Unchanging Example: Following Jesus in a World of Change
By Faith: The Book of Hebrews • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
We have come to the end of our journey through the book of Hebrews. Lets recap some of the highlights of what we have learned. Let us go over all of the indicatives this author so powerfully expounded for us these last twelve weeks:
Jesus is the radiance of God’s glory (1:3)
He is greater than the angels (1:4)
Greater than Moses (3:3)
Our Great High Priest (4:14)
The Mediator of a better covenant (8:6)
The once-for-all sacrifice for sins (10:10)
The Author and Finisher of our faith (12:2)
We have come to Mount Zion, not Sinai (12:22)
These are the theological mountain peaks. But starting in chapter twelve and culminating in chapter 13 the tone shifts to imperatives. Based on all that is true, here is how you live:
Run with endurance (12:1)
Don’t grow weary (12:3)
Strengthen what is weak (12:12)
Pursue peace and holiness (12:14)
Don’t refuse Him who speaks (12:25)
Offer acceptable worship (12:28)
And now—love, obey, submit, remember, offer, and pray (chapter 13)
We will examine these concepts as the author turns his focus from doctrine to discipleship, prom theology to practical obedience.
Hebrews 13 is a call to faithful, gospel shaped living, even as the world around us keeps shifting, or even as our circumstances keep changing. Jesus Christ does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Because He is unchanging we model our lives after Him.
How do we live in this world of continuous change? We follow the unchanging one. This final chapter gives us some practical examples of what that looks like. Today we will organize our thoughts around three anchoring truths which are still imperatives
I. Love Others with the Heart of Jesus (vv. 1-6)
II. Follow the Example of Faithful Leaders–and Above All, Jesus (vv.7-16)
III. Obey with Joy, Pray with Urgency, and End with Grace (vv. 17-25)
I. Love Others with the Heart of Jesus (vv. 1-6)
I. Love Others with the Heart of Jesus (vv. 1-6)
So the author begins his landing sequence with practical instructions. These are not abstract ideas, they are deeply practical. He says,
1 Let love of the brothers continue.
So he is not commanding his readers to start loving each other. If they were not already doing this, they would hardly be true believers. His admonishment here is that it continues to be a reality in their midst.
And this is not fluffy happy feelings sentimental culturally defined love. This is philadelphia brotherly love. The kind of love that is the trade mark characteristic of those who are members of God’s family.
12 “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This is an unusual, supernatural type of love, because it is love that proceed and from and is governed by God.
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8 The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
This inward love for “your people”—your fellow believers—can’t be contained. It naturally spills over into love for outsiders.
2 Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.
The Greek word used here is Philoxenia which refers to the practice or mindset of showing hospitality, particularly those who are outsiders, travelers or not part of the inner circle.
Hospitality in this part of the world often included putting up a guest overnight or longer. This would have been particularly hard to do while experiencing persecution. The readers would not know whether a guest would prove to be a spy or a fellow believer being pursued.
The concept of entertaining angels unaware is an allusion to both Abraham and Sarah, Lot, Gideon, Manoah. You do not know how far reaching an act of kindness might be. The concept of love is very practical here, this is not merely philosophical or in word only. This is the admonition of the apostle John:
18 Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.
So the writer of Hebrews states,
3 Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves also are in the body.
The love also needed to be extended to those in prison or being mistreated as a result of their faith. The point here is not to just pray from a distance. Imagine it is you and enter their struggle with them.
But love does not stop there.
4 Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled, for the sexually immoral and adulterers God will judge.
In this verse he moves into moral clarity which is still very much tied to love. To honor marriage is to love rightly. To keep the marriage be pure or undefiled is to treat God’s design as sacred. Sexual sin, whether casual or secret, is not trivial. God sees and judges. Love does not dismiss boundaries–it keeps them, because true love protects and honors.
20 of the 27 books explicit references (2 books with implied references)
This is especially important in a world where marriage is being redefined, cheapened, and dismissed as antiquated. You are good enough to provide me with sexual gratification but I refuse to love you rightly within the parameters of marriage. That’s how the world works. But in the sight of God, it’s a serious offense.
3 But sexual immorality or any impurity or greed must not even be named among you, as is proper among saints;
4 nor filthiness and foolish talk, or coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks.
5 For this you know with certainty, that no one sexually immoral or impure or greedy, who is an idolater, has an 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.
Did you catch that? Sexual immorality along with impurity and greed is equated with idolatry. You are indeed worshiping another god. It is not only a violation of the first commandment in the table of the law, “You shall not have other gods before me” but it is in violation of the first and greatest commandment of all:
30 and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’
I know of many that would acknowledge God in all things but this one. They refuse to discipline their mind and bodies from this great sin and the Scripture says that those who choose sexual deviance over God will not have a heavenly inheritance.
Continuing with moral clarity, the author says,
5 Make sure that your way of life is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you,”
6 so that we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper, I will not be afraid. What will man do to me?”
Love also shapes how we handle money and contentment. You cannot love others while hoarding resources for yourself. The issue is not money itself–its the love of it.
10 For the love of money is a root of all sorts of evils, and some by aspiring to it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.
Please understand that this is not promoting poverty. It is promoting contentment rooted in God’s presence which is the antidote to greed. The author reminds us of two unshakable truths:
He Will Never Leave Us
We Don’t Have to Fear People
The promise here is said with several negatives, it is like saying,
“there is absolutely no way whatsoever that I will ever, ever leave you”
Which means that you can say with absolute certainty,
“THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID, WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?” (v. 6)
So whether you’re temped to hoard, or you are scared to let go, remember that your security is not in stuff, its in the One who never changes. The Giver of stuff.
Application:
So much of our Christian walk is not about dramatic events—it’s about steady, Spirit-empowered obedience in daily life:
• Love believers—keep showing up for one another.
• Love strangers—open your heart and your home.
• Love the suffering—stand with those in chains.
• Honor marriage—stay faithful and pure.
• Hold money loosely—God will take care of you.
The world will keep shifting. But Jesus won’t. Let love lead the way.
II. Follow the Faithful Examples God Has Given You (vv. 7-16)
II. Follow the Faithful Examples God Has Given You (vv. 7-16)
The Christian life is not meant to be lived in isolation or invented from scratch. It is handed down and lived out in community. The writer urges his readers to pay attention and imitate those who walk faithfully before them. Let’s read:
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.
These are likely generations of spiritual leaders, pastors, elders, evangelists, who lived lives of faith and finished well. Their lives were not perfect as your life will not be perfect but the left behind a legacy worth following.
This command to imitate them is not about imitating their personality, preference, or even their success. You must be you, with all of the nuances that make you, you. This is about imitating their faith; their loyalty to Christ; their perseverance in the midst of suffering, and then their enduringjoy in the gospel. This is what the apostle Paul means when he says,
17 Brothers, join in following my example, and look for those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
There are those living and gone who lived and are living a faithful life. Watch them and imitate the life of faith. Paul says,
1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.
The author anchors all of this in the unchanging nature of Christ,
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
He does this because it is important to bear in mind that people can change. Leaders can fail. Cultures will shift. But Jesus never changes. His truth, His mercy, His authority, His supremacy remain constant. Therefore, any teaching, tradition, or spirituality that moves away from him in the slightest must be rejected.
You have to pay attention to the subtle but deadly nuances of teachings that try to revive or mix the old covenant laws into new covenant realities. They ever so shrewdly bring Christ and His work down a peg. They do not admit, but if you follow their reasoning closely, Christ is not really supreme, and His work does not really accomplish all, It is finished but not really. The author addresses this directly:
9 Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited.
This quietly corrects the tendency found in some movements to elevate dietary laws and Old Testament regulations implying that grace is not enough. The heart is strengthened by grace, not by law. Those things are of not benefit to anyone. You don’t grow by reverting to shadows—you grow by clinging to substance, which is Christ himself.
16 Therefore, no one is to judge you in food and drink, or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day—
17 things which are only a shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ.
Listen to the warning issued to what was essentially Judaizers, a term coined by the the apostle Paul:
10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat.
The altar here is symbolic of Christ’s atoning work—a new and better offering. Those clinging to the tabernacle system reject the sufficiency of this altar. They have no right to feast at the table of grace while denying the sacrifice it proclaims. You can’t live in the old covenant and enjoy the blessings of the new. They’re incompatible. The life you use to live before Christ is also incompatible with the life of Christ now. Then he brings the argument home with a powerful image:
11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp.
12 Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate.
13 So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach.
Jesus was rejected by the religious elite and crucified outside the camp. Figuratively, believers must join Him outside the camp of the world, no longer being a part of its unholy systems and practices (cf. 2Ti 2:4). By extension, this would also depict the departure from the Levitical system.
The uncommitted Hebrews needed to take the bold step of leaving that system and being outside the camp of Old Covenant Israel. So, the call is clear: go to Him. Leave the comfort of dead religion, leave the comforts of the world and stand with the crucified Christ outside.
Outside the camp is where reproach is, but also where Christ is. It is better to suffer with Him than to be comfortable without Him.
14 But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
38 “And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
He is before all things and above all things,
15 Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess His name.
16 And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
Application:
Who has gone before you in the faith? Consider their walk—and imitate their trust in Christ.
Guard your heart against teachings that seem spiritual but subtly shift your eyes off Jesus.
Don’t chase religious comfort—follow Christ, even if it means bearing reproach.
Let your worship be whole-life: lips that praise, hearts that obey, hands that give.
III. Submit to Godly Leadership and Stay Rooted in Grace (vv. 17-25)
III. Submit to Godly Leadership and Stay Rooted in Grace (vv. 17-25)
The author now gives his final instructions that matter deeply for the church’s spiritual health, growth, and unity. Lets read:
17 Obey your leaders and submit to them—for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account—so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.
This is not blind allegiance or obedience to domineering or unbiblical leadership. This is biblical submission to godly, faithful leaders–leaders who are shepherding your soul, watching over you, interceding for you, counseling and even correcting you when needed.
The pastors and elders of the church exercise the delegated authority of Christ when they preach, teach, and apply Scripture. This kind of authority is not about status, rank, or title. It is about responsibility and accountability before God. Pastors and elders are not CEOs—they are under-shepherds who will answer to the Chief Shepherd.
2 shepherd the flock of God among you, overseeing not under compulsion, but willingly, according to God; and not for dishonest gain, but with eagerness;
3 nor yet as lording it over those allotted to you, but being examples to the flock.
4 And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.
As a church, we are called to follow leaders as they follow Christ. The writer is telling us that the weight of leadership responsibilities should be recognized, and that shepherding shouldn’t be made more difficult by disobedience or division. Leaders should be able to serve with joy, not groaning—because grumbling from the flock profits no one.
In verses 18-19 the writer asks for prayer. Even this inspired writer is not above prayer. This should tell you, that spiritual leaders need your prayers. They carry burdens few see. They wrestle with the Word for your sake. They war against temptation. They bleed in secret. Pray for them.
Now comes one of the most beautiful benedictions in all of Scripture. A final grounding in the grace of God and the sufficiency of Christ:
20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, our Lord Jesus,
21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, by doing in us what is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
This is the foundation and the fuel of everything we have been told to do:
Love others
Imitate the faithful
Reject false teaching
Follow godly leaders.
You can do all of this because God Himself is at work in you. The God of peace raised Jesus form the dead. The blood if the eternal covenant secures you. The Great Shepherd is guiding you. And it is He who equips you.
All of the Book of Hebrews attests that,
Grace is better than Law
Grace speaks a better word than blood
Grace anchors you behind the veil
Grace comes through the suffering Savior
Grace enables your endurance.
So fitting that the author would end his epistle with the simple words,
25 Grace be with you all.
