Hebrews 13 - You are Equipped to Do God’s Will

Sorry, I can’t help myself, one more on Hebrews then we’ll move on to James.  Thanks for bearing with me.

We need good teaching.  Each of us.  We often forget how much our leaders of character, like Churchhill, read and learned from others.  Despite difficulty in learning (he flunked the Sandhurst entrance test two times - thank God for second and third chances - that would become a characteristic of Winston's perseverant life!) Churchill was a voracious reader, knew the Bible by heart, and soaked up the example of good leadership via experience in the House as a young MP and then off and on for the rest of his life, in the Cabinet.  And he learned from his mistakes (i.e. think of how he went to fight in the trenches during the Great War after the debacle in Gallipoli).  How many men would willingly go from Cabinet to the front lines?  I suggest you could count them on one hand.

More than ever we need God-fearing, battle-tested leaders who aim to please God - and no one else.  As Henry Blackaby said years ago after he was tested by decades of preaching to the farmers in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan: believers in Christ must be aligned with the Providential hand of God.  We are to do the will of God.

        We pray the Lord’s Prayer every morning when we roll out of bed, but how exactly do we do the will of God?

Our hope must look forward.  Be highly suspicious of anyone saying we must go back to a golden age, back to the good old days when everyone loved God and society was blissfully perfect.  Such a time has never existed.  Sure there have been times of revival and sacrifice for God (many examples come to mind - some better than others).  In many nations, there have been times of private and public allegiance to God.  Thank God for those times.  And thank God for the countries blessed by Good leadership.

        We are in a spiritual war.  Placing a cross on your flag is not meaningless.  Indeed, boast only in the Cross of Christ.  However, our true hope is not here and now and it is certainly not in 1850 or in 1950.  Our Christian hope is in the promise from God of a new creation, a new heaven, and a new earth (2 Peter 3).

I don’t know much about Harvard, Yale, or the University of Chicago.  I’ve visited each campus and read about each school’s history.  To a degree, I think there is value in doing an autopsy, a post-mortem if you will, on organizations that fall away and on men who shipwreck their faith.  It seems to me that it is a similar demise we’ve seen in so many denominations and nations.  I pray the next generation of servant leaders is the best generation ever.

I’ve enjoyed walking through ancient churches in Scotland, France, Spain, and England.  The Church of Saint Peter in York, UK (York Minster) is my favorite.  It is simply astounding on many levels.  Not just the architectural engineering and the reverence for God in its design, but also in the human element - the focus on the history of the people from York - the churchmen and women - written and shown on the walls, in the glass, on the floors, and on the ceiling.  Stunning.

How will people remember us?  Will it be obvious where our treasure is and what we revere?  What will we be known for?  I’m sensing a revival across the globe and a massive pushback against the standards of the world.  Good.  I trust God’s Providential hand is directing this movement.  I pray that it results in a rich harvest of souls, in holiness and peace.

I’ve been listening to old books by GK Chesterton lately on St. Assisi and St. Aquinas.  We need more original thinkers, like Chesterton, Tolkien, and Lewis.  They are a credit to their nation.  We think we have it tough.  I suggest those saints from the 13th century may say otherwise.

I suggest we have mission drift because of the same issues that have plagued mankind since inception - arrogance, pride, and rebellion.  True for all time, we love the standards of the world - not God’s standards.  Oh, the lure of darkness.

God wins.  His Kingdom grows until He says so - and that’s when the story really gets interesting.  I have no doubt that God will not disappoint in His promise - for His creativity is limitless.

        You and I have freedom.  You can believe whatever you want.  For those who think God doesn’t see their ambivalence and the wicked priorities of those charting a line well off course, for those with allegiance to the world and its ways, the Bible has lots to say.

        In Ezekiel God says this to Israel just before the exile to Babylon, “The time has come for every prophecy to be fulfilled” (12:23).  A lot can happen today.  Yes, there will always be mockers who think God is easily fooled and that they can mock Jesus’ promised return (2 Peter 3:3-4).  May that never be us.  May we build alongside God following Jesus’ standards.  May we remind and encourage each other that the day of the Lord Jesus will come in God’s perfect timing (2 Peter 3:10).

Sadly the devil has many soldiers.  There are people in every epoch, inside the church and out, that plan evil and give wicked counsel.  We get a great example of that in Ezekiel 11 where God calls out the 25 prominent men - rotters to the core - who led Jerusalem at the time  They claimed to be religious, but they did not care for God.  Instead, they refused to obey God's way and they delighted in copying the standards of the nations around them (Ezekiel 11:12).

        God gave America the blessings of a good political system with protections against unbridled power.  Thank God.  But confronting evil always takes God-given courage.  Exercising the checks and balances in the system requires men and women to speak for righteousness and holiness - despite odds or circumstances.

    We get godly counsel from this 13th Chapter.  Keep on living with each other as brothers.  Show hospitality to strangers.  Give honor to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.  God will judge the sexually immoral and those who desire to see vulgar images and who commit adultery.  Don't love money.  Be satisfied with what you have.  Those are Christian standards.

        We have so many good examples, yet we need more.  Train the young people to be good examples and remove the wicked leaders who corrupt so many.  We see the fruit of God's Providence.  It's fellowship, worship, disciplining people in Christ, family growth, church growth, and healthy relationships.  It is unity in Christ.  The opposite, dysfunction and disunity, is rampant and easy to see.  Stop it!  We are to be known for our love and our unity.

        As Hebrews points out, we have so many glorious Christian leaders who have gone before us following the example of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  Paul, Timothy, Silas, Barnabas, St. Thomas Aquinas, C.S. Lewis, Winston Churchill, George Washington.  And much closer to home think of your faithful parents or grandparents.  Remember all the good that has come from the lives of those who taught you the truth and who baptized you.  Many of them are unnamed, men and women who placed Bibles in schools and hotel rooms. 

        We are reminded that Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  Be very careful to not fall under the trance of false teachers.  

        May we be patient and endure what we need to.  Be prepared to fight in God's battles.  Be prepared to stand for God with a clear conscience.  Such a stance is required daily.  May we be men who chose"to live honorably in everything we do" (13:18).  May we never seek or steal the limelight of our Saviour.  Instead, may we daily pray for others, yield to others, and serve God honorably.

        Our God, “who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus” (Hebrews 13:20) will equip us with all we need to do His will (13:21).

                                                Amen.

With our kids at York Minster.