Rev. Terence Gray: Good morning. Good to see you guys. Good morning to everyone tuning in online. Good morning to our friends at our Farmington Hills campus. Today, we're kicking off a new sermon series called Anchored.
It's based on the book of Hebrews, and I'm just really excited to dive into this book with you guys over the next several weeks. And I'm especially excited about today as we're in Hebrews chapter one. Hebrews chapter one is just rich with truth about who Jesus actually is. And so today I just get to talk to you guys about Jesus, and I'm just excited about that this morning. We're gonna talk a lot about the person of Jesus, who he is, and what that means for our lives, and why we can anchor ourselves in him.
In a constantly changing world, it feels good to be able to anchor ourselves in the God who never changes. So would you go before the Lord with me in prayer? Oh, Father, we come before you in the mighty and the matchless name of your son, Jesus Christ, lifting up this time to you. Oh, Father God, we lift up your word. We pray that you would illuminate it, bring it to life, help us to see Jesus, experience him and know him and live out our faith in light of that truth.
Oh, Father God, I pray that you would move me out of the way, that I would decrease and that you would increase and be made much of in the lives of your people. God, send ministering angels. Speak to our hearts. Open up your word. May our hearts be good soil for the seed of your word.
It's in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray together. Amen. The year was 2011. It was April that year, and I was driving home from work. I had about a forty minute drive home on this day.
I was working at a bank at the time, but I'm just driving home like a normal day like I usually would, and a storm starts to brew. Rain, hail, intense winds, the sting was strong. I saw a trash can fly in front of my truck and then I start to hear a tornado siren go off. This thing was serious, I was in the middle of a real storm and about forty minutes before I would get home, so I had a decision to make. Either I was gonna keep going and press through that storm, or I was gonna stop and take shelter.
So guess what I did? I ran out of gas. True story. I wish it wasn't a true story, but I ran out of gas, tornado siren blaring, stuff flying all over the place. I hop out of my truck as fast as I can and and seek shelter, so I find this very nice restaurant and I go inside of it.
That nice restaurant was a Wendy's, and so I went inside of that Wendy's, and I had the best hamburger I ever had in my life, and I had to make the call of shame to my father and say, dad, I ran out of gas. I need your help. I need you to come get me. I'm I'm 23 at the time, and I was like, my goodness. I'm just graduated from college.
I'm supposed to be proven that I'm ready to do this adult thing, and I just I just ran out of gas. So can you come get me? And sure enough, about an hour later, my dad shows up. He shows up with a with a canister of gas, and he fills my tank back up. He even gets in front of me on the way home, and he drives in front of me and and guides me through the storm.
So in that moment, I was filled with insecurity, I was filled with a little bit of doubt, a little bit of shame, but as I watched my dad pour the gas into my tank, something became clear to me. What mattered most about me at that time wasn't my forgetfulness, though it was very much on display. It wasn't even the strength of the storm that I found myself in. What mattered most about me in that moment was that I was a son. That was the most true thing about me.
That was the most real thing about me, and that was the thing that mattered most about me in that moment as I was stranded in that storm. I was a son. Nothing mattered more. Yes, I was a 23 year old bank employee. Yes, I was a recent college graduate ready to show that I was ready to be a responsible adult, but as I watched my dad fill that tank, it was evident that the most important thing about me was that I was a son.
Dear Christian, when you find yourself in a storm, and you will, Either you're coming out of a storm, either you're in a storm, or you're headed into one, they just happen. When you are in that storm, the most important thing about you is not the fact that you're in a storm, it's not even the reason that you're in the storm, and maybe you're in that storm because of something that you did, but that's not the most important thing about you. The most important thing about you is that you are a son or a daughter of the king. Here's what we know. Because of Jesus, and only because of Jesus, we are not defined by the storm, but by the Father who speaks, sustains, and leads us through the storm.
That's what defines us. That's who defines us. Because when you're in that storm, it's tempting to make life about that storm and to define yourself about what you're going through and what happened to you, or maybe you define yourself by the fact that, man, I got myself in this storm because of my bonehead decision. It's my fault. Uh-uh.
That's what defines me. No, my friend. Because of Jesus, even in that storm, what defines you most is your father who speaks, sustains, and leads you through that storm. Today, we begin a new sermon series called Anchored. And my hope for you is that if you've known Jesus for one year, or twenty years, or a hundred years, or if you don't know Jesus at all, and you're just trying to figure this thing out, my hope for you is that you would see that Jesus is the only one worthy to serve as your anchor for your life.
Everything else will get you tossed in all kinds of directions. Everything else will leave you disoriented. Everything else is unstable. Everything else it's like building your life on the sand. But Jesus is the one, the only one who really can serve as the anchor for our lives.
Today, we're gonna spend some time in Hebrews chapter one. And Hebrews chapter one is all about Jesus. I get to talk to you about Jesus today, and that just excites me. Hebrews chapter one paints out this clear theology of who Jesus is, and it gives us something to hang on to in moments of uncertainty. When we see who Jesus truly is, it gives us something to hang on to.
So when everything else seems unstable, when the winds are howling, the hell is falling, the rain is coming down, we have something stable to hang on to. So I want to share this acrostic with you. It kind of brings out the person of Jesus that we're gonna see in Hebrews chapter one, and that acrostic is hands. It's gonna make it's gonna make sense in here in just a minute. This is the acrostic that kinda lays out who Jesus is in Hebrews chapter one, and the first word in this acrostic is honor.
Jesus, as we see him in Hebrews chapter one, receives honor. Honor that is usually and only reserved for God. And so if Jesus is being seen receiving this kind of honor in the scriptures that tells us that Jesus is God. Hebrews chapter one verse four says, so he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. This would have been extremely significant for a first century Jewish Christian who was reading this.
This might not be as significant to us today. We don't really talk about angels a lot. We don't usually revere them a lot. Someone said that heaven needs a new PR manager because a lot of times when you see pictures of angels in heaven, they're little chubby babies with diapers and harps, and there's nothing really too impressive or scary about that. But if you were a first century Jewish Christian, you would have known that angels are spectacular.
They're holy messengers from God that God gives big jobs to do. They're these very significant created beings and you would have taken them very seriously. And so for Jesus to say, I mean, for for the scripture to say in Hebrews that Jesus is superior to angels, that would have been a big deal. An angel served as a reference point for something great, and the author of Hebrews is saying Jesus is superior to that. In verse one and six it says, and again when God brings his firstborn into the world he says, let all God's angels worship him.
They're not peers, they're not buddies. When these angels, these great created beings are brought before Jesus, they bow down and they worship him. This is telling us something about who Jesus is. He's the one who is worshipped by the angels. You know who angels are supposed to worship?
God. So that means Jesus. Jesus is God. If they worship Jesus, if the angels worship Jesus, that tells us something about Jesus. And if we don't, well, that kinda tells us something about us.
All of creation knows its place. The stars don't compete with God. The ocean doesn't resist him. The angels don't question him. They all bow.
But as human beings, we we tend to worship other things, and we create idols, and we put those idols in his place. And when we do so, we find ourselves disoriented, confused, despondent as we're tossed back and forth because we're trying to build our lives on something that was never intended to be built upon. Those things were never intended to serve as the anchors for our lives. But friends, when we worship Jesus, when we worship him, when we join along with the rest of creation and declare him as worthy, we find ourselves anchored in truth and in peace, and we're not tossed back and forth anymore. And so Jesus is our anchor because he receives the honor of God by all of creation, and so we join along.
But he also shares the attributes of God. Jesus receives the honor of God, but he also shares in the attributes of God. He shares in these attributes and we see that in the text. Says the sun is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. He's the radiance of God's glory.
When when Moses went up to the mountain and was face to face with God and experienced God, when he came down from the mountain his face was shining because he had been in the presence of God. His face was shining and he was reflecting God's glory. Jesus doesn't just reflect God's light and reflect God's glory, he is God's light and is God's glory. So Jesus is not like the moon. As we know about the moon, the moon doesn't generate its own light.
The moon reflects light from the sun, left to its own devices the moon is just a cold dark rock, but when it reflects the sun we we see it generating light. Jesus is more like the sun, he generates the light of God. In the text as we go back and look at that, he's the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of his being. Scripture doesn't talk like this about anybody else but the person of Jesus. He he is the exact reputation representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.
Jesus is the sustainer. He's the one that holds all things together. He holds this whole world together. He holds our universe together. And if he does that, how much more can he hold our lives together?
I'm here to give you some good news this morning, friends. I'm not holding things together. You're not holding things together. Collectively, we're not holding things together. God is holding things together.
And that just feels good to me that I can rest in that, and you can rest in that too. And so Jesus shares in the honors of God, but he also shares in the attributes of God. It says he sits at the right hand of the majesty in heaven. He's right there next to the father. This isn't just some normal man.
This isn't just some philosopher. This isn't just some teacher. This is God in the flesh. And so we anchor our our lives to Jesus because he receives the honor of God, the attributes of God, and it only would be right for him to share in the names of God. The Bible is very intentional about names.
If we go to Hebrews chapter one verses eight through 12. But about the son he says, your throne, oh God, will last forever and ever. About the son, he says, your throne, oh God. God calls his son God. I don't know about you, but I love my kids, But I don't call my kids God.
That would be very problematic if I called them God. I I think that would go to their heads just a little bit. The father calls Jesus God. And if his father calls him God, I'm gonna call him God too. And so Jesus shares an honor of God, the attributes of God, and the names of God.
But he doesn't stop there. He also performs the deeds of God. He gets to work, and he does things that only God can do. And we see this in Hebrews chapter one as well. We see Jesus doing things that only God can do.
But about the son he says, your throne, oh God, will last forever and ever. And the scepter of justice will be the scepter of your kingdom. You've loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions, anointing you with the oil of joy. In the beginning, Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth.
If you lay the foundations of the earth, that means you were there at the beginning. If if you're building a house, the person who puts the roof on, they could have came a little later in the game. The person who puts in the kitchen cabinets, they may have gotten there later. But the person who lays the foundation of the house, they were there at the very beginning. And what the scripture is saying is that Jesus laid the foundation of the earth and the heavens are the work of his hands.
Jesus is doing God stuff, and so we anchor ourselves to him because he receives the honor of God, he displays and possesses the attributes of God, He is called by the names of God, and now he performs the deeds of God. What does that mean for you and me? When we talk to Jesus, we're talking to someone who can actually do something about it. I I don't know about you, but when I need help, I want to reach out to someone who can actually do something about it. When you're at a restaurant and let's say the meal isn't going the way you want it to go, that steak, you asked for medium rare and they just brought it out crispy and you're like, ugh, I have to send this thing back.
When that happens, you want to talk to someone who can do something about it. So you don't say, hey, this this steak, I asked for medium rare, it came out super crispy, let me talk to the dishwasher, please. You don't say that, I don't think. You say, let me speak with the manager. Let me speak with someone who can do something about it, who can right this wrong.
Friends, when we when we talk to Jesus, we're talking to the one who can do something about it. It's not gonna help us to go run and talk to a 100 people about our problem, to vent about it on social media, nobody out there is gonna do anything about it. They can't they can't help you. It doesn't help you to gossip on the phone about it with different people because they can't do anything about it. But when we talk to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we're communicating with the one who doesn't just talk about it, but he does something about it.
And so we anchor our lives to him because he's the one who receives the honor of God. He possesses the attributes of God. He wears the names of God. He performs the deeds of God. And finally, he is seated on the throne of God.
Jesus gets the best seat in the house. He gets the best seat in the house. Hebrews chapter one verses 13 through 14. To which of the angels did God ever say, sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet? Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who inherit salvation?
Once again, have a very important job, the angels do. But they don't get invited to sit at the right hand of the father. They don't get invited to sit on the throne. Jesus is seated at the highest place. Jesus gets the best seat in the house, but he didn't come into this world seeking the best seat in the house.
As a matter of fact, he came into this world and took the lowest seat. He he humbled himself to the point of death on a cross. And though he was humiliated, he was later later elevated. He is the one who receives the honor of God, the attributes of God, the names of God, and performs the deeds of God. And now he's seated on the throne of God.
This is who we place our faith in. This is who we hold on to. This is who we go to when we don't know what to do next, when we don't know what's next. After you have given it everything that you can give and prayed as hard as you can pray and worked as hard as you can work and planned as well as you can planned, and maybe the wind is still blowing and the waves are still rising and life feels uncertain. And even in that, we have an anchor, my friend.
We have an anchor in the person of Jesus. See the more that we see who Jesus truly is, the easier it becomes to rest our hopes, dreams, fears, and failures in his hands. The more we come to see who Jesus truly is, the easier it becomes to rest our hopes, dreams, fears, and even our failures in his hands. I imagine someone is sitting there and they're saying, but Terence, you don't know how big my problems are. I have some big big big big problems like colossal size big stuff I'm going through.
My encouragement for you is this, the size of the problem is never the issue. The issue is whether or not the problem is in the right hands. The size of the problem, no matter how big or how small, is never the issue. The issue is whether or not the problem is in the right hands. If you're an NBA basketball team and you're down by two points in the fourth quarter with three seconds to go, and you hand me the basketball in hopes that I'm gonna win that game for you, you have a problem.
You have a big problem on your hands. But if you hand that basketball to Michael Jordan, this is 1998, they give him the ball at the end, game winning shot over Brian Russell wins their sixth NBA championship, the rest is history. When you put that ball in Michael Jordan's hands, you no longer have a problem. You have a championship. You put the ball in my hands, you got a problem.
If you've gone without a haircut for like three months and you're like, man, my hair is looking crazy and bushy and I like I need some help today. Terence, here take these clippers and cut my hair. I'm I'm trusting you. I'm placing these clippers in your hand to cut my hair. If you place those clippers in my hand, you have a problem.
You're have a real problem. Your haircut is gonna be so messed up, it's gonna be so bad, and I might try my absolute best, but it's gonna be terrible. And so when you walk out of that barber chair, you're have a problem, you're have a problem. But this guy here, he he's a he's a famous barber. His name is J.
R. Malari. He cuts a lot of celebrities' hair. He cuts Stephen Curry's hair. He he he's well known for being a great master barber.
If you go see him, you don't have a problem anymore. See, the the problem is never really the issue. The issue is whether or not the problem is in the right hands. And what happens with us is that sometimes we try to hold on to things that we can't carry because in our hands, yes, it is a problem. Or maybe in somebody else's hands, it's a problem.
But God is saying to us, will you trust me with that? Will you put that problem in my hand? And when you do that maybe just maybe you'll get to see that it's not as big as you think it is. And God is saying to somebody, okay, drop it there, put it in my hands, and leave it with me. But if you're like me, I'm tempted to go, okay God, I'm gonna drop it in your hands, leave it there, leave it with you.
Then I come back, but wait a minute, what if I what if I and God is like, leave it there. Trust me with that. His hands are big enough to hold whatever we're going through. Whatever it is, he's big enough to hold it. This is Jesus we're talking about.
The one who receives the honors of God, the one who possesses all of these attributes of God, the one who goes by the names of God, the one who performs the deed of God, and the one who is seated on God's eternal throne. And he says, put it in my hands. Put your future in my hands. Put your marriage in my hands. Put your singleness in my hands.
Stop picking it up. Leave it there. Put your worries in my hands. The more we come to see Jesus for who he truly is, the easier it becomes to rest our hopes, dreams, fears, and even our failures in his hands. So I want to leave you with this question today.
I want to leave you with this. It says, are you putting the right issues in the right person's hands? Are you putting the right issues in the right person's hands? Jesus is waiting. His hands are wide open.
Will you pray with me? Oh, father, we come before you in the mighty name of Jesus, acknowledging that your hands are strong and capable. God, our hands are weak and shaky. Maybe we can hold on to something for a little while. God, I come to you just confessing that I do that.
God, I hold on to the things that I need to give to you. And I pray the same thing for all of my brothers that we would give whatever we're carrying that may feel heavy to us, that we would give it to you because you are worthy. For it's in the mighty name of Jesus that we pray together. Amen.