Hebrews 13:20-25 October 2016
THE FINAL BLESSING
Ill. In the days when Russia was under Communist rule, John MacArthur was invited to preach in the Moscow Baptist church which was the only Evangelical church allowed to function in the city. The building could not accommodate those who wanted to attend because the Communist government would not allow for any expansion, so the congregation had to squeeze in until there was only standing room.
John met with the leadership and asked them how long they wanted him to preach for and they said, “No less than 3 hours.” They were so hungry for God’s Word that they didn’t want to be short changed.
This letter to the Hebrews was actually a sermon that was to be read out loud to a church congregation and you might think that it was a bit long for a sermon, but it only takes an hour to read it out loud.
And do you know what the writer says about it v22 “My brothers and sisters, I beg you to listen patiently to this message I have written to encourage you, because it is not very long.”
So if you find a half hour sermon too long, you would have had trouble attending a service in the early church.
In this final passage, the writer blesses the people and adds a few personal details. So this morning we will look at what God has done for us, what God is doing in us and what God expects of us.
WHAT GOD HAS DONE FOR US v20
The writer calls God the God of Peace.
If there is one word that could describe our world today it is conflict. At every level of human involvement there is a lack of peace. At present there are 18 wars and military conflicts going on in our world. There is also a lot civil unrest going on within nations as well as political, racial, industrial and domestic conflict.
In fact many people are so used to living with conflict that they don’t know what real peace is anymore.
Ill. In 2002 China decided to award its own peace prize to those who promoted peace in the world. It is called the Confucius peace prize. I think it is aptly named because I believe they are confused as to what real peace is. 2 of the recipients of this peace prize are Vladimir Putin who is presently responsible for the bombing of Aleppo in Syria and last year Robert Mugabe was awarded this peace prize. Need I say anymore?
The reason people are not at peace with each other is because they are not at peace within themselves and they are not at peace with God. James tells us that there is a civil war going on inside every human being. We are at war with our selfish, proud, greedy, lustful desires. They are always fighting to get their own way and the result is conflict in here and conflict with others.
People are not at peace with God. We were created to live in harmony with God, but as long as we insist of living without God we will always have this inner conflict and external conflict. We will never truly be at peace.
The great news is that God is the God of peace. He knows that when we are at peace with Him we will be at peace with ourselves and at peace with others.
Jesus came to pay the penalty for the sin that is causing the conflict in our lives and relationships and to bring us into harmony with God.
When you come to Jesus and are forgiven and cleansed from all that internal stuff and united with God, you will experience such a deep lasting peace that nothing in this world can compare with.
Ill. Sadhu Sunda Singh was a wonderful Christian teacher in North India. He was persecuted for his faith in Jesus and at one time he was tied naked to a post and covered with leaches to suck his blood. 3 days later his persecutors were amazed to find him still alive. They released him and the Hindu leader asked, “What is the secret of your peace?” And Sadhu told them that He had found peace with God through trusting in Jesus and nothing and no one could take that peace away.
Listen to what Jesus said, John 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
Jesus paid the price for our sins with His life blood and with that blood He signed a peace treaty between God and us. A treaty, an agreement, a covenant that eternally guarantees God’s forgiveness and acceptance to all who put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ, the great Shepherd of the Sheep.
This what God has done for us, now let’s look at:
WHAT GOD IS DOING IN US v21.
Every other religion is a DIY religion. They teach you that if you want to please God you have to do this and do that, observe all these rules and practices.
But Christianity is totally different. It’s not about what you do for God, it’s about what He does for you, in you and through you.
He equips us with all we need to do His will.
When God calls you to do something, He gives you the resources to do it and works through you producing the results.
It is what we call grace. God doing in you and through you what you cannot do by yourself.
There is no way any of us can wipe clean the record of our wrongdoing and make ourselves good enough to enter God’s eternal Kingdom. Only God can do that for us and He did when Jesus took the rap our sins, cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
This is called grace – God doing for us what we could never do for ourselves.
And that grace doesn’t end when we become Christians, God grace continues to work in us, and for us and through us what we cannot do on our own.
1 Cor 15:10 “I have worked harder than any of the other apostles; yet it was not I but the grace of God working through me.”
Ill. Richard Mylander Wrote about a time when he travelled to a conference in Colorado. He was driving uphill and caught up with a freight train almost 2 kilometres long. At the rear of the train were 2 locomotives and it sounded as if they were straining to push all these wagons up the hill.
Richard wondered how they would ever make it because the gradient was quite steep. He kept driving alongside the train until he came to the front and there to His surprise were 5 locomotives pulling the train from the front. “That train was a lesson for me. I had been under serious strain for some time. I was feeling tired and was wondering whether I could persevere under the pressure. How like God, I thought. When I am pushing a load uphill with all the strength I have and feel like my energy level is depleted, God wants me to know that He is in the lead, pulling with power far greater than mine.’ That is grace.
Isn’t this what God said to Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Ill. In 1956, Martin Luther King truly believed that God had called him to work to get rid of racial discrimination in the USA. One night in the thick of it all he just couldn’t sleep. A threatening phone call had terrified him. So he prayed, “I am here taking a stand for what I believe is right. But Lord, I must confess that I’m weak now, I’m faltering. I’m losing my courage. Now, I am afraid. . . . The people are looking to me for leadership, and if I stand before them without strength and courage, they too will falter. I am at the end of my powers. . . . I can’t face it alone.” Dr. King later wrote, “At that moment I experienced the presence of the Lord as I never experienced Him before. It seemed as though I could hear the quiet assurance of an inner voice saying, ‘Stand up for righteousness, stand up for truth; and God will be at your side forever.’ Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.” God was working in and through Martin Luther King – enabling Him to do what he could not do on his own. That’s grace.
“God will equip you with all you need to do His will.” It doesn’t say to do your will. The promise is for those who truly want to do God’s will.
In fact, if you are bashing your head against a brick wall and getting nowhere you might need to ask one of two questions: “Am I relying on my own strength, abilities and experience to do this or am I truly depending on God?”
The other question is, “Do I really believe this is what God wants or am I pushing for what I want?”
If you are relying on your own resources, strategies and tactics to get what you want, you will end up becoming frustrated, exhausted, even resentful.
Many Christians have been stirred up by God to do certain things, but they backed off because they looked at the task and then looked at what they have to offer and said, “I can’t do this?”
But God says, “You can’t do it, but I can do it through you if you will step out in faith and trust me.” It’s not about you doing work for me; it’s all about letting me do my work through you.”
Ill. When John and Cathy Rug sensed that God wanted them to go to Chile as missionaries to work among the poorest of the poor and plant churches, John felt he could never do this because he was blind. But God showed John that if he was willing to step out in faith He would equip him with all he needed to accomplish this task. In Spite of John’s blindness, he and Cathy went to Chile in 1986 and God has worked through them bringing many to Christ and planting churches in some of the poorest communities.
He produces in us what is pleasing to Him.
Grace is not only God equipping us with all we need to do His will, it is also God working in us to produce every good thing that is pleasing to Him.
This aspect of God’s grace has been such a blessing to me. When I have found it hard to love someone I have prayed that God would produce in me the love to love them. And I can pray that way because it says right here that God will produce in me through the power of Jesus Christ every good thing that is pleasing to Him.
And I have found that when I begin to relate to that person in a loving way, even if I don’t feel like it, somewhere along the track I have discovered a genuine love for that person is growing in my heart. God producing in me through the power of Jesus Christ, that which is well pleasing in His sight.
Ill. During the 2nd World War Corrie Ten Boom and her sister Betsie were sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp and there they witnessed terrible atrocities committed by the Nazis. It was there that Betsie died because of the ill treatment.
2 years after the war Corrie had just finished speaking to a church group in Munich about the forgiveness of God. Suddenly she saw one of the guards from the concentrations camp making his way towards her. She froze as she remembered this man with his Nazi uniform and riding crop cruelly beating the helpless women in the camp.
The ex-guard wanted to thank Corrie for her message on forgiveness. He reached out his hand to shake hers but she couldn’t do it. She had just spoken about forgiveness but could not forgive this man who was partly responsible for the death of her sister.
He told Corrie that he had been a guard at Ravensbruck but since then he had become a Christian and God had forgiven him for the cruel things I did there. And then he said to Corrie with his hand outstretched, “Fräulein, will you forgive me?”
Corrie knew God wanted her to forgive him but she just couldn’t do it. “Help me Lordelp me Lord “.” She prayed silently. ‘I can lift my hand. I can do that much. You need to produce the feeling.’
Corrie wrote “And so woodenly, mechanically, I thrust my hand into the one stretched out to me. And as I did, an incredible thing took place. The current started in my shoulder, raced down my arm, sprang into our joined hands. And then this healing warmth seemed to flood my whole being, bringing tears to my eyes.
‘I forgive you, brother!’ I cried. ‘With all my heart!’ For a long moment we grasped each other’s hands, the former guard and the former prisoner. I had never known God’s love so intensely, as I did then”
“God producing in you through the power of Jesus Christ every good thing that is pleasing to Him.”
Is there some attitude, some behaviour that you really want to see change in and you have tried to bring about that change yourself but it hasn’t worked. This morning I encourage you to bring that area to God, admit that you don’t have the power in yourself to change this and take hold of this promise today and pray this prayer, “Lord, I don’t have the power in myself to be more loving, patient forgiving, Christ like. Would you please work in me by your Spirit and produce in me that which is pleasing to you. For Jesus’ sake.”
Do you know something? When God equips you with all you need and God produces in you that which is well pleasing to Him, you can never take the credit for it. All the credit and all the glory goes to God. And that is the way it should be.
WHAT GOD EXPECTS OF US v22-25
Quite simply, “To pay attention, to take on board what He is saying to us through this letter.
As I said at the beginning, this letter was read out loud to the congregation. But how it affected the congregation would depend on whether or not the people were listening. There are different levels of listening.
- Apparent listing. Some people look as though they are listening but they are not really. Their minds are wandering all over the place so they don’t really hear what is being said.
Ill. I have to confess I have listened like this on many occasion. I remember talking to a visitor in one of our churches and asked them how many children they had. They told me and a little later in the conversation I asked the question again. Needless to say, Lois pulled me up afterwards.
Ill. When Franklin Roosevelt was president of the USA he often had to entertain world leaders and dignitaries from his own country. The visitors would line up in the White House reception room while he and Eleanor would move down the line and shake hands. Roosevelt complained that no one really paid any attention to what was said. One day, during a reception, he decided to try an experiment. As he passed down the line and shaking hands he whispered to each person, “I murdered my grandmother this morning.” The guests responded with phrases like, “Marvelous! Keep up the good work. We are proud of you. God bless you, sir.” It was not till the end of the line, while greeting the ambassador from Bolivia, that his words were actually heard. The ambassador was quite taken aback and leaned over and whispered to Roosevelt, “I’m sure she had it coming.”
I’m sure there are times when I am preaching when I think you are taking it all in but in actual fact you are thinking about what you will be doing after church.
- Selective listening. This is when we hear only what we want to hear and shut out the rest. There is real danger in us Christians doing this when it comes to God’s Word. We can read the Bible and dwell only on the passages that make us feel good or comfortable and skim over the parts we don’t like.
We all have a reticular activating system. It is part of the brain that filters out what we consider is not important and focuses on what we think is important. For example: People living on a street with high traffic volume can shut off the noise so that they don’t even notice it, while a mother can hear her baby cry when everyone else in the room is oblivious to it. We need to use our selective listening to train ourselves to listen to what God is saying and to ignore the voice of Satan and our sinful desires.
Ill. A Native American Indian was visiting NY one day and he turned to his friend in Times Square and said, “I can hear a cricket.” “You’re crazy! Its rush hour, the city’s full of noise and you reckon you can hear a cricket,” said his friend. The Cherokee Indian walked over to a big concrete planter, dug into the leaves underneath and pulled out a cricket. “It all depends on what your ears are tuned to hear. Let me show you.” He pulled a handful of coins out of his pocket and dropped them on the footpath. Immediately every head within earshot turned. “See what I mean, it all depends on what you want to hear.”
- Critical listening. This is just as bad as selective listening because you listen to someone with the express purpose of finding fault in what they are saying. This was the way the Pharisees listened to Jesus. They wanted to discredit Him and so they only listened to hear Him say things they disagreed with and the sad thing is that they never heard the truth that God wanted them to hear.
Ill. Back in the 70’s a lady I knew decided one Sunday to visit the church she had grown up in. It was the Auckland Baptist Tabernacle. I spoke to her after her visit and asked her how she found it. She said she was so disgusted that she didn’t hear a thing the preacher said. I asked her what had upset her. He didn’t even preach from the pulpit.
4. Attentive listening. This is the kind of listening I believe God is wanting from us. Listening because we want to hear what God is saying to us so that we can put it into practice.
How many of us pick up the Bible and pray, “Lord speak to me through your word and show me how you want me to respond.” How many of us come on a Sunday and pray, “Lord speak to me through the message so that I can apply these truths to my life, my work, my relationships, etc.” Please don’t listen hoping to be entertained or made to feel good. Listen to what God is saying to you whether it is comforting or unsettling, challenging or soothing so that you can act upon it. This is attentive listening.
The writer finishes with A few personal notes speaking of his imprisonment in Rome and his planned visit and then prays that God’s grace would be with them all.
In conclusion I want to take this wonderful truth of God equipping us with all we need to do His will and producing in us that which I pleasing to Him and turn it into a prayer. Praying the scriptures.
“Dear Lord, please show me day by day what you want me to do and when I become aware of it, may I not to hold back because I don’t feel I can do it. Help me to trust that when you call me to do something you will supply what I need to carry it out. And Lord I also submit my life to you and pray that you would keep working on my character and produce in me through the power Jesus Christ every good thing that is pleasing to you. And when you have completed this work may you receive all the glory and praise for what you have done in me with me and through me. In Jesus name I pray.”