The Outflow of Renewal
Seeking Renewal • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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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.”
Outflow 1
A Concern for Others— Love
A Concern for Others— Love
The writer has spent an enormous amount of time connecting us to doctrinal understanding…now he is pointing towards the practical outflow.
The outflow happens as a direct understanding of who Christ is and what Christ has done which should be contrasted against who we are and what we have done. The is no comparison!
Jesus said it this way:
37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.
38 This is the great and first commandment.
39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
Jesus is making a connection here—in case we have glossed over it in the past…We should love God first and the outflow of loving God is to love people.
So the writer here in Hebrews gives us three groups toward which our concern for others is fleshed out:
Those we know well.
Those we don’t know.
Those removed from society.
Therefore, the writer of Hebrews says:
Hebrews 13:1 (ESV)
1 Let brotherly love continue.
Notice first brotherly love…the love we show towards those we are in relationship with. — Those we know well, possibly our family/friends/neighbors—but most definitely inclusive of those who are brothers and sisters in Christ.
John records the Words of Jesus in this point as follows:
35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
So brotherly love is to continue towards those who are close and in the manner that has already been revealed in the work of Christ.
John 13:34 (ESV)
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
So Jesus is clear that our love towards one another is sacrificial, unceasing, and earnestly.
10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.
We all know how human nature is competitive. Paul says compete in showing honor— do more than we receive.
But the writer flows from those we know to the second group we are to be concerned for, those we do not:
Hebrews 13:2 (ESV)
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Historically this could have included giving someone room/board inside one’s home.
Notice the words of Jesus:
Matthew 25:35 (ESV)
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,
Jesus spoke of the way the He will judge in the end…as an outflow of our love for Him we would do this unto those we do not know.
9 Show hospitality to one another without grumbling.
So Jesus says that we are to do this to one another (even without knowing one another), but notice the fact of the attitude with which we are exhorted to do this—without grumbling. In essence, He expects that we would be “cheerful in our giving.”
The Greek New Testament: SBL Edition Chapter 13
φιλοξενίας
This compound Greek word that we translate hospitality to strangers comes from two Greek words “φιλος” meaning friend and “ξενος” meaning stranger.
Thus the Lord is saying our hospitality is beyond those we are affiliated with and should extend to being a friend to the stranger/foreigner.
We should note the verse reminds us of the fact that as we entertain/show hospitality we could be interacting with more than our fellow man.
As we think back the Genesis 18, where Abraham received the stranger…he was hospitable to the Angel of the Lord. The Lord appeared with the two others, but it was the pre-incarnate Christ—this exhorts us to always be mindful.
The writer then flows to the third group we are concerned for:
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.
The Lord gives us, within this verse, two sets of people:
Those in prison.
Those mistreated.
I have titled these earlier—those removed from society.
They are removed due to incarceration for their faith or incarceration in a relational prison due to mistreatment.
Most definitely the Lord is concerned for those who are lost and incarcerated due to criminal activity…He offers forgiveness and salvation.
We should note that those in prison during this time were almost always dependent on those on the outside to help them, provide for them, and care for them.
Look to the words of Jesus:
Matthew 25:36 (ESV)
36 I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.’
The stranger might come of their on volition, but the prisoner must be sought out.
Then we have those mistreated… the ones others ostracized, discounted, disengaged from, held at bay, excluded, bullied, or show contempt for.
The writer says we are to be mindful of them and consider them as if we were in their same position.
1 Corinthians 12:26 (ESV)
26 If one member suffers, all suffer together...
Suffer with them? Maybe…but more be mindful of them, concerned with them, and helpful to them.
As we are to them…we are to Christ!
Can we pause here for a minute? As I prepared this we, I could not help but see a parallel between this outflow of renewal and our missional call form the book of Acts.
8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
We receive power — from the Holy Spirit!
We become witnesses — sharers of the Gospel message!
We give the message first to those close, then those just down the road (strangers/sojourners among us), and finally to the ends of the earth (prison/disconnected/outcasts/separated)
Why?
He has shown us love and as an outflow of our love for Him and the renewal that love brings we have this concern for others/love for others.
His love drives our love.
So Outflow 1 is “A Concern for Others”
Outflow 2 is:
A Faithful Marriage
A Faithful Marriage
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.
Here we have a second outflow that implies that our service unto the Lord may be fleshed out in our relationship to our fellow man.
How so?
We the relationship of demanding that marriage “be held in honor” in all circumstances.
If we honor something/someone then we treat them or it with the respect due.
So this verse has a literal translation pointing to the honor of marriage among all (maybe meaning all peoples), but context sets us towards the idea of all situations.
There is never a time when we are to defile the marriage bed.
Defilement meaning fornication, adultery, pornography, homosexuality, etc.
The context of verse connects the idea as F.F. Bruce says, “Chastity is not opposed to charity, but is part of it.” For instance fornication does not defile ones own marriage alone, but the marriage of the partner in the sin.
So the secondary idea here is in connection with loving our neighbor enough to protect and honor their marriage along with our own.
The primary idea is in loving God enough that we would not pursue another.
3 So he went and took Gomer, the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
You see in this verse we get the beginning of the real life soap opera of a life that God called and walked the profit through.
God had Hosea marry a prostitute named Gomer (a name meaning consuming or failing).
The story would give us the picture of Israel & God, what should be the picture of a perfect marriage/the doting husband and his pure bride/the righteous relationship…ends up giving us the picture of God’s people unfaithful and God’s forever redeeming work.
Do we also remember that the picture all the way through the book of Judges is of God’s people committing spiritual adultery/fornication.
The outflow of renewal is the converse of these O.T. passages. We are called to protect our own marriage/honor it/hold it in high regard as it is a picture of Christ and His Church. Eph. 5:21-33.
Outflow 1 - A Concern for Others
Outflow 2 - A Faithful Marriage
& Outflow 3 is:
A Content Heart
A Content Heart
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.”
A content heart shows a trust for the capacity and character of God.
Do we truly believe the Lord and His direction for our lives?
Do we trust He has us?
Look at these next couple of verses:
Genesis 28:15 (ESV)
15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land. For I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”
5 No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.
He was with Joshua, He was with Moses, and we can trust Him to be with us.
We need not covet or become discontent as He has given as we need and will continue to do so.
Walking Away, But In...
Walking Away, But In...
Love God — concern for others will be the outflow
Love God — fidelity is the outcome
Love God — contentment will come