"Jesus is Better" by Pastor Welty

When I was a kid I remember seeing a commercial on television for dog food, “Ken L Ration”. A catchy little jingle was the message of the commercial: “My dog’s better than your dog. My dog’s better than yours. My dog’s better cause he eats Ken L Ration. My dog’s better than yours.” For some of you that reminded you of a little ditty from your past but others of you have no idea what I’m talking about. You can google it if you like, and then thank me for a new ear worm.

This commercial captures something about human nature. The desire to be better than others. Comparing ourselves to others is part of our American psyche or perhaps just part of our human condition. Thinking that our situation is better than others is important to us.

Having grown up in Ohio, I cheered for the Ohio State football team. I think they have other sports teams too, but I wasn’t that interested. I was interested, however, in their marching band which they call TBDBITL or “The Best D….. Band in the Land.” I have to agree with that, especially when they perform the “Script Ohio”. (Again you could google that, but it might make you jealous.)

We like to take pride in where we grew up, where we went to school, where we live and work. We like to think that we made good choices in our lives and that those choices put us in a better place. But that is hard to quantify because our value systems can be so varied.

The book of Hebrews has been called “the book of better things”. The words “better” or “superior” appear about 15 times in the book. The author was making the case that Jesus’ new way of having access to God is far superior to the old way. The new covenant is superior to the old covenant.

The people in the early church had a tendency to return to the old way of relating to God, the way that was established in the Old Testament. The Apostle Paul addressed that in his epistles. People wanted to hold onto the Old Testament rituals and legalism, perhaps because they found comfort in those familiar forms, or perhaps because it made them feel that they were in control. The audience of the book of Hebrews was susceptible to that same tendency, so the author built a case that Jesus is better.

This Fall, I’ll be leading us through a study of the book of Hebrews entitled, “A Better Way”. We’ll consider Jesus as a better messenger than the prophets or angels, Jesus as a better apostle than Moses, Jesus as a better priest than Aaron. We’ll look at the reality that Jesus introduced a better covenant, based on better promises, with a better sanctuary and a better sacrifice. Lastly we’ll consider that faith in Christ is the better way to relate to God.

I hope and pray that this series will be beneficial and encouraging to our faith and that we’ll realize how blessed we are to serve Jesus – our better way.