Hebrews 13:1-3 - handout

I want us to begin by looking back on Hebrews 12:28 - “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe,” Later in Hebrews 13, we’re going to read ‘sacrifice of praise’ and throughout this chapter, I plan on using offering and sacrifice interchangeably.

We’ve studied the cloud of witnesses. Worship like Abel. Walk like Enoch. Work like Noah. Witness like Abraham and the rest of them.

We’ve learned that indeed we are to run the race that has been set before us. We look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith. We cherish the refinement of our life and look for the majesty and glory of Jesus Christ to be revealed in us and through us.

Goal - growing in these areas so you can worship, walk, work, and witness better in 2026.

Today’s relational offerings focus on relationships outside of your home

Hebrews 13:1–3 ESV

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.

Romans 12:1 - “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.”

James 1:26–27 - “If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.”

1 John 2:6 - “whoever says he abides in Christ ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.”

The first relational offering - Deepen relationships inside your church family

How do relational offerings shift worship from something you attend to something you live?

Look at verse 1. Let brotherly love continue. Continue = abide. Brotherly love = phileo. Let phileo abide. When I think of places in the New Testament that teach me about abiding, I go to John 15:5 - “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

In John 15, when a branch abides in the vine it a grafting process that becomes inseparable and bears much fruit. It is important for us to understand how a singular local congregation is meant to be grafted together so they abide and bear much fruit.

Friends, don’t mistakenly give your spiritual cousins the grafted, abiding phileo that rightfully belongs to people in this room and then wonder why your life isn’t bearing much fruit.

Let phileo abide. When the Holy Spirit begins to convict so phileo abides as it should, somebody is going to get uncomfortable. The Holy Spirit will prompt you to lean into a relationship you might rather not lean into. The Holy Spirit is going to ask for time on your calendar. The Holy Spirit will poke and prod in your life, because the advancement of gospel need phileo to abide and bear much fruit in this church.

How is being spiritually “grafted together” in a local congregation different from simply having Christian acquaintances? Compare the differences between grafting and pollinating.

Having solid relationships with the people in your home is an essential base layers for the rest of the relationships in your life. If you struggle with your ‘four wall’ relationships, how are you going to get the “four corners” relationships right?”

The relationship pecking order in the Bible. You and God. You and God and your spouse. You and God and your household. You and God and your local church. You and God and other Christians in your town. And according to Acts 1 it expands from there.

Talk to your spouse as you ask the Holy Spirit to reveal gaps in your “four walls” relationships that might be negatively impacting your “four corners” relationships?

The second relational offering - Care for the Christian community outside your local church

Look at verse 2 - “Of hospitality, be not forgetful, through this for unknowingly some entertained angels.”

The entire verse might not make a ton of sense unless you know the historical context of hospitality in the Bible, so let’s look at the unchoppy part first. Write this down - Of hospitality, be not forgetful. In 2024, the hospitality industry generated 154 billion dollars. Hospitality in the Bible was very different. If you knew somebody, it was commonly accepted that you could show up unannounced and stay the night. When travellers arrived to an unfamiliar town, there were no hotels to enter and request a room. If there was a small inn, travellers would be very skeptical because innkeepers had horrible reputations like tax collectors. Most travellers would rather gamble asking a stranger for lodging or sleeping on a bench instead of looking for an inn.

When Jesus sent the disciples out in Mark 6, he instructed them about accepting hospitality. In Acts, we read about Peter staying in somebody’s home. Paul frequently wrote about being a guest in various homes. There were many others that would travel for ministry purposes that needed food and shelter. There was a world-wide open door policy among the Jewish population and the Christian church.

Consider how New Testament hospitality is different from modern entertaining and brainstorm one tangible way you could build margin into your life to be more interruptible for others?

The third relational offering - Serve other Christians who physically or emotionally cannot meet their own needs

Look at verse 3. The context focuses on Christians who are mistreated, tormented or unable to defend themselves due to the actions of other people. The context is not talking about lazy people or people who have played stupid games and won stupid prizes. This verse isn’t even addressing aging people who have stopped doing things. While all of those things good conversations to have, verse 3 reminds to serve those inside the body of Christ that are physically and emotionally struggling through life due to the actions of other people.

Philosopher Bertrand Russel wrote an essay entitled, “Why I Am Not a Christian.” The purpose of this article was to present what he believed were irrefutable arguments against Christianity.

He wrote this, “I think there are many good points upon which I agree with Christ a great deal more than many professing Christians. I do not know that I can go all the way with Him, but I could go with Him much farther than most professing Christians can.”