Everything is For Jesus and From Jesus

Amen. Y'all can be seated. This time we'll go and dismiss our kids to little district. And as they're heading out, have everyone else go ahead and grab your Bibles, open them up to the book of Hebrews. Oh, we don't have kids today. Never mind.

Kids, you get to stay in and listen to me. So awesome. Take your seats, kids. Open your Bibles to Hebrews chapter 1. Last week we began a Hebrews um series with really just one massive declaration that began the book in chapter one. It starts like this.

Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son. And so the big idea in that message was that God has spoken so that we may know so that we may know him. So that we may know who his son is Jesus. and how he is ultimately communicating to us as God. And his final fullest climactic revelation again is not merely just another prophet who has been sent to carry a message to the people letting us know what God has said, but that he has actually sent God.

That God has come, that God has shown up on the scene and is speaking to us. And so the way he is revealing himself to us is the son. And so the big question there is if God is speaking by the son then who is that person? Who is the son? And I think it's really important because I think that is one of the questions that is so important for every generation to ask is who is Jesus? Who is Jesus?

Because everyone has an opinion on who Jesus is. Every world religion has an opinion on who Jesus is. You have an opinion on who Jesus is. As you're growing up and as you're hearing things, as you're seeing things, like everything is a sermon. Every song that is sung is a sermon. Every movie that you watch is a sermon.

Every book that you read is a sermon. It is declaring a message. It is declaring what you should believe and how you should think. And everything at some point one or another will come to a conclusion of what they think about Jesus. And so even Jesus poses that question to his disciples at one point. Hey, who do the people say that I am?

What's the word on the street? And they're saying, some are saying that you're another prophet. Some saying that you are reincarnate. Some are saying that you are uh John the Baptist. Like some are saying all these different things and Jesus asked the question, who do you say that I am? And I think that is such an important question for us because where you conclude determines the rest of your life.

It determines everything else about your life. What you conclude about Jesus Christ is going to inform everything. how you live your life, what you devote your life to, what follows based on the treasure of your life, the heart of your life, how you spend your time, how you spend your resources, how you spend anything and everything is going to be determined based on what you think about Jesus. So if you think he was just another prophet, then you're not going to worship him as God. You're not going to bend your knee to him as God. You might every once in a while quote him because he said some good things.

And so at different times throughout the ages, people have had an idea about him but have never fully comprehended who he actually is. Who he actually is. And so what I hope for us as we dive into um these next few sermons, I was going to originally do this one in one sermon, verses two and three. Um but we're going to basically finish verse two in this one sermon and then break the next one into two more sermons because I want us to make sure we slow down. If you don't get verses 1 through3, you'll not get the rest of Hebrews. None of it will make sense.

If we don't understand what the author is intending the audience to know, then the rest of it will not make sense to us. And what he's ultimately aiming at here is he's going to introduce or remind them, if you will, of who Jesus is and why it matters. Why it matters. And so what I hope for us is we're continuing to investigate Jesus, who he actually is. Because even as I've now been a Christian for 26 27 years of my life, I've been in full-time ministry for 20 years of my life. I'm still learning and I'm still growing in the fullness of who Christ is and will for the rest of my life and then will for the rest of eternity because he's infinite.

And so I hope we come in for just a moment and I hope as we unpack this, I hope we take some time and we be honest with ourselves for just a moment and say we don't know everything we need to know. And maybe even some of the things we think we know might not be true. And so when we open up God's word revealing himself to us, may he show us what he wants us to know about who his son is. Who his son is. So I'm going to pray for us one more time before we open up these verses and look at them. Father, I ask this morning that you send your Holy Spirit right now, to be among us, to be present, to be shaping our minds, to be unveiling truths about your son, Jesus, because I know, Father, that it pleases you to reveal your son, Jesus, to us.

And I pray that you would be pleased this morning. I pray that your Holy Spirit guides us in understanding the truth about who Jesus is, what the what the true Christian faith actually teaches about him and not what all of these other ideologies, world views, even other religions claim to think they know or understand about him, but that we would see the truth. truth about who he is because that informs and transforms everything about our lives. So I pray we see Jesus this morning and I pray we honor him and we respond rightly to him, bending our knee to him, submitting our lives to him, surrendering everything that we have because everything is ultimately his to begin with. and that he then uses our lives to bring glory to God and in that also to bring joy and satisfaction and pleasures to us forever more. So, Father, we need you.

We need your spirit. We need your son, Jesus. I pray you make it happen this morning. It's in your name that we pray. Amen. Amen.

Hebrews 1. I'm gonna actually read again verse one and take it through verse three just so you can see sort of what we're going to be unpacking over the next few weeks. But then I'll hone in on just two things that we're going to be looking at. So starting in verse one again, long ago and at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets. But in these last days he has spoken to us by his son whom he appointed the heir of all things through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.

after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. So again, beginning in the second half of verse two, the writer unleashes these seven declarations about who the son is. That he is the heir of all things. That through him, God created the ages, as we'll see. He's the radiance of God's glory. He is the exact imprint of God's nature.

He upholds everything by his word. He made purification for sins and he sits down at the right hand of the Majesty on high. Again, these aren't seven random facts about Jesus. The writer is building for us a theological portrait of Christ. That's what he's building for us. This is a as we like to call a christoologgical passage where it is the study of who Christ is.

And what we're going to do is again as I said we're going to slow down enough to actually see it and savor it and worship Jesus rightly because if you miss this again like I said you won't understand the rest of the book the rest of the book. And so today we're just going to look at the first two. the fact that he is heir of all things and also that he is the creator of all things or the big idea which is also the title for the message is that everything and I when I say everything that is capital E everything is for Jesus and from Jesus that's the big idea everything is for Jesus and from Jesus and so the writer begins by essentially telling us something that is staggering. Jesus stands at both ends of everything of everything that everything begins with him and everything will end with him ultimately. Everything is for him and everything is from him. And so the first point that we're going to unpack is that first one which is everything is for Jesus.

Everything is for Jesus whom he appointed the heir of all things. An heir when you look that up in the original language an heir is is the one to whom the estate ultimately belongs. So every possession is going to somebody. And what he is saying here is that everything that is in existence is an inheritance for Jesus. It is landing at Jesus. It is coming to Jesus.

Everything, every nation, every kingdom, every inch of creation, every moment of history, every person that exists, every power that is in place, every possession, everything ultimately belongs to Jesus, which when you then enter into times like crisis, it allows you to actually not worry that much because it's all his. Everything is his and he's going to take care of his things. He's going to take care of his people. Knowing the education of this Jewish audience, Hebrews is written to primarily Jewish Christians or Jews who have heard of Christianity. They would have heard in this era of all things. Psalm two would come to mind for them.

The Lord said to me, you are my son. Today I have begotten you. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth I will make your possession. So they're looking for an anointed one, a son, a Messiah in which all of the nations and all of the heritage of the earth will be his will come to him and he will possess it. He will inherit it. And so ultimately what Psalm is because and the reason why I'm pointing into Psalm 2 is because as you'll see in a few verses that's exactly where the author goes.

He literally quotes Psalm 2. So it puts it within the context of him being the heir of all things and helping them draw this to mind. So it makes it a messianic psalm. And here's what I mean by that. What I mean by that is when David wrote those words in Psalm 2, sure there was a limited fulfillment in that David did become king despite the efforts of the surrounding nations seeking to destroy him, but ultimately David did not inherit all the nations. David did not inherit the ends of the earth.

So there's a limited fulfillment in the fact that he is a son who becomes a king. But he is ultimately not the son who inherits all kingdoms, all nations. Therefore, through David, God's what he's doing is he's declaring that a son of David would come one day and be the one to whom the nations would be given and the ends of the earth would be ultimately his possession. And so the psalm then becomes a prophetic psalm. A prophecy also, just so that you know, is not a prediction of things. This isn't like going on um you know, was it Koshi right now?

How do you pronounce it? Koshi. Yeah. You're not going on Koshi right now and just placing bets on whether or not this is going to come true. It's not predictions. It's promise with fulfillment coming.

It's guarantees. It these aren't overunders. this is going to happen. And so this psalm is a prophetic psalm, not a prediction of the future, but a declaration of what will happen in the future. So it's a promise of of what God will do. And Psalm two is a prophetic promise that all nations and the ends of the earth will be possessed by the sun, king addressed.

And so to take it a step further, Psalm 2 is also a royal psalm. It's associated with David and the Davidic monarchy. But again, if the house of David, if you will, where God has promised David that one of his sons would sit on his throne. And Psalm 2 pictures God's anointed king being installed despite the rebellion of the nations that are around him. So when God says to David, "You are my son. Ask of me and I will make the nations your heritage and the ends of the earth your possession.

He's talking through David pointing to a future son because the declaration did not get fulfilled by David. This is what creates the problem and points to the point that it wasn't David God was ultimately talking about but a son of David, one that would eventually come. And the reason why we know that is because no king in Israel's history ever fulfilled that promise of the nations and the ends of the earth being their possession. Actually, you end up getting to a point where there are no kings left on the throne. And at that point, the people are thinking, can we trust God's word? Is he going to be good on his promise?

It doesn't look like it's going to work out for us. But what Hebrews is doing is he's stepping into this moment and he's saying the king has come. The one that was prophesied is here. Jesus is his name. Jesus is the promised son. Jesus is the promised messiah.

Jesus is the rightful king and everything is for him. It belongs to him. And connecting those two dots becomes even clearer again because Hebrews quotes Psalm 2:7 just three verses later when he says, "You are my son. Today I have begotten you." So when when you're doing expositional teaching, essentially that's saying you're letting scripture interpret scripture. You're letting scripture draw out what the point of the passage ultimately is.

So Hebrews is telling them, the author of Hebrews is telling them when Psalm was written and it says, "You are my son, the begotten one." I'm telling you now, this is who it is. This is who that was talking about. So no longer do you have to live your life guessing or wondering when is he going to arrive? When is he going to come? He's here now and it's in the person of Jesus.

And so the Messiah that they'd been waiting for is not merely going to help and rule Israel, which is why they ultimately rejected Jesus. They thought the one that was going to come was going to help Israel specifically get out from under Roman Empire rule, get out from under oppression and basically establish the city-state government once again and the religion and rule and reign from there. And Jesus says, "No, no, no. Your your your view of it is actually too small. What I've come to do is rule and reign everything because it's all mine. It's all mine and it's always been mine.

It's always been for me. And so the rest of the New Testament authors, the disciples of Jesus and the apostles testify to the same truth. The Apostle Paul says something very similar in Colossians 1:16. He says, "All things were created through him and for him." And so that is straight up exactly what the big idea for the message is today. All things were created through him and are for him.

For him. And so when you read your Bible, you're not reading your Bible to determine what has God done for me. You're reading it ultimately to determine what has God created for Jesus. What has God created for Jesus? And so what should we believe about this? What should we believe about this?

All of creation has a purpose. Everything has a destination. Everything has a destination. History has a destination. Humanity has a destination. Everything is moving toward Jesus.

Everything. It's moving toward Jesus. Christ being the heir of all things means life is not aimless and meaningless. It's not aimless and meaningless. It has purpose. It has destination.

Think about the movie Toy Story for just a second. Everything in the movie Toy Story. Every scene, every event, every conflict, every action taken by the toys was serving ultimately one purpose. And Woody is not the main character. Woody's not the point. The point of the entire movie is Andy.

It's all about Andy. That's the point of Toy Story. At some point, for it to be a good movie, it's got to serve that purpose that they're all trying to get back to relationship with Andy. And the same thing is playing out in our culture. Our culture tends to think that uh about history as this endless progression that one generation replaces another. Kingdoms rise, kingdoms fall, presidents come and go, wars begin and end, technology advances, people are born, people die, history just keeps rolling.

And as a society, if we're not asking the bigger questions about purpose and meaning, then all we have to live for is hoping that we somehow improved society from our previous generation. It's all we have to live for if there's no greater reason, if there's no person that we actually belong to or trying to get back to. And Hebrews says, no, there is a greater reason. History is going somewhere. There's an appointed heir. There's a rightful king.

There is a someone waiting at the end of history to whom everything belongs. what you actually if you if you look at the story of again Toy Story what's beautiful about the movie and I think Disney has no idea that they even did this is when the toys get back to Andy everything feels right everything feels at peace when you look next door at Sid's house and the way that things have been played out with those toys over there is the way our society is trying to make things right. We're trying to piece things together. We're trying to work things in a different way. And it ends up ultimately feeling like a scary place, a place that you don't want to belong, a place where there's no peace, a place where it's just chaos. And so maybe Toy Story is a Christian movie and they didn't even realize it.

Yeah, I'm sure Disney was thinking that 100%. But Jesus is the one who's going to make all things new because all things are ultimately coming to him. He's not merely part of history. History belongs to Jesus. That means Christianity is not primarily about inviting, listen to this, Christianity is not about inviting Jesus into your story. It is an invitation for you to come into his story, Jesus's story, because it's all about him.

You belong to his story. And so I want to ask you a question to ponder here. How does that change the way you live your life knowing that it is not ultimately for you, but it's actually for him? How does that change the way you think about life? It's not ultimately him being a genie in the bottle who comes to fix your life and make everything better and you're just throwing up wishes to him. Can you do this?

Can you do that? Can you dance for me? But it's actually for him and that provides for you the greatest peace and the greatest joy that would ever be. How does it change the way you think about how you live, how you spend your money, how you spend your time, how you spend your resources, how you how you navigate your relationships, your careers. It matters enormously for the original audience that this is being written to because Hebrew tells us uh in Hebrews chapter 10 tells us that some of the Christians when understanding that Christ was their ultimate possession and that they too become his inheritance in Hebrews 10 it says is that they joyfully accepted the plundering of their property. Like, how do you get to that mindset where you joyfully accept people breaking in and taking everything you have and leaving you on the streets?

The only way you get to that place is when you realize my eternity is secure. Everything I have is Christ's anyways. So, if he wants me to have a lot, then I'll have a lot. If he wants me to have a little, I'll have a little because actually none of that really matters because I have everything I need in him and him alone. And I don't need anything else. And not only that, but I'm also going to receive an inheritance as a co-air with Christ as Romans 8 tells us.

And so whatever is his is ultimately going to be mine as well. So I'm not worried about what I have here because I know what I ultimately get there. And so plunder my house. It doesn't matter. Take my things. Take my life.

For me to live as Christ and to die is gain. So it ultimately doesn't matter when you see that life is not for you, but it's actually ultimately for him. It's for him. They were willing to lose things because they had Jesus. And more importantly, Jesus has them. We are part of the inheritance that is for Jesus.

And Jesus is not going to lose his inheritance. He's going to make sure that it is safe and that it is secure. property, status, security, relationships, possibly family. Hebrews begins by reminding them the Jesus you are suffering for is going to inherit everything. And that includes you. So don't worry about your life.

Don't worry about your life. You haven't backed the wrong king. You haven't chosen the losing side. You haven't sacrificed your life for something temporary. Everything you could lose for Jesus ultimately belongs to him anyways. And so nothing is actually ever lost.

Nothing that is for him will be lost. So hold fast. I want to give you a scripture that encourages your life in light of this. If everything belongs to Jesus and you belong to Jesus and ultimately everything is for him. Colossians 3:15-17 says this, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you were called in one body, and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness.

That's why we do what we did right before the sermon with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do, whatever you do in word or deed. So that covers everything in your life. Do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to the father, to God the father through him. So it's just encouraging you to put your focus on him, not on everything serving you. Everything you have is ultimately serving him, whether in word or deed, because of what he has ultimately accomplished for you.

1 Corinthians 10:31 says something similar. Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all things for the glory of God. It changes the the entire perspective of your life. The person who is so concerned with themselves is the person who worries and is anxious about everything. This is why he instructs us in Matthew 6, don't worry about those things. Set your mind on the things above.

Set your heart on Christ and you won't have to worry about whether or not you have enough food to eat, enough things to drink because you're his possession and he's going to take care and provide for his possessions. He's going to make sure you're good because you're his. So ultimately everything is for Jesus. And that brings me to the next part of Hebrews 1:2. It says he is the heir of all things through whom also he created the world. So the second thing I want you to see here is that everything is from Jesus.

Everything is from Jesus. The writer immediately moves from the future and the present all the way back to the beginning through whom also he created the world. This translation can actually hide something really beautiful. The Greek says uh ions is the best way for us to or eons is the best way for us to actually translate it into English. And so it's better translated literally through whom he also made the ages. The ages.

So, it's not just that he created a bunch of physical stuff in the beginning and hit play, but that he created everything and set it all into motion and is ruling and r reigning every single era and every single moment in every single second and every single cell. All of it is constantly a part of him creating him establishing and it comes through him. So this is age, this is era, this is epic. The total created order unfolding through time is through Christ, his idea. So the writer isn't merely saying again Jesus made everything and then hit play and has been and then sat down and is sitting back and just kind of saying like how does this play out? Let's just see what happens.

And he's not learning through that process either. That's called open theism and it's a heresy. So, he didn't hit play not knowing what was going to happen a thousand years later, not knowing what's going to happen 2,000 years later, not knowing what's going to happen 10,000 years later. He knows everything. He's outside of it. So, he's looking at creation unfolding.

Adam and Eve, Genesis 3, he's seeing all that happen. At the same time, he's seeing you born and he knows the hairs on your head. And he knows your name. And he knows when he's going to redeem you and reconcile and bring you back and that he's going to then intervene and help you that one month when you're really struggling and you're down in the depths. He knows all of those things happening simultaneously because all of it is created through him and is set in motion by him. So what he's ultimately doing here is he's making a bigger claim than just the fact that Jesus created everything and it started through the sun.

God created the entire order and the progression of existence. Matter, space, time, history, the ages themselves. Because before there were ages, there was Jesus. Before Genesis 1:1, there was Jesus. Before Abraham, there was Jesus. Before Moses, there was Jesus.

Before the law, there was Jesus. Before the priesthood, there was Jesus. Before the temple, there was Jesus. That's the whole point of the book of Hebrews. Spoiler alert. Now, we got 13 chapters to work through.

The temptation facing these Jewish Christians and also the Jews who had heard of Christianity was to abandon Jesus in the moment or reject Jesus and return to what they thought came before Jesus. And what the writer is getting at here is, hey, there's nothing that came before him. He came before all of it. So everything you're trying to go back to, he came before it. He came before it. And so the author is doing something great here.

He's saying everything you're tempted to return to that you believe came before him actually has come after him because everything comes from him. Everything comes from him. Jesus was never God's plan B. He was never God's plan B. Christianity isn't God's adjustment to Judaism. So, he's not saying, "Hey, you were supposed to be my city on a hill.

You were supposed to be my people and I'm supposed to be your God. And because that didn't work out, now I'm going to send my son Jesus and he's going to create a new thing in order to fix that thing. That's not what it was. Jesus was only always and only the plan and everything is for him and everything is ultimately coming from him. This is why John would say something similar to us. The apostle John in John 1 1-3 he says hey in the beginning just so you know in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God and all things were made through him.

This is verse three. And without him was not anything made that was made. So the word was God. The word was with God. The word was there in the beginning. All things were made through him and without him was not anything made that was made.

Jesus is all over creation. All over it. All his fingerprints. If it was if if the entire cosmos and universe was a crime scene, it's got Jesus fingerprints on every single bit of it. And they're going to say, "I think he's involved." Again, coming back to Colossians 1:16, for by him all things were created in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities, all things were created through him and for him.

I love the descriptions there because heaven on earth, we put those into categories and we think that's basically everything. But in case that's not enough, he then says visible. For those who like the physical stuff, but also those who just stay there, you need to understand that the world's not just stuff. There's also spiritual stuff going on. There's also invisible stuff. He's the creator of all that stuff as well.

There's not anything created. There's not anything that was made that is not from him is the point. And so this places Jesus firmly on one side of the most fundamental distinction in existence. We only have two categories. There is creation and there is creator. And everybody's been debating which one does Jesus belong to.

Is he a created being or is he creator? And the author here is saying without a doubt he sits in one category not the other. He is creator. He is creator and everything else is coming from him as creation. Either something is created or something is creator. Jesus is the creator god.

Jesus is not the highest angel as we'll see in a couple of weeks. Jesus is not merely the greatest prophet. Jesus is not simply another messenger from heaven. Jesus is the eternal son through whom everything that exists came into existence. And that makes Christianity distinct from every every other world religion or belief system that is out there. Even some that claim to be Christians.

for example, and I'm going to pick on them, and that's okay because again, if there was ever anything discovered in Christianity that was wrong, I would want to know about it. If I'm following something and God actually reveals that the thing I'm following is wrong, I want to know about it. I'm never going to be so dogmatic that I'm going to follow something blindly when truth is actually revealed and points that that thing is wrong. And so it's so important that we again, even as I was showing you at the beginning in the introduction, that we want to make sure we keep our minds open to what the word of God is revealing to us so that we see Jesus for who he truly is and that we're not blindly following some other people who have said things about Jesus that are or might be incorrect. We want to make sure that we make sure that we know what the truth actually is. So, I don't care what you've learned in the past.

I don't care. What I care about is that you're learning the truth from the scriptures. So, if you're in a bonfire conversation with me and I say something that's absolutely stupid and you then show me the scriptures and say you're wrong, I'm going to say, "Thank you so much for pointing it out for me." I'm going to make sure that I correct myself and I start actually saying the correct thing. That's important. It's important that we never graduate from that idea.

And so, here's a couple of things that I need you to see here that other people say in regards to Jesus that is not true. Jehovah's Witness, I've I've actually got a great Jehovah's Witness joke for you just to kind of settle it back down for a second. Knock knock. That's the joke. Jesus is not the highest angel. But I want you to see something here that they teach.

They teach that Jesus existed before his human birth, but was God's first creation, identifying the pre-existent Christ with Michael the Archangel. So, he's not the eternal son of God, but rather Michael the Archangel, who then came to Earth in the form of Jesus of Nazareth. What this ultimately does is it rejects historic Christianity's confession that the son is eternal and uncreated. Eternal and uncreated. And on that statement alone, we say Jehovah's Witnesses are not Christians. They're not Christians.

If you don't get Jesus right, nothing else matters of what you teach. Nothing else matters. I don't make up the rules, so don't get mad at me. That's just what the word says. Number two, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, aka Mormons. More complicated a little bit.

I once heard, this is another joke. I once heard that you have to be on LSD to understand the LDS, but that's neither here nor there. If you don't know what LSD is, don't worry about it. But LDS theology teaches that Jesus is a pre-mortal being who is the firstborn spirit child of the heavenly father. So he's created and he's also the spirit brother of humanity including Lucifer. So created by God and also brother of Satan because LDS concepts of God spirit and eternal existence differ substantially from classical Christian categories.

Him being a created being isn't um quite as precise as the Jehovah's Witnesses one. But LDS theology rejects the historic Christian doctrine that the son is eternally of the same divine essence as the father which our author in Hebrews will cover in the next few weeks. He is the radiance of the glory of God. He is exact imprint of his nature. He is of same. He is begotten.

He is begotten. So because they reject that we reject them. They are not Christians. They are not Christians. A third one, Islam. Islam does not believe Jesus existed as God's first created heavenly being um in the Jehovah's Witness sense.

But it does regard Jesus as a miraculously born human prophet and Messiah created by God. But it explicitly denies that he is God or the eternal son of God. And that's straight out of the Quran. He's just he's just essentially to them another human prophet that had a miraculous birth. That's essentially it. And so each of these and this is the way that I would 100% describe them.

Each of these demonic deceptions ultimately seek to distract and disprove. That's all they're doing. They're demonic deceptions. I and I actually believe this is about every world religion. I think every world religion that's out there is a demonic deception in order to distract and disprove. That's all it's seeking to do.

And that's what I believe because that's what Satan wants people to believe. It's been happening throughout the ages that Jesus created. I'll give you one more because it's actually Christmas themed and actually comes from Christianity. This is why it's important for us to be corrected. After 300 years after Jesus, a church leader in Alexandria out of Egypt named Aras sparked one of the greatest theological controversies in church history. Aras essentially taught that Jesus was extraordinary.

Yes, greater than humanity, greater than the angels, even the first and highest of God's creations. But Aras still believed that Jesus was created. His teaching was summarized by the phrase there was when he was not. There was when he was not. In other words, Aries believed there was a time when the sun did not exist. Did not exist.

The controversy became so significant that in 8325, you've probably heard of the council of Nika. This is why it was brought together. Bishops from across the Christian world gathered at the council to answer one central question. Is Jesus eternally God or is he the greatest being God ever created? That was the question on the floor. The council ultimately rejected Aras's teaching and they confessed that Jesus is begotten, not made, being of one substance with the father.

And so Jesus isn't a creature. He is the eternal son who shares the divine nature of the father. Now there's even a famous uh church tradition probably more legend but I love to believe that this actually happened that Nicholas of Myra the bishop who eventually inspired our tradition of St. Nicholas so Santa Claus became so frustrated with Aras's teaching that he walked across the council and punched him in the face. So, I just love to believe that that actually happened. I'm not saying that I recommend his method of theological debate.

Uh, but his concern was right. His concern was right because again, this wasn't and isn't a secondary issue. This is not a secondary issue. Who is Jesus? Who is Jesus? And what's amazing is that nearly 300 years before Nika, Hebrews had already settled the debate.

It was already settled. Through whom also he created the world. Jesus isn't included among the things God created. He is the son through whom God created all things. All things. And so to close this out for you, I want you to walk away believing that Jesus stands at both ends of everything.

He stands at both ends of everything. Just look at verse two again and put it all together. Whom he appointed the heir of all things. So everything is flowing towards Jesus. Everything is going to be his. And that includes everything that he redeems and makes right and restores and renews and reconciles and everything that is not.

and becomes a foottool for him. Everything is his. Everything is his and through whom also he created the world. Jesus is the air. Jesus is the creator. Everything is for Jesus.

Everything is from Jesus. As we come to communion, what what really just blows my mind is when I think about the fact that everything belongs to him. So technically speaking, he could demand anything he wants. He could demand anything he wants and everything was created from him. And so he can do whatever he wants. And yet the way the way in which God decides to redeem and reconcile and restore all things for Jesus was for Jesus to come and live a life humbled.

humbled as Philippians 2, emptying himself, taking the form of us in order to live the life that we could not live in order to then die the death that we actually deserve because we're not perfect and we sinned against a good and holy God. And so that's why it blows my mind when he's on the cross and they're hurling all these insults at him. Demand the angels to come down and minister to you. Demand, you know, just pull yourself down. He could have. He could have.

If everything was made from him and everything's for him, he can do with it whatever he wants. In that moment, he could have said, "Yeah, absolutely. You know what? This whole created thing, we're done with it. We're just going to annihilate the whole thing. We're just going to wipe it off the complete map.

We're going to eradicate. We're going to make since we created everything from nothing, we're going to take everything and make it nothing again." God's powerful enough to do that. And yet the one who created, I don't remember who used this illustration, but the one who created the muscles and the tendons and the ligaments that held the hammer and drove the nails into him. Christ upheld those muscles and tendons and ligaments in order for them to be able to drive and nail him to the cross. For them to have the ability to do that is because of the humility of Christ taking the form of a bondervant and becoming for us death on a cross in our place.

I mean, there's no one who deserves this less than Jesus. And there's no one who deserves it more than us. And yet, that's the the the the Martin Luther. the great exchange that he took our place in order to give us his place to bring us to an exalted spot to bring us to the right hand of God to bring us to a place where we get to be co-airs with Christ of everything that exists. There's no greater act of love. There's no greater act of generosity than what Jesus Christ has done for people who sinned against him and put him on the cross in the first place.

And so honestly the invitation is not what can Jesus do for my life. The invitation is do I live my life for him in response to what I see that he has ultimately done and accomplished. Your life belongs to Jesus. Your family belongs to Jesus. Your money belongs to Jesus. Your career belongs to him.

Your future belongs to him. Your suffering belongs to him. This church belongs to him. Your body belongs to him. Your eternity belongs to him. Everything is from him.

Everything exists under him. And everything is ultimately for him. And so you cannot go back to something before Jesus because Jesus has always been there. He's always been before and you cannot move forward to something beyond Jesus because everything ends with him as well. And so what do we do? We look at what he's did.

We look at who he is and we respond rightly. We respond rightly. And the only way to respond is by trusting the creator with all that he created. And that includes you. We trust what he is doing and we trust who he is and we trust what he's continuing to accomplish every single day of our lives. It's for him and Jesus never fails.

He never fails. Let's pray. God, we ask you this morning that you would help us see your son Jesus for who he is. If we've come into this place and we just think that he was a good teacher, good prophet, good man, a good person who lived 2,000 years ago and we're just following him as some kind of like Gandhi guru, may we not belittle the person of Jesus. If we're veiled right now, may you unveil our minds, our hearts to be able to see Jesus as the true son of God, the promised son of David who would come and not only rule one kingdom, but every kingdom. Not just one nation, but all nations.

He is the King of Kings. He is the Lord of Lords. I pray we see him rightly. I pray that we see that everything in our lives is ultimately not for us but for him. And everything in our lives has come from him. He created everything and everyone in every day and every moment nothing is lost.

And though sin has broken and fractured much of our existence, Jesus always knew that and he was always the plan to come and make all things new so that ultimately we would be able to glorify God and enjoy him forever. Forever. And so because Jesus came and lived the perfect life that we could not, he earned righteousness in our place and he imputes it to our lives. He gives it to us. For those who have faith in him, who trust in him, and don't trust in anything else, we're not trusting in any other world religions. We're not trusting in any other systems of belief.

We're just simply trusting in the revealed word of God. What the scriptures testify to who the son truly is and what he has accomplished to bring all things back to God. We believe that Jesus went to the cross and he died. He broke his body. He shed his blood as a payment, as our payment for our sins. Oh Lord, I pray right now if there's anyone in this room who who has never actually really comprehended that that the lies that they've made, the mistakes that they've committed, the sins that they've done throughout their entire life, they owe God.

And what they owe him is death. And yet Jesus came and died in their place as a substitute. I pray right now if they've never understood that that they understand it right now that he's not just some good thing to think about and just some good principles to follow, but what he actually did was he came and he paid their punishment for them in their place. And the good judge that is holy and just sees Christ's sacrifice and says it is good enough for them and for those who place their trust and faith in Jesus. He will forgive them of all of their sins and they can now be reconciled in a relationship with God and all peace will come upon their lives because there is no more wrath that is due and pointed at them. There is no more answer for their sin.

It's been answered. And then we get to now be raised to a living hope because on the third day Jesus also rose from the dead. And so when floods come, when destruction happens, when people plunder our homes, when people take our lives, when we see Christians martyed all around the world, we are not those who grieve without hope. We are those who grieve the suffering, but we grieve with hope because we know that it is just momentary and it does not compare to the glory that we will receive in heaven when we get to spend time with God for all eternity. Father, if there's anyone in this room right now who were unsure of whether or not they follow Jesus and have ultimately submitted and surrendered and bent their knee to the true King of Kings and Lord of Lords, I pray you draw them right now and I pray that you awaken their heart and their minds to see you for who you truly are and to follow you.

to follow you for the rest of their days. And for the rest of us, I pray that we right now see this opportunity to come to communion as a time for us to remember and to worship the sacrifice of your son Jesus. That we don't have to break our bodies or shed our blood blood for our sins. We don't have to spend an eternal separation from you in death because he went and paid that for us. And we now get to spend an eternity with you because of his sacrifice. And so we come as an act of worship remembering what Jesus did.

And we thank him and we worship him and we praise him and we proclaim his death until he comes. And Lord, we pray that you are honored and worshiped in this place. And we lift all these things up in your name.