Today, we are wrapping up our study of the book of Hebrews with chapter 13. We are going to discuss how to effectively Praise God by looking at Sacrifices that please God including submission to authority.
When we walk away from our time together today, I want
you to know Christ and godly leaders are
worthy of being imitated and this pleases God.
Holy Father, would
you please show us today how to please You.
Would You teach us how to treat the leaders over us, and how to be good,
godly leaders over others. In Jesus’
name. Amen.
We have two divisions:
1.Sacrifices that please God (Hebrews 13:1-16)
2.Submit to Authority (Hebrews 13:17-25)
Let’s dive right in to this amazing chapter of Scripture.
Read Hebrews
13:1-4.
In this first verse of the final chapter, we get a
whopper of an instruction: Keep on loving one another as brothers and
sisters! Wow! I don’t know if this meant something
different back in the day when this letter was written, but now…? I’ve seen all sorts of relationships between
siblings – good and not so good. But the
verses that follow spell out the details and offer some clarification.
First, be hospitable to strangers. Wait, I thought we were talking about
brothers and sisters. That’s exactly
what the author is talking about. But
maybe there were some contentious relationships between siblings back then,
too. So, if we look at this in reverse,
we will see that we are supposed to offer hospitality to strangers because we
may unknowingly be entertaining angels.
So, shouldn’t we be hospitable to our brothers and sisters too. We should treat our siblings the way we would
angels. Ouch.
Second, remember those in prison as if we were in prison
with them! Ouch! Those in prison? Really?
But the idea of that scares me.
Is it even safe? I know there are
plenty of people in prison ministry.
I’ve never participated. Maybe I
should to gain a little perspective on this!
Third, remember those who are mistreated as if you were
the one suffering. Ouch! I am willing to help out in some ways, but
maintaining a certain amount of distance keeps me comfortable. What about you? How close do you get to those who are
suffering?
Fourth, marriage should be honored, and God will judge
the sexually immoral. So honor your
spouse. Encourage your married friends
to honor their spouses. Don’t put
yourself in the position to get into trouble in this area.
This is how we love our brothers and sisters! Isn’t this what Jesus said the greatest
commands were? First, love God. Second, love people. Love.
It’s that simple.
Read Hebrews
13:5-7.
Now, the author moves from talking about what to love to
what not to love: money! Being content
with what you have will offer some protection in this area. Love God and be thankful for what He has
given you. Begin a thankfulness
journal. Write these things down so you
can remember, when times are tough, what God has done in the past. Sometimes, He may feel far away, but the
author of Hebrews reminds you that He is right there with you.
Can you say with confidence that the Lord is your
helper? Are you trusting in God and His
plan so well that you are not afraid? Do
you recognize God’s sovereignty to the extent that man has no power of his own over
you? I’m reminded of Jesus’s comments to
Pontius Pilate during one of His trials before the crucifixion. Jesus told Pilate that he had no authority
over Jesus that God didn’t give him.
Something to think about. But we
need to keep moving.
Right after mentioning God’s sovereignty and mortal man’s
incapability to do anything to another on his own, the author then remarks to
remember your leaders. Curious. We should remember all leaders over us. We should be actively praying for our
leaders. All of them. Employers.
Government. Business people. Church leaders. The author does continue by clarifying he is
talking about those who spoke the word of God to you. Consider how they walk with God and what the
result of that is and imitate their faith.
We are supposed to look at the fruit of the leaders’ lives and imitate
their walk. So, I would choose leaders
who are bearing the sort of fruit you need to bear, the fruit you struggle to
bear perhaps, and I would imitate those leaders. Who is a leader in your line of sight that is
bearing the kind of fruit you need to bear?
Follow after them. Now, the author
seems to punctuate this statement by mentioning Jesus:
Read Hebrews 13:8.
Why might it be important at this point to mention that
Jesus is never-changing, from eternity past to the present to eternity
future? I think this is a great
punctuation mark to the first seven verses which are instructing the reader to
love each other like brothers and sisters, showing hospitality, remembering
those in prison and suffering as if you were with them, honoring marriage, not
over-honoring resources that God gives you, remembering that God is closer than
your next breath, that He is sovereign over your whole life and every authority
He places in a position of power, and we should imitate the fruitful and godly
leaders He places over us.
Jesus is the ultimate fruitful and godly leader! We should absolutely be imitating Him! But we should also see Jesus in each stage
that this chapter has mentioned previously.
Love our brothers and sisters as if they were Jesus Himself. Aren’t our brothers and sisters in Christ filled
with Christ’s Holy Spirit?
Regarding hospitality, when we do something for another,
isn’t is as if we are doing it for Christ?
When we do something to another, isn’t it as if we are doing it to
Christ?
What about the prisoners?
Sure, some of them might be in prison for their faith, but others
committed crimes. Right? Well, God wants NONE to perish. Salvation is for EVERYONE. Therefore, EVERYONE is potential brother or
sister in Christ. So…we’re back to loving
our brother and sister!
OK. Marriage is
supposed to be a picture of the relationship between Christ (the Bridegroom)
and the Church (the Bride of Christ). Do
we need to go into more detail on this one?
This is the love we’re supposed to have.
Not the love of money. Money is a
tool the God provides to meet our needs and the needs of others. We are to be good stewards of those
resources. We are to be heavenly minded,
which should make us less a collector of worldly “stuff.” I’m just sharing how God is speaking to me on
this. I recently returned from a mission
trip to Scotland and Ireland. I “fell in
love” with that part of the world. When
I returned home, I signed up for an Irish subscription box. After receiving one box, the company went
bankrupt. I don’t think this happened to
keep me from collecting more Irish trinkets, but I’m rethinking signing up for
another subscription at the moment. This
plays right in to God being with us and being our helper. Thank you, Jesus!
And that brings us back to our leaders. Let’s continue.
Read Hebrews 13:9.
Focus on Christ.
Don’t be carried away by strange ideas or old traditions. Practice grace. Don’t worry about eating kosher. Read on for a food transition.
Read Hebrews
13:10-14.
The Jewish priests living the old way didn’t eat the
flesh of the sin offering sacrifice. The
high priest carried the blood into the Holy of Holies to sprinkle the mercy
seat and the bodies of the animals were taken outside the camp. Jesus was taken outside the city gate to pay
for our sins. But, what struck me when I
read verse 10 was this: we observe communion in remembrance of Jesus’
suffering. During the Last Supper, Jesus
instituted this remembrance, indicating that the bread was His body and the
wine was His blood. We go to Him. We go to the cross. We suffer.
Outside the city. Longing for the
heavenly city to come.
Read Hebrews
13:15-16.
Now, the audience is told to continually offer a
sacrifice of praise to God through Jesus Christ. This praise is identified as the fruit of the
lips that openly profess His name. Are
you boldly speaking the name of Jesus?
In addition to this, are you obediently doing the good that God’s Word
is teaching you to do? Are you
generously sharing with others? This is
what God desires from His children. This
leads us to our first principle:
Christ-like
character pleases God.
What aspect of
Christ-like character would you like God to develop in you? What thoughts are getting in the way of you
carrying out God’s instruction to live like Jesus? What one thing do you observe godly leaders
doing that you could put into practice this week?
Now let’s continue with the last few verses where the
author of Hebrews talks about authority and what our attitude toward that
authority should be.
Read Hebrews
13:17-19.
We’ve already talked a little bit about leaders. Now we get some insight into why we should
submit to their authority. First of all,
God is sovereign over all authority.
There is not a single person in a position of power that God has not
strategically positioned. I believe this, and yet I am preaching it to myself. I really struggled with some decisions that
were recently made in my workplace.
Anyway, these leaders will one day give an account for how they watched
over us. Yes, it’s their job to watch
over us. We need to submit so their work
will be a joy, not a burden. Isn’t a
joyful leader is a good leader to submit to?
The Scripture even states that our submission to make their work a joy
will benefit us.
We should also be praying for our leaders. For their wisdom. For their submission to God. For their watching over us to be a joyful
experience and not a burden. For their
health and prosperity. For their
salvation. For the fruit of the Spirit
to manifest in their lives. In verse 18,
the author mentions having a clear conscience and a desire to live honorably in
every way. Pray for those things too. Verse 19 gets a bit more specific to the
author and the recipients of the letter. He asks them to pray that he would be
restored to them. Is there anyone you
might pray for in this way?
Read Hebrews
13:20-21.
Now the author begins to close the letter, talking about
how the God of peace, through blood, brought Jesus back from the dead, and how
that same God will equip them to do His will.
That same powerful God will equip you to do His will, too. Are you walking through a painful
season? He is right there with you! He will give you the courage, the energy, the
strength to get through whatever is in your path. Just cling to Him! He’s been there for me through a cancer
diagnosis, a 13-month stretch of unemployment, and raising two teenage
girls! Take whatever your struggle is to
Him in prayer right now.
Read Hebrews
13:22-25.
OK. Let’s wrap
this up. The author closes his letter urging
the recipients, his brothers and sisters in Christ, to obey his
instructions. He indicates that Timothy
has been released. From where, he doesn’t
say. But if Timothy meets up with the
author, they would both come to the recipients.
He sends greetings to the leaders and the people. He also sends greetings from the people from
Italy. This leads many scholars to think
the letter was being written to believers in Italy. The final words are “Grace be with you.” What a beautiful closing. What a beautiful thing to want for someone.
And here is our final principle:
God establishes
all authority, and when we submit to it, that pleases Him.
What attitude
needs to change for you to honor the authority God placed over you? How might you better obey God in your
position of authority? How are you
praying for and supporting those in authority over you?
Thank you for joining me on this journey. It’s been a blessing to dig into these
passages more deeply and share what I’ve learned with you. Until next time. Grace be with you.
Holy Father, I ask
that you would bless each person reading this devotional message. I pray that You would draw them to study Your
Word more deeply. That You would speak
truth to them and give them insight.
That You will teach them to obey Your Word and be a godly example to
others. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.
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