BiblicalMastery Buddy's bible blog

Lesson 20

Christianity in Practice

Hebrews 13:1-25

February 14, 2016

 

How-to books are probably some of the biggest sellers in this country. Not only do we have books but whole channels available on TV telling us how to be a master in home repairs. They all make it sound so easy, but when I begin to try to follow the instructions that are given I find that the task is never as easy as the experts make it look. I am one who even has had trouble with putting toys together over the years. Practice is always harder than the rules or instructions than we have available to us.

 

The Bible of course is the good news of salvation and the narrative of the God/man Jesus Christ. It is also the one place where we find the full revelation of the standards God has set for mankind from the very beginning. He has called man to obey Him and then told them and us the way we are to obey. It is obvious that I, as well as every other human being, has failed in the effort to do so. Time and again throughout the Old and New Testament are the stories of men and women who disobeyed God and suffered the consequences of the sins committed. I find it interesting that no sooner had the people received the Ten Commandments than they sinned by building a golden calf and worshipped the idol.   There is one danger for each one of us who call ourselves followers of Christ. Trying to keep God’s standards may cause a person to become legalistic. God has never condoned such an attitude. Everything I do should be built on the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. Out of the love I have for Him and those He loves I will strive to carry out His mandate to try to make disciples of those that He brings into my path.

 

The church has been given the full revelation of God in the Bible. It is the news of God working in the lives of Believers for thousands of years. One of the reasons that the church no longer feels threatened by what is in the Book is it does not pay attention to the words found in its pages. We cannot be a factor in a society where the vast majority of people no longer believe God’s word as totally true. The issue becomes how to teach what we do not know. Also, how do we evangelize and disciple when we lack a message to bring to them? Finally, can we act like Christians if we do not know the standards God has set for us? Ignorance is never the excuse because we have God’s word more available to us in more translations now than at any other period in history. What the writer lays out for us in chapter 13 are the practical ways that the world can identify a person as a follower of Christ.

 

Hebrews 13:1-3

The writer begins by calling the recipients of the letter to first of all to continue in the love they had for the fellow believers. By turning their backs on the church they would indicate their lack of love for other believers. Those who showed love for others would:

• Show hospitality to strangers. The writer must have been thinking of the visitation by the angels and the Lord to Abraham. Other examples would have been the appearance of the Lord to Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson or the visit to Gideon. In a time when public facilities were less than desirable places to stay Christian hospitality was very important.
• Remember those who had been imprisoned because of their faith.
• Remember also those who were mistreated for the same reasons.

 

1. Why did the writer base the treatment of others on the need for the

recipients of the letter to continue to love others? (Treatment of others is always based on love.)

2. What examples do we have from Scripture of those who were hospitable?
3. What were the results of their acts?
4. In what ways can you show your love for those who are suffering?

 

Hebrews 13:4

Those in the church needed to be warned of the same situation that exists today. There was to be fidelity in the marriage. If the family breaks down so do churches and nations. Sadly, the divorce rate is almost the same between those who are church members and those who are not. The writer called on the people to be faithful. God would judge the offenders.

1. Why is it so important for families to stay together? (They are the

backbone of society and the church.)

2. What is happening in society today?
3. What happens to those who violate God’s law on marriage?
4. How can those of us who are married work to make sure that we remain faithful to our spouse?

 

Hebrews 13:5-6

Greed destroys the character of a person. The love of money is an idol that is worshipped by so many. The people were being encouraged to trust God for the things that they needed. They needed to learn that they could fully depend on Him. Jesus had said not to worry about material things. Paul had spoken about contentment with what one has. To be content allowed them to focus on God not things of this earth.

 

1. Why does the love of material things destroy the character of a man?
2. How can we keep from becoming greedy or covetous?
3. What does God truly desire from man? (Trust in Him to provide our   needs.)
4. What other references are there where this idea is expressed in the Bible? (Jesus, Paul and Timothy all spoke of this.)

 

Hebrews 13:7-8

The people were to remember and respect those who had provided godly leadership. He spoke especially of those who had stayed true to the teaching of God’s word. They were to imitate them because of their conduct and faith. Their model is the One about whom the author said, He “is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

 

1. In your mind what is the most important task leaders in a church have?
2. How do we honor and show respect to the leaders of the church?
3. What is it about them that we should want to imitate?
4. What would you hope to learn from leaders?
5. Why do people not respect those in authority today?
6. Upon whom is the leader to model his life?
7. What is the nature of that model? (Christ never changes in all that He taught and the way He lived.)

 

Hebrews 13:9

The problem that existed in the life of the church to which the writer wrote was the desire to fall back into their old lifestyle. They were considering going back to the teachings of the old covenant and no longer being faithful to the church of Jesus Christ. He explained to them once again that the eating of animals sacrificed to God and the keeping of all the holy days would not benefit them at all. Grace would be the only way to have their hearts strengthened in righteousness.

 

1. What was happening in the life of the people to whom the writer was addressing his letter? (They were considering a return to Judaism.)
2. What does it indicate about us when we drift away from church?
3. What benefit would they get from doing so?
4. What is the one thing that will provide the relationship with the Father? (His grace and not the sacrifices and celebrations of the old covenant.)

 

Hebrews 13:10-13

In verses 10-13 there is a stark contrast between the old and new covenant. The cross of Jesus Christ is the altar that excludes those who adamantly adhere to the old sacrificial laws. There is no place for grace in the lives of those who choose to live by the law. The blood for sin offering was poured out on the altar but the presenters were not allowed to eat the sacrifice. It was burned outside the city. Jesus poured out His blood on the cross, placed outside the city walls. All those who are willing to go out to Him and identify with the reproach of the cross will be sanctified. The writer was calling to the men who might fall away to turn their backs on the meaningless sacrifices and go out to Jesus.

1. What benefit would those who were considering returning to the Jewish faith receive from the offerings made? (They received no satisfaction from the sacrifice.)
2. What was the difference between the sacrifice of animals and that of Jesus? (Their blood was poured out on an altar and the flesh was burned outside the gate and could not be eaten. Jesus poured out His blood on the cross and all who will turn to Him will gain salvation and continuing sanctification.)
3. In what ways have you identified with the sacrifice made by Jesus?
4. What did the writer mean by sanctification? (Salvation and becoming holy in the actions and attitudes of life. In other words becoming more like Jesus.)

 

Hebrews 13:14

Every believer since Abel who has remained faithful has one thing in common. He or she does not look at earth as his permanent home. All who follow Christ are aliens and sojourners who are just passing through on the way to their eternal city. That city has not come to the believer yet but he can be assured it is on the way because God has promised the reality of it.

 

• Who is in the company of those who are waiting for the eternal city that is to come?
• What does it take to be in that company?
• What does it mean to be an alien or sojourner?
• How do we know that the city we seek is going to come?

 

Hebrews 13:15-16

Because of all Christ had done for mankind the writer called the people to offer up praise that showed they offering themselves as holy sacrifice to God. See Romans 12:1-2 to see what the writer wanted the people to understand. Praise is never to be superficial but from the heart. He called such praise the fruit of the lips that in his mind was giving thanks to Him. One way to please God was to continue to do good and share what one had.

 

1. How should we respond to what Christ has done for us?
2. What is praise that is sacrificial?
3. How is it different from thanksgiving?
4. What did the writer mean by praise is the fruit of the lips?
5. How do we please God?
6. How do you go about doing the things the writer called the people to do?

 

Hebrews 13:17

Leaders were to be obeyed. Those under their authority were to submit to them. The reason that the leaders were to receive that respect was they were watching over the souls of the people in their care. All leaders will be held accountable for the task given to them. Because of the accountability they were to perform their responsibilities with joy. To be negative would be of no help to the body.

 

1. Why are leaders to be obeyed?
2. In what ways do we submit to them?
3. What is the major task for leaders? (To watch over the souls of men.)
4. What kind of attitude should the leader possess? Why?

 

Hebrews 13:18-19

No matter who a person is prayer is needed. All of those with the writer asked to be remembered before God. He thought that they

• Had a clear conscience that they had done nothing that would displease God.
• Wanted to continue to conduct themselves in an honorable way.

He asked all of them to pray that the writer could once again be returned to them.

 

1. What is the one thing you would want your fellow brothers and sisters to do for you?
2. What do you want people to see in you?
3. Why is prayer important for those who have no control of their circumstances?

 

Hebrews 13:20-21

Like many of the books in the New Testament the writer pronounces a benediction. It contained the following:

• He called God the God of peace
• God raised Christ who is the head Shepherd of the church from the dead.
• The new covenant came through the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.
• The fact that it was Jesus who gave a person the ability to do His will.
• He was working in each person in such a way that what is done is pleasing in His sight.
• All of this was done by Jesus Christ, to whom all glory is due forever, amen.

 

1. In what ways can we model our prayers the way the writer ended his letter?
2. What is the important message to be received from this benediction?
3. In what ways can we praise God using this benediction?
4. How do you believe you have been gifted by Jesus to do His will?

 

Hebrews 13:22-24

Like any speech, sermon, or letter the last thing said may be what leaves a lasting impression in the minds of people. The writer ends with reference to what he has tried to do with the letter. I would think that he would hope the people would refer to what he had said.   He wanted them to give the good news of Timothy’s release from prison. The writer and Timothy would then travel to see them. Until they came all of the leaders and believers were to be greeted. Everyone who was with the writer greeted the church possibly in Ephesus.

 

1. Why is the last point someone makes so important?
2. What did the writer want the people to remember? (Only the new covenant   had meaning in their lives.)
3. Why was it important to the writer that he and Timothy travel together? (Timothy was well known in Ephesus.)
4. What did you gain most from this study of Hebrews?

 

Hebrews 13:25

The writer wanted to leave with the people God’s unmerited favor.

 

• As the book of Hebrews has shown the Bible is not just a group of stories but it offers some practical lessons for you to live by.
• Submit yourselves to the leadership of the church knowing they have been chosen to serve you and to look out for the wellbeing of your soul.
• Leaders, you are to serve with joy.
• Pray for those in need and also for encouragement of others.
• Always desire that God’s unmerited favor be upon all who are part of God’s kingdom.

 

Throughout this book the writer has done everything he could to make sure the weak maintained their faith in the face of difficult circumstances. We in the church are experiencing an onslaught of challenges from every side. We may not at this point be called to endure physical persecution but that does not mean that the world is friendly towards us. From public education to government society is doing every in its power to undermine the family and the church. We are now being called as never before to be faithful to Jesus Christ. The only way to do that is to follow the teachings found in God’s word. For far too long the church has been able to coast along in life and not be bothered. Today it is more important than ever that we become true students of the Bible. Only by discovering the message found in its pages are we going to be able to be victorious in our lives, the family and the church. Let us not wait another day because the longer we delay the more people will succumb to the temptations of this world and drift in an eternity without God.

 

 

 

 

  Lesson 19

Unapproachable?

Hebrews 12:18-29

February 7, 2016

 

I sure would enjoy having the opportunity to sit down and talk with ________________ and to be able to ask them a lot of questions. The truth is, even though I have said this many times, if I had such an opportunity there would be more stammering and stuttering than any questions being asked. There are many people I admire who are living now that fit that category, but there are also those who have passed on from this world with whom I will never get to talk. Biographies can only tell us so much because of the limited number of pages that one can write or a person will read.

 

Even though I did not really get to know my great-grandfather, while he was alive. I think I was somewhat intimidated by him because of the stories my mother had told about him. He was a very strict disciplinarian which was evidently more prevalent in his day than we find in families now. As I have looked back I think about all of the opportunities I missed of learning what it was like after the War Between the States. He was born about the time the war began and died at either 94 or 95 years of age. Just imagine the stories he could have told me if I had just had the sense to spend time with him. Although I was just a young person some things never change. There are some individuals who intimidate me even more than my great-grandfather. I would find them just as unapproachable. Many of us see God in the same light. I recently spoke with someone who is having trouble becoming a Christian because a person in his or her position cannot first forgive him or herself. This would make God seem to be beyond reach for man. Fortunately, none of us have to view God this way. Our study in Hebrews has emphasized the fact that we can enter into the holy of holies in the heavenly tabernacle because of what Jesus has done for us.

 

“Oh that they had a such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it would be well with them and with their sons forever.” (Deuteronomy 5:29) These were the words spoken to Moses by God after He had appeared to the people on Mt. Sinai and gave them the Ten Commandments. They had promised Moses that they would follow all that God had commanded. They like us did not obey what God had said very long. The awe and reverence for the great God of creation did not last long at all and they soon fell back into the same routine of murmuring that constantly got them into trouble with God.

 

The same words that God spoke to them that day could be said of us today. We seemed to have lost that awe and wonder of God and in many cases treat Him like an old shoe rather than the majestic God He is. How do we know this is happening? All we have to do look at the subject of many of the books out today to see how even the church has drifted away. There is one book titled “Practical Atheist.” Another asks why are so many millennials leaving the church many never to return. The problem today is not that God is unapproachable and unavailable to us but that we do not come into His presence with the kind of reverence He demands. Just look in on Bible study classes or the worship service and look at the focus of the people. God demands our attention because what is being shared is for our eternal benefit. When we find texting more important than He then we are nothing coming into His presence with thanksgiving as Psalm 100 tells us. We must come back to the place of truly worshipping Him. I think that we are more intimidated by those things that are temporary, like government, than we are by God. The writer of Hebrews will once again explain what the infinite all powerful God has provided for us.

 

Hebrews 12:18-20

It is interesting that the writer used a negative to emphasize the point he was trying to make. Rather than speaking of the picture in the Old Testament of Mt. Sinai all aflame and shaking, he used it as a metaphor of the God who was approachable. What happened in the Old Testament can be found in Exodus 19 and Deuteronomy 5.   It was such a fearful experience that the people feared for their lives if God spoke to them any longer.

 

1. Why does looking at a subject from the negative sometimes give greater emphasis to the positive picture the author is trying to paint for us?
2. Looking at the picture of Mt. Sinai as described in these verses and the Old Testament account, how different is our approach to God today? (God is approachable through His Son.)
3. Why were the people so fearful?
4. Why have we lost this sense of reverence today?
5. What did they not have to fear? (Destruction at the hand of God. God only wanted them to know that the One who they were to follow is beyond complete comprehension in His Sovereignty and power.)
6. What is the importance today of seeing God in that way? (Knowing that we serve an all-powerful God that we do not need to fear anything on this earth.)

 

Hebrews 12:21

The event to which the writer referred in this verse actually occurred when Moses appeared before God after the golden calf incident. Moses then returned to God on the mountain. He was fearful that God might completely destroy the people because of their sin. Only after Moses intervened for the people did God back off from His plan to destroy Aaron and all of the people who had participated in disobeying the very commandments they had just received from Him at Mount Sinai.

 

1. What is the greatest consequence of sin? (To have God’s wrath fall on man.)
2. Why do we sin so shortly after being in God’s word?
3. What are the two things that should make us fear and tremble? (Our own salvation and that of others.)
4. Why was it necessary for Moses to make intercession for the people?
5. In what ways is intercessory prayer still important for us today?

 

Hebrews 12:22-24

Just opposite of the place where the law was given, man came to the place representing grace, Mount Zion. The writer described it as the “City of the living God.” That city is the heavenly Jerusalem. Those found there consist of:

• Myriads of angels
• The assembly of the people
• Church of the firstborn already enrolled in heaven. Those who were written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
• God Himself who is the Judge of all.
• The sprits of the righteous ones who have already gone before the time of the writing who have been made perfect awaiting those were to follow.
• Jesus the mediator of the new covenant
• The shedding of the blood of Christ who bought man’s salvation.

 

1. How different is Mount Sinai compared to Mount Zion? (The people were not even allowed to touch Mount Sinai showing the fact that God could not be approached because of His holiness.)
2. What does Mount Zion represent? (The heavenly New Jerusalem.)
3. Who are to be found there?
4. What does the writer say that gives us hope because of who is to be found there?

 

Hebrews 12:25-26

The One who spoke from Mount Sinai with a warning was the very same One who was speaking at the time Hebrews was written. If judgment came to those who were warned by Him at Sinai then the same could be expected for those who were now about to turn their backs on God. At the beginning God’s voice caused the Mountain to shake and His power to change things had not diminished at all. He promised that once again at some point everything would be shaken again.

 

1. Why did God present the original giving of the Law in such a dramatic way? (It was important for the very existence of man.)
2. What did the giving of Law mean? (The way man had lived previously was being dramatically altered. There would no longer be any excuse of living as they had done up to that point in time.)
3. In what ways has God shaken your life?
4. If not, why?

 

Hebrews 12:27-28

The reality of what can be shaken boils down to whatever has been created by God. He can change all that is in the universe by just speaking a word. There are those things that He will never change. They are eternal in nature. Salvation cannot be lost. The New Jerusalem will not be altered. The new covenant, as opposed to the old, will never end. The writer indicates that the kingdom will not be shaken or changed. Followers of Christ now have a permanent place in that kingdom. Because man has received salvation he is to be grateful and offer to God acceptable service with reverence and awe.

 

1. What are the things that can be shaken by God?
2. What cannot be changed?
3. How should a person who has received what can never be ended respond to the promises presented in these verses?
4. What is the ultimate example of what cannot be shaken? (The heavenly Jerusalem.)

 

Hebrews 12:29

All who are opposed to God will meet His final and complete judgment. If one thinks about it fire is probably the most complete destruction of matter. God desires His people to serve and love Him. To do otherwise will bring about the final judgment. The recipients of the letter were in danger of facing the condemnation of God because of their apostasy. Apostasy is an indicator that one has never truly given his heart to Christ. The judgment is not God’s plan or desire for man but comes as a result of the choices man makes for himself.

 

1. What does the thought of consuming fire mean in your mind?
2. What will bring about the complete judgment of God?
3. What does apostasy mean?
4. Why would this be a reason for God to bring judgment on that person? (It is a good possibility that one who falls away from the church was never a true believer in the first place because a true follower of Christ cannot lose his salvation.)

 

• You are to remember that God is not unapproachable but must be feared and reverenced when you come into His presence.
• Know for a fact that the one thing that cannot be lost is one’s salvation to fall away from the church may be and indication that one was never saved in the first place.
• Christ is the guarantor of the new covenant for you.
• You are and will be in fantastic company in the kingdom of God. It is available to you right now.
• Know for a fact that God’s kingdom is where He reigns. Does He reign in your heart?

 

God has given to each of us a warning and hope for the future. He has made Himself approachable to all who desire to have a relationship with Him through His Son. This has been the point that the writer has been trying to make to the recipients of the letter and to us as well. This life and our future holds nothing but promises guaranteed by Him. We, however, should never make the relationship any less than it is meant to be. Sadly our attitude and behavior show a lack of acknowledging Him as greater than ourselves. The God who is available is still the creator and sustainer of the universe. He should be viewed with the reverence He deserves. He has allowed us into His presence by the saving work of His Son. Our entry into His kingdom has come a great price.

 

Let us come into His presence to honor and glorify Him with our worship and service. Psalm 100 mentioned above speaks to much of what we have learned from Hebrews. It says, “Shout joyfully to the Lord, all the earth. Serve the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful singing. Know that the Lord Himself is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise. Give thanks to Him, bless His name. For the Lord is good; His lovingkindness is everlasting and His faithfulness to all generations.”