Things I Should Have Learned In Kindergarten

Hebrews 13:1-8

Things I Should Have Learned in Kindergarten

Robert Fulghum wrote a popular book a while back entitled, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.” I thought of that title when I read today’s scripture. It seems like a list of very important but mostly common sense lessons we should have learned a long time ago. Why this potpourri of advice? Well, it appears in the very last part of the letter to the Hebrews, so maybe the writer had this sense of urgency, like he was running out of time to add some final, very practical advice. And out of that practical advice our lives can be enriched today. So think about these lessons that maybe we should have learned back in kindergarten, but could probably use a refresher on from time to time. Lesson #1,

1. Treat others as you would like to be treated (vv. 1-3)

I’ve summed up the first three verses with the Golden Rule. By the way, you know how some people say all world religions are pretty much the same? That’s not really true. But one universal across all world religions is some version of the Golden Rule. However, the unique thing about Jesus’ Golden Rule is the positive twist to it. Other religions say, “Don’t mistreat people because you don’t want them to mistreat you!” Jesus flips to the positive side and says, “Do to others as you would have them do to you” (Luke 6:31).

The Golden Rule plays out in two or three ways here. Verse 1 reminds us of our family connection: we are to love each other as brothers and sisters, because we are in Christ.

Verse 2 says you better be nice to strangers, because you never know if you’re actually serving an angel in the process. That would be Abraham’s story, if you want to look it up (Genesis 18). Or Gideon’s (Judges 6) or Manoah’s (Judges 13). The broad application is ... you never know the far-reaching results of a seemingly small act of kindness. I think part of heaven will be learning about all of these times when we inadvertently touched someone’s life and perhaps made an eternal difference.

Imagine the original audience for this letter: They were hiding from persecution. So you never knew if the next stranger you helped might turn you in as a Christian. It reminds me of families ratting on other families for helping Jews in World War II Germany.

Verse 3 challenges us to have some true empathy for those who are in prison or are being mistreated. If we can imagine what it would be like for us to be behind bars or mistreated, then we can better remember and care for those who are.

Treat others as you would like to be treated. That’s a great kindergarten lesson! And #2,

2. Protect marriage (v. 4)

Verse 4 reads, “Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” I was deeply moved this week by a videotaped message to the United Methodist Church by Bishop Richard Wilke. He was pleading with his denomination to stay together over the issue of homosexuality. What moved me was his argument for not singling out one sexual sin, but helping people repent from all kinds of sexual immorality outside of the committed relationship of marriage.

I like verse 4 because it tells us how to guard against sexual immorality: keep the marriage bed pure. We don’t need to wear blinders over our eyes and white knuckle it against all the lists of sexual don’ts. We simply need to honor marriage. As the “NIV Reformation Study Bible” puts it, “The antidote to immorality is not ascetic self-denial, but a proper appreciation of the honor God has bestowed on the marriage relationship.” Just as the feds study real dollar bills to identify the forgery, when we honor marriage, we recognize all the cheap substitutes. #3,

3. Put God before gold (v. 5)

This is how I summarize verse 5, which reads, “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.’” That last phrase, a quote from Deuteronomy 31:6, contains two double negatives in the Greek. Literally, it could translate, “There is absolutely no way whatsoever that I will ever, ever leave you.” If you have God, you have everything you need. God will meet your need, not your greed. Remember the 23rd psalm? “The Lord is my shepherd...I shall not want.” There is nothing wrong with money, but there is something very wrong with the “love of money.” Love people; use things. Don’t use people and love things.