Things to Remember

Introduction

We are coming to the end of Hebrews. Next week is our last Sermon! It’s taken us a couple years to get here.

In this later part of this New testament letter we have been making our way through the “Hall of Faith” then dwelling on the way that Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, brings us to God and how god disciplines those he loves, and how Jesus is our ultimate example of how to live as Christians.

Our passage today is ongoing “bullet points” about offering acceptable worship with our lives, a lot of it falls under the banner of “let brotherly love continue”.

The previous section included commands such as:

Be Hospitable

Being faithful - including in marriage

Be content

No let us see some more of these instructions for how Christians live:

1. Remember Your leaders

This first one is tricky. I feel the awkwardness of teaching you how to treat me. I even feel this with my own children, but it’s easier there because the relationship is more uneven.

In church, leadership is much more “flat”. Leaders are friends, they are brothers, we are all equal in the love of God. Our culture is often very adverse to clear distinctions in honour, and so we feel the tension of needing to come under the authority of another who seems just like us in so many ways.

The other reason that this feels awkward is that people have sinned with their spiritual authority. Abusive leaders the world over can make appeals to their received authority for self-serving and sinful purposes. No good leader wants to be accused of abusive leadership, so the natural response is to pull back a bit and avoid all acts of authority as possible.

Yet the scriptures are clear - that the church must have a qualified and authoritative leadership, and the church should submit and mimic them. We will talk more about this when we get to verse 17 next week, but for now lets focus on v7.

Hebrews 13:7 ESV

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

Remember - Consider: Church leaders are not just functionaries to perform religious rituals and not get a second thought. They are those who bring you the most valuable things in life - the Gospel and they are your examples.

Earlier in the chapter they were called to remember those in Prison, this is a more active remembrance. This is a remembrance that leads to copying them.

The qualifications of Elders includes “able to teach” and that they are an example in character & home leadership. Because of this they are those who are teaching the church the truth and being an example of following Jesus.

It is true that sometimes Elders sin and must be removed from office, and we are not to mimic any sin that is identified. But I would caution you from setting yourself to be the arbiter of whether or not this that and the other thing is exactly how you would have it. God is calling you to consider their way of life not so that you may nit-pick - but so that you may see their faith producing fruit and copy them.

In our context most of us are not going to fall into the trap of copying our leaders to a fault, our weakness is going to be thinking that we know better than God and refusing to imitate the faith of our bishops/overseers because of scruples we have about secondary matters.

2. Remember Truth & be Strengthened

Next thing we come to is that Christians must take care not to be deceived by false teaching and instead go to the grace of God.

Now you can probably see how the previous command is linked to this one. Church leadership guards against false doctrine (doctrine just means teaching). We honour and mimic our leaders, even as they help us not to be ensnared by deceptive messages about Jesus.

Now in the context that this letter was written, there seems to be some teaching problem they were facing around food, as in what kinds of food was acceptable to eat and how much. Lets look at the text:

Hebrews 13:8–9 ESV

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.

“The same,” unchangeability used to be applied to God, clear indication of divinity.

Because Jesus doesn’t change, the Gospel doesn’t change.

The clean/unclean laws of the Old Testament were a picture to teach Christ, but now Christ has come - these dietary laws are no longer required. There is a new covenant with a new paradigm. God doesn’t change, but the covenant has. Shadow has given way to reality. Jesus has declared all foods clean.

Now, because there has been newness, there is a perceived “opening” to introduce lots of new things. But that’s not ok to preach whatever we want.

Instead we need the timeless truth of Jesus, and to find our strength in Grace nothing elses.

They may have been having arguments about clean/unclean foods, or food sacrificed to Idols. But the author here doesn’t wade in other than to say the foods have not spiritually affected them like the grace of God does. Food gives bodily strength, but more than that we need to be strengthened by Grace.

Now i have met people who erroneously teach that the food laws of the OT are still in effect. But for most of us it’s not a problem. Our problems is that we’re tempted to get sucked into the latest teaching coming down the pipeline in books, or on social media.

You red-pillers are succeptable to this - you have been deceived for so long that now you’re awake you start to wonder “what else have I missed” - we love the titilation of discovering new worlds, but we cannot afford to be deceived by falsehood. Get strength from God grace and don’t get tricked.

3. Go to Jesus outside the camp

Continuing the theme of food the author uses some OT imagery to encourage looking to Jesus

Hebrews 13:10–11 ESV

We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.

The presits were involved in special sacrifices - other people couldn’t eat it. Now we have a special sacrifice - Jesus himself and we partake vicariously through faith & the Lord’s Supper.

There were some sacrifices where after the blood was taken, the body was taken outside the city and burned up.

The author links this to Jesus:

Hebrews 13:12 ESV

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.

Jesus blood was shed for us as a sacrifice to propitiate God. He made atonement with this blood, just like the pictures of old.

Like Israel was cleansed under the blood of sacrifice, we are now cleansed by Jesus’ blood.

Jesus is like the sacrifice where the body was taken outside the camp & burned up.

But there is a another layer of meaning here - to be sent out from the city is to be exiled, rejected, unpopular. It is away from the people. And in that Jesus is an example of what it is like for us as Christians to be rejected and excluded.

Hebrews 13:13–14 ESV

Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.

This very week I was outright rejected for my “unnacceptable” faith in Jesus. - i say that not to draw attention to myself but to say that this is real and active for us.

Our focus is not the “city” of this world, we will be reproached.

We are heading to a heavenly city.

4. Remember to offer a Sacrifice of Praise

Yet we still worship through Sacrifice.

Even though we are no longer to worship at the physical temple in Jerusalem.

Even though Jesus is our once-for-all atoning sacrifice,

We still worship through sacrifices, including a sacrifice of Praise:

Hebrews 13:15 ESV

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Your song, your praise, your prayer, your confession that Christ is Lord, is a sacrificial offering to God.

Do not offer your sacrifices in vain, with hypocrisy.

As we gather as the church we come to offer sacrifices.

5. Remember to be Generous

Finishing our section, we end with an exhortation to generosity, which is another worshipful sacrifice:

Hebrews 13:16 ESV

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

We no longer have the binding tithe, but thankful and worshipful hearts give generously to God.

But God doesn’t need money or other stuff, the money is given for the support of Gospel work and the support of the needy.

Share what you have, and don’t fear for the future because God will supply all your needs.

So What?

Remember your leaders

Remember Truth & be strengthened

Got to Jesus outside the Camp

Remember to offer you sacrifice of praise

Remember to be Generous.