Jesus: Our Supreme Leader

Hebrews 3:1-6

St. John’s United Church of Christ
Greeley, Colorado
August 4, 2024
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes

Therefore, holy brothers, you who share in a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the apostle and high priest of our confession, who was faithful to him who appointed him, just as Moses also was faithful in all God's house. For Jesus has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses--as much more glory as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. (For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God.) Now Moses was faithful in all God's house as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later, but Christ is faithful over God's house as a son. And we are his house if indeed we hold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope.

Today we are going to talk about Jesus as our supreme leader. It was way back in 1688 during England’s Glorious Revolution when James Francis Stuart was one among many claiming that he was the one to ascend to the throne. Queen Anne who later addressed the parliament and she said, “From Dunkirk the ship left and the pretender was on board,” referencing James Francis Stuart and that stuck. Steward was known as the old pretender and this term was given to anyone who was at the height of leadership, the rightful heir, anyone who claims to be the legitimate, postering for leadership, pretending to be the leader.

May I ask you today, who is your leader? Who is driving you? I want to submit to you that Jesus Christ is the rightful and supreme leader because he is loyal, he is the lead architect and because he is Lord.

Consider Jesus

This whole book of Hebrews is written to help us consider Jesus. There is more to consider about Jesus than you could ever exhaust in this life. In chapter 1 the point was that Jesus is superior to angels. Jesus made and sustains the world (1:1–2, 10), but the angels run errands in it (1:14). In chapter 2 Jesus takes on human flesh and fulfills the hope of Psalm 8 for all his people (2:7–8): "You [O God] have made him for a little while lower than the angels; you have crowned him with glory and honor, and have appointed him over the works of your hands; you have put all things in subjection under his feet."

And the point at every stage of this book is: Consider this Jesus! Ponder him. Fix your eyes on him. If your mind is like a compass moving through a world of magnets, making it spin this way and that, make Jesus the North Pole of your mental life that your mind comes back to again and again through the day.

Consider His Superiority over Moses

So we ask the writer of this book, and the God who inspired it, what do you want us to consider about Jesus today from Hebrews 3:1–6? And the answer is: Consider his superiority over Moses. Think about this. Ponder this. Focus on this. Why? Because in considering this, your confidence in your heavenly calling will be made stronger and your hope will be more bold.

There are two ways that Jesus is superior to Moses mentioned in verses 2–6 and what strengthens our confidence and our hope is not just the raw fact of Jesus' superiority over Moses; it's what we see about Jesus that makes him superior. Seeing Jesus in a fresh way in this text is what helps us "hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end" (3:6b).

So let's look at these two ways Jesus is superior to Moses. Verse 2 introduces the comparison and shows that both Jesus and Moses were faithful in God's house, which is a picture of God's people. "He [Jesus] was faithful to Him [God the Father] who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house." So first there is a comparison before there is a contrast. The writer is not putting Moses down. That's not the point. Moses was faithful in the household of God. The writer is quoting from Numbers 12:6–8 where God says,

Hear now my words: if there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. 7 not so, with my servant Moses, he is faithful in all my household; 8 with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly, and not in dark sayings, and he beholds the form of the Lord.

When the writer turns now to contrast Jesus and Moses, it really means something because Moses was one of a kind in his day—with a more intimate relation to God than any other prophet.

Jesus Is Worthy of More Glory

So consider Jesus now; consider his superiority over Moses.
First in verse 3,

For He [Jesus] has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house.

Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses. As the Olympics come to an end, we don't have any difficulty tracking with the word "glory" and one person being worthy of more glory than another person. There's more glory in gold than in silver, and more in silver than in bronze. Unless of course you're injured, and in spite of the injury press on and do some phenomenal feat. Then there is another kind of glory that may bring even more praise than an individual gold medal.

Verse 3 says that Jesus is worthy of more glory than Moses in relation to God's house. And he gives an astonishing reason. Because Jesus is the builder of the house and Moses is a part of the house. Look at it carefully. Verse 3: "[Jesus] has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses." In what way? "By just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house." In other words he is saying: Jesus is to the people of God as a builder is to a house. Moses is to the people of God as one of the people of God is to God's household. Therefore Jesus is Moses' builder. In short, Jesus made Moses.

Now let this sink in. "Consider" this! This is your Apostle and High Priest. He is the one who brought you a heavenly calling from God and made you a way to God. On him hangs all your hope of heaven. If you have any confidence this morning that your sins are forgiven and that you will persevere in faith and attain your heavenly calling, this confidence depends on Jesus. The greater and more glorious he is, the greater our hope and confidence.

Jesus Made Moses

It would be as if the decathlon contestants were gathered together one night bragging about who of them was the greatest, and Jesus was one of the decathlon contestants. And one said, "I threw the javelin farther than anyone else. I'm the greatest." Another said, "I put the shot farther than anyone else. I'm the greatest." Another said, "I jumped higher than anyone else. I'm the greatest." And eventually they all look toward Jesus in his burgundy sweat suit sitting calmly in the corner, and someone says, "What about you?" And Jesus says, "I made all of you. So I'm the greatest."

Verse 3: Jesus is worthy of as much more glory than Moses as the builder of a house is worthy of more glory than the house. Jesus is worthy of as much more glory than every gold medal winner of the Olympics as the builder of a house is worthy of more glory than the house. He made the house. He made Moses. He made the minds and hearts and legs and arms of the Olympic athletes. So Jesus is the greatest.

Verse 4 makes explicit just how great he is: "For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God." Verse 3 says that Jesus made the house of God. Verse 4 says that the maker of all things is God. Conclusion? The same as chapter 1: Jesus, the Son of God, is God. That's how great he is.

The word of our Apostle is a sure word because it is a word carried by God himself. The atoning work of our High Priest on the cross is a finished and all-sufficient work, because it has infinite value as the work of God himself. Consider this about Jesus: he made Moses. And he made you.

Jesus Is the Son; Moses a Servant

One other superiority of Jesus over Moses is mentioned in verses 5–6a: "Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; 6 but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house." Moses was a servant in the house of God. Jesus is a Son over the house of God. The difference between a servant and a son is that the son, by inheritance, owns the house, and is lord over the house, and provides for those in the house out of his wealth. But the servants don't own anything in the house, and the servants follow the word of the owner. The servants receive their provision from the owner.

So again, Jesus, as a Son, is superior to Moses in these three ways: he owns the house of God; he rules the house of God; and he provides for the house of God. By comparison Moses is just a servant in the house. He doesn't own it; he doesn't rule it; and he doesn't provide for it from his wealth. So consider Jesus in relation to Moses.

And the striking thing here in verse 6 is that the writer wants you immediately to apply this superiority of Jesus to yourself. Do you see how verse 6 ends: "Christ was faithful as a Son over His house whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end."

The church of Jesus Christ is the house of God today. Which means that Jesus this morning—not just back in Moses' day or in his own days on earth—but this morning is our Maker, our Owner, our Ruler, and our Provider. He's the Son; we are the servants. We are the household of God. Moses is one with us in this household, and he is our fellow servant through his prophetic ministry. But Jesus is our Maker, our Owner, our Ruler, and our Provider.

And the text concludes by saying we are his house—we are his people, we are partakers of a heavenly calling—"if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end." The evidence that we are part of the household of God is that we don't throw away our hope—Hebrews 10:35 says, "Do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward"—we don't drift into indifference and unbelief. Becoming a Christian and being a Christian happen in the same way: by hoping in Jesus—a kind of hoping that produces confidence and boasting in Jesus.

What are you hoping in this morning? Where are you looking for confidence. In yourself? In shrewd investing? In physical fitness programs? In hard work? In luck?

My friend, who is your leader? It can be your spouse, or partner or your child or children. It can be your boss at work or any other relationship. Who is driving you. Although is sounds graphic, who is pointing his or her gun to your head?

The Word of God to you this morning is, "Consider Jesus." And hope in him. Then you will be part of his house and he will be your Maker, your Owner, your Ruler, and your Provider.