Hebrews 2:

For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away from it…

Drift away.

Glide aside.

Hydroplaning is different from aquaplaning.

Hydroplaning is where water wedges the road away from the tire.

Traction is lost.

Control is gone.

Hopeless.

Aquaplaning is what happens when the rain first begins.

Oils from the road rise to the surface.

The wet, oily road reduces traction.

The car seems to have a mind of its own.

Controllable.  Still, left to its own, its destination is disaster.

Difficult but not without hope.

Just enough had gotten between where the rubber meets the road in early Christianity that the author of Hebrews cries out for course correction.

Christian, take the wheel.

Try to explain the God-Man concept and you’ll find yourself drifting, quite naturally, to the left or the right.

One side claims Jesus is a glorified angel.  A celestial being who went to the Olympics of God’s will on the Earth and came home with the gold.  Maybe Michael the Archangel.  Maybe some other unnamed angelic triathlete.

The other supposes Jesus is an exalted man.  One man, out of the entire history of humanity emerges from the human race with a perfect time and no points deducted.

Oh glory.

Now, he gets to sit in judgment over all of us.

The one guy who managed to be perfect.

This does not bode well.

 For if the word spoken through angels proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just penalty,  how will we escape…

Our only hope of escape is that neither of those two options is true.

Angels couldn’t possibly understand us and would never judge our actions in any merciful way.

Humans are self absorbed power mongers.  No human, exalted or not, will share glory.

...if we neglect so great a salvation?

This is what makes this salvation such a great salvation.

Our savior is neither a glorified angel nor an exalted man, but a self-humbling God who became one of us in order to save us.

 After it was at the first spoken through the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, God also testifying with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by  gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will.

Undercover Boss.

Bill Executive becomes Joe Worker.

They spend approximately one week undercover, working in various areas of their company operations, with a different job and in most cases a different location each day. They are exposed to a series of predicaments with amusing results, and invariably spend time getting to know the people who work in the company, learning about their professional and personal challenges.

At the end of their week undercover, the executives return to their true identity and request the employees they worked with individually to corporate headquarters. The bosses reveal their identity, and reward hard-working employees through promotion, or financial rewards, while other employees are given training or better working conditions.

It’s not about spying on workers.

Let’s see if they’re following company policy.

It is meant to explore life through the eyes of the common laborer who banks all their future and present on the means and benefits provided by this business.

It’s about better understanding the employee so that together, worker and executive, build a better company.

But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone.

For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the  author of their salvation through sufferings.

To experience what it is to be the one who

— strains under the impossible task

–is tempted to cheat the company

— believes that no one in the ivory tower cares; abandoned, judged.

–lives in fear of being terminated…

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives. 

To be that guy:

poorly trained, under supported, asked to do the impossible, then let go at the time clock, walked out the back door…

humiliated.

Don’t you know who I am?

Don’t you know all this is mine?

You don’t understand the power and influence I wield.

“Good luck in all your future endeavors.”

He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tempted in that which He has suffered, He is able to come to the aid of those who are tempted.

What a tragedy it would be to

neglect

reject

ignore

abandon

to glide aside from so great a salvation.

Question: What could be better than knowing, personally, the one who sits in the chair of the CEO?

Answer:  Being known, personally, by the one who sits in the chair of the CEO.

That makes the Big Boss

Merciful — to your situation

Committed — to building the business by empowering you to achieve greater.

Hands on the wheel.

The rain is falling harder now.

Don’t miss the straight and narrow that runs right down the middle of the road.

Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.

Hands on the wheel.

Saved.