Excellence In Christian Living

Let brotherly love continue. Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels... Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge. Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." ... Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. ... Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account. (Hebrews 13:1–17)

How shall we then live? Hebrews closes with six practical marks of excellence in Christian living.

Faith That Changes Us

Like many of the New Testament letters, Hebrews closes with a series of exhortations and instructions to followers of Jesus about how they are to live. There's not really a logical flow to these final five hundred words, but they are admonitions for excellence in Christian living. How shall we who follow Jesus live? What should the conduct of our lives be?

This brings us to our first point: our faith in Jesus should change our lives for the better. When a person puts their trust in Jesus, what begins on the inside, in the heart, begins to move out through their conduct. It alters the way we think, act, talk, and respond to people.

The mere fact that you've put your trust in Jesus means a transformation has begun. The Scriptures say God dwells in you by His Holy Spirit; we are the temple of the Holy Spirit, and when God moves in, He begins to change us. As 2 Corinthians 5 says, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation; all the old things have passed away, and all things have become new. The evidence begins to be seen by you and by others—you're not the same after you put your trust in Jesus.

Working Out Our Salvation

While God is sovereignly transforming us by His grace and power, He still has a work for us to do. Paul makes this clear in Philippians 2:12: "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure." God gives us new desires to do things that please Him, but we still have to take steps of faith to walk those out. It takes energy and effort.

There are two danger zones Christians fall into. The first is thinking, "God is going to do everything; I have to do nothing." The second is thinking, "God is going to do nothing; I have to do everything." Neither is true. There's a sweet spot in the middle, where God works in us to will and to do His good pleasure, and we walk that out by faith.

Steps of faith almost always require us to move out of our comfort zone, away from our natural tendencies, in opposition to our old nature—the flesh. Having proven throughout this letter that Jesus is better than every other way, philosophy, or religion, the author now says: knowing that, how should we live?

Love Others in Word and Deed

His first exhortation is in verse 1: "Let brotherly love continue." Keep on loving each other as brothers and sisters. Why do we need to be reminded of this? Because so often we tend to be the most unkind to those closest to us. Familiarity breeds contempt. We assume those nearest us will overlook our failures, so we're more apt to be unkind to them. That's our fallen nature—still present whether you've walked with Jesus fifty years or five minutes—and it needs to be put to death.

This brings us to point two: love others in word and deed. It's easier to love in word than in deed. What does it look like to love in deed? Hospitality—sharing what you have with others. The phrase "entertain strangers" comes from a compound Greek word combining philos (brotherly love) and xenos (stranger or foreigner). We're called to love with brotherly love even toward people who are not like us.

This is an important word for our day, with so much animosity in our country. There is a demonic push in this world to make us angry toward, xenophobic toward, or racist toward others. It fits our fallen nature, which is ethnocentric—we like people who are like us. But Christ calls us to something different: to love across ethnic boundaries, not just in word but in deed. This is why we encourage being part of connect groups—to invite people into your home, including neighbors and co-workers who don't know Jesus, and to show the love of Christ in practical, demonstrable ways.

Entertaining Angels Unawares

He gives an amazing possibility: "By so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels." Some people, being hospitable to a stranger, were actually ministering to a messenger of God. Is that possible? In Genesis 18, three individuals met Abraham; he welcomed them, fed them, and cared for them—and at least two were angels, with many believing one was Christ before His incarnation. In Genesis 19, two angels visited Abraham's nephew Lot, who welcomed them. So there's an added benefit to hospitality: you just might, without realizing it until heaven, be entertaining an angel.

He continues: "Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated, since you yourselves are in the body." Our love is to extend to those mistreated for their faith. We're called to empathize with them. Living in San Diego, we are phenomenally blessed—almost laughably so. We know little of going without. We even hashtag our irritations as "first world problems." It's hard for us to identify with those suffering for their faith.

One spiritual discipline that can cultivate this empathy is fasting. We don't even like the word—it sounds painful, and it's supposed to be. There's an aspect of fasting that is afflicting the soul. For centuries Christians have observed Lent, the forty days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, setting something aside to identify with the sufferings of Jesus. It won't make you more spiritual, but it will make you more in tune with the Spirit and more empathetic toward those who are mistreated. (And no—fasting from kale for a year doesn't count.) This empathy is itself an expression of love.

Love Your Spouse by Honoring Your Covenant

Verse 4: "Marriage is honorable among all, and the bed undefiled; but fornicators and adulterers God will judge." Point three: love your spouse by honoring your covenant. If you're married, this is vital; if you hope to be married, hold it dear. To honor your spouse is to lift up their needs and desires above your own.

Marriage taught me, in a great way, that I am incredibly selfish—as we all are if we're honest. One reason God gives you a spouse is to crucify your flesh and purify you. It doesn't feel like that in the moment, but God is doing it.

Unfortunately, "marriage is honorable among all" is simply not true in 21st-century America. Especially in the last fifteen years, marriage is increasingly dishonored—more people cohabiting, more young people saying they're not interested. If marriage is ever to be honored, it must be honored first and foremost in the church. People need to see that Christians honor the covenant of marriage by faithfulness, love, and fidelity, because we are named by the name of the One who created marriage.

God, the Creator of marriage, gets to say what is right and wrong in it, and He is the judge of those who dishonor it. Our culture says sexual immorality and adultery are okay—I read an article claiming an affair might help your marriage. That's wickedness. The Bible says fornicators and adulterers God will judge. If that's part of your past, understand that God forgives and is gracious—it can be part of your testimony, but it should never be part of your future. By God's grace, we honor marriage and seek to love our spouses faithfully.

Do Not Love Money

Verse 5: "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have, for He Himself has said, 'I will never leave you nor forsake you.'" Point four: do not love money. Another way to say it: do not covet. As a follower of Jesus, we must seek to live satisfied with what we have—which is not easy.

Thirty-five hundred years ago Moses gave the tenth commandment: you shall not covet your neighbor's house, wife, servants, ox, donkey—anything that is your neighbor's. To covet is to have a deep longing for what others have. We live in a country that practically manufactures covetousness. The entire consumeristic, marketing culture is geared to infect you with covetousness daily, inducing you to long for the newest, fastest, best thing—and the moment you get it, a newer one appears.

But Paul gives us a great word in Philippians 4:11–13: "Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content... I know how to be abased, and I know how to abound... I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." The context matters. The famous verse 13 is about learning contentment.

Notice verse 12: Paul learned to be content whether full or hungry, abounding or in need. It is actually harder to be content when you're full than when you're empty. When we take people on short-term mission trips to Mexico, the Philippines, or Africa, they almost always say the same thing afterward: "They have so little, yet they seem so satisfied." When we have so much, contentment is hard.

Paul writes again in 1 Timothy 6:6–10: "Now godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out... those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare... For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows." We live in a culture drowning in desire for more. God, help us be content.

Love Your Leaders by Following Their Faith

Verse 7: "Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct." Verse 17 connects: "Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account." Point five: love your leaders by following their faith.

This is sometimes difficult to teach, because it can seem self-serving for a pastor to say "obey those who rule over you." But it's what the Scripture says. Note that the submission and obedience here are not mindless or without precondition. Verse 7 gives two conditions. First, these leaders are those who speak the Word of God. I give you total permission to leave this church if we stop teaching God's Word. Second, their conduct must align with that Word—"whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct." If a leader doesn't preach God's Word, or if their life contradicts the word they preach, this doesn't apply.

But when leaders do lead well, they're given a stewardship by God over your life, and they will give an account. I've wrestled with this, as with James's warning: "Let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment." So obey them, that they may do their work "with joy and not with grief." I can say with a smile that serving this church is a joy, not a grief.

Going Outside the Camp

Verse 8: "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines." The author is writing to Christians who left Judaism—the temple, tabernacle, sacrifices, altar, and priesthood—to follow Jesus. Under the old covenant there was a sacrificial system, but that's no longer what they're part of. They've gone outside the camp to Jesus, who offered the one sacrifice for sin and "suffered outside the gate."

So, "let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach"—even if it means suffering for following Jesus—"for here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come." We're leaving the old kingdom and going toward Jesus, the King of a better kingdom.

Love God by Offering Acceptable Sacrifices

Verses 15–16: "Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." A Jewish believer might ask: are there any sacrifices now? There is no more sacrifice for sin—Jesus paid it all. But point six: love God by offering acceptable sacrifices.

What are they? First, the sacrifice of praise—verbally giving thanks to God and continually praising Him. Second, doing good—being kind to others, which can itself be a sacrifice because kindness is sometimes hard. Third, sharing with others. The word for "share" is koinonia, fellowship—having things in common, as Acts 2 describes the Christians sharing as each had need. When you take what is yours and give it to meet someone's need, God says, "I am well pleased." The very act of sharing acknowledges that what we have is not ours but His to give.

Living Honorably

Verse 18: "Pray for us; for we are confident that we have a good conscience, in all things desiring to live honorably." This is what it looks like to live honorably—to love others in word and deed, to honor your marriage covenant, to refuse the love of money, to follow your leaders' faith, and to offer God acceptable sacrifices.

Verses 20–21: "Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you what is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ." God is working, and He has called you to work out this salvation for His glory.

Closing Prayer

God, would You help us. I need help as much as anyone to be selfless, content, kind, and to love others in word and deed. Our faith in You should alter our lives for the better—change us in such a way that we shine brightly, that people would see our good works and glorify You, our Father in heaven. Enable us by Your Spirit and strengthen us to live honorably this week, with excellence as Your children, for Your glory and for our greatest good.

We praise You, Jesus, and thank You for Your power working in us by Your Spirit. We thank You for the finished work of our salvation—on the cross You said, "It is finished," paid in full. Show us ways this week that we can offer offerings acceptable to You—not for our sins, but in praise and worship. Show us how we can bring joy as You work through Your church. Now may the God of peace who brought up our Lord Jesus from the dead, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will, working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen.