WELL-PLEASING SACRIFICES.
Hebrews 13:15-19 Through Him (Jesus our High Priest-King) then let us offer a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession to His name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such Sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them: for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give account; that they may do this with joy, and not with grief: for this were unprofitable for you. Pray for us: for we are persuaded that we have a good conscience, desiring to live honestly in all things. And I exhort you the more abundantly to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Now in the last SECOND HALF- PRACTICAL.
Hebrew Chapters 10:19 - 13:25
Of a Life in the Power of the Great Salvation.
In the last of TWELVE SECTIONS
Hebrews 13:1-25
Love and Good Works.
BY THE REV. ANDREW MURRAY
The Hebrews were in grave danger, we saw this in the previous verses, of being led to seek the strengthening of their religious life by returning to the old sacrifices. They have been reminded that of the sin-offering of old, the type of Christ, nothing was eaten; it was burnt without the camp. The fellowship of Christ must be sought in another way. By His Blood He Sanctifies us and leads us into the Holiest; by His example and His Life He leads us without the camp. This is the true fellowship of the offering of Christ. The writer will now tell us what the Sacrifices are in which we may still take part. In the fellowship of Jesus and His one Sacrifice, we may bring the Sacrifices of Praise, of Deeds of Love and kindness, of humility and of prayer. ( Notice what is here missing.....tithes and offerings. As part of the ritual or custom of the church or the individual for these will be now under kindnesses of love and done in compassion as the spirit moves, as a fruit of the Spirit. emphasis added)
Through Him then let us offer up a sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of lips which make confession of His name. In Hosea we find Israel saying that when God puts away their iniquities, they will render Him the offering of the fruit of their lips (Hosea 14:2). These are the sacrifices God asks and is well pleased with. These we may bring continually--- the fruit of lips which make confession of His name. Speech is one of man's most wonderful endowments; the power of revealing and committing himself. Christ has redeemed us wholly for Himself; our lips belong to Him, and He claims that we shall speak of Him and praise Him continually. For our own sake, for His sake, for the sake of those who hear us, it is an indispensable element of a vigorous Christian life. There can be no continuous joyful life within the veil, if we do not as priests continually bring these Sacrifices.
But to do good and to communicate forget not. In our Christian fellowship, and in the world around us, Christ has given us the poor and needy that we may show in them what we would like to do to Him, if He were on earth. Let the Christian study to combine a Life with God in the Holiest with lips that praise and confess Him. And this, again, with Deeds of Love and Kindness and Christian help that prove that the Spirit of Jesus is in us, that we are walking in practical intercourse with His self-sacrifice. And let every act of Love and Kindness be laid at God's feet as a Sacrifice to Him. And be it not done in hypocrisy. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. They are to Him a sweeter savor than the sweetest incense. And as we offer them indeed to Him in faith, they will bring our hearts the assurance that we are wellpleasing in His sight.
Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit to them. Obedience and submission, even to men, for the Lord's sake; these, too, are elements of the self-sacrifice, which is wellpleasing to God. In the New Testament we have no longer a priestly caste or temple made with hands, to intervene between God and men; all God's saints are priests. But we have a God-ordained ministry with the Gifts and the setting apart, and the duties and the Authority, of which the Acts and the Epistles teach us so fully. This is no mere human arrangement, but an appointment of Christ by the Holy Ghost, through which He carries out His work as the great High Priest over the House of God. Such rulers are no lords over God's heritage, and yet have a claim to the honor due to them. The relation between the teacher and the taught is of such importance in the Church, the power of the teaching and the watching depends so much on the Spirit of Harmony and Love, that this element of the Christian life must be carefully cultivated if we are to suffer no harm. Obey and submit: these are words that may not be forgotten, for they watch in behalf of your souls, as they that shall give an account.
Pray for us: And I exhort you the more abundantly to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner. Prayer, too, is one of the Sacrifices we may offer; Jesus Himself in the garden offered prayers and supplications. The writer, in the very spirit in which Paul writes, not only asks for prayer, but believes that the intercession of the Church will hasten his restoration to them. Our life in the Holiest is indeed to be no selfish luxury; there is work there for us--- work that calls for self-denial and self-sacrifice. Let us pray much for God's servants and all His saints; and let us be sure that nowhere may greater wonders be wrought by faith, than as it deals with God in prayer.
Christian, you are a priest! You have access into the Holiest! Christ went in with the Blood of His Sacrifice. Enter continually with your sacrifice--- the praise of God and the confession of His name; deeds of charity and beneficence; obedience and submission to those over you in the Lord; prayer and intercession--- through Him let us continually offer.
1. Through Him! God can have no communication with the creature but through Him, that is, as He is In His Son. And we can have no access to God with our service but through Him, that is, as we are in the Son, and He is in us. God can delight In nothing but the perfect image of His Son. Let us, by faith, abide in Him, and so through Him offer continually
sacrifices that are well-pleasing. As the great High Priest, He works It in us through His Spirit.
2. Through Him a sacrifice of praise: that is, in the joy which He gives we praise God continually.
3. Self-sacrifice--- the power and the glory of Christ's life upon earth. What a privilege that our whole life, like His, may be one of sacrifice too: the Sacrifice of praise and confession, of love and beneficence, of humility and submission, of prayer and intercession.
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