Hebrews 13
Concluding Exhortations
13 Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering.
4 Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. 5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said,
“Never will I leave you;
never will I forsake you.”[a]
6 So we say with confidence,
“The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid.
What can mere mortals do to me?”[b]
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
We will get to the question that I used for my title this morning, it’s just going to take me a little while, I have a lot I want to share with you this morning that will help set the table for the discussion.
We are living in a time where change is happening very fast right in front of us, we have been fighting a Cultural war for the past 50 years, and in many ways what we have witnessed over the last few weeks shows us how much we have lost especially with our young people.
Times are changing, priorities have changed for many, lifestyles and values have changed…. But one thing will never Change…. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. God’s Word, which is the written revelation of Who He Is to us… tells us over and over again that God is our Refuge, our Rock, our Anchor that will stand the test of time, it will not fail or ever be out of date.
In our Society today, we have two major idea’s about Truth. (Honestly, there is more than two present, but these are the 2 major ones currently).
Let me illustrate these two ideas with a story…. A story that could happen in any of our homes today.
John and Mary Murphy, Christian couple, they have been married for 25 years, they have a college age daughter, her name is Ann, she’s 22 years old and a Senior at the Christian college that her parents are helping her navigate. Ann is coming home for Christmas break, both parents are super excited to see her, and she’s bringing her boyfriend, Jake… who they have not met as of yet, so a little nervous about that.
John and Mary have raised their daughter in church, they have been very faithful in attendance and have worked hard to raise her with good Christian morals.
Mary has asked all those Mom questions like… “Does he go to church?” Do you share the same values?... Only to get the MOOOOMMMM, let’s not get into all that….
Ann and Jake arrive on December 22nd, the house is decorated, and the Christmas celebration has all been planned. John, has made sure that Jake had his own room to sleep in by turning his man cave back into a temporary bedroom, he wanted to make sure Jake understands the expectations…
After everyone meets and eats, lots of small talk and getting the nerves out of the way, it’s time for bed. Ann tells her mom and dad that Jake will be staying in her room and she doesn’t want to discuss it….
As you can imagine, that comes as a shock to John and Mary and of course they don’t feel like allowing that to happen in their home is even an option.
Ann says, “Why can’t you just accept my lifestyle choices and me, why are you going to be so hard about this?”
John responds, “I expect you to honor the morals and values that your mother and I have raised you with all your life.”
Ann responded, “I will honor you, and I knew you would feel this way, so I guess we will sleep in separate rooms while we are here, but when we go to Jake’s parents house, and when we go back to school it will be different.”
John and Mary were crushed when their daughter Ann left, knowing that her whole worldview had shifted dramatically, away from how she was raised.
So what happened?
What we are experiencing in our culture today is more than a generation gap issue, it’s a cultural shift that separating Christian parents from their children perhaps unlike anything we have seen before.
What Ann wants, and the millions of young people who have bought into what we will call Cultural Narrative…she wants her parents not only to respect her own brand of morality, but also to acknowledge that it isn’t wrong for her to do what she personally feels is right. If they respond in any way other than that, they will be branded Intolerant.
Can you see how this is being played out in our culture today, everywhere you look. If you don’t accept this lifestyle, if you don’t accept this behavior, then you are Intolerant, a hater.
We are talking about two different ideas of Truth.
1st The Biblical Narrative - Moral Truth is grounded in the Character of God; it’s objective and universal. This truth is known by discovering the nature of God and His ways as revealed through Scripture and within nature.
2nd The Cultural Narrative – Moral truth comes from the individual; it is subjective and situational. This truth is known through choosing to believe it and through personal experience (i.e., you are the creator of your own truth).
Friends, you either believe that Truth comes from God, it’s grounded in the Character of God, and that truth is universal. Or… You believe that Truth is found in Man…. Or something that comes from man. It’s one or the other, there is no other options.
Yesterday I fixed a section of ceiling in my daughters house, we are working really hard to get it upgraded so it will sell so Calah can pay that debt off and so I can stop being a landlord…lol
I had to cut out a piece of sheetrock to match the opening that needed to be replaced. What do you think I used to find out the length of the sides?
Yes, I used a measuring tape. We have a standard of measure that we go by. You don’t just look and guess and say….. well I feel like it’s 36 inches and just hope for the best…. You measure it with a standard, something that is True.
Can you imagine what it might look like in our world if everyone just decided to use their own standards for everything? You need a ton of gravel for your drive, how do you know how much your getting? Well a ton is 2,000 lbs correct… well today, the guy felt like a ton was only 200 lbs….
You buy 2lbs of ground beef, which right now is expensive…but when you get to the check out it charges you for 20 lbs…. does that make sense?
Neither does making up your own rules based on how you feel.
God has established Who He is, and He has provided us with some guidelines if we are to live in proper relationship with Him.
Jesus says in John 14:6-7
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
Romans 1:18-20
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
Romans 1:25-32
25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.
28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they have no understanding, no fidelity, no love, no mercy. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.
The Bible is describing behavior and choices that people have made in the past, and are still making today. Sin is not a new problem. Nothing that we are dealing with in our Country is new, it might be new to us the way it’s being flaunted in the open, but it’s not new.
God so loved the World…that is everyone in it….that means all of humanity, even those who are choosing to go against His plan, His design for us, God so loves all of us, regardless of our choices, He sent Jesus, His only Son to die for us, to Shed His precious blood as a Sin Sacrifice, so that all of us, all of us sinners, all of us rebellious people could have a chance to Repent of our evil, selfish ways, and follow Him. So God’s love is undeniable. But His love doesn’t mean He will tolerate sin.
Today’s Contemporary Culture’s understanding of Tolerance goes hand in hand with their idea of moral truth(whatever I feel is truth, it truth for me).
They define Tolerance as follows: To Recognize and respect that every individual’s values, truth claims, beliefs, and practices are equally valid.
So, you want to do drugs everyday… your choice, no judgement here.
You want to have multiple affairs on your spouse… your choice.
You want to marry a camel? Weird, but no judgment here.
You want to riot, loot, try to hurt police officers using Racism as your excuse…. Most of your major new media won’t even condemn it, why? All in the name of tolerance. Anything goes…all truth claims, beliefs and practices are equally valid in their eyes.
What about child rapists? What about people who kidnap and put trade kids in the sex slave trade, is that an equally valid practice? Where does it end?
There is no end to the depravity by the way, that’s what Romans Chapter one was describing. You do know that there is a group that is trying to get legalized Sex between adults and children, right? It’s a large group that is growing in popularity, When you take away God’s Standard of Truth…there is nothing left.
What’s the Biblical Understanding of Tolerance?
We Recognize and respect others when you do not share their values, beliefs, and practices.
Have you ever heard the phrase, God loves the person, Hates the Sin.
God loves everyone, but He has a Standard of Holiness, of Righteousness, It’s His Nature, He will not condone or bend with the times, He does not Change.
I can stand before you today and tell you that I love everyone, I don’t care what the color, what your belief is or what your behaviors might be, God has poured His love into my heart. I have many friends who do not believe in the Bible, who will not agree with what I’m preaching today, but I still consider them my friends, and because I love them, I will continue to try to persuade them of God’s truth.
Here’s what I know because God’s Word teaches it. Everyman, Everywoman… God has written, etched His Truth on our hearts, because we were created in His image. So no matter how hard a person tries to create their own truth, their own identity, their own utopia, God’s Truth will still be their calling for them to come back to Him.
Listen to the call today:
John 3:16-17 New International Version (NIV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.
God loves us so much, that He gave us the Choice to follow His way, or to choose our own way. There is a consequence for rejecting Jesus Christ, it’s a terrible consequence, and it’s for eternity.
On the other hand, God has promised us eternal life with Him if we will choose to put our faith in His Son, Jesus Christ. The Standard of Truth has been standing since the beginning of time, it will not bend, it will not change, and we will all be judged by it. Are you in good standing today?
