September 15, 2020
Jesus Is Real No Matter What Color the Penguin.
Hebrews 2:1–9
Daniel Wells
Central Truth
Salvation is at hand. Pay attention, lest it drift past you. Jesus is the answer to the questions of sin, salvation, and eternity. Jesus has already taken care of today and eternity. Do not trade eternity for the cares of today.
Key Verse | Hebrews 2:1
Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
Hebrews 2:1–9
Warning Against Neglecting Salvation
1 Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. 2 For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, 3 how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard, 4 while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
The Founder of Salvation
5 For it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking. 6 It has been testified somewhere,
“What is man, that you are mindful of him,
or the son of man, that you care for him?
7
You made him for a little while lower than the angels;
you have crowned him with glory and honor,
1
2:7
Some manuscripts insert and set him over the works of your hands
8
putting everything in subjection under his feet.”
Now in putting everything in subjection to him, he left nothing outside his control. At present, we do not yet see everything in subjection to him. 9 But we see him who for a little while was made lower than the angels, namely Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Dive Deeper | Hebrews 2:1–9
It was a bright day in my tenth grade English class.
This was a transitional time in my life as I was coming into my faith. It meant not only that I was good by my parents' standards, but that my heart was transformed through belief in Jesus (Matthew 22:37-39) and that my mind was being renewed by God's Word (Romans 12:1-2).
I was sharing my new found love of Jesus with my friends and engaged in a conversation with a student sitting next to me. She stated she would believe in Jesus if a plant in the classroom turned into a purple penguin. There is nothing I wanted more than for that plant to be turned into a purple penguin. But I had a notion then, and now, that God does not typically work in that manner.
We see throughout Scripture that God has spoken through burning bushes, a donkey, prophets, and angels on His behalf. We hear Abraham explaining that if the rich man's relatives "'do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead'" (Luke 16:31) or if a plant should turn into a purple penguin.
Hebrews 2:1 charges us, Christ followers, to pay MUCH closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. What have we heard? We have heard from God Himself in the flesh, Jesus the Christ. Jesus' message also proved reliable through His followers by signs, wonders, and various miracles (Hebrews 2:4). We have heard the message of salvation from angels, prophets, priests, preachers, apostles, and perhaps the tenth grader sitting next to you in English class. We are charged to hold this message closely, paying MUCH closer attention to it.
And for those of you who may not believe and trust in Jesus, you may not see purple penguins, but I am guessing you have friends around you whose lives have been transformed by Jesus. And if not, you can count me as a friend!
Let us not neglect such a great salvation that is found in Jesus!
Discussion Questions
1. How are you, Christ follower, holding on to what you have heard, paying "much closer attention" to it (Hebrews 2:1)? What spiritual disciplines are you practicing to hold fast to Jesus? A great book on spiritual disciplines is Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life by Donald S. Whitney.
2. What temptations in life are prone to make you drift? Is it the cares of this world, the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things (Mark 4:19)? If you are able to identify what gets you to drift, you are better equipped to fight the temptation.
3. Who is sitting next to you and proclaiming the truth while you are not paying attention? Better yet, why are you choosing not to pay much closer attention to what you have heard?