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Such
A Superior Life
Hebrew 13:1-25 Rev.
Tim Muse Subj:
Praise, Fruit, Love, Sacrifice Introduction
Let
me invite you now take your Bibles and turn in them to Hebrews Chapter 13.
This morning’s sermon, though it is a two-part sermon which will
continue this evening, is the last of seventeen sermons in a series
entitled “Hebrews, New Confidence For The New Order, Responding In Faith
To Such A Great Salvation.” We have been in this study for several months.
It has been a blessing to me and I hope and trust that it has been
to you as a congregation and as individuals as well.
My hope is that through this study each of you have been brought to
a greater understanding and conviction concerning the superiority not only
of Jesus Christ himself, but the superiority of the new covenant.
My hope is that through this study you have been brought to a
greater level of sobriety concerning the need for taking the word of God
seriously, particularly in light of the fact that it has been revealed to
us by God’s own son. Then
finally my hope is that you been brought to a greater sense of expectancy
and faithfulness, as we have been encouraged to faithful and persistent
living both through the exhortation and the example of others.
This
morning as we continue in our study, I remind you that in Chapter 12 we
said that our response to the grace that God has given to us is incredibly
important. With that in
mind I would like to read for you the first six (6) verses of Chapter 13
and then we will drop down to verses 15 and 16, and then tonight we will
come back and look at the remainder of the Chapter. Scripture
Reading “1Keep
on loving each other as brothers. 2Do not forget to entertain
strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without
knowing it. 3Remember those in prison as if you were their
fellow prisoners, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were
suffering. 4Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage
bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually
immoral. 5Keep your lives free from the love of money and be
content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave
you; never will I forsake you.” 6So
we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?” …
“15Through
Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of
praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. 16And do not
forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God
is pleased.” Prayer
Our
heavenly Father, you have shown us that because of your great grace to us
we have all the more reason and responsibility to worship you and to live
our lives to the glory and the honor of your name.
May you enable us to today to understand our service to you.
May you enable us to understand that our service before you
involves much more than just acknowledging or even assenting to the truths
of your word. May you to
teach us what it means to truly worship and serve you in ways that are
acceptable and pleasing before you. Father,
may you provide for us both the motivation and the direction that we may
be best equipped for participating and persisting in such service, even at
times when temptation and tribulation come our way.
These things we pray in Jesus name, Amen. Sermon
Have
you ever heard the expression: “You know that person is so heavenly
minded they seem to be of no earthly good.”
You and I know what that means.
It’s the person who tries to act so religious and so spiritual
that they have got their minds so caught up in the things of the future
world, they are really of no use … not even to the Lord or to others
here on this earth. What we
find as we come to the last chapter of Hebrews is the opposite of that
ought to be true of us. If we
have been enabled and if we have entered into the presence of God by the
blood of Jesus and having experienced both God and his promises then we
ought to be better equipped and better motivated for living lives that are
pleasing to God here on this earth. Don’t
get me wrong. There is
nothing wrong with learning and growing in our knowledge and experience of
God and with proclaiming our allegiance to him and defending the great
doctrines of the faith. There
is nothing wrong with that! In
fact we see that in verse 15. There
we read: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a
sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name.”
You see you and I are to acknowledge God and we are to follow Him
and we are to confess his name in every area of our lives.
Not only is there nothing wrong with it, but we are to do that. But here is where this message begins. That’s not the end. It
doesn’t end, there does it? For
you see if you go on to verse 16, the very first word says: “And”
meaning not only are we to assent to the knowledge and truth concerning
God and confess his name, even by defending the doctrines of the faith.
It goes on to say in v. 16: “And do not forget to do good and to
share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
You see the truth of the matter is you and I as well are to put our
faith into practice here upon the earth.
That’s what we see in v. 15.
We see there that believers are to continually offer to
God a sacrifice of praise.
There are three fruits that are included in this sacrifice.
Not only the fruit of confessing the name of Christ but also the
two fruits of doing good and sharing with others.
You
know as simple as this is it seems to be foreign to so many people.
I say that not because of the life situations here within this
church, though we will see this passage has a lot to say to us here.
I begin there because there are so many theologians that look at
Hebrews Chapter 13 and say that it doesn’t fit, it doesn’t match with
the rest of Hebrews; therefore, it cannot be authentic.
It has to have come at a latter time and possibly have been written
by a different author but it really has nothing to do with the rest of the
Book of Hebrews. Many
theologians say that. Their
argument would go something like this.
If you will remember two weeks ago when we looked at Chapter 12 the
writer of Hebrews drew us into the presence of God, himself.
He drew us into heaven. If
you remember Hebrews Chapter 12, in v. 18 we read: “You have not come to
a mountain that can be touched.” Verse
22: “But you have come to Mount Zion,” You have come: “to the
heavenly Jerusalem.” “You
have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly,” You
have come to the church. The
firstborn, you have come to the church of those whose lives have been made
right and so forth and in the end it comes and says: “You have come to
God,” You have come to heaven. You
have come to the place of the ultimate celebration and fellowship with
God, himself. You have come to God, himself, to Christ and to the blood that
redeems. So their argument
would be there is no way that the writer would leave heaven itself to come
down, come back to earth to talk about the daily duties of Jesus’
disciples. They say it is to
anti-climatic to leave such a worthy and heavenly subject to come back
down here to discuss our daily duties.
But isn’t that what we find all throughout the Book of Hebrews.
Think about it. Hebrews
2:2… following Chapter 1
where it discusses the divinity of Christ and his present reign and power
in heaven above. It comes
back down to say: “ For if the message spoken by angels was binding, and
every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how shall
we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?”
It talks about violations. It
talks about disobedience. It goes from Christ in heaven and it talks about
his present rule and it comes back down to earth to talk about our need to
conform to God’s word and to be obedient.
Heb 9:14: “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our
consciences from acts that lead to death,” Why?
So that we may serve the living God.
It talks about the great redemption that we have.
It says why have we been redeemed, that we might serve the living
God. If that weren’t enough
Heb 10:19ff “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the
Most Holy Place.” You and I
to enter heaven itself “by the blood of Jesus,” Verse 22: “let us
draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith,” Verse
23: “Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who
promised is faithful.” Verse
24: “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and
good deeds.” It speaks in
Chapter 10 of heaven, itself and it comes back to our duties here upon
this earth. Hebrews 12:28,
just prior to Chapter 13: “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom
that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God,” You know
what the Greek word for worship there is?
Latreuô.
Which means to serve. In
other words, in Chapter 12 at the very end, this very same passage that
theologians will say it draw us into the very presence of God, that very
chapter says because we have received such a kingdom, let us so worship or
serve God, “ acceptably with reverence and awe,” So we come to Chapter
13 and it discusses that service and how we are to serve God.
The point being this. There
is a direct relationship between being convinced of God’s truth and
being strengthened with confidence by the presence of God and by his
promises and being compelled by God’s grace in our own gratitude to
keeping the commandments that God commands to us in this life.
This
is not something that we do once a week or when we go to church, but
something that we are to do all day, every day of our lives.
Look at v. 15. What
does it say? It says: “therefore, let us continually offer to God a
sacrifice of praise,” Our
entire lives are to be a sacrifice of praise before God.
As we put it here in the South.
Our entire lives are to be one big sacrifice of praise before God.
Unlike
the practices of other religions, who simply look to a certain time when
they put their blankets on the ground and they begin to offer up drinks
and fruits and other types of things to God.
Unlike those who simply set aside special times for praise, our
entire lives are to be a sacrifice of praise.
The
question is HOW? How in light of Heb 12:28, how do we worship or serve God
acceptably, with reverence and awe? How
do we do that? Or as Heb
13:15 puts it, how do we continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise?
We are called to do it. Verse
15 says it right out: “let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of
praise.” How do we do that? I
want to provide you with two reasons this morning, two proofs for that and
then tonight we will look to the third.
We do it first of all by offering a sacrifice by the means that God
provides. Secondly, by
offering a sacrifice that God produces and finally by offering a sacrifice
according to the power and protection of God grace.
Let’s look at the first. They
way you and I do it is by offering a sacrifice BY THE MEANS THAT GOD
PROVIDES. Look at the first
two words in verse 15. There
we read: “Through Jesus,” …he is the means. “Through Jesus,
therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice.”
“offer to God a sacrifice of praise.” You see it is at this
very point that the Christian faith differs from every other religion in
the world. I think the
easiest way to show this is to draw your attention to the type of
sacrifice that we are to offer before God. Look at v. 15 again. Not
only does it say: “Through Jesus, therefore” but it goes on to say:
“let us continually offer to God a sacrifice,” of what? “A sacrifice of praise.”
I
know of a man who gave a pretty good-sized gift to another individual a
few months ago and actually helped him pay off quite a few significant
bills that he himself did not have the ability to pay.
As the recipient of that gift called the donor of the gift, I
understand that the recipient told the donor: “You know I don’t know
what to say.” “I don’t
know how to thank you.” At
which point the donor of the gift responded by saying: “Don’t say
anything, just say thank you.” “You
don’t have to pay me back, you don’t have to try to pay for it
yourself, just say thank you and go on.”
Why
do I begin there? I begin
there because this is exactly what God does for us in our salvation.
God doesn’t ask us as sinful human beings to bring sacrifices
before Him in order to merit his blessing, or in order to receive the
forgiveness of our sins. He
doesn’t do that. For at
best, our best works are like “filthy rage” before God, being
unacceptable before Him. God provided for that through the sacrifice, the bloody and
bodily sacrifice of Jesus Christ, himself.
He has already provided for that.
He doesn’t say you and I are to bring, in order to receive the
forgiveness for our sins, rather He says I ask you to bring the
“sacrifice of praise.” In
other words, we are not to bring the sacrifice itself that’s offered in
order for the forgiveness of sins, but you and I are to come before the
Lord and say thank you(a response), praise be to your name because you
have provided for that sacrifice. The
way we do that is by offering the fruit of our lives.
Not only confessing his name before others but doing good to
others. In other words saying
thank you God, by confessing his name, but by saying thank you God, by
doing good and sharing with others. You
see God doesn’t ask us to offer sacrifices that are pleasing to him, we
can’t do that; rather he provides the sacrifice necessary for our
salvation and he calls us to say thank you by acts of praise and
gratitude. Note
what it doesn’t say in that verse.
It doesn’t say offer a sacrifice of or by your own merit that God
will be pleased with. It
doesn’t say that, does it? Nor
does it say let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of atonement to
satisfy God. That has already
been accomplished. The point
is the only sacrifice that God accepts from us is a sacrifice of praise.
You can add in that overall word of praise, gratitude and of
thanksgiving. Others
like Muslims, Mormons (and any other religion) try to save themselves by
their own works. The
Christian looks to substitutionary work of Christ for salvation.
Then we respond to that salvation with works of praise and
thanksgiving of our own. We
also find that the ONLY sacrifices God accepts from us are those offered
through the Great High Priest! We
are not ot offer sacrifices through a Jewish Priest, the Virgin Mary, the
prophet Mohammed, through our dead relatives, or other methods that we
derive on our won. The only
mediator of our sacrifices is the Lord Jesus Christ who has penetrated the
heavens and entered the Most Holy Place. Secondly
we see that we are to offer sacrifices by offering a sacrifice THAT GOD
PRODUCES IN US. In
vv. 15-16 we read: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God
a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that confess his name. And do
not forget to do good and to share with others.”
In other words the sacrifice that you and I are to offer is a
fruit. What
is a fruit? A fruit is
something that is produced. Here
is the ultimate question. Is
the sacrifice or the fruit that you and I are to offer, is it
a by-product of our own flesh or is it the result of something that
God has produced in us? I submit to you this morning, it’s the latter.
Let me show you what I mean. The fruits of doing good and sharing
with others are discussed in vv. 1-6, where the entire passage addresses
“love”. The point
is the fruit that we are to offer as a sacrifice to God is love.
This is not love produced by our flesh, but by God’s Spirit (Gal
5:23). I
now want to jump from the theological to the practical.
For what we find are five different characterizations of the love
that ought to characterize God’s people and the sacrifice that we offer
before him. OUR
LOVE IS TO CHARACTERIZED BY CONCERN FOR ONE ANOTHER. Verse
1 “Keep on loving each other as brothers.”
It doesn’t simply point to the fact that we are brothers in Adam,
but it specifically refers to the fact that we are a unity, we are a
family with one another through our spiritual adoption.
It means as believers you and I are not just to say that we love
one another. It says even as a congregation here at Brandon Presbyterian
Church we are not simply to come forward and vow that we will love one
another. For the sacrifice
that is pleasing before God is when you and I exercise genuine concern for
one another. That means each
and every one of us in here must care not only for, but care about one
another. It means every one of us needs to be reaching out, investing
in the lives of our fellow brethren.
We need to be talking, investing and helping one another.
1 Pet 1:22 says: “love one another deeply,”
That is the love that God accepts.
Can we say that our love for one another is deep the way that 1st
Peter says. Not only that
here what we read is we are to do so continually.
What does it say? It says keep on loving one another. You see the truth is, the tendency is for us to stop loving
one another this way. I was
talking to some folks this past week about how when you go to a church and
you visit a church for the first several months, very often all churches
are so loving and everybody reaches out and they care for you and it is
such a loving pastor and a loving congregation.
Yet six months later: “Where is the love?”
It is gone! They are
loving the new visitors that are coming in but they have forgotten about
me. You see the tendency is for us to forget.
The writer of Hebrews says keep on loving one another, keep on, do
it continually. Even if a
brother has been here a while we need to keep on loving them.
Even if they have some personality or spiritual flaw that rubs us
wrong we still need to love that brother or sister in Christ.
Even if there is something offensive about that person, even if
that person offends us there is still the need to love completely, for
with such sacrifices, God is pleased.
You see it doesn’t matter if that brother is a seminary student,
it doesn’t matter if that brother is from a country other than ours, it
doesn’t matter if that person is quiet and simply keeps to themselves
down the hall. You and I are
to love the brethren in the Lord. Have
you ever heard the expression, I love you man?
It is something guys joke about and stuff, but that ought to be an
expression that we hear often. Not
only on the premises here but even in our communities and homes as we
consider one another. Not in a spirit of stupor but in a spirit of compassion and
charity toward one another. I
love you brother! Let me
challenge you to make that part of your communication in the coming days. First of all our love is to be characterized by concern if it
is to be acceptable and pleasing before God.
OUR
LOVE IS TO BE CAHARACTERIZED BY CHARITY Verse
2 “Do not forget to entertain strangers,”
The point is we are to be hospitable toward our brethren as well,
even to those we don’t know that well.
You know in the biblical days it was the common practice if there
was no room in the end or if a person didn’t have the financial ability
to provide a room for themselves they would go to the square and bring
them into their own homes. Let
me ask you the last five times you welcomed someone into your home, who
was it? Was it the same
group? Can you say today that
any of those was an act of Christian love as you were entertaining and
reaching out even to strangers. They
have a practice in Scotland I am told is the ladies prepare a meal every
weekend and they come to church on the hunt, looking for those that might
come and fellowship within their homes and keep them there even until the
time they bring them back to the evening service.
Because hospitality is held to such a high measure there.
There is encouragement in this passage.
Verse 2 says: “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so
doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.”
Certainly Abraham and Lot did that.
They entertained Christ, himself, along with his angels.
You may say well we may or may not entertain angels today.
We may or may not but the scripture makes this clear.
When you and I entertain those who are in Christ we are actually
entertaining Christ, himself. Have
you ever thought about that? What
also has been proven time and time again as God’s people have been
hospitable one toward another is it is amazing how God uses the very same
word for angels, his messengers, how he uses other people in our lives as
messengers of his own word to us and as stewards of good gifts toward us.
Have you thought about that? Yet
so often we miss out because we forget to entertain others.
Secondly, our love is to be that of charity.
OUR
LOVE IS TO BE CHARACTERIZED BY COMPASSION. Verse
3 says: “Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners,
and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.”
Let me invite you today, particularly the men, see Ralph Gordon if
you would like to fulfill this commandment with an offering that is
pleasing before the Lord. To
go out to the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility and minister to
the prisoners that are there. You
know this church has taken heat because we reached out to prisoners.
God says in this passage is it’s a work that is pleasing and
acceptable before him. Let me
challenge you, if you have never done it, go with him.
It will change your life. Let
us be characterized by compassion. Dr.
Simon Kistemaker, says it well when he says it clearly teaches we should
visit prisoners. However, we
aught to extend and expand the concept prisoner to include the shut-ins
and the elderly who are confined to the bed, a hospital room or a private
home. These people welcome
visits. They treasure moments
of fellowship and are thankful for the attention they receive.
Have you thought about visiting those who don’t get visited much?
OUR
LOVE IS TO BE CHARACTERIZED BY CHASTITY AND PURITY.
Verse
4 says: “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept
pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.”
As one commentator put it the world says today that sex outside of
marriage is fun. Yet
according to scripture, illicit sex is a sin accountable before God.
There is sexual perversion and exploitation that was once found
only in the dark recesses of our society and by those we considered
perverts, is now mainstream in our society.
You know Christians, you and I are to have NOTHING to do with it.
We are to have nothing to do with anything that is impure,
unchaste, or immoral. Nothing,
absolutely nothing. It
includes purchasing, it includes participating, it includes peeking, and
it includes even pondering those things the world seeks to set before us.
Adultery, the inappropriate relations with one other than our
spouse. Fornication,
inappropriate relations with another before we have a spouse. Masturbation, inappropriate relations or acts even with our
own bodies. As Matthew Henry
puts it God knows who are guilty of such sins. He will call such sins by
their proper names, “not by the names of love and gallantry,” or today as we say it is a love affair. “but of whoredom and adultery,”
“He will bring them into judgment, he will judge them, either by
their own consciences here, and set their sins in order before them
for their deep humiliation, or he will set them at his tribunal at death,
and in the last day; he will convict them, condemn them, and cast them out
for ever, if they die under the guilt of this sin.”
The point being the sacrifice of love that we offer through Christ
is to be one of chastity, not obscenity.
I want you to think about that the next time you go to the mall in
Jackson or even the mall in Flowood.
You are walking beside that eight-foot by twelve-foot poster of a
half-dressed or an undressed woman. The
question is why do we allow it? How
far will we allow it to go before we speak out or refuse to patronize such
establishments. You know my grandfather in his day would have considered a
poster such as we see in many shops today as X rated if not XXX rated.
He would not have allowed my uncles to go into a store that had
such in it, much less plastered across the front of the store itself.
The question is how long will we allow it to go?
You see God calls for us to offer a sacrifice of purity, of
chastity, of true love, that which is represented by honorable marriage
and the marriage bed kept pure. OUR
LOVE IS TO BE CHARACTERIZED BY CONTENTMENT.
Most
of us wouldn’t say that we have a love of money but we would grumble and
complain and become discouraged and even desire more when we can’t have
the things that money pays for in this world and when the resources that
we have, have to go toward the bills and the necessities.
Verse 5 says: “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be
content with what you have,” The
point is the Christian life is to be distinctly different from others when
it comes to our relationship to God and to money.
Wycliffe commentary says it well, saying: “Instead of taking
comfort in possessions, Christians are to derive their comfort from
God’s own presence and provision, for he neither leads them, nor will he
fail them.” You see coveted
ness is a sin. So is greed,
ingratitude and despising God and others because of our low condition.
Let me ask you today is your daily disposition one of cheerfulness?
That is what our disposition ought to be.
It ought to be cheerful because God has promised to provide for
everything that we truly need. Cheerfulness
rather than complaining. Cheerfulness
rather than fear. Cheerfulness,
contentment and charity rather than fear, selfishness and complaining.
Let
me take us back now to the positive statement though of our duty and
service before the Lord. Verse 15 says: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us
continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that
confess his name. 16And do not forget to do good and to share
with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”
Two
points. First of all we have
mentioned the negative side, but the positive is true as well.
In the same way, we are not to covet that which others have, at the
very same time we are to be fully content with that which God has given
unto us. The second point is
you and I can’t do that on our own can we?
You see the eye often wants to wander.
The mind tells us though it is an affair being portrayed for us on
TV, well it is only a movie or it is only a TV show.
The mind tells us we need to be content with our present salary and
income, but our heart and sometimes our whinny voices cry out, we need
more! Our theology tells us
we aught to love one another, but our thoughts are well we will begin
loving the other person when they change this or that about themselves.
Our generosity at the moment says it sure would be nice to go visit
shut-ins and those who don’t have people coming to visit them.
But when our pillow calls our head this afternoon, will we still
have that same feeling? The
point is you and I can’t do this on our own.
We are called to love God with all our heart, with all our mind,
all our soul, all our strength and …our neighbor as ourselves.
But the point is (that is the beauty of the gospel)
That’s why you and I can rejoice today, because that is exactly
why Christ came! That’s
exactly why Christ was raised from the dead, that you and I might be
perfected and that you and I might love others, even with the love of
Christ, himself. The question
is where can we get such love, that we might continually, not just here
and there, but continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise?
The answer is from Christ! Verse
15 says: “Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a
sacrifice of praise.” I
want you to bow now with me for a time of silent meditation.
I am going to ask you as our accompanist plays some of the music
from this last Hymn to read the first two verses of this final Hymn, Hymn
number 528 and meditate on your own life as it refers not only to the
weaknesses, inabilities and the sins that we have in our lives, but also
to that which Christ provides for us.
Hymn number 528 (My Faith Looks Up to Thee) “My faith looks up to thee, thou Lamb of
Calvary, Savior divine: now
hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away, O let
me from this day be wholly thine.
May thy rich grace impart strength to my fainting heart, my zeal
inspire; as thou hast died for me, O may my love to thee
pure, war, and changeless be, a living fire.” Prayer
“If
I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am
nothing.” “If
I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but
have not live, I gain nothing.” “Do
everything in love.” “For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.”
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