May God Equip You
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Intro
Closing out Hebrews
Jesus is greater than the greatest things of Old
Jesus fulfils the OT temple system, he’s our new High Priest
We have been warned to remain faithful - 3 times
We have been called to endurance under trial, to follow the example of the past Saints - the heroes of the faith.
Despite the Temple system being fulfilled, we are still to worship in reverence and awe, and bring our sacrifices.
Recently we have been hitting a bunch of practical commands and this week we get the last couple before making our way through the benediction and the closing salutation.
Obey Your Leaders & Pray for them (v17-19)
Obey Your Leaders & Pray for them (v17-19)
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
How do we know this is about elders and not just leaders in society - because of v7 “who spoke to you the word of God” and “watching over your souls”
So not only are we to follow their example, we are called to obey them, to give way to them.
Our culture has flattened and defanged hierarchy in the home, in society, and in the church. So much so that when some people hear that someone does something because their pastor told them to, they are either ridiculed or beleived to be trapped in a cult.
As we discussed last week, sometimes leaders have abused their authority, when there are sinful problems in leadership, we deal with them, and if leadership asks us to sin, we appeal to a higher power. SO we budget for that as we hear these words from God for his church.
Why? because they’re keeping watch...
They are your shepherds, your overseers.
We don’t let imperfection prevent us from obedience. I don’t like how the police have behaved a few years ago history, but even though I don’t like this thing over here, doesn’t mean that I’m going to ignore their flashing lights in my mirror.
In our sinful tendencies, we buck against authority, and we look for any justification we can find to resist. I’ve experienced it first hand - “i don’t like your theology on this topic, so I’m not going to listen to you on this topic over here”.
Should our opinions of the quality of our leaders be the standard by which we calibrate our submission? No! That we put us in the position of being the leadership. It would make us the arbiters.
Instead we are to place ourselves under their
Do the things your leaders tell you to do.
Don’t do the things your leaders tell you not to do.
They have to give an answer to God for the way they lead you, make it easy for them. They will take responsibility for how they lead you, not you.
It is better that your leaders be reprimanded for being too heavy handed in leadership, than you face up to the Lord to explain why you ignored this command.
Leadership will somtimes ask you to do things that are not explicitly spelled out in scripture, but it is part of them exercising their authority to shepherd you under Christ. An example of this is the way that we order our church life.
You’re not going to find a command to meet every Sunday at 10am, but the implications of the Scriptures lead us to say “we have to meet sometime, and we have things the Lord has called us to do, so we will order things this way to fulfil our calling”
There are some things that are not sins themselves, but it becomes sinful if you are doing it in rebellion against your leaders. Lets say they banned a particular book...
The Elders must lead with Joy
It’s nice to have the honour of leading, but honour often comes with associated responsibilities.
Duty should be a joy, but sometimes the burden weighs us down. Paul himself felt that weight acutely:
And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches.
The daily anxiety is real - the lost sleep, the concern for eternal souls, the feeling that one is not doing enough for enough people, there is sometimes a
There is the great concern for the longevity of the church, will our lamp-stand remain?
Even as the weight of leadership rests on the shoulders of our bishops, they must pursue joy and not just groan under it. It is of advantage to no one if they are perpetually groaning, complaining and feeling like they are hard done by.
Speaking of leaders, the author of the letter is a christian leader who desire their prayers:
Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Remember, we don’t know who wrote this letter. One of the reasosns Hebrews is where it is in the Bible is because it *may* be written by Paul, but we’re not sure, so it is at the end of all of Paul’s letters so it can either be grouped with them, or with the other epistles.
The mention of Timothy in a moment highlights the possibility that it may have been Paul, but there were plenty of people who worked alongside Paul and TImothy and so it is not 100% certains.
ANyway, the writer to the Hebrews is clearly someone who has some level of spiritual leadership among his recipients and he desires their prayers.
In a world of many choices leaders face challenging decisions about how to lead well. When to intervene, what to teach, what next steps should we take and so on. This author is confident that he is making the right decisions, but it is likely that those decisions come with difficult consequences. Consequences that may be keeping them away.
Doing the hard thing is often the right thing. And it is better to do the hard thing as a leader, and have a clear conscience, even if it comes with the discomfort of strained relationships, or being persecuted.
Part of the nature of leadership is that it exposes you as an identifiable target, you become representative fo the whole. If there is persecution, the leaders are an obvious target. Satan would love to tear down leadership so that it reflects poorly on Christ’s Bride, if there’s problems in a church leaders need to take responsibility to resolve them, but they’re also often blamed for everything.
The author desires their prayers in part so that they can come back to them. The tyranny of distance (or perhaps prison) keeps them apart and he know that prayer can bring them back together again.
God hears our prayers, and he is confient that if they pray, God will bring them back together soon.
I would ask for you to pray more in general, but in particular for your leaders. Your Elders have weighty responsibilities and they need God to work in them so that they can have a clear concience and act honourably while they withstand the threats that face the local church.
God of Peace Equip You (v20-21)
God of Peace Equip You (v20-21)
Coming to the end of the letter, we come to a benediction - a good word, a prayer, a blessing to give to the hearers of this letter. And in doing so he touches on themes that we have already covered in this letter. Lets look at in two parts and soak in the fulness of the blessing being pronounced:
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,
This prayer calls on God who is the God of Peace. With him their is peace, and he is in the business of bringing peace, peace on earth, peace between God & man.
He was bringing peace as he raised Jesus from the dead.
Jesus died as an atoning sacrifice, like the OT sacrifices.
But God raised him from the dead!
He made final atonement.
Jesus is the great Pastor of the sheep - the great shepherd
Even though we have just been talking about church pastors, they are “under shepherds” - Jesus is the great pastor over all of us.
His blood was poured out to seal an eternal covenant
Covenants are relational agreements, like the one Reo & Izy made yesterday.
A covenant has been made, that God will save and bless his people eternally. And it is all through the Son Jesus.
So this benediction goes on to ask for this God, through this shepherd and by his blood, to:
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.
Equip you - prepare you for doing his will
Working in us God’s pleasure
All through Jesus and for his Glory
This is why we sing “All glory be to Christ!” - Jesus is God
Final Greetings (v22-25)
Final Greetings (v22-25)
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.
Breifly? Really? - there is so much more to say!
Timothy getting out of prison - will continue his work.
Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those who come from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you.
So What?
So What?
