The Establishment Clause

Introduction

Hebrews 13:7–16 ESV

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Theme: By grace, Jesus Christ establishes in our hearts the privilege to persevere in praise.

With a sermon title like, The Establishment Clause, I have no doubt that many of your minds began to drift towards thoughts of the First Amendment to the US Constitution; the line in that amendment that’s come to be known as the establishment clause: “Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” There’s been no shortage of debate, dialogue, court cases dealing with the interpretation of this clause. Of course, even though I did come here from DC, you didn’t come here to hear me talk about the First Amendment to the Constitution (hope not). But I do want to you about an establishment clause nonetheless.

At the end of this letter to the Hebrews the Pastor is, in rapid fire succession giving the people these practical and social exhortations, these commands about church life: let brotherly love continue, don’t neglect to show hospitality, remember those who are in prison, let the marriage bed be held in honor, keep your life free from the love of money, be content with what you have… And he continues that pattern in our passage this morning. In chapter 13 he is bringing everything he’s said in the entire letter to a fitting conclusion.

One of the messages their pastor has been driving home throughout this letter is his desire for them to endure in their faith in Jesus, to persevere even though they’re find out how costly it is to follow Jesus. And there is an establishment clause in our text that drives this whole message of enduring in the Christian faith firmly to the end. It’s v. 8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” If anyone is going to keep the faith, to endure, this reality must be established in your heart. He’s been preparing them for this succinct statement throughout the letter. He began the letter in ch. 1 letting declaring that Jesus is the final word of God. “In these last days God has spoken to us by his Son” (1:2). Then he quotes from Psalm 102:25-27. He says in that passage God the Father is speaking to God the Son and says,

Hebrews 1:10–12 ESV

10 And, “You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning, and the heavens are the work of your hands; 11 they will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment, 12 like a robe you will roll them up, like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same, and your years will have no end.”

He has labored (Heb. 6:19-20; Heb. 7:24-25; Heb. 7:28) to establish in their hearts the unfailing reliability of Jesus Christ. Now, at the end, he gives it to them in this simple, profound establishment clause,

Hebrews 13:8 ESV

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Why does this clause need to be established in your heart? Four today from our text helps answer this question. The unfailing reliability of Jesus Christ enables Perseverance (v. 7). The unfailing reliability of Jesus Christ gives us an unmatched Privilege (vv. 9-10). The unfailing reliability of Jesus Christ gives endurance through Persecution (vv. 11-14). Lastly, the unfailing reliability of Jesus Christ leads us to Praise (vv. 15-16).

Perseverance

In this barrage of practical exhortations he continues in v. 7

Hebrews 13:7 ESV

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

There are actually three charges in this verse, remember, consider, and imitate. Remember your leaders, those who spoke the word of God to you. He’s pointing them to the past. In v. 17, immediately after our passage, he’ll call them to have confidence in their current leaders when he says,

Hebrews 13:17 ESV

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

But here he says remember those leaders who spoke to you the word of God, Who are these leaders? The Pastor doesn’t mention them by name, but the Hebrews would’ve known who he was talking about. These are the people who first brought the Good News of Jesus Christ to these Christians. He’s calling them to remember those people who were so captivated by the Gospel, the good news of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ, that they came to you and brought you this message.

If you are a Christian, I have confidence that this is true of you. When you reflect back on your story of faith in Christ; when you recall your testimony of faith, our story, you are reminded of the power of God to take people out of darkness and into his marvelous light. And it’s also the case that you remember the person or people God used to speak the good news to you. And you never forget it. We never forget those people.

The Pastor is saying to the Hebrews, remember those people you led you to Christ. There were two things of note about these leaders. One, the people who brought the gospel to these Hebrews were first generation Christians. They had received their message directly from Jesus himself. He’s already mentioned these folk in 2:3 when he said, “How shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? This message was declared at first by the Lord (that’s Jesus), and it was attested to us by those who heard (that’s the leaders).” The second thing to note about them is that they’re dead. They spoke the word of God. They’re no longer speaking it. Not only that, but he says, “consider the outcome of their way of life.” That is, “consider the sum total of their lives, consider their manner of life even to the end.”

This is not some nostalgic reflection, “remember how sweet it was back in those days. Those were the good old days.” No, “remember those leaders who spoke the word of God to you. As you remember, make careful consideration of their faithfulness to the Lord even to the end. And imitate their faith.” Don’t grow weary. Perseverance is a crucial component of faith in Jesus Christ. From beginning to end the clear application of the Pastor’s teaching has been hold firm to our confession all the way to the end. Here again at the end he reinforces their need to endure by pointing to their first teachers who persevered by faith all the way to the end.

Immediately after that we get the establishment clause in v. 8. If we were following the word order of the Greek text here’s how it would be translated, “Jesus Christ yesterday and today is the same, and forever.” This verse is not an isolated thought. The same Jesus who spoke the word of God to your former leaders also enabled them to remain faithful to that word all the way through to the end of their lives. I can tell you to imitate their faith because I know that Jesus Christ is the same way today. He is still in the business of enabling his people to persevere in the faith. But he doesn’t stop there right? The reason I translated v. 8 for you according to the word order of the Greek text is because the emphasis is on “forever.” This word is for us. Guess what? Jesus hasn’t stopped enabling his people to persevere in the faith. He hasn’t stopped enabling his people to hold firmly to this same word and base our very lives on it all the way to the end.

Hebrews 13:5 ESV

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.”

Privilege

The confession of v. 8 doesn’t just make v. 7 more forceful. It also forms a connecting bridge to v. 9…

Hebrews 13:9 ESV

9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

Their leaders who “spoke the Word of God” were able to endure because they had Jesus Christ as their great high priest. Since Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and into eternity, the Hebrews are also able to endure. He has not become less powerful, less loving, less helpful than he was for their teachers. Jesus is just as powerful, present, loving, and helpful.

Therefore, it is good for the heart to be strengthened, to be established by the grace that is found in this unchanging gospel message. The unfailing reliability of Jesus Christ gives us an unmatched privilege. It is a privilege, not a right, to be a recipient of this grace. Because Jesus doesn’t change, his message doesn’t change.

He says it’s good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefitted those devoted to them. What he is talking about is going back under the rules and dietary restrictions of the old covenant. They are facing persecution and ridicule for following Jesus. And they’re trying to get relief from their suffering by mixing the gospel with regulations that will make it more acceptable to those who don’t know Jesus. Trying to mix the gospel of grace with keeping rules and regulations as a of being acceptable to God is a different religion. It becomes a works based religion and that’s not Christianity. He says do not be led away diverse and strange teachings. It is not the gospel. Those teachings cannot save you, and they will not enable you to endure all the way to the end.

He says, your heart needs to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. Indeed, those who gain their sense of godliness, good feeling, religious assurance or affirmation by their adherence to certain foods/dietary laws actually gain nothing. Paul said in Romans 14:17,

Romans 14:17 ESV

17 For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

Listen, this idea of having my heart established, having my heart strengthened is the language of assurance. It’s that calm assurance that my life is right, and it’s is a desire everyone has. We all have this desire because we were created in God’s image. So, many of us walk around with confidence that our lives are right. We may say something like, “I’m a good person because I treat other people well.” Or, “My life is on track when I’m attending well to my physical fitness.” “My heart is strengthened when those things are going well in my life.”

I think that we all have things that, when they are on point, our hearts are tempted to say, “My life is on point.” Where does your sense of confidence come from that the life you’re living is what it’s supposed to be? I’m not necessarily talking about what career you’re pursuing, or the decisions you make about the places you go, the people you hang out with, and what you spend your time doing. Those things are significant indeed, and we can’t afford to ignore them. I’m referring to your heart confidence, that internal sense of assurance that the God of all creation is pleased with where my life it. If that sense of assurance comes from anything other than the fact that you are trusting in Jesus Christ alone for your right standing with God, then you are believing a lie. Those who gain their sense of godliness from following certain rules, regulations, ceremonies, whether they made it up themselves or they got it from someone else, gain absolutely nothing when it comes to God. They lose out. The human heart loves to make up our own reasons why we’re doing alright in God’s eyes. It’s a lie. Don’t be carried away by various and strange teachings.

The Pastor unashamedly points to Christian privilege in v. 10. Far from being a statement of arrogance, it is a clear explanation of why you should never dream of turning away from the gospel.

Hebrews 13:10 ESV

10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.

Those who serve the tent are the priests within Judaism. He’s saying to them, why would you think of turning back to them? Don’t you understand the unmatched privilege you have?

The altar the Pastor is speaking of here is the cross of Jesus Christ. The altar of the temple that the people were trying to turn back to was temporary. And it was temporary because it was particular. It was for Jewish people only. Even more it was for the priests only. If you weren’t a priest you had no access to it. Gentiles had no access to it. So, there was a need for another altar; a better altar. That altar is the cross of Jesus Christ, the new and living way (10:19-22). The cross is the altar for the whole world. It is the place where the perfect sacrifice was made to redeem, to buy back, to reconcile people of all nationalities, backgrounds, ethnicities, and languages to God.

Yet it’s still exclusive. Those who serve the tent have no right to partake of this altar. That’s because they’re putting their assurance in temporal things that do not benefit instead of in the Christ who is the same yesterday, today and forever. The privilege doesn’t belong to them because they’re trusting in foods. But, if they transfer their trust to Christ and his sacrifice, the privilege to partake from his altar can belong to them as well (Hughes, p.575). That’s why it’s not about arrogance. Anyone who comes to Christ by faith has the privilege to partake of this altar.

Persecution

What’s likely is that these Jewish Christians were being criticized for avoiding the Jewish feasts, for not putting any spiritual stock in participating in these feasts. Remember, before coming to Christ these religious feasts and sacrifices meant everything to them spiritually. The criticism probably when something like this, “You left us for this? Y’all don’t offer sacrifices. Y’all don’t even have an altar… “ The Pastor says, “Oh but we do have an altar, it’s the cross.” He needs to tell them this because of the persecution they’ve had to endure for being associated with Jesus. He’s letting them know that Jesus’s unfailing reliability gives endurance through persecution.

Even though what we see in vv. 11-14 is magnificent, it lets us know that those who have responded to the grace of God in Jesus Christ and turned to him in faith should not expect to become popular by standing firm in the faith. Look at what he says…

Hebrews 13:11–14 ESV

11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

These verses are magnificent because he sparking in their minds that all significant day in the Jewish calendar, the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur. Burnt offerings were not only sacrifices, but they were food for the priests. But the bull for sin offering that was sacrificed to make atonement for the Holy Place, no part of it was to be used as a sacrificial meal for the priest. The blood was brought into the Holy Place and the body was taken outside of the camp and completely burned.

The Pastor says this annual ritual was a foreshadowing, it was a picture of Jesus. When you read your Bible, you often have a hard time with Leviticus. All of these rules and regulations for sacrifices and offerings. Even so, it’s not difficult to make the connection between these sacrifices and Jesus Christ. The NT makes it clear. Jesus is called the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. But what we see here is that it wasn’t just the sacrifice of the animal itself that pointed to Jesus. The fact that the body was burned outside the camp was just as significant.

When Israel was in the wilderness, the land that was “outside of the camp” was unsanctified territory. It was unholy land. Jesus’ sacrifice took place outside the gates of Jerusalem on Calvary. This was earth shattering for these Hebrews to be told that in order to make people holy, in order to sanctify them through his own blood, Jesus suffered on unholy ground. The very ritual on the Day of Atonement pointed forward to its own end. The burning of the bull’s body outside the camp pointed to the fact that in order to deal with our sin God was going to identify himself with the world in its unholiness.

While we are unable to draw near to God because of our sin, God draws near to us in the person of his Holy One who on our unholy ground makes his holiness available to us in exchange for our sin which he bears and for which he atones on the cross.

The truth of vv. 10-11 is not just a matter of doctrinal precision. It means something for those who follow Jesus. Since he suffered outside the gate, let us go out to him, outside the camp to bear his reproach. Here’s the thing. This cross of Christ, which is the altar of grace and privilege where we are reconciled to God and have peace with God, is located outside the camp. The cross was too shameful to be located inside the gates of Jerusalem. There is an unavoidable shame, an unavoidable reproach that comes with belonging to Jesus Christ.

The privilege and the persecution are connected family. The blood of bulls and goats that was offered inside the camp could never take away sins. But Jesus sanctifies through his own blood. So neither the sacrifice of his body nor the offering of his blood took place in the camp. So, his people, who are sanctified, bear his reproach “outside the camp.” In fact, they go to him there. They’re not looking to be “on the inside” so to speak, accepted and unified with those who have diverse and strange (un-gospel) teachings. Yet at the same time the call to go out is a call to engage. Christians tend to want to build secure walls, impenetrable holy huddles that protect them from being defiled by the world. You know what happens? We never bear any reproach or persecution because we’re always preaching to choir. It’s respectable inside the camp. I get amens inside the camp. I don’t risk shame or rejection or suffering or persecution inside the camp. But I’m not with Jesus. He got up close and personal with sinners, never for one moment compromising God’s holiness or God’s truth. His eyes were merciful and gracious. He didn’t isolate himself from sinners because he knew what they needed. But it wasn’t safe. It cost him dearly.

Jesus bore reproach because his message was not comfortable nor conformed to the acceptable teaching of the day. His people will, therefore, also bear reproach because they carry his same message. Yet they endure because they understand that here they do not have any abiding city; not Jerusalem, not Green Bay, not Washington DC. They seek after the city that is to come. Before (11:13) he said that Abraham was looking for a city with foundations, whose designer and builder is God. Now he says that we are seeking that same city.

Here’s the flow of the Pastor’s points based on this establishment clause that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Look at the way the faithful messengers who brought you to Christ endured all the way to the end. Imitate their faith because just like Jesus carried them through, he’ll carry you through. Have your heart assured by the grace you’ve received, and thus, the amazing privilege that you have to partake of Christ. So embrace the temporal reproach that follows from having that right. Live now with your gaze fixed on the city of your citizenship.

Praise

Then he ends the paragraph not with persecution, but with praise. “Through him…”

Hebrews 13:15–16 ESV

15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

The Hebrews stood out because they didn’t have an altar and they didn’t have sacrifices. He said in v. 10, we do have an altar. Now he says, we do have sacrifices but they have nothing to do with animals. Christian sacrifice is spiritual worship through Jesus Christ. What we offer, he says, is a sacrifice of praise. Because Jesus Christ is the same, he always lives to make intercession for his people. So it’s only through him that any acceptable sacrifice can be made. Anything other than a sacrifice of praise is rendered obsolete and worthless. This sacrifice of praise is the fruit of lips that confess his name.

Worshipping God through Jesus Christ is an everyday deal that goes far beyond just coming to church on Sunday. That point is driven home right here. Let us continually offer a sacrifice of praise to God. This worship is done with my lips, my deeds, and my stuff. After saying this is the fruit of lips that confess his name, he says, “do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.”

Romans 12:1 ESV

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

The entirety of our lives, what we say, what we do, what we have is to be a sacrifice of praise to God. The entirety of our lives is freely offered to God for his service. Does this mean you’ve got to quit your job and go live in a monastery? No. What this verse points out to us is that all of life, work and play is really religious. All of life is really about worship. The only question is who are we worshipping with our lives? Everyday you’re worshipping something or someone. It’s only Jesus who turns self-worship or worship of things into worship of God.

Colossians 3:17 ESV

17 And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Why? Because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.