Jesus, the G.O.A.T

We apologize for the technical difficulty with the noise at the end of the sermon.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION

“For when you see the Lord sacrificed, and laid upon the altar, and the priest standing and praying over the victim, and all the worshippers empurpled with that precious blood, can you then think that you are still among men, and standing upon the earth? Are you not, on the contrary, straightway translated to Heaven, and casting out every carnal thought from the soul, do you not with disembodied spirit and pure reason contemplate the things which are in Heaven?”

                                         ~John Chrysostom (347-407), Turkish Bishop

“The priesthood is a marriage. People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that love must change into some other love which is so unlike it that it can hardly be recognized as love at all.”

~Iris Murdoch (1919-1999), British author

SERMON PASSAGE

Genesis 14:18-20, Psalm 110, Hebrews 7:1-17 (ESV)

Genesis 14

18 And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine. (He was priest of God Most High.) 19 And he blessed him and said,

 “Blessed be Abram by God Most High,

 Possessor of heaven and earth;

20 and blessed be God Most High,

 who has delivered your enemies into your hand!”

And Abram gave him a tenth of everything.

Psalm 110

1 The Lord says to my Lord:

  “Sit at my right hand,

  until I make your enemies your footstool.”

2 The Lord sends forth from Zion

  your mighty scepter.

  Rule in the midst of your enemies!

3 Your people will offer themselves freely

  on the day of your power,

  in holy garments;

  from the womb of the morning,

  the dew of your youth will be yours.

4 The Lord has sworn

  and will not change his mind,

 “You are a priest forever

  after the order of Melchizedek.”

5 The Lord is at your right hand;

  he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.

6 He will execute judgment among the nations,

  filling them with corpses;

  he will shatter chiefs

  over the wide earth.

7 He will drink from the brook by the way;

  therefore he will lift up his head.

Hebrews 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.

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.

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? 12 For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well. 13 For the one of whom these things are spoken belonged to another tribe, from which no one has ever served at the altar. 14 For it is evident that our Lord was descended from Judah, and in connection with that tribe Moses said nothing about priests.

15 This becomes even more evident when another priest arises in the likeness of Melchizedek, 16 who has become a priest, not on the basis of a legal requirement concerning bodily descent, but by the power of an indestructible life. 17 For it is witnessed of him,

“You are a priest forever,

  after the order of Melchizedek.”