Love, Leadership and Last words.
Do you remember as a youngster, leaving home and getting the list on the way out the door?
Don’t forget to do this, be sure and do that, remember to take care of the other thing, be careful, watch out for the other guy, call when you get there, don’t take any wooden nickels, God bless you, etc.
Hebrews 13 changes from a systematic presentation on Christ to the final list of do’s and don’ts. No less than 15 categories are here in these 25 verses with at least 20 commands.
From love to hospitality to visitation to marriage to money matters to leadership to false doctrines to accepting abuse to praising in song to leaders again to a benediction to exhortation to greetings to grace… It starts with love and ends with grace! I like that.
If I were to go over each one of these in detail, we might be here till tonight.
But there are some real jewels in this final list that we will look at today, Lord willing, all beginning with the letter “L.” These are love, leadership and last words, and I hope you will take this message home with you and practice what this says.
Love:
This first verse of this chapter was a favorite quote of my mom when she caught my brothers and I fighting. We would usually just be wrestling around at first and then someone would push too many buttons at the same time and our attitudes changed. Does anyone here know what I’m talking about? Well, somewhere the line was crossed from teasing to target practice and the emotional atmosphere shifted from friendly horseplay to, “wait till I get my hands on you” stuff. The volume level would climb several decibels until a near deaf neighbor could understand what we were saying, only we would be saying it within a couple of feet of one another. Then mom would appear. We knew we were in trouble. And she’d quote Hebrews 13:1… let brotherly love continue! We would break it up and motherly love would take over from there.
Well, here in Hebrews 13 this admonishment to brotherly love is also a controlling statement. What follows is largely governed by whether or not this most important rule is in place. Think about it. How many times does the Bible tell us to love each other? In fact, most of the rest of the commands in scripture are commentary on how to apply God’s love to one another. Loving God is seen clearest when we apply that love toward others. In the verses that follow: 2-6, hospitality, care for prisoners, marriage faithfulness, and money matters are all directly associated with this command of brotherly love. By the way, look at the end of verse 5 and all of verse 6.
He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,"
6 so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT SHALL MAN DO TO ME?"
Wow! Isn’t that great! What a tremendous promise for us in Christ! And who is this for? This assurance of God’s presence and help is for those who are walking according to his command to love. Never will I forsake your or desert you! Who does that apply to? Not to those who forsake and desert God, but for those who follow him. How do I know that? Well first let’s go back to Deut. 31 where those words were spoken and see their context. Turn to Deut 31:5-8. (read it). In this passage Moses is passing the baton of leadership to Joshua. Soon after this Joshua was leading Israel into the promised land. In Joshua chapter 7 Israel sent an army against a small city called Ai. But they were defeated and Joshua cried out to God asking why. Hear God’s reply: In Joshua 8:11-12, the God who said, “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you” says this.
11 "Israel has sinned, and they have also transgressed My covenant which I commanded them. And they have even taken some of the things under the ban and have both stolen and deceived. Moreover, they have also put them among their own things.
12 "Therefore the sons of Israel cannot stand before their enemies; they turn their backs before their enemies, for they have become accursed. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy the things under the ban from your midst.
Wait a minute, Lord, you said, “Never will I leave you!” What’s going on here? God is showing us the condition of that promise! God never leaves those who are faithful to him. But He holds out no such promise to those who forsake him in disobedience.
Second, Jesus promised us, “If you confess me before men, I will confess you before my Father in heaven, but if you deny me before men, I will deny you before my Father in heaven.” Matt. 10:32-33
Listen to me now… this promise is conditional. God sets the circumstances for this promise before he gives it. “Never will I leave you, never will I forsake you…” You, who? You who seek me in faithfulness, that’s who. You who walk with me. Walk with God and he will never desert you, nor will he ever forsake you. He will be your helper and will secure your eternal home. But if you do not walk with God, you forsake and desert him and his blessings of help and strength are not yours. When brotherly love continues and abounds, so abounds God’s blessings and grace. There is a connection!
That’s part of why all these reminders are given in chapter 13 and all the warnings have been given throughout this book. God’s word is calling us to faithfulness in love and grace. There are great blessings from God for us as we submit to him and seek him in faith and love. And these blessings are for anyone who hears and heeds his word.
Leadership:
Three times in this chapter there is a word about leadership. Verse 7, 17, and 24 specifically. Do you recognize the leadership God has set up for you in the church?
Just listen to what this says about leadership. 7 Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 17 Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. 24 Greet all of your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy greet you.
There is a clear distinction between “all the saints” and “your leaders,” can you see that in verse 24? We live in a culture that doesn’t like to be told what to do by anybody. This is not a new phenomenon. It’s always been that way. In the garden of Eden, Satan tempted Eve by challenging God’s authority to tell her what she could and could not eat. Who is God to say you can’t eat of this fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. He just wants to control you! He’s keeping you from having what he has! Go for it! Eat! She listened to the tempter and look at where this has led.
Godly leadership is such a blessing, but ungodly leadership is such a curse! In the Bible, it all starts with children learning to obey their parents. In fact, disobedience to parents is listed among sins like homosexuality and murder. Just look at Romans 1:26-32.
Think about it. When God gave the 10 commandments. Number 5 says plainly: Children, obey your parents. Now just think of all the things God could have commanded children. He could have said, “Love your parents.” Or love your brothers and sisters, or worship me, or read your Bible or countless other good and important things. But God knows what is most important in the life of children. He knows what we need most, and when he gave his covenant to Israel and spoke his will about children he said, obey your parents. Young people listen to me, if you fail here, you are in for a long life of woe. Now what if the parents are ungodly and sinful. God made provision for that in Ezekiel 18 where he promised blessing for the son who grew up and saw the wickedness of his father and turned away from that wickedness. God puts responsibility on the parents to obey him too, and he puts responsibility on the children to obey their parents. Learning about leadership God’s way starts in the home. That’s why elders have to be men who handle things at home. Great leaders of their homes have the potential to be great leaders in the church. What do church leaders do?
7 Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. 17 Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account.
There are four things about leaders here: They speak the word of God to you. Their faithful conduct is worthy of imitation. They keep watch over your souls. They have to give an account.
Think about this list a minute. There is an awesome heaviness about these things. Do you pray for our elders here regularly? I hope you do. We are blessed with a wonderful eldership here. They are our God given leaders. Their duty is spiritual in nature. Keeping watch over our souls requires them to focus their attention on Jesus and on us. We all need to make their job as easy and joyful as possible, but praying for them, encouraging them and letting them know they are appreciated. Next quarter we will be going through Timothy and Titus and we will visit this subject again.
Finally the last words:
Hebrews has a beautiful benediction in verses 20-21 that we will close our lesson with.
20 Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord,
21 equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.
Jesus, who speaks for God, who is above the angels, who is greater than Moses, who is the ultimate high priest, based on better promises, and an incorruptible life, who gives us a better covenant, based on better blood, who offers a better sacrifice, once for all, cleansing us from sin, who rose victorious over sin and death to be our glorious Savior and Lord giving us full access into the presence of God and calling us to eternal life with him. To the Father who loves us, and the Son who gave his life to save us, and the Holy Spirit who reveals the plan and strengthens us to keep it, be praise and honor and glory forever and ever… AMEN.
