Kingdom Life On Earth

As we get kicked off this morning, I want to share with you something that God spoke about this week that was really good for me and I think it will be for you as well.

I shared with you guys last week that in the midst of all the crazy of the previous week, I messed up and it really hit me hard.

I lashed out at someone in anger and not only was it wrong, but I was a horrible example of a Christ-follower.

I’ll be honest with you, it’s been a long time since I have felt that bad about something.

It took me a few days to get over it and the shame still lingered a few days after that.

I understood at the moment that I asked for forgiveness, both to the person and to God, that I was forgiven, but I still had to deal with the effects of my sin.

The next week, for life group we were reading chapter twenty-one in Gentle and Lowly and the author said this.

“When you sin, do a thorough job of repenting. Re-hate sin all over again.”

I can assure you, I did a thorough job of repenting, but it was that second sentence that got me.

It occurred to me that I don’t hate all my sin the way I hated my anger that day.

I’m sharing this experience with you this morning because it was a fresh perspective for me on my sin.

I think all people have a tendency to categorize sin and find justification for ones that we deem insignificant.

The question I have been asking myself is, why don’t I have all sin like I did that one?

I’ve been asking God this week to change how I feel about sin and to rid me of the tendency to justify some sin and abhor others.

I share this with you this morning because the author has been writing the church to try and keep them from sin by turning away from their faith.

I think that getting us to a place where we hate our sin is what God has been trying to do in His people all this time.

God wants us to feel the same way about sin as He does.

Last week we compared the experiences of God on Mt. Sinai versus Mt. Zion.

On Mt. Sinai, God revealed himself and caused everyone to fear him.

His purpose was to give the law and let Israel have his perspective on his holiness and their unrighteousness.

He gave the law so that they would know for certain what was sin and what was not.

On the contrary, Jesus brought about a different Mountain top experience.

Rather than fear, he brought joy because he has taken care of our sin.

He has poured out his righteousness on us.

Because of what Jesus has done, we get to decide how we are going to approach God.

We can approach him having dealt with our sin on our own or we can approach him having let Jesus deal with our sin.

If we have tried to do it ourselves, we must approach with fear because we will be judged and found wanting.

However, if we let Jesus take care of our sin problem, we can approach God with joy and confidence!

I ended last week with the challenge that we cannot hide the best part of ourselves from the people in our lives.

The best part of us is the part that is being conformed into Jesus’ likeness as we obey what he says.

Today, as we begin the last chapter of Hebrews, we are going to see the author give a similar challenge to the churches.

We are going to see him exhort the church to live the way Jesus lived.

In living like Jesus, we get to experience Kingdom life on Earth.

Let’s read verses 1-6 and then we will look at five distinct ways that he is encouraging the church.

Hebrews 13:1–6 CSB

1 Let brotherly love continue. 2 Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. 3 Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily. 4 Marriage is to be honored by all and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterers. 5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you. 6 Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

1. Continue Loving One Another

Don’t be fooled by this seemingly simple challenge.

Let’s look at a couple of cross-references to see what is involved in this challenge to continue brotherly love.

Romans 12:10 CSB

10 Love one another deeply as brothers and sisters. Take the lead in honoring one another.

You may recall Glen teaching or mentioning this passage in the past.

Consider what it means to “take the lead in honoring one another.”

As Christ-followers, we are to love, not in response to how we are loved by others, but to take the lead in love.

We set the bar of what it means to love by loving the way Jesus did.

Spoiler alert, we are going to spend quite a bit of time talking about that after this series.

To use myself as an example of what not to do, when I lost my temper a few weeks ago, I did not love as Jesus did.

I met anger with anger, when Jesus teaches that we are to meet anger with love.

There is a tendency in our culture to respond in the same tone or tendency as someone else.

Paul is telling us in Romans that we are to be the ones that set that tone but to set it by loving one another in a way that honors the person and God.

Peter expresses a similar challenge.

1 Peter 1:22 CSB

22 Since you have purified yourselves by your obedience to the truth, so that you show sincere brotherly love for each other, from a pure heart love one another constantly,

Not only are we to love to the degree that Jesus did, but we are to do it constantly.

There are no days off when it comes to obeying Jesus’ command to love one another.

John 13:34 CSB

34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.

Jesus’ whole life revolved around abiding in the father and his father had him focused on revealing His nature to the world.

Jesus did this by loving everyone he came into contact with.

It may frighten you to think that we are called to love to the level that Jesus did, but it is only frightening if we are considering doing it in our own power.

1 John 4:7 CSB

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.

Because we know God, we love.

It is through our abiding relationship that we are used by God to love the world in the same way He used Jesus as He abided in the Father.

It is the power of God on display, not us.

2. Show Hospitality

Hebrews 13:2 CSB

2 Don’t neglect to show hospitality, for by doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it.

This is a lot bigger than just being a good host when you have someone in your home.

Hospitality is about taking care of people and it is the natural response to loving someone.

As you know, Big Luke was in town two weeks ago and he was staying in a hotel while he was here.

Before you give me a hard time on this point of showing hospitality, we don’t have a guest room and I offered our coach, but he preferred a hotel.

My point is, that while he was here, we did what comes naturally to people here in the south.

We fed him.

Just about every night he was here we cooked a huge meal and he came over and ate until he was full as a tick and then we were able to send him back to his room with leftovers for lunch the next day.

I’m not sharing this to pat myself on my back, I’m sharing this because it was a natural response to him being in town.

How many of you, when you go home to your parents' house, are treated to a home-cooked meal?

Parents do that kind of thing because they love their children.

When we are abiding, our natural response to those that are in need is going to be to help them.

Look at this story from Abraham’s life.

Genesis 18:1–8 CSB

1 The Lord appeared to Abraham at the oaks of Mamre while he was sitting at the entrance of his tent during the heat of the day. 2 He looked up, and he saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, bowed to the ground, 3 and said, “My lord, if I have found favor with you, please do not go on past your servant. 4 Let a little water be brought, that you may wash your feet and rest yourselves under the tree. 5 I will bring a bit of bread so that you may strengthen yourselves. This is why you have passed your servant’s way. Later, you can continue on.” “Yes,” they replied, “do as you have said.” 6 So Abraham hurried into the tent and said to Sarah, “Quick! Knead three measures of fine flour and make bread.” 7 Abraham ran to the herd and got a tender, choice calf. He gave it to a young man, who hurried to prepare it. 8 Then Abraham took curds and milk, as well as the calf that he had prepared, and set them before the men. He served them as they ate under the tree.

Upon seeing these three men, who were apparently wandering in the wilderness (Abraham live as a Nomad and followed the best places for his flocks to graze), Abraham welcomed them into the shade of his tent and took care of their needs.

It was a good call on his part because they were the ones that told Sarah that she would have a son.

Again, taking care of others is the response, not of obligation, but of a person who loves God.

Matthew 25:31–40 CSB

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 35 “ ‘For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat; I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink; I was a stranger and you took me in; 36 I was naked and you clothed me; I was sick and you took care of me; I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and take you in, or without clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick, or in prison, and visit you?’ 40 “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

When we are loving others and caring for them, it is bigger than just meeting their needs.

All people are image-bearers of God and loved by him and when we care for those that God cares for, we are loving God as well.

3. Have Sympathy For Those In Trouble

Hebrews 13:3 CSB

3 Remember those in prison, as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily.

This is very similar to point number two about caring for one another.

But, prison, in the time of Roman occupation was quite different than it is today.

Even the basic needs, of food and water, were not provided for prisoners.

This call to care for those in prison was a call to keep them alive.

It is quite possible, based on some things that I read this week, that the author of Hebrews was in jail when he was writing this.

It was also possible that many of the church members had been or were in prison at the time of this writing.

This exhortation wasn’t just a one-off because the author had a soft spot for prisoners.

The threat of imprisonment was a normal part of being a follower of Jesus at this time.

The author is encouraging the church to not forget their brothers and sisters that were being persecuted and calling them to act boldly in the face of that persecution.

Caring for those in need is where the rubber hits the road.

It is the point in which we have to decide if we really believe the things we say we believe and will follow Christ in caring for those that are in great need.

Throughout our lives, we are going to have opportunities to help others who are not able to help themselves.

If we are not abiding daily we will either ignore the opportunity or flat out miss seeing it because our focus isn’t on walking with God.

We will talk about this more in the future, but one of the things that was distinctive about Jesus is that he seemed to see what other people did not.

He saw those that were in need that others ignored.

If we are to love like Jesus, we need to begin to not only see what He sees but to be driven by love into action.

4. Maintain Purity

I am going to keep this brief and vague because of the little ears.

Honoring our spouses and our relationship with them is of utmost importance.

How we handle these relationships has an impact on the church as a whole and on the lives of individuals.

A brief scan of the headlines of those caught up in not maintaining it is all the proof one needs to see how devastating it can be.

5. Be Content With What God Has Blessed You With

Hebrews 13:5 CSB

5 Keep your life free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have, for he himself has said, I will never leave you or abandon you.

God has proven time and time again in my life and in many of your lives that he is more than capable of providing for us.

Our church finances is a wonderful example of that.

God has shown over and over again what he can accomplish through this small body.

We are able to operate on such a slim budget and give spend so much in ministry because he provided this building and property and we don’t owe anything on it.

God has given us so much and there always exists the temptation to lean on our own ability to provide.

When we try to take back the reigns of our finances, it causes us to lose focus not only on our relationship with God but the work that he has called us to.

As Americans, we are driven by the need to have more and do more.

There is nothing inherently wrong with wanting more, but when it becomes the focus of our lives, it is in the place that Jesus should be.

This is a slippery slope that can quickly take over our lives.

Again we see the need for abiding.

As we spend time with God each day and let Him direct how we live and spend, we are going to be focused on God, not on stuff.

Being content also frees us up to be more willing to give as needs arise.

All of the things that the author addresses in this first part of chapter 13 require that we take the focus off of ourselves and put it on Jesus.

In doing so, we are able to interact with the world in the same ways that Jesus did.

Getting outside of ourselves and living in God’s Kingdom while we are here on earth reveals God’s love to a watching world.

After these five reminders, the author closes this thought on our personal lives with the reminder that we cannot do this on our own and we shouldn’t try to.

As the church members are hearing these things, there can be no doubt that they are concerned with what this might cost them.

They are living in fear of persecution and to live in the way that the author describes is no doubt going to bring attention to them.

Remember Callie talking about that last week.

When we live and love like Jesus, it is going to cause people to notice.

He closes this section with the reminder that they are not alone in this.

God is with them and is their helper and protector.

Hebrews 13:6 CSB

6 Therefore, we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?

We can live with the same confidence.

As we live like Jesus and reorient our lives so that we can love and care for one another as Jesus did, people are going to notice.

Sometimes that attention will feel good and sometimes it won’t.

Most of the time, you probably won’t know how someone will react until you act.

When that fear approaches, remember that you are not alone.

You are abiding in Christ and He will be all that you need.

Don’t be concerned with how people will respond.

That part isn’t up to you and their response isn’t necessarily a reflection of anything you did.

Success is found in abiding, not in the responses.

As followers of Jesus, we are living in the Kingdom of God while we are here on earth.

Let’s spend our time focusing on an abiding relationship with Jesus and let Him lead us.

Let’s pray.

Announcements:

Vision Sunday, Feb 27th. Make plans to be here.

Network Updates are in process - Glen had a wonderful trip to Iceland and was in Lake Charles yesterday meeting with a group discussing a new church plant.