Hebrews 13:1-7 – King James Version

13:1 Let brotherly love continue.

2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.

3 Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.

4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.

7 Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation.

 

First Impression?

• This was a little much. We took two weeks to go over it and still left meat on the table.

Love as brother and sister – does this have the same meaning today as then?

• Survival was harder, and family was your key to survival. Life is too easy now, and the value of life is less, and the value of family is less.

How do we show hospitality to strangers today and how different is that from then?

• My vision of then was no hotels, so anyone traveling had to stay in someone’s house and the goal was to provide travelers with food and safety. Now we have restaurants and hotels and we do not even host family. Part of this is driven by the pursuit of the American nightmare, but part of it is just being selfish. When I was a kid, my family never stayed in a hotel and the kids slept on floors and the adults slept in kid’s beds. We have eight extra beds and at least four extra couches and some space still left on the floor.

Angels – do they still interact with us as if they were people? Why? How can we know?

• I never really worry about angels, but I do worry about people who do. Any glory that does not go to God is going to the wrong spot.

In prison, as if we were in prison with them – what is this to you?

• Prison scares me. From that first visit in scouts to the phone call about a prison ministry. I am glad some Christians are called to this ministry, but as of yet I have not heard that call. I can see a duty to support family in prison and I can project it to friends, but I myself seem incapable of such action on my own, so it will require God to do it all through me or to simply use my prayers and my gifts to the church that sponsors others.

Mistreated – as if you were suffering – how do you help someone else when you are suffering?

• I find it fascinating when I simply follow the call of God on these questions and we get one that makes little sense, but helps us understand the passage better. For me, this phrase points out that we must put aside our suffering, really handing it over to God, even if only temporarily, to pick up His strength to help others. There is always something more important or more urgent or a more valid excuse, but we are called to love and that means even when we need it ourselves.

Any questions on marriage?

• I hoped none. The goal seemed clear.

Love of Money – how many ways can we define love of money and how much effort do we need to put into avoiding it?

• My answer would have been infinite ways. Money is just a tool and I see the love of money as simply selfishness. Getting what I want more than anything else. I try to be frugal, and I try to limit how much stuff I have, but at the end of the day my flesh wants more, and my spirit knows I need less. Somewhere in the middle is a blessing from God, and I try to honor the blessing and avoid the too much. My uncertainty is really in the how much effort do we put into avoiding the love of money. It is easy to say I do not want my neighbors truck, but how hard is it to say I do not need heated rear seats in my car? I can barely imagine getting another car that does not have a heated steering wheel and having to keep gloves in the glove compartment of another car.  (Is this sarcastic?) I cannot imagine buying another car without ventilated or cooled seats. (No sarcasm here.) That is one of the reasons I hardly drive my car that I have that does not have them in the summer here. It all seems silly until you hear of people who believe God has called them to live without air conditioning in their house.

Be content with what you have – what do you have?

• As we spoke about last week, we only have salvation and everything else is not ours.

How does money relate to being content?

• If we only have salvation and it is the only thing we need for contentment, then money is all extra. All of it and everything it can buy. Food, clothing, shelter, transportation, health, etc.

Afraid of mortals – where is the dividing line between protecting your family and putting yourself in harm’s way out of not having fear?

• We had a good discussion as having kids arrived changed each of our lives whether it was avoiding the danger of missions or avoiding the dangers of bars or whatever.

Is this even the meaning of the verse?

• No one thought so. We all agreed that the focus here was to not be afraid to let everyone know you love Christ. The thing to not fear is not physical harm, but not glorifying God when possible.

Imitate their faith – what would you imitate?

• This is a very personal question. One, you have to decide who are your leaders. Then you have to decide if you even follow them. Then you have to pick out the things that you can see that are not dependent on their not being something you can’t see. Bill Cosby was a funny man who was super popular until people found out about the extent of his hidden actions. We must remember that all our leaders are sinners and put stock in only the things they do that glorify God and not put stock in them themselves. We heard a true crime story witness present a couple as good Christians only to later find out they were in a cult and the man killed his family in an attempt to adhere to the lies of his leaders.

Christ is our true and perfect leader, and He has provided the presence of the Holy Spirit to show us how to follow and give glory to God the Father. If we love God and love everyone as He calls us to, then all these earthly opportunities will result in benefits to angles, prisoners, strangers, those suffering, our spouses, the use of blessings, being content, and being confident in give glory to Him to whom it is due.