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The Beauty of Christ’s Work Compels Loyalty to Him

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“but Christ is faithful over God’s house as a son.” (Heb. 3:6)

To get the full effect of this comment to first century (particularly Jewish) ears it might help to remember Acts 6-7 when Stephen was being killed for his testimony of Christ. Do you remember the charges? “We have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God” (Acts 6:11). It was not uncommon for the Israelite to put Moses on the same level with God. Here the writer of Hebrews does something far different. He puts Jesus over Moses by virtue of his sonship.

The logic is simple: Moses was a faithful servant, but Jesus is a faithful son. We see in Hebrews that the sonship of Christ entails the fact that he is the heir of all things, enthroned as King, acclaimed by all, and worshiped by angels. Now we are seeing his sonship in relation to his house as the one who is over it.

What is this house? We are told in the second half of the verse.

“And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” (Heb. 3:6)

We is us, the believers. Those who are, “holy brothers” and “share a heavenly calling” (Heb. 3:1). Those whom Jesus calls his brothers, congregation, family, children, offspring, and so on (Heb. 2:12-17). In other words, the house is the body of Christ, all of those who are “in Christ” and part of his church. The house is not a building but a people. What’s more, Moses himself is seen as part of this house. He is considered faithful, he believed God’s promises (Heb. 11), and finds himself “perfected” by means of the gospel and alongside members of the New Covenant.

The jaw-dropping implication of this passage is that while Christ is the son and head over the church, the house, he humbled himself to take on the form of a servant to serve the church. Friends, consider Jesus. Consider him leaving the glory of heaven to walk among the sinful pollution of earth. He did this not to be received as a king but to be rejected as a criminal. He took upon all of our worst so that he could give us all of his best. This loving commitment of Jesus to his church is seen in how low he stoops to serve her. Don’t lose sight of the picture in John 13 of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet. He is the General who washes the wounds, the CEO who sits at the desk of an entry-level worker, and the king who washes the dusty feet of his followers. The fact that Jesus is powerful means that he protects and defends his church but the fact that he is humble means that he serves his church.

This has something to say to us as well. Look again at verse 6:

“And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.” (Heb. 3:6)

This membership to God’s house is not limited to the Jewish people but to all who have put their faith in Christ. All of those who trust in his death for their sin. These people, you and I, have been called Christ’s brothers and sisters by means of our new relationship to him.

But there is a tone of concern and admonishment in this. And this tone is not a one-off in Hebrews, it reappears several times. The writer is concerned that they persevere in Christ. We must feel this concern, for the moment that we are not actively clinging to Christ then we are in some sense neglecting him. You might say, “Erik don’t you believe in the doctrine of eternal security?” Yes. Of course I do. However, we should be careful to watch out for laziness and neglect with reference to our souls. The doctrine of eternal security should produce gratitude and perseverance not pride and indifference.

Do not neglect so great a salvation (Heb. 2:1-3) now says that we must hold fast our confidence and hope to the end. The phrase here in verse 6 has to do with keeping a tight grip upon the Christian faith. You and I have to know what we believe and why we believe it. We have to know who we are and why we need Christ. In other words, we need to be convinced of our need for Christ, his sufficiency for us, and his beauty (glory) to captivate us.

The glory of Christ’s work compels both our sense of awe and life of loyalty to him.

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