A synopsis of the sermon delivered by the Rev. David L. Hicks at Saint Paul’s Reformed Episcopal Church on Sunday, October 12, 2003, Trinity XVII. Please read Hebrews 3:1-6.

If you have ever been involved with building a house or remodeling a structure of any kind, you know that it is not a simple task. A plan must be followed carefully, and patience is required for the completion of that plan. The writer of Hebrews compares this familiar picture of human house building efforts to the work of God among his people. God is building a house, the writer asserts, but it is a household characterized by patient faith in Jesus Christ. The plan for God’s house building began in the Old Testament, but is fully realized and completed in the person of Jesus.

“And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, But Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and rejoicing of the hope firm to the end” (Heb. 3:6).

Those to whom the letter of the Hebrews was first addressed were being tempted to forsake the gospel of Christ. Increasing pressure from the Jewish community was having its effect on these believers who had recognized Jesus as the Messiah. It seems safe to read between the lines of the Scripture text and conclude that some were asserting that Moses was of more importance than Jesus in God’s plan. As it is with modern Judaism, the Law given by God through Moses was believed to be the culmination of the Father’s plan. The writer of Hebrews says good things about Moses. He was indeed a faithful servant in God’s house, but he was just that – a servant. Moses and the Law formed a stage of the process in building the house, but they do not represent its completion. Jesus role in the household is that of the Son; and certainly a son has a higher status in a household than a servant. It is through steadfast adherence to the Son that we have any hope of being members of God’s house.

Although we do not stand in the same historical position of the Hebrews to whom this letter was addressed, we are in a similar situation in one sense. Our culture today is pressing us to have a “Christ-less” religion. This religion presents a different building plan for God’s house than that which is revealed in Holy Scripture. It is a plan that has no room for Jesus Christ; or if he is permitted entrance, he is relegated to a harmless spot in a back room. Contemporary society does not want Jesus to be the Son of the household who hold the position of being the crowing achievement in God’s house building work. So, like the Hebrews, we must have patience in living day to day as Christians. We must have patience with God’s plan, as each new day brings closer to completion what the Father is doing through the Son. In our frustrations and temptations to give up on God’s plan, may we be encouraged by Saint Paul’s letter to the Philippian church: “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you, will complete it unto the day of Jesus Christ” (Php. 1:6).
Amen.