How Shall We Live - Hebrews 13

                       

This morning we’re finishing up our series on the letter to the Hebrews. The writer ends with a flurry of last-minute instructions and encouragements for his readers. The chapter begins with an encouragement to keep on loving one another. The word used is “philadelphia,” meaning brotherly love. The Christian faith is a faith built on the foundation of community; being family with God as our father. Pastor Chelsea Harmon pulls together the keys to a strong community found in this chapter: “loving fellow Christians as though they were your own flesh and blood; hospitality for people known and unknown; empathy that leads to care for the prisoner and others in distress; keeping respect for others’ relationships in the community; trusting in God because it keeps the heart protected from greed; learning from the cloud of witnesses; and worshipping God with praises and deeds.” Family takes care of each other.

Building others up and caring for them happens naturally when we lean on God’s promise to “never leave you; never will I forsake you.” When we put a priority on being present in each others’ lives, especially during difficult times, helping others, even if it comes at a cost to ourselves, this reflects who God is; he’s always there and he provides. Dallas Willard noted in his book The Divine Conspiracy that “we often forget what the goal of discipleship is: we really are supposed to live like Jesus. To become Jesus. To be generous and sacrificial like Jesus.” We remember that Jesus came to sacrifice himself in order to reconcile us to God, to bring new life and restoration to all creation, and to point us to his kingdom of justice and mercy where the Holy Spirit equip us to develop fully into who we are as images of God.

God’s promise to never leave us or forsake us, shows us a God who’s invested in us, who’s present, even when we can’t always recognize his presence. Just as God is present in our lives, just as he refuses to give up on us, we’re called to be his image and be committed to one another, loving each other as Paul calls us to in 1 Corinthians 13, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” This is a love that reflects God’s relationship with us, a relationship of presence.

The writer of the letter offers a second word of reassurance to his readers, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” Fear prevents us from becoming who God is calling us to be as his people, keeping us from completely trusting Jesus and his call to us to walk his way rather than our own way or the way of the world around us. Jesus calls us to trust in his way; in his values and what he teaches, which differ from many of the values and beliefs of our culture. It takes trust and courage to be who he calls us to be as his followers and friends. Here, we’re reminded of another aspect of who the Lord is, he’s our helper, he’s there for us. The word for helper in the Old Testament is “ezer” and God uses it several times, especially in the Psalms such as 54:4 and 30:10, to describe his relationship with Israel as their helper. Jesus has given us the Holy Spirit to help us as Jesus tells us in John 16, “But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come. He will glorify me because it is from me that he will receive what he will make known to you. All that belongs to the Father is mine. That is why I said the Spirit will receive from me what he will make known to you.”

Then there’s this rhetorical question the writer asks, “What can mere mortals do to me?” This is a question where he’s not expecting an answer, for him the answer is obvious, mere mortals really can’t do anything to us, or at least anything that we should worry about. We might answer, “A whole lot!” They can mock us, reject us, hurt us, persecute us, and even more; but the writer’s point is that the Lord’s with us and he’s our helper, so we shouldn’t be afraid or worry. No matter what’s going on, no matter how hard things are, how much suffering or persecution is going on, the Lord will not abandon us, he’s there going through it with us through the Holy Spirit.

Many Christians work in places that, as the writer describes are “outside the camp,” in jobs and businesses where faith has no influence or place, where the name Jesus is simply another curse word. In these jobs and businesses, there may be ethical challenges you have to navigate, there may workplace culture that tears certain people down while favouring others because they’re the “right” kind of people, there may be hostility because of your faith, maybe even persecution. Jesus warned us that when we follow him, we will be persecuted just as he was persecuted.

When we decide to follow Jesus, we’re not choosing a life of easy success, we’re choosing a life where we’re witnesses to a kingdom rooted in God’s shalom or peace, in justice and righteousness for all. We remember that Jesus’ blood makes us holy by suffering outside the camp, an image of the scapegoat who carries the sin of the people away. Jon Laansma, on the website, Theology of Work, talks about being a follower of Jesus in the workplace, “To follow Christ fully is to follow him to the places where his saving help is desperately needed, but not necessarily welcomed. Doing the work of Jesus’ kingdom entails suffering along with Jesus. The phrase “bearing his disgrace” echoes the faith of Moses, who chose the “disgrace of Christ” over the honor and treasures of Egypt,” as we reflected on a couple of weeks ago in Hebrews 11. “This “disgrace” was the loss of honor and possessions mentioned earlier in the book. Sometimes, sacrificing our possessions, privileges, and status may be the only way we can help others. Yet help­ing others is precisely why God sends us to work “outside the camp” in the first place. “Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God,” as verse 16 reminds us.

Following Jesus may lead us into times of suffering for Jesus, yet it’s during those times that the Holy Spirit reminds us that the Lord is with us and he’s our helper. The Holy Spirit helps us and guides us with his wisdom when we turn to him. We walk in the world carrying hope, living into the hope we have in Jesus, offering God a sacrifice of praise because we live with a big picture view of the world and time, knowing that Jesus is returning to fully set up his kingdom over all creation; until that time, we live faithfully where we are.

Nancy Matheson Burns, CEO of food distributor Dole & Bailey, describes reconsidering her career choices when she became a Christian. At the time, she was a fish buyer for her company. She spent her days up to her ankles in fish guts, as she describes it, contending with guys blasting her with foul language, surrounded by calendars with pictures of naked women. “I’ve got to get a job doing something holier,” she thought. “This is no place for a Christian.” So, she applied for a job selling advertising for Christian radio stations. But she couldn’t shake the feeling that God put her in the fish guts for a reason. When she read passages such as this one in Hebrews, she noticed God usually kept Christians in difficult places, rather than whisking them away from them. So she decided to try an experiment. She bought a bunch of calendars with decent pictures. She took them on her rounds, tore down the girlie calendars, and put up the decent ones right in front of the guys’ faces. “Now you have something better to look at,” she said, “I hope it helps you have a better day.”

The fish guys began to like her and respect her. Some days she was the only person who treated them with respect. She found she liked them too. She appreciated their work, and she enjoyed supplying her customers with fresh, safe, quality fish. Over time she rose to become CEO, and she turned the company into a workplace where all people are treated with dignity and respect, and leaders are selected and trained for the ability to serve employees, customers, and suppliers. When we trust that we can really depend on the Holy Spirit as our helper, it opens doors to be the presence of Jesus in every day ordinary places where most of life is lived.

The third word of reassurance to us in this chapter is, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and tomorrow.” This is why reading Scripture is so important, so we can know who Jesus is, seeing how God is always for us and not against us; that even the times when he allows hurt into our lives is all about drawing us back to him again. Grateful living in God’s grace requires intentionality on our part. We’re called to point people to leading generous lives as Hebrews 13 talks about, trusting in Jesus consistent love and presence in our lives. The writer to the Hebrews’ intention is to reveal to us a Jesus who is superior to every creature and human, a Jesus who takes the sin of the world on himself to draw us back into a holy relationship with the Father, a Jesus whom we can trust every moment of every day, no matter the situation, a Jesus who we’re called to follow and imitate so the world will glorify him. This is the journey we’re called to walk together, are you ready?