Hebrews 5:7-10
Do you ever suffer from trials or problems? Do you ever feel like life is picking on you?
I think you're probably answering yes. Don't we all have hard times sometimes? That's life.
Now, let me tell you: if I were God, and I chose to come down to earth, I would make sure to scratch all the suffering parts off my itinerary. Sunset in Maui? Yes, I think I'll take two of those. Suffering and dying at the hands of an angry mob? No, thanks--think I'll pass on that one.
That's not the way Jesus thought. Jesus partook of the suffering; this verse says the suffering taught Him obedience. In fact, this verse says that the suffering Jesus went through made Him perfect.
I've talked about this before in this blog. How can Jesus be made perfect, we ask--wasn't He always perfect?
But untested perfection isn't perfection at all.
Have you ever watched infomercials? The people on TV use the product--whatever it is--and it never breaks, and it always works perfectly for them, and it always makes their jobs so much easier. You watch the program and by the end of it, you're thinking, How did I ever get by without that thing? I'd better call now before the special deal goes away!
Isn't that the way it goes?
But have you ever actually bought one of those products? You get it in the mail after 4-6 weeks and you're itching to try it out. You pull it out of the box and fire it up and--what happens? It breaks. Maybe it doesn't work for you at all. Maybe it works sometimes, but not all the time.
I hate that! The TV promise for the perfect product goes up in smoke.
Perfection is easy on TV. Perfection works in lab tests, or in clinical trials, or on paper. But perfection is much harder in real life. This is where perfection breaks down and ideal meets reality.
This is why Jesus had to be 'made perfect'. He couldn't learn obedience until He faced temptation. He couldn't learn perseverance until He had experienced trial. He couldn't understand faithfulness until He had come face-to-face with hardship.
This is what eminently qualifies Jesus to be our high priest. Jesus understands temptation because He was tempted. He understands sin because He's faced sin Himself. He understands weakness because He has been weak. He understands how easy it can be to disobey God, because there were times He didn't want to obey.
And Jesus faced all that, and He remained perfect. Jesus is not perfect on paper or in clinical trials; Jesus went to court, literally, and was proved innocent. He was inspected by the high priests and found to be without blemish.
And after all that, He was sacrificed. According to John 11:49-52, Caiaphas, the high priest, had a vision that Jesus would die for the people.
Mark this: Jesus was brought before the high priests and inspected and found to be without blemish. Then He was sacrificed by the priests for the people.
Jesus was a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and by His blood we are purified of our sins. And by His faithful sacrifice, He proved Himself worthy of the King's place under God and over all creation.
What does this say to us? If Jesus had to suffer so that He could be made perfect by God, we shouldn't be surprised when sufferings come on us. James says in 1:2 that we should be joyful when we have to face trials, because we know that these trials will make our faith stronger.
It's so hard to do, but it makes such a difference when we face the hardships and the difficulties we hate so much and thank God for them. In Hebrews 12, the author says that God only disciplines His children that He loves. When we face hardships that we don't deserve and we try to face them for Christ's sake, it's a sign to us that God loves us and He wants to make us stronger.
How could I end this thought better than Paul? In Romans 8, he says: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager anticipation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God... What, then, shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He Who did not spare His Own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God Who justifies. Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus Who died--more than that, Who was brought to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or famine or persecution or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 18-21, 31-39)
May He in His love uphold both you and me in our joys and in our sorrows as we fight within ourselves to serve Him, both in word and in deed and in thought, now and always.
I think you're probably answering yes. Don't we all have hard times sometimes? That's life.
Now, let me tell you: if I were God, and I chose to come down to earth, I would make sure to scratch all the suffering parts off my itinerary. Sunset in Maui? Yes, I think I'll take two of those. Suffering and dying at the hands of an angry mob? No, thanks--think I'll pass on that one.
That's not the way Jesus thought. Jesus partook of the suffering; this verse says the suffering taught Him obedience. In fact, this verse says that the suffering Jesus went through made Him perfect.
I've talked about this before in this blog. How can Jesus be made perfect, we ask--wasn't He always perfect?
But untested perfection isn't perfection at all.
Have you ever watched infomercials? The people on TV use the product--whatever it is--and it never breaks, and it always works perfectly for them, and it always makes their jobs so much easier. You watch the program and by the end of it, you're thinking, How did I ever get by without that thing? I'd better call now before the special deal goes away!
Isn't that the way it goes?
But have you ever actually bought one of those products? You get it in the mail after 4-6 weeks and you're itching to try it out. You pull it out of the box and fire it up and--what happens? It breaks. Maybe it doesn't work for you at all. Maybe it works sometimes, but not all the time.
I hate that! The TV promise for the perfect product goes up in smoke.
Perfection is easy on TV. Perfection works in lab tests, or in clinical trials, or on paper. But perfection is much harder in real life. This is where perfection breaks down and ideal meets reality.
This is why Jesus had to be 'made perfect'. He couldn't learn obedience until He faced temptation. He couldn't learn perseverance until He had experienced trial. He couldn't understand faithfulness until He had come face-to-face with hardship.
This is what eminently qualifies Jesus to be our high priest. Jesus understands temptation because He was tempted. He understands sin because He's faced sin Himself. He understands weakness because He has been weak. He understands how easy it can be to disobey God, because there were times He didn't want to obey.
And Jesus faced all that, and He remained perfect. Jesus is not perfect on paper or in clinical trials; Jesus went to court, literally, and was proved innocent. He was inspected by the high priests and found to be without blemish.
And after all that, He was sacrificed. According to John 11:49-52, Caiaphas, the high priest, had a vision that Jesus would die for the people.
Mark this: Jesus was brought before the high priests and inspected and found to be without blemish. Then He was sacrificed by the priests for the people.
Jesus was a perfect sacrifice for our sins, and by His blood we are purified of our sins. And by His faithful sacrifice, He proved Himself worthy of the King's place under God and over all creation.
What does this say to us? If Jesus had to suffer so that He could be made perfect by God, we shouldn't be surprised when sufferings come on us. James says in 1:2 that we should be joyful when we have to face trials, because we know that these trials will make our faith stronger.
It's so hard to do, but it makes such a difference when we face the hardships and the difficulties we hate so much and thank God for them. In Hebrews 12, the author says that God only disciplines His children that He loves. When we face hardships that we don't deserve and we try to face them for Christ's sake, it's a sign to us that God loves us and He wants to make us stronger.
How could I end this thought better than Paul? In Romans 8, he says: "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager anticipation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God... What, then, shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He Who did not spare His Own Son, but gave Him up for us all--how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God Who justifies. Who then can condemn? No one. Christ Jesus Who died--more than that, Who was brought to life--is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or famine or persecution or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: 'For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.' No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him Who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8: 18-21, 31-39)
May He in His love uphold both you and me in our joys and in our sorrows as we fight within ourselves to serve Him, both in word and in deed and in thought, now and always.
posted by ionathas78 at 10:16 AM
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