Today's passage: Hebrews 13:20-25

Helpful thoughts:

• In today's verses, we read the conclusion of the epistle which includes a benediction (Verses 20-21) and closing greetings (Verses 22-25).
• The resurrection proves Jesus is exactly who He said He is.
  • His identity is reiterated in the end of the benediction (“To whom be glory forever and ever.”).
• The final greetings remind us that this was a real letter written to real people in real time.
  • Timothy had presumable just been released from prison.
  • The writer had a desire to visit and follow-up on the content of this epistle in person.  Having more to share and desiring to discuss and answer questions.
  • These people knew each other, or desired to get to know each other, and shared a bond in Jesus Christ.

Questions to consider:

1. What all is included in the benediction that would elicit worship and response from the reader?  Who is Jesus and what has He accomplished based on these verses?
2. What are some of the most significant things you remember learning from your study of the book of Hebrews?
3. What applications from chapters 12 and 13 stuck out to you the most and why?  How can you be changing and growing as a result of the truth you read in this epistle?

Today's passage: Hebrews 13:17-19

Helpful thoughts:

• Verse 17 can be tough for everyone to stomach, but that doesn't make it null and void.
  • Leaders have fallen and failed so many times, we are therefore prone to try protecting ourselves by avoiding submission.
  • All leaders will stand before God and give an account for how they led, therefore we are prone to try protecting ourselves by avoiding leadership responsibilities.
    • Neither solution truly protects us.  We cannot make ourselves safer by avoiding God's revealed will.
    • Without love and humility it is impossible to lead or to submit well.
• The letter to the Hebrews is full of good teaching/doctrine, commendation, and rebukes.  A Christian minister who avoids any of the three would likely struggle to have a clear conscience.
  • The writer's clear conscience and his assurance that the readers would respond in faith encourage him to ask for prayer for their soon restoration.

Questions to consider:

1. What are the causes of poor leadership?  Poor submission?  What are the cures?  What are the causes and symptoms of good leadership and submission?
2. What would make a godly leader “groan” (Verse 17)?  Why is that “to no advantage” for the church?
3. If restoration was needed between the writer and the recipients of this letter to the Hebrews, what was the cause of any disunity?  What brings about unity in the church?

Today's passage: Hebrews 13:7-16

Helpful thoughts:

• The main verbs of command in verse 7: Remember, consider, imitate.
  • Right thinking results in right actions.  Repentance is a change in thinking which results in a change in actions.
• Verse 8 reminds us of Christ's deity through His immutability.  God the Son will never change.  What He has said will always be true.  Therefore, He will never turn from His promises.
• The sacrificial animals used for the sin offering on the Day of Atonement were not to be eaten but were taken outside the camp.
  • Christ went outside of the city gate to be our sin offering, and through our faith in His finished work of atonement, we have partaken of His sacrifice.  The Lord's Supper pictures this.

Questions to consider:

1. Why does the immutability of Christ give us confidence in the truth of God's Word when we hear various teachings? (Tie verses 8 and 9 together)  How do God's attributes bring us comfort and confidence beyond just head knowledge?
2. With a right understanding of the context of verses 11-13, what does verse 10 mean?  Now that Christ has come, what is true of those who believe we must still serve and sacrifice through the tabernacle and Old Covenant system?  Are they partaking of Christ?  Are they saved?  What then should the teaching of modern day Jews be classified as according to verse 9?
3. How does a Christian “offer sacrifices” to God today? (Verse 16)  What does not neglecting to do good imply?  Is this simply a command to not do sinful things?  Or is it something more proactive?

Today's passage: Hebrews 13:1-6

Helpful thoughts:

• Verse 2 refers to Abraham's dinner party in Genesis 18.  I do not believe this verse was given to cause us to wonder how many angels we have seen in our lives.  The proper application is simply to show hospitality, even to strangers.
• The marriage bed is undefiled.  This means that purity is maintained throughout life when a single person remains celibate until marriage.  You do not become impure when you get married…you remain pure through faithful sexuality within marriage.
• Anything we might desire in this world is worthless compared to what we already possess, God Himself!

Questions to consider:

1. How does this passage follow the pattern of many other New Testament epistles?  What has the writer argued for in the previous twelve chapters?  And what are the implications (The expected results) of believing in the Gospel?  (See the transition in passages like Romans 11:33-12:2 and Ephesians 3:20-4:3)
2. Which instruction in today's passage stuck out to you?  How might the Spirit be working through the Word to lead you to change and grow?
3. What is the true result of having the things listed in verses 4-5?  Beyond the temporary selfish pleasure, what do these desires and action produce in our lives and the lives of others we take them from?  How does delighting in having God and growing in love change our desires for these other things?

Today's passage: Hebrews 12:18-29

Helpful thoughts:

• If the events surrounding the giving of the Old Covenant brought terror, anyone who would reject the New Covenant should be terrified all the more.
  • The Old Covenant shook the earth, but the New Covenant will result in the shaking of the heavens.  Only the kingdom of God cannot be shaken.  Christ will reign, all who reject Him will be defeated.
• “The firstborn who are enrolled” refers to those who have believed in Christ and therefore share in His inheritance (Hebrews 1:6 – Christ called the “Firstborn”) and are enrolled in the Book of Life (Revelation 20:12-15).
• The blood of Abel “cried out” to expose sin and demand justice.  The blood of Christ speaks a better word, it brought about the justice of God and guaranteed righteousness for all who believe (Verse 24).

Questions to consider:

1. What is the nature of this warning given near the end of this letter?  What is the main challenge of this passage?  What is at stake?
2. Is following Jesus optional?  Who is He?  What is God (Verse 29)?  How do these truths necessitate the response called for in verse 28?
3. What does it mean to worship God with reverence and awe?  What does this look like in our daily lives?  How should we view sin, the Word of God, the church, our families, our work, etc.?

Today's passage: Hebrews 12:12-17

Helpful thoughts:

• It can be easy to convince ourselves that the path to healing is to sit on the sidelines and remain inactive.  That is not true.
  • Verses 12 and 13 say the opposite.  We need to plan to grow, plan to serve (“Make straight paths for your feet”) and run the race (12:1).  This is the path to healing after hardship.
• Bitterness does not only affect the one who is bitter (Verse 15).
• Following our whims and passions will not lead to holiness (Verses 16-17).

Questions to consider:

1. There is a putting off of the old man and putting on of the new on display in this passage (Ephesians 4:22-24).  What is being put off and what is being put on?  Can you maintain both the old and the new simultaneously or will one displace the other?
2. Reading the context of these verses, what hardships can bring about bitterness and what actions can help remove bitterness?
3. What is the “straight path” you need to set before you?  Who could you talk with to help you discern this and encourage you when you need help to “lift your hands” and “strengthen your knees?”  How does this need for community go hand-in-hand with the instruction of Hebrews 10:23-25?

Today's passage: Hebrews 12:3-11

Helpful thoughts:

• We have struggles in this life from without and within.  Hostility from without.  Our own sin within.
  • The more we taste and see the goodness of the Lord, the more we yearn for escape from the world and our own flesh. (2 Corinthians 5:1-2)
• God is progressively perfecting us.  When he disciplines us, He always does it perfectly and for exactly the right reasons.
• When discipline does come, we have no need to ask whether it was needed, only if we are willing to learn, change and grow (Verse 11).

Questions to consider:

1. What things make you weary in this life?  What does the writer of Hebrews encourage you to do to avoid growing weary or fainthearted (Verse 3)?  How can Jesus' endurance strengthen our endurance?
2. Why would God have to discipline His children?  What kinds of sins do we quickly relate to needing God's discipline?  Why then does discipline sometimes surprise us?
3. Is God's goal to make you better than other people or to be just like Christ?  How does this answer help us to better accept the Lord's loving disciples when it does come?

Today's passage: Hebrews 12:1-2

Helpful thoughts:

• The witnesses who surround us are those who have believed in the promise of Christ before us.  The “Hall of Faith” is rooting us on as we run our race.
• This illustration of running with endurance does not convey a life of ease.  Running requires effort, exertion, fighting through fatigue, overcoming the desire to be give in and quit, etc.
• Christ had his eye fixed on the joy set before Him as He went to the cross.  The joy set before us is Jesus Himself!
  • Other joys will prove inferior and fail to motivate us sufficiently.
  • Christ is our greatest prize! (Philippians 3:14-15)

Questions to consider:

1. If you are running a race and you set your eyes on something that isn't even behind the finish line, what would happen?  Will looking up at the concession stand help you win a race?  What is the writer teaching us by telling us to look to Jesus as we run?
2. What things do we learn about Jesus in these verses?  What did He do to save us?  How did He do it?  How involved was He/is He/will He be in your salvation and sanctification?  Why does Christ deserve all glory and praise?
3. Do your life's goals and ambitions line up with this exhortation?  When you set out to achieve goals, what is your target?  What is the “good life” in your mind?  How can this passage help you to think biblically about your purpose?

Today's passage: Hebrews 11:29-40

Helpful thoughts:

• Today's passage concludes the section often called, “The Hall of Faith.”
• As we read through this compelling list through the history of man, we also see a compelling list of God's gracious activity for and through mankind.
  • This is both a hall of faith and evidence of God's actions and grace given to man.
• All of the amazing “stories” we read in the Old Testament convey inferior experiences to what we have today through Christ in the New Covenant (Verses 39-40).  There were some pretty amazing experiences that a few had during Old Testament times, but what we have today in Christ is far better.

Questions to consider:

1. Which accounts stick out the most to you from this passage?  What makes them so compelling?  How was God's glorious grace put on display?
2. What is the miracle (Or the amazing event) that occurred which all Christians participate in through faith?  How did Christ bring us into the New Covenant and why is that miracle all we would ever need?
3. What does it mean when it says in verse 38 that, “The world was not worthy?”  Of what is the world not worthy?  Why are we not worthy?  What makes it possible for us to know the truth, to believe it, to be changed by it, etc.?

Today's passage: Hebrews 11:23-28

Helpful thoughts:

• More examples of faith resulting in action:
  • Moses' mother – Hid her son, fearing God more than Pharaoh.
  • Moses – Exchanged the temporal pleasures of earthly royalty for the eternal pleasures of being one of God's people.  Or, from the world's perspective, he gave up being a privileged royal in order to be mistreated among the Hebrew slaves.
    • This faith resulted in exile, and then leadership of a people who needed atonement (Because they too were sinners).  It was never easy.

Questions to consider:

1. What is written as Moses' motivation for keeping the first Passover in verse 28?  How does faith give us a proper perspective on love?  Is love what we can get for ourselves from people or is it how we give of ourselves for people?  How does the Gospel and our faith in Christ change our thinking about this?
2. Why wasn't Moses' life easy?  And yet, why was it better than if he had remained loyal to Egyptian royalty?  Who does our culture declare to be “royalty”?  Why is following Jesus better (Even though it might get “harder” at times)?
3. After all of these days reading about faith and what it results in, what is it exactly we are placing our faith in again?  What did Christ do for us?  What has God promised to us through Him?