Love, Hold, and Remember: Final Instructions for Following Jesus (Hebrews 13)

INTRO

Imagine sitting down to write a nearly 5,000 word letter to people you care much about. You’ve explained some of the most important things about their faith, and how Jesus is the fulfillment of all they knew and believe about the Old Covenant.

You’ve encouraged them to continue living in the freedom and righteousness of Christ, and as you come to an end, you want to leave some reminders of how they should continue to live out their faith.

That’s what the author of Hebrews is doing.

V.1-19 are some final remarks of application—how to live out their faith; then

v20-21 is a blessing or benediction;

v.22-25 is a final greeting to the community, including a mention of Timothy and some believers in Italy.

I want to start by looking at the benediction because I think it gives us the purpose of these final remarks and really a theme throughout the whole letter. [READ v.20-21]

Acknowledges the resurrection; Jesus as the Great Shepherd; the blood of the eternal covenant—> all major themes in this letter— all important to our faith and belief.

Gives the purpose— that the saints may be equipped with everything good to do the will of God; that it may be pleasing to God, and would result in glorifying God.

I think it can be helpful to view these final remarks through this purpose.

Love toward Saints (v.1)

Just a very short reminder— 4 English words. But lots of powerful reminders:

There is no distinction any longer between Jew and Gentile under the New Covenant. There are now brothers and sisters.

The body of Christ is a family. Brother indicates this. When you are born again, you enter a family. You have a lot of brothers and sisters.

The predominant characteristic of the familial relationship is to be love. It’s a command throughout most of the NT.

Continue means this love has been seen before. In fact, it’s noted in Hebrew 6:10. But don’t we all need the reminder to love others? Our flesh is so prone not to.

Love toward Strangers (v.2)

Then v.2 instructs that love to extend beyond the Church family. We are to love, or show hospitality toward strangers. You might even be entertaining an angel— that sounds strange maybe, but we don’t always realize who we are extending hospitality to.

There are born-again Hebrew people—they might remember Genesis 18 when Abraham welcomed 3 men in Mamre, one who turned out to be Yahweh himself.

Hospitality is difficult for some today. The idea of being open and sharing your resources and life with others. But also think about how hospitality can be part of the mission of the church.

I want to encourage you to look into the writings and testimony of Rosaria Butterfield. She did her PhD at OSU, then went on to become a professor of English and women’s studies at Syracuse University. During that time, she was as far left as you could be at that point, promoting feminist movements and living actively in a lesbian lifestyle. She eventually was saved when she confronted the Lord through Scripture, but that came about through the hospitality of a pastor and his wife whom she knew. They would invite her in their home even though they had very different beliefs and opinions. She was saved, left lesbianism, and eventually became the wife of a presbyterian pastor, raising her children. She is one of the most thoughtful and convicting writers on the topic of homosexuality because she knows what it is like to be rescued from that lifestyle of sin.

Her book titled “The Gospel Comes With A House Key” will challenge your idea of hospitality—she claims that it is not just fellowship with those who think just like us. But hospitality extends even to strangers, because they might even be a stranger to the Lord. [show a picture of this book on the screen]

Love toward Prisoners (v.3)

Then we see love to be extended toward prisoners. And the motivation of your heart is challenged here--- we are to empathize with the prisoner— “as though in prison with them.”

It’s so easy to think negatively toward a prisoner— they got what they deserve— instead of realizing that their time in prison might be the time they needed to be humbled and even meet the Lord.

Look no further than Charles Colson. Chuck Colson was an advisor to President Nixon who was convicted for his role in the Watergate Scandal and served time in prison. He came to know Christ and eventually started Prison Fellowship, which has been the instrument God used to bring salvation to many people.

I picked up a biography of Colson a couple years ago. I read parts of it and was shocked at how his purpose changed after his incarceration. He truly knew how to empathize with the prisoner, and this drove him to minister to others.

Some of the prisoners being referred to by the writer of Hebrews were likely other believers, those in the body, who were imprisoned because of their faith.

Whatever reason a person has for being in prison, remember them. Pray for them, minister to them.

We move from loving to holding now. Two things we need to hold:

Hold Marriage in Honor (v.4)

There shouldn’t be much commentary needed with this verse. But let me say a few things--

“Among all”— there is not much other description given to who all are. But Christians should honor marriage, promote it publicly and privately, as a witness to the world. Too often, marriage is spoken of in negative ways— telling a groom that his life is about to end or some who will encourage others to leave a marriage and not fight for it.

But this a positive statement—honor marriage. And all people should honor marriage, and keep the marriage bed undefiled. Meaning that there is a right and holy purpose for sexual relations, and that is only within a marriage. That is directly contrasting the unrighteousness of sexual immorality and adultery that is listed next— sexual immorality and adultery come when marriage is not honored.

“By all”. I think this application is appropriate— In recent years, our country has not honored marriage. Starting in 2012, when the arguments began for what would later in 2015 be the Obergefell Decision by the Supreme Court that would require all of the states to perform and recognize same-sex marriages, some of us were very uncomfortable with what was really happening— people were trying to redefine marriage, which is not an institution of man, but an institution of God. And the redefinition was largely based around the idea of love.

Some of us were saying then that if this played out the way it did in the Supreme Court, then anything is going to have to be permissible eventually according to this new logic. If love is the definition, then watch out for the legalization of all kinds of things that are going to have to be allowed too. And we’re still seeing a growing movement toward making pedophilia and bestiality seem like normal. As long as its love, they say.

When marriage is dishonored, the path is paved for all kinds of sexual immorality. Think about how you talk about marriage—your own marriage even— and how you help others who might be struggling in marriage. Let’s honor it.

Hold Money Loosely (v.5-6)

Just one point here that is so helpful— contentment comes by recognizing God’s presence and help. That’s what v.5-6 teach us. When we forgot is with us and we forget to depend on him, we’ll start depending on ourselves and we’ll strive to build our kingdoms.

We move from holding now to remembering. 3 categories of what we are to remember:

Remember Your Leaders (v.7)

An interesting command- remember. Why not honor or obey (like in v.17)?

Remember is looking back. There have been teachers, preachers, people who’ve discipled us— look back at their example—their way of life, and imitate them.

Remember Your Savior (v.8)

Here’s a coffee mug verse [bonus points if you find a picture of a coffee mug with this verse on it and make a slide]!

It almost seems like this little nugget tucked into all these seemingly unrelated final remarks. But not at all.

The fact that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever is why we need to heed these instructions to stay committed to the Word of God and ways of Christ.

Think of how interesting this truth is to a Hebrew believer who now can see that Jesus has always been (yesterday) all throughout their OT. He is with them now (today), and therefore, His Word will be the standard for all eternity (forever).

Since that is true...

Remember Your Spiritual Roots (v.9-19)

Diverse and strange teachings

Old Covenant dietary laws brought back up. Reminding them that grace of Jesus, through His blood of the New Covenant, has fulfilled that Old Covenant. Our strength comes from that grace.

The altar in v.10 is the cross of Christ—this alter is superior to the alter where animals were sacrificed in the Old Covenant system.

V.11 is a reference to what happened on the Day of Atonement that is described in Lev. 16. V.27 says that the goat used in the sacrifice must be taken outside of the camp and burned up, so it would not defile the camp.

Incredible that Jesus’ death and resurrection followed this same pattern. Jesus carried his cross outside of the camp—outside of Jerusalem— to Golgotha and was crucified there. He was also buried outside of the camp.

But it was not done this way just so that Jerusalem did not become defiled. Jesus was crucified and buried that all could be cleansed from their sin and made righteous before the Father.

If we really believe in the death and resurrection of Jesus, then we know it changes lives. We know that it is the hope for all people.

Then we need to live like it! The benediction (v.20-21) needs to be true in our lives. We are equipped with everything we need to do His will, so let’s please Him in all we do.