SERMON: THE MELCHIZEDEK PRIESTHOOD Hebrews 5 // INTRO I want to start this morning with a recap of Hebrews chapters 1-4, just to refresh our memories Some scholars, along with many sceptics, like to question the book of Hebrews because it feels so different from the other letters that we read in the NewTestament But it certainly belongs in the Canon of Scripture, and I hope that by the time we get through this book, you will also share that conviction with me, if you don’t already To review: We know from the testimony of the Scriptures that Jesus has superiority over all things And He is the radiance of the glory of God, and the exact imprint of his nature He is the MONOGENES, the only one of His kind And we have tie-in to the text with an example in Hebrews 11:17, when the writer refers to Isaac as Abraham’s "only begotten son,” clarifying that word for us But this letter to the Hebrews makes clear that only one Person deserves to hold the primary place of worship in our lives, and that person is not ourself, though we are tempted to usurp that role - Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it - For it was fitting that He, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory, should make the founder of their salvation perfect through suffering (Hebrews 2:10) And if Jesus suffered, you can count on experiencing some of that yourselves But Jesus offers a better position, a better Priest, a better covenant, a better hope, and a better sacrifice because Jesus is greater than Moses! Both Moses and Jesus were deliverers from bondage, and both were intercessors But it is only when we give Jesus His proper place in our lives that everything else aligns as it should That’s the point where we have entered into His rest We who have believed have entered that rest, and that rest is a promise that is predicated on the individual being IN Christ by faith So let us therefore strive to enter into that rest And then, with confidence, we draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need And that should catch-up anyone who’s not been here in the last 4 weeks So as we go forward, we need to understand that people in the worship system of Old Testament Israel were raised with very strong convictions that a priest was absolutely necessary to connect with God - And that was true in the Old Covenant The priest acted as an intermediary who was the go-between, but there were limitations on the Hebrew priests The priesthood was established through the line of Aaron, the brother of Moses, which you can read about in the book of Exodus But the primary role of the priest was to serve as a mediator between God and the people of Israel And they offered sacrifices and performed rituals to atone for the sins of the nation However, the limitations of these priests are evident in several ways First, their qualification was superficial All you needed was the right genealogy This meant that you had to be a descendant of Aaron, Moses’ brother, who was the first High Priest Next, their authority was restricted Levitical priests were prohibited from serving in government None of them could ever become king This is why Jesus was from the tribe of Judah, by the way! , and we’ll to that if the Lord tarries Third, their ministry had a narrow perspective They could ONLY receive tithes and only make sacrifices for Israelites, not for Gentiles And as we see, looking back at the transition to the New Covenant, their sacrifices were temporary, not everlasting, as Jesus’ sacrifice is Their time and place of service was limited You could only serve from ages 25-50 as a priest And to be able to offer a sacrifice, there had to be a Temple With the temple being destroyed in AD 70, there have been no more priests in Israel There is no place for priests to do their primary function, which is to make sacrifices But that is changing, even at this very minute (which tells us we are going to be seeing Jesus soon) But God gave another priest, much earlier on, and He was a priest of God Most High in Salem He came hundreds of years before Aaron His qualifications were spiritual, not superficial His father and mother were not listed in Scripture All of these are things that make you go, “Hmmmmmm….” His qualification was not based on his lineage, but on his dedication to God But for now, let that serve as a teaser, and we’ll come back to the concept of priesthood towards the end of our study in a few weeks, unless the Lord comes first // TEXT & EXPOSITION [1] For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. [2] He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness. The role of the High Priest of Israel is that of an intermediary He was chosen from among his brothers, the sons of Abraham, by God Himself to offer gifts and sacrifices on the altar He would have been the only one who could actually offer up these offerings to God, and that would only change if there was an issue of someone being disqualified (which also meant certain death for that High Priest) And there could only be ONE High Priest at a time His job description was to be an intermediary between Man and God And because the priest was a human being, he could have compassion on the people, as he had a sin nature, as well Because of this, there were laws of purification that had to be followed to the letter, lest the priests entered into the Presence of God in an unworthy manner (being unclean ritually and spiritually) To enter unclean was a death sentence! [3] Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people. [4] And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was. The High Priest is obligated to offer sacrifices for his own sins, as well He was a sinner, too, just like me and you And even though he was in the role of intermediary (speaking to God on behalf of sinners), sacrifices had to be made for the Priest, lest he go in without being covered So there were rituals and garments and words that had to be spoken accurately so that God did not strike you down And yes, this was a great honor, but it was a fearful thing for the priest One wrong move, or forgetting one prayer, meant death in the presence of God He is that pure and holy This situation clearly illustrates to us that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom And even though we Christians are under the blood, it does not mean that we are free from the Lord’s rebuke, chastisement, and discipline We need to walk circumspectly, always seeking to represent Jesus well in every context That is a large part of the mission He’s give us I want to challenge you to take this personally When you’re at the store, and you’re checking out, I would like to challenge you to take the opportunity to thank someone for their service rendered to you Or when you get your oil changed, or whatever the situation Our culture is losing this reality/this ability to appreciate one another It seems that we only appreciate or “love” one another when we are getting what we want But the more that goes on, the more we ignore the Giver, and only focus on the gift The same thing happens to Christians who aren’t in the Word consistently, or not talking about spiritual things Those truths don’t get put to use for the Kingdom, and they slip away from us We have a similar calling as Aaron (similar, but not the same) We are to call out to the nations to make Jesus known But not just that they might hear, but they might experience the love and peace that comes in the context of community with the Son of God It allows us to enjoy one another with like hearts But I fear that I am wandering away from the text a little, so let’s get back [5] So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest, but was appointed by him who said to him, “You are my Son, today I have begotten you”; [6] as he says also in another place, “You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek.” OK. We are obligated to the text to stop and parse this out Someone might not even know that name - Melchizedek - or who he was And this point is a stumbling block for many Christians that I’ve talked to down through the years - they get hung up on this Melchizadek makes his appearance in Genesis 14 His name means, “King of Righteousness” which is interesting, as that title is ascribed only God We read in Genesis 14:17–20 [17] After his return from the defeat of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, the king of Sodom went out to meet him at the Valley of Shaveh (that is, the King’s Valley). [18] And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) [19] And he blessed him and said, “Blessed be Abram by God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth; [20] and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand!” And Abram gave him a tenth of everything. Here’s that other place in the Bible that talks about this… Psalm 110:4 - The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind, “You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” This meeting of Melchizadek and Abram (not yet Abraham) was pretty rad, theologically speaking Here you have, in one place, 2 men who received direct promises from God Himself - 2 heavy hitters from the Old Testament [7] In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence. [8] Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. This is a little hard to personalize because we’re talking about a PERFECT being - Jesus was perfect from eternity past And the plan was always for God to offer Himself for His Creation, but it wasn’t until around 30-33 AD that humanity saw it happen And we are those who believe, but didn’t see it But we believe it, and the Father affirms it to us when we ask for salvation, whereby we can know that we are saved, in a relationship with the Godhead, and are saved from the wrath of God on sin [9] And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, [10] being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek. So because of this, this High Priest’s authority is unlimited Melchizedek was both a king and a priest over Jerusalem That’s not a normal set up in the Bible Everyone else was either one or the other due to a balance of powers His ministry was broad, and was not limited just to Israelites In Hebrews 7:1, Melchizedek is called the “priest of the Most High God” The term used for God in that verse is not Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel instead, it’s El Elyon, the most universal name for God Melchizedek served the God of the entire universe, not just the God of Israelites His service was unending as Melchizedek “remains a priest perpetually” (7:3) He was not limited by age, and thus was a priest as long as he was alive! Also, in Genesis 14, we see that he ministered before the Temple was even constructed So it’s obvious that there was no limit to his service And these are just some some of the reasons it is significant that Jesus is a priest “according to the order of Melchizedek” as stated in Psalm 110 [11] About this we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. [12] For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. It is, and definitely would have been hard to understand, but it REALLY gets hard with someone has become dull of hearing We’re not talking about people who have trouble hearing audibly We’re talking about people who hear the Word, but don’t do what it tells them to do They might as well not even read it In fact, the Bible says as much: “For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them. (2 Peter 2:21) So if you’re reading the Word and studying, don’t take it as academic exercise to learn the right things to say God doesn’t want that from us Instead, read the Word in the same way you would eat a nourishing meal if you were training for a competition Your body needs it, and in the same way, we need God’s Word IN us so that we can grow in Christ’s likeness This is why the text continues… (v12 cont.) You need milk, not solid food, [13] for everyone who lives on milk is unskilled in the word of righteousness, since he is a child. [14] But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil. Basically, the writer of Hebrews is calling them fat babies when it comes to the faith They were perfectly ready for solid food, but still insisted on on a bottle instead Amy Grant (before she went WOKE) did a song called “Fat Baby” Here are some of the lyrics: I know a man, maybe you know him, too You never can tell, he might even be you He knelt at the altar, and that was the end He's saved, and that's all that matters to him His spiritual tummy, it can't take too much (No, no, no, no) One day a week, he gets a spiritual lunch On Sunday, he puts on his spiritual best And gives his language a spiritual rest [Chorus] He's just a fat little baby (Waah, waah, waah) He wants his bottle, and he don't mean maybe He sampled solid foods once or twice But he says doctrine leaves him cold as ice Those lyrics speak to many in the Church today who are fickle, and not at all interested in serving other I will only say that I’ve known some of those down through the years We all need to train our hearts and our minds to focus on Jesus constantly He is our life - He is our ALL And no one comes to the Father except through Him // APPLICATION Some Christians question the book of Hebrews when it comes to being in the New Testament because it feels so different among the Epistles, but when you really think about it, it is needed book in the Canon of Scripture because it beautifully binds the Old Testament to the New And we are the Temple of the Lord, His dwelling place He lives in us by His Holy Spirit when we embrace Jesus as Lord, and our High Priest This necessarily puts the burden on us to walk in a manner worthy of our calling in Christ Jesus This is a high calling and we ought to take seriously Hebrews shows us that Abraham honored Melchizedek by giving him tithes, which shows us that the order of Melchizadek outranks the Levitical line of priests (and we’ll see more on that in Hebrews 7) This idea of being GREATER is true when it comes to both the origin of the Levitical priesthood and its authority Melchizadek symbolizes for us a priesthood that endures forever And to see the prophetic fulfilment of that, one need only look at Jesus Christ And though we will unpack this in weeks to come, Jesus holds a permanent priesthood, and because of this He is able to save completely those who come to Him in faith And while Melchizadek was a foreshadowing in the Old testament, Jesus Christ is the fulfillment Melchizadek was a historical figure, but he could never fulfill the eternal priesthood by providing ONE sacrifice for all time Only Jesus accomplished that for us So Jesus is our High Priest in the order of Melchizadek forever And we’ll dig into this in weeks to come, if Jesus doesn’t come first, which would be far better! As you go out this morning, I want you to take hold of this truth, and meditate on it this during the week: In Christ Jesus, that which was sown in corruption, dishonor, and weakness is renewed so that we gain glory, power, and will forever be incorruptible Praise God for His glorious grace to us, AMEN? Press into Jesus this week Stay connected with the Body of Christ Let’s go to the Lord in prayer! // PRAY (Thank you for salvation - the priesthood of Believers - the spiritual gifts that come along with all of that - but most importantly, the unfettered access we have to you, both day and night! We ask that you use us mightily in the days ahead - the world is shaking and it will get worse - fill us with your Holy Spirit so that we might have an answer for those who ask about the hope that is within us - and help us to respond with love and grace and TRUTH! AMEN!) // SING // ANNOUNCEMENTS: Easter / Resurrection Sunday is coming quickly! Sunday April 20 @ 9:30am I hope that you will go out of your way to invite some of the people you know to join us for Easter / Resurrection Sunday! We’ll be printing some invitations for our neighbors, and will need some help getting those out Details to come quickly! Look for the all-church email this week!! DEVOTED WED April 9 Potluck at 6pm Join us for good food and discussion around God’s Word This week’s theme is: “BURGERS” Jam Session Thursday nights Join Marcus after hours to just noodle around with instruments, and explore the music ministry at ER DAN WENCESLAO: Men’s & Women’s Breakfast APR 26 7:30 - 9AM I hope many of you will be at that event Good food and good fellowship Emmaus Road Church, YOU ARE SENT!!