Greater Faith: Greater Word

Listen up! I’ve got a word for you. That might get your attention and you may draw in even more if I told the word was from your forefathers. You might be very intrigued if I said I had word from an angel. You might think that what you would hear would be one of the greatest messages you may ever hear. But the word I’ve got doesn’t come solely from any of those sources. What if I told you there was a Greater Word?

The book of Hebrews is written to Jews who were in danger of falling away from their faith. They had a rich tradition of faith. A faith that had been past down from long ago through their forefathers. A faith given through prophets in various ways.

But they needed something for today. Their traditions, forefathers, prophets and even the word spoken through angels pointed to today. They needed a present-day word and present-day faith.

You may know what I’m talking about. I was raised by my mother to fear God. We were the only ones in our household to go to church. But I stopped attending Mass when I left my parents home for college. Faith, for me, was reduced to something I did with my mother in a different era and place.

When I left home I was entering into a new era and a new place. When I left “my faith” it wasn’t my faith I had left but my mother’s. I had never really acquired my own. My mother’s faith was great but was too little to sustain me. My mother’s faith was history and I said goodbye to it.

For you, you may have a similar experience, a time when you were in danger of walking away from your faith in God. For many, you have walked away from your faith. Your faith doesn’t have a word for you today, it is ancient history.

Well, Jesus isn’t ancient history. He is ancient. He preexists history and the creation of the world. Yet, he is current. He is new and makes all things new. He is still creating. He does that because he is alive and active in the lives of people today.

When you are in danger of walking away from your faith in God what kind of faith are you walking away from?

If it is a faith only built on the past then it is too small. What if you weren’t trusting solely in a historical faith full dead people but in a present faith based on a living person. The living Son of God.

The Bible was written long ago and it has a word for you. The Prophets spoke for God long ago and they have a word for you. Priests performed the sacrificial ordinances for God and they have a word for you. Angels spoke to God’s people and they have a word. But God has a greater, superior word for you in Jesus Christ.

If you are tempted to walk away you need a greater faith. A greater faith comes through believing in a Greater Word.

Hebrews 1:1-4 (NIV) In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven. 4 So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs.

God has not revealed a word for you in various ways he has given the Word to you through his Son.

The writer of Hebrews encourages us to pay careful attention to what we have heard. When the gospel is preached it points us to the Living Word. The powerful word made flesh.

The powerful word spoken by God is through Jesus, not his angels. God bound his word through angels but God made his word flesh in Christ.

Jesus, who is over angles is the One who was made lower than angels so that through humility he would ascend. When we trust in him we also ascend to be with the Father.

Jesus is the One who was made human in every way. The One who suffered when he was tempted so that he could help us when we are being tempted.

Jesus is greater than the Apostles because he is The One sent by God to build the house of God.

Jesus is greater than Moses because Moses may have been faithful in God’s house but Jesus is faithful over God’s house.

If you follow Jesus then God is building a house with the faithful. And that house is strong against the storms of temptation, hardship, and doubt when it is built on the words of Christ.

Hebrews 4:12 (NIV) For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

Do not harden your hearts when you hear his voice. Open your hearts to Jesus and become a part of HIStory.

I want to encourage you to encourage one another with the Greater Word of Christ. The Greater Word produces greater faith and greater faith produces obedience to God.

There is a Greater Word for you today.

Let Jesus have the first and final word in your life so that you can take your first step on the path that leads to life. And if you are already a follower may your steps lead you to your final destination, a forever-life with the Father in heaven.  A time where you can enter rest.

In Jesus, God… has spoken. 

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Jovan preaches for the Littleton Church of Christ near Denver, Colorado. Visit here to listen to sermons preached at the Littleton Church.