Hebrews 13 — Concluding Exhortation
Thoughts about serving others
This link includes a list of posts about Serving the Least, the Lost, and the Lonely.
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Let the Word evoke words. May your life encourage lives.
In the concluding chapter of Hebrews, the writer provides a concise list of reminders:
– Keep loving one another as brothers and sisters (Hebrews 13:1) — which doesn’t mean you fight over trivial stuff or who gets to take the first shower!
– Show hospitality to strangers (entertaining angels perhaps?) (13:2)
– Remember those in prison…fellow believers, not an endorsement for convicts (13:3)
– Marriage is to be honored (13:4)
– God is the judge for adulterers and the immoral…not us (13:4)
– Be content (13:5)
– Remember your leaders (13:7)
– Don’t be carried away by strange teachings (13:9)
– Continually praise God with our words (13:15)
– Do good and share with others (13:16)
One of the greatest promises in the Bible is captured in Deuteronomy and restated here: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5b). If we do indeed believe that God is for us, if we have faith that he will never leave or forsake us, we should be bold and strong for the Lord, going where he sends us without hesitation or question.
Jesus is greater than the prophets, angels, Abraham, Moses or Joshua — Heroes of the faith. He is greater than the Levitical priests and reigns as the high priest. His sacrifice ends the need for any other ceremonial ritual. The timing of his birth, life, ministry and resurrection were perfectly planned to happen before the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed to give us hope when otherwise it would have seemed lost. Hebrews provides ancient rationale for contemporary Christians…something the Bible is constantly providing.