The Gathering Surf City

You.

We are in Hebrews,

chapter two,

and this is our artwork.

Just so you know.

If you hadn't got one,

you can get them out at the welcome
desk out there and keep it on your

refrigerator. Make it a bookmark
in your bible.

But we titled this year.

I guess I titled it.

I didn't ask anybody
if I could or not,

but I titled it the object
of our faith.

Because is we gather here for a reason
I've already shared with you.

We don't gather because we have to.

We gather because we get to.

And I honestly have this conversation
on a fairly regular basis where

people will say something
along the lines of,

well, I don't have to go to
church to be a Christian.

I go,

you're right,

you don't have to.

But the fact is,

when we're part of the
family of God,

the body of Christ,

this gathering of saints,

or fellowship of believers,

it should be that we want to gather.

We want to come together
for encouragement.

We want to come together for the
fellowship that we get to enjoy.

We want to come together for
the celebration of it all.

I've always told folks,

I mean,

years ago when the gathering
was first birthed,

I said,

you know what?

If you show up on a Sunday
and don't have fun,

I don't blame you for
not coming back,

because we want to come and enjoy our
time together in this place of

worship, and we want to be able to enjoy
the people that we're around.

And I hope you take that
chaos time when we say,

go and greet people and say hi to people
and some folks that come in that

are new,

and I say,

look, just act like
you've been here.

Nobody will know the difference.

It's okay.

But we gather for the
purpose of worship.

And I've told you that the word worship
comes from this idea of

Worthship. We gather to declare
God's Worth in our lives.

He's important to us.

It's important that we acknowledge and
honor and exalt and seek in our

lives to bring him glory.

So this idea of the object of our face
sounds like some sort of English

lesson, prepositional
phrase or something,

but the truth of it is that worshipping
God is the focus of our lives.

We don't just worship for
an hour on Sunday.

We worship every day,

all day long.

So you've really got to be challenged
in the attitudes and choices and

actions of your life.

Is my life a testimony of worship?

Because it really draws
down in the picture.

We've got the cross over here,

and we've got Christ in the clouds.

And that kind of is where chapter two
of Hebrews is going to be going,

because in chapter one we get this
emphasis of the deity of Christ,

and we see the name Christ used over
and over again in chapter one and

how he is the message of God following
the message that came through the

prophets. And if you were a Hebrew,

reading this,

you would understand that what God is
revealing in chapter one is that

all those things I said to you throughout
Samuel and Psalms and Daniel

and all the prophetic books were
all pointing to Jesus,

and they would understand the prophetic
writings that David referenced

through the Psalms and
those kind of things.

So they would understand that,

guess what?

There is a Messiah.

And from the Greek,

after we get over into
the New Testament,

there is the Christos,

the Christos,

the Christ that would come,

and he would be the salvation
of God's people.

Then as we get into chapter two,

there's this warning
to start out with.

Don't neglect,

don't make light of the salvation
that God has given you.

So guess what?

Congratulations, you're here.

See? Well,

who am I preaching to?

I'm actually preaching to
the ones who aren't here.

They might be on camera,

I don't know.

But anyway,

so here's my point.

The warning is,

don't take it lightly.

What God has given us,

don't neglect the salvation.

Really?

That's not just this salvation.

Okay, great.

I've got an insurance
policy against hell.

I get to go to heaven.

Wooo!

No, don't neglect Jesus in
your life every day.

Acknowledge Jesus in your
life every day.

Consider the fact that
Jesus is our savior,

our Lord.

And we're going to get into the
conversation in chapter two,

where chapter one emphasizes
the deity of the Christ,

but it's chapter two that acknowledges
and really highlights the humanity

of Jesus.

So after the warning in the
beginning of chapter two,

then we get to chapter verse five.

This is how it reads.

It says,

for he has not subjected to the angels
of the world to come that we're

talking about.

But someone somewhere has testified,

what is man that you remember him,

or the son of man that
you care for him?

You made him lower than the
angels for a short time.

You crowned him with glory and honor
and subjected everything under his

feet, for in subjecting
everything to him,

he left nothing that is not
subject to him as it is.

We do not yet see everything
subjected to him,

but we do see Jesus made lower than
the angels for a short time,

so that by God's grace,

he might taste death for everyone crowned
with glory and honor because he

suffered death.

Let's pray together.

God, we thank you.

Thank you,

God, that you have spoken to us.

What we concentrated on in chapter one
was that you have spoken through

your son,

Jesus.

You've spoken to us.

And that which you have spoken to us
is salvation and life and your love

and God,

that you have spoken to us,

as we'll see in this passage,

your grace to us.

God help us to see it.

God help us to recognize it.

God help us to prioritize it in our lives
and help us to live it in Jesus

name.

Amen. Again,

I started considering,

as I was preparing for this morning,

all the things,

all the gifts that have been
given to me in my life.

I've shared a few of them.

The go cart,

the wheelo.

You all like those kind
of stories and things.

And yet,

outside of Sunday school class and
answering like a first grader,

I started trying to consider what was
the greatest thing gift anybody

ever presented to me.

What's the thing that I guess I would
say I just appreciated the most in

my life.

And quite honestly,

thinking back through the years,

I couldn't name just one
thing that I thought,

man, that was just the greatest thing
anybody ever gave to mean,

you know,

we're in.

Let's go ahead and say it.

We're sitting in Church where
we'd all say Jesus,

right?

That's the greatest gift
I've ever been given.

And then I started thinking
in a different angle,

what's the best thing that I could
say anybody ever did for me,

right? The greatest thing
that anybody ever said,

here, I'm going to do this for you.

I can say for me sometimes
it might be a meal,

right? But now you can
have a meal anytime.

I'll tell you all what the greatest
gift that was ever done for me,

all right,

let's see.

It would have been in March of 1993,

right?

Angie and I had been dating
about six months,

right? And we'd talked about life and
where we go from here and all that

sort of thing.

So I took her back to
my home church,

Cali self Memorial Baptist
Church in Greenwood,

South Carolina.

And nobody was there,

so I'd gotten the key
from the pastor.

It was march the 18th,

1993, the day after March 18,

day after St.

Patrick's Day.

I got memory for things like that.

So we walked in,

and the place was kind of
all dark moonlight,

I guess,

shining in from the
windows and such.

And so we sat down on the front row,

and of course,

I got down on one knee,

and I said,

will you marry me?

She said,

yes, man.

So in this life,

on this earth,

greatest thing anybody ever
did for me right there.

That she said yes.

She could have said,

have you lost your mind?

I mean,

she could have.

She'd seen what a youth pastor does
and all that sort of thing.

It's like,

oh, my.

But I began to think when we are warned
in chapter two not to take

lightly, not to neglect,

not to make small of or little of the
salvation that God has given us,

what is it that God has done for us?

Now think about who we are first,

all right?

Because that's what this passage is
going to deal with as we work into

chapter two.

God created everything we see,

and then God created man,

created woman,

breathed life into them and gave
them dominion over his creation.

Right? What do you mean?

He put his earth under
the control of man,

mankind.

Right? And what did they do?

What did they do?

Okay, yeah,

we can say they sinned,

they failed,

they rejected and rebelled against
the God of this universe.

Go ahead.

I mean,

think about it,

all right?

Let's say somebody's offering you this
incredible opportunity and gift.

What are you going to do,

spit in their face?

Listen to these words,

because the warning is not
to take it lightly.

But then he says this,

for he's not subjected to angels,

the world to come.

Now. So in the Old Testament,

we see in deuteronomy and other places
that the angels did have certain

authority over cities and
different things.

Throughout the Old Testament,

angels were given some authority
in God's creation,

but angels have no authority
over the world to come,

the heavenly world,

the heavenly kingdom,

the spiritual world that God
has already established,

you see?

And so when we see in
the first chapter,

God saying,

all right,

the Christ,

the son,

the heir,

all of those things.

And then in chapter three,

he says,

do not forsake,

do not neglect this salvation
given to you,

for he is not subjected to the
angels of the world to come.

So there are a lot of people that
like to worship creation.

They like to worship the
things of this earth.

I mean,

we see shrines around
us all the time,

don't we?

I mean,

every time I mention
it on the island,

people get mad at me.

But where I came from
in the mountains,

people worship trees,

and then I moved to the beach
and people worship turtles.

See, every time I mention that,

people get mad at me.

But anyhow,

sorry. No,

I'm not all right.

What is it that God intends to do
with this creation that he gave

dominion of to mankind?

There will be the redemption of this
creation as there will be a

redemption of mankind,

and God will reunite both the created
kingdom and the heavenly kingdom.

All right?

So he says,

for he is not subjected to angels,

the world to come,

that we're talking about.

But somewhere,

somewhere has testified,

and that comes from psalm eight.

And these verses come
from psalm eight.

And it's not that God didn't
know who put it down,

but what he's saying.

He's not emphasizing
who wrote it down.

He's emphasizing what he wrote.

What is man,

that you remember him.

This is the same man that
spit in your face.

What is man or mankind that you would
even think about him after what he

did to you,

God, after he rejected you,

after he neglected you,

after he rebelled against you.

Why would you even think
about mankind?

And then he invokes a messianic
phrase when he says,

or the son of man,

that you care for him.

God, in our rebellion,

you still love us.

You still care for us even
when we rejected you,

even when today.

Now, guess what?

Let's go ahead and make
the commitment.

Don't raise your hand,

because then it'd be bad.

Everybody going to go out
and be sinless today,

probably not,

right? And yet,

you see,

that's what God's told us to be,

holy, like he's holy.

And we know we're part of this humanity
that rebelled and rejected God,

and so we're going to seek ourself
and sin is this result of self,

this desire for self.

And that's what he's saying.

He says,

what is man,

that you would remember him,

or the son of man that
you care for him?

And then he says this,

after the son of man reverence,

he said,

you made him lower than the
angels for a short time.

So God,

in his prophetic writing here,

and song's already telling us there's
a time when we will be elevated

above the angels.

But the son of man,

you made him lower than the
angels for a short time.

So the son of man.

So here we go.

We're kind of looking
back to chapter one.

The Christ,

the deity,

God the son,

was made lower as humanity.

So he is fully God and fully man.

You made him lower than the
angels for a short time,

or you crowned him with glory and honor
and subjected everything under

his feet.

So we see in this little
psalm eight,

verses four to six,

we see this acknowledgment that God
is revealing to us that Christ on

high left a place of glory
to be made like us.

But then he was restored to glory,

you see?

So the son of God became the man.

You see,

humans were given this dominion over
God's creation and we failed.

So Christ became the man who would
succeed in dominion and have

everything subjected to him.

The Christ Christ Jesus,

he became human to do what
humanity could not do.

So when you see verse seven there,

you made him lower a little lower for
a little while because we're going

to see how this is translated from the
Hebrew because if you go back and

read psalm,

chapter eight,

verses four to six,

you're going to see some different
wording and stuff.

Remember, I've always said that
translation is an art form,

not an exact science.

And so when you start to understand
that the communication God is

revealing right here is that
the Christ became man,

fully man,

subjected to the same things
we're subjected to.

And yet he succeeded
where we cannot,

but he succeeded on our behalf.

And when we get on into chapter two,

we're going to see something there that
it should be so dear to us that

we wouldn't neglect or belittle or reject
the salvation that God's given

us. I mean,

he goes on to the point where he know
Jesus calls us brothers and

sisters. Wow.

I think that's one of the reasons some
of you might have grown up in one

of those churches where everybody was
brother this and sister that,

right? I think I have to admit,

in seminary you'd walk down the hall
in the dormitory or in the class

building or whatever,

and they'd go,

hey, brother,

I always look at them and go,

I don't know you.

It's almost an excuse not
to know somebody's name,

right? Hey,

brother, sorry,

that's just me.

But in Daniel chapter seven we see
this reference to the son of man.

And in the vision,

this messianic vision
that Daniel has,

he sees the son of man approaching
the throne of God.

Guess what?

We can't approach the son of God.

The son of man is a reference
to humanity.

But the son of man in Daniel's vision
is approaching the throne of God

and is given dominion over everything
in the universe.

So what we're seeing in Daniel seven
is this reference to the Son of man

who is crowned with glory and honor and
everything is subjected under his

feet.

To understand what God is showing us
in Hebrews is really important to

understand. See,

this is the way I've looked at it.

Now this is my Bible.

All right,

well, this is my preaching Bible.

I have many,

but this is the one that stays
right here all the time.

There's an old Testament,

let's see,

I'll find the end of it
here in a minute.

It ends with that Malachi book.

You all know which one
I'm talking about,

right? That's a very
old preacher joke,

but talks about the italian
prophet Malachi.

That's the Old Testament
right there,

and that's the New Testament
right there.

Here's what I want you
all to realize.

Hebrews is the binding that
brings them together,

the old and the new.

The book of Hebrews is what explains
all of Jesus in the Old Testament

and reveals the fulfillment of God's
promise of salvation in the New

Testament. So when we're
looking at this,

we see all the prophecies
of the messiah,

and then in Hebrews
we see God going,

see? I told you,

I told you that's what
I was going to do.

I told you I was going
to accomplish this.

I told you this was going to happen.

And then all of a sudden
we see Jesus,

who was perfect in humanity,

the perfect man.

That's why I've always said there's
no excuse to say I'm only human

because the perfect human is Jesus.

So you can't say,

well, I'm only human because the example
of humanity is Christ himself,

you see?

So what is man's place?

Man's place in creation is,

yes, we were given dominion
over God's creation,

and we failed.

And so we are subject to a dominion
that was handed off to Satan.

Want to know why there's
sin in the world?

Here you go.

Do what you want to.

That's what was going on.

So when we start to look at all this
and we see this son of man

reference, we know that Jesus,

that's the term that Jesus used
for himself most often,

son of man,

because he was emphasizing his own
humanity as apart from his deity.

And yet he could still say,

be still,

and the waves would listen to him.

How about that?

See?

And then in verse second
part of verse eight,

he says,

for in subjecting everything to him,

he left nothing that is not
subject to him as it is.

We do not yet see everything
subjected to him.

So we don't see the redemption
of creation.

We don't see yet how God will reunite
the spiritual and the earthly as it

is. We do not yet see everything
subjected to him.

But we do see Jesus.

Now in the book of Hebrews,

this is the first time that
the name Jesus is used,

because up till now,

all we see is Christ.

You know why?

Because up till now God has been
emphasizing his deity,

and now he's going to emphasize
his humanity and Jesus,

which the name means
God's salvation,

you see,

made lower than the angels
for a short time.

So that by God's grace,

he might taste death for everyone.

Crowned with glory and honor.

Because he suffered death.

Why? Because he suffered
death for us.

And then in the resurrection,

he sat down at the right
hand of majesty.

God the Father,

God the son,

God the spirit on the throne.

So when I looked at this
all week long.

I kept thinking about
the gift thing.

And I kept seeing this,

and I kept thinking,

guess what?

I grew up in a christian home.

A lot of you probably grew
up in a christian home.

It might have been Baptist,

like me.

It might have been Catholic.

It might have been something else.

So these are the things that you've
heard most of your life,

if not all of your life.

And so it's not a grand
leap for us to say,

yes, Jesus was in heaven.

Jesus came to earth as a man.

And jesus went back to heaven.

Yay. I can believe that.

But for some people,

it's a huge leap to say what?

God became a man?

Well, that's what Hebrews is
explaining throughout.

So what Hebrews is showing us.

And then we're going to get over,

farther into Hebrews.

Where we see where God really
indicts the jewish people.

To say,

look, I offer to be your God,

and you rejected me.

You see,

mankind has rejected God over
and over and over again.

And so the warning of the beginning
of chapter two is,

don't you reject the salvation
God's given you.

What are you going to do with
that salvation Today,

y'all? I mean,

when you leave this room?

See, I told you.

You already get a congratulations
because you're here.

But what will you do with that salvation
when you walk out of here?

Will you still live a life that acknowledges
what God's done for you?

You see,

it's kind of funny.

People give me stuff all the time.

Y'all know that.

I remember,

I'll just share this little story.

Because it's funny.

How many of y'all live
in Onslow county.

And know folks that go
to Dixon high School,

right? There's folks go to Dixon.

Jack used to coach up there,

right? And then there's a lot
of people at the gathering.

That have family and all that
go to Topsail high school,

right?

Well, one Friday night,

once upon a time,

when I was announcing football
games at Dixon High School.

Man, I was picking on Topsail folks.

I was giving them a hard time.

Now, they were scoring
a lot of touchdowns.

I'll admit that.

So every time Dixon.

I mean,

Topsail, would score a touchdown.

I'd go.

And it's a touchdown for
the Topsail pirates.

And I was doing it in a microphone
so everybody could hear it,

right? And then when Dixon
would do something,

I'd bark really loud,

right? So that Sunday morning,

I walk into worship,

right? And I'm stepping
up onto the platform.

And as I walk up onto the
platform right here,

placed in a place of.

It was put in a place of prominence,

was a topsil pirate ball cap.

It was a mean.

I don't have anything.

I don't announce football
games at Dixon anymore.

Michael does.

But my confession is,

I have no idea where that hat is.

Kind of tells you,

I don't know,

that I actually.

What? Valued it very highly.

Right. You understand
what I'm saying?

I translate that a minute.

You get out there in the world,

out there,

do you live the gift that God's
actually given you,

the salvation,

the life,

the abundance,

the eternity that God's handed you,

or does it become something less
than what it actually is?

See, do you take it for granted?

You see,

God is showing us throughout
the book of Hebrews,

and we're doing the slow
walk through Hebrews.

And I'm not as good at it as some of
the people I listen to and some of

the people I read about it.

But here's what I want you to know.

The enormity of what God has done on
our behalf cannot be minimized in

the way we live our lives.

To take this salvation that God has
given us and to just kind of say,

oh, yeah,

I'm a Christian.

I got my card,

see? And instead go out there and
live like Jesus lives in.

You show the world Jesus.

You see,

I grew up in a christian home.

My mom and dad taught me Jesus.

My mom and dad prayed.

My mom and dad taught me to pray.

My mom and dad read the Bible to me.

But I have to admit,

it was really easy to come
out of that home,

to come out of the church I grew up
in and make very light of my faith.

I mean,

I'm just confession ready.

I'm just giving it to you.

It's easy for us to put Jesus on the
back burner in the world we live in

and for all that he did for us.

And we go,

well, what he was,

God, what was a big deal to him.

Yeah, you take the beating,

then you hang on the cross then,

because that's what he
took death for us.

That's why it says that.

He said.

But we do.

See, Jesus made lower than the
angels for a short time.

So that by God's grace.

Because God gave us what
we didn't deserve.

He might taste death for everyone.

He died in our place,

took our death.

I've told this story before,

and I've got just enough
time to tell it again.

Went to Columbia Bible College,

which is now called Columbia
International University.

If you've heard this story,

just put your fingers in your ears.

I'll be done in a minute.

There was a trio.

They used to sing in
chapel services.

Man, they had some of
the greatest harmony.

Three students.

And they would get up there,

and, man,

they'd do acapella songs with trios.

Know, just this incredible.

We all.

Everybody knew who they were
and all that sort of.

Well, Columbia Bible college bordered
the broad river in Columbia,

South Carolina.

These three kids,

they love to hike and fish and
do all that kind of stuff.

So they took it on themselves one time
to go down to the broad river.

And they crossed at a little
shallow place.

To go over to the island that was kind
of just offshore in the middle of

the river.

To do some fishing and hanging
out and that sort of thing.

And they walked down the
island a little ways.

And they were going to come
back to the main shore.

Down on the lower end of the island.

And it was deeper down there
than it was at the northern.

The upper end of the island.

So they said,

well, we'll just swim across.

So they start swimming across.

And one of them was pretty much
weaker than the others.

He couldn't swim like they could.

Man, those two,

they were swimming,

swimming. Look back.

And their friend was not making it.

And one of them knew he wasn't
going to make it.

So he turned around to go help him.

And he helped him and pushed
him and helped.

Pushed him and pushed him,

pushed him.

And when he finally got to the
other side of the river.

And the weaker student crawled
up the bank of the river,

he looked back,

and his friend was gone with
the current in the river.

And he died.

He drowned.

What gift did he give him?

Gave him life.

No greater love is there than this.

Except a man lay down his
life for his friends.

Jesus laid down his life for you.

I don't tell that story
to poke your emotions.

I tell you that story so that you'll
realize what Jesus did for us.

Don't take it lightly when
you leave this place.

It's not a check in the box.

I went to church.

Yay. No.

Go out there and live,

Jesus, to your family
and your friends.

Okay? If you don't know Jesus,

let us introduce you to him.

All righty.

You need to know,

Jesus. You need to know what
he's done for you.

All righty.

Pray with me.

God, thank you for today.

Thank you,

God. The message of your
word is so clear.

It's so real.

It's alive.

And, God,

we can know it,

and we can live it.

God help us to do so.

We pray it in Jesus name.

Amen.