Kyle Kauffman

In Hebrews 4:14-5:10 we see Jesus described as a Perfect Priest. While the original readers of Hebrews would have understood their need for a priest, the idea of a priest likely seems foreign to us today. And yet we still look to people to play the role of a priest in our lives. We look to others who will listen to us, understand us, advocate for us, and help to solve our problems. In our day perhaps the people we most often look to as our priests are counselors and therapists. We go to counselors to have them listen to us, offer help to us, and help provide solutions to the problems in our lives. But what we need is not just a counselor or therapist, we need a Priest. Hebrews 4:14-5:10 tells us why we still need a Priest today and why Jesus is the Perfect Priest.

Hebrews 4:14-5:10

Kyle Kauffman

Israel had some great leaders throughout their history, including especially Moses and Joshua. And yet the author of Hebrews wanted both them and us to see how much of a better leader Jesus is. We often choose what leaders we will trust and follow based on who they are, what they’ve done, and the promises/hope they offer for the future. But we find that all of our leaders in this life end up letting us down sooner or later. They turn out to be flawed just like us and they often fail to deliver on their promises. Hebrews shows us that Jesus is a better leader than any other leader we may trust and follow. And as a result, we must take care to listen to him, trust him, and give our lives to follow him.

Hebrews 3:1-4:13

Kyle Kauffman

We were made to worship. It’s impossible for us not to worship. Whatever we give our mind’s attention to and our heart’s affection to is what we worship. And there are all sorts of things in this life that compete for our attention and our affection. We can easily end up worshipping the wrong things. So many of thing things in our lives aren’t worthy of our worship. They only end up letting us down in the long run and distracting us from the one who is truly worthy of our worship. It may seem odd to us, but the Hebrews were tempted to worship angels above Jesus. But usually this is how it works: it’s easier for us to see the folly of what someone else is worshipping then it is to see the folly of the things we are prone to worship. Hebrews 1:5-2:4 wants to shift our attention back to the main attraction in the entire universe: Jesus Christ; and to see that only he is truly worthy of our worship.

Hebrews 1:5-2:4