Hebrews: Consider the Builder of the House, Who Has More Honor
Hebrews 3:1-6; Luke 12:24-28 - We must give our full attention to the builder of our faith.
“Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. For every house is built by someone, but the builder of all things is God. Now Moses was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken later; but Christ was faithful as a Son over His house—whose house we are, if we hold fast our confidence and the boast of our hope firm until the end.”
Hebrews 3:1-6 NASB1995
My last devotional said that I would look at Hebrews 3:1-4 in this devotional, but I decided to include verses 5 & 6 as well because they repeat the theme. The “therefore” at the beginning of Hebrews 3 ties this next section back to the things we learned about Jesus in chapters 1 and 2 (especially chapter 2). We are holy brethren and partakers of a heavenly calling! But we are also miserable sinners and cannot get there on our own, so we must always consider Jesus. Even though we believe, we must still consider Jesus lest we drift away from our belief (recall Hebrews 2:1).
Let’s do a word study! Consider comes from the Greek verb κατανοέω or katanoéō (Strong’s G2657), with the following Biblical usages:
to perceive, remark, observe, understand
to consider attentively, fix one’s eyes or mind upon
We can consider having soup for lunch or perhaps going out to eat, but this type of consideration goes much deeper - we are to fix our eyes and/or mind upon Jesus and understand and pay attention. This same verb is used in Luke 12 when Jesus tells us to consider the ravens and the lilies of the field:
“Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap; they have no storeroom nor barn, and yet God feeds them; how much more valuable you are than the birds! And which of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life’s span? If then you cannot do even a very little thing, why do you worry about other matters? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; but I tell you, not even Solomon in all his glory clothed himself like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass in the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, how much more will He clothe you? You men of little faith!”
Luke 12:24-28 NASB1995
This is not a message to unbelievers (well, it can be) but it is really to those who are already hearing that heavenly calling. We are to consider all of the things our merciful and faithful God does for us!
I thought this excerpt from a sermon from Desiring God (John Piper) was really good (see attribution in the footnotes):
Christians are people who have heard and believed a heavenly calling, and are therefore partakers of it, sharers in it—”holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling.” It is a heavenly calling because it comes from heaven—from God. And it is a heavenly calling because it invites us and leads us to heaven—to God.
In other words this “heavenly calling” relates to the two great needs that we have: a word from God and a way to God. It’s a heavenly calling, which means it is a word from heaven, a word from God. And it’s a calling, which means it is meant to show us the way home to God. Christians are people who have been gripped by this calling. The word of God broke through our resistance, and took hold of us with the truth and love of Christ, and reconciled us to God and is now leading us home to heaven. This means that Christians are people of great hope. God has spoken from heaven, and made a way to heaven, and we have believed and our hope and confidence are firm.
And the reason our hope and confidence are firm is not because of ourselves. There are sinners of every kind in this room this morning—sexual sinners, lying sinners, stealing sinners, killing sinners, parent-disobeying sinners. The hope of a heavenly calling does not hang on our righteousness. If it did, we would be hopeless. Our hope and confidence hang on Jesus. This is why verse 1 continues: “Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus.” This is what we are doing this morning. This is what preaching is about. It is what Sunday School is about. It is what small groups are about. Considering Jesus.
We often think that considering Jesus is something that unbelievers should do. “Consider Jesus,” we say to the seeker and the perplexed. And that’s right. But this book of Hebrews is devoted to helping Christians consider Jesus. “Holy brethren, . . . consider Jesus.” Well why say that? Don’t holy brethren automatically consider Jesus? The answer is No. Remember the warning back in Hebrews 2:1, “We must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.“ The danger is constantly in our way that we will stop considering Jesus and become more interested in other things and drift away from the Word and perhaps never return and prove that we were never truly partakers of the heavenly calling. So Hebrews calls us (Christians!) again and again to “Consider Jesus.”
We are to be gripped by this calling and turn our attention away from the world and to the Word from God. And because we do this, we have great hope!
Jesus is the Apostle and High Priest of our confession. He is the messenger and the intercessor on our behalf! I am a non-denominational Protestant and make my confession directly to my Savior during prayers. I don’t need an intercessory like Mary or some particular saint or even a priest. Because I am also part of a holy brethren, I am also a saint (recall that in Philippians 1 Paul addresses the entire believing church at Philippi as saints).
I like this commentary from Enduring Word:
Consider the Apostle: We don’t often apply this word to Jesus, but He is our Apostle. The ancient Greek word translated apostle really means something like ambassador. In this sense, Jesus is the Father’s ultimate ambassador (Hebrews 1:1-2). God the Father had to send a message of love that was so important He sent it through Christ Jesus.
The ancient Greek word translated consider is katanoein: “It does not mean simply to look at or to notice a thing. Anyone can look at a thing or even notice it without really seeing it. The word means to fix the attention on something in such a way that its inner meaning, the lesson it is designed to teach, may be learned.” (William Barclay) The same word is used in Luke 12:24 (Consider the ravens). It is an earnest appeal to look, to learn, and to understand.
The message is plain: consider this. Consider that God loves you so much He sent the ultimate Messenger, Christ Jesus. Consider also how important it is for you to pay attention to God’s ultimate Apostle, who is Christ Jesus.
God also chose His original, authoritative “ambassadors” for the church. These are what we think of as the original twelve apostles. God still chooses ambassadors in a less authoritative sense, and there is a sense in which we are all ambassadors for God. Yet surely, Jesus was and is the Father’s ultimate ambassador.
Consider the… High Priest: Jesus is the One who supremely represents us before the Father, and who represents the Father to us. God cares for us so much that He put the ultimate mediator, the ultimate High Priest, between Himself and sinful man.
The message is plain: consider this. Consider that God loves you so much to give you such a great High Priest. Consider that if such a great High Priest is given to us, we must honor and submit to this High Priest, who is Christ Jesus.
Of our confession: Jesus is the ambassador and the mediator of our confession. Christianity is a confession made with both the mouth and with the life (Matthew 10:32, Romans 10:9).
The word “confession” means, “to say the same thing.” When we confess our sin, we “say the same” about it that God does. In regard to salvation, all Christians “say the same thing” about their need for salvation and God’s provision in Jesus.
I particularly like that our confession is not just made with our mouth, but also with our life. Our pastor gave a sermon at church today talked about being on mission for Christ when we become believers and there are four elements that we can consider in this mission (this mission isn’t just going into a static building known as a “church”):
Time - How much time do we devote to our sanctification and our mission?
Treasure - How much of our treasure do we share with our mission?
Touch - How do we begin to model the fruit of the spirit in our dealings with others?
Territory - How do we define our mission territory - is it local among friends, neighbors, co-workers or even beyond those limitations?
Jesus was faithful to Him who appointed Him, just as Moses was faithful in all of his house (with a few reluctant fits and starts in his obedience, as we might recall from Exodus). The writer of Hebrews brings up Moses because he had a very special place in the hearts of the Jewish believers and was considered the greatest prophet. But Moses, as great as he was, was just one stone in the House of God compared to Jesus, who BUILT THE HOUSE! Moses was a faithful servant of God and so was Joseph and Joshua and Daniel and David and Isaiah and Elijah (to mention but a few). But Jesus is worthy of infinitely more glory because He is the perfect Son and He made the house.
Charles Spurgeon summarizes this quite well in his exposition on Hebrews found on Precept Austin:
See the superiority of Christ to Moses; Moses is honored by being called the servant of God, but Jesus is the Son of God, and as Son, Master over his own house.
Moses was but a part of the house after all, a prominent stone in the building, but Christ is the builder, builder of the house, foundation, topstone of it. Think then much of him. Get an high idea of him as faithful unto God in everything. Moses kept the law and was a good example to Israel save in some point of weakness, but Christ perfectly carried out his Father’s commission, and he is worthy of more honor than Moses.
And Moses was but one stone in the house. Though in a certain sense he was a servant in it, yet in another, and, for him, a happier sense, he was only a stone in the house which the Lord Jesus Christ had builded. Let us think of our Lord as the Architect and Builder of his own Church, and let our hearts count him worthy of more glory than Moses; let us give him glory in the highest. However highly a Jew may think of Moses, — and he ought to think highly of him, and so ought we, — yet infinitely higher than Moses must ever rise the incarnate Son of God.
And Christ is God; and he is the Builder of all things in the spiritual realm, — ay, and in the natural kingdom, too, for “without him was not anything made that was made.” So he is to have eternal honor and glory as the one great Master-builder.
You see, then, that the apostle had first made a distinction between Christ and Moses on the ground of, the Builder being greater than the house he builds; now, in the second place, he shows Christ’s superiority to Moses on the ground that a son in his own house is greater than a servant in the house of his master. How sweetly he introduces the truth that we are the house of Christ! Do we realize that the Lord Jesus Christ dwells in the midst of us? How clean we ought to be, how holy, how heavenly! How we should seek to rise above earth, and keep ourselves reserved for the Crucified! In this house, no rival should be permitted ever to dwell; but the great Lord should have every chamber of it entirely to himself. Oh, that he may take his rest within our hearts as his holy habitation; and may there be nothing in our church life that shall grieve the Son of God, and cause him even for a moment to be withdrawn from us: “whose house are we, if we hold fast the, confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Perseverance — final perseverance — is the test of election. He whom God. Has chosen holds on and holds out even to the end, while temporary professors make only a fair show in the flesh, but, by-and-by, their faith vanishes away.
Christ built the house; he laid us together like stones upon the great foundation, Moses is but a caretaker in the house.
Final perseverance is an absolute necessity of a child of God. We do not prove ourselves to be a part of the house if we move about like loose stones.
I love Spurgeon! He usually says it so much better than I can; my musings sometimes seem like mumbling caught on paper, but I’m so thankful I can write these amateur devotionals and studies for the Lord! We must persevere as children of God! Stay close to His foundation through turmoil and tribulation; His house will not be destroyed.
My next devotional examines Hebrews 3:7-11 - The writer of Hebrews quotes Psalm 95 as the start of another warning to believers. Do not harden your hearts!
Heaven on Wheels Daily Prayer:
Dear Lord - Thank you for the growing numbers who read our devotionals every day and for guiding Steve and I to devote our time and grow our territory for mission. Amen.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org
The Blue Letter Bible was accessed on 10/26/2025 to review the lexicon for consider.
Commentary from Enduring Word by David Guzik is used with written permission. Minor formatting changes have been made to improve readability.
Precept Austin was accessed on 10/26/2025 to review commentary for Hebrews 3:1-6.
John Piper is founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary. For more than thirty years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis. He is author of more than fifty books, and his sermons, articles, books, and more are available free of charge at desiringGod.org. In all cases of republishing, the following attribution must be included: By John Piper. © Desiring God Foundation. Source: desiringGod.org
Loves John Pipers sermon piece. Also you are more of a messenger for God with your “Barb” wording of explanation. Don’t sell short how God is definitely using you sister!!!