Hebrews 1:5-14 | Sermon Resources | 24 September 2023
Summary
Hebrews 1:4 tells us that Jesus has inherited a name that is “more excellent” than any name given to the angels. In the sermon Pastor Billy explores 3 names given to Jesus and considers the significance of these names for us today.
Discussion Questions
Feel free to adapt these questions to your specific group and discussion style. They should help facilitate a meaningful and application-oriented discussion of Hebrews 1:5-14.
Introduction
- What might be the consequence (short term and long term) of having too small a view of who Jesus is?
Verses 5-7 – The Begotten Son
- What do we learn in these verses about Jesus being the Son? How would you explain the idea of Jesus being the “begotten Son” to a new Christian? What errors would you want to avoid?
- Why do you think the angels are called to worship Jesus, and what does this reveal about His identity and authority?
Verses 8-9 – The Exalted King
- The passage emphasizes Jesus as the eternal, exalted king whose throne will last forever. How does this contrast with earthly kings and rulers, and what comfort or hope does this provide for us?
- In the sermon Pastor Billy asked us to consider whether or not our lives are a testimony to the fact that we really and truly believe Jesus is king over everything. In what ways would you like to live more consistent with the fact that Jesus is king?
Verses 10-14 – The Creator God
- How do these verses help us understand the preexistence and unchanging nature of Jesus?
- What specific comfort or challenge do the truths in these verses provide?
Conclusion
- What does the phrase “the sufficiency of Christ” mean? How specifically did the sermon (and studying the passage together) challenge you to accept that Jesus is enough?
- How might our lives begin to change if we really believed Jesus was enough for us?
Quotes
“Of course any contemporary observer, who saw Christ die, would have listened with astonished incredulity to the claim that the Crucified was Conqueror. Had he not been rejected by his own nation, betrayed, denied and deserted by his own disciples, and executed by authority from the Roman procurator? Look at him there, spread-eagled and skewered on his cross, robbed of all freedom of movement, strung up with nails or ropes or both, pinned there and powerless. It appears to be total defeat. If there is victory, it is victory of pride, prejudice, jealousy, hatred, cowardice and brutality. Yet the Christian claim is that the reality is the opposite of the appearance. What looks like (and indeed was) the defeat of goodness by evil is also, and more certainly, the defeat of evil by goodness. Overcome there, he was himself overcoming. Crushed by the ruthless power of Rome, he was himself crushing the serpent’s head (GN 3:15). The victim was the victor, and the cross is still the throne from which he rules the world.”
— John Stott, The Cross of Christ, p.227-228
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