Shalom to each of you here on the Zoom call and those who will watch this class lecture on YouTube later. I hope you will feel welcome and when this section ends in about 25 minutes, that you will be a participant in the rest of the questions and discussion time. This letter to messianic Jews was written before the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. Today we study chapter 13, and if you haven’t yet read it, please, those of you on YouTube, pause the playback, read the chapter, and then press play again to re-join us. Thanks.
(To watch this as recorded live, click https://youtu.be/Ebx0qKmKFhs )
Our overarching themes in the reading and understanding of this letter have been twofold: 1) to listen up, that is, to listen to the word of the Lord, really hearing what God has to say, over against what everyone else might say. And our second theme is “This is better.” The author has made it clear time and time again that because Yeshua and what he designed and made is better than anything anyone else has on offer, we should listen to him and acknowledge the betterness of his realities.
Remember in chapter 11 we saw men and women of faith who are examples to us all of the behaviour God requires of each of us. Last week we studied chapter 12 and were seriously encouraged in our faith, having come to Mt Zion and not to Mt Sinai. Now today we are called to live this faith out as the book concludes and we deal with lofty, albeit ongoing personal matters like marriage and hospitality. These aren’t pedestrian; they are what the author wanted us to consider when she wrote about our pursuing peace and holiness. It’s got to be a daily pursuit and therefore work out on the bus, at our desk, in front of the television, in chats online, and on the pickleball court…wherever we are in sport, in voting booths, …it’s our personal lives reflecting the better one, the Messiah, Yeshua himself.
1. What’s love got to do with it? (13.1-6)
The author starts the final chapter with brotherly love. Philadelphia, originally in Asia Minor, but to most in America, simply a city in Pennsylvania, is the city by definition of Brotherly Love. If anything characterizes the people of God, it should be love. Over the centuries people have tried to define religious people, to make us into a recognizable and often dismissable group of citizens. They all believe such and such. They all look like or dress like such and such. Those people practice this kind of thinking. But at the end of the day, they’ll know we are believers by our love, the love that gives. The love that represents the Living One. The love that is sacrificial. “We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.” (1 John 3.16)
That sacrificial love that Yeshua evidenced is how we ought to live. That’s what John reported and that’s how we are to represent.
So verse one tells us that this brotherly love ought to continue. Then the author fills in what that might look like. Defining love without definition is like saying, “You ought to be nice” or “Behave yourself.” Without more definition, each individual may well think they are right when they are dead wrong.
Thus verse 2 fills in the first part of the definition. Show hospitality. Welcome strangers. If you’ve ever been lost or disoriented in a middle Eastern town, say in Israel, you know that if you rock up to the bookshop or the local tavern and say you have nowhere to stay, that in all likelihood, you will be offered something to eat or lodging for the night. That’s commonplace. It’s not so common in the Western world, which is to our shame. To be fair, we often are maxed out in our dormitory situation, but honestly the fear of the unknown has prevented such generosity since the 1970s. As believers, we need to depict this kind of giving in our lives and in our homes.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” (1 Tim. 5.8)
We hide behind this “take care of our own household” to a fault at times. God, help us to be more generous than the unbelievers out there and well represent you. And please, guard our children and grandchildren by your grace.
Next the author highlights prison ministry. That’s not surprising as so many epistles, that is, letters to many cities and regions that eventually found their way into the Newer Testament, were written by Paul from prison. To be fair, prisons then might have been more like modern minimum-security jails, with visitation rights available, but others were worse than anything Shappelle Corby or Jeffrey Dahmer ever could imagine.
I’m actually thinking today of David Berkowitz, famed in the US, in New York especially, as the Son of Sam. He murdered at least 8 people in cold blood and was found guilty in 1978 and sentenced to 25-year sentences for each. He has been brought up for parole a few times but denied such each time. Why am I thinking of Berkowitz today? Because in the 1980s when Patty and I were serving in New York City, when Jews for Jesus won a Supreme Court ruling brought by the Los Angeles Airport, when our ministry was being touted fairly widely, Berkowitz actually gave his life to the Lord Yeshua. He remains faithful to this day. When the author of Hebrews says, “as though in prison with them” I hear that in relation to David. I’ve thought of that when Rene Rivkin was incarcerated at Silverwater, and I tried to visit him. I’ve visited an Israeli man out at Parklea a couple of times as last year ended and ponder what else I can do to help any other Jewish prisoners. “As though in prison” may not mean anything to you, but I’ve been in jail a couple of times in my life, once before I got saved and another as a believer. Let me tell you that there is not a jail anywhere which might feel like home to a person. Freedom to leave really matters, even if you have nowhere to go.
How else is love manifested? Verse 4 says it has to be shown at home. I like that prisoners and homeless are mentioned before the home. Not that I diminish the home, not at all. But so many make a simple triad of “God, family, others” that we border on idolatry with family. I do understand and think it’s silly that a man would have a ministry to everyone except his own household. That doesn’t make sense to me. But by the same token, a family has to depict and represent the Almighty and his sacrificial giving. So don’t make your home an idol, and let your home be a place of hospitality and service to others.
That said, back to the home. Marriage bed, sacred. The 7th commandment against adultery is clearly in view. And rightly. And looking at our world today, it’s one of the least observed. Yeshua made the ‘second look’ into something as bad as adultery itself, (Matthew 5.27) but Paul indicated that having sex with sex workers made the other person split into pieces. (1 Cor 6.16) If you want integrity; if you want to keep the peace in the community of faith; if you want to evidence love and faith in action, stop the madness of sexual conquest mentality. It’s addictive and useless. It’s painful and doesn’t represent the Lord. (As an aside, and for those seeking help in this regard here in Australia, we recommend Sexaholics Anonymous (saoz.net) as a good starting point of help. It’s an international 12-step organization with headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee.)
The next listed sin which goes against the grain of God’s love is the love of money. We might quote the 9th and 10th commandments about coveting. (Exodus 20.17) The antidote to money loving is contentment. Being content with what you have and obviously what you don’t have. Listen to these words of adverts being played just now on the local media. Are you being looked after by your boss? Do you want more of your fair share? Is it time to leave your current job and get more from your career? Friends, each of these sound more like the snake in the Garden than the advice of a friend. Paul wrote to Timothy about exercise being worthwhile, but, he said, godliness is actually a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment.” (1 Tim. 6.6) Yeshua spoke about the love of money and the dangers of it, (Luke 16.13) but Paul nailed it on the head with the concept of contentment. God’s love is represented well with contentment. In you. And in me.
And on what do I base that? The way the author does… because we have God! “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Heb. 13.5, Joshua 1.5) His presence is the comfort. That presence is the basis of our contentment.
2. Submit to the leaders (13.7-9, 17, 24)
The author then turns our attention to the leadership of the community of faith. We have three responsibilities toward our leaders. See how well you are doing in these, ok?
a. Remember them (7-9)
This sounds like these leaders were dead, much like the Hebrews 11 list. They are also designed to lead us, to encourage us, to still ‘speak’ to us. This is in part an ‘in memoriam’ to help us remember their examples and their words.
These leaders (note: not particular like elder or deacon) preached and that was their ministry and their reason for being called to mind for the Hebrew believers. Again, listen up is sounded.
Do you ever wonder about the will of God? What does he want from you, or what should you do the rest of your life? The author suggests that we should check in with those who led us in the past, and “considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith.” (v. 7). I like that. Sometimes you might be challenged by a debater who takes on your favourite believer. Then you listen to arguments and are rattled. I use this verse to help me. Look at the result of their conduct, what’s their life like…. Are they the kind of people I want my kids to grow up to be? Consider their end. If that’s a good ending, then imitate their faith. If not, then cash this whole thing in.
Into this ‘leadership’ section, the author writes that Yeshua is the Messiah and the same no matter when you investigate. This probably relates to our own relationship to leaders. I’ve had a few who were significant in my life. Hal Mallett in Lawrence Kansas. Ernie Gruen in Shawnee. Moishe Rosen for 30 years long-distance mostly. Each would have told me that I should keep my eyes on the Lord. And if you know of a Bible teacher who doesn’t do that, then walk away sooner rather than later. No matter what those leaders from the past said or taught, or how they lived, they pale compared to The Leader of Leaders, Yeshua himself. People come and go, but the Eternal One is here forever.
b. Obey
Later in the chapter, the author says we should ‘obey our leaders.’ (v. 17) There is rarely a week that goes by when I don’t receive an email or letter asking for my advice about a biblical passage or theological concept. I’m usually happy enough to answer the questioner, but I often add to the conversation: “What did your pastor say about this passage|idea?” Most of the time, the questioner doesn’t have a pastor. Dear friends, that may be ok for a very short time, but this season in which we find ourselves, and this spirit of the world which attacks all manner of religion, require you to have and be known by your pastor. Please, go against the spirit of the age and get a pastor, be known, obey. This is not a suggestion.
The author says that “they will give an account.” If you end up in leadership in your faith community, buckle your seatbelt. God will ask you what you did to supply good shepherding to the people ‘under’ you. Aspire to leadership; that’s a good thing but know that you will be judged more severely. (1 Timothy 3.1, James 3.1)
3. Outside the camp
The next section, verses 9-15 speak to me as the whole letter has been speaking. We are outsiders, and will be rejected, even as the ancients rejected the prophets and many said of the Hall of Faith. Our mind has to push us to say we are insiders; the opponents of our lives and faith say, “Messianic Jews are not us.” This is a dialectic with which we deal regularly. We welcome everyone into our book shop. No one is excluded. We see ourselves as insiders in the Jewish community, taking classes and reading newspapers; praying prayers and keeping holidays, but many with whom we have controversy do not see us that way. I’m responsible for MY view, not anyone else’s.
When it comes to the outer religion, however, the author says we must go ‘outside the camp’ reminding us to take Yeshua as our boss, our hero, our model template. There will be persecution; some will simply reject us out of hand and actually seek to diminish our effectiveness. Some enemies of the Gospel sent my family subscriptions to adult magazines, that is, sent to my three-year-old son at the time. Some have thrown cans of paint onto our private car to dissuade us from remaining in country. I remember a man knocked over one of my colleagues on the footpath and urinated on him to stop him from handing out our leaflets.
We must be willing to go outside the camp. We have an altar (Not the one in the Temple). We have a messiah (not the ones the others in Messiah-less Judaism offer). We have the victory. Bearing his reproach (v. 13) is what remains for us, no matter what they say about our messianic life being Jewish enough or not. Outside the camp means outside of what "THEY" say is inside. We are going to be excluded; that's just the way it is. Go meet Yeshua there. They counted him as an outsider. We have good company.
And at that altar, we offer our own sacrifices, this time, one of praise. (.15)
4. Final thoughts
Pray for us, she writes. For ease of travel and for continuing ministry opportunities. I hear myself asking for such in my ministry letters. Pray, I ask people, for our faithfulness. Pray, I ask people, that the Lord would give us more Jews to speak with. Pray, I ask people, and they do so. And God answers, amen?
Then the final benediction. Verse 20 gathers many of the themes of the book into a final blessing. “Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (13.20-21)
Look what’s included. Covenant, eternity, blood, Shepherd of the sheep, God of peace, resurrection, our doing God’s will, God’s pleasure, God’s glory in Yeshua. Forever.
That’s how this all works for the believers in the First Century. That’s how this works for you and for me in the 21st Century. Our faithful Messiah gave his life for us, shedding his blood on Calvary’s cross, then God raised Yeshua from the dead, and established the eternal covenant. Yeshua is now Lord and equips and strengthens the believing community to live it out in his spirit so that he receives all the glory and kingdom on his throne. (Daniel 7.13-14)
Dear friends, the point today is to help you hear God’s word again, and to live it out by faith with others in each of your circumstances of life. You are not alone and it’s because the Messiah has settled the situation with God once for all. This whole arrangement is better. Our job is to listen to him, and to receive his love and grace. And to stay the course…to keep meeting together. We need others to survive and to thrive. Maybe that’s one of the great lessons of COVID-19. We thought we could make it on our own. Not true. You cannot. And thank God for zoom and other online methods of sharing life. Our own D-Groups highlight that weekly.
If you’ve never received Yeshua as your Lord and Saviour, I invite you to do so now. Right where you are. Receive him who gave his life for you. Say a prayer of thanks. Say a prayer like “I need you, Lord Yeshua” … he loves to give to you of his life.
If you want to write me with a question, I’m happy to try to answer. Just write me at the address on the screen, it’s bob@jewsforjesus.org.au and I’ll give it a go.
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