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Mar 30, 2025

Who's This Guy?

Who's This Guy?

Passage: Hebrews 7:1-11

Speaker: Patrick Lafferty

Series: Worthy: His Worth, and a Life Worthy of Him

Great art–story, music, film–has the common feature of hinting at something early which it then discloses in time. As in art, so in Scripture–so the Lord. A name hinted at several times in this letter is now disclosed more fully. But what he discloses is in fact a hint of an even greater disclosure. And that disclosure is its own hint of a disclosure beyond imagining.

 

CENTRAL TEXT:  Hebrews 7:1-11

Heb. 7:1   For this Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings and blessed him, 2 and to him Abraham apportioned a tenth part of everything. He is first, by translation of his name, king of righteousness, and then he is also king of Salem, that is, king of peace. 3 He is without father or mother or genealogy, having neither beginning of days nor end of life, but resembling the Son of God he continues a priest forever.

Heb. 7:4   See how great this man was to whom Abraham the patriarch gave a tenth of the spoils! 5 And those descendants of Levi who receive the priestly office have a commandment in the law to take tithes from the people, that is, from their brothers, though these also are descended from Abraham. 6 But this man who does not have his descent from them received tithes from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. 7 It is beyond dispute that the inferior is blessed by the superior. 8 In the one case tithes are received by mortal men, but in the other case, by one of whom it is testified that he lives. 9 One might even say that Levi himself, who receives tithes, paid tithes through Abraham, 10 for he was still in the loins of his ancestor when Melchizedek met him.

Heb. 7:11   Now if perfection had been attainable through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law), what further need would there have been for another priest to arise after the order of Melchizedek, rather than one named after the order of Aaron?

 

CALL TO WORSHIP: Psalm 66:1-6, 10, 12b

LEADER:  Shout for joy to God, all the earth; 
sing the glory of his name; 
give to him glorious praise! 
Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! 

ALL:  All the earth worships you and sings praises to you; 
they sing praises to your name.”

LEADER:  Come and see what God has done: 
he is awesome in his deeds toward the children of man. 
He turned the sea into dry land; 
they passed through the river on foot…

ALL:  For you, O God, have tested us; 
you have tried us as silver is tried… 
we went through fire and through water; 
yet you have brought us out to a place of abundance.

 

PRAYER/SCRIPTURE READING/CONFESSION OF FAITH:    Mark 12:28-37

LEADER:   And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ 31 The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” 32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that he is one, and there is no other besides him. 33 And to love him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.

And as Jesus taught in the temple, he said, “How can the scribes say that the Christ is the son of David? 36 David himself, in the Holy Spirit, declared, 
“‘The Lord said to my Lord, 
“Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet.”’ 

David himself calls him Lord. So how is he his son?” And the great throng heard him gladly.

The Word of the Lord

ALL:  Thanks be to God

 

RELATED SCRIPTURES:

  • Genesis 14:17-20
  • Psalm 110
  • Mark 12:28-37

 

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: 

  1. Anyone read (or see) To Kill a Mockingbird? Let someone who has explain the character of Boo Radley. How is he unlike every other character in Harper Lee’s ageless story? How does his storyline develop across the novel? What, in the end, makes him significant?
  2. Melchizedek is cited more in the book of Hebrews than in the entire Hebrew Bible (2 times: Gen 14:17-20, Psa 110:4). What can you tell, from what is said of him in our passage, that makes Melchizedek significant, and also applicable to Jesus?
  3. The word “perfection” in v. 11 is perhaps better translated “completion.” It’s related to the word for maturity (6:1) but it has its own distinct meaning of the fulfillment of a project. If you were to consider what the priesthood and the law of God are for, what might be their complementary ultimate aims? 
  4. Why is the priesthood as it was outlined in the law, and the law as it was practiced by the priesthood, helpful to the people of God, but still in need of something (someone) more?
  5. What wounds can we bear here that often find no complete healing here? How is the greatness of Jesus the hope of that final healing?

 

ILLUSTRATIONS:  

 

 Mar 30, 2025

 

 

QUOTES:  

 

  • Alas! there are some wounds that cannot be wholly cured," said Gandalf. "I fear it may be so with mine," said Frodo. "There is no real going back. Though I may come to the Shire, it will not seem the same; for I shall not be the same. I am wounded with knife, sting, and tooth, and a long burden. Where shall I find rest?
    - Tolkien, Return of the King

 

  • In speaking of this desire for our own far off country, which we find in ourselves even now, I feel a certain shyness... it is a desire for something that has never actually appeared in our experience... The books or the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things—the beauty, the memory of our own past—are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistaken for the thing itself they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of a tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never yet visited.
    - C.S. Lewis, “    The Weight of Glory”

 

BOOKS / DOCS

 

SERMONS / TALKS