[Transcript represents full sermon's text]

       In our journey through Hebrews we today arrive at the final chapter, Hebrews chapter 13. What an incredible journey it has been, which, it seems has borne much fruit, and perchance we’ve learned some new things in addition to things we were already familiar with. Nevertheless, it’s been a fun experience, and we still have more to unwrap today. Quite a bit, in fact. Next week there will be another Hebrews Discussions message with more questions to be answered, some further elaborations. Anyhow, Hebrews chapter 13, starting in verse 1: “Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body” (ESV).

       Presented before us is the general statement, the general reminder which is so basic and yet fundamental for us at the same time: “Let brotherly love continue.” The mention of the word “brotherly” speaks toward the Christian-love within the church, the love among the members of the body of Christ—among those who identify as Christian within our community. It’s so foundational, and yet, the author felt it was necessary to remind these Hebrews Christians of this important truth and action. We can recall what Jesus said regarding the subject of love. Remember, he taught us two keys. The following is recorded in Mark’s Gospel: “And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (ESV). It seems that makes it easy, doesn't it? To love our neighbor as we already love ourselves. Or, to treat our neighbor as we ourselves would want to be treated. To put ourselves in the other person’s shoes, as it is often said. If we were that person, how would be wish to be treated? That’s good practice for any situation really, especially when that love doesn’t come natural or when one isn’t sure what to say or do. Simply imagine you're the individual on the other end, and think how you would feel if the other individual was about to do what you are about to do. By flip-flopping the situation, that can often give insight. It can be done with comments, text messages, gifts, or whatever.

       Interestingly, showing hospitality toward others is a good way to practice letting that brotherly love continue. Now, in our day and age, in twenty-first century America, we don’t much practice this whole hospitality thing as pertains to traveling Christians actually staying our our homes. Actually, it seems there was good reason for the writer of Hebrews to say this—to give the church this instruction. It would seem that back at this time, in the first century A.D., hotels weren’t quite as common, and if available, could in fact be risky ventures (like for one’s possessions) or even provide temptations of different kinds (like drinking and fornication or adultery). Of course, nowadays in our time this isn’t so much the case—at least—not as blatantly extreme. Now, some Christian communities still believe this very verse needs to be practiced, and that hospitality must be offered to traveling Christians in order to be obedient to God. There’s nothing wrong with offering it if that’s what one wants to do. Howbeit, at the same time it would appear that it was to be offered back then for good reason versus the circumstances of nowadays (at least in the United States). For certain countries in our current time, this would likely need to be practiced. The writer lets the listeners and readers know that some have actually kept angels disguised as humans at their homes. That is, some of these travelers were actually angels on missions. This appears in the Bible, believe it or not, in the Old Testament on two different occasions. Reference can be made to Genesis chapter 18, where Abraham has three men accompany him. Or, we could refer to Judges chapter 13, when Samson’s parents received in a wandering man who was truly an angel of the Lord.

       Brought to our attention then is two other people groups besides the travelers, and that is those in prison and those who are mistreated. Now, these imprisonments could be for the faith, as well as the mistreatments, but it could also be for making unwise choices in the world. A lot of churches, we are aware, have prison ministries, and some even stream their services to folks in prison (an interesting new way of reaching prisoners with God’s messages). Some church folks will actually go to the prisons and visit with people, usually Christians, but sometimes to reach out with the Good News. It seems reasonable to assume that not all Christians are going to partake in traveling to the prisons (for we each have our different roles), but one thing that can be pointed out is that prayer can be given on the part of anyone. We can pray for Christians behind bars. Or, we can intercede in hopes of someone who isn’t saved who’s in prison truly becoming saved. We may even have family members, loved ones, or know of a famous person who’s behind bars. Prayers can be made for these people. And of course, to tackle the second half of the verse, we know the Hebrew Christians were familiar with persecution. Or, if some weren’t yet, they probably would be. Whether it was soldiers or non-believing Jewish persons, they could be persecuted for their Christian-side of their beliefs. We can recall that Jesus noted this was going to happen on more than one occasion. Actually, he stated in Mark 13:9 and 10: “But be on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten in synagogues, and you will stand before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them” (ESV). So, there it is. There it is. Not everyone is going to be our friend, especially in societies where freedoms aren’t present, and where even Christianity is frowned upon. Prayers can be lifted for these people as well, and even care if the opportunity where to arise. The temptation may be present to avoid the mis-treated individuals for fear of the same kinds of troubles by associating with them, but the command is to not give in to such a fear.

Verse 4: “Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous” (ESV).

       Before diving into the monetary realm, the subject shifts to the marriage relationship, and that it is to have a respectful view among those in the church body. A good point to make is that the author isn’t saying that marriage is held in honor in that married people should hold more honor over single people. We understand the Apostle Paul in point of fact spoke the opposite in 1 Corinthians chapter 7, when he noted it was actually better to be unmarried if one feels they have that gifting. So, with that in view, it seems best to understand the honorable view of marriage from the writer of Hebrews as that pertaining to truly keeping marriage “undefiled.” That is, one is not have multiple partners whom they are married to or whom they are not. Both polygamy and adultery are distortions of the marriage relationship, and certainly are sin and cause problems between the married couple. Of course, we could say that it’s impossible for two people of the same-sex also to marry, since God doesn’t even recognize such a setup. God considers that setup sexually immoral. Regardless, within the marriage relationship, one partner cheating on another isn’t supposed to happen. And sometimes the offending person will try to hide it from the unoffending person. Often it is caught by the unoffending person, though perhaps it could go undetected for a long time. We are aware that for unbelievers who sin, God’s judgment is upon them. So, we do not want to be like them. We don’t want to be found sinning just like them, where there is no difference between us and them. Will God judge the believer who acts in different ways of sexual immorality? That will be for you to decide. Yet, it does seem that certain situations just so happen to be that way—like the catching of diseases or the separation of the married couple. Those are natural built-in judgements, aren’t they?

       Now moving to the subject of money: “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.” So we can confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?”

       Touched upon are a few areas for our consideration. We can first contemplate the idea of keeping ourselves “free from the love of money.” “[F]ree from the love of money.” What might this look like? Well, it seems there are two areas we could focus on. The first is that one can love making money so much that they never want to spend it, right? As a matter of fact, it appears that the more money that’s made, the less we want to part with it. Not sure if you’ve noticed that, but it’s an ironic truth. The second is that we can love spending money so much that we acquire it only to gain more and more possessions. We could be a person who blows everything we make, plus more. This is the flip-side. It’s not wrong to spend money, and even spend it on hobbies, but we should not spend beyond our means. We shouldn’t spend money we don’t have. And, and, we shouldn’t be looking to others (comparing ourselves with others) to determine how much we should spend. We should spend in accordance with reason, what we ‘feel’ we can afford in an honest-view. God has promised the Israelites in Deuteronomy 31:6 that he would never forsake them, that he would never leave them for dead. Thus, we can agree with the Psalm 118:6 quote that the Lord will take care of us. Of course, we can evaluate our lives and assume that we should have more than we already have. Yet, if we stop and think about that, that’s true of anyone, from the individual of little wealth to the individual of great wealth. The person of great wealth can look at what they have and focus on what isn’t right, and seek to spend more money to fix what isn’t right. The truth is, it is all in how we frame what we have. We can frame it as bad because it isn’t the greatest ideal we think it should be, or we can frame it as good because it is plenty, and we are generally happy.

       A couple more things can be added. What is interesting as pertains to having more wealth is that when we have more wealth, the fear of losing that wealth can actually increase. It’s the rich that sue other people, not the poor usually. Remember, James pointed this out in his epistle. He commented, “Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, and the ones who drag you into court?” (James 2:6, ESV). And for those who do not have a lot of wealth, God promises us that he will always give us what we need. We can recall what Jesus spoke in the Sermon on the Mount, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matthew 6:26, 27, ESV). Really, for the Christian there is never a need to worry about the basic necessities of life—things like food, clothing, or shelter. God will provide us with the basic necessities. A lot of people confuse what they want with what they truly need. So, what we need will be provided. People in the world can do all kinds of things to try to take away what others have. Another thing that Jesus stated was this: “Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” (Matthew 6:19-21, ESV). Therefore, this world is fickle, which means possessions can change. People can steal them, and by other means they can disappear from our lives. Natural decay occurs, and the material possessions don’t last forever.

       Verse 7: “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” (ESV).

       In our day and age, this one is probably tuff for us because we are generally skeptical of our leaders to a certain degree. Then there is a particular fact that a lot of people who aren’t leaders have lived noble lives. Yet, given the situation of these Hebrew Christians, Christianity had only been around about 35 to 40 years at the time of this writing. With that being the case, the only model for righteous living these Christians had were those of the early leaders of the church. This, of course, included the Apostles, but also leaders of various churches, like those the Apostle Paul would write to. Many of those people we don’t exactly know who they were. Yet, what is being said to the readers, the listeners, is to consider those leaders’s lives. Some had died for the faith; some had endured persecution themselves (in fact, probably most if not all of them had). The faith of these individuals could be modeled for general endurance. The writer reminds them that what their teachers taught will stay the same. He shows that by stating the Jesus Christ doesn’t change in his character. That which is good is good yesterday, today, and tomorrow. It’s not that bad becomes good, or good becomes bad. And the Hebrew Christians could look to the lives of prior leaders who’ve already lived to see that fact.

       Now for the next paragraph: “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. 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” (ESV).

       A warning is presented to the Hebrew Christians to be careful of teachings that did not align up with the good Christian faith, with those concepts which accord with truth. Interestingly, what the problem was isn’t actually stated, only that it had to do with food (the eating of meals). That being the case, we can assume that it was likely either the participation of eating certain meals (like the Passover meal), or the abstaining from certain foods, that some people were saying were required for salvation. That is, if one did not participate or did not abstain, they weren’t true Christians, and they weren’t going to go to Heaven when they died. Thus, these were the “diverse and strange teachings.” We’re not talking about common disagreements in theological matters, like End Times theology, or Time-Based Theology, or Atonement Theology. That’s not what we're talking about here. Whatever it is, it is intuitively “strange.” We know this when we see it, as a lot of teachings of Jehovah’s Witnesses’s or Mormon’s are coming to mind. They just don’t seem right from the very beginning. The author uses the illustration that just as the old animal sacrificial system doesn’t work anymore, so too do these new teachings not work. They aren’t grace based; they don’t strengthen the believers by grace. They actually point more to an old-way of thinking. A human way of thinking. The Jewish people who hadn’t accepted Jesus’s sacrifice could not yet benefit from it. They have no right to it without believing. Jesus suffered his crucifixion and death outside the Temple area. Yet, that was what counted before God. This is the new way. It’s not about rules and regulations. The animals shed blood was the old way; Jesus’s shed blood is the new way. It’s that simple. The Hebrew Christians are going to have “bear” this “reproach” because a lot of non-believing Jews aren’t going to like it. They aren’t going to like the lack of participation in Jewish meals, the lack of participation in the “strange and diverse teachings.” The Hebrew Christians weren’t concerned about the earthly Jerusalem anymore. They could look forward to the Heavenly one that is to come later, as mentioned in Revelation 21 and 22.

       Verse 15: “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. 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” (ESV).

       Thus, we as Christians are to focus on the good that we are now part of, that of believing in Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. An external way we do this weekly is by lifting up song and music to God. Of course, within the praise is the focus not just on ourselves, in being sure we are acting in accordance with the truth as best as possible, but also being concerned as pertains to the needs of others. That includes sharing our time with others—being a person present within the body. The sharing possessions may also be included, or the sharing of money that benefits others in the body. Especially this was true for the Hebrew Christians, since they would likely endure persecution. Sacrifice for one another may be necessary to keep others afloat. Even if that becomes the case, it is noted that it is pleasing to God, which, we understand will later beget reward. Surely, one way for the believers to keep peace in all of this is to follow the teachings of their leaders, and not try to give them a hard time. Submission may be necessary where disagreements occur, or one is singled out on an island and isn’t seeing things eye to eye. It’s best for one to keep quiet for the benefit of the others if it becomes necessary to do so. The leaders do not want to be in a constant state of combat, or of refereeing. They want to lead with “joy” instead of “groaning.” They have to give a later account to God when they arrive in Heaven, so they don’t want to explain that they just ignored problems and let the body’s problems fester out of control. Besides, in doing so, the body would suffer in that case, and people would likely end up dispersing.

       Verse 18: “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. 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” (ESV).

       The prayer of the body is significant, as we’ve discussed how prayer makes a difference. That basic statement needs to be reiterated because a lot of times we don’t even see the benefit of our prayer, or impact, yet it makes a difference. We go by what we see with our eyes, which often times can be very limited. The writer wants to come back and visit with these Hebrew Christians at some point, and he’s telling them that their prayer might make it happen sooner rather than later. Throughout his letter, he has sought diligently to present the truth to them the best he could. He had “a clear conscience” in doing that. Within himself was a sense of “peace,” and he wants these Hebrew Christians to also have peace. The essence of all of it is based in Jesus Christ, the one who died, rose, and currently lives in Heaven, of whom he is the true head of the body, and keeps everyone unblemished by his shed blood. Within his benediction, his final wish, the writer asks that God, through Jesus, keep the believers on the right track, living in such ways that are pleasing to him. That they are not caught off guard by anything that would derail them. That they are not living in sinful ways, ways of thinking that pertain to this world. That’s what he wants; that’s what he desires. And prayer then becomes a necessary way of combat in the spiritual world, so that these things can better come to pass.

       Now our final verses for Hebrews: “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” (ESV).

       The writer has laid out everything on his heart, and now he is closing shop and ending the letter. Indeed, for him he notes it is a brief letter—which shows his education, which appears to be higher than the norm of the average person of the time. Of course, we could kind of already tell that, yet, we as Americans are very educated (but not the highest educated in our world). He brings up Timothy, which certainly makes people think that the author here is in fact the Apostle Paul. We went over all that in the introduction to this series. Anyhow, what we do know is that Timothy had gone to prison for his leadership in the church and has been released, something that would undoubtedly make the Apostle Paul proud. We remember, in 2 Timothy, that he said to him, “Share in suffering as a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2:3, ESV). This was something that Paul desired greatly of Timothy, that he would be a true leader and true disciple of Jesus Christ. We are aware, in contrast, that Titus apparently ended up not being that. There were others, probably most others. The persecution was strong, but the leader had to be stronger. The writer of Hebrews tells the church in one final statement to “Greet all your leaders and all the saints.” In a way, that’s to give them all encouragement. That’s what the people needed. This moment in history early in the church was a difficult one, and encouragement would only help. Those from Italy, where the writer is apparently located, sent them their greetings. And the letter is finished with the underlying concept of grace—for that is what this whole letter has really been all about—grace in Jesus Christ, versus that of the old, grace-less way. The desire was for all of them to experience that grace.

- Daniel Litton