May 2 Sermon: Equipped with Everything Good

Consider these questions as we look at Hebrews 13:17-25 this week:

1. What is the significance of Christian leaders obeying and submitting themselves to Christ and the Word of God?

2. How does the author of Hebrews encourage believers to pray for those in positions of authority and leadership within the Christian community?

3. In what ways does Pastor Mark emphasize the idea that God has equipped believers with everything they need to do His will and bring glory to His name?

Transcript:

We all know how important it is to have the right equipment. Whether it is the tool to do a job that you have been tasked with or needing the right equipment to participate in a sporting event there are certain things that you need to perform a task correctly. I think we’ve all been in the middle of a project and discovered that we are either missing an essential part or a helpful tool. Perhaps you are a parent who got to spring baseball or softball season and discovered that your child has grown more than you realized and now not only are you needing to buy new cleats but also a new glove too. Maybe you’ve embarked on a journey and you didn’t have the materials that you needed or found that you left something important at home. What you are intending to do is not easy when you are not equipped for the task that is set before you.

‌Perhaps you feel as though you are not equipped to do what God has called you to do as a believer in the Lord Jesus. You know the call that you have but don’t feel as though you can do it.

‌What we have seen in Hebrews is the story of how God has done everything for his people. He has brought us to himself through the death of Jesus and blessed us abundantly in him and so as we finish up we are going to see the final charge of the author of Hebrews and his benediction for the people.

‌As we go through this passage we are going to see two themes develop.

‌The first is that we are to lift up leadership in the Christian community. God ordains people to be in positions of leadership for a purpose. These positions are not positions of power but positions of servanthood that he puts in place to shepherd the people of God.

‌Secondly, we see that God cares for us that we might serve him to bring glory to his holy name. We have earthly shepherds but Jesus is our great shepherd and he has cared for us in all that we do that we might be able to live a life that is glorifying to God.

‌And so with those two themes isolated for us we will start looking at the first one by looking at verses 17-19 of chapter 13.

‌‌As we land in these verses we see some words that we balk at in our day. Obey and submit. We’ve seen these two words in other parts of the New Testament and when we were looking at those passages I pointed out the struggle that we have with those words. For us we hear the word obey and we think that we have to do everything they say without questions and we assume that anyone who would want us to obey them in that way is in a position of oppression. We see submission in much the same way. It’s likely that the most common use for the word submission in our culture is likely from the sport of mixed martial arts where you get someone in a hold and twist, wrench, or stretch a part of their body in a direction it isn’t meant to go until they submit. There is a sense of oppression in our use of both these words but that is not what scripture intends. We have to fight off those ideas and understand what is being expressed to us here.

‌Christian leaders are under shepherds of the good shepherd. The goal is for your good and notice the language that is being used here. They are keeping watch over your souls. They are not trying to oppress you. They are not to be trying to take advantage of you. They are most certainly not to be just lording a position of power over you and feeling a sense of authority. If a Christian leader is doing that they are not in conformity to the word of God.

‌The idea here is that the Christian leader is first obeying and submitting themselves. They are obeying Christ and putting themselves in submission to the Word of God as their only standard for faith and practice. The ultimate goal here is that the person in a position of Christian leadership is living their life in step with the Word of God and therefore in step with the Spirit. And notice the gravity of what is being said here. This is not something that those in this position are to take lightly. It says that they will have to give account. Christian leadership does not just have you barking out random orders and people need to do what you say. The goal is to guide people to mature discipleship in the Lord Jesus and those in positions of authority need to know that they will have to give account for what they do. This isn’t easy and so when those in these positions are doing this the author of Hebrews says that we should let them do this without joy and not with groaning. Their work is hard and so let this guidance be done without it being difficult because it is hard work but when people receive this guidance it will bring joy to those in these positions of influence.

‌This is all really difficult work. It is hard to be on both ends of this. It requires humility both for those in authority and those under the authority. It means that those in leadership are doing due diligence to ensure that what is being taught is in conformity with the word of God. It means that those who are being taught are diligent to put it into practice and it is even more important that those who teach are putting it into practice themselves.

‌This is a very humbling thing. If you are currently in a position such as this or have been in a position like this it should cause you to pause. What have I done to be diligent to know that the truth of God is being rightly divided? What am I doing to be diligent in conforming my life to the word of God?

‌Those are questions for each and every one of us but they hold great gravity for those who are in positions of authority. And that is why the author of Hebrews asks for prayer.

‌As I’ve said these verses are not commands for conformity with a because I said so mentality. This is not like a situation where the older sibling is watching the younger ones. This is a situation that requires grace and prayer and love. We do these things because we are desiring to follow Christ more closely and so you as leaders prayer for those under your care and those under this authority are faithfully lifting those under shepherds up in prayer also.

‌And because this is so hard we pray that the Spirit would be at work through the power of the word to convict us all of our sin and unbelief. We pray that we would have a desire to repent and turn from our rebellious ways that we might be a community fo faith that has a clear conscience and acts honorably in all things.

‌And lets just stop and take a moment to appreciate how difficult this is. Each of us on both ends of this are going to struggle to do it well. It is going to be a temptation to resist these words of scripture and what they mean for us but it is something that we must be faithfully pursuing so that we can be more faithful witness to Christ in our covenant community, our families, and our greater community as a whole. It is imperative that we hit our knees and pray for one another that we might grow in holiness that our witness might bring glory to the Lord Jesus Christ.

‌Now before we move on to our second point and the fantastic benediction. We will take a quick look at verse 19.

‌‌We don’t know the circumstances surrounding the author of Hebrews here. But we know that they are asking for prayer. We also know that they have been with the people who are receiving this letter. Considering what we know about what is going on it is likely that persecution of some kind may be keeping them apart. The author of Hebrews desires prayer that God may bring them together sooner. The lesson for us here is to be diligent in lifting one another up in prayer and trusting that God is in control of the circumstances that we are in.

‌We are called to lift one another up and so may we do this trusting that God is caring for us in all our circumstances.

‌And this is what we see as we move on to the benediction of the book.

‌This is the bow that ties up what we have been learning in the book of Hebrews. This is the prayer that the author of Hebrews has for this group of people that he has been separated from. He trusts that God has them in his care.

‌Notice how he refers to God as the God of peace. They are experiencing temptations and persecution. For us and our relatively comfortable lives it doesn’t seem like God is giving them peace does it. But the author of Hebrews wants them to know that God is a God of peace. He has given them peace where it really matters. Even if there is turmoil in their lives they have peace with God. The war that our sinful rebellion made with God is over for us. Why? We’ve learned from the book of Hebrews that peace with God comes from the shed blood of Jesus. Remember all the old testament imagery used in the book and the requirement of blood for the forgiveness of sin. Well all of that was paid for in the death of Jesus and in his resurrection we have hope. His blood was shed and this is a sign that we are in covenant with God. A covenant is an agreement between two parties. We don’t use the word covenant that often in our modern parlance so maybe a better way for us to understand this idea is that this is a treaty. There is an agreement of peace between us and God and the one who is victorious has set the details of the agreement. We are the benefactors. We have peace with God and notice the description that Jesus is given here by the author of Hebrews. Jesus is the great shepherd of the sheep. He cares for his people. He laid down his life for his people. He is not a distant God or an absent savior. He cares for us and notice that this is rooted in something.

‌You’ve heard me say many, many times. The love of God is not an abstract thing. When you hear the words God loves you it isn’t that some ethereal being beyond the clouds is having a warm feeling about you. We know that God loves us because Jesus, our great shepherd, laid down his life for us that we might have peace with God. The love of God is an objective fact because Jesus took on human flesh in real, time and space history to suffer and die for your sin.

‌And because of this we can trust him and the author of Hebrews trusts him as this benediction continues. He pray that the good shepherd would equip them with everything good that they may do his will.

‌Why wouldn’t we trust that our God of peace would do this? He has done everything to bring us to himself and so we can trust that he is not going to abandon us now and leave us to our own devices. He is not sending you on the journey of your faith and not give you what you need to arrive at your destination. He does not call you to go to the ends of the earth to make disciples and not give you what you need.

‌First, you have been blessed with the gift of His Word. You don’t walk around telling people about God and telling them what you feel or what you think God is saying. We have his holy Word we know objectively what God has said. he has spoken in history and it is his infallible Word. You are equipped by that Word to proclaim the very word of God. You don’t have to speculate about what God is saying. You know. His revelation for you is perfect and equips you to share the truth of the gospel.

‌Secondly, you have been equipped with the Holy Spirit. There is a lot of confusion in our day about what having the Holy Spirit means. We have connected it with a feeling or some sort of manifestation but what does the New Testament tell us what the work of the Spirit is. To convict the world of sin and unbelief. Perhaps someone has suggested to you that you don’t have Spirit because you don’t exhibit some outward sign. I’m going to be really blunt right now. Don’t listen to that nonsense. Do you have faith? Do you trust that God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ suffered and died for your sin and rose again that you might be made righteous in the sight of God? Then you have the Spirit. You cannot believe that apart from the Spirit’s Work in you. Are you convicted of your sin? Does God’s holiness cause you to seek his forgiveness? Then you have the Holy Spirit at work in you.

‌You see, God has equipped you with his Word and the indwelling Holy Spirit. The question I have for you is do you believe that is sufficient or do you think you need something else? Do you feel like you don’t have enough to be God’s servant in his world?

‌If we truly believe in the sufficiency of scripture and the work of the Holy Spirit in us, we are equipped, are we not? You are able to do the will of God because he is working in you. If we are faithful to his Word and trust that through it the Holy Spirit will be at work we will do what is pleasing in his sight. We sweat over what the will of God is for our life but I can tell you point blank that the will of God for your life is that you would be conformed to the image of Christ. That happens through hearing the Word and letting it work in you. When this happens your desires will be shaped to be in conformity with God’s law and you will bring glory to him.

‌And isn’t that the greatest thing that we can do. Notice what the author of Hebrews has to say about Jesus. To whom be the glory forever and ever. When we seek to do the will of God we bring glory to him and he is going to be glorified for ever and ever so we are doing something that has true lasting and eternal value. Our lives bring glory to the one who is to be glorified and what greater purpose could we possibly have.

‌And other than a few verses encouraging them to take head of what has been written and news on Timothy being released, this is where the book of Hebrews ends and so with these truths in mind we end off with what we can take from the book of Hebrews into the world this week.

‌First, pray for your fellow believers. If you are in a position of authority pray for those under your care. We all should be lifting up those within the church because we need strength to live this Christian life and we do not do this alone. When one of us suffers, we all suffer and so may we lift each other up as God’s holy Word calls us to do. Not only does God hear our prayers and answer them but we are blessed to remember one another and grow in caring for each other through our prayers.

‌Secondly, trust that God has equipped you for everything good. I think this is one of the greatest struggles that we have as believers. We don’t believe we know enough. We think we don’t have a certain gift. God has equipped you. If you are in Christ the Holy Spirit indwells you. You have the Word. The things that you feel that you are not equipped for you have in the Word and the Holy Spirit. The stuff that we are called to do isn’t on you. The Word and the Spirit do the work. We are called to be faithful in proclamation. Feel unequipped to disciple your children. Bring them the Word and watch the Spirit work. Don’t feel confident sharing the gospel. You know it. Jesus died to save sinners. Share it. Say it. Believe it. People don’t come to faith because of a fancy way it is presented. People come to faith because the faithful servants of God proclaim it and the Spirit does his work convicting them of sin and unbelief and bringing them to repentance. Trust that God has in fact equipped you to do this good work to his glory.

‌Finally, a point along these same lines but I want to connect it to the book of Hebrews as a whole. Believe that God works all things together to bring his people to himself. Think back on what we have learned in the book of Hebrews. The people receiving this letter were considering returning to the old covenant but this book shows us how God was at work to show his amazing mercy in Christ. We saw how the tabernacle and the temple displayed the holiness of God and our need for God’s mercy. We read how Jesus actually fulfilled in his death, resurrection, and ascension all that was required in the Old Covenant. And isn’t it a beautiful thing. Don’t the truths we seen here help us understand who God is and what he has done to bring us to himself.

‌If he has done all that, and he has, then we can trust that he will not abandon his people. He is the great shepherd of the sheep and a great shepherd doesn’t leave the sheep out in the field to fend for themselves. He loves you and cares for you and again, you can know this love because of what he has done. And so may this give you confidence as you live and love in his world as you bring glory to his holy name.