PUTTING JESUS FIRST

TEXT- HEBREWS 1:1-14

INTRODUCTION

Today is the first Sunday of 1989 which is our theme day.  This year we have set as the  theme of our church, “The Church Where Jesus Is First.”

A very prominent Christian writer wrote a book about the Book of Hebrews.

I’d like to share with you some things that he said about Jesus Christ in his book.

Some things that I think are very pertinent to our study.  Some things that I think will help us to appreciate the superiority of Jesus Christ.

He said: “Someone has said that Jesus Christ came from the bossom of a father to the bossom of a mother.  He put on humanity that we might put on divinity.  He became Son of Man that we might become sons of God.  He was born contrary to the laws of nature, lived in poverty, was reared in obscurity and only once crossed the boundary of the land in which he was born, and that in his childhood.  He had no wealth or influence and had neither training nor education in the world’s schools.  His relatives were inconspicuous and uninfluential.  In infancy he startled a king.  In boyhood he puzzled the learned doctors.  In manhood he ruled the course of nature.  He walked upon the billows and hushed the sea to sleep.  He healed the multitudes without medicine and made no charge for his services.  He never wrote a book and yet all the libraries of the world could not hold the books about Him.  He never wrote a song, yet He has furnished the theme for more songs than all song writers together.  He never founded a college, yet all the schools together cannot boast as many students as He has.  He never practiced medicine and yet he has healed more broken hearts than all the doctors have healed broken bodies.  This Jesus Christ is the star of astronomy, the rock of geology, the lion and the lamb of zoology, the harmonizer of all discord, and the healer of all diseases.  Throughout history, great men have come and gone, yet He lives on.  Herod could not kill Him, Satan could not seduce Him, death could not destroy Him and the grave could not hold Him.

Can you think of anyone greater than Jesus Christ?

Can you think of anyone more superior than Jesus Christ?

I can’t think of anyone greater.  I can’t think of anyone better.

And in the Book of Hebrews, that is the theme - Jesus is better.

In fact, thirteen times in the Book of Hebrews the word “better” is used to show how Jesus is greater, superior and above all others.

And when we come to realize the superiority of Jesus Christ, then we come to realize that He should be first in our lives.

You see, there is no one better than Jesus.

We set priorities, we make resolutions, we do all these things because we think they are important to us, but none of them are as important as Jesus Christ.

This morning I would like us to consider six reasons why Jesus ought to be first in our lives today.