Sermon Tone Analysis

Have you ever played “H.O.R.S.E.”? That’s the basketball game that can be played with 2 or more people where one person shoots a basket, if they make it others have to follow.

If someone misses, they get a letter.

Once they get all the letters that spell horse, then they are out.

It’s a fun game because it doesn’t require a ton of skill.

Sometimes, people will get creative - Dr. J hook shots, behind the back, eyes closed, swish, spin, long shots, non-dominant hand shots.

In the case of the game, you want to make it as difficult as possible for those who are following you.

When it comes to life in the church, we want to have...

Leaders Worth Following

Not because they make it difficult - but because they make it consistent and livable.

Last week, when we considered some of the elements of acceptable worship - we talked about what it looks like in community - love, and individually - contentment.

As the writer of Hebrews is closing his argument on the supremacy of Christ, he brings up one other element of communal life - leadership.

In God’s wisdom, he calls various people to be in the role of Spiritual Leaders in our lives.

Some for a short time.

Some for longer.

There is a sense in which we can immediately look at the verses that we are considering today and immediately think that this refers to pastors or elders.

In a way it does, but this passage is not limited to the people who fill those offices.

The qualifier is the leaders who “spoke to you the word of God.” Essentially, in my opinion, this includes Sunday School teachers, Bible Study leaders, mentors/disciplers, biblical-spiritual guides, small group leaders, pastors, elders, parents and more.

As we reflect on “acceptable worship” as it pertains to our relationship with leaders, we are going to consider three types of leaders - past, peculiar, and present.

Let’s begin where our passage starts things off with...

Past Leaders (Heb.

13:7-8)

All of us have some sort of spiritual origin story.

For many of us, that story begins with our parents.

I know for me, my parents were significant spiritual leaders in my life.

Not because they were spiritual giants, but because they were and are faithful followers of Christ.

From my earliest days of life, being a part of a church was a value.

They worked to expose me to the truth of the bible, the Gospel, and other spiritual leaders.

I’ve lost track of their names, but I must have had dozens of Sunday School teachers - one of whom said something in Sunday School that led me to ask my dad later that night how to become a Christian.

Her words were catalytic in my conversion.

There have been several pastors, youth leaders, Bible teachers, professors, and more in my life who have had an impact on my spiritual life.

Regarding these people, the writer of Hebrews urges us:

He gives us three commands regarding these leaders.

First, we’ are urged to...

Remember them and their teaching

One of the volunteers in the youth ministry had a profound impact in my life.

As a young 6th grader, I had just started in the youth group and had just started learning guitar at school.

I had expressed an interest in learning more.

Dave Grubic invited me to play with him some.

I could barely play, but he had me join him in leading the group.

It wasn’t long before I was able to lead on my own.

I also still remember one of the youth talks he gave from Galatians 6:7-9 “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.

For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” - as he challenged us to sow seeds in our lives that reap an eternal harvest and to not be deceived about the reality of God in our lives.

Dave, among may others, “spoke to [me] the word of God.”

Time and short memories may prompt us to forget some people’s names, but their teaching should live on in our lives - especially teaching about God, humanity, Jesus, our sin, and how we can live faithfully.

Consider summarizing: G.O.S.P.E.L -

But not only are we to remember them and their teaching, we are to...

Reflect on their lives

Our faith should be able to be lived out, and for the long haul.

No leader will be perfect and some will fall away, but there should be a consistency between what they taught and how they live.

If they are truly submitted to Christ and to what they taught, then we should see that in how they live, how they treat their family members, how they work.

Can we see long-term fruit in their lives?

Thirdly, the writer of Hebrews urges us to...

Replicate their faith

He specifically says, “imitate their faith.”

Let them model for you how faith is lived.

Consider

their habits - is there a regular routine of bible reading, prayer, fellowship with other believers,

their service - how did they serve the Lord?

Did they use their gifts and talents to be a blessing or to garner praise for themselves?

their attitude - especially in the midst of suffering - how do they respond to challenges, successes, everyday life

These leaders who spoke the word of God to us, spoke timeless truths and are consistently livable, which I think is part of why he concludes this section with the statement: “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever.”

The Message paraphrase states these two verses in this way:

So we need to be able to look back.

But the writer of Hebrews makes a bit of a change in the next several verses as he warns us about...

Peculiar Leaders (Heb.

13:9-16)

Now these are not necessarily quirky people - but these are leaders who are introducing strange and contrary teachings - especially about Jesus.

It’s important for us to be reminded that the first century hearers of this message were primarily Jewish background believers.

Many of those had likely grown up in a sacrificial religious system that included eating certain foods and abstaining from others.

The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus changed all of that.

He paid the sacrifice - so no more sacrifices are needed.

He declared all foods to be clean.

As we have said before, there were some unbelieving Jews who were pressuring believers to return to the ways of the old covenant, the former sacrificial system.

We may not have leaders pressuring us in the same way, but we do have peculiar leaders who are introducing doctrines, world views, ways of thinking, and more that are contrary to the Word of God.

For us and the first century audience, the writer of Hebrews gives this charge:

Resist their teaching

He gets into some technical things about the sacrificial system, but he begins with this statement:

Have you ever been white water rafting or tubing on one of those lazy rivers?

There are times when the current in which we are floating takes control an we have little to no ability to change course.

We are easily “led” the way that the water would have us go.

The verb that is translated “ do not be led away” has with it the connotation of being caught up in the flow of their “diverse and strange teachings” like we would be caught up in the flow of water.

Our society is full of currents that are bombarding us daily.

Whether it is views on social and racial matters, political action points, climate change, revising history, or any number of other teachings - the currents in our society are strong and frequent.

The charge is to resist - to not be led away, but how?

If we think about white water rafting, we may be able to paddle backwards or navigate around some of the trickiest obstacles, but we are still flowing down stream.

What we need is an anchor point.

To this end, the writer of Hebrews challenges us to...

Remain with Jesus

Let him be our anchor.

Get out of the flow, and get with Jesus.

Now, again, at the beginning of these verses, the writer is addressing some sacrificial things in verses 9-10, to which he responds:

There is a temptation that we have of making our faith private and secretive.

We may fear that fully identifying with Jesus will make life difficult.

It very well may be more difficult than getting swept up into the flow, but we have to keep an eternal view.

We are not simply fighting for peace and tranquility now, we are living for the rewards of a “city that is to come,” an eternal city.

By remaining with Jesus, we are offering sacrifices, but not in the way that the old covenant required.

The sacrifices of praise that we offer include:

Proclaiming Him with our words - willingly confessing that we are his and he is ours.

We don’t have to be strange or quirky about it, but we can let our standing be known by acknowledging his name with our lips (Heb.

13:15).

But we can also remain by...

Proclaiming him with our deeds - the gracious salvation that we have received from Jesus should impact how we treat others - doing good and being generous.