Partners in the Heavenly Calling

 

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 was 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 ahold fast our confidence and our boasting in our hope. (Hebrews 3:1-6 ESV).

 

Yesterday I called your attention to the two great needs we have: we need a word from God and a way to God. Christians are people who have heard and believed a heavenly calling, and are therefore partakers of it, sharing in it—"holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling." It is a heavenly calling because it comes from heaven—from God. In the Greco-Roman world, a "calling" could refer to a summons to a banquet or a legal summons. In the Jewish context, the concept of being "called" by God was deeply rooted in the Old Testament, where God called individuals like Abraham, Moses, and the prophets for specific purposes. The New Testament expands this idea to include all believers, emphasizing the universal call to salvation and holiness. And it is a heavenly calling because it invites us and leads us to heaven, and, of course to God.

 

This "heavenly calling" means it is a word from heaven, a word from God. And it's a calling, which means it is meant to show us the way home to God. Christians are people who have been gripped by this calling. The word of God broke through our resistance and took hold of us with the truth and love of Christ, and reconciled us to God and is now leading us home to heaven. This means that Christians are people of great hope. God has spoken from heaven, and made a way to heaven, and we have believed, and our hope and confidence are firm.

 

And the reason our hope and confidence are firm is not because of ourselves. In every gathering of believers there are sinners of every kind. No one has escaped the temptation of sin. The hope of a heavenly calling does not depend on our righteousness. If it did, we would be hopeless. Our hope and confidence is completely dependent on Jesus.

 

We often think that considering Jesus is something that unbelievers should do. "Consider Jesus," we say to the seeker and the perplexed. And that's right. But this book of Hebrews is devoted to helping Christians consider Jesus. "Holy brethren, . . . consider Jesus." Remember the warning back in chapter 2, "We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it." The danger is constantly in our way that we will stop considering Jesus and become more interested in other things and drift away from the Word and perhaps never return and prove that we were never truly partakers of the heavenly calling. So, Hebrews calls Christians again and again to "Consider Jesus."