Here Is What Living Sacrifices Look Like
Hebrews 13:1-6
Remember: Our God is a consuming fire (12:29), and we are the living sacrifices, That is what Kingdom citizenship means!
Hebrews 13:1-6 Here's what our sacrifices are to look like. Remember that they are living sacrifices and life is manifested by behavior and motion.
13:1 "Let brotherly love continue." Brotherly love is a continuum, it is not a stop and start, selective action. If we are Christ's, this love was implanted in us at new birth!
I John 2:8-11, 3:16-33; Heb. 6:9-11, Col 1:3-4 The exhortation is needed because the flesh will fight against brotherly love tooth and nail. True brotherly love is most clearly seen in conflict, and therefore is rooted in our sacrificial character. We die for one another!!.
13:2 "Do not forget to entertain strangers." Remember 12:22b! If we are come to an innumerable company of angels, this is far more likely than we realize! Gen 18:1-22
To the Hebrew Christians to whom the book was written, this had a very special meaning. Remember their roots: Gen 15:13, 17:7-8, 23:4
The laws' protection of strangers: Ex 22:21; Lev:19:9-10; The book of Ruth.
Hospitality requires sacrifice, even with friends. The stranger adds a whole new dimension.
13:3 "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them…" Matt 25-34-26; James 1:27 This is concerning the believers who seemed to spend a lot of time in jail in those days.. Remember Heb 10:32-34? If you wanted a quiet and peaceable life, it wasn't a good idea to hang out with the Apostle Paul, for instance! Just ask Jason! (Acts 17:5-10) Serious "Zion commitment" is costly—often of reputation and comfort. Sometimes Phil 3:10 gets very literal!!
13:4 "Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled,,,,"
Contrast this with the command with Ex 19:15—"do not come near your wives" When God spoke to Israel on Sinai, abstinence was required. On Mount Zion, marriage itself and its' physical expression is a sacred sacrifice to the Lord. This is the only sacrifice in our list that has a "Sinai like" warning attached to it. God Designed marriage is a very special sacrifice of worship in God's eyes. Woe to those who are unrepentant in their defilement of it.
13:5 "Let your conduct be without covetousness…." In the battle with the flesh, this is huge!!! The American economy is built on covetousness! I Tim 6:6-7 "Godliness with contentment is great gain."
"For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you." Living sacrifices bank on the Eternal Character of their God, not no stuff that rusts and get stolen!
Note: This is a "Relationship statement!" Covetousness is rooted in emptiness, aloneness. Any lack of contentment is the symptom of trying to fill a chasm in the soul. Hoarding falls into that category. The "cure" is the known and felt Presence of our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit! (Ephesians 3:14-21)
13:6 "The LORD is my helper, I will not fear! " Remember 10:34? "you "joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods." These people were operating with an Eternal confidence. The Present Reality of their Eternal God "trumped" any activity of man or circumstance! It's really a question of where is our treasure house!
"What can man do to me?" Isaiah 52:12-13b Isaiah pits man who will die against His Eternity, He who created man who will die!
Conclusion: Is there any talk of "missionaries" or professional Christian servants in this passage? NO!!! This is written to "Joe Christian". Being living sacrifices is the normal standard behavior of the Christian walk. To think it is something "special" for the super spiritual is a horrible and deadly distortion of God's Word. We are all living sacrifices, consumed by our God in our everyday walk on this fallen earth. Can you smell the fragrance of this worship?
Hebrews 13:1-6
Remember: Our God is a consuming fire (12:29), and we are the living sacrifices, That is what Kingdom citizenship means!
Hebrews 13:1-6 Here's what our sacrifices are to look like. Remember that they are living sacrifices and life is manifested by behavior and motion.
13:1 "Let brotherly love continue." Brotherly love is a continuum, it is not a stop and start, selective action. If we are Christ's, this love was implanted in us at new birth!
I John 2:8-11, 3:16-33; Heb. 6:9-11, Col 1:3-4 The exhortation is needed because the flesh will fight against brotherly love tooth and nail. True brotherly love is most clearly seen in conflict, and therefore is rooted in our sacrificial character. We die for one another!!.
13:2 "Do not forget to entertain strangers." Remember 12:22b! If we are come to an innumerable company of angels, this is far more likely than we realize! Gen 18:1-22
To the Hebrew Christians to whom the book was written, this had a very special meaning. Remember their roots: Gen 15:13, 17:7-8, 23:4
The laws' protection of strangers: Ex 22:21; Lev:19:9-10; The book of Ruth.
Hospitality requires sacrifice, even with friends. The stranger adds a whole new dimension.
13:3 "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them…" Matt 25-34-26; James 1:27 This is concerning the believers who seemed to spend a lot of time in jail in those days.. Remember Heb 10:32-34? If you wanted a quiet and peaceable life, it wasn't a good idea to hang out with the Apostle Paul, for instance! Just ask Jason! (Acts 17:5-10) Serious "Zion commitment" is costly—often of reputation and comfort. Sometimes Phil 3:10 gets very literal!!
13:4 "Marriage is honorable and the bed undefiled,,,,"
Contrast this with the command with Ex 19:15—"do not come near your wives" When God spoke to Israel on Sinai, abstinence was required. On Mount Zion, marriage itself and its' physical expression is a sacred sacrifice to the Lord. This is the only sacrifice in our list that has a "Sinai like" warning attached to it. God Designed marriage is a very special sacrifice of worship in God's eyes. Woe to those who are unrepentant in their defilement of it.
13:5 "Let your conduct be without covetousness…." In the battle with the flesh, this is huge!!! The American economy is built on covetousness! I Tim 6:6-7 "Godliness with contentment is great gain."
"For He Himself has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you." Living sacrifices bank on the Eternal Character of their God, not no stuff that rusts and get stolen!
Note: This is a "Relationship statement!" Covetousness is rooted in emptiness, aloneness. Any lack of contentment is the symptom of trying to fill a chasm in the soul. Hoarding falls into that category. The "cure" is the known and felt Presence of our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit! (Ephesians 3:14-21)
13:6 "The LORD is my helper, I will not fear! " Remember 10:34? "you "joyfully accepted the plundering of your goods." These people were operating with an Eternal confidence. The Present Reality of their Eternal God "trumped" any activity of man or circumstance! It's really a question of where is our treasure house!
"What can man do to me?" Isaiah 52:12-13b Isaiah pits man who will die against His Eternity, He who created man who will die!
Conclusion: Is there any talk of "missionaries" or professional Christian servants in this passage? NO!!! This is written to "Joe Christian". Being living sacrifices is the normal standard behavior of the Christian walk. To think it is something "special" for the super spiritual is a horrible and deadly distortion of God's Word. We are all living sacrifices, consumed by our God in our everyday walk on this fallen earth. Can you smell the fragrance of this worship?