Hebrews: Consider Jesus

We tend to consider ourselves and how worthless we are or how awesome we are. In the book of Hebrews, God wants us to consider who we really are, consider what life is really about, and most importantly Consider Jesus. Join us, as we encourage one another through the book of Hebrews, to Consider Jesus. #hebrews #2021

Starter

• What are some obsolete items, paradigms, or relationships that you have replaced but are occasionally tempted to go back to? What’s tempting about them?
• What ways do you tend to keep looking for SOMETHING BETTER instead of having contentment?

Pray

Lord, by faith we believe that You and Your New Covenant are the SOMETHING BETTER we keep looking for. We confess that we often long to look at the old ways instead of turning to Your new way. Help us to hear Your Word today and respond in faith to the reality that Your New Covenant is here. May we acknowledge by faith that You have placed Your laws and Your Spirit within us as SOMETHING BETTER than anything else. Amen

Study Questions

"SOMETHING BETTER ”

The book of Hebrews was written to exhort believers and specifically Israelites to consider Jesus in the face of their culture. Some believers were turning back to practicing the sacrificial system of the Old Testament that Jesus fulfilled so they could escape being persecuted. As the writer walks the hearers and readers through much of the Old Testament ideas and systems, his desire is to clearly show them how to Consider Jesus in their life now.

Mankind is unable to follow God on their own, but God has intervened and given His people SOMETHING BETTER a new heart in the New Covenant so that they can, are, and will be His. We want to go back to an old covenant that could not change our hearts. Through Christ, we have SOMETHING BETER a new covenant where we know God and have changed hearts.

READ: Exodus 19:5-6

For much of the book of Hebrews, the author has been contrasting the Old Covenant with a New Covenant brought about by Jesus’s death and resurrection.

1. Based on what we have read thus far in Hebrews, these verses from Exodus, and from your own background knowledge, what was the Old Covenant?

READ: Hebrews 8:6-7

1. What do we learn about the BETTER (new) covenant compared with the old from these two verses?

READ: Hebrews 8:8-13

Verses 8-12 are a direct quote from Jeremiah 31:31-34, and verse 13 is the author of Hebrew’s conclusion based on Jeremiah’s words. In Jeremiah 31:31-34, the prophet is speaking to God’s people who have been exiled because of the nation’s disobedience. Although much of Jeremiah is warning and rebuke, Jeremiah 31 falls in a section of hope. God promises His people that there will be a time when He will do SOMETHING BETTER among them. The author of Hebrews picks up these words and basically says “now is that time!”

1. According to this Hebrews passage, what was the major flaw with the old covenant?
2. What do we learn about man- specifically our hearts and natures - based on the fact that Israel was unable to continue in God’s covenant? What do we learn about God's desire for relationship through His response at the end of verse 9?
3. God is the one who initiates the BETTER new covenant. Why do you think this might be important and what does this tell us about who God is?