MIDWEEK LENT 5 – March 25, 2021 – Heb. 5:1-10
“JESUS: A WILLING LEADER”
Introduction: Grace be to you and peace, from God our Father, and from our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Our text is the Scripture just read, from Hebrews 5. We begin with prayer.
Dear fellow disciples of our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ:
- What is written in our text about Jesus is remarkable. After all, He is identified by God as “My Son.” He is likewise identified as “a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek [Melchi – King; Zedek – righteousness].
- Yet, He is identified as One “tempted in all points as we are, yet without sin.” So He is perfectly able to “deal gently with the ignorant and wayward.” It is the mystery of the state of humiliation in Christ’s incarnation. And our text reveals some remarkable things about Jesus – His prayers, His learning, His reverence, His obedience, His suffering and death, and His resurrection. In all of this Jesus has become “the source of eternal salvation to all who believe in Him.”
- And although Jesus was chosen and appointed to His tasks by the Father, nonetheless we see in all of this that He was a willing example and Leader for all of us! Although He didn’t need to experience any of this He did so willingly, so that we might be certain that He always empathizes with us not only as the omniscient Lord God, but also as the man Jesus Christ.
- So let us consider what Jesus shows us about leadership:
I. Jesus Models Submission To God’s Will – Which Is Our Salvation
A. He Offered Himself As A Self-Sacrifice For Our Sin, To Take It Away From Us
Text: “As God says of Him, You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek. . . . He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
B. He Maintained Perfect And Prayerful Reverence For God
Text: “In the days of His flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to Him Who was able to save Him from death, and He was heard because of His reverence.”
C. He Learned Obedience Through What He Suffered
Text: “Although He was a Son, He learned obedience through what He suffered.”
Statement: Again, there is mystery here, with Jesus in His state of humiliation – for the suffering of our death, for our sin and guilt, and taking away our sin. He is the Divine and Perfect Son of God, the exact imprint of God’s nature, upholding the whole creation with His Word of power [Heb. 1:3]. Yet He was prayerful, and reverent toward the Father! And He “learned” obedience. He “learned it” through “what He suffered.”
Application: One of the purposes in all of this is to strengthen and support us in our discipleship, our life in this valley of sorrows, the wilderness of this fallen sinful world. If Jesus suffered, then we can endure it as well [much less than His]. If He learned obedience through this, then so can we. If He remained prayerful and reverent through all of His suffering – with loud cries and tears – then we can strive to do the same. And we have the assurance, that the One Who is able to save us will also hear us! In all of this we see “JESUS: A WILLING LEADER.”
And we see in our text that:
II. Jesus Was Blessed With Success In All Of This
A. He Succeeded In Providing Us With Salvation
Text: “And being made perfect [complete], He became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey Him.”
B. He Succeeded In Bringing About Our Renewal
Hebrews 12:2 “Look to Jesus, the Founder and Perfecter of our faith, Who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
John 3:5-7 “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’”
C. Jesus Succeeds In Modeling Servant Leadership For Us
Text: “Although He was a Son He learned obedience through what He suffered.”
Mark 10:45 “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
Mark 8:34 “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.”
Matt. 11:28-30 “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
Statement: Jesus models perfect servant leadership so that we can consider coming after Him and following Him. First, however, we come to Him so that we can receive His rest – the forgiveness of all our sins, peace with God, and the assurance of eternal salvation, eternal life in God’s heavenly kingdom. Then we learn His “yoke,” His good and gracious will for us to learn from Him. And we learn from what He endured for us, for our eternal blessedness!
Application: He is indeed a “WILLING LEADER,” showing us the good and blessed way, granting us new life as His followers. That new life involves seeing how lowly and gentle He truly is, and emulating Him in all things. And by His power and love we too will be “successful” in coming after Him.
Conclusion: And when we consider Who Jesus is, the only-begotten Son of the Father, the exact imprint of His nature, and priest forever in the order of the King of Righteousness, it is truly a marvelous privilege that we are invited and called to follow Him, His great example. What a blessing to continue in prayerful reverence and obedience to God! May He grant it in rich abundance to each of us. Amen.
Votum: And the peace of God, which surpasses all human understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds in the true faith, which is in Christ Jesus, even unto life everlasting, Amen.