SS Hebrews 13

Last chapter - closing words

4 sections

Life within church community 1-8

Belief of the church in unbelieving world 9-14

Call to sacrificial living 15-19

Benediction 20-21

Life within the church community

Let brotherly love continue

In christ, we are the family of God

Let us show love for one another

The bible’s emphasis on love is pretty significant

“Through the centuries men have displayed many different symbols to show that they are Christians. They have worn marks in the lapels of their coats, hung chains about their necks, even had special haircuts.… But there is a much better sign.… It is a universal mark that is to last through all ages of the church until Jesus comes back.” - Francis Schaeffer

Referring to John 13:35 “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.””

How can we love one another?

Hospitality

Specifically to strangers here… not just christians

Inviting people into our homes

Here is a diagnostic question: How many people could describe the inside of your home? If you are married, are there any singles who could give directions to your dinner table? If you are single, are there any widows or children who have seen the park where you go to unwind? Are there any people you have entertained simply because you were looking on them as brothers and sisters in the family of God and have sought to minister to their loneliness or need for encouragement and support? This exhortation applies not only to other Christians, but it also includes all sorts of people whom, even if they are strangers, we must embrace with the love of God through Christian hospitality.

Richard D. Phillips

Plug GC’s

“Angels unaware”

There may have been a fear of taking in spies or informants

Acts 9:26 “And when he(paul) had come to Jerusalem, he attempted to join the disciples. And they were all afraid of him, for they did not believe that he was a disciple.”

Author is saying in fact, it may be angels you are serving

Possible he means literal angel

Stories in OT - Abraham & Lot Gen 18-19

Actually is an image bearer

The angels serve for the sake of us

Hebrews 1:14 “Are they not all ministering spirits sent out to serve for the sake of those who are to inherit salvation?”

The dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare.… There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.… It is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit—immortal horrors or everlasting splendours. C.S Lewis

Remember those in prison & mistreated

To encourage those who are imprisoned and mistreated, but also perhaps to prepare them for the imprisonment and mistreatment they may soon face

it would be tempting to abandon those who were “caught” to protect yourself

Peter on the night Jesus was arrested in the courtyard

I do not know this man

Paul imprisoned

2 Timothy 1:16–18 “May the Lord grant mercy to the household of Onesiphorus, for he often refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chains, but when he arrived in Rome he searched for me earnestly and found me— may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!—and you well know all the service he rendered at Ephesus.”

Holy Living

Let the marriage be held among all and the marriage bed be undefiled

Sexual perversion and sin is not a new problem in our society

Where we often tend to compromise the quickest is on sexual sin

Fornication

Pornography

Homosexuality

Adultery

Now even gender

The compromise is under the guise of “love” which is ironic because we are told to love AND live pure

Honor the marriage

Who?

All of us

Marriage is the foundational building block of society

It’s the first institution God ordains..

There may be no better gauge today for the spiritual health of a congregation than the health of its marriages. - Richard D. Phillips

Not past failings, current realities.

Your marriage serves as a picture of the gospel

Contentment

Keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have

Relationship with possessions

Do you feel yourself needing more, wanting more, craving more

Notice it doesn’t say be content with very little or be content with much… but rather be content with what you have

We think we’ll be content with just one dollar more than we have…

Chinas wealthiest man sentenced to life in prison for money crimes

Worth nearly $50B

Arthur Pink - “Contentment is the product of a heart resting in God.… It is the blessed assurance that God does all things well, and is, even now, making all things work together for my ultimate good.”

Contentment is an act of trust and worship

FOR he will never leave or forsake us

We are unspeakable wealthy in Christ. And we can never lose that fortune

Quote from Ps 118

Imitating Community

Hebrews 13:7 “Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.”

Recall those who taught you, who helped you, who shared the gospel with you. Who did the bible study with you. Who gave you the wise counsel.

Look at the outcome of their lives & imitate their faith

Observe their holiness

Observe their marriages

Observe how they suffered

Observe how they grieved

Encouraged

Prayed

Etc

And model that

1 Corinthians 11:1 “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.”

Be that person to others

“wear his coat well”

5th gospel

Hebrews 13:8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Not necessarily emphasizing the doctrine of the eternality of the son

Nor the immutability of god

This is here to show us that God’s way doesn’t change

We need to do these things now. This wasn’t just for a certain generation or time. These are timeless realities we ought to emulate

Belief of the Church in an unbelieving world

v9 Don’t be led away

diverse & strange teaching

A sign of spiritual maturity is discernment

Ephesians 4:13–14 “until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”

Author is saying same thing here

Stand firm in doctrine

Doctrine is important

1 Timothy 4:16 “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

Strange - “alien”

Without discernment, everything sounds reasonable

See this in wild fringe conspiracy theories (especially political)

Grace, not foods

similar to colossians

Visions, self denial, foods

Foods dont give you christ

Eucharist

We eat at the altar of Christ, are nourished by drawing near to him (maybe skip)

Vs 11-12

In OT sacrafices, the meat from the sacrafice was given to the priests to eat

Except for Day of Atonement

Annual ritual in which the high priest would sacrafice for the sins of the people

that meat they couldnt eat but it was to be burned outside the camp

outside the camp was a fearful place

Banished

Defiled

cursed

Executed

That sacrifice points us to Jesus who was the sacrifice taken outside the camp

He was taken outside of the city to Golgotha (place of the skull)

Therefore…

Go outside the gate

Bear the reproach

Following Christ will cost you something

2 Timothy 3:12 “Indeed, all who desire to live a godly life in Christ Jesus will be persecuted,”

John 15:18–19 ““If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”

So we offer a sacrifice of praise

“don’t neglect” same in vs 2

Sacrificial Living

Obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls & give account

Keeping watch

watchmen on city walls at night - looking for attackers who come in the dark

Church membership

Who are your leaders?

How are you submitting to them?

How do the leaders know whos souls they will give account for?

If you answer the elders here… then submit and join (Joking)

But in all seriousness, I don’t see how you can obey this command without a formal placing under the leadership of a local body

let them do this with joy and not groaning

This is actually still aimed at the flock

“for” that would be no advantage to you

The point is, do we make it easy to be shepherded? Do we encourage and pray for and respect our leaders?

Or do we bite and kick and run away?

Pray for your leaders

Benediction