The Love of Faith, Hebrews 13:1-6

The Love of Faith, Hebrews 13:1-6  

In our last sermon, we said that the primary concern of the author was that we do not fall short of the grace of God.  That is, that considering all that Christ has done for us, considering our position in Christ, let us be sure not to come short of the full purpose of God in saving us.  As it says in the next to last verse of chapter 12, considering what Christ has done for us, and what God’s purpose in saving us is; let us show gratitude, by rendering to God an acceptable service which is to be lived in reverence and awe for Him.

Now if we are to fulfill our purpose for which Christ died, if we are to walk worthy of our calling, then what is this service that is spoken of which we are to live out for God?  The author gives us in this final chapter a list of very practical applications, how we are to live in service to the Lord.  And at the top of the list is that we are to love the brethren. Now I want you to notice something about this word for love. 

As I have pointed out many times in the past, love in Biblical terms is not synonymous with the kind of love which we talk about in our culture.  Love in the culture of this world is a term which more often than not is defined by it’s lowest common denominator.  It’s really not much more than lust, because it is based on physical attraction.  Upon physical desire.  But God has a much higher standard for love.  

In the original Greek language of the New Testament, there are three words which are most often used for love.  The word eros is the word which might be most synonymous with the type of love which is of the world. Eros as the name implies is an erotic love, a fleshly love, a sexual love.  The second kind of love is the one which is most often found in relation to God’s love for us, and that is the word agape.  Agape is a sacrificial love.  Agape does not demand or expect repayment from the love given – it gives because it loves, it does not love in order to receive. Agape love isn’t about feelings; it is about decisions. It’s about commitment.  It is the type of love which we are to have towards our marriage partner, towards God, and towards His church.

There is another word that is sometimes used for love, and that is found here in our text.  When the author says in vs 1 let “brotherly love continue”, he is using just one word for brotherly love and that is the word philadelphia.  It is of course where we get the name of the city in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, which is known as the city of brotherly love.  It comes from the root word philia. This ancient Greek word spoke of brotherly friendship and affection. It is the love of fraternal kinship and partnership.  It has to do with love of family.  

And so when the author of Hebrews gives us this admonition to let brotherly love continue, he is recognizing first of all that those of us in the body of Christ are made by this new birth into sons and daughters of God, and thus brothers and sisters in Christ.  We are part of the family of God.  And this relationship with Christ is the basis for our relationship with one another.  

That’s why I think that the word chosen here is phileo as opposed to agape. It’s not that we are to love one another with a lower standard of love than we love the Lord.  But it’s saying that the basis for our love for one another is familial.  We are brothers and sisters of Christ.  I  believe that our love for one another should still rise to the standard of agape love.  Proof for that is found in 1Peter 1:22  which says,  “Since you have in obedience to the truth purified your souls for a sincere love of the brethren (philadelphia), fervently love (agape) one another from the heart.”  One does not exclude the other, but philadelphia serves as a basis for agape.

So the basis for our love of one another is that we are of the same family, the same Father, the same Spirit. There is no lowering of the standard for love.  We should strive to love one another in agape love.  But the basis of our love is what is spoken of here.  And that is described as brotherly love, or family love.

Jesus said in John 13:35 "By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Considering the emphasis in Jesus’s ministry on love, and the emphasis of the Bible in general, there really should be no need to give you biblical examples beyond that, but I will do so, just to make sure that we recognize the priority that God has given for loving one another, love for the brethren, in the life of a man or woman of faith.

Of course, one of the most famous examples is when Jesus was asked which is the greatest commandment, and Jesus responded, "YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.' 38 "This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.”

He was even more direct in John 13:34 saying “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”  Notice, He twice repeats it; love one another with the same sacrificial, agape love which Christ has for us.

Peter said in 1Peter 4:8 “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.”  The Apostle John says in 1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love abides in death.”  And Paul said in Ephesians 4:1-3 “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love, being diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

So brotherly love is something which is to be indicative of the fact that we are Christians, and that we are Christ’s disciples, and it’s to be a testimony to the world as well as a practical help to the church. In light of the gospel we can say that the church is our new family.  And so practicing love for one another is to be a priority, even our responsibility to care for one another.

Now how do we do that, practically speaking?  Well, the author is going to give us some specific examples. The first is to strangers, especially those of the Christian brotherhood.  Vs.2, “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it.”

Now this word which is translated as strangers has to do particularly with showing hospitality.  Among both Jews and Gentiles in those days hospitality was ranked very high in terms of virtues.  There were very few inns in many of the regions of the early church.  As we have seen in our studies in the Old Testament on Wednesday nights, there was a great danger in staying outdoors or in the city without being in someone’s home.  And what few inns there were had very bad reputations for the most part.  

Today, of course, we have every conceivable convenience or even luxury accommodations in virtually every town, especially in America.  But the principle of hospitality is still in effect in the church.  Hospitality includes much more than just a roof over your head, but perhaps a meal, being a friend in someone visiting a strange area, or befriending someone who has just moved to your community. It covers people experiencing hardship, or grief, or loss.  There are so many ways to show hospitality.  And the point is that we should look for opportunities to serve other members of the body of Christ, even though we may consider them strangers.  

But I would  say that strangers indicates people who are not in your immediate family, or not in your friend clique.  Today in our world there is such a disconnect from one another.  We don’t hardly know our neighbors anymore.  We have no interaction with people living on our street, or in our community.  Social media has made us a society of social pariah’s.` But in God’s family we should not be that way.  We should reach out to one another. Share with one another.  Help one another.  And encourage one another.  And hospitality speaks to all of those things as we seek out what we might do to help and strengthen and encourage one another.  

I would remind you that when you do these things for another brother or sister in the spirit of serving the Lord, you are in effect doing it unto Him.  Jesus said in Matt. 25:35-40  “For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in; naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.'  "Then the righteous will answer Him, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?  'And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?  'When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?'  "The King will answer and say to them, 'Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.”

And let me say something about the mention of angels here in this verse.  This has caused quite a bit of theological gymnastics over the years as people took this verse and jumped to all kinds of different extrapolations and started seeing angels all over the place.  But I think the best exegesis was given by John MacArthur, I believe, who said the emphasis should be on the phrase, “without knowing it.”  In other words, though someone might have entertained an angel, they were unaware that it was an angel.  The intention is not to get us looking for angels, but to recognize that we have a responsibility to offer hospitality to one another as servant’s of the Lord, to supply for one another’s needs in tangible ways, as we would to our own family members, as we would for the Lord Himself.  And that there is an inherent blessing in doing so.  As Jesus said, “it is better to give than to receive.”  We need to think of hospitality as service to Christ.  Something that we look forward to doing, and look for opportunities to do. 

The next group that we should show brotherly love to is those who are in prison. Vs.3, “Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are ill-treated, since you yourselves also are in the body.”  In those days, it was not uncommon for Christians to find themselves arrested and imprisoned for the sake of the gospel.  We know of many from the record of the scriptures as well as extra biblical writings.  Historic documents tell us how the early Christians would go to any length in order to try to get the release of their brothers in prison.  In some cases, it is recorded that they actually sold themselves into slavery in order to effect the release of a brother in prison. 

Often it was possible to supply the physical needs of the prisoners which were not even attempted to be met by the prison officials.  Remember how Paul wrote that Timothy should bring his cloak and the parchments when he visited Paul in prison.  And so great concern was given to the needs of the prisoners who were suffering for the sake of Christ. 

Prison ministries are still something today that we can be involved in.  But as a principle  I believe it goes beyond incarceration to include people who are being mistreated in a variety of circumstances.  People who are trapped in some sort of destructive situation.  People who are unable to help themselves for one reason or another.  People that have needs that they cannot meet. People in the hospital, or in an old folks home.  I think all those people fit under the sub title which is those who are ill treated.  

We should treat them this way, it says, because we too are in the body.  He’s not speaking of the body of Christ, but of the body of flesh.  We are able to help those who are suffering in the flesh, because in being of the flesh ourselves, we have compassion. James speaks to that in James 2:15-16 “If a brother or sister is without clothing and in need of daily food,  and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and be filled," and yet you do not give them what is necessary for their body, what use is that?”

Being in the body, we should have compassion on others in the body and help supply that which is necessary for the well being of the body.

The next expression of brotherly love or familial love that he speaks of is the love of marriage. The love of marriage is an ideal of God for which we have been made, as an illustration of the love of God towards us. Notice the text in vs.4, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge.”

First of all notice that in God’s eyes, marriage is honorable.  Marriage has almost reached the point today where it’s considered  dishonorable in the eyes of the world.  It doesn’t seem like it makes any sense from their point of view. It’s much more practical in many young couple’s minds to test the waters first.  To  just live together.  But in God’s eyes, marriage is honorable.  It is His design for man. It is divinely ordained.  It’s not a civll ordinance, it is a sacred ordinance. It’s not to gain a tax advantage, it’s to gain a spiritual advantage. In Genesis we read that God ordained marriage when He said “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him.”  And so "For this reason a man shall leave his father and his mother, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh.”

So God ordained marriage to be between a man and a woman, which then being joined together, shall become one flesh.  Jesus went on to say that what God has joined together, let no man set asunder.  Marriage is a picture, according to Ephesians 6, of Christ’s love for the church, wherein He laid down His life for her.  So marriage is a sacred ordinance, made by a sacred oath to God, to love one another exclusively, until death, as unto the Lord.

Furthermore, it can be extrapolated from this text, that the marriage bed is undefiled. That simply means that sexually, in your bed, between a husband and wife, there is nothing you can do that is wrong. In God’s eyes, everything in the bed is pure if you’re married. That’s a great blessing of God on marriage. You don’t need to be hung up on guilt, because whatever you do is undefiled in the sight of God.  Now that’s not just my interpretation of this verse, but that is a long standing interpretation of many commentators.  

But there is a warning in this verse as well, to abstain from adultery and fornication.  Adultery covers the relationship between a husband and wife, but fornication indicates every kind of sexual sin. Notice that it says God will judge those that indulge in those sins.  So many of us think that because we don’t see the immediate consequences of our sin, that there is no penalty for fornication.  But God sees.  And God will judge.  And furthermore, there are inherent consequences to every sin, especially in the sin of fornication.  I believe that many of the problems that are experienced in our marriages and in our culture at large can find their root sexual promiscuity and immorality.  I can’t begin to quantify the problems in our society due to the explosion of pornography.  I read the other day someone who said that statistics indicate that virtually every teenager by the age of 13 has seen pornography today.  And I can assure you that such things scar your soul. Fornication by the way in the Greek is the word pornea which we get pornography from.  But it includes all sorts of sexual sins outside of marriage, from homosexuality to bestiality. 

Now closely related to unchastity is covetousness. And so we see the author make that connection between the love of what is good, the love of Christ’s body, and the love of the world, or the love of money.  Vs.5, “Make sure that your character is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,”

Covetousness in the New Testament can either be a reference to sexual impurity, or it can refer to a love of money.  Jesus Himself warned us that you cannot serve God and mammon, or money.  Paul says that “the love of money is the root of all evil, and some by longing for it have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”

The opposite of covetousness is contentment. Being satisfied with what God has given you. And we can rest in that contentedness because God is always with us.  He said, “I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you.”  God who supplies our needs, who is the source of all wealth, who owns all things, who gives us all good things to enjoy, who has promised to supply our needs according to His riches in glory, will never, never forsake us.  He has married to us for eternity.  No matter if we measure up to all that we should be or not, God will never fail us.  He will always be a ready, present help in time of need.  His love for us endures forever.  

I am told by experts in the Greek language who have studied this text, that in the original language this statement has five negatives.  Literally it reads, “I will by no means leave you and no, by no means will I forsake you.” Five times he uses the negative in order to add every assurance and emphasis on that impossibility. 

Our security is not in our bank account or our possessions. Our security is not in the stock market or in the money markets.  Our security is in the Lord.  In all our needs, He is sufficient.  He can be counted on. And because of that promise we may “confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?”

John said in his epistle of 1 John, that we love because He first loved us.  Because He loves us, and we are secure in that love, we can and should love one another.  I pray that you trust in the love of God, and that you practice the love of God towards one another.  That we all might be joined together as one with Christ Jesus.  This is His plan for us, the purpose of HIs grace, that we should love one another, even as He loved the church and gave up His life for her.