Living for God in an Alien Culture (Hebrews 13:4-8)

The writer of Hebrews is now giving instructions to his readers on how to live for God in a difficult period in which their values were not the values of the society in which they lived. As we look at his comments we will see that some of the concerns also exist in our day, which is a reminder that from the point of view of disobeying God societies do not change that much, except that sometimes the degrees of sin will vary.

We will consider four of his instructions and they are chastity, contentment, constancy and Christ-centredness. Next week we will look at the other instructions he gives in verses 9-18. In the verses we focus on just now, you will note that the author provides a reason for each of his instructions. Chastity is connected to divine judgement, contentment is connected to a divine promise, constancy is connected to how their former leaders lived, and Christ-centredness is connected to who Jesus is.

Chastity (v. 4)

We are all aware of the attacks on marriage at the moment. Perhaps we are surprised to see that the author indicates that there were possible problems with immorality in the first century church. Why would this be the case? One reason that is suggested by some scholars is that there were different views on marriage and divorce within Judaism that may have affected the outlooks of Jewish Christians. While those views were there, they would have condemned immorality, so it is more likely that the danger came from another direction.

Another possible answer is that the Christians might have been tempted to make their religious practices like that of the pagan religions around them and these religions were marked by gross immorality. If that was the case, and we see from the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3 that some churches were affected by this idea, the writer is warning them not to engage in such rituals because it would be an attack on the marital relationship.

He gives two reasons why such behaviour should not be tolerated. The first is that marriage is to be regarded with respect. He does not say why, although the reason is that God instituted it, and no doubt his readers did not need to be informed of the reason because they would have know that already.

What does he mean when he says that ‘God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous’. It could be a reference to the judgement at the end of time, and certainly those who have lived that kind of life will not get into heaven, but will be sentenced to a lost eternity. The fact that the future judgement should always be a matter of concern for us is basic to Christian outlook.

It could be, however, that the writer has in mind expressions of divine judgments in this life. If that is what he means, then we can say that sometimes God abandons people to their sin, which is the type of divine judgement that is mentioned in Romans 1 in connection to immorality. We can also say that at other times he inflicts forms of physical punishment on people for their sins, such as what occurred with Sodom and Gomorrah. Of course, we can never specify when an event is a divine judgement, but we should never forget that our God is a judge.

Whichever option it is, the fact is that divine judgement is very solemn. The writer is warning his readers that if they want to live for God in an alien culture then they cannot live like the others in the culture. Instead their lives have to be marked by a high commitment to purity.

Contentment (vv. 5-6)

It goes without saying that we live in a discontented society. No matter how much people have, they want more, and they do this despite knowing that material things cannot satisfy. We might think it a bit strange that the author should speak to persecuted Christians about the love of money because, after all, some of them may not have had much. Yet if we look closely at what he says, we will see that he actually refers to the love of money and people can have that kind of love whether they have the money or not.

How do we keep ourselves free from the love of money? The context indicates that they were looking to money as a form of security rather than depending on God. The way to deal with this wrong focus was to replace it with the right focus, and the only way to do this is to take seriously the promises of God. One of those promises is mentioned here: ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’

It is interesting how the writer deals with this promise. He is quoting a promise that God made to Joshua when he took over the leadership of Israel after the death of Moses (Josh. 1:25). So originally, the promise was made to an individual who had been given a specific task. If all we had was the reference in Joshua, we might say, ‘Well, that was a wonderful promise given to Joshua. He was highly favoured indeed.’ The writer of Hebrews would say to us, ‘The promise of God’s presence is not limited to that person or to that occasion. In addition, it was for all of you to use in your own situations in order to get spiritual comfort from it.’

The writer does the same thing with his deduction in verse 6, which is a quotation from Psalm 118:6: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear;
what can man do to me?’ Again, that verse originally was written by an individual psalmist, but our author applies it to every believer to whom he was writing. Because the Lord shows the same grace to all of his people, even although they will be found in different situations, they can claim his promises as their own unless the context specifically says otherwise.

Moreover, the writer is reminding us that we get energy from the focus of our affections. If you love money, you will live for it. If you love God, you will live for him. If we live for God, then he will bless what we have. If we live for money, he will not bless what we have. Contentment cannot happen without a focus on the faithfulness of God. And we can also see that contentment and assurance go together in the Christian life.

Constancy (v. 7)

We have already looked at two issues from the first century that are duplicated in the twenty-first, those of chastity and contentment. The author now mentions a third feature that is common today and that is the desire for change. Of course, all change is not wrong. Some things, that were beneficial in the past, should be left there because they are no longer suitable for the modern world. Yet there are some things that are of permanent relevance and one of them is the meaning of the word of God.

The author here refers to the biblical practice, mentioned by Paul to Timothy, of handing the faith on to the next generation. It looks as if the leaders of the previous generation were no longer there. Perhaps they had died or maybe they had been separated by persecution. What is notable is that the writer expected the church to cope without its previous leaders.

The role of the leaders was twofold – they had to communicate the message from God and they had to practice it themselves. After all, it is a lot easier to remember someone who practices what he preaches. What was the outcome of their way of life? It was faith in Jesus Christ. We can see that this was the case from the call of the author to his readers to imitate the faith of their former leaders.

This statement then raises the question as to what the goal of church leaders should be. There are many secondary matters in which they can be good examples, but the main spiritual ambition of a church leader should be to become the kind of believer that others should imitate. Church leaders are to be ongoing examples of a living faith in a living Saviour.

We can see from the writer’s exhortation that the aim of a Christian should be to imitate the best Christians from the previous generation. After all, they are likely to be the ones we knew best. We will not know very well the ones before them and we cannot know the ones that are yet to come. But we should be observing good examples of faith and we should remember that we will yet be good examples of faith if we learn well from good examples.

Christ-centredness (v. 8)

The statement that ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and for ever’ is one of the best-known quotations from the Bible. But what does it mean? It cannot mean that he is now in the place that he was in during the past and will be in in the future. Physically he was on a sin-cursed earth, now he is in heaven, and in the future he will be on the new earth with his people. Nor can it mean that he now has the same experience of humiliation because he is no longer in that low condition; instead he is highly exalted in heaven.

I suspect he means that Jesus Christ is the same object of faith for believers who lived in the past, for believers who live in the present, and for believers who will live in the future. Such is certainly the case. We are not asked to believe in a different Jesus from the one in whom are spiritual forefathers trusted. What he did for them he can do for us as we live for God in our alien culture.

Jesus Christ is the same in his person for all believers. We confess that he is the eternal God, the second person of the Trinity. We know that he functioned as the Creator (as did the Father and the Spirit) and we know that he is in control of all things through his divine providence (as does the Father and the Spirit). We delight to know that Jesus Christ is always omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient.

We also confess that he is a real man, that he was born to his mother after being conceived by the Holy Spirit, that he lived as an infant, child, adolescent and adult. We know that he learned information and did so at times through interaction with others. His humanity was devout, always conscious of access to the Father’s presence whether in personal fellowship or in prayer for others. In his humanity, he lived a perfect life of obedience and that life is imputed to all who trust in him as their righteousness.

Jesus Christ is the same in his work for all believers. In the past, he represented his people in the covenant of redemption made in eternity and when he paid the penalty for their sins on the cross. In the present, he rules over his kingdom, guiding all its affairs, and helping personally in a wide variety of ways each of his people as his or her prophet, priest and king. He functions as their advocate in heaven and ensures that all the promised blessings will come their way through the Holy Spirit. In the future, he will return and resurrect the dead, hold the Day of Judgment, and bring into existence the new heavens and new earth.

The above is a very brief summary of what it means for all believers to know that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. A great deal more could be said, but whatever else is said, it will always be true that we should live for him in our alien culture and receive from out of his fullness as we witness for him in our alien culture. If we do, we will discover that he will be for us what he was for others in the past and we will provide something memorable for others to recall in the future.