Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Mending Broken Relationships | New Testament | Hebrews 7

Episode Date: March 9, 2023

Relationships are hard. Where can you find healing for relationships? Where do you look for it? In today's episode, Patrick uses Hebrews 7 to discuss how Jesus brings ultimate healing to relationships. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Join the TMBT community in reading the entire New Testament in one year. Get your FREE reading plan here. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it with others, so others can find it too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter@TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: Hebrews 7

Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life. In the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. How do you mend a broken relationship? A friend of mine was living the dream in his 20s. He was making loads of money, starting new businesses, and not just any businesses. He was working in interesting fields like restaurants and housing. At the time, he was married.

And looking in, everyone thought he had it all. His wife was talented, funny, engaging. But his drive to succeed to make more, to have more, to be. more meant that he worked himself into the ground. He turned to alcohol and drugs to numb himself from anxiety. And this ever-growing sensation that despite all of his successes, he really wasn't worth anyone's time. Nothing made him feel more worthless than his marriage. And that's not because his wife was unkind or harsh, but because he knew he was failing her. He didn't have time for his wife. No time to connect, no time to care, no time to ask how she was doing, no time to go on dates. His marriage was on

autopilot. And rather than experiencing deep, rich connection, he was experiencing coldness and distance, a coldness and distance that he himself created, that he reinforced, that he caused. Because unlike him, his wife really did try. She tried again and again and again to make time, to slow him down, to tell him that she didn't need the money, she didn't need the nice house, she didn't need any of that. All she wanted was him. But the truth was he didn't want to give himself to her. And he wanted all the stuff, all the success, all the accloids more than he wanted her. And so perhaps he shouldn't have been surprised when he found out that she was sleeping with someone else, someone who did have time for her, someone who did care for her, someone who made

space for her. She was fed up. The marriage wasn't worth keeping. And so she left. And now all of a sudden he found himself in an enormous empty house and he realized that he traded his soul for the world. and the world was far less valuable than he ever anticipated. But more than anything else, he wanted the one thing he'd given up, his wife, her love, her presence, her nearness. But how do you mend a broken relationship like that? A similar crisis faced the people of Israel in the Old Testament. God had rescued them from slavery and brought them to himself,

like a bridegroom brings the bride to himself. In fact, this is how the prophet Josea described God's relationship with Israel. The early years were characterized by joy, connection, and beauty. But Israel wanted what all the other nations had. They wanted the wealth, the power, the sex, and success. God tried again and again and again and again and again and again to call Israel back to himself. He even established the sacrificial system to try to give them a way to make things right with him. By repenting of their sin and putting it on the head of a sacrificial animal,

they could allow the animal to pay the penalty for their spiritual adultery in their place. The scapegoat, this is one of those animals, he would be cast into the wilderness and abandoned, just like Israel deserved to be abandoned by God. But the goat was abandoned, not Israel. On the day of atonement, a different animal would be sacrificed in the place of Israel. It would die the death that they deserved in their place. The entire system shows exactly how destructive relational ruptures are. When we fail to live up to our relational calling as husbands, wives, sons, daughters, fathers, mothers, and friends, we break sacred promises. And when we break those promises, it's not like breaking a plate that you can glue back together.

It's like shattering a glass into a million pieces. No glue will make it whole again. This is why we often find ourselves asking if we're honest, how do I really heal this broken relationship? Because the answer isn't obvious. The healing required is often greater than the force with which we shattered the relationship. So back to the Old Testament, the entire sacrificial system that God gave them was in one way broken. Because even the priests that were overseeing the sacrifices, they were contaminated by their own failures and adultery. They had to make a sacrifice for themselves before they could even make a sacrifice on behalf of the community.

The author of Hebrews explores this problem in Hebrews 7. He notes that the priest died because they weren't blameless. And this pointed to the need for a greater priest who could heal the rupture between Israel and God once for all. Who could even heal the rupture between humanity and God once for all. And he writes about Jesus as exactly that kind of high priest. In Hebrews 7, 26 to 27, we read this. Such a high priest, he's talking about Jesus, truly meets our need, one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. Unlike the other high priest,

he does not need to offer sacrifice day after day, first for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself. Jesus is the perfect high priest who lays down his life as the once for all sacrifice that not only forgives all the ways that we've broken our relationship with God, but also heals that relationship. So often we think that we need to add to Jesus's sacrifice. We think we need to give God extra obedience, extra tithes, extra prayers. But those things are just glue. They can't fix the problem.

They can't make the relationship whole. And even if they could, you'd hurt that relationship with God again and again and again because you are still walking and living in sin this side of heaven. But Jesus died as the sacrifice once for all. That's what he says, once for all. In other words, you can add nothing to his sacrifice and you can take nothing away from it. In Jesus, you have been brought to your father. And his blood, once for all, heals your relationship of your past, present, and future sins.

But Jesus doesn't stop there. In verse 25, we read, therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him because he always lives to intercede for them. Just stop and think about that. Jesus not only saves you completely, but he stands in heaven as a priest, praying for you, interceding on your behalf. The next time you think you've totally blown it in your relationship with God, this time I went too far, the glass that I shattered, it's beyond repair. Remember this. Jesus has already died for you.

And now he intercedes for you right now at this very moment. the power of his healing is stronger than the power of your wrongdoing. Nothing can separate you from his love. This also means that there's good news for your relationships between your fellow humans. Because if Jesus can heal your greatest relationship, your relationship with God in heaven, he can heal your broken relationships right here on earth. What does that look like? Well, back to my friend, when he saw what he'd done and how he destroyed his marriage,

He did something simple. He told his wife he could do nothing to fix what he'd done wrong in the past, but that he was terribly sorry. He laid out before her all of his failures. He apologized and he said that he would turn away from those actions and he just asked her for forgiveness. And remarkably, she gave it. They spent years in counseling working through their issues, both of them saying sorry, both of them forgiving. In other words, they were emulating our relationship with God, the way we confess to him and the way

that we receive His forgiveness in Christ. And that ongoing dance of repentance and forgiveness, repentance and forgiveness, repentance and forgiveness, it transformed them. Because through that dance, Jesus brought his cosmic healing power into their relationship. How do you need healing in your relationship with God? Know that you have it in Christ. Take hold of it. Receive his perfect forgiveness and love apart from your works.

How do you need healing in your earthly relationships? follow the pattern of Jesus. Repent and forgive. Repent and forgive. Repent and forgive. And trust Jesus to work miraculous healing in your life. Before you forget, sign up for the 10-minute Bible Talks newsletter. Hit the link in the show notes and you'll get an email every Wednesday that's going to help you beat that midweek slump and go deeper in your walk with Jesus.

Thanks for listening.