare minimum mentality. But let me ask you, what if there was more? What if what happens tonight is not meant to stay at the level of ritual? What if a baby coming into the world is meant to shift gravity? What if things are not supposed to be the same after we encounter God? What if there was a deeper connection to the Almighty God available to you? What if there was a relationship that could fill you with more joy, hope, peace and love than anything else in this world? Or maybe you had it. Maybe you had that connection to God - where you were all in for Jesus, but then life got in the way, you fell out of practice and you lost some of that passion, some of that fire for God. There are some of us in the room tonight who gave our lives to Jesus years and years ago. Some of us have even been in church services every Sunday for a long time - and still our hearts have grown cold. Ritual and the law was never going to be enough. We were meant to go deeper. And so I really want you to hear this - this call isn’t just for new Christians, or people who are exploring Christianity for the first time - this is for all of us. Is there a way that you in your life could take the next step in your faith journey?  Is there are way you can rekindle that passion for following Jesus. To commit (or recommit) to having an authentic connection with the God who is out there? Because here is the truth that is for every single one of us - Good news that brings great joy is down in stall 3, you should probably go meet him. 

And so what we’re going to do now, as the band comes forward, is give you an opportunity to respond. Hopefully on your seat when you got here there was a card. It’s a very simple card is just says “I have decided to trust in Jesus” and whether it is for the first time or all over again - I’ll hope you’ll fill that out. If you’re committing to Jesus for the first time, please fill in that contact information line - we want to make sure we can connect with you and help you with the next steps. We actually have a gift that we want to send home with you today. We have this new devotional that we created at the Zero Collective - 25 days with Jesus. Once you’ve made a decision, we want you to be able to learn how that applies to your life practically. Because here’s the thing - this is a dream of mine for this church. No matter where you are in your faith journey - I want Center Church to be able to help you take the next step. If you’re just exploring and asking questions - we have a newcomers lunch coming up in just a couple weeks. If you’re ready for baptism - we’re doing that in January too. Or maybe you’re recommitting. Maybe you’ve been living that ritual life, going through the motions without actually letting it touch your spirit - and you’re ready to wake up and reconnect with God. Maybe you come to church every Sunday, but you haven’t found your community yet. I want to encourage you - Life Group sign ups go up in two weeks. Wherever you are in your journey, we want to walk with you. But it’s not going to just happen. Faith doesn’t fall into our laps. We have to make a decision. So fill out that card, and during this next song - come forward and drop it in this box. We’ve got these Field Guides ready for you, and if you’d like to pray with someone, there are people ready to do that as well. If you don’t make room, if you don’t carve out the space - the world will fill up your life with hollow nothings, empty rituals, meaningless religion. But if you make room in your heart for Jesus - gravity shifts.