Explore the Bible Lesson Preview November 30, 2014 Live Out the Faith Background: Hebrews 13:1-19 Lesson: Hebrews 13:1-8

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1 Explore the Bible Lesson Preview November 30, 2014 Live Out the Faith Background: Hebrews 13:1-19 Lesson: Hebrews 13:1-8 Motivation: The Book of Hebrews comes to a powerful conclusion as the writer provides several closing exhortations: demonstrate hospitality (2), remember the prisoners (3), resist covetousness (5), obey church leaders (7, 16), resist false doctrine (9), give praise and thanks (15), pray for us (18), and mature in Christ (21). Examination: I. Show Hospitality (1-3) Let brotherly love continue (1) A. Strangers Don t neglect to show hospitality, for by so doing this some have welcomed angels as guests without knowing it. (2) Hospitality was a prized Christian virtue. In a culture where inns were scarce, (and often dirty, flea infested, and disorderly) itinerant Christian workers like Paul depended upon the hospitality of Christian brothers (Genesis 18 and 19). B. Suffering Remember the prisoners as though you were in prison with them, and the mistreated, as though you yourselves were suffering bodily. (3) The implication is that the prisoners are suffering for the cause of Christ ( you yourselves were suffering bodily ). The recipients of the letter endured suffering (10:32-34). However, no generation has seen more death and persecution for the name of Christ than the current one. Christian pastors are being jailed by Muslim governments, Hindu governments and Communist governments. Muslim mobs have massacred entire Christian families. The suffering church in Sudan alone has had 3 million members murdered and 6 million displaced. As we support the suffering church worldwide we are, indeed, remembering the prisoners. (Phil 1:6, 14; Rom. 8:18) 1 / 9

2 II. Respect Marriage Marriage must be respected by all, and the marriage bed kept undefiled, because God will judge immoral people and adulterers. (4) This is a clear statement of God s approval of physical intimacy in marriage. It is in keeping with Paul s admonition to husbands and wives: Do not deprive one another sexually-except when you agree for a time, to devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again (1 Corinthians 7:5). Clearly, sex is celebrated in marriage and prohibited outside of it. In the first century culture that either advocated abstention (Stoicism) or celebrated debauchery (Epicureanism), this strong advocacy of marriage was radical indeed. III. Security in God (5-6) A. Don t Trust in Money Your life should be free from the love of money. Be satisfied with what you have (5a) As one wit said, Sure money talks; mine says Bye, Bye. Paul wrote to Timothy For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pains. (1 Timothy 6:10) William Barclay ( The Letters of Timothy, Titus and Philemon ) pp lists five dangers involved in the love of money : (i) The desire for money tends to be a thirst which is insatiable. There was a Roman proverbial saying that wealth is like sea-water; so far from quenching a man s thirst, it intensifies it. The more he gets, the more he wants. (ii) The desire for wealth is founded on an illusion. It is founded on the desire for security; but wealth cannot buy security. It cannot buy health, nor real love; and it cannot preserve from sorrow and from death. The security which is founded on material things is foredoomed to failure. (iii) The desire for money tends to make a man selfish. If he is driven by the desire for wealth, it is nothing to him that someone has to lose in order that he may gain. The desire for wealth fixes a man s thoughts upon himself, and others become merely means or obstacles in the path to his own enrichment. True, that need not happen; but in fact it often does. (iv) Although the desire for wealth is based on the desire for security, it ends in nothing but anxiety. The more a man has to keep, the more he has to lose and, the tendency is for him to be haunted by the risk of loss. There is an old fable about a peasant who rendered a great service to a king who rewarded him with a gift of much money. For a time the man was thrilled, but the day came when he begged the king to take back his gift, for into his life had entered the hitherto unknown worry that he might lose what he had. (v) The love of money may easily lead a man into wrong ways of getting it, and therefore, in the end, into pain and remorse. That is true even physically. He may so drive his body in his passion to get, that he ruins his health. He may discover too late what damage his desire has done to others and be saddled with remorse. To seek to be independent and prudently to provide for the future is a 2 / 9

3 Christian duty; but to make the love of money the driving force of life cannot ever be anything other than the most perilous of sins. (John 10:23-29) B. Instead Trust in Jesus for He himself has said, I will never leave you or forsake you. Therefore we may boldly say: The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me? (5b-6) Our ultimate love should be reserved for Jesus alone. As long as we re earthbound, a war will ensue for our affections between the material ( the love of money ) and the spiritual ( the Lord is my helper ). If we set our affection on Christ, we can learn to be satisfied with what you have. As Christians, our prize possession should be our relationship with our Savior and Lord. (Col. 3:5; Phil. 4:1; Prov. 3:11-12; Luke 12:15) IV. Imitate Proven Leaders (7-8) A. Church Leaders Remember your leaders who have spoken God s word to you. As you carefully observe the outcome of their lives, imitate their faith. (7) Holman Christian Study Bible, p : 13:7-19 The author addressed seven specific ways in which Christians should revere church leaders. (1) Christians should observe the lives of their leaders and imitate their faith. (2) Christians should remember that Christ is always the same and judge every teaching according to the gospel. (3) Christians should recognize their church may not be appreciated by the world because the Christian community is gathered to worship their Lord, whom the world despises. (4) Christians should continually offer their own sacrifice of praise in appreciation for the sacrifice of Christ by confessing His name. (5) The church should be active in doing good works and sharing with one another. (6) Christians should obey their leaders and submit to them, because they are accountable to God for caring for Christian souls. (7) Christians should 3 / 9

4 pray for their leaders to have clear consciences, conducting themselves with honor in everything. B. Our Savior Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. (8) His immutable nature is seen in His gifts to the saints: 1. His Love is always the same (Jer. 31:3; Rom. 5:8). 2. His Mercy is always the same (Deut. 7:9; Ps. 23:6; 36:5; 136). 3. His Forgiveness is always the same (1 John 1:9-10). 4. His Faithfulness is always the same (Rev. 19:11; Lam. 3:22-23). V. God s Word Don t be led astray by various kinds of strange teachings; for it is good for the heart be established by grace and not by foods, since those involved in them have not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle do not have a right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the most holy place by the high priest as a sin offering are burned outside the camp. ( 9-11) A. Evaluate: With the multitude of resources available to Christians in North America, care must be taken to discern the truth of Scripture from strange teachings. Biblical Christianity has been around for a couple of millennia; if you ve never heard it taught that way before, beware and evaluate the teaching alongside accepted doctrine. B. Invest: Focus on spiritual growth rather that physical growth supplied by foods. Unfortunately, many Christians spend more time in a day examining restaurant menus or recipes than they do the Word of God. Verse 14 reminds us For we do not have an enduring city here; instead, we seek the one to come. 4 / 9

5 C. Appreciate: Our altar is spiritual in nature and is high above any earthly altar. Even the priests who serve the tabernacle do not have a right to eat. By law, the priests did have the right to partake of certain portions of the offered sacrifice. However, even they do not have the privilege of sitting at the Lord s Table without His redeeming blood. This is an additional word picture of the superiority of the new covenant over the old. VI. Ministry to Perform (12-16) A. The Example of Ministry Therefore Jesus also suffered outside the gate, so, that he might sanctify the people by His own blood. (12) Jesus manner of death (hanging on a tree Gal. 3:13) and place of death ( outside the gate Num. 19:3) were both shameful in the Jewish culture. Jesus despised the shame (12:2) and humbled Himself (Phil 1:8) in order to sanctify the people by His own blood. B. The Place of Ministry Let us then go to Him outside the camp, bearing His disgrace. (13) Following Jesus example, we must go outside the sanctuary of comfort and convenience to minister to people outside the camp. When we do so, through evangelism or service, we will inevitably share in His reproach. C. The Product of Ministry 1. Thanksgiving Therefore, through Him let us continually offer up to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of our lips, that confess His name. (15) One product of following Jesus example will be praise and thanksgiving (Ps. 107:22; 116:17; Amos 4:5; 2 Cor. 9:8 ff). 5 / 9

6 2. Goodwill sharing Don t neglect to do what is good and to share, for God is pleased with such sacrifices. This is a great verse for the offering time; as we share a tithe of our income, we are symbolically laying down a portion of our lives, as a living sacrifice (Rom. 12:1). VII. Leaders to Assist (17-19) A. The Church s Responsibility to the Pastor Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will still give an account, so they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. 1. Followship Obey your leaders It s been said that good leadership is impossible without good followship. One of the great faultlines in American Christianity is a misunderstanding of God s delegated authority in the local church. He Himself gave some to be pastors and teachers. (Eph. 4:11). These Pastor/Teachers, called by God and ordained as undershepherds in the church, have tremendous responsibility ( they keep watch over your souls ) as well as tremendous accountability to God ( who will still give an account ). Just as in the family (Eph. 5:22), submission is not weakness, but rather a role. God never intended His church to be a democracy where everyone casts a vote, as in a political campaign. Rather, it is to be a theocracy where God moves in the hearts of every member to express God s will in a vote with peace and unity resulting. The frequency of church splits, divided bodies, and discouraged Pastors highlight the prevalence of misunderstood leadership roles in many churches. (1 Pet. 2:11-17) 2. Joy so they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. Causing the pastor continual grief carries a word of warning. The implication is clear: the Pastor is God s responsibility to straighten out. As long as God allows a Pastor to remain (a Pastor may disqualify himself through sin or selfishness 1 Peter 5:2-3), the congregation s role is to serve the Lord with joy. 6 / 9

7 3. Prayer Pray for us (18) Prayer always exhibits faith in the Lord, acknowledges His sovereignty, and accesses His power to change things. Rather than gossiping, quarrelling, or plotting against the Pastor, the church is called to pray for him. B. The Pastor s Responsibility to the Church 1. Leading leaders is not a position of pride but of God-ordained leadership and vision. God inspired vision for the future rarely comes through a committee. Rather, God calls leaders to lead (i.e. God called Moses to lead; when he appointed a committee, they voted 10-2 not to go into the Promise Land Numbers 13:31-14:6). 2. Teaching they keep watch over your souls The spiritual nature of God s work is so vital and so much a priority, that the early church appointed Deacons to handle routine tasks so that the apostles could devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the Word (Acts 6:1-4). 3. Accountability - who will give an account. Ultimately, the accountability is to God ( th e great Shepherd of the sheep, 20). While committees are ill-suited to casting vision, they are great tools for accountability. (1 Pet. 2:25, 5:4; John 10:10) 4. Integrity - a clear conscience In order to lead well, a Pastor must provide an honorable example to the flock. (1 Tim. 4:12). VIII. Benediction and Conclusion (20-25) Now may the God of peace make you complete (20-21) Holman Christian Study Bible, p. 2131: 13:20-25 The author prayed for his brothers in the church to be blessed. Recounting the sacrificial work of Christ, he prayed that God would equip 7 / 9

8 them to do His will. He asked them to receive this message of exhortation, meaning this theological sermon (the book of Hebrews) that he had written for their benefit. After bringing greetings from the Italian community and news about Timothy, he ended with a blessing. Grace be with all of you. Application: 1. Show hospitality. 2. Work well with leaders. 3. Minister outside the camp. Leader Pack Item 8: Poster: Hebrews 13:8 Illustrator, p. 37 Hospitality in the First Century Notes: **You may access David s Lesson Preview in MP3 format and notes at: lestudy.org Dates: 11/27-28 Thanksgiving Holiday, church offices closed; 11/30 No LBS; 12/3-4 Christmas Store; 12/5 ReCreate Date Night; 12/7 Natalie Grant 3 Loop; 12/13 8 / 9

9 Deacon Christmas Party; 12/14 HUB Christmas Event-Palooza; 12/14 SPF Merry & Bright; 12/21 Multi-Gen Christmas all svcs.; 12/24-25 Christmas Holiday, church offices closed; 12/28 No LBS; 12/31 Summit New Year s Eve Party. 9 / 9