13 Let brotherly love continue. 2
Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.3
Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body. 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. 5
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.” 6
So we can confidently say,
“The Lord is my helper;
I will not fear;
what can man do to me?”
We can well imagine why the preacher is saying all of this. If our faith is wavering, if we are focused more on what we see than what God has promised, then of course
the fruit of the Christian life, and all of these particulars he is bringing up, will also waver if not be non-existent altogether.
Or, we could argue backwards. If we have a Christian whose home and heart, hands and voices are NOT being used to serve and relieve the burdens of others…One who says
they have faith, and yet there are no works to substantiate that claim, like the apostle James says, this one’s faith is a sham.
We also know from other statements in the NT that the church, even in apostolic times, was troubled by some ascetic teachers who, as Paul puts it in 1 Tim. 2:3ff.,
“forbid marriage.” As I am sure you know, there is nothing in the Bible that suggests that celibacy was a higher form of spiritual life or that ministers, in particular, should be celibate. Very interestingly, the “by all” was omitted in some later manuscripts
when the passion for celibacy and perpetual virginity had taken hold in the church, and there are a number of church fathers who leave it out in their citation of this verse!
It is hard to know what may have prompted our author to include this in his short list of exhortations. Maybe there was an ascetic element in Judaism that was tempting
these Jewish Christians?
Verse 5 causes us to assume that the love of money was likewise a strong present temptation to those to whom Hebrews was sent. Very often it is the tug of this world
and its pleasures and the prospect of greater success here that weakens faith. Or, this desire for money and what it can buy, eclipses faith altogether!It is hard to keep hoping for what cannot be seen when seductive pleasures are immediately visible to the
eye. The number of professing Christians lost to living faith and obedience because of the love of money is very large.
You will notice that the positive virtue that stands opposite covetousness is contentment. And where does contentment come from but that very faith in Christ and
in the promises of his Word that our preacher has been urging upon his hearers in his sermon.
In English a double negative is said to be grammatically
incorrect. In Greek, it is not only, NOT incorrect, (see what I did there…I used a double negative) in Greek a double negative is emphatic. That is what we have here: “Not, not will I leave you; not, not will I forsake you.”
As Christians we need not worry about provision for their lives here. The Lord will provide according to his will and, as he has said repeatedly through his sermon,
what is anything in this world, passing away as it is, compared to the inheritance of the saints in the eternal world of joy.
So, this little section on ethical duty finishes with faith: it is the person who
believes in what Christ has done and said that will keep his commandments.
Brothers and sisters, we know, all of us that faith, our faith often wanes under pressure from many directions at the same time. It is very easy to think of yourself
as a spiritual man or woman…a person of faith. But the Bible is always putting the sincerity of what we say we believe…to the test, and not some easily manipulated test of the way I feel so that I can pass the test with flying colors, at least in my own eyes.
Rather, the Biblical test is that of our conduct and even conduct that is particularly difficult. Here is what we must consider: All of us, you and I must face the
demanding nature that God’s Word makes upon us and, listen carefully, we cannot and must not apologize for how the commands of the Lord often are seen as complicating our lives. Makes us embrace inconvenience, going out at odd hours, putting aside the time
we have allotted for our own entertainment so that we might listen to a brother or sister who needs us.
As one commentator so wisely put it: Every believer who reads a short passage like this one, should force himself or herself to come to terms with the very obvious
fact that there should be obvious evidence of an extravagant devotion to God and others in our lives. It is so easy for us to hear such commands and then to go out and promptly forget all about them. No. As we force a puppy’s nose down into the mess he has
made on the kitchen floor, forcing him to come to terms with what he has done, holding him there as he struggles to get away, so we must force ourselves, unwilling as we often are, to hold ourselves before these searching test until we have come to terms with
what they must mean for us ourselves.
These are not small things. Look at it this way, if you gave yourself to an extravagant obedience, to just these six verses, you will stand out! And you would
stand out in Christian circles as well as in the world.
So, are we standing out? Is our faith really working through this kind of love? No Christian should ever read a text like this or many others like it, without pressing
this test upon our own lives. And when we stand together, as here in the church tonight, let us put the same test to ourselves: Will folks outside the church, outside of OUR church, so, Christian and non-Christian alike, look at us and say, “My how those Christians
love one another!”?
There is nothing mundane, nothing ordinary or predictable about Christian piety and holiness. It is an extravagant, demanding, other-worldly life we are called to
live and it is all of this while we live our lives right where the Lord has put us. We should glory in this and then be sure, day by day and week by week, that we are actually living
that life, Christ’s own wonderfully extravagant and demanding life, and not some pale imitation.
As Christians we must always be confessing to ourselves and to anyone and everyone who will listen that the Word of God and all of its application…is a beautiful and
lovely thing…and that as we make much of what He has said… embracing the life set before us, fully, without reservation and without grumbling.
At one time, Christians living this way changed the world…we can do so again.
Prayer: Father, save me from myself. Do not allow me to have a hard heart that goes through the motions but is not soft and tender to Your Spirit and the call to
humility and patience. Give me the desire to walk blamelessly before men and before You. I pray that the rituals that You have given for life would be seen clearly and embrace as You meant them, as channels of grace, mercy and love. Through Jesus Christ our
Lord, Amen.
Song: Revive Me