Christian Behavior
Hebrews 13
Intro
The first eleven chapters of Hebrews do not emphasize specific commands to Christians. It is pure doctrine and is almost entirely directed to Jews who have received the gospel but need to be affirmed in the superiority of the New Covenant.
The exhortations in chapter twelve that apply to Christians are general, encouraging them to run the race of faith with patience and to follow peace and holiness. The specific practical exhortations for Christians are found here in chapter thirteen. This layout of Hebrews fits the pattern of New Testament teaching, which is always doctrine, and then duty, position, and then practice. Chapter thirteen was not a afterthought by the author, but rather a integral part of the message. True faith demands true living.
Chapter thirteen gives us some of the essential practical ethics of Christian living that help portray the true gospel to the world, that encourage men to trust in Christ, and that bring glory to God.
Ethics have to do with standards of conduct (behavior) or moral judgment. There can be no ethics without doctrine. Doctrine is the foundation on which any practical ethic must be based. Hence the reason why the author of Hebrews took the first eleven chapters to cover the doctrine; before finishing with the ethics.
So tonight I want us to take a look at the standards of Christian’s behavior set forth in Hebrew 13.
READ Hebrews 13:1-3
I. In Relation to Others
a. Sustained Love (v. 1)
i. Love for the Brethren
1. The primary moral standard of Christianity is love, and the particular love exhorted here is love of fellow Christians.
2. Love of other Christians is vital to spiritual life.
a. Since we were given brotherly love when we were given spiritual life, we should exercise this love.
b. Our primary concern should not be to look for blessings or to ask for blessings but to use our blessings.
ii. Why Brotherly Love is Important
1. It is important for three primary reasons
a. It reveals to the world that we belong to Christ
b. It reveals our true identity to ourselves
c. It delights God
iii. Love for Strangers (v. 2)
1. Our first responsibility is to our brethren in Christ, but our responsibility does not end there.
2. Gal. 6:10
“While we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.”
3. To feed the hungry, take in the stranger, clothe the naked, and visit the imprisoned in Jesus’ name is to serve Him.
4. To turn our backs on those in need of such things is to turn our backs on Him.
b. Sympathy (v. 3)
i. Sympathy is closely related to sustained love
1. It is easier to help others when we ourselves have needed help.
2. It is easier to appreciate hunger when we have been hungry, loneliness when we have been lonely, and persecution when we have been persecuted.
3. It is not that a Christian must experience starvation or extreme loneliness or imprisonment in order to be sympathetic to those who are experiencing these things.
4. The point is that we should do our best to identify with those in need, to try to put ourselves in their places.
ii. Three important ways you can show sympathy
1. Be there
2. Give direct help
3. Prayer
II. In Relation to Ourselves
a. Sexual Purity (v. 4)
i. Marriage is to be Honored
1. In God’s eyes, marriage is honorable
a. He established it at creation and has honored it ever since.
b. Unfortunately today, marriage is anything but honored.
i. Marriage today is but a mere convenience for some.
2. The Scriptures give at least three reasons for marriage
a. Propagation of children (Gen. 1:28)
b. Preventing sexual sin (1 Cor. 7:2)
c. Companionship (Gen. 2:18)
3. How to honor marriage
a. Husbands be the head of the house.
b. Wives be submissive to their husbands, as Sarah was to Abraham.
c. Mutual love and respect
ii. The Marriage Bed is to be Undefiled
1. God is serious about sexual purity
a. Men and women may play around with illicit sex and be perfectly within the rights in the eyes of most people, especially today.
b. But in the eyes of God, it is always sin and will always be judged.
c. The world today is obsessed with sex as never before.
i. Sexual activity apart from marriage is considered acceptable and normal by more and more people.
ii. The only thing that is going to come out of relations like this though is extramarital pregnancies, rapes, illegitimate births, and diseases.
d. When Christians are immoral, the immediate consequences may even be worse, because the testimony of the gospel is polluted.
2. Within marriage, sex is beautiful, fulfilling, and creative.
3. Outside of marriage, it is ugly, destructive, and damning.
b. Satisfaction with What we Have (vv. 5-6)
i. Covetousness is much like gluttony.
1. You don’t have to acquire a lot of things to be covetous.
2. In fact you do not have to acquire anything at all.\
3. Covetousness is an attitude; it is wanting to acquire things, longing for them, setting our thoughts and attention on them – whether we ever possess them or not.
ii. The love of money is one of the most common forms of covetousness, partly because money can be used to secure so many other things that we want.
1. A Christian should be free from such love of material things.
2. Loving money is trusting in uncertain riches rather than the living God, looking for security in material things instead of in our heavenly Father.
iii. So how do we enjoy contentment?
1. We must realize God’s goodness.
2. Realize that God is omniscient
a. He knows what we need long before we have a need to ask Him to meet it.
3. Think about what we deserve
a. What we want, or even need is one thing; what we deserve is another.
4. Recognize God’s supremacy and sovereignity
a. God does not have the same plan for all his children.
b. What He lovingly gives to one, He just as lovingly may withhold from another.
5. Continually remind ourselves what true riches are.
a. There are not worldly
b. Our treasure is in heaven.
c. Steadfastness in the Faith (vv. 7-9)
i. Purity of Doctrine
1. One of the saddest things in the world is for a Christian to get drawn into false doctrine and be rendered ineffective, to lose his joy, reward, and testimony.
2. A lot of Christians today are just like small children, lacking discernment.
a. If you left a child of three to select for themselves their own diet, they wouldn’t make it to age four.
b. Because they would either sweeten or poison themselves to death.
c. Some Christians are just like these children, showing little to no discernment in the spiritual realm.
i. They have been so little exposed to sound doctrine, or so long removed from it, that they judge entirely by appearance and feeling.
ii. Consequently the church is filled with babes, who swallow almost any teaching that is put before them, as long as it is not blatant heresy.
Closing
As Christians we have a responsibility to everyone around us. Either to our brethren in the faith and helping them in there walk with Christ or to the lost and being a witness of Christ in their life. But the only way we can truly conduct ourselves in a way that is worthy of God, is by knowing the doctrine of the Scriptures and having them firmly planted as our foundation.
Tonight I am not going to finish with a question, like I normally do, but rather a plea. Don’t be a puppet being controlled by the world. Be a giant for Christ and show the love of Christ to everyone you meet.
