Acceptable Worship, Active Faith • 06.11.23
Nick Lees   -   June 11, 2023

Acceptable Worship, Active Faith
Hebrews 13:1-19

What does it look like to worship God in reverence and awe?

  1. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ
  2. Prioritize hospitality
  3. Bear one another’s burdens
  4. Treat marriage and sex biblically
  5. Cultivate contentment
  6. Follow the godly leaders that God provides

Manuscript:

Good morning church family! (Thank those who showed up for the parade to invite and outreach.)

Dismiss 4th + 5th graders

Ushers + Bibles (Hebrews 13; page 1197)

We’ve got a lot to be excited about and plenty of ministry opportunities this summer. I hope today’s sermon will help us launch into the summer ready to offer God acceptable worship as we live out active faith!

Last week, chapter 12 ended with the call to offer to God acceptable worship in reverence and awe… Today we’re going to hear from the author of Hebrews on specific ways to worship God in this way! This final section of his letter is loaded with the practical outworkings of a persevering faith that seeks to worship God in reverence and awe. He is going to lay out very clear commands for Christians to live by so that they would run the race well! So, let’s turn our attention to the text to hear his exhortations:

Hebrews 13:1–19 (ESV)

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?”

7 Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. 9 Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. 10 We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. 11 For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. 12 So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. 13 Therefore let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. 14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. 15 Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

18 Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things. 19 I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.

We’ve heard an awful lot about perseverance and endurance over these past months. Do you want to live a life that is pleasing to God? Would you like to have a faith that endures to the end and hears, “Well done” when you stand before your King? If you answer, “Yes!”, then pay attention to what we just heard. Allow it to be more than head knowledge. Ask the Spirit of God to apply the Word of God to your life. In fact, let’s do that now.

Pray briefly

Let’s collectively seek to answer the question…

What does it look like to worship God in reverence and awe?

The first part of our answer is going to be very obvious from how this chapter begins…

  1. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ

“Let brotherly love continue.” It indicates that there was already a mutual love for one another in the first place. They were committed to their fellow Christians in their church. We’ve already heard ways that this love ought to play out within the church family, so let me take you on a little reminder tour:

Hebrews 3:12–13 (ESV)

12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

We worship God in reverence and awe when we protect one another from temptation and sin! It is our Christian privilege and duty to watch out for each other. To warn one another when we see dangerous patterns developing in each other. Conversely, to stay silent when a brother or sister is giving in to temptation or stuck in sin is UNLOVING. Love your brothers and sisters in Christ by protecting each other from sin. Perhaps you’re here and you need to lovingly speak up about what you’re observing in someone’s life. I would encourage you to go to them, asking questions to seek understanding rather than making assumptions or accusations that might harden their heart. Let them know you come in love.

Hebrews 4:16 (ESV)

16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

We worship God in reverence and awe when we come together to the throne of mercy and grace for help in time of need. Each one of us bears a particular set of burdens or is facing a certain trial or temptation. How incredibly loving if when I’m made aware of your burden/trial/temptation I come alongside of you and say, “Let’s go to the throne of grace together. Jesus delights to help in time of need” and then we pray together!

Come to gatherings of the church ready to pray with one another! What a powerful way to use our time together on Sundays or in small groups. You don’t have to be eloquent in prayer, just pray simply and confidently to the Lord. Imagine if each one of us prayed for at least one other person each week… that would have a powerful effect on our church and those who visit. Conversely, if you never pray for others and remain silent… you are effectively hindering your own love for others and your worship of God!

Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV)

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

We worship God in reverence and awe when we put thought and effort into stirring one another up to love and good works at our corporate gatherings. It is a tangible sign of love when I come to you at a gathering with the intention of encouraging you to press on in the faith! And vice-versa. When we use our words to build each other up that is loving! It is a very practical way to let brotherly love continue. So, prioritize corporate gatherings of the church and come intentionally with words to build others up. This could be sharing what you’ve been learning in God’s Word, or asking others what they’re learning, or it could be giving thanks publicly to God for something he’s done.

Again, imagine if each one of us came with the intention of building up at least one other person. The love would be tangible to those who come through our doors. As we live this way, we would be that compelling community that we say we desire to be!

Does this community we’ve just described under this first sermon takeaway sound compelling and attractive to you?! It certainly does to me. Let’s worship God in reverence and awe by loving our brothers and sisters in Christ well.

But our worship goes beyond loving those in our church! In verse 2, the author clearly articulates that we worship God as we…

  1. Prioritize hospitality

“Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” That is certainly a fascinating way to promote hospitality! He points out that you never know who you might be taking care of. It is highly likely that he is referencing back to Genesis 18-19 where Abraham entertains guests in his tent without knowing they are angels sent by the Lord.

The author of Hebrews is bringing that experience into the present day to highlight that, as Christians, our care and service for others is of the utmost importance. And this extends to those who are not familiar to us!

In their day and age, travelers often depended on the hospitality of others to get from one place to the next. There weren’t 20 different hotels to choose from like we have today. So, they would go to the town square and wait for someone to invite them into their homes for the night. Hospitality was an incredibly important part of their culture!

And you’re hearing that it should be no less important to us today. Sure, we may not need to host travelers overnight like they did, but we all have neighbors who do not know the Lord. We likely have a widow or widower in our neighborhood. Or perhaps someone without family nearby. Are we thinking about them? Do we view it as a blessing to host them in our homes, to break bread together, and to look for opportunities to serve them? The word for hospitality is a compound word that literally means “friend of strangers”.  It doesn’t have to be limited to having people into our homes for a meal. It means taking notice of those you don’t already know and caring about them. Recognizing they are a man or woman made in God’s image who need to know him.

How are you personally doing at being a friend of strangers? An easy way to evaluate this is to consider how often you’ve went out of your way to bless someone you don’t know. It could be striking up a conversation with your waiter/waitress and offering to pray for them. It could be bringing a tray of cookies to a new neighbor and welcoming them to the hood. I personally like to look for physical tasks that need done and to offer to help. You need a chainsaw to take a tree down? Say no more, I’m your guy!

I’ll be the first to admit that I struggle to cold-call my neighbors… meaning just walking up to them to engage in conversation and love them in this way. I need to grow here. But having my dog on a leash and going for a walk suddenly brings down the barriers. Or I can find a way to break the ice by noticing something in their yard/porch, etc., and commenting on it.

Of course, the more meaningful hospitality opportunities require intentionality. So, I do believe it is important to try to have them over. The end goal is to break bread together and get into real conversation about life and faith. The best way for me to love a stranger is to not only meet their physical needs, but to point them to the one who can meet their spiritual needs! So, how are you doing at this?

And how are we, as a church, doing at this? I am encouraged by the leadership of Craig Biss and Chris Zepp to challenge our church to be out in the community welcoming folks to town. Our weekly “Witness on Wednesday” ministry has been growing slowly over the past couple of years and it has been very stretching for all of us. It is a practical way for us to seek to befriend strangers by sharing Christ and the church with them.

I also can’t pass up the opportunity to praise God for the work he has done in our congregation at large. I consistently hear from new visitors that they feel very welcomed and loved from the moment they walk up to the doors. It is a testimony of God’s grace in you that you are looking for new faces and seeking to greet them in the name of Christ. Keep doing that! It is a form of hospitality! Hospitality is not only a powerful testimony to others, it is an act of worshiping God with reverence and awe. You never know who you are serving when you show hospitality… it may just be a representative of God.

So, love fellow Christians, be friends to strangers… how else are we to worship God in reverence and awe? Verse 3 gives us another answer…

  1. Bear one another’s burdens

Specifically, the author calls them to remember those who are in prison/mistreated, as if with them! This is surely connected to his earlier commendation of them in Hebrews 10:32-34:

Hebrews 10:32–34 (ESV)

32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.

They had started their race of faith by identifying closely with those who were suffering, either in prison or elsewhere. The author encourages them to continue in that practice! Why? “Since you also are in the body.” This is an extension of showing brotherly love! Those imprisoned and mistreated were there as a result of their faith. These Christians were facing real persecution for their beliefs, and it would not do to forget about those who had been arrested and thrown in prison!

What are we to do with this? It pairs well with missions-emphasis month  Consider the global church and those who are facing such persecution around the world. We could be praying for our imprisoned brothers and sisters in the Middle East or other countries hostile to Christianity. You could sign up for Voice of the Martyrs free magazine to help raise awareness and drive solidarity with persecuted Christians.

If you are aware of a brother/sister who is suffering for their faith locally, you could offer to meet and pray with them for encouragement/support. Perhaps a day is coming when more and more Christians will be at risk for their jobs due to their Christian convictions about gender and sexuality or some other hot-topic issue. If that occurs, then there may be very real opportunities for us to provide food and financial support until they are able to find a new job. To bear one another’s burdens.

Many of you probably don’t know this, but we have outfitted the parsonage with enough beds to sleep a family of 6 comfortably. This was with the intent of having a safe place for those who may be suffering – perhaps from a domestic violence situation, or a house fire, or other such reasons. This is a way for our church to bear one another’s burdens!

It is good for us to ask – How can I grow in this? And… what is my view of sufferers? Do I recoil or draw near to them? Do I show solidarity with them as Christ did to me?

The fourth way we can worship God in reverence and awe comes from verse 4, it is…

  1. Treat marriage and sex biblically

“Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.” In a culture that celebrated sexual promiscuity and having mistresses in addition to your wives, for them to treat marriage with honor and to keep the marriage bed pure with only their spouse would have been head-turning! Christians had a wonderful opportunity that we often don’t consider – demonstrating by our healthy, monogamous marriages and views on sexuality that there is a better way – God’s way. The author also makes it very clear that this isn’t as much an issue of Christian witness as it is of God’s holiness and judgment. God WILL judge the sexually immoral and adulterous. Sex and marriage are not things to misuse based on the whims of our pleasures.

To put it another way, immorality and greed or idolatry are dispositions that defile the offering of worship! Choosing to operate in ways outside of God’s design for sex and marriage hinders and defiles our worship of Him! Remember the call to pursue holiness, without which no one would see the Lord in 12:14.

What does this mean? It means we worship God with reverence and awe when we value marriage. It is a precious thing in God’s sight. It is a unique bond between one man and one woman that is intended to model Christ’s relationship to his church. When we demean marriage by thinking lowly of it or of our spouse, we are denigrating God’s creation, and we are actively undermining the truth about Christ’s relationship with the church.

The way a husband and wife treat one another in marriage SAYS SOMETHING about the GOSPEL. It can either declare the beauty of Christ’s sacrificial love for the church and the church’s humble submission to Christ OR it can depict something warped and ungodly that is not true about Christ and the church. Do you value marriage the way God does? Do you treat your spouse consistent with the sacrificial, humble love of Christ and the church? What message is your marriage sending to those around you?

We must be quick to confess when we fall short in these areas. We need godly sorrow that leads to repentance (real change). We need to invite others in to help us overcome immorality and sin. The beauty of the Gospel is that there is a better way! We can grow and handle these areas in a way that worships God!

What is our culture’s view on marriage? We live in a day and age where nearly anything goes in regard to marriage and sex. This is the message that is being blared over and over again from nearly every corner of our world.

What do your words/actions/thoughts/desires reveal about your view of marriage and sex? Are you fighting to protect and preserve the holiness of marriage? It is imperative that we actively be engaged in the war against lust by delighting in the Lord and your spouse, if you have one.

Do you believe that sex is beautiful and permissible only within the bounds of monogamous marriage? The answer is revealed in your actions. If you’re single, do you view it as a burden or a delight that you are waiting until marriage to be intimate? If you’re married, are you actively enjoying and pursuing your spouse in intimacy? God’s way is truly the best way and the only way that leads to life. The world wants to sell you on a cheap substitute of pleasure that ends in judgment. We have something so much more beautiful and satisfying to offer them. If you’d like to study more on this topic, I’d encourage you to go on our website and listen to the sermon preached on 1 Corinthians 7 titled “Glorifying God in Sex” from 04/14/19 or our series on the Song of Solomon from last year.

The point is that when we treat marriage and sex biblically, we will not only be worshiping God with reverence and awe behind closed doors, but we will also be portraying his way as glorious in the public eye. Do not underestimate the power of the testimony of healthy, godly marriages, dating relationships, or singleness. When we handle these God’s way, it will stand out and we will have opportunity to share the beauty of God’s way. The devil wants to sell the lie that God’s way is NOT enjoyable, but he is the Father of lies and we can trust that God’s way is eminently more enjoyable and the fruit of it is very sweet indeed.

The next way to worship God with reverence and awe flows very closely with this one and it is…

  1. Cultivate contentment

The author transitions from a right view of marriage and sex to contentment in your economic status! He knew what his people were struggling with… and we continue to face the same challenges in our day. It is far too easy to look around you and compare yourself with the Joneses and think, “I don’t have enough.” This can be true whether you are financially stable and secure or if you’re scraping to get by! This envy of others and the desire to have more is a temptation for people of all walks of life and economic statuses.

In his sermon on the Mount, Jesus warns about the love of money being a competing desire to love of God. He helpfully told us that you cannot love both. You can only have one master. If you love money, then you will hate God. Your life will be consumed with the desire for more rather than worship of God in reverence and awe.

Alternatively, if you cultivate a love for God and a contentment in what He has provided you, then you will be free to worship him in reverence and awe. Your desires will not be tainted by love of another false god (aka idol). The author tells his audience how they can cultivate such contentment by reminding them of what God has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”

When you recall that the God of the Universe is with you. The God of all mercy and grace. The One who sent His Son to save you by dying in your place. The One who intends to give you an inheritance in heaven with him. When you recall that this God is with you at all times, it brings an incredible sense of peace and comfort and contentment. When we think this way, we can join our voices in saying, “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?” When I realize that my God is enough, I am freed from clamoring for more. When I recognize the security I have in Him, I do not have to struggle for more money or more possessions. I am free to be a wise steward of the finances he has entrusted to me with contentment.

How do you personally fight for contentment? What are the biggest hindrances to it? What keeps you chasing after more money or what you do not have?

The beauty of the Gospel is that we have been freed from our greatest debt, the burden of our sin before a holy God. Through faith in Jesus, we have been forgiven and established as co-heirs with Christ. We have an inheritance in heaven that cannot spoil or be taken from us. When we learn to value these eternal realities properly, it helps put everything else in its place. It provides the beautiful state of a contented soul that can worship God in reverence and awe. Let’s be on our guard against the love of money and a discontent heart, for it too defiles our worship of God!

Finally, we come to the last answer for how to worship God in reverence and awe from our sermon today. It covers everything from verses 7-19 and it is…

  1. Follow the godly leaders that God provides

Starting in verse 7, the author gives an extended teaching on following godly leaders, both those who had led within their own community and the perfect godly leader, Jesus Christ! So, in the time we have remaining, let’s discuss his teaching on this matter and how it is also a part of worshiping God with reverence and awe.

In verse 7, he calls them to remember their leaders, to consider the outcome of their way of life, and to imitate their faith. These were the leaders who had taught them the word of God. Based on how he speaks of them in the past tense, it is believed that at least some of them have passed away. But their godly example lived on! The testimony of their lives was one of good fruit and enduring faith! Which is exactly what the Hebrews needed. They had much to learn from those godly leaders who had gone before them.

Have you had such godly leaders in your life? Men or women who have set a godly example and are worthy of imitation? I have. I have spoken about some of them before, but it has been quite some time. I am thankful for Pastor Brent Aucoin and his wife, Janet. They poured themselves out to invest in Micaela and I early on in our relationship. Brent took me under his wing in college and seminary and taught me how to be a godly man and pastor. I am thankful for Pastor Steve Viars and his teaching about the authority and sufficiency of God’s Word. From him, I learned that God had compelling answers for life and godliness in the pages of Scripture. Time does not permit to give you my own hall of faith of men and women who have greatly impacted me by their godly leadership and example.

I hope you’ve had the opportunity to know such godly leaders in your life. It is my desire to be such a godly leader for our church and community and, especially, my own family. What about you? Are you seeking to lead your family in a godly way? Is your example worthy of imitation by others? What are those underneath your leadership being led into?

In verse 8, the author gives a wonderful declaration of Jesus’ unchanging character and nature. He is the perfect ONE whom we can look to and imitate, even when men/women inevitably let us down. This is followed by a warning in verse 9 about the diverse and strange teachings that are out there seeking to lead us away from the Lord! They had plenty in their day and we have even more in ours. Year after year more and more diverse and strange teachings arise that warp the truth. The reality is there is only ONE GOSPEL! One WAY to eternal life, as we heard last week.

It is important for each of us to be on guard against false teachings that would lead us away from worshiping the One, True God with reverence and awe. These teachings are often mixed with truth to draw you in, but in the end, they are not accurately teaching the Word of God.

In their days there was a temptation to go back to the Law and dietary rules/regulations, but the author reminds them, those will not strengthen or save you! They are counterfeits to the empowering grace that is ours in Christ! We must pursue the truth and grace that is found in our unchanging Lord.

The author calls us to go to Jesus outside the camp. To bear the reproach he endured. As we identify with and follow his godly leadership, we will suffer with him. It will cost you everything to walk with Christ! Is that a cost you’re willing to count? Will you bear Christ’s disgrace as your own? Following Christ is not going to win you any popularity contests in the eyes of the world… *pause*

Not only that, our calling as New Covenant Christians is to continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God! Rather than laying out animals on an altar, we are to have an open mouth that publicly confesses Jesus as Lord. This is our acceptable sacrifice. It is good and appropriate for us to sing praises to our God, both corporately and individually throughout the week.

This is as good an opportunity as any to remind you that we have a baptism service coming up on July 9th. If you’ve never been baptized as a believer, I would encourage you to take that step of obedience – of publicly declaring what has already happened in your heart – that you have been redeemed and made new by Jesus!

I love how the author frames up our calling in verses 15-16 with the double command to offer up sacrifices. We offer acceptable worship in reverence and awe by opening our mouths to sacrificially praise God and by seeking to do good and sacrificially share with others. Our calling is to live sacrificially in all of our relationships! Both vertical and horizontal! And rather than hoarding up wealth and possessions, we are to share what we have with others, for their good and God’s glory. Such sacrifices please God!

Then, in verse 17, he wraps back around to the command to follow godly leaders again. This time he gives more specifics:

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV)

17 Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

A day is coming when pastors will give an account to God for how they’ve led. That is a terrifying reality for people in my position. And what that means for you is that you should willingly and humbly submit to godly leadership, knowing that your pastors will give an account. You can either make their leadership a joy or a burden by the way you respond to them. Doing the latter is of no advantage to you. Don’t make it hard to be led. Don’t disdain or disregard those who are sincerely seeking to lead you in a way that pleases God.

Why would anyone want to make it harder on those trying to lead them? It is SUCH A JOY to do life with people who want to grow and change and please Jesus. It is SO DELIGHTFUL to reap the harvest of good fruit together. Yet it is so PAINFUL to try to lead someone who doesn’t want it. Who avoids your attempts to communicate or who speaks critically or harshly when you are trying to help them. Who stirs up division rather than being a peacemaker in the body. If this is hitting close to home for you, please confess your sins to the Lord and repent. You are hurting your own worship of God and you are making it a burden to be led. Repent and return to worship of God with reverence and awe!

I love how it wraps up in verses 18-19. His application of what he has just shared is that they were to earnestly pray for him! He was seeking to lead them, and they could follow his godly leadership by praying for him. He desired to be with them again and to lead them in person. What a wonderful partnership they were able to have. He by seeking to lead, they by praying for him. In case you didn’t know, just like this pastor, your pastor team needs your prayers. We are men who are seeking to lead in a godly manner, but we are fallible humans too. Please pray for us to fulfill the calling and character of the pastoral role.

What a challenging section of Scripture! There is still so much to chew on. I would encourage you to continue to study this passage for your own benefit long after today is done. With that in mind, let’s pray to close out our study of God’s Word.

Pray

I See the Lord