Take hold of your Bible or the one in the pew
back there in front of you and open up to. The
book of Hebrews. Hebrews chapter one. We started
a new sermon series just three Sundays ago on
this book, and we spent two Sundays on the first
three verses. Today we will look at verses four
through 14. Again, Hebrews is New Testament.
It's following the letters of Paul. just before
the book of James. And so would you give special
careful close attention to the reading of God's
holy word Hebrews 1 4 through 14. Having become
as much superior to angels as the name he has
inherited is more excellent than theirs. For
to which of the angels did God ever say, you
are my son? Today I've begotten you. Or again,
I will be to him a father, and he shall be to
me a son. And again, when he brings the firstborn
into the world, he says, let all angels, God's
angels, worship him. Of the angels, he says,
he makes his angels winds and his ministers a
flame of fire. But of the Sun he says your throne
Oh God is forever and ever The scepter of uprightness
is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved
righteousness and hated wickedness Therefore
God your God has anointed you with the oil of
gladness beyond your companions and You Lord
laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning
and the heavens are the work of your hands they
will perish, but you remain. They will all wear
out like a garment. Like a robe, you will roll
them up. Like a garment, they will be changed,
but you are the same, and your years will have
no end. And to which of the angels has he ever
said, sit at my right hand until I make your
enemies a footstool for your feet? Are they not
all ministering spirits? sent out to serve for
the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.
Friends, this is God's word. Let's pray. Blessed
Lord, who caused all of holy scripture to be
written for our learning, would you grant that
we may in some way hear these words, read them,
mark them, learn them. and inwardly digest them
that by patience and the comfort of your word
we may embrace and ever hold fast to the blessed
hope of everlasting life which you have given
us through Christ our Lord in whose name we do
pray amen. When I was about 10 I started playing
baseball and I loved it. And I hope you love
baseball, too. And that year, I played on my
first Little League baseball team, and we were
called the Angels after the California Angels.
Well, that was about 1994. And that same year,
a movie came out that you may have seen. It was
called Angels in the Outfield. And to this day,
Angels in the Outfield is still one of my favorite
baseball movies. And if you remember the premise
of the movie, there's a little boy named Roger.
Roger likes baseball too. But Roger is in foster
care because his father has given him over to
the state of California. His father has said
to him, I can't take care of you. And so Roger
comes under the care of a sweet older lady named
Maggie, the foster mother. And one day Roger's
dad comes to visit him. And Roger says something
to the effect of, Dad, when are we going to be
a family again? And his dad responds to him and
he says, the way I see it, when the angels win
the pennant. Now that might not mean a lot to
you, but you should know that in the movie the
angels are depicted as Being terrible they're
the worst baseball team in the league and so
what the dad is essentially saying to his father
is kid It's not happening. We're never gonna
be a family now you can understand how that would
impact a young boy and So that night he lies
down on his bed. He puts his head on his pillow,
and he doesn't know what to do He doesn't know
what he's doing, but he begins to pray. He doesn't
know how to pray, but he prays. And he prays
to be reunited with his dad, to be a family again.
And he prays along the lines, because again,
he's like 10 years old, just like me at that
time. He prays along the lines of what his father
has said to him. And so he prays. Again, this
is very fictitional. He prays for the angels
to win the pennant. in order that he and his
dad would be a family again. How does God respond
to that prayer? Again, in fiction, God sends
angels to play for the California Angels baseball
team, and suddenly the angels are there ministering
to the baseball players, and they can hit, and
they can throw, they can pitch, they can run,
they can field, and all of those things, and
they become very, very good. Now, We look at
that and we say, well, actually, when I say it,
it sounds kind of a silly premise. And indeed,
it's not theologically accurate. It's made by
Hollywood. And yet there is some truth in there
that God does send angels to minister and to
serve. Look at verse 14. Again, I'll read it.
Are they not all ministering spirits? Send out
to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit
salvation. What I want us to see today is two
functions of angels and they're created to do
more but just two functions of angels today.
One, angels were created to worship God and two,
angels were created to serve God. And yet at
the same time, as I say this, please hear me.
This passage is not firstly about angels. It
is about Christ. And so here's the main point.
Christ Jesus is the Son of God and the eternal
King. And just like the angels, we too are to
worship and serve. And really, this is kind of
the pattern of the book that we have seen and
that we will continue to see that Christ is superior.
Christ is preeminent. We've already seen that
Christ Jesus is the better word. He is the better
prophet, the better priest, the better king.
Christ we're going to see is greater than Moses.
Christ Jesus is greater than Joshua the high
priest. And yes, Christ is greater than the angels.
For as great as the angels of God are, be it
as ministering spirits or turning a double play,
Christ is greater. And verse four shows us where
this is going. Look there. Having become as much
superior to angels as the name he has inherited,
is more excellent than theirs. Christ has the
more excellent name. And we would all agree with
that. And perhaps this has something to do with
what the names of Christ mean. Christ, meaning
the anointed one that we're actually going to
see a little further down in the passage or Jesus,
meaning Yahweh saves. There is greatness in this
name. But at the same time, I actually think
the text wants us to see Christ and the name
being the Son of God, because that's where verse
five and verse six are going. This is referring
to His sonship. Christ has the more excellent
name because He is the Son of God, the Son of
the Father, and as such He is equal with the
Father in power and in glory, and therefore Christ
is to be worshiped. And so here we have that
function of the angels, that they are to worship
God, and they are to worship the Son. Look in
verse six. Let all God's angels worship Him.
What you're seeing in this portion of Hebrews
chapter one is that the writer of Hebrews is
taking you back to all sorts of Old Testament
scriptures. You can see all of them that is here.
But verse five and verse six especially seem
to be pointing to some texts like Deuteronomy
32 and Psalm 97, making it clear to us that the
angels were created to worship. That we are not
to worship the angels. The angels are the ones
who are doing worshiping. And I want to take
you to a text that's not recorded here, but I
think might help us to understand this point.
Isaiah chapter six. And I think some of you may
know at least portions of this text, Isaiah six,
one through three. It reads like this. In the
year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting
upon a throne high and lifted up. the train of
his robe filled the temple above him stood the
seraphim each had six wings with two he covered
his face and with two he covered his feet and
with two he flew and one called to another and
said holy holy holy is the Lord of hosts the
whole earth is full of his glory And so what
are the seraphim, these angelic beings, what
are the seraphim doing in the passage? They are
worshiping God. R .C. Sproul comments here, they
are, as it were, the heavenly choir celebrating
the transcendent majesty of the creator by singing
of his splendor and saying, holy, holy, holy.
This should remind us of other places in which
we see holy holy holy written places like Revelation
4 and Revelation 5 if you were to study those
passages what you get and this is metaphorical
but God it's like God is opening up a window
whereby we can glimpse up into the heavens and
see his heavenly worship surrounded by angelic
beings Let me read some of this for you from
Revelation 4 and 5. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty who was and is and is to come. Worthy
is the lamb who was slain to receive power and
wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory
and blessing. And then down into chapter 5 verse
11, to him who sits on the throne and to the
lamb. be blessing and honor and might forever
and ever. The angelic host is worshipping the
lamb who is slain, which obviously is Jesus.
Yes, it's true, friends. Angels were created
to worship. And one day we too, united in faith
to Christ, will join that heavenly choir. But
we don't have to wait until then, do we? We don't
have to wait to worship God. We are doing it
right here and right now. It's such that every
time, every Lord's Day that we gather for worship,
we are preparing ourselves for our heavenly home.
Every time we sing a good hymn or a psalm, We
are preparing to join that heavenly choir. Every
time we take the Lord's Supper, we are preparing
for the marriage supper of the Lamb. And every
time that we read the Word, or we hear the Word
read, or we hear it preached, we are preparing
ourselves to meet the one who has called the
Word face to face. Every time we do what we are
doing right now, we are getting ready. for heaven.
You see, worship is not just something that you
do. Worship is who you are, and we are worshipers
of the one true God, the one who is holy, holy,
holy, and the one who is triune, like the angels
we have been created to worship. I hope that
you really thought about the lyrics of Holy,
Holy, Holy as we sang it. Verse two, all the
saints adore thee. You are the saints casting
down their golden crowns around the glassy sea.
Cherubim and Seraphim falling down before thee,
which work and art and evermore shall be. That
is you. And that is me and that is all of the
heavenly host worshiping Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. And yet sometimes people forget who they
are worshiping. At times in the scriptures people
have fallen down, not before God, but before
angels to worship. And yet whenever you see somebody
bowing down before an angel in worship, you see
that angel saying, stop, don't do that. Revelation
19 10, then I, this being John, fell down at
his, his being the feet of an angel to worship
him. But he said to me, you must not do that.
I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers.
who hold to the testimony of Jesus, worship God.
The angels are not to be worshiped. The angels
are to worship, for they are special ministers.
They're ministers of the Son, but they are not
the Son. The angels are not God. And so look
at verse five. To which of the angels has God
ever said, today you are my son, I've begotten
you? To which of the angels has God ever said
that? The implied answer is obvious to none of
them. And yet we may wonder when it says today,
what does that mean? When did Christ become the
son of the father? When did Christ become worthy
of the worship of angels? Well, there's a simple
answer to that, always. Christ has always been,
and he's always been worthy of worship, but there
does seem to be an emphasis on when, that word
today or down into verse six, when he brings
the firstborn into the world. And so really,
when does Christ become worthy? He's always been,
but at what point does it become obvious? Well,
when it says firstborn, perhaps we are to think
here of the incarnation. What were the angels
doing when Christ was born? Well, they were the
ones who announced the birth, weren't they? And
they were the ones who are worshiping. And so
perhaps that's in play. However, I also think
that there's a little more going on here too.
That possibly this is looking beyond the incarnation.
This might be looking beyond the birth of Christ,
because actually as you see that scripture there
in verse 5, you are my son, today I've begotten
you, this comes from Psalm 2. Or the next one
comes from 2 Samuel 7. When the New Testament,
outside of this passage here, Hebrews, when the
New Testament uses these scriptures like in Acts
chapter 13, it's actually talking about the resurrection,
and the ascension of Jesus. And those texts,
Old Testament texts, point to a forever king,
a king that could not be held by death or by
the grave, a king who ascended to the right hand
of the Father, where he now rules and reigns
forever. But he had to go through the cross,
didn't he? And verse eight shows us why, if you
look there. Eight and nine, your throne, O God,
is forever and ever. The scepter of uprightness
is the scepter of your kingdom. You have loved
righteousness and hated wickedness. God loves
righteousness and hated wickedness, and therefore,
in order for us to have this righteousness, we
needed somebody else's. We needed the righteousness
of Christ. Because prior to our conversion, all
of our work, all of our efforts are like filthy
rags. We're totally depraved. And so we need
Christ's righteousness here because God loves
it and God hates wickedness. And yet God is a
just God and therefore all of sin had to be punished.
But Christ, to quote a commentator, holds out
that scepter in mercy and grace to his people,
declaring their pardon. the basis of his costly
sacrifice and so Christ Jesus goes through the
cross For us that we might have his righteousness
and You can see here that he going through all
of that is anointed with the oil of gladness
Look at verse 9 Therefore, God your God has anointed
you with the oil of gladness. This is quoting
from Psalm 45, which is actually a wedding song,
which might seem a curious song to choose here.
But the writer of Hebrews shows us that the full
interpretation of that song is Jesus, that he
is the anointed one. And if you keep looking
there in verse eight, that Christ Jesus is identified
as God. but also anointed by God. Your throne,
O God, this says. This is referring to Jesus'
throne. And so what are we really getting at
here? We are seeing the relationship of the Father
to the Son. Jesus is not a lesser God. He is
again equal in power and glory with the Father.
And so he is anointed as such. And if you kind
of know your ancient history, especially Israelite
history, you know that as new kings were established,
they were established by anointing. And so Christ
is anointed and he is the King of all time. But
also look at the end of verse 9. After it says
the oil of gladness, it says beyond your companions.
And so you might think, who are Jesus's companions
in this passage? Naturally, since I've been talking
about angels, you might think, well, this is
referring to angels, that the companions of Christ
are angels. I actually don't think, I actually
don't think that's what's going on. Because throughout
the book of Hebrews, you're actually going to
see this talk about believers as the brothers
of Christ. And so because that is true, I think
that actually what this is doing is talking about
you. It's talking about you as the companions
of Christ. It's talking about how Christ is our
brother and you are his brothers and his sisters.
You see, what Christ has secured for us among
many things is family. If you remember my opening
illustration about Roger, All he wanted was a
family. And that's what we get in Christ Jesus.
We are adopted into God's family. And I know
some of us have had difficult paths, difficult
families, difficult parents, difficult brothers,
difficult sisters. We have lost loved ones. What
we get in Christ Jesus is union with Him and
adoption into God's family. family. And friends,
as those who are united to Christ and in God's
family, we need to be about what Christ is about.
And Christ, according to this passage, is all
about uprightness and righteousness, and he hates
wickedness. And so does that characterize who
we are? Remember, the angels are sent to serve.
And so let me ask you, are you serving God? With
your gifts, your talents, your abilities, your
lips, your actions, your mind, are you serving
and are you loving righteousness? Friends, the
very same things that are ascribed to the angels
about their functions are also talking about
us. We were made to worship and we were made
to serve. But thankfully, God does not leave
us on our own to figure out how to worship. or
to figure out how to serve, He has given us His
infallible, forever Word. And so we should read
it. We should be in it. We should hear it read
in order that we would know how to rightly worship
and to serve. For we, as I said, are like the
angels in that regard. But there's also something
else, look in verse 10, not only are we like
the angels and that we are to worship and serve,
but we are like the angels and that we are created
beings. You see the angels were created in verse
10 and 11 are really getting back to this creator
created dynamic. Whereas the sun is eternal,
the angels were created. And this is quoting
from Psalm 102. And it shows us the angels were
created and also shows us that Christ is eternal.
But as I said, we were created to do something
just like those angels. And so one commentator
says here, the angels as creatures can function
only within the limits for which they were created.
That is to carry out the wishes of their creator.
Both angels and servants have a very different
function from the sun. their task is one of service,
but the son's task now is one of rule. And so
you see, as great as the angels are, they are
created beings and they are created with a purpose.
They are created, yes, for worship, but they
are created to do something. Look at verse 14.
They are ministering spirits sent out to serve.
for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation.
Now, as you look at this, you might say, well,
how do the angels serve? Well, interestingly
enough, the writer of Hebrews doesn't tell us
a lot here, does he? He doesn't go into a big
long explanation of what it means that the angels
are sent to serve. And so maybe all we can say
is that the angels are sent I like how John Owen
puts this. He says, these blessed angels specially
minister to the church and have us under their
constant care. Maybe one day, maybe one day,
we'll know all of the ways in which the angels
were protecting or in which the angels were serving.
But we are largely kept in the dark to that,
aren't we? And yet I feel like, since I've already
mentioned angels in the outfield, that the 90s
were kind of a heyday for fascination with angels.
I'm sure at other points in history they were.
But in the 90s, you had some movies and you had
some shows. Anybody ever watch Touched by an
Angel before? Yeah, some heads nodding, right?
There has become a great fascination with angels.
And there's even become this kind of theology
of angels in which some people believe that every
single person has a guardian angel. Now I know
the biblical text that people use for that. And
I actually think it doesn't go far enough. For
occasionally in scripture, we are given a glimpse
into what angels really do. 2 Kings 6, and if
you're in the Fellowship Sunday School class,
you have heard this taught recently. 2 Kings
6 describes the situation in which Israel and
Syria are at war. And the Syrians surround an
Israelite city. I think the city is called Dothan.
Elisha is there, the prophet, but also Elisha's
servant. And the servant rises early in the morning.
And he goes out from where they are staying and
he sees that the city is surrounded by the Syrians.
And he is distraught. He's upset. He's scared,
petrified. And so he runs to Elisha and he says,
what are we going to do? We are surrounded. And
Elisha, you got to love him. He says, do not
be afraid. For those who are with us are more
than those who are with them. And then the prophet
prays, O Lord, please open his eyes that he may
see. And the Lord opens the servant's eyes and
behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots
of fire all around Elisha. You see there was
not just one angel there for each person. There
was a host of angelic beings. too great to be
numbered, taking care of God's people. Most of
us are like Elisha's servant. Sometimes we lack
trust in God, and certainly we don't seem to
understand all of the angelic activity going
on, but friends, it's there. Even if it's behind
the scenes, Hebrews 13 2 says, do not neglect
to show hospitality to strangers for thereby
some have entertained angels unawares. We're
mostly unaware of what angels are doing. But
that's indeed how they work. But if you really
want to understand angels, then I would suggest
you study the life of Christ. For you remember
as I've already said the angels were there announcing
the birth of Jesus and the angels were there
Worshipping Christ and the angels are there Every
step of the way with Christ for you might remember
the temptation of Jesus in the wilderness At
one point Satan takes Jesus to the temple And
the scriptures record that Jesus is set on the
pinnacle of the temple and Satan says to Jesus,
and this is my paraphrase, throw yourself down.
Don't you know that the angels will catch you.
They will not allow your foot to be dashed against
a rock. Just go ahead Jesus, throw yourself down.
What does Jesus say? You shall not put the Lord
your God to the test. And so of course he doesn't
fall for that. And Luke says that Satan went
out from there until a more opportune time. But
as Satan used scripture to try and tempt Jesus,
he twists the scripture as he says the angels
are gonna catch you. But that's not the only
mention of the angels in those passages. For
Matthew and Mark both say the angels were ministering.
to Jesus. The angels are right there with Jesus
in the temptation, in the wilderness, and they
are with him every step of the way through the
birth, through the temptation, through the crucifixion,
through the resurrection and through the ascension,
where Acts chapter one says, as Jesus was lifted
up, two men in white robes stood by the disciples
and said, men of Galilee, Why do you stand looking
up into heaven? This Jesus who has taken up from
you into heaven will come in the same way as
you saw him go into heaven. These angels act
as the escorts of Jesus up into the heavenly
places in order that he would sit down at the
right hand of the Father. Look in verse 13. In
order that Jesus would sit at the right hand.
To which angel has God ever given that seat to
none? It has Jesus' name written all over it.
Now you might say as I begin to conclude, why
stress the superiority of Jesus over the angels?
Isn't that obvious? It seems obvious and yet
sometimes we look for help in all of the wrong
places. Sometimes we give our worship to all
of the wrong things or to all of the wrong people.
But the angels show us what we really should
be doing. We should be worshiping Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit. And we should be serving God
with everything that we have got. And this is
indeed the pattern of the book. That Christ is
greater. Yes, it's true. The angels were sent
to serve but notice how verse 14 is written They
are sent and why are they sent? It says to those
who are to inherit salvation the angels are sent
for you And the angels do not do so on their
own accord They are sent by God to you and to
me But it's true the one who sends is Greater
than the one who is sent and so this passage
once again is Reminding us of the preeminence
of Christ that he is before that he is above
and he is greater than all of the Created being
and Jesus right now is at the right hand of the
father Being worshipped by you and by the angels
Amen.