We have now come to the end of the letter to the Hebrews. At the very outset we said that the author of this letter is unknown, and that the purpose of the letter was to encourage a group of fairly new Christian converts from Judaism, as they tried to live out their new found faith in Jesus Christ, in a rather hostile environment. Now, after having given his readers much advice, and reminding them of what faith is all about, he has come to his final instructions which basically summerize that which he has already said. In all things of faith, the bottom line is, it is important to please God. If one has faith in Jesus Christ, and all that he stands for, then the way that person lives must reflect that faith. After all Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God whom we confess to be the gift from God as our substitute. He is the Ultimate High Priest, who lives with, and is one of the people, faithful to God in the fulfilment of his task, appointed by God, and perfectly pure, needing no sacrifice for his own cleansing from sin. He is the fulfilment of the new covenant God made with humanity, a covenant that includes all people, for it will no longer be ratified with the blood of goats and animals, based on the law, but written on people's hearts, ratified by the blood of Christ at Calvary, and accepted in faith, a disciplined faith that needs to be nurtured, and exercised, in the same manner, and with the determination of an athlete as he or she prepares for a race. So now come the final instructions, as to how to please God.

The first thing of importance to him is what he, or she, calls brotherly love. the author has left us last time with a warning that simply cannot be ignored. He closed the last paragraph with words that should make anyone take notice, when he wrote, "Let us be thankful then because we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Let us be grateful, and worship God in a way that will please him, with reverence and fear; because our God is indeed a destroying fire." (GNB) These are sober words, and the word "fear" is perhaps a cause for concern, for some. It should immediately be noted that believers never need to fear God, or be afraid of him. That's not what it means. But, it does mean that we must treat God with awe, and total devotion. Those who do not, because God is the Sovereign God, he has the right to "cut them off," using Old Testament terminology. If we reject him, he will reject us. So it is important to pay attention here, for that rejection is reason to fear. The author of this letter thinks it so important that he must include this warning; God is indeed a destroying fire. Again, I don't believe this sentence is designed to frighten the believer; but it does brings us to reality.

Loving one another is a key ingredient here. "Keep loving one another as Christian brothers" (vs 1). The first thing we notice here is that this sentence reflects a rather patriarchal society. This does not diminish the importance of the statement in any way, it just reflects another culture of another time, and today we would obviously add the word "sisters." However, the manner in which the word are used here is not unique to the New Testament. We find the term "brotherly love" in four other places: Romans 12:20, 1 Thessalonians 4:9, 1 Peter 1:22, and 2 Peter 1:7. Whenever we use the word "love" in our English language, it can mean anything from loving the ice cream they sell at the stand in town, to loving a person deeply. Even then we must differentiate between the love for parents, and siblings, and the love between husband and wife. So the word covers a tremendous amount of territory. In the Greek, however, the primary language of the New Testament, the word love is divided into four words.

The first one is storge. This word describes family love, such as between a child and parent.

Then there is the word eros. This word describes the passion of human love. There are sexual connotation here, but purely based on love, and never on lust. This word is not found in the New Testament because as Barclay has it, "(It) began to be tinged with the idea of lust, rather than love."

There is the word philia, which describes the love and affection people have for each other as friends.

And finally, the word agape. This indicates that if we have agape for a person, then no matter how that person treats us, we will still treat that person with respect, benevolence, and with a spirit of goodwill. For obvious reasons, this one is perhaps the most difficult for us to carry out.

So what does it mean to have "brotherly love?" The word used here is philadelphia, from philia, which, as we have already said, describes the love and affection people have for one another as friends. I believe this means that Christians ought to love each other in spite of their differences. Why? Because we all believe in the same Lord. There is an element of bonding our friendship on theat premise. Jesus loves us, so we should love each other. A song written by Bill and Gloria Gaither express this so well. It is called, "I Am Loved." Listen to these meaningful words.

All I had to bring were imperfections:
There was so much more I lacked than I posessed.
I could hardly comprehend his offer:
I'd bring what I had, he'd bring the rest.

I said, "If you knew, you wouldn't want me;
My scars are hidden in my face I wear."
He said "My child, my scars go deeper:
It was love for you that put them there."

Forgiven - I repeat it - I'm forgiven!
Clean before my Lord i freely stand.
Forgiven, I can dare forgive my brother;
Forgiven I reach out to take your hand.

I am loved!
I am loved!a
I can risk loving you,
For the one who knows me best
Love me most.
I am loved,
You are loved,
Won't you please take my hand?
We are free to love each other,
We are loved.

You see, the source of this brotherly and sisterly love is Jesus Christ. He loved us enough to die for us so loving each other with philadelphia naturally follows. By his death, we became the children of God. "You have come to the joyful gathering of God's first-born sons (and I will add, daughters), whose names are written in heaven." These are words written in the previous chapter of Hebrews. Jewish people consider themselves to be brothers and sisters through Abraham their father, but this goes much beyond that. Redemption carries with it a complete transformation...a re-birth, being born again into the family of God which covers the whole world, and includes every believer, regardless of nationality, race or color. Ephesians 2 verse nineteen tells us that "We are no longer strangers and foreigners, but...members of the household of God." So it is extremely important that this brotherly/sisterly love continue among us here. It is what pleasing God is all about.

Our author then turns to what we would call hospitality. This was far more important to the original readers of this letter than it is to us. In their culture, hospitality ranked very high, and as someone once said, it was "an article of ancient religion" (Moffat).

Next he want his readers to be concerned about prisoners and those who suffer. This too fits best with the original reader. People were indeed put in prison for believing in Jesus, Paul being one of them. In our Canadian society this does not happen, but there are those who are prisoners in an other way. Many people today have some kind of addiction, like drugs, alcoholism and gambling. These people are prisoners, chained to whatever is their addiction. Suffering is a result, not just their own, but those with whom they live, and with whom they interact. In fact, it might be safe to say that all of society suffers. What can we do to help? The United Church has spoken out, and helped where possible, and will continue to do so. This is right, and follows the direction of the author of this letter.

The author now turns to marriage. "Marriage is to be honored by all, and husbands and wives must be faithful to each other" (vs 4a). Why would he bring this up? It is a Christian church to which he is writing, so wouldn't this be a forgone conclusion? Perhaps, but even Christians are tempted. More than that, he is giving a description here of what marriage ought to be. The word "honored" gives us a clue. Marriage is an honorable estate, one that must be highly valued, and considered as precious. That doesn't mean that such an honorable estate comes easily. As I tell all my pre-marriage counselees, "It takes a lot of doing, to make a marriage work." But making it work is pleasing to God. After all, marriage is an institution that came from the mind of God himself, and the uniting of two people, male and female. Because this is his institution, "God will (and has the right) to judge those who are immoral and those who commit adultery" (vs 4b).

"Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be satisfied with what you have" (vs 5). It's a common fact that those who have much are rarely satisfied, and only want more. There is an uncontrollable hunger for more wealth, and nothing, or no one is going to stand in the way of acquiring it. What about faith? What happens to believing that God will provide in all things? Be satisfied with what you have; even more importantly, be thankful for what you have, and believe God when he says, "I will never leave you, I will never abandon you." This never means that it is wrong to accumulate wealth, as long as it doesn't become an obsession, as long as one doesn't think that his wealth is going to save him, and as long as one doesn't ever forget that where God is there is sufficient resource and wealth. He is our helper. We need never be afraid.

Next the author speaks of leaders in the church, "who spoke God's message to you." The real leader of the church does exactly that...he or she preaches Christ, and that he "is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow" (vs 8). They do not teach, "strange teachings that lead you from the right way" (vs 9). O we could speak about this for some time, but I would be repeating much of what I have said before, in this series and elsewhere. The point is, we must remain true to the teachings of the Bible. And what does it say? "Jesus died outside the city, in order to purify the people from sin with his own blood" (vs 12) Here the author reminds us of the priesthood of Jesus. Jesus supplies his blood, dying in shame, outside the city. And then comes the the essence of his entire message again. "For there is no permanent city for us here on earth; we are looking for the city which is to come" (vs 14). That is the reward for pleasing God. that is the reward for having faith. That is the reward for living a life according to the will of God. Listen on! "Let us then, always offer praise to God as our sacrifice through Jesus Christ, which is the offering presented by lips that confess him as Lord" (vs 15). Have you offered praise to God today? Louis Evans writes, "By his power and grace, let us continually, though all circumstances and through all time bring forward the sacrifice of praise and offer it upon the altar of our hearts, (for) praise will rise like sweet incense before God." There is no greater offering than praise to our God. But we must never forget to help one another, for this too pleases God.

The author now comes to the end of his letter with some more words of encouragement, and instructions. He asks his readers to pray for him; he offers a benediction, and he asks them to "listen patiently to (his) message of encouragement" (vs 22). Then comes his final greetings, and the blessing, "May God's grace be with you all" (vs 25).

This letter was written to a church that needed encouragement. We are at a time in history, when the Church of Jesus Christ needs that same kind of encouragement, especially in our own denomination. We need to be revitalized, and renewed in the faith that this letter presents. This can never happen without a clear understanding of Jesus Christ, his atonement, and the cleansing of human hearts from sin, all of which, when accepted by faith, opens the door that to that "heavenly home." Again I want to close this sermon, and this series with the words, "Let us give thanks to God always!" AMEN