Reflecting Superiority in Church

Well, if you haven't already, please turn in your Bible to Hebrews 13. Only a couple more messages from the book of Hebrews. This passage, as much as any so far, sounds very Pauline. I've said the entire series that I don't believe Paul wrote the book of Hebrews. Oh, by the way, I remember you guys singing that song. Didn't you and Todd sing that song to somebody? Yeah, it just hit me. Why does that sound familiar to me? This, yes, this section of Hebrews 13 sounds very Pauline, and I still don't think Paul wrote it. But I will tell you this, after having gone through the whole book, I am way more sympathetic to the view that Paul wrote it than I used to be. I used to think it was not nearly, did not nearly have the evidence that the people who believe Paul wrote it had in it. And now I see why they believe it. I have a couple of things. Refer to one of them today, why I don't believe it. But I do want to say that if ever a section sounded like Paul, this one sounds like Paul because there's a couple of things he does here that are very much like what he does in other areas if it's him.

For example, this section sounds an awful lot like Romans 12:1 that Paul says, "I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our reasonable service." You all know that. Most of you have that verse memorized. I think most people memorize that verse for Christianity, but not for church service. I actually think that verse means service to the church, to the body, to ministry. Well, the author, whoever he is, Paul or otherwise, is going to do something just like that in our text today. He's going to call Christians to sacrifice. He's going to call Christians to serve. He's going to say that if you believe Jesus is superior, then you should act like it. Your life should show it.

And I can't emphasize enough that over and over again when you hear the passages about obedience and service in the New Testament, I already said it once just now, I'm going to say it again, those services, and you'll see explicitly here in verse 16 when we get there, are in the house of God. So it has been happening since I don't know when. In the last, well, maybe since the '60s. Maybe we could trace it back in the United States to the '60s, 1960s. That Christianity took a very individualistic turn, meaning that the kind of evangelical Christianity we have in our day is very individual-focused, very self-centered, very man-centered, so that the idea that all of the texts that are application texts in the Bible are church-oriented, not just Christianity individual-oriented, are kind of foreign.

And this is one of those texts that we look at today where the service you're going to see isn't in general in your life. It's to the people of God because we, as the people of God, are being pressured from the outside world to deny the faith. We're being pressured to not gather. We're being pressured even by persecution. So we might think that, well, if I'm huddled with these people, then danger could come to me. And so I want to just kind of keep my faith but not be accountable to a local body of believers. I want to have my own individual walk with the Lord but not necessarily serve the body or the kingdom or build church. I want to build my life instead of the church. You might think that's okay, but you're going to find out when you really study Scripture that the challenges to service and sacrifice are almost always, if not exclusively, church-oriented. The body of believers, the sacrifice for each other. Yes, you sacrifice in your faith, but you're going to see it especially this morning.

That's why the title of the sermon is reflecting Christ's superiority in church, in the church. That is where you reflect His superiority in your life most evidently. So the author of Hebrews has gone to great lengths to tell us who Christ is and that He's superior. That he's better than Melchizedek, he's better than Moses, he's better than the ceremonies, he's better than the tabernacle, he's better than the animals, he's better than the priests, any good Old Testament priest. Jesus is better than all of those things. He spoke in times past, God did, by the prophets. He has now spoken by his Son. So Jesus is superior. He's better. He should be exalted. And now what the author is saying in this last chapter is you live like he's superior. You live as though he is superior.

I've said lots and lots over the years that it is surprising, and I feel like we miss the idea, that all negative that happens in the world, all problems of the world, were caused by a piece of fruit. That something as small as a piece of fruit caused all the trouble in the world. All disease, all pain, all suffering, all death. Any bad thing that ever happens in the world was because God said, "Don't," And they did. The reason I bring that up is it takes less than a piece of fruit to make false religion, to divide churches, to make people think that they are the most important thing in their life rather than God. It doesn't take much for us to drift into selfishness. It is not natural for humans born in Adam to think God deserves all of their attention and effort. It is not natural. It takes a supernatural thing to happen for human beings to not think they are the center of the universe, to not think their life is most important, them being fulfilled is most important, their pleasure is most important.

Human beings by nature, and when I say nature, I mean since the fall, think that their life is most important. So it takes very little for a sinner to mess things up, including God's things. This text will have some serious reining in. Like, you know, when you're walking with your children and they start walking, you have to keep them like they're bumpers of a bowling alley, right? You have to keep them from hitting everything. You have to keep them in line. You got to keep them walking straight. How many of you have ever had to grab your kid and pull them out of traffic when they're about to walk out into the road because they're oblivious to what's going on? And that's the way we are as sinners. We will, by nature, walk away from God's instruction.

And I really believe— please hear me when I say this, because this is a big part of what I see in this text this morning— I really believe that Christians, especially after they've walked with the Lord for a good length of time, don't think they do that. I think they think they think good. I think they think that their thoughts are good thoughts and holy thoughts and exactly what God would think. Because after all, why wouldn't God think what I think? But human beings do the same thing those children do. They think their own thoughts, they have closed Bibles, and then they wander out into the street. And the Lord has to kind of swat them to get them back in. And this text is one of those swats. If you want to show that Christ is superior, you don't decide what that looks like. The Lord decides what it looks like that you're going to make Christ superior. God is essentially saying, if you're going to say my Son is superior, this is what that looks like.

So to the Hebrew believers, it is not what you thought it was in the Old Testament system or ceremony or tabernacle. It is not what you thought by following Moses. It is not what you thought by thinking because we have angels in our religion that you need to worship angels or pay attention to angels. That's what you thought it— you might have thought it was, you Hebrew believers, but listen, this is what it looks like when my Son is superior. I remind you that these people, the author, this author to this group of people says they should have been teachers already. They should have already understood that. By this time you ought to be teachers. You need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. I have to repeat the basics to you again. Why? What would they be believing other than truth? Their own opinions.

So the author does it again. Strong warning, strong instruction. This one's not as warning in tone, but it is definitely instruction that is strong to keep God's people in the bumpers, to keep them from going in the gutter, to keep them from walking into danger. That's what this portion is about. There's an awkward section in this portion at the end, but I trust that the Lord will just allow me to preach it, and then you'll still love me at the end. I say that because it addresses pastors pretty clearly and the relationship of the church with the pastors. So we'll dig into that together and know that it's good for us because you have instruction from the Lord. This is what it looks like. If my son is superior, This is what it looks like. This is how you serve.

We already saw in the earlier verses that we let brotherly love continue, that we love each other and we serve each other there. And remember, you don't just love people that look like you, you love people that are strangers. You have your arms open, you display the love of Christ. That's the earlier part of this chapter. Now we get into the specifics of leadership and other things. Let's pray. Father, as we open this section of Hebrews, it's very clear that you have things that you expect from, well, not just the Hebrews, all Christians. This is something that You instituted with the advent of the Church and the Church age where things work in a way where we congregate the way we do. This author already told us to not neglect that gathering and that when we're together, we love each other and serve each other. And in this text, it's how we function even organizationally. So help us see that the way You would have us see it, even things here to avoid, things we can get caught up in and go astray.

And we just ask, Father, that You would guide us, that we would see that Your Word is good for us and that we know our weaknesses as sheep is to go astray. And this is You keeping us close to Your Son, the Good Shepherd. So help us stay close to Him. In Jesus' name, amen.

All right, Hebrews 13:7. Verse 7, I'm going to split it in half. "Remember those who rule over you who have spoken the word of God to you." And then I'll talk about recognizing the conduct of their faith here in a second. "So those who rule over you." Every part of this can be translated differently. I'm not saying it should be, I'm just saying it can be. The words and their meanings here. Like remember means you could mean call to mind. It doesn't mean like remember as though they're dead, remember your memories that you had with them. That's not the idea. The idea is don't neglect thinking about those who rule over you.

And the word rule over you, that word rule here is not one of the normal words for rule, which is arché. This is not that word. So when it says rule, I don't want you to think like king. That's not what it means. It means leader, commander. It's somebody that's out front leading and leading the direction and calling the people to follow behind. So the idea here is, like, I think the ESV even translates it leaders, and that's a safe translation. The reason I bring that up is because, you know the guys, don't you? Do you know the guys that say, "Touch not God's anointed," the pastors who put themselves on pedestals and say, you know, "I'm unquestionable and you can't question me"? Well, that's not what rule means here, but it does mean they have command. It does mean they're in charge. It means that. So remember, call to mind those who are in charge, those who are leaders. And then it gives the qualification of those leaders. It's right here. It's built into it. Those who rule over you, how do we know who we should listen to? It is the ones who have spoken the Word of God to you. So they are not rulers or leaders or commanders because they say so. They're not rulers or leaders or commanders because they write books or have big churches or have big YouTube followings. They are given their credibility from the author of Hebrews because they faithfully preach the Word of God.

And if I can say that, that is the standard for rulers in the church, that they faithfully preach the Word of God. That is the number one qualification. So he says it, "Remember those who rule over you have spoken the Word of God to you." And I remind you that this is— I'm going to quote the verses that I think show that this is not Paul, but that's not why I'm quoting them. I'm talking about the relaying of the Word of God. Hebrews 2:3 says, "How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation which at first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed by those who heard Him?" So what did the disciples do that was faithful? They spread the Word of Christ. That's what they did. They didn't try to start a religion. They were spreading the word of Christ. Hebrews 4:2, "For indeed the gospel was preached to us." Again, that's why I think it's not Paul, because Paul didn't have the gospel preached to him by gospel preachers. He had a direct revelation from Jesus, right? But anyway, "Indeed, for the gospel was preached to us as well as to them, but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it."

So remember, call to mind, think of those who rule over you, the leaders that God has given you. And we think that is very clearly pastors, the leaders in the church. The people who bring the Word of God, the evangelists, the missionaries, the people who bring the Word of God. And we're going to see in a bit that it's pretty clear from this text these are still guys at the church. They weren't just passing through itinerant. They're still at the Hebrew church. So who is qualified? Those who preach the word, not people who say they're qualified, not people with letters after their name, not people with big followings and lots of Instagram followers.

Now, I want to suggest something before we move forward too quickly. It is not a foregone conclusion that everybody called a leader or pastor or teacher preaches the Word. This is something that I'm going to actually be talking about this in the evenings very soon. The idea that if somebody comes along and they get labeled pastor, doctor, theologian, professor, teacher, we might automatically assume they preach the Word. That is not a safe thing to assume. It's not safe to assume that people say they preach the Word and do. The way you know they do is to hear what they preach and then you test it by the Word, not because they say so. It's very dangerous. This is something that really happens. This is why there are, I don't know, something like 3,000 denominations right now. It's something like that. It doesn't have to do with everybody disagreeing. It has to do with people putting confidence in people that haven't either been proven or aren't historical. They're not in line with true teaching.

So remember those who rule over you, Hebrews, who have spoken the word of God to you. Remember the ones who have spoken to you faithfully the word of God. John Calvin would say that the word of God preached is the word of God. Solid preaching is directly related to and looks just like the word of God. You would never hear the preaching, then read the Bible and go, wait a second, those don't sound the same, what he said from the pulpit and what I'm reading here. They would be right in line with each other. The Word of God is the Word of God preached. So men don't have authority, God has authority. In this case, they have authority, but the authority is given to them by the Word. So it's really the Word that has the authority, not the men themselves.

But I do want to make one note already, the awkward one. Do you notice it doesn't say, "Remember the word that was spoken to you"? Did you notice it doesn't say that? It says, "Remember those," the ones that preached it. I think that's important. I think it's significant in the way we think of the leadership in the local church. And then it gives another amplification, which it says, "Whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their faith." So if you have a good leader who has preached the Word and he has a life of faith, then emulate that faith. Paul says that, doesn't he? "Imitate me as I imitate Christ." So you don't imitate your favorite teacher because he's your favorite teacher. You might like his style. Nobody would say that of me, right? Nobody would say, "We really like PJ's style. We're going to start dressing like him." But you might be inclined, if you're that kind of person that likes culture and social media and things like that, and say, "Well, I'm going to go try to find the pastor who looks like me and sounds like me and the one that sort of reflects my personality and style." No, you're supposed to be following their faith, not their style. That they have a faith, that they trust God. The word that they preach to you, they trust themselves.

And then it says this interesting phrase, "Considering the outcome of their faith." It's kind of confusing what that means because it could mean various things. The outcome of their faith could mean that the fruit that their faith bears. The idea is if a teacher is faithful and he has fruit from his faithfulness, that is the outcome of his faith, right? That's the fruit, the bearing of the fruit. So we see his faithfulness, we see the fruit, and you— now that I consider that, I want to follow by faith what he's doing because he follows Christ, and then I can assume that I'll have the same kind of outcome. That's one way of seeing it. Another way of seeing it is the outcome of their faith, that they have given everything to follow Christ, including their lives in many cases. In other words, remember those who rule over you and follow their faith because they have shown that they have the real kind of faith where they will follow Christ even to death. The outcome could be the worst outcome, but they still follow. That's the idea, the persecution related. So I don't know which of those it is. It could be both of those.

But Peter says something like that too, doesn't he, about being examples to the flock? So it's really clear. In fact, you probably learned that in school that there was a time in the Counter-Reformation where the question was asked, "Do the priests have to be faithful in their life to keep their priesthood, to keep their see, their pulpit?" So there was a time when the Reformation was saying there's a lot of mistresses and illegitimate children and things going on with these priests because the church forbid them to marry. And then the question came up because the Protestants were saying, "Is that okay? That's not okay that these priests can just have a bunch of babies and 10 mistresses. And so what are we going to do about that?" And the church had a big, giant internal discussion over that, the Roman Catholic Church. And they decided, "Do we fire these guys because of this, or does the message being qualified or being acceptable allow them to live a life that's unqualified or unacceptable?" And their conclusion was, do you know what it was? They were allowed to remain in their pulpits. The Roman Catholic Church decided that. And it was only the Reformation and its pressing that changed those kind of standards over time. That was a literal decision by the church.

So does it matter what the character is of the leaders? How many times have we seen leaders fall over and over again in the faith of Christ when people are popular teachers and it just gives such a black eye to our faith? So when people are faithful, when pastors are faithful, follow their faith. Consider the outcome of their faith. When they're married 66 years and still like each other, follow the example of their faith. So these are important things. So remember those who rule over you. And then an amazing thing happens in verse 8. And I'm going to give my best guess at what the interpretation is because nobody agrees on what it means. They all agree on what it means doctrinally, but in its context, it's hard. Look at verse 8. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

When have you ever quoted that verse connected to the verse before it? Yeah, I know the answer is never. Neither do the preachers. It is doctrinally simple to understand. Jesus is God, right? That's the doctrine. The theology is that Jesus is God, that He has never changed, that even before He was born and took on flesh, He was already God, the second person of the Godhead. So He is eternal. Jesus is eternal. The Son of God is eternal. So why does the author bring them up here and now? Here's my best guess, and this is what I think it means, but I don't want you to think I mean it dogmatically. "Remember the ones who spoke to you the word of the eternal Son of God," because their message is eternal. What they spoke to you was about eternal things. The message they gave you when they gave you the word of God was that Christ is superior, because he's God. And I think that's why it plopped here and isn't just in its own context somewhere.

The idea is remember the ones who preach the word to you because if they are faithful, follow them. Why? Because they follow Christ. He doesn't change, neither does their message. If they're not preaching Christ, ignore them, right? If anybody preaches any other gospel to you, what did Paul say? That we preach Christ and him crucified. So these authors, whoever they are, or these teachers and preachers, What did they preach? They preached Christ. That's why He is the same yesterday and today forever. That was their message. Believe it. Stand on it. I think that's why verse 8 is there. They preached the eternal word so your feet have something to stand on, the rock. So that's why you want to follow them because they follow Christ.

Now, there are other things that you can preach, other things that people say, other things that people make important. And this is why I said earlier, it takes very little to cause error. It takes very little to move people, Christians, in bad directions. It doesn't take the smartest theologian. It doesn't take the biggest move. It doesn't take a giant cultural shift. It can be small things. Look at verse 9 with me. "Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines." Now, before I move on, you already know what it says, but just for a second, humor me. If I were to say it before you knew it was from Hebrews, if I were to say, "Give me some strange doctrines." What would you come up with? You might come up with like the big heresies, like the Arian heresy that Jesus is not God. You might come up with Mariology that we should worship Mary and say she is a deity and she deserves that kind of reverence that God deserves, that big heresy. You might deny the 5 fundamentals, right? The virgin birth of Christ. You might deny the major doctrines. So you would think that when it says, "Do not be carried about with various and strange doctrines," that the next things said are going to be about some really heavy-duty doctrines.

Well, look at the continuing in verse 9, "For it is good that the heart be established by grace." And then what's the counter? What's the opposite? What's the— "Not with foods which have not profited those who have been occupied with them." What? Remember what I said earlier about a piece of fruit causing all the trouble? Remember communion causing lots of trouble? Well, what this is about, you'll see it in the next verse when it says they served the tabernacle. This is clearly about the ceremonial foods that were associated with the Jews and that they understood. That's really what it's probably about. It doesn't have to do with just any old thing you eat. It is not talking about being overweight or fitness. That's not what it's talking about. It's saying instead of following doctrines where you think food is the fundamental thing that makes you right with God. Instead of that, be established with grace. Be established in the grace of God, not in the ritualistic religion that might have you thinking that what you eat is most important.

Remember, Paul does talk about that, about meat sacrificed to idols, right? Food can cause lots of trouble, especially religious food. And this is about religious food. Paul talks about it in Colossians when he says those people who say, do not touch, do not taste, do not handle, which all concern things which perish with the using, according to the commandments and doctrines of men, not the doctrine of God. He says something like that in Ephesians 4, that we should no longer be children. This is why this sounds very Pauline. Don't go after strange doctrines. Sounds a lot like Ephesians 4. Tossed to and fro and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, and the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting.

God had a system in place before Jesus came. That system had a purpose, and the purpose was to keep God's people in line doing the things that identified them with him as his separated people. They were to be separate in their faith practices. They were to be separate in their life practices, in their work practices, in their food practices, ceremonial things. All those things were designed in God's old covenant system to keep his people separate and clearly defined as his people. But like everything Even a good thing like that, that did all of that to protect God's people and point forward to Christ, they could twist it and manipulate it and make it into something that was man-centered instead of God-centered. And that is exactly what happened. That it's very easy to say, "We're the only ones who do communion right." And you do that and you exclude people or you go into false doctrine.

I just want you to see that it wasn't a major doctrinal shift that the Hebrews were being warned about. That it was something as simple as their practice of the way they used ceremonial food. If you don't know, there are various views of things out there on things like music. Like the Church of Christ, I don't mean Latter-day Saints, but the Church of Christ, that denomination, no instruments in their churches. And that's an argument they have from silence, not an argument that says no instruments. Because the New Testament doesn't say instruments like the Old Testament does. Like the Old Testament talks about the stringed instruments and cymbals and the harp and all those things. And the New Testament does, it says sing to one another. So because it only says sing, it only means sing. You know what else they believe? They believe that only married people can be pastors. Did you know that? No single pastors. Do you know why? Because it says he has to be the husband of one wife. That means he can't be the husband of no wife. Does that sound hermeneutical teaching? No. But they say they're the only true denomination by saying things like that. So simple things like that, taking a verse and making its opposite a necessary inference. Nope, that is not how we handle things.

But hear me, I'm trying to tell you, they made a whole denomination. A denomination that says that thing over there making all that noise and that thing right there making all that noise shouldn't be in a church and you're wrong for doing it. How easy is it that we can get swept away into doctrines? So people can get caught up in things like ceremonial food to the point of neglecting true grace. So this is a legalism versus grace argument. Don't think eating the right foods is how you're right with God. Don't think that God is concerned primarily with ceremony like He was in the Old Covenant.

And then he makes a contrast, look, the author does in verse 10. Not like those who think the food is the most important thing. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals that they ate from, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. What is he talking about? He's simply saying, if I could summarize it in my— sorry if this is not intelligent enough or theological or academic enough for you. He's saying, if you choose the Old Testament system, You don't get to come to the real altar in the Holy of Holies. We have a better altar than they had. Their altar was to go to the altar in the tabernacle to take their sacrifices, their burnt offerings on the brazen altar. Their Old Testament system was to take their animal there, lay their hands on it, cut its throat, shed its blood to find their forgiveness and atonement through that animal. And they put that on that animal, but guess what happened next year? They had to do it again, right?

So the author is saying, if you choose the ceremonial system, you're choosing a weak altar that can't save you because the blood of bulls and goats can't save you. Ceremony can't save you. The tabernacle is never going to save you. You could only go into the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and only once a year and only the high priest and only with a sacrifice. There was a limit. We talked about that when we talked about the tabernacle. But we, Christians, people who know Christ and have been bought with the blood of the Lamb, we have an altar that they don't have. They burn those animals and do the sacrifices, and then you have to take those animals or whatever remains, any bones or anything that remains from the sacrifices, outside the camp and destroy them or burn them to completely obliterate them. So those sacrifices couldn't save you even to the point where those get thrown out. Not us. We go directly to the Holy of Holies through Jesus Christ. Our altar is better. So don't pick foods, don't pick ceremonies, don't pick things big or small that will make you miss out on the grace of God. Instead of choosing grace, you choose works, you choose legalism, you choose form and your favorite things. I'm going to go to this church because of the music. I don't care if the doctrine's good. People pick main things that are not the main thing all the time.

So remember the ones who have preached the word to you. They preached the eternal word of the eternal Son, and don't be carried about by strange doctrines Instead, embrace grace instead of strange doctrines that have to do with ritualistic foods or things like that. Because if you pick ritual, you're picking the altar that can't save you. You're going to the altar that's temporary and that vanishes, the Old Testament. Pick the New Testament altar with Jesus. And here's your example. We see it. And then not only do we see it, but we're told to make disciples of that Jesus in verse 12.

Therefore Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to him outside the camp, bearing reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. So you have a choice here. This is what the author of Hebrews is saying. If you pick the Old Testament system, if you pick the Old Covenant with its laws, with its rituals, with its tabernacle, with its sheep, with its priests, if you pick it, those things you are engaged in, the animals being sacrificed, the foods you're eating ceremonially, the things you're doing, those things perish and get thrown outside the city, right? Because they're not effective and they're no longer— you can't use them twice. And so now they're essentially becoming garbage. They're being burned outside the city to be done away with because they're no longer useful.

Now the author does this amazing play with words and says, let's just go out there outside the city and be with Jesus as outcasts, because those people who pick the ceremonies cast him out. Those people who picked their ceremonial food and their lambs and their system over the truth of God, they cast Jesus outside the city. He was not killed in Jerusalem. He was killed outside. So if he's going to be outside, the author of Hebrews says, let's go with him where he suffered. Let's join him in his suffering instead of trying to puff ourselves up with our religion and our pride and our egos inside the city where all the important people are doing the most important religious things. That say how righteous we are. No, we put aside man-made religion that builds man's ego, and we go out with the humble Son of God outside the gate where the suffering is, where Jesus is humbled, and we'll be humbled with Him. And we'll go suffer with Him out there. And if He's going to bear reproach, we're going to be standing next to Him and bear the same reproach because we want to be identified with the superior Savior rather than an inferior religion. We want our name to be associated with His name. And if you associate with Jesus, you take up a cross. You don't gain on earth. You don't measure up on earth. You don't build your scoreboard up on earth. You lose earth when you stand with Jesus.

And he suffered with his own blood. He suffered outside the gate. And it says we have no continuing city. Man, that's a sermon right by itself. Half a verse is a sermon by itself. Why are we so concerned with this city? And I don't mean Modesto, and I don't even just mean the United States. I mean Earth. Why are we so concerned with what happens on Earth for us when the author tells us there isn't a city here? Our city's builder and maker is God. It's the city to come. It's the final city. And you can keep trying if you want. I mean, please don't. I'm not saying you should. You might keep trying. How about that? You might keep trying to decorate your city. You might keep trying to build your city on earth. You could keep trying that. You could keep spending your energy. If I can just have enough money in the bank account, if I could just have a house in the right neighborhood, the right number of kids, the right girlfriend, the right— I keep getting those things and eventually I'll be content here on earth and I'll find all the pleasure I need on earth. And the author says, you can have it. I'm going to suffer with Jesus. That's where I'm going. And he's telling Christians, go with them.

Do you see it? It says, "Therefore let us go forth to him." It doesn't say, "It's okay, whichever you pick." It doesn't say that. It doesn't say, "Whichever one seems amenable to you, whichever one seems happy to you." You could either stay inside the city, keep your religion going, keep thinking you're right with God based on your own goodness and your own system and your own religion and your own denomination and your own whatever. Or you can go out there and be with Him where He suffered and take up your cross. But I do want you to see it says, "Let us go forth outside the camp bearing reproach." Go stand up for Christ is the idea. It's like, I'm willing to say— if somebody says to you, "Aren't you afraid that if you accept Christ, you'll lose everything this world has to offer?" And your answer should be, "I'm afraid of gaining everything this world has to offer and losing Christ." I want to die to this world. I'm not trying to have one foot on earth and one foot in the throne room. I'm happily saying this world is dead to me and I'm dead to it like Paul did. I don't feel like that's a loss. How can it be a loss if I gain Christ? I think sometimes we don't appreciate how awesome Jesus is because it seems like we're losing on this earth when we lose it.

Now we get into actual worship. I find this part beautiful because after everything the author has said, even the warnings where he said it so strong about chastening in chapter 12 and obedience in chapter 10 and everything he said up to this point, even in the beginnings of chapter 13 here about loving the brethren and being internally, congregationally church-minded, after everything he said, you might think that he's going to now list 45 commandments. These are the things you got to do. You got to be there at every service. You got to make sure you're wearing a tie and you got to— Right? Like we're going to have a list of things to do. But look at verse 15 with me and how he presents it.

Like, what would it look like if we choose to, instead of having our ceremony, instead of trying to cling to Old Testament ideas, the Hebrews anyway, or us, whatever that might be, religious ideas, ritualistic ideas, finding ourselves comfortable instead of going out and telling the world about Jesus, instead of suffering for Jesus, we listen to the one who's the same yesterday and today forever, we imitate the preachers who who are— we remember them and imitate them as they imitate Him. And now we're adopting that and we've embraced grace. What does that look like in our lives? What should my daily life be or my church life look like? Okay, Pastor, I hear you. You're telling me the author of Hebrews is telling us to go suffer with Jesus. What does that look like? What kind of suffering would that be? Am I supposed to go jump in firing lines? Am I supposed to go across the world? Look at it with me. Verse 15, therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.

That's pretty much Christianity in 2 verses. It's like it's encapsulated. What are you supposed to do, you Hebrew Christians and Modestans? What are you supposed to do? Praise God and thank Him. Praise Him and thank Him. Those aren't the same thing. Praise Him is to magnify Him, to glorify Him, to make Him most. And thank Him is to acknowledge His goodness to us, first in His Son and then in the gifts He gives us, to thank Him and to give Him gratitude for the good things He has given us in Christ. He's given us something far better than a ceremonial system. That system was important, it was valuable, it had its time, but it all pointed to Him. And now that we have Him, the superior Son of God, Praise Him and thank Him.

And then it says, verse 16— this is what I was saying earlier, I'm not going to just say do the meal train. I'm not going to say that. That's not exactly what it says. But it does mean something like that. I remember when we were helping somebody move, I remember Becky saying that this is a foot washing. We're washing feet because we're helping somebody move. And she was equating that to feet washing, that this is us serving somebody by helping them move. Do you see verse 16? But do not forget. That sounds an awful lot like do not neglect the gathering. It's a command. Do not forget. He already said, "Remember those who rule over you." This is the opposite of remembering. "Do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Is that your desire to hear that? Do you want to hear God say that to you? Well done. Do you know that one of the qualifications to hear well done from the Father and as to serve his people.

Back to what I said in the beginning. Many people, lots of people, think that Christianity is only vertical. Only my relationship to God and only my happiness and only my house and only my work and only my family. That's what it is. It's me walking directly to God, with God, and only with God, and I don't have to think about the others horizontally next to me. I don't have to think about the implications of my service to God's people. So I'll just ask you point blank. I'll just lay it out there. How have you served His people? How have you shared with His people? Do you see it? It says share. That means take something you have and give it to someone else. How is your sharing ministry? What does that look like? Of course, that could mean the meal train or something like it. Of course, it could also mean your time where you're at church and we have a banquet and you help clean up and you serve and you jump in or you see something happening.

I remember the Saturday before the funeral getting those pictures where all these guys are out there just working. I didn't know it was even happening. I was at home preparing my sermon stuff, and then I get pictures of all these guys out here raking these truckloads full of leaves and everything. They're just serving. They never told me. They never asked about it. They never said, do you need us to do anything? They just did it. Serving, sharing, so that our experience as a church would be more fruitful, more capable. So I'm just telling you, because we have the sacrifice in Jesus, we make our sacrifices. Our first sacrifices are praise and thanksgiving, and our next sacrifices are to look out for each other. And then it says the best thing ever. What's the best thing ever? God is pleased with that. Nothing better than knowing God is smiling at your service. Nothing better. And if there is, Change what you count as better. Decide there is a better better, because the best thing is to know that God would be pleased with your service.

I do that a lot with the kids. I love doing it with little kids, like 5 and 6-year-old kids. When they do something good, I love telling them, "Do you know that made God smile?" Do you want to know why I do that? I want them to fall in love with the idea of making God smile. That's a lot different than thinking God's going to whack you at any second. He might whack you at any second if you're disobedient, but the emphasis is praise and thanksgiving and doing things. Oh, He's happy right now. God is happy right now with this service. He knows my heart. He knows I want to please Him, and it makes Him smile.

And then we move on to the last portion here, the last couple of verses or verse. Verse 17, "Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief." for that would be unprofitable for you. So this is the same people that were mentioned earlier, those same rulers. And now it doesn't say remember, it says obey. It also says be submissive. So you might be thinking that what that is saying is that the church is supposed to obey pastors and submit to them. And you might be thinking that because that's what it says. So that might be uncomfortable, but I didn't write it. You want to know why these verses don't get preached a lot? Because it's weird to preach them when you're a pastor. That's why.

I was joking with my friend Pastor Smith this week. I said, hey, how about this? You go to my church and preach these verses this week, and I'll go to your church and preach the verses you were going to preach. And he said, but then what if neither church wants us back? He didn't mean that they would keep us at the respective churches. He meant he and I would be trying to figure out what we're going to do next. Obey those. And the word obey here is not the typical word, like I said earlier, for ruler. It's not the strongest word like king, ruler, archē. It's not that word. This word for obey is not hupotasso. It's not the typical word for putting yourself under, but the submission word kind of is. The obey here is a specific yield word. Kind of word, like let them have their way kind of word. It's not so much like a military kind of word. "Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give an account."

I can tell you, by the way, back to the first verse we looked at this morning, which ones are you supposed to obey? The ones who preach the word. Remember, the ones who are already qualified. If you want to know what that looks like, read Timothy and Titus at the qualifications. Those guys, not anybody that says obey me, not anybody that says touch not God's anointed, not anybody that claims to be a prophet or anything, it's the The ones that are qualified, the ones that are, if you want to use our language, ordained, the ones who have been recognized by the church as faithful in their preaching, who have been called, who have answered the call and have been qualified and can preach the Word. Now it's saying that when they lead you, when they show you what the Word of God says, when they lead in what the Word of God says in the congregational setting, to obey them.

And here's the wild part is I've been— this is my 22nd year as a pastor, if my math is right, 2004. Right? So that would be 22 years. I didn't say I was a good mathematician. So 2004 is when I became the assistant pastor, and then I was assistant for 10 years, and now I've been the senior pastor for 12 years. Do you know that in 22 years, I have never said to somebody, "You have to do Hebrews 13:17," except once? I've only ever used this verse personally once, and it was because there was a problem with 2 members of the church., and one of them was refusing to reconcile even though they could have. They could have apologized and they could have reconciled, but they were saying no to it. And I was saying, "You have to do it." And they were essentially saying, "Says who?" And it's the only time I ever brought this verse into a conversation. The only time I ever said, "You have to do it because I say so." I've only ever done that once as a pastor. I've never done it since. I hope to never do it again.

But I am pointing it out here because if you think that it gives the pastor some sort of license, you might be the kind of husband that thinks wives obeying their husband is a license for you to be a dictator too. You might think that, or you might be the kind of person that thinks, "Well, the government has to answer to me." If you're that kind of person that is trying to assert authority, be careful, please. Because Peter makes it very clear that they're not to lord over people. They're not to use the authority if they have it, the authority of the word, as a weapon or a tool to hurt God's people. It's just mentioning it here to the people so that the people would recognize those ones who gave you the word, those ones who brought the superior eternal same yesterday, today, and forever, Jesus Christ. If they imitate Christ, you imitate them. Follow their faith and the conduct of their faith. And instead of going after strange doctrine and rituals and other things, embrace grace and suffer with Christ outside of the kingdom. And while you're doing that, listen to the leaders that God has given you to do that. Follow them instead of heaping up for yourself teachers with itching ears, instead of finding the person who affirms you, instead of going out there in the world and finding 50 teachers and having 50 different people to rule over you because they all happen to agree with you? The ones who are over you. Do you notice that? It's the over-you ones. So it says what it means and it means what it says.

I have another good friend, you know him because he's preached here, well, some of you know him, Pastor Doug. And I remember I was knocking doors with him. We switched where I knocked doors with him for his church and then he knocked doors for us here in Salida for ours. And I remember me hearing him, what he would say at the door. And he would never mention the church that he was pastoring. And I asked him, "How come you're not mentioning the church?" He said, "I don't know. It feels like self-serving. Like, I don't want it to sound like I'm serving myself when I knock on the doors." And I said, "Are you willing to pastor the people if they come to your church when you knock on their door?" And he said, "Yeah." "And are you willing to shepherd them and sacrifice for them?" "Yeah." That's not self-serving. You're offering them help to shepherd them. You have to say that. Give them the idea that they might find a shepherd if they go to your church. I want them to know that about you. So I remember him saying that because there's a fear of being self-serving, of using passages like this for self and making them about you, the preacher. So I'm trying really hard not to do that. I'm just trying to give you the idea that I am very self-aware that this verse could be used as a tool or a weapon from a pulpit, and I don't want to do that. But I do want to read it and I want to properly understand it.

This is the idea that when you are persuaded from the teacher by the Word of God and he accurately handles the Word of God and that Word of God properly handled gives you instruction for change in your life, do it. That's the idea. Do it. Yield. And it says it's good for you. Did you notice that? "Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you." Does that mean that there will always be joy for the pastor? Is that a guarantee that all pastors only get joy? No, but it should give us pause. I say it all the time that my pastor is still in the room, and I'd like to think that over the years I tried not to grieve him, that I was conscious of it. I'm not saying I succeeded at that. I'm certain I caused him grief. But the idea is, do you see that it's an imperative? Does everybody see that, that it's a command? To let shepherds shepherd with joy and not with grief. I hope you see that. And I don't just mean for me. Of course I mean it for me. I want the benefit of all this too. What, you think I have no feelings that I love the idea that the Bible says to let pastors pastor with joy? Of course I love it, but I want us to see it congregationally. This is something instructed for the church.

Because what happens when you have miserable pastors? What happens when you have divisiveness? What happens when you have backstabbing, when you have gossip, when you have those things in a church and disunity, and a pastor instead of being able to lead you in the Word is trying to handle all these problems and difficulties in the church, and he doesn't have joy. Do you notice it says that would be unprofitable for you? It's not good for a church if the pastor is miserable. Do you see it? Now again, it doesn't mean please the pastor. This is not a please the pastor and make him happy. That is not what it's saying. It's saying if he is preaching the Word, Listen to him preach the word and do what the word says.

I remember so vividly. Oh my goodness, do I remember this. It's so vivid in my mind. I could probably take you to the table where Pastor and I sat at the McDonald's over on Morgan, over by your shop over there. That was our first meeting. I get voted in as a pastor. It's going to be my first day. I'm part-time, right? I wasn't full-time because we started out with me part-time and him most time, and then we shifted over time. That's how that happened. And I remember at the time thinking, 'How am I going to fill my days? How am I going to fill my schedule? Like, what am I going to do all day?' Like, like there wasn't going to be enough work. I was naive, okay? And then we sit down and we're talking, and I remember vividly thinking— and Pastor was so wise when he said it— that you need to leave room for heaven to interrupt you, right? You need to be ready for that. And I remember thinking, I was scared to death of not knowing how to handle so many situations. I've been asked some pretty wild things. This week I was asked some pretty wild things, things I never expected to answer questions about. In fact, I had a major one that I will be preaching about soon.

Like, if I were to ask you right now to draw a distinction between attraction and desire, could you in a way that comes from Scripture? Because I told you, there's a big move right now quietly underneath the surface of many denominations that attraction to same-sex people is not the same as a sinful desire. And it's being accepted broadly. Names attached to it that you would not expect names attached to. So these are quiet things, and I was worried, how am I going to answer such things? What am I going to do when I don't know? And how am I going to say the right thing? How will I ever counsel anybody? How will I ever lead anybody? How can I ever shepherd anybody? What if they ask me crazy questions? I got questions one time about Should I pray for my sick chickens? Things you never expect to get. Guess what I learned? Not only do you get all those crazy questions, you do. You absolutely get all those crazy questions. Anybody ever ask you a question about cloning? Meaningfully, like asking, is this okay for me to consider to use my genetics this way? Or IVF? Or birth control, or these things that people ask about? And here I was starting, day one, what am I going to do?

I even had this idea one time that after probably 15 years of being a pastor, when I get to heaven— I remember this at a Shepherd's Conference, this is where I thought it, because I was in a room full of 2,000 pastors, right? And I remember thinking, when I get to heaven, I'm gonna ask all the pastors, I'm gonna ask Paul, I'm gonna ask all the pastors that ever pastored on earth and heaven, at least the ones that made it to heaven, because not all pastors are going to heaven. I don't know if you know that. I'm going to ask them, "Hey, tell me if the same thing is true of your ministry that I have found in mine, which is every single time there's a problem, it's because someone didn't do what the Bible said." 100% of the time. That almost always it is a simple ignorance of Scripture or a dismissal of Scripture. Guess what I think the answer is going to be when I get to heaven? Paul's going to say, "You remember the Galatians? I gave them Scripture, and then they listened to somebody else. Remember the author?" Maybe it'll be the same guy. Maybe it'll be Paul that says, "I was the author of Hebrews, Johnny. And do you remember when I said embrace grace, and instead of that, people were embracing food? You heard me. I had to say that to Peter's face, right, at Antioch, because he embraced diet instead of grace." It's always that. It is always people not doing what God says.

And I can add to that now after 22 years, thinking they're doing what God says. No one, no Christian I know is ever saying, "I'm going to ignore God on this subject." They never say that. They never say, "I haven't studied it and I don't know, but I'm going to do it anyway." They always say, "I'm doing what God wants. Couldn't God lead me different than he's leading you?" That's the kind of things people say. And if the Word is open, I'm listening. You should be listening. Both of us. We should both be able to come to an open Bible and say, "Let's figure out what it says." says together. That's what He gave us is the sufficient word, sola scriptura. And I'm telling you, for your life, it's true for your life, not just the pastor's life. If you're having trouble in your life, I can almost guarantee scripture is over here. You find out that people's Bibles are in their trunk all week long. They come to church, they get it out of the trunk, and they go in and listen to the sermon. After church is over, they throw it in their trunk. And it stays there all week. And they call the pastor and say, "We're not getting along. What's wrong?" What's wrong is your trunk is closed with the Bible in it. That's what's wrong.

So please, these things that God gives us are for our good. You know how they say, finish the sentence for me: happy wife— finish it— happy life. Okay, figure out the rhyme for the pastor too. I don't know what the rhyme would be for that. If we're all joyful serving the Lord according to the word, that means it will be good for all of us. It will be profitable for the church of Christ. Oh, so many churches. My friend, I was just talking to him, I told you he's hurting right now because division in the church, people leaving the church, people moving out of state. That's happening a lot in California churches right now, folks leaving the church, really hurting. People he's ministered to for 30 years, you know, just hear his heart on the phone.

Let's pray. Father, we want to be a biblical church and we want to do these things well. You have so many verses on how to conduct ourselves in the house of God. There's lots of them. And Father, maybe the challenge for us is to make sure that we're reading all of the New Testament, not just the verses about our joy and our own personal walk and giftedness and other things, but also the corporate idea that we serve each other. Father, I think of our Valentine's banquet where people served and they literally got their hands dirty for the good of the whole church. I would just ask, Father, that that would be our heart, that we want to serve and share and glorify you and do things just the way you say to here in Hebrews 13. In Jesus' name, amen.