Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
At this time our children may be dismissed to our children's ministry time.
I want to invite the rest of you to turn to Hebrews chapter 13.
I have one more announcement to make but I wanted to save it for during the sermon time.
Next week we have a special guest preacher.
I am going to be here with you to hear from Pastor Greg McGhee from Northroad Church Harvester in St. Louis.
Greg was my college roommate for two years.
I've been telling him about our church for the last couple of years and he's been so encouraging.
He's going to be here to share the story of their church.
I know it's going to be an incredibly encouraging time and I don't want you to miss it.
Please reach out to anyone who is missing today and invite them.
And please be praying for Greg and for our hearts to be encouraged by the message next week.
I love history.
I especially love anything dealing with military maneuvers or missions.
I went down the YouTube rabbit hole the other day.
Have you done this?
You know, you watch one video about something that you are interested in.
When it ends there is a list of suggested videos so you click on one and the next thing you know it's an hour later and you're watching a video of a guy making a mud hut with his pet squirrel in Aruba.
Lately I've been watching some interviews about the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
In one of the videos, a navy Seal lays out the process for them getting ready to go on the mission.
Before troops go on a mission there is a briefing that is given where the commanding officer lays out final information that applies to their mission.
There might be info about troop movements, exfiltration, possible trouble spots, and making sure everyone has all the info they need to complete the mission and come home safely.
Our passage for this morning is the final section of the book of Hebrews.
We understand that this letter was originally delivered as a written sermon.
This final section might seem a bit disjointed or bullet-pointed to us but to the original hearers, this would have made perfect sense.
It would have been similar to one of those last briefings before heading out on the mission.
The author was wrapping up and making sure they had any last information they would need.
He was wrapping up his whole communication to them and putting a bow on this theme of Jesus is better.
The initial audience was comprised of Hebrew Christians who lived in a culture that was pressuring them and persecuting them.
He has been encouraging them to hold to their faith in Jesus and persevere against the pressure and temptation and amid their suffering because the new covenant in Jesus' blood is so much more superior than the old covenant.
To simplify it greatly: Jesus is better and so they should live like it.
And so should we.
Let's read what the Lord has said in His Word in Hebrews 13:7-25.
READ Hebrews 13:7-25
This is the Word of the Lord.
Let's pray and ask God to let our hearts understand and our lives to obey.
PRAY
My goal this morning is to walk your through what the author's final instructions were and for us to see how our lives should be different in these same ways because of Jesus being superior.
Therefore we should watch our life and our doctrine closely.
Our beliefs and our lives should match the way of Christ.
God has given us the gift of leaders in the church to help us in this.
1. Remember your leaders.
v. 7
First off, he tells them to remember your leaders.
These could potentially be leaders who were not now with them because they may have been emprisoned or had died.
But either way, they are to remember those leaders, specifically those who spoke to them the word of God.
Now in context of this letter, we can deduce that he likely means those who taught them gospel but when we broaden it out it refers to the leaders who taught them the whole of Scripture.
This is doctrinal instruction.
Remember those who taught you the things of God.
Not those who spoke eloquently or had a big following.
Not those who were pretty or funny.
No.
He says to remember those who spoke the word of God to them.
The primary role of pastors is to preach and teach God's Word and our lives should reflect what they teach.
He's calling them to look back at these leaders and to consider the outcome of their way of life.
Do you ever do this?
Have you ever looked up to someone as a spiritual leader who taught you the Word of God and wanted your life to look like theirs?
He says to imitate their faith.
Your actions in life have been perfect to get you to the point you are at right now.
So if we see faith in the life of a person who has taught us the Word, let's look at their life and imitate what we see.
This is not to put them on a pedestal or expect them to be perfect.
They're still sinners saved by grace in Jesus.
Most of us would probably say that we want to live lives of faithful obedience to Christ.
We see it in the lives of others who have gone before us but we don't think we need to do things that way.
Then we are surprised we aren't farther along.
I don't want to beleaguer the point or get us off the rails but consider those leaders who have taught you the Word of God and consider their lives.
If their lives are still faithful, imitate that faith.
We will come back to the top of leaders because the author mentions them gain in verse 17.
2. Remember Christ v. 8-9
Remember that Jesus is the same always.
All teaching that we receive should be judged according to the gospel.
When something is taught we should see if it lines up with the word of God.
Jesus doesn't change.
His message never changes.
The author warns them about getting led away by "diverse and strange teachings in verse 9. Based on rest of the verse this was probably directly referring to some teaching about food related to the Jewish Mosaic law.
This was law and rules.
The heart should be strengthened by grace.
Nothing outside the gospel will work for strengthening the heart.
Don't play around with false teachings.
Whatever these teachings were they contradicted the theology of the gospel.
He warns them that these teachings will lead the astray.
Too often, Christians will continue to play with false teachings because they like something about the person or the music.
Let me illustrate it like this.
You're at your favorite restaurant and you've had a huge meal.
And after the meal you order your favorite desert.
Let's say your desert is chocolate lava cake.
And with it you order a nice big glass of milk.
As the waiter brings your desert and your milk to the table and sets it down, he sneezes right in the milk.
Now, do you say, "it's okay, I'll be fine," and drink up?
No, you send it back because there's something in there that isn't milk.
It's not pure milk anymore.
Friends, when we see some teaching that either adds to or takes away from the message of the gospel we need to send it back.
Don't play with it.
Too many have started to mess around with strange teachings in the last few years and we've seen many of our young people led away from the faith.
They call it deconstruction.
It tears down but in the end it tears away most of the time.
Don't be led away.
The way to not be led away is to focus on the one who is always the same, the Lord Jesus the Christ.
3. Go outside the camp to the cross.
v. 10-14
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