Title: How to Make Sure Your Faith Shows
Text: Hebrews 13:1-6
Thesis: The Christian life is something you do. We express our faith through how we live.
Introduction:
I was listening to a well known broadcasting personality going off on how we should not let anyone tell us what to think or how to live. Then in almost the same breath he said, “Now let me tell you what to do…” There is no shortage of people who want to tell us what we should think and do. And because there are so many voices out there telling us what to think and do, it is particularly important that we listen to the right voices – maybe I should add, the right voice.
God’s voice is a good voice. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, for correcting and training in righteousness, so that the person of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” II Timothy 3:16-17
This morning we hear the voice of God speaking to us in the words of Hebrews 13.
It is interesting how biblical writers sometimes end their letters with a list of things they want to remind their readers to think and do or to remember and practice. There is little or no explanation… they do not elaborate and explain what they mean. It is as if each comment is often repeated and clearly understood. The list in our text today seems to spell out a series of specific behaviors for Christians. It is as if the writer is saying, “Here is how Christians ought to express their faith through conduct.”
The first way Christians are to express their faith through conduct is by loving each other as family.
I. Keep on loving each other as family,
“Keep on loving each other as brothers…” Hebrews 13:1
It is important that we hear clearly the words and intent of the bible writer. The writer was writing to a group of people who were not relatives. They did not share DNA or genetic traits. And yet, the writer tells them that one of the ways they express their faith is by treating each other like there were really related as family members. In other words, Christians are to see each other as brothers and sisters in Christ. Christians are “kin” so to speak.
Seemingly there were circumstances in the lives of those living in early Christian communities that threatened the ideal of brotherly love. Whenever people take their faith seriously there are a couple of dangers.
1. There is the desire to keep the beliefs and practices or lifestyle choices in check. The idea being then that they specified what they believed and how they lived. The danger in that is that there was a tendency to be over zealous in ferreting out heretics and a proneness to casting a critical eye on how others in church were living.
2. The second danger was that those perceived to have failed were condemned and treated harshly… recall the days of Puritan America.
What the writer is saying is that the church is not a place to be known as harsh and unsympathetic but a place where brotherly love is practiced. Church is to be a family-like place where restoration is done with humility and gentleness (Galatians 6:1-5).
A more holistic understanding of the admonition to keep on loving each other as family members love each other is to see beyond just guarding over the beliefs and activities of those who live in the family. It is more about actively practicing brotherly love for each other. That kind of love is not just about guarding against believing and doing bad, it is about actively doing good for each other.
How do people who are really related to each other or how do real brothers treat each other? And what can we learn from their example?
A few weeks ago Bonnie told me about a human interest news story see saw on CNN and suggested I check it out. It is a story from right here in the Denver metro area so you may be aware of it.
Chad Arnold needed a liver and his older brother, Ryan insisted on donating a part of his liver to his younger brother. Chad objected but Ryan insisted saying, “Well, you would do it for me, wouldn’t you?”
On August 2 Ryan Arnold died just four days after donating a portion of his liver to his brother Chad, who lives here in Denver. It is obviously devastating to the Arnold family and to the medical community at The University of Colorado Hospital.
Chad, the recipient of Ryan’s liver said after his brother’s death, “This is a story about a man who is deeply convicted by his faith and because of that, what he did for me was just sort of a normal thing that he did for people.” (http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/08/19/live.organ.donation/index.html)
Brotherly love is intended to be just the sort of normal thing we do for people. So we are to keep on loving each other like family loves family.
The second way Christians are to express their faith through conduct is by showing hospitality to strangers.
II. Practice hospitality to strangers
“Do not forget to entertain strangers…” Hebrews 13:2
When I travel I like to stay in Hampton Inns or Holiday Inn Expresses. I have stayed in Mom and Pop Motels, Marriott Courtyards, Comfort Inns, Super 8’s, Econo-Lodges and I’ve been known to take the last available room in North Platte, Nebraska where I checked in very late and was given a room key. I went to the room and there was a woman in the room working on her lap top. So I went back to the desk and was given key to another room which had no A/C. They quickly moved me to the room next door which did not have a working A/C either. However the fourth room was good and it was literally, the last room available in North Platte, NE.
For us, finding comfortable and clean accommodations with a good continental breakfast provided is easily done. However that was not the case in biblical times.
The culture that existed when this was written was quite different from ours. Staying in an inn was an absolute last resort. Historians placed keeping an inn and running a brothel as occupations on the same level. Perhaps that explains why Joshua’s scouts found lodging in the home of Rahab the harlot in Joshua 2. Inns were, according to William Barclay, “filthy, ruinously expensive and of low repute.”
I’ve been following the bedbug infestation story of late. On Tuesday Terminix released a list of the 15 most bedbug infested cities. New York topped the list followed by Philadelphia and Detroit. But the state of Ohio has four cities (Cincinnati #4, Columbus # 7, Dayton # 8 and Cleveland # 15) in the top 15 making it the bedbug capital of the United States. (http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2010/08/24/2010-08-24_new_york_tops_list_of_cities_with_most_bedbug_infestations_ahead_of_philadelphia.html)
In that bedbugs are called bedbugs because they can be found in mattresses… hotels and motels are great places to get infected, it understandable that a traveler in biblical times, when inquiring about lodging, would ask which inn was known to have the fewest fleas.
Obviously we live in a different culture but then, hospitality was a cultural necessity and Christians were asked to be sensitive to travelers and to freely offer hospitality to strangers in need of room and board.
How we do hospitality today may need to look a bit different but it is hospitality non-the-less.
When a youth group from western Kansas needs overnight accommodations for a ski-trip we open our facilities to them for an overnight. When an out-of-town youth group needs a place to stay during Acquire the Fire we open our doors to them. When the Covenant Church held the Pastor’s Midwinter Conference in Denver, Bill and Kay Hemingway opened their home to a pastor and his wife who could not afford to stay in a downtown hotel, The idea is that when we can, Christians act hospitably toward others.
The third way Christians are to express their faith through conduct is by identifying and empathizing with people who are in adverse circumstances.
III. Identify with those in adverse circumstances
“Remember those in prison as if you were their fellow prisoners and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.” Hebrews 13:3
In biblical times Christians could find themselves in jail for any number of reasons. Sometimes Christians were imprisoned for their faith. Sometimes, because they were poor, they were put in debtor’s prison until they could pay their debt. The possible scenarios are endless and stretch the gambit from unjust to deserved incarcerations.
The writer to the Hebrews urges the Hebrew Christians to not forget… to remember those who are in prison and others who are mistreated. They are further urged to fully empathize with them thinking of how it would feel to be in their shoes.
One need only conjure up images of Christians imprisoned in Soviet era Russia for their faith such as “the Baptist” in Aleksandr Solzhenitsun’s “One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich” to realize that there are people in the world who are imprisoned for their faith.
One need only conjure up images of Abu Ghraib to realize that sometimes people in prison are horribly abused, degraded and mistreated.
In 2008 there were 2.3 million people incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails. Statisticians point out that we have less than 5% of the world’s population but we have 23% of the world’s prison population. (It is interesting that China, which ranks second and has four times the population of the U.S., had 1.5 million people in prisons and jails.)
I point out these numbers to simply make the point that there are a lot of people imprisoned in our country and that means prisons and jails are places of ministry that Christians cannot overlook.
When I was a youth pastor in our first place of ministry I accepted an invitation to lead a weekly bible study for prisoners at Stillwater State Prison in Stillwater, MN. I soon learned that ministry to those in prison is more that showing up on a Tuesday evening for a bible study. I learned that ministry to prisoners was ministry to the families of prisoners and Saturdays were spent in visiting their families and sometimes I needed to provide a ride for a wife to visit her husband. Sometimes I learned that things had changed at home and I had to somehow bring comfort to a man whose life was even further broken.
We may not be able to do a regular prison ministry but we can support those who do and we can get involved in Angel Tree, which in one of Prison Fellowship’s ministries to the families of prisoners. In our last church we usually adopted three or four prisoners whose families lived in our county. Our church would get the names and ages and needs of each prisoner’s children. We would buy gifts for all the children and before Christmas, we delivered the gifts to each family.
I don’t know how it would look for you or for me or for our church to remember those who are in prison but one of the ways the writer to the Hebrews says we express our faith is by remembering those in prison or who are in adverse circumstances as we would like to be remembered were we living in their circumstances.
The fourth way Christians are to express their faith through conduct is by honoring marriage.
IV. Consider marriage precious
“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure…” Hebrews 13:4
Commentators point out that in the early centuries of Christianity there were a couple of issues that perhaps prompted the writer to the Hebrews to remind them to honor marriage.
1. There were those who despised marriage. For reasons of purity or whatever, pagans noted that some Christians (men and women) refrained from cohabitating for their entire lives. In this case the bible writer is reminding Christians that marriage is not something to be despised but respected and honored.
2. And it was as true then as it is today, there were Christians who lapsed into various forms of immorality including fornication, adultery and deviant practices. Those who might be prone to dishonor marriage through sexual practice outside of marriage are reminded to honor marriage and guard marriage as a precious relationship.
In his book “This Momentary Marriage: A Parable of Permanence, “ John Piper likens marriage to a large grassy field. When you get married you see the field as all flowers and rolling hills… it is a beautiful place and the future looks bright. And then you begin to notice cow pies. And in some seasons of a marriage there are cow pies everywhere you step. Cow pies are sins, flaws, idiosyncrasies, and weaknesses, annoying habits or whatever. The cow pies have a way of dominating the marriage until all you can see are cow pies everywhere you look and it seems that everywhere you step… it’s in a cow pie.
So what do you do?
Sometimes we need to realize that we are spending way too much time focusing on cow pies and not nearly enough time on the big grassy field. We are looking down so much that we forget there is a horizon and hope. The thing to do is gather up all the cow pies and create a manure pile or compost pile. When you need to, you can go to that cow pie pile and smell it and stick your hands in it and feel bad about it and deal with it. But you don’t hang out at the manure pile. Rather you go for a walk together over your favorite paths and climb the hills you love and you remind yourselves that the field is big and grassy and sweet.
Our hands may be dirty. And our backs may ache from shoveling. But one thing we know: We will not live in the manure pile and we will honor our marriages and give each other grace upon grace upon grace.
Honor marriage.
The fifth way Christians are to express their faith through conduct is by guarding against the love of money by learning to be content and to trust God for our needs.
V. Take care against seeking security through wealth… and be content
“Keep yourselves free from the love of money and be content with what you have…” Hebrews 13:5-6
Someone once said, “There are many things in life that are more important than money. And they all cost money.” (“Talking Points,” The Week (4-27-07), p. 19)
Guarding against the love of things or possessions or wealth or money is no idle admonition.
Neurologists have found that part of the human brain lights up when people feel close to God in prayer, worship, or solitude. That part of the human brain lights up when some people see stained glass or smell incense or listen to beautiful music or whatever it is that makes them feel close to God.
Neurologists have found that that same part of the human brain lights up when they are exposed to material possessions. Hearing the Celtic Women sing Amazing Grace can light up the same part of your brain as when you see a luxury sports car on a dealer’s lot. In other words, they found that people who bought certain items experienced the same sensations as those who had deep religious experiences. (James Bryan Smith, “The Good and the Beautiful Life,” Intervarsity Press, 2010, pp. 163-164)
Maybe that is why Jesus said, “You cannot serve both God and money.”
We, along with those Hebrew Christians, are urged to keep material things in perspective and to learn to be content…. something that takes a lifetime of diligence.
Joseph Stowell tells of when he and his wife moved to a northwest suburb of Chicago. They bought a little piece of land and built their dream home. It was beautiful. It had curb appeal. It was designed to be lived in. They loved their house.
He said that one day, about six months after they built their home, he was driving through a beautiful neighborhood and saw a house that caught his attention. The color, the architecture, the lot, the location all had a big wow factor for him and he thought, “Boy, I wish I had that house.”
Conclusion
Our text teaches us that Christians express their faith through their conduct.
Christians express their faith by:
• Loving one another as family;
• Showing hospitality to strangers;
• Identifying with those who are in adverse circumstances;
• Honoring marriage; and
• Learning to be content and secure in trusting God for our needs.
