Sermon Tone Analysis
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Better Advice Part 1
Getting to the end of the letter to the Hebrews.
And the writer is beginning to give us some parting words.
And the whole tone of the letter changes in this last chapter.
All of a sudden the writer kinda slams us with a ways for Christians to live.
Scholars even think that a different author wrote 13 because the style is so different.
But what is happening is that at the end of the letter, there are some last minute pieces of advice.
Make sure you don’t forget, remember to..
Have you ever done that?
Just like how when we have family in town and they are leaving and we remind them of all those things; watch out for the quick turn up the road, watch out for the deer!
Our writer at the end of this letter is giving some advice.
Advice as it pertains to the social life of a Christian, Advice for the private life of a Christian and advice for the religious life affecting the Christian.
Adescribes 5 Qualities that outline the life of the Christian.
The first advice the author talks is advice for the social life which include: Brotherly Love, hospitality for strangers, and sympathy for those in trouble.
1 Brotherly Love
That terminology, the word for brotherly love is Philadelphia.
We know philly as the city of brotherly love.
That is what Philadelphia means.
And people always make fun of that word because Philadelphia is notorious for having fans that are anything but loving, unless you are winning.
And that word is rarely found outside of scripture unless it is being used as a way to describe sibling love.
That is where we get this idea that we are brothers and sisters in Christ.
How would you treat your brother?
How would you treat your sister?
Usually, even brothers who can’t stand one another and fight one another day and night will stand united when someone else wants to mess with one of them right?
“It’s okay if I fight with my brother but if you want to fight my brother you will have to go through me first!”
That is brotherly love.
And it is this idea of brotherly love that the writer describes how Christians should act with one another.
Because our relationship with Christ is not just about me and Jesus.
It is about all of us together.
Jesus called for unity over and over and if we are worshiping we are supposed to be doing it together.
And we do life together.
We worship together.
Vanhoye says, “the life of brotherly love constitutes an essential aspect of the worship which Christians must render to God; without brotherly love, there is no authentic worship”
Ellingworth, P. (1993).
The Epistle to the Hebrews: a commentary on the Greek text (p.
693).
Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.
Love is one of the hallmarks of the Christian faith.
We have love for one another.
The writer may have pointed this out because there were those in the church who took very seriously their religion and on one level, this seriousness may have actually caused problems.
Problems in that there were folks who may have been looking for heresy.
They may have been trying to find that one person who was getting it wrong so that they could throw that person out.
Vanhoye 1977a also points out that the break with chap.
12 is not complete: “the life of brotherly love constitutes an essential aspect of the worship which Christians must render to God; without brotherly love, there is no authentic worship”
Ellingworth, P. (1993).
The Epistle to the Hebrews: a commentary on the Greek text (p.
693).
Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.
Ellingworth, P. (1993).
The Epistle to the Hebrews: a commentary on the Greek text (p.
693).
Grand Rapids, MI; Carlisle: W.B. Eerdmans; Paternoster Press.
The church took very seriously their religion and on one level, this seriousness may have actually caused problems.
Problems in that there were folks who may have been looking for heresy.
They may have been trying to find that one person who was getting it wrong so that they could throw that person out.
This mindset would have been very dangerous for a church that was supposed to be unified.
And those who would have acted this way would have been too harsh, too unsympathetic to those who might be struggling in their faith.
I think we all have probably heard or seen or read about Christians who end up going off of the deep end and basically becoming judges of other people.
You have heard of these folks who write ugly sayings on signs, yell things at people and try to bully others into believing what they want you to believe.
It’s sad and it is destructive.
I don’t think that there are many people who end up becoming Christ followers because someone bullied them into it, or yelled something mean or hateful to them at a demonstration.
It usually doesn’t work that way.
Most of the time when people are really judgmental about a particular sin, it’s usually a sin that they themselves don’t deal with personally and so it is easy to look down on someone else who commits that sin.
But as Christians we are supposed to be loving to one another, especially those who call Jesus their Lord.
The writer is reminding the church that we are brothers and sisters in Christ and that the Christian is supposed to be loving and merciful and full of grace, just like Jesus.
Remember that Jesus was always loving, Jesus was always full of grace.
But Jesus was also truthful, but he was loving in the midst of telling the truth.
He didn’t look down on people.
The only people that he had any kind of confrontational dealings were with the ultra religious; those who put themselves on a pedestal and thought of themselves higher than and better than everyone else.
Those happened to be, sadly, the religious leaders of the day.
And Jesus was still loving to them while at the same time he was telling them truth.
Pastor Rick Warren of Saddleback Church in California spoke up about an issue with a gay marriage proposition in his state.
He spoke against it because he believes, as I believe that the bible teaches that marriage is defined by one man and one woman.
The gay community crucified him.
They protested his church, they demonstrated outside of his services on Sunday mornings and yelled and had signs and you know what Rick Warren did?
He told his volunteers to go out there and give them donuts and water.
He was loving them the best way that he could.
He was loving them while he was telling the truth.
He was loving the people while still standing for truth.
That is the most powerful thing a Christian can do.
So the loving thing is telling the truth.
But you can love people even though the truth may be difficult to hear.
And so Jesus’ way of life, the example that Jesus lived out was one of love and mercy.
That is what we need to do as Christians.
Yes, we need to tell the truth, but we do it in love.
“the life of brotherly love constitutes an essential aspect of the worship which Christians must render to God; without brotherly love, there is no authentic worship” (138).
We give respect and dignity to people, we don’t treat them like they have a disease, even if they have a disease, but we still love them.
And brotherly love isn’t just words, it isn’t just saying, I love you, or I pray that all goes well with you, brotherly love is lived out.
2 Hospitality to strangers
Verse 2 talks gives advice in showing hospitality to strangers.
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
2 Hospitality to strangers
The world of long ago gave special honor to hospitality.
The world of long ago gave special honor to hospitality.
This is love—not just spoken but displayed.
It’s easy to say I love you, but showing it, acting it out is a different story.
Hospitality is part of that acting out in love.
Hospitality could be for a stranger, but could also be for a brother or sister in Christ.
(One who you know well or not at all.)
The sense in which the writer of Hebrews is talking probably has to do with hospitality for those who are in the faith, other Christians.
In the first century, if you travelled, you really didn’t want to stay anywhere but with a friend.
Inns, hotels, whatever you want to call them were horrible places.
They were dirty, they were overpriced and were usually most of the time brothels.
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