Monday, October 5 –
It’s the beginning of the workweek, and we’re finishing
another New Testament book today. Our
reading is in the last chapter of Hebrews 13:1 – 25. I hope you can come back after reading the
text and take a second look with me.
We come to the end of this intense letter – Hebrews. The journey has been full of challenges,
especially with all of the Old Testament references. Still, hopefully, we have
gained some insight into how Jesus fulfilled so many of the Old Testament
symbols. This last chapter is the
author’s last chance to address them, and every time I read this letter and
come to the end, I have to smile. Why?
Because of his words in the final verses where he says – “I appeal to
you, brothers, bear with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you
briefly” (13:22)! What he considers
brief gives you and I insight into all that he still wanted to say. Yet, in the end, he makes a lot of different
brief statements – commands if you will – that seem to be unrelated. I call this the Chili section of Hebrews, a
little of this, a little of that, find whatever is leftover, and add it to the
pot!
He begins with several short commands:
“Let brotherly love continue” (13:1).
“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have
entertained angels unawares” (13:2).
“Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who
are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (13:3).
“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be
undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (13:4).
“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for
he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you’” (13:5).
Now, what do they have to do with each other?
Life in the church that is hospitable, caring for Christians who were
put in prison, the sanctity of marriage, and the warning of the idolatry of
wealth. The commands represent a
commitment to be God’s people, having faith in Christ, and love for people, as
well as contentment for life without being driven. He had spent plenty of time warning them of
not drifting or falling away from grace, and now he reminds them that Jesus had
promised he would never leave them. It
seems the values of the Kingdom are a reminder that God’s priorities are often
much different than the world around us.
He adds a couple of important notes:
“So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what
can man do to me?” Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word
of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever (13:6-8).
Sandwiched in between the faithfulness of God and the steadfastness of Jesus,
he reminds them that God appoints Pastoral leaders. So give them respect and honor when it is
deserved. It’s not an add-in. He has
talked about the graces God provides, and despite leaders who don’t live up to
their call, most pastoral leaders are faithful to fulfill the work God has
called them to. A few verses later, he
adds -
“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your
souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and
not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you” (13:17). The word “obey” is often not a welcomed
word in our culture. Yet, the position
of leader carries with it an authority to lead.
Submission has to be a choice, an act of grace to trust in God at work
in those leading. Pastors carry a heavy load;
one, the author says, is “keeping watch over your souls…” It is a serious business to care for the
church's eternal souls. One that no
Pastor should take lightly. In verse 7,
he appeals to consider their lives, imitate, or learn from their leaders’ faith
and faithfulness. Verse 8, concerning
Christ’s steadfast faithfulness, is a reminder that Jesus is still the central
message of the Church. Put those two
together, and we see that it is the Worship of Christ, and the Word of God,
that remain essential pillars of the church’s life, and the leader’s chief
responsibility.
Loyalty to Christ and a prayerful submission to pastoral
leaders is crucial to spot the genuine from the fake - “Do not be led away
by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be
strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to
them” (13:9).
We don’t often consider the need for wise leaders to spot the false
teachings. The early church battled to
maintain the teaching of “salvation by grace through faith” and gave no room
for the legalism that wanted to add to the Gospel. The Gospel maintains that Jesus Christ
accomplished all that is necessary to secure our salvation. This is why he adds these words -
“We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat.
For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy
places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through
his own blood. Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the
reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the
city that is to come. Through him then let us continually offer up a
sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his
name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such
sacrifices are pleasing to God” (13:10-16).
The “tent” refers to the Old Testament Tabernacle/Temple worship. The sacrifices were part of that worship, but
ineffective in securing anything permanent.
Yet, Jesus came to suffer and die for us (“bear the reproach he
endured”). The Old Covenant has been
set aside, and the New Covenant, based on Jesus’ suffering, death,
resurrection, and ascension, remind us Christ alone is all that we need. To Him belongs praise to God, lips that
confess and praise His name. Those are
the sacrifices that are pleasing to God.
He ends with a request for their prayers for Him, and the
others with Him -
“Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to
act honorably in all things. I urge you the more earnestly to do this in
order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
A benediction of God’s peace and His prayers for them – “Now
may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great
shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you
with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is
pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen.
And, a final farewell – “I appeal to you, brothers, bear
with my word of exhortation, for I have written to you briefly. You
should know that our brother Timothy has been released, with whom I shall see
you if he comes soon. Greet all your leaders and all the saints. Those
who come from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with all of you” (13:18-25).
The “brief word of exhortation” – again – makes me
smile. Reading the letter to the Hebrew
in any early church would have taken over an hour. The author loves these people – their
struggles and all – and there has been an old tradition that said the letter to
the Hebrews was a sermon used in various Jewish-Christian churches. It is a masterpiece of Old Testament interpretation
with theological and doctrinal teaching.
Whether a sermon or not, Hebrews belongs to the church as a reminder of
Jesus’ person and work, and the new covenant age we live in.
Hebrews is the only letter in the New Testament in which the
author is unknown. Because he mentions
Timothy, many thought it was Paul. Yet,
there are stylistic differences in Paul’s letters from the letter to the
Hebrews. It makes no difference who
wrote it, because the letter to the Hebrews exalts Jesus as our Prophet,
Priest, and King. He ends with the words,
“Grace be with all of you.” It is
the Gospel's theme, and he had made it a priority in understanding how we come
to God through Christ Jesus. We come to
Christ by Grace through Faith, but that is not where New Covenant life ends –
it is only the beginning. We hear the
words, and receive them, when we say to ourselves, “For you have need of
endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is
promised. For, ‘Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will
not delay; but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks
back, my soul has no pleasure in him.’ But we are not of those who shrink
back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls (10:36-39).
Peace
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