Hebrews 13:1-16 | Generous Service

Good morning! Welcome, my name’s Levi and I’m one of the pastors here at Crossroads. And I’m so glad that you’ve chosen to gather with us this morning to worship Jesus and hear from His Word together!

If you were with us last week, we talked about evangelism — specifically, the heart of evangelism, which is a longing for the lost to be found and saved by Christ. And that’s the message of evangelism. It isn’t about a list of rules; it’s about a loving relationship with Jesus. It’s simply learning to call on His name, again and again, to be saved, to be found, and to be helped and set free. The lifeline of evangelism, then, is simply inviting others to join you in this ongoing conversation with Jesus, learning to call on His name any and all the time.

That’s why we say, we are a people who pray with others in the moment and point them to Jesus.

Now, I simplified things last week—maybe too much. I suggested even taking time in the facilities to talk to God in my prayer at the end of the message, which my wife double-checked with me after and asked if I meant to pray that!

Which, yes, I meant it, partly because we can all use more joy and a little less seriousness in our walk with Jesus. We like to laugh at ourselves here at Crossroads. So I did mean to pray that we should redeem all our time, including our time in the facilities to continue our conversation with Jesus, but I need to apologize because that was about as deep as the application got last week.

As I prayed and thought about the message, I realized that in boiling things down to their most simple, I may have discouraged some of you. The reality is that saving faith really is as simple as learning to calling upon Jesus throughout our days, but the reality is that there really isn’t anything simplistic about learning to do that well! In all honesty, learning to walk with God throughout our crazy busy lives and to hear from Him, is actually one of the biggest struggles we face as believers! It’s stinking hard!

And so before we dive into today’s text, I want to share a simple way to deepen your walk with Jesus. Many of us have smartphones, and there’s an app I’ve been using recently called the One Minute Pause by John Eldredge and Wild at Heart Ministries. It offers a 30-day series with morning and evening sessions that last for about 10 minutes a time with coaching that will help you begin to take your life back from your crazy busy schedules and create space to hear from God, process your emotions and reconnect to the source of Life!

Download it, try it out, and let me know how it goes! If you start using the app, pick two people here to share your journey with. We do faith as a family here! We are a people who regularly and intentionally connect with one another at a heart level! So don’t do the app alone, do it with at least 2 other people!

Ok, that’s enough about that, I want to shift gears now and move into our last sermon in our Identity series and also start a new series I’m calling: Gospel Patrons | Fueling the Mission Together.

Wrapping up our Identity series, remember our focus or the center of our target: our ultimate goal is to become more like Jesus in how we think, speak and act! And as you’ll see, this path to maturity requires generosity from us as God’s people! In Hebrews 13:1-16, we’ll see that we’re called to be generous with our time, abilities, and money.

Along with that, we’ll also touch on Gospel Patronage. John Rinehart describes a gospel patron as someone who is invested and involved in another person’s ministry to help proclaim the gospel and advance Jesus’ kingdom. As he says, “The pattern of history is that God raises up preachers and patrons to work together to spread His word. Some will speak, others will send. Some will go and others will give, but they are partners in the work of the gospel.”

And my hope is that as we look at Hebrews 13:1-16 you will see that because God is a generous God, we can and should be a generous people and that generosity will fuel the mission!

So open your Bibles with me to the end of the book of Hebrews, chapter 13, and as you’re turning there, let me clue you in to what we’ll find the first 5 verses. We’ll discover a bunch of practical commands for how we should live out our faith in generous service to Christ and His Kingdom.

In verses 1-5, you’ll see that we’re called to be hospitable—using our homes to turn strangers into friends, sharing meals, and helping those in need. You’ll see a command to help the hurting and care for prisoners as if you were the one suffering!

Some of you already do this, like hosting regular dinners with elderly neighbors, with shut ins who are prisoners to loneliness in their homes or in nursing homes. That’s some Jesus generosity right there!

You’ll see also from the text, that we’re commanded to honor marriage and be faithful to one another.

Just this past week there was a couple here, who texted their connect group and a few other folks here at CR, they said hey, we’re bringing our kids up to use the playland and burn off some steam and we would love if you’d come and join us or if you’d drop your kids off and go on a date or run some errands together as a couple!

Those of you who are married with young kids, you know what an incredible way to honor marriage this simple act of generosity was! That’s some Jesus generosity right there! A gift of some time and ability to manage a gaggle of small children!

Lastly, you’ll see in vs. 5 a command for us not to love money but to be content with what we have. A command to be satisfied.

And we all know, in a world of constant comparison and marketing. All the reels and videos of one ups-manship, where people show off their toys, vacations and experiences, learning to be satisfied with what we have, with what we are able to do and the vacations and experiences we’re able to enjoy, learning to be satisfied and content, keeping our lives free from the love of money and the belief that if we could just get a little bit more then we’d be fulfilled and happy; to say this is a challenge is an understatement isn’t it!?

In a world obsessed with more—more stuff, experiences, and status—contentment is a real challenge. Yet, this is the heart of Hebrews 13:1-5a: learning to live generously and with satisfaction in Christ.

Look at vv. 1-5a with me and you’ll see these commands:

Hebrews 13:1–5 (NLT)

1 Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. 2 Don’t forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realizing it! 3 Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies. 4 Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage. God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery. 5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have...

Now, all of this looks like a lot of work doesn’t it.

When I list out all these examples and commands from Scripture, what’s going on in your hearts?

Are you pumped up and full of life! Yes, keep listing the things I should be doing preacher! Pour it on me! I can’t wait to give more of myself for Jesus and serve more and give more and whoooo, just give me a few more things to do for this Church, this community, for Jesus Kingdom! LET’s GOOOO! Pile it on! Give me more to do!

Is that your heart? I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess that’s probably not what most of your hearts are feeling!

My guess is that at best, you are aggravated and annoyed with me, or feeling a whole lot of guilt!

My guess is that for most of us, at the end of the day we aren’t feeling full of energy and crazy generous, ready to give more of our time, abilities and money to anyone or anything. My guess is that for most of us, if we make it to the end of our day, we feel completely and utterly depleted, drained, zapped, and empty. Levi, who do you think you are to heap more todos on my plate and suggest that I’m not doing enough!

Loved one, and you are loved, listen to Jesus, come to me all who are weary and heavy laden and I will give you rest! Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for my burden is easy and my yoke is light!

While I can’t back down from the commands given here in Hebrews. I can’t back down, because they aren’t commands from Levi or Crossroads Church, these are the words of God friend, but let me invite you to consider: if you’re receiving them as a heavy burden, perhaps you’re not living the life of Christ right?

His invitation is into rest friends, and light and easy yoke! If you life doesn’t feel restful, or light and easy, perhaps, you’re not living it right!? And please don’t hear that as condemnation. Jesus does not condemn you. This is difficult, Don’t hear it as condemnation but rather hear it as an invitation friends. There’s better way! There’s a better way to live this life that is joyous and restful and insanely generous and life giving! And it begins by doing less!

Think about this with me for a second, the fact that I prayed last week that we would redeem out toilet time so that we could find time to talk to Jesus, Church how sad is that?

Is that literally the only space of down time that we have during the day? Honestly for most of us this is true? Between our constant connection on our phones and the news and media and the pressures of work and family life, we are crazy, crazy busy. We run and live our lives at the pace of a fighter jets and milliseconds in computer calculations. This pace friends, is killing our souls and it’s not the pace of Jesus.

Do you know the pace of Jesus. 3 miles/hour, the pace we humans walk!

I realize that if you read through the gospels they seems to move pretty quickly from one miraculous event to another, but if you would slow down and pay attention, you would discover Jesus walking slowly, leisurely, stopping to eat lunch and take in the sights, sneaking off to the wilderness frequently to be quiet and connect with His Father as He went with His followers from place to place to do ministry. Their transitions and time in between were slow!

And here’s what I want you to receive this morning, before we talk about God’s generosity flowing through us to others, we first need to create the space and margin in our own lives to receive from Him!

God does not call the equipped friends. He equips the called! And that work, of equipping us from His limitless resources, it requires time with Him! A lot of time with Him and with His people!

Look at vv. 5b-6

Hebrews 13:5–6 (NLT)

5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have.

How!

For God has said, “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.” 6 So we can say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper, so I will have no fear. What can mere people do to me?”

Do you know why our hearts cease up when we start talking about generosity and giving more of out time, abilities and money? Because we don’t believe we have enough! We live with a scarcity mindset! We live with a grasshopper mindset! Some of you will remember that from Cal’s message 2 months back!

And the only way to fix this, is to connect with God who is limitless and remember who you are and what you have access to in Him!

God will never fail you! God will never abandon you. He is with you, even to the end of the age! He is our helper! We do not have to fear! And if this limitless God is with us and for us! Who can be against us! What can mere people do to us!

Folks, remembering these truths and living in them is hard! I’ll confess, I live most of my life on my own effort! I run hard, I struggle with work-coholism! I live under a constant wait that I ought to be doing more for Jesus, leading better, planning, preparing, teaching my kids, reading books, I am not kind to myself!

Sabbatical was a beautiful gift because of this but now that I’m back into my normal rhythms, I’m finding that my pace of life has spun back up to crazy and making time for God feels like a luxury I don’t have! Ain’t no body got time for that!

Which is why I started using the One Minute Pause app, and it has been so helpful and healing for my soul. In one of the morning modules the voice in my hear lead me to give everyone and everything to Jesus, to release my cares and worries to Him and remember that Jesus is my good shepherd and then the voice on the app had me meditate on Psalm 23 and it’s truth continues to encourage and convict my soul.

Psalm 23:1 (NIV)

1 The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

Psalm 23:1 (NLT)

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.

Psalm 23:1 (ESV)

1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Psalm 23:1 (MSG)

1 God, my shepherd! I don’t need a thing.

Loved ones, if God is your good shepherd, you lack no good thing! You have all that you need! Do you believe that? Do you live as if that were true!

Allow me to prayer Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians over you. Put out your hands to recieve this friends:

Ephesians 3:14–21 (NLT)

14 When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, 15 the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. 16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. 20 Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. 21 Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.

Church, for us to live generous lives, we must make time to receive from Jesus! He said come to me all who are thirsty and I will make rivers of life flow through your soul!

Yes, we should show hospitality, and help the hurting and honor marriage and live with a heart that is content and satisfied, that doesn’t love money, but these works are something Christ must do through us. These are not our works! Our only work is to make time to receive from Jesus so that we gave then give away to others what He blesses us with! He is the one with unlimited resources, not us! Our work is to stay connected to Him, which means if we’re going to be a generous people who give of our time, abilities and money to build His Kingdom, that we need to start doing more by doing less! We need margin in our finances and in our schedules to have the space to hear from God and allow Him to point us towards the things of His Kingdom!

For many, this will be a major paradigm shift, because you’ve allowed life to take you into many things, good things even, but things for which Jesus may not be calling you into! Like Martha, we’ve become busy bodies and missed the better thing, the thing that Mary chose, to sit at the feet of Jesus and receive from Him!

v. 7 Encourages you and me that we don’t have to figure this out on our own! God has given us leaders, leaders who’s fruit in their lives ensures us that we can follow them as they follow Jesus.

Hebrews 13:7 (NLT)

7 Remember your leaders who taught you the word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and follow the example of their faith.

And just for a moment, we’re wrapping up our Identity Series but also launching our Gospel Patrons series. Church look around, you are experiencing right now the generosity of God and the example of godly leadership. This building and the SHIFT Campaign that brought it into existence was the work of God through you, the people of Crossroads. 3 years ago, we launched the SHIFT campaign in November of 2021. We asked for your help to raise 500,000 dollars to rennovate this facility and make it a better tool for ministry to help the lost get found and the found live free.

We copied David’s campaign for raising money to build the temple (1 Chron. 28-29) and we had our leaders go first in giving. Those 40 leaders, from our mangament team, our elders, and our SHIFT CAMPAIGN leaders pledged $400,000 dollars to the campaign and the other 125 people of Crossroads at the time pledge an additional 250,000. We had 650,000 pledged! And to date over 735,000 has come in towards the compaign but we’ve been able to pay 1 million out in cash, so on this project that was 1.8 million, we only have 800,000 left on our mortgage! God did this Church. He’s supplied us abundantly more than we asked or imagined. Our leaders went first by way of example and you all have followed in tremendous ways! SHIFT wraps up in 3 weeks from now, pray with me that God will from His limitless resources help us to finish strong! Dig deep and let’s see how much we can knock out on our mortgage. You’ve see how full we’ve been, we’re going to have to hire more staff, theirs tons of ministry that needs doing and the sooner we knock out our debt the sooner we free up $120,000 dollars per year to invest that into minsitry help the lost get found and the found live free. Your genersotity and the genersoisty of your leaderhsip here, has fueled the mission of Crossroads! And while you’re welcome to and you should talk with your leaders from the pastors to the elders, management team and your connect group leaders, you should ask them how they did it, how do they follow Jesus and allow Him to flow through them in generous service and giving? You should look to your leaders, but never forget, who we truly follow! As the author of Hebrews tells us:

Jesus is the ultimate example we look to, He keeps us grounded and centered. He is the one who fuels us to fuel His mission through us!

Hebrews 13:8–9 (NLT)

8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. 9 So do not be attracted by strange, new ideas. Your strength comes from God’s grace, not from rules about food, which don’t help those who follow them.

Jesus calls us and then He equips us if we’ll stay connected with Him. That’s what vv. 10-14 are talking about. Stay connected to Jesus, go to him, keep going to him for He is the one and only one who has the provision we need!

And then we arrive to vv. 15-16 Hebrews 13:15-16

Hebrews 13:15–16 (NLT)

15 Therefore, let us offer through Jesus a continual sacrifice of praise to God, proclaiming our allegiance to his name. 16 And don’t forget to do good and to share with those in need. These are the sacrifices that please God.

We are a people who give generously of our time, ability and money because God has gives generously to us! He supplies the resources we need to give generously to Him and His Kingdom. In Him, connected to Him, if He’s our shepherd we’re not grasshoppers, we are mighty warriors of the King who have all that we need. We lack no good thing!

Because God is a generous God, we can and should be a generous people and that generosity will continue fuel our mission!

Pray.