Brotherly Love
Notes
Transcript
Welcome/Prayer
We’ve come to the final chapter of the letter of Hebrews… 2 more weeks after today...
This chapter is not directly connected to the main point of the letter, but it is also not completely disconnected either...
The final exhortations in chapter 13 are given to further help us understand how we are to go about offering acceptable worship in our lives which was mentioned back in 12:28...
This morning, our passage, Hebrews 13:1-6, focuses on the topic of brotherly love… both outside the body of believers as well as inside...
Let’s read it in its entirety and then I’ll break down for you the path I intend to take through it as we consider the truths before us
1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. 3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. 5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
In v. 1, we get the primary exhortation - let brotherly love continue....
Then in v. 2-6 we get 4 more exhortations on how we are to let brotherly love continue or persist… and we will look at each one of these as the author presents them
And you’ll notice, the author, in regard to scope, goes from big to small...
The first exhortation, v.2, pertains showing hospitality to strangers… those outside the community.
The second exhortation, v. 3, is to remember those in prison… that is fellow believers who are imprisoned because of their faith
The third exhortation, v 4., is to honor marriage…
Then the final exhortation, v. 5-6, ends with our selves… we are to be free from the love of money and content with what we have...
So, let us consider how we are to let brotherly love continue by considering the author’s first exhortation found in v. 2… Heb 13:2
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Not neglecting hospitality (consider the force of the command ‘Do not neglect’ rather than simply - show or be hospitable) (Community)
For some have entertained angels (Gen 18 - Abraham, Gen 19 - Lot)
Mt 25:35 - Showing hospitality to those in need is a mark of the righteous
35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me,
Early on in the church, hospitality to strangers was a key distinguishing mark… the 4th century Roman emperor Julian attempted to hinder Christianity by replacing the church’s charity with pagan/government charities...
Today, unfortunately, a pagan gov’t controls most of the charities and makes it real difficult for the church to be charitable without compromising its identity...
But that does not mean we cannot still be hospitable...
Opening your home to others - for lodging, food, or simply company
1 Peter 4.9 - do it without grumbling
9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
Find the joy of cleaning your house/cleaning your yard/picking up poop/etc for such a moment
Meeting some sort of need
Car care… yard care… child care… pet care… etc.
Simply put — Be a faithful steward with what God has given to you… not just to those here, but those out there…
As a church, when it comes to financial needs this is why we have the Deacon’s Fund (explain)
Even in the little things for others he can show hospitality - holding the door, picking up trash, etc
The author goes on to the second exhortation, moving from strangers to those who are a part of the body… specifically those in prison… Heb 13.3
3 Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
This is an echo of Heb 10.34
34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
So, this exhortation most likely is referring to those of the body who are in prison for keeping the faith… for refusing to compromise… so we are to remember them, but not only them, but those who are mistreated as well… in a sense… remember your persecuted brother and sister...
And why?
For we are also in the body… that is we are connected
If we are part of the body, we will care for the body… if you lack this concern, this love for others… you need to wrestle with it… you need to pray that God would break whatever callous is upon your soul so that you would care, would love… for without this kind of love, you have no fruit to assure you of being of God (1 Jn 4.20-21)
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
This isn’t about “feeling” it… it’s about knowing it… and doing what’s right.. .some of you won’t “feel the love”… but you can still act on it… and how do we do this?
How do we remember them?
One — Don’t be ashamed of them
They are brothers, sisters, fellow citizens of the city of God, of Mt. Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem
Right now, we are not experiencing this, at large… but our sisters and brothers around the world are…
Keep them in prayer
Support organizations like VOM and others - money/serving
Live faithfully… knowing the privilege you have of being free…
Remember them, by considering what they lack that you have...
Freedom
The written Word of God
If the day does fall upon us when we start to suffer persecution, we must look out for one another… adopt one another children if need be… provide for the widows and orphans…
Open our homes as needed… our food stores… our bank accounts, etc… we must be ready and we must be willing..
The third exhortation is now given in v. 4… we move from the persecuted within the body of believers to marriage between two… Heb 13.4
4 Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Honoring marriage - why would the author bring this up in all places?
Holiness within the marriages of the church impact the holiness of the body
Sexual immorality is perhaps, the fastest and easiest way to fall away from the faith…
It is a snare unlike any other… 1 Cor 6:18-20
18 Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. 19 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, 20 for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.
And if you’re single… you too must honor marriage - “How do I do that?”
By keeping yourself pure… not only for your future spouse, but for Christ… you may not marry… that’s fine… but Christ is coming for a pure bride, and one day, you, and all of us will be wedded to Him...
And those who are sexually immoral and adulterous will be judged as the author says at the end of the verse— but for clarity in a skeptical age let’s review some other passages on this issue… 1 Cor 6:9 - (first three are committed with any sexual immorality, the fourth when committed, commits the first three as well..)
9 Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,
Gal 5:19-21, Eph 5.5-6, Rev 22:15
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
The sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was not about bad hospitality as it is popular to believe nowadays… Jude 7
7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
The presence of willful sexual immorality and especially unashamed sexual immorality is often the key marker in Scripture of one not being of the faith… as well as being the last straw… this is how God describes Israel’s covenantal unfaithfulness in the prophets...
God does not whisper about sexual immorality… He burns with holy rage against it…
Whereas all sin separates us from God… there is a picture, a model, a pattern for us in Scripture of varying degrees of severity in regard to sin… and in that pattern, sexual immorality is at or near the top as one of the most grievous sins
Now, we honor marriage not purely from abstaining from things…
We honor it by our activity…
And how we steward it...
3 The husband should give to his wife her conjugal rights, and likewise the wife to her husband. 4 For the wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. Likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. 5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
Don’t disgrace the marriage bed by using it as a tool of manipulation… or a tool of abuse
Don’t keep it from your spouse for your gain… or as a punishment
Don’t always wait for the other to initiate.. it’s like the dishes, but more than the dishes...
You see them, do them… wash them… and wash them, not because you want to do them necessarily or that the act itself brings incredible pleasure… do it because you love the other person and it’s an expression of love to one another…
Now, if the other says no, and you yourself have no desire in you to be satisfied, then let it be agreed… and don’t take it personally… life happens, life is busy… we’re tired people...
A question remains though...
How do you undefile or bring honor back if you’ve defiled or dishonored marriage and its bed?
Is it by partaking of the sacraments?
Is there power in the bread and cup?
Is there value in being re-baptized? Will it wash the sin away?
Do we clean up by confessing to a priest? Paying penance? Praying to Mary or some saint?
Do we put more money in the offering box?
Do we cause pain upon ourselves or deprive ourselves in some way?
What must we do to cleanse the marriage bed? To bring honor back? Is there a standard we must reach before our spouse can accept us back?
To restore honor to the bed one must simply trust in the teaching of this letter… not in their works...
Trust in the blood of Christ… it is enough, He is enough… repentance is enough
And the spouse that has been offended, must forgive likewise… not awaiting some arbitrary standard to be met… but to forgive them as they themselves have been forgiven.... if you struggle with forgiveness… study the parable of the unforgiving servant of Matthew 18… and no, you’re not an exception...
The author moves to the final exhortation of this first part of chapter 13, in v. 5-6… Heb 13:5-6
5 Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” 6 So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”
Keep your life free from love of money...
Author brings this up in light of Heb 10:32-34 (don’t read) and the pressures his people are facing
32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.
The pressures of financial loses and needs motivating his people to tolerate and accept false teachings in order to avoid more losses or in order to gain back what was lost
Some of you may not struggle with sexual immorality… but what about love of money? Of things?
Must you have a certain standard of living to be happy?
Must you have that vehicle you so love?
Must you live in that neighborhood?
Do you need to remain at that high paying job for contentment?
Must you travel as often as you do?
You cannot serve two masters - Mt 6.24
24 “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.
We must learn to be content in all things Phil 4.11-13
11 Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. 12 I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. 13 I can do all things through him who strengthens me.
Christ is the key to contentment… His grace is sufficient… is it not?
If you say no… I’m not sure I can call you a brother or sister… and you ought to wonder if you know the grace of God…
The author appeals to God being the key to contentment…
For He has said that He will not abandon us… nor will he forsake us…
Thus… what can man do? If God is our helper… if God is with us?
What can man take from us? What can we lose? What can we suffer?
If God is for us, and we have full contentment with God and whatever He blesses us with…
Then we’ll be in the best position possible to love others as brothers...
Whether they be strangers to the truth, or brothers and sisters of the truth…
For by His grace, His will, His power… we will be willing to endure all things in the name of love… even if leads to our imprisonment or mistreatment… or if we lose our jobs, our homes, or perhaps even our most treasured earthly relationships...
For in loving others, on His account, and receiving hatred in return brings great honor in heaven... Mt 5.11-12
11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Let brotherly love continue… let us not neglect hospitality to strangers… let us remember those in prison and those who are mistreated for the gospel…
Let us honor our marriages… by remaining pure and undefiled… let us be content in all things and free from the love of money… for in it, there’s nothing for us to gain, and if we have Him, we have all we need, for all eternity...