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 have all had times where the Lord seems to be close, the veil between this world and the next a bit…more thin. We seem to have a little more clarity and joy seems
to be somewhat a regular way of life. For these times we must be thankful and we should enjoy them.
However, we also know how easily we can lose perspective. We get ourselves bogged down and we wake up to find that the Lord’s presence is not so easily discerned or
enjoyed. We are simply…tired. We yearn for that consistency, to remain steady and to see the hills and valleys of our lives flatten out a bit.
Remember how Job comes to the conclusion that what makes a trial is not so much the ups and downs of life, some of them quite severe, but rather, not being able to
find the Lord in the midst of it all…the trial is made difficult by the seeming absence of God.
The book of Hebrews is among other things a look at the life of faith…the life of trusting the Lord and living according to His promises, even though they are not
yet seen. Faith requires each of us…behavior that is consistent with it. A tree planted by water bears fruit…we are the planting of the Lord…so we would expect to see fruit…there must be fruit.
The Puritans had a phrase, “reduce to practice” everything that God taught them in His word. They also spoke of “breaking up grace small”. That is, taking God’s Word
and finding it alive in every little aspect of life.
This is important, because we often will speak quite boldly about the principles of the Bible, big declarations of what life is and looks like. The problem is that
we do not get to the particulars of those principles as easily.
For example: We talk about dying to self…taking up our cross…loving the church…laying up treasure in heaven. These are big and beautiful principles and Christians
will speak them…but what about the particulars of dying to self…what does it look like…today? What does it look like at lunch hour?
What is loving the church? Often, as some of you know, during membership interviews, I follow the vow to promote the peace and purity of the church with a specific
particular. Come on…how are you promoting the peace and purity of the church? What are you doing so that such a grand principle has feet to it? You vowed to do so.
My application, at least one of them, is quite simple…be here…be visible…embrace a ministry of presence…the greatest way to promote the church is to make your life
one with the church and her members. Be at her services, join in her fellowship, carry the burdens of her members and share yours with them?
You get the point. Don’t content yourself with principles only…ask yourself, demand from yourself that these great and glorious principles…living by faith…trusting
the Lord…find their way out of your mouth, hands and feet.
So, what the preacher of the book of Hebrews is doing in chapter 13 is just a beginning to set forth some specific duties and applications of the great principles
of faith in Jesus, the fulfillment of all of God’s Word. Real, persevering faith, in other words, will demonstrate itself in all manner of very specific acts of obedience and service.
The Bible doesn’t say everything, of course. There are many questions of life and conduct that require us to work out from general principles given us in Holy Scripture
because we cannot find in the Scripture any specific direction to guide us.
The longer I live and work in the pastorate, the more of these questions there seem to be. How much easier if we could always simply cite a verse and answer our question
or resolve our problem or find our guidance. But we are given only representative answers and only a few examples of biblical direction in any particular area. Many questions, as you well know, are left to be answered by a biblical mind motivated by a heart
of love for God and man.
Some folks argue that this letter really ended in 12:29 and what we have in chapter 13 is somewhat of a postscript…or what we might call a conclusion. So, let’s look
at the admonitions…the applications to the letter that we are given by its author.
First, we are told to let brotherly love continue. Of course, the command makes an assumption…namely, that brotherly love exists! Something can only continue, if it
already exists.
Paul says something similar in Thessalonians, namely to let brotherly love…continue. We love one another, but that love is meant to grow…to find newer and deeper ways
to be expressed.
This brotherly love is an extension of Christ’s love…it is not the kind of love we hear of so much in our sentimental age…the love that is called up today is not love…it
is a means to manipulate emotion so as to get what the one calling for love wants…we could even say that often this love is actually hate and malevolence.
The world is full of people who claim to love mankind…but do they? Are they promoting love or using the term for their own benefit and purpose? The intellectuals and
politicians are particularly prone to wrap themselves in the mantle of humanitarianism when those closest to them know only too well how little they care for the actual human beings they know.
Once, when Leo Tolstoy was off seeing to one of his very public and self-aggrandizing humanitarian projects, his wife, whom he had left behind in Moscow with their
sick fourth-month old son, Alexei, wrote to him:
“My little one is still unwell, and I am very tender and pitying You…may not especially love
your own children, but we simple mortals are neither able nor wish to distort our feelings or to justify our lack of love for a
person by professing some love…for the whole world.” [Paul Johnson,
Intellectuals, 125]
In other words, Tolstoy was incredible for pontificating about loving humanity; he just couldn’t seem to find it in himself to love a specific human being…other than
himself…and yet had the reputation of being a humanitarian. Fascinating.
To be continued…
Prayer: Father, help me that I would be focused on abiding in Christ
Jesus, staying close to Him, listening intently to Him and wanting for nothing but to walk in obedience to Him. Then my life will be pleasing to You and useful for the Kingdom. Give me a willing heart and an obedient mind that I may be useful to my King and
Savior, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Chant Psalm 91