Practical Christianity

Practical Christianity
Hebrews 13
July 11, 2010

It would seem that for many of us, we would agree on many of the many different themes and subjects that we have spent the last sixteen weeks going over. We began this journey through the book of Hebrews with a very important building block, Jesus was the Christ. He was begotten not made. Christ was the very radiance of the Glory of God and the exact imprint of His Nature. To know and understand God, all one has to do is look to Jesus. In Him, all the fullness of God dwells. To be mistaken about the person of Christ will more than likely cause a person to be mistaken about the Gospel, and most definitely then be mistaken about their own salvation. Jesus Christ is the Gospel!
Not only has God revealed Himself to mankind through Jesus, He has been speaking to mankind throughout all of history. He spoke through the prophets and fathers, through angels and spirits, and now through the Jesus Christ Himself. He is speaking a wonderful message of salvation to those who would not only listen but follow obediently the message; “God has been reconciling mankind to Himself through out all eternity. In order to do so, Christ died for sinners. Belief, repentance, confessing of sins, being born again brings us into a relationship with God the Father. Christ accomplished His task of taking on your sins as He died on the cross. He made the perfect sacrifice.
Hebrews also warns us of the consequences of not believing and following God. As the Israelites in the wilderness had evil, unbelieving hearts, and perished in the desert, so we must examine our own hearts and listen to the Spirit when the Spirit talks and leads. The author also shows us what following God looks like. He gives us a whole chapter devoted to men and women who believed God and followed in faith. They were no giants. They were simply ordinary sinful people through whom God chose to display His glory.
Last week we looked at the foundation we build on. I was very direct about the difficulty many of us have following Christ because of the materialism we all have been born and raised into. If you build on a foundation other than Christ, it will crumble. While many people will boast of preaching, teaching, or believing in the Gospel narrative found in the Bible, so many people do not live it. Their life more closely resembles that of the prosperity gospel messages that we sneer about and make fun of. But when we walk out the doors of our church we sprint off to the fun things this worldly life has to offer.
Hebrews ends with a very practical look at a Christian’s life. I believe that now he is assuming that the person reading this is in fact on the foundation of Christ and is trying to walk in faith. I would assume that also if I devoted the time to write this. Much like a sermon that I prepare, I assume someone will listen to it, think about it, and apply it. Especially since it is not based on my expertise or advanced knowledge, but rather on the grace and mercies of God.
There are two main verses that I want to deal with today. We’ll look at most of the others, but in the context of these two. They are Hebrews 13:16 and Hebrews 13:20-21. I’ll sum them up. “Do good! But don’t forget it is God who equips you to do good.” That sounds pretty easy doesn’t it?

1. How can I do good when my heart lies and is sinful? (Genesis 6:5, 8:21; Jeremiah 17:9)


2. How can I do good when Scripture tells me I can’t? (Romans 3:10-12, 7:21-22)


You can’t! But God can! That what Hebrews 13:20-21 is telling us. God has been at work from the beginning, from before your salvation until now and until it is finished in glory! Romans 7:23 asks “who can save me?” God does through Jesus! How can I do these works? If what Ephesians 2:10 is true, the works have been preordained for you to do. He has equipped you to do them! Now here’s the sticking point for many, “Don’t neglect to do them.” There’s that word again, neglect. So much of Hebrews has dealt with the consequences of drifting away from the message, neglecting salvation, falling away in unbelief, and again with neglecting to do good. What does this look like? We hear the message, check. We respond because heaven sounds good, check. We change our schedule around to fit in church, check. We read our Bibles everyday, well for the most part, check. We do good to all those around us, what’d you say? I thought this saved thing was just between me and God and Jesus?
Now we don’t want to confuse doing good as being works based. It is sometimes easy to preach Salvation by Grace and slip over to Sanctification by Works. That isn’t God’s plan nor is it the life we are to live. After all, isn’t he the one who equips us for the work? We are saved by grace. We are sanctified by grace. We work by grace. It is grace from beginning to end. We just need to understand that it is part of the process of being conformed to the image of Christ. Our desires become His desires. We leave the Book of Hebrews with Christ as our foundation and not a list of things to do, but rather a list of who we should interact with. There are six groups we are to interact with.

1. Leaders
If you would listen and apply the scripture spoken to you, how different would your life be spiritually? We are commanded to remember, consider, imitate, obey, and submit to them, all while letting them do it in joy and not groaning.

2. Faith Community
Your brothers and sisters in Christ…LOVE THEM!! Provide for them when in need. Fellowship with them.

3. Strangers, both saved and lost
Show hospitality. I understand we don’t have many people knocking on our doors these days asking to spend the night, but can you still show hospitality?

4. Societal Outcasts
Visit a jail lately? How about the nursing home? Ever help in addiction ministries? There are ways to minister to these people without a church vote.


5. Immediate Family
As fathers, our first and primary sphere of ministry is within our own homes, beginning with our wives and then our children. Your job is to pastor them whether you like it or not.

6. Myself
Am I lustful? Do I hold marriage in high esteem? Do I love money? Money is not a bad or evil thing, but the love of money is. Am I content? Do I rejoice with those who rejoice or do I think it should have been me who got the promotion or the raise or the new vehicle?

Keep your life free from these thoughts and actions.