Hebrews 13: No Spiritual Food Supplements
No Spiritual Food Supplements
The End
Our journey through the Epistle to the Hebrews ends today because we will read the last verses of the last chapter, the 13th.
Nothing Comes Up to Christ
I hope this epistle has helped us anchor in our thoughts that nothing comes up to Christ; as a person and because of what he has achieved and accomplished. No person, no creed,
can compete. This is the meaning of this letter.
It is up to us to rise to the occasion.
As a result: you believers continue to radiate Him, even in the face of adversity, even in the face of troubles caused by questioning. You who are discovering Christ, grasp Him as your Lord and Savior. The real cost of believing in Him even if He is real here
below bears no comparison with the peace He grants now and forever.
The same encouragements
And these same ideas that will guide the last sentences of this letter which we are going to read together.
Beginning of Chapter 13
At the beginning of chapter 13, we saw the last time that readers and we were also invited to radiate Christ in Brotherly love, hospitality, assistance to prisoners, those mistreated for their faith, Sexuality, and Money.
Here, the author continues at the level of the transmission of the gospel.
I propose that we stop in the reading to grasp certain aspects.
Hebrews 13:7
7 Remember those leaders of yours who have spoken the word of God to you, and consider the results of their conduct and imitate their faith.
What is this verse doing?
At first glance this verse seems a little out of touch, we don’t understand the connection. With the words before, however, it is the opposite. The previous exhortations invite us to have a coherent faith for example in; brotherly love, Hospitality, assistance to protect, those mistreated for their faith, Sexuality, and Money.
Take an example
Well, look at the beautiful example your drivers show throughout their lives. The word they announced was truly lived (it doesn’t stop at the 5 subjects mentioned above) So do the same!
#Remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.
###Consider what their life is like and imitate their faith.###
Or not
In essence, it means not to identify with those whose life record is not great. Would this reveal that their transmission of the biblical message was truncated?
Christ is constant
Hence the following verse, if the human transmission of the gospel message can be altered by one or the other, Christ himself does not change.
Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of
strange doctrines. For it is good for the heart to be established by grace,
not by meats, which have not profited those who have formed them.
Immutable definitive
Christ does not change his work. The gospel and the grace of salvation do not change and will never change.
#Jesus does not change#
####Neither is his gospel####
Consequence
Let us continue to nourish ourselves and focus on this foundation, on this grace that Jesus has acquired for us. So, be careful with everything that does not come from Him, such as foreign doctrines.
Current trend (Jewish context)
Clearly, the author is responding to a trend that was supposed to raise questions, to disturb the community about foods that would bring “a plus” to the faith. The thread of the text seems to indicate that these would be foods linked to the service of the temple. Were they considered as being able to bring spiritual virtues?
Christ far above
But here again, the author reminds us that Christ is far above these “spiritual recipes”. And for this, he will reach his readers by making a comparison with the temple.
Hebrews 13:10
We have an altar (Jesus on the cross) from which those who perform the service of the Tabernacle have no right to take their food (the priests of the temple have no right to benefit from the sacrifice of Christ). The priests of the temple could, according to certain sacrifices, take a portion of meat.
No spiritual “food supplement”
The priests who officiated at the same time in the temple (at the time the epistle to the Hebrews was written) or formerly in the Tabernacle are already not linked to the sacrifice of Christ. Moreover, the sacrifice of Christ is a sacrifice of atonement for sins and there was never any meat taken from the sacrificed animal. There can therefore be no benefit with “food”. This crazy idea is a dead end.
Everything is already accomplished in Jesus
And the author will push the reflection to show a completed aspect of the work of Jesus on the cross through a typology (not like an allegory, the typology is the general idea, not all the details) which will globally compare what was done in the temple to show that Jesus accomplished it perfectly, even in certain details.
In the Old Testament, for the atonement of the sins of the people
In the temple for the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people, where once a year, symbolically, the blood of the sacrifice was brought into the most holy place of the temple, the priests did not have the right to use the meat on the sacrificed animal in the way they would for certain other sacrifices. They had to take it outside the camp (the city) to be burned there. The weight and the shame of the sins were symbolically attached to the sacrificed animal and therefore burned outside.
The fulfillment of Jesus
The author recalls that the shame of the cross of Jesus’ sacrifice for the definitive atonement of sin was made outside the city of Jerusalem. Here again, in detail, the work of Christ is perfect.
Let us read:
Hebrews 13:11-12
11 Now the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest to make atonement for sin are burned outside the camp.
12 For this reason Jesus also, that he might sanctify the people by his blood, suffered outside the city.
#No food#
####does not improve or affect faith#####
The disciples also experience this shame.
So rather than questioning supposed spiritual virtues through dietary aspects, be sure to assume your identity as children of God through Jesus.
Shame
It is not surprising that it goes against the grain of society and that it causes difficulties, a form of shame in the sight of society. If Jesus suffered the shame of the cross outside the city. The disciples also, live this same shame. I recall that it was the daily life of the first readers of this epistle.
But the disciples have another goal.
Even if it is hard day by day, let us not forget that our anchor is not around us but it is eternal. It is outside (as outside the city, the camp). That is why our attention is turned towards this eternal reality.
#Jesus bore my shame#
####on the cross (the worst shame for the Romans) outside the####
city (shame for the Jews) ####
Hebrews 13:13-14
13 Let us therefore go out to him outside the camp, enduring humiliation as he did.
14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek one to come. Finally, this is the best way to worship God
:
Anchored in Christ and in Him alone. And through a practical life inspired by Christ stands out
(this is the meaning of the whole epistle)
Hebrews 13:15
15 Through Christ therefore let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips confessing our belonging to him.
The proclamation of the gospel, loving God through Jesus (first commandment)
16 And do not forget to do good and to help one another, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Expression in life
Love your neighbor as yourself (second
commandment)
Help one another (love one another,
new commandment of Jesus)
17 Obey your leaders and submit yourselves to them, for they watch over your souls as men who will have to give account. Then they will be able to do it with joy and not with sighing, which
would be of no advantage to you.
(Perhaps, there is the idea of the example of Moses when he spoke of the Hebrew people with the Lord and that the people were in protest)
Debates and distance?
Was there, with all these questions in the community, a distance between the leaders and the assembly and that they were less listened to on the foundations of the gospel? With all these
questions?
Priority on Grace
This is interesting because the primary concern of the leaders is that the souls of the community are nourished by grace of Jesus. This is what they are responsible for and it is better if they do it with joy.
The Responsible
The term “Responsible” is generic. It is not limited to the elders. It certainly concerns them, but also the teachers who passed by, as well as the author who sent them this epistle, who slips this message in to be consistent with what he has just said.
Hebrews 13:18-19
18 Pray for us.
For we are convinced that we have a good conscience (before God to whom we must give account, verse 17) since we want to behave ourselves well in all circumstances.
(Live testimony which echoes verse 7)
19 I invite you especially to pray that I may be restored to you sooner. (Certainly, an echo of the attention for prisoners verse 3)
End of the epistle
And to end this epistle, the author ends with a word of glory, a praise, a doxology
All together
And I suggest if we have never done it, that we read it together.
Like when we sing to allow us to affirm together this concentration of truths.
Hebrews 13:20
Now the God of peace hath raised our Lord Jesus from the dead,
that he might be the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of an
everlasting covenant.
21 That he may equip you for every good work to
do his will, working in you what is
pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen!
Always the 2 effects of the work of Jesus
You see, there are always these 2 aspects:
the realities that Christ has accomplished for us
and the echo in our daily lives.
Faith is never just cerebral
Postscript
And as in many letters, epistles, there is a postscript
Hebrews 13:22
22 I urge you, brothers and sisters, to welcome these words
of encouragement, for I have written to you briefly.
(Briefly! I have rarely had such a long and dense letter…)
Hebrews 13:23-25
23 Know that our brother Timothy has been released; if he comes soon enough,
I will go to see you with him.
24 Greet all your leaders and all the saints.
Those in Italy greet you.
25 May grace be with you all!
These last verses show the interconnection that there was between
certain communities and the reality of prison for having witnessed to Christ.
For Us
How can this text reach us now, about 2000 years later? Let’s think about what struck us in the reading and its explanation. Why?
4 major topics were addressed
First topic
The example of the life of faith of the leaders
How does the life of those who preceded us and who were faithful in the Grace of Jesus inspire us? In biblical words and concrete life.
Do we have any?
What did they transmit to us that we could retain?
Second topic
Submission to leaders
Submission to leaders whose responsibility (and who will have to answer to God) is to faithfully transmit the grace of God.
Not a racial offense.
What could alter this aspect? Not the fact that one or the other does not come back to me. It is about all the leaders and not a particular person.
The message of the gospel
So, it is more of a general message that they transmit. If I do not submit to the leaders who transmit the gospel, it’s more that I have a problem with the grace of God. And therefore, I am more attached to something else than to the grace of God through Christ.
Third topic
Are we tempted to take an interest in things like “spiritual food supplements” faith in the text of foreign doctrines?
Method
Watch the number of videos that promise you “high-speed spiritual connections” if you do this or that.
Theological hobby
Faith in Christ, okay! But in the end, hobby takes up more space than Christ.
Objects
-you don’t have a stone, a jewel, a medal, a tattoo that would allow you to have more?
Nothing.
None of these “spiritual food supplements” could influence what Jesus did perfectly. On the contrary, if we add to something perfect, it masks the gospel.
The central point is in Jesus and the grace that He granted us.
Fourth topic
Have we integrated that our city is not here below
How does this modify our actions, our reflections, and our priorities?