title: fixing your broken thoughts

TITLE: Fixing Your Broken Thoughts

TEXT: Hebrews 3:1-11 THEME: The believer's thoughts should be fixed on Jesus

Stephen Toulmin “Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity”

“Looking back at the ‘received view’ of modern secularism, my inclination is to retort, ‘Don’t believe a word of it!’ From the start, that whole story was one-sided and over-optimistic and veered into self-congratulations

Stephen Toulmin “Cosmopolis: The Hidden Agenda of Modernity”

“...The worst defects in this standard account, however, are not matters of philosophy, but of straight historical fact. The historical assumptions of which it rested are no longer credible.”

Premises of Modern Secularism

• A quest for certainty: A high standard to work our way of political/philosophical chaos.



• Formal Rationality: Only things that can be empirically tested and verified can be trusted.



• Formal Rationality: Only things that can be empirically tested and verified can be trusted.

• Start with a clean slate: History and religion have nothing significant to teach us.

Toumlin argues that the philosophical and historical

foundations for modern secularism cannot be sustained and its quest for certainty based on formal rationality is naively

simplistic

SETTING:

1. The basis of the author of Hebrews thought is that the supreme revelation of God comes through Jesus Christ and that only through him has a man real access to God.

SETTING:

1. The basis of the author of Hebrews thought is that the supreme revelation of God comes through Jesus Christ and that only through him has a man real access to God. 2. He began by proving that Jesus was superior to the prophets; he went on to prove that Jesus was superior to the angels.

SETTING:1. The basis of the author of Hebrews thought is that the supreme revelation of God comes through Jesus Christ and that only through him has a man real access to God. 2. He began by proving that Jesus was superior to the prophets; he went on to prove that Jesus was superior to the angels.3. Now he proceeds to prove that Jesus is superior to Moses. It might at first sight seem that this is an anticlimax. But it was not so for Jews for whom Moses held a utterly unique place

SETTING:

3. Now he proceeds to prove that Jesus is superior to Moses. It might at first sight seem that this is an anticlimax. But it was not so for Jews for whom Moses held a utterly unique place. • He was the man with whom God had

spoken face to face as a man speaks with his friend.

SETTING:

3. Now he proceeds to prove that Jesus is superior to Moses. It might at first sight seem that this is an anticlimax. But it was not so for Jews for whom Moses held a utterly unique place. • He was the man with whom God had spoken face to

face as a man speaks with his friend.• He was the direct recipient of the Ten

Commandments, the very Law of God. The greatest thing in all the world for the Jew was the Law, md Moses and the Law were one and the same thing

SETTING:3. Now he proceeds to prove that Jesus is superior to Moses. It might at first sight seem that this is an anticlimax. But it was not so for Jews for whom Moses held a utterly unique place. • He was the man with whom God had spoken face to face as

a man speaks with his friend.• He was the direct recipient of the Ten Commandments, the

very Law of God. The greatest thing in all the world for the Jew was the Law, md Moses and the Law were one and the same thing

• For a Jew the step that the writer to the Hebrews takes is the logical and inevitable step in the argument.

SETTING:1. The basis of the author of Hebrews thought is that the supreme revelation of God comes through Jesus Christ and that only through him has a man real access to God. 2. He began by proving that Jesus was superior to the prophets; he went on to prove that Jesus was superior to the angels.3. Now he proceeds to prove that Jesus is superior to Moses. It might at first sight seem that this is an anticlimax. But it was not so for Jews for whom Moses held a utterly unique place. 4. He has proved that Jesus is greater than the angels; now he must prove that he is greater than Moses who was greater than the angels.

Why should the believer focus his thoughts on Jesus above all

others?

I. Because we share His calling. (1)

Hebrews 3:1

“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.”

I. Because we share His calling. (1)

• A. He made us holy brother and sisters. • B. We share in the heavenly calling

Why should the believer focus his thoughts on Jesus above all others?

II. Because He is our apostle and high priest. (2)

Hebrews 2:2

“Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, whom we acknowledge as our apostle and high priest.”

II. Because we share His calling. (1)

A. An Apostle is one sent out with authority as an ambassador.

An ambassador has two characteristics.

(1) The ambassador is clothed with all the authority of the king who sends him. (2) The voice of the ambassador is the voice of the king or country who sent him

II. Because we share His calling. (1)

A. An Apostle is one sent out with authority as an ambassador.B. A High Priest is one who knows and represents both man and God to build a bridge.

Why should the believer focus his thoughts on Jesus above all others?

III. Because He is greater than the greatest. (2-6)

Hebrews 3:2-6

2 He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God’s house. 3 Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4 For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything

Hebrews 3:2-6

5 “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God’s house,” bearing witness to what would be spoken by God in the future. 6 But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are his house, if indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory.


His Greatness is compared to Moses First Illustration:A. Moses is pictured as a house.

1 Peter 4: 17

For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?

1 Timothy 3: 15

If I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God’s household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.

1 Peter 2: 5

You also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.


His Greatness is compared to Moses First Illustration:A. Moses is pictured as a house.B. Jesus is pictured as the builder.



Second Illustration:A. Moses is pictured as a servant.



Second Illustration:A. Moses is pictured as a servant.B. Jesus is pictured as a Son.

"Now, is this the kind of person you ask into your life to be your

assistant?"

APPLY

1. Most believers today do not struggle with the issue of Moses verses Jesus. They have no problem accepting the superiority of Jesus over Moses.

APPLY

1. Most believers today do not struggle with the issue of Moses verses Jesus. They have no problem accepting the superiority of Jesus over Moses.2. But many Christians do not focus their thoughts on Jesus. They are distracted by the many amusements that the world presents them with.

APPLY

1. Most believers today do not struggle with the issue of Moses verses Jesus. They have no problem accepting the superiority of Jesus over Moses.2. But many Christians do not focus their thoughts on Jesus. They are distracted by the many amusements that the world presents them with. 3. Even good things can get in way of the best. Sports, TV, computers, smart phones, tablets, books, entertainment are all good things until they distract us from Jesus.

Or does Jesus belong to his own list—the list called Lord and Master and Savior of my life?

The way you answer that question will affect everything about your life. It's the critical

question of your life.

title: fixing your broken thoughts

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