Equipped to Do His Will

Hebrews 13:20–25

“Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you.”

Other Passages: Luke 2:14; John 10:17-18; Romans 8:11; Revelation 1:17-18; Romans 3:19-20;

Words to listen for: God, Great, Grace-Equipped

Big Idea: The God who reconciles us in peace shepherds us eternally by actively equipping and transforming us to do what pleases Him.

Introduction

Imagine starting a new job where your boss hands you a massive project with high stakes—deadlines that affect the company's future, tools you've never used before, and no training. You feel completely unequipped, stressed, and on the verge of failure. Some of you are living this almost every week; the demands exceed what you have.

Now imagine your boss not only provides every tool, resource, and skill you need but actually works alongside you, guiding your hands and strengthening your decisions from the inside. The pressure lifts because the success isn't on your shoulders alone.

Friends, that's a faint shadow of what God promises in Hebrews 13:20-21. In the most important assignment of all—doing His will, living a life pleasing to Him—He doesn't leave us overwhelmed and under-resourced. The God of peace equips us with everything good we need and works in us what pleases Him.

I've stood where some of you might be now: staring at God's commands—love perfectly, forgive deeply, resist sin daily—and thinking, 'I can't do this. I'm not equipped. My heart wanders, my strength fails.' Overwhelm sets in, and peace feels distant.

But then I read this benediction in Hebrews 13, and it hits like fresh air: The God of peace, who reconciled me through Christ's blood and raised the Great Shepherd, promises to equip me with everything good to do His will—and to work in me what pleases Him. It's not 'try harder'; it's 'trust Me to transform you.' If you're in Christ tonight, this isn't just ancient words—it's your reality.

This is no fairy tale—it's the closing promise of Hebrews. The God of peace has raised 'our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep' to equip us, His sheep, for every good thing that pleases Him. If you're feeling lost, weak, or unequipped tonight, hear this: Your Shepherd is greater than any failure or fear. Tonight, let's unpack this benediction and see how the same power that raised Jesus from the dead equips sheep like us."

This will be my last sermon on Hebrews in this series. I hope you have seen with me over the past 18 months that Hebrews is indeed a glorious epistle. It stands out in the New Testament in a special way. This evening as we consider the close of this letter—which the author calls “brief”—we find that in its closing benediction it stands out as well.

We’ll look at this passage under three headings: 1) The God of Peace, 2) The Great Shepherd, and 3) The Grace-Equipped Saints.

I. The God of Peace

This little phrase is very easy for us to skip right over, “the God of peace.” But the writer of Hebrews has not used this descriptor accidentally.

He has called God many other things over the course of this letter. He is called God, the Majesty on High, the Most High God, the Lord, the Majesty in Heaven, the father of Spirits, the Living God, and a Consuming Fire. But now as the writer of Hebrews closes out his letter he wants his readers to remember God in one final way: the God of Peace.

What do we mean by peace?

Negatively. Sometimes we mean the absence of conflict. Peace is a lack of something: conflict, disorder, confusion.

Positively. Bible speaks of peace as wholeness, reconciliation.

Shalom is Hebrew word, εἰρήνη is Greek

What does it mean for God to have peace?

God is whole and complete, not worried or in conflict with himself. He’s not stressed about anything. Nothing is catching him by surprise, nothing can make him feel inadequate or like there’s too much to handle. God never feels threatened by opposition. God is never confused, never at odds within himself, or within the trinity. The Father, Son, and Spirit never fight or argue with each other. There is nothing like the peace of God which he has within himself.

This does not mean that God has no conflict. The God of peace is completely against sin. He has pure complete holy wrath against sin and unrighteousness. He is not intimidated or threatened by wicked men, even those who express hatred and distain for him. But his perfect holiness requires that he judge all wrongdoing and wickedness. This is not in a I-hate-to-judge-it-but-I-have-to attitude, but with a complete hatred for all that is evil.

The God of peace is completely at war with sin. He is determined to bring perfect judgment upon all those who break the law and do what is evil. In his pursuit of peace, the God of peace, hates evil with an uncompromising hatred.

This leaves you and I in a problematic position. As someone who has broken God’s law in multiple ways, and who continues to break God’s law daily, what does it take for me to have peace with the enemy of all wickedness?

What does it take for us to have peace with God?

I find it fascinating that when the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds, they proclaimed Luke 2:14 ““Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”” It the birth of Christ that means peace to the world. Peace is also the title of the promised child in Isaiah 9, remember he is called, the “Prince of Peace.”

Peace is associated with Jesus because it is through him that it becomes possible for sinners to receive peace with God. We see a reference in our passage to the “blood of the eternal covenant.” This is a reference to Christ’s most central work, in fact the focal point of all history. As Hebrews 1:3 puts it, “…After making purification for sins, he sat down…” Hebrews 2:17 says, “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” Without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins, and without forgiveness of sins there is no peace with God.

But Christ did make purification for sins, he, the perfect high priest, offered the only suitable sacrifice, which was himself on the crude cross of Calvary. The common-looking crucifixion of the rabbi from Galilee was actually a cosmic fulfillment of celestial atonement for sin. Christ’s mission was to come and die so that the wrath of God against our sin could be satiated and we could have peace with God.

So this little phrase “the God of peace” packs quite a punch. It ought to make us stop and remember why and how he can be a God of peace to us. He is the God who is at peace and who has made a way for us to have peace with him.

There is no other way or place to find true peace. If you do not have Christ tonight, you cannot have true peace. You might catch a moment here and there, when you’re able to find people around you to affirm you and make you feel good about yourself. But that won’t last long and it doesn’t solve the real problem. The root of the problem is not a surface level feeling, it’s an eternal reality that sin will be judged by God.

But if you are in Christ, if you give your sin to Jesus, he’ll take the guilt away and give you peace with God. If you’re in Christ, this benediction is for you. The God of Peace is your God, he is speaking these words of comfort to you tonight. There will never be a single drop of wrath that falls on you for your sin. Your relationship with the Living God, the Holy Consuming Fire, is one of utter peace.

II. The Great Shepherd

As we continue in our passage we see another first-time reference for the book of Hebrews, “our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep,” We have seen Jesus called many different things so far in this book, but shepherd has not been one of them. In fact, the only other mention of sheep is in chapter 11 referring to the clothing of some who endured suffering by faith.

However, the writer of the book of Hebrews does not expect us to read his letter in isolation from the rest of Scripture. He expects you to be familiar with the rest of the Bible. He’s been quoting Scripture like crazy all throughout this book, and he clearly expects his readers to be familiar with the shepherd and sheep imagery found all throughout the Old Testament, not to mention Jesus’ own words identifying himself as the shepherd.

Shepherd imagery in the Bible begins in Genesis. Adam and Eve’s son Abel was a shepherd and later Abraham and Isaac keep much livestock. Jacob who became Israel made his primary living as a shepherd. Moses became a shepherd for 40 years before returning to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. Famous king David began his life as a shepherd and first learned to fight by battling lions and bears in the wilderness. But especially during David’s reign, as he wrote Psalms and reflected on his position of rule over God’s people, shepherding became more than just a literal description of God’s rulers. It became a metaphor for the rulers of God’s people.

We find the prophets picking up the language of shepherds to refer to God’s people. Nathan confronts David about his adultery and murder by speaking of him as a shepherd of God’s people. Ezekiel later from captivity in Babylon sends rebukes to the leaders of Israel describing them as bad shepherds. In contrast to the wicked shepherds ruling God’s people at the time, Ezekiel prophesies that God will send a good shepherd, who will be both God himself and a descendant of David.

That of course refers to the one we have referred to in our passage this evening in Hebrews, our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep. There was a phrase that might be going out of style, but it was the acronym G.O.A.T.,Greatest Of All Time. In that sense Jesus is the GOAT Shepherd of the Sheep. The leaders of God’s people have been called shepherds for a while, but none of them have measured up. They’ve all fallen in various ways. Even your own leaders here at Grace have and will fail you in various ways. I’m not saying this to disrespect them or disregard them. They are worthy of respect, honor, and trust. But they are not the great shepherd. They will sin, their judgment will be imperfect, they will rebuke things too harshly, they will let sin go that ought to be confronted, and ultimately they will die, they will not be around forever. They are not the great shepherd. The great shepherd will never do any of those things. He will never sin, his judgment is always perfect, he never rebukes too harshly or lets sin go that needs to be confronted, and most important of all, he will never die.

That is why it is such good news to see what our passage says first about our great shepherd, he was “brought again from the dead.”

Until this point the book of Hebrews has not spoken of Christ’s resurrection. The entire focus has been on his sacrificial death. But it is not as though the concept of resurrection has been entirely absent. We saw in chapter 11 that Abraham believed Isaac would be raised form the dead and that Isaac was figuratively raised by his being rescued from death. We also saw at the end of chapter 11 the mention of women who by faith received their loved ones back from the dead by resurrection.

The author of Hebrews also mentions the resurrection from the dead as a well-known doctrine in chapter 6 along with eternal judgment and other things.

But here in this passage we have the first mention of Christ’s resurrection. The Scriptures as a whole speak about Christ’s resurrection in various ways.

In Matt 28:6, 7; and 1 Thess 4:14 and other places we see Jesus described at the one who rises, has risen, or rose from the dead. He speaks of himself as the actor in his own resurrection explicitly in John 10:17–18 where he calls himself the good shepherd: “For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”” So Jesus raised himself from the dead.

But in a few places the Bible says that the Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. Romans 1:3–4 “concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,” And even more explicitly in chapter 8 Romans 8:11 “If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.” Paul ties our resurrection to Christ’s resurrection because we share the same Holy Spirit who gave resurrection to Christ and will give resurrection to us.

But by far the most common expression is that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead. Acts 3:15; 4:10; 13:30, 34; 17:31; Romans 4:24; 6:4; 10:9; Gal 1:1; Eph 1:20; Col 2:12; 1 Peter 1:21. Which is what we also have here in Hebrews 13:20 “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant,” The resurrection has many implications, but one of them is that Christ’s sacrifice was complete and accepted by God as sufficient. The God of consuming fire with wrath against sin has expended all of his wrath for your sin on the great shepherd of the sheep for the sin of the sheep. Christ’s resurrection was a vindication of the completion of his atoning work, the acceptance of his sacrifice.

But speaking of Christ himself it is his having gone through death, referenced by “the blood of the eternal covenant,” that makes the great shepherd especially fit for his work. Because he died, he can never die again. Jesus says this to John in, Revelation 1:17–18 “Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.”

The phrase “the blood of the eternal covenant” can be seen as a reference to what theologians call “the Covenant of Redemption.” By this they mean an agreement between the Father and the Son to accomplish redemption for their people, before time began. The plan for our salvation was not a scrambled attempt to undo what Adam did, it did was not God trying to beat the odds. It was gloriously and meticulously planned before the world even existed, in eternity past, with perfect unity and harmony between the Father, Son, and Spirit.

It was an agreement within God to save a people for himself. Which brings us to the recipients of this benediction.

III. The Grace-Equipped Saints

Up to this point we’ve looked at the descriptions of the God who is doing the blessing, but now we’ll take moment to consider what this blessing is.

Before we finish the benediction I want to say a few words about the rest of the passage.

Hebrews 13:22–25 “I appeal to you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. You should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see you if he comes soon. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you.”

Over a year ago when first started this series we talked about the mysterious unknown author of Hebrews. He does not identify himself at the beginning, or at the end, or anywhere in between. He seems to be known to his audience and also knows Timothy. So he probably was someone known to Paul and running in his circles. We also can see that the letter seems to be coming from Italy. The epistle to the Hebrews is rather unusual in this lack of beginning greeting, causing some to think that this was first delivered orally, as a sermon. Then it was written down with some final greetings added. For whatever reason, God, in his wisdom, has chosen to keep the author anonymous to us.

By the way, as a side note: I don’t know about you, but sometimes when I’m reading the New Testament letters or Old Testament genealogies or descriptions of places it can be easy to ask, what’s the point? How is it so special or important that I read this detail or that detail? I mean in 2 Timothy, Paul tells Timothy to bring him his cloak! But these details are because God didn’t send his Word down by digital download or on golden tablets. His inerrant, holy, God-breathed word came in time and space by ordinary men with their own writing styles and historical circumstances. The people who wrote this Word from God need it just as much as you do, and these little windows we get into their ordinary lives remind us that God used ordinary people to write his Word and he is at work in your ordinary lives with all the details. God didn’t go back and edit all the secular details out, he works with our humanity, not against it. He became man, he didn’t make us gods.

The author’s concludes with a proclamation of grace, which I believe is a tie in with the central theme of his benediction.

Hebrews 13:20–21 “Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.”

This benediction here in Hebrews is my personal favorite. This is one of the main promises I constantly cling to. This is what I need every week, every day, every hour! My only hope for living a life pleasing to God is his equipping. I need him to give me what is required to do his will.

If you are a believer here this evening I trust you can feel that need as well.

Equipped with everything you need to do his will. God’s will is outlined in his Word, there’s a lot to keep up with. For the tender-hearted Christian it easily feels overwhelming. In fact, I would suggest that if you never feel overwhelmed by all that God requires of you, you’re probably overestimating your own ability or under-estimating God’s requirements. But if you are at the overwhelm stage this evening, I have absolutely amazing news: Everything you need to do God’s will is provided for you by God himself. Think of it! There is not one good thing that you need to do God’s will, that God will withhold from you.

In this fallen world in your employment many of you have been and continue to be asked to do things by your boss, which you are not equipped to do. In some cases this is because your boss is harsh, uncaring, and unreasonable. In other cases it is merely due to ignorance, a lack of understanding. Either way, it is understandably overwhelming to be faced with a required task which you have not been adequately equipped for. You don’t have what you need. Depending on the stakes the stress can be quite high. Some of you are living with this kind of stress weekly, even daily in your job.

I cannot fix your employment stress tonight. I cannot make your boss more reasonable or your provide you what is necessary in your place of work.

But I can assure you that in the case of what is most important, in the place where your eternal destiny is at stake, you have not been left in this situation.

Yet there are millions of people who are in this situation spiritually. God’s law stands as the requirement for all men and women. The whole world stands accountable to God. Romans 3:19–20 “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.”

Every person outside of Christ stands in an impossible position in which they have nothing that they need to do God’s will. They are left to their own devices and find themselves helpless and without hope. This is a far more troubling situation than being inadequate equipment, time, or training at work. The worst they can do at work is fire you. The effects of failing to live up to God’s will as revealed in his law last forever. Far beyond death and stretch into eternity.

But that is why this promised blessing is so precious! For those who are in Christ, they have, and continue to receive everything they need to do God’s will. You, if you are in Christ have everything you need to do God’s will.

Every son or daughter has a deep longing to be pleasing to their father. Even those who have fathers who failed in massive or perpetual ways. There is a kind of whole in a son or daughter’s heart that nothing else can quite fill. We write stories of successful writers, musicians, executives, or politicians who despite all their success and acclamation find themselves still longing for that one person’s approval, their father. It can be disappointing and devastating to be deprived of that approval.

But that’s why this benediction here is so precious. Because not only does God, our father, equip us do his will, he also “works in us that which is pleasing in his sight.” Equipping can sound like providing us what we need and then leaving it up to us. Which might actually set us up to be an even greater disappointment when we fail. But that’s not the way God works at all. His equipping is not a setting us up and letting us go, but by the Holy Spirit he is working on us from the inside.

If you are trusting in Christ you have not just been given all the information you need to be pleasing to God, but you have the Holy Spirit powerfully working new desires and affections for God. Loving God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength is not just something you know you ought to do, but something you are empowered to do through the Holy Spirit.

This is to give God all the glory. If God just gave us the equipment and told us get it done, we might deserve some credit for doing it on our own. Of course, the reality is that we wouldn’t get credit, we’d just be miserable failures because we can’t do it on our own, which is why God doesn’t do that. But since God has to do everything, both the equipping and the working in us, he deserves all the credit.

When you see yourself putting sin to death, loving God, his worship, his people, putting your faith in God despite challenging circumstances, and all the rest it is the Holy Spirit who gets the credit. Our salvation puts us in a situation in which we get all the help and God gets all the credit. You get the help you need and God gets glory, and both of you get the joy.

There will not be a single situation in your life in which you are left stranded on your own, futilely trying to find and do God’s will for your life. What a relief! What a rest for your soul! When you find yourself feeling alone, when you feel overwhelmed by your own sin, when you are looking around wondering whether you have missed God’s will for your life. This is a promise to hang on to, to embrace with all your might, to hold tightly to your chest. The God of peace who raised from the dead the greatest shepherd of all time of the sheep, will equip you with everything you need to do his will, working in us that which is pleasing his sight! Amen!