Seeking the City That is to Come (Hebrews 13:7–17)
On March 5th of last year a team of researchers located and filmed the underwater wreck of a British ship named “Endurance” in the Weddell Sea off of Antarctica. It was a major find, because the Endurance was one of the most famous wrecks from the age of Arctic and Antarctic exploration. It had set out 106 years earlier on August 8, 1914 on her maiden voyage and the only one she would ever make. Aboard were 27 men under the command of a man named Ernest Shackleton, an explorer who was attempting to make the first trans-Antarctic expedition. Meaning he was attempting to land on one side of Antarctica and with sled dogs and on foot to travel across it to the other side.
What happened was a couple of days before making landfall, the Endurance became trapped in floating ice floes that were blown around it in a storm. Thus began a 10th month ordeal of trying to ram the ship ahead, chop the ice around the boat, trying any way they could to free it. Finally, they were left simply to wait until perhaps the ice would release. The ice floes did indeed eventually come apart, but in a terrifying display the power of ice first it pressed ship together, snapping it in many places, and then the ice floes came apart and dropped the ship down into the watery deep. This left the men to camp on the ice, where they would need to survive another 7 months — nearly freezing, nearly starving, and with no way to communicate to anyone the predicament they were in.
Alfred Lansing’s classic book Endurance documents the ordeal. He combed the diaries of the men to reconstruct what happened, and he brings out two striking facts. First is the quality of leadership that Shackleton exhibited. From the first he never let his men forget the objective which was to survive and to get home. And the men did try to give up many times. He worked tirelessly to ration their food, harbour their resources, put out petty squabbles among the men. Before they abandoned the ship for the last time before it was crushed, he has them all gather round and throw unnecessary items in a pile, and he begins by throwing his own gold coins, a framed family picture, he even pulls out his Bible and tears out the 23rd Psalm and puts the rest down…he leads them all to do shed everything they can so that they would carry less weight. It was one of many examples — you’ll find much written about the leadership of this impressive man.
But equally impressive is the way the 26 men under his care respond. There were murmurs but never mutiny. There were complaints but never catastrophe. For a year and half, through every manner of suffering, they trusted him. Shackleton would later write this: “Loneliness is the penalty of leadership, but the man who has to make the decisions is assisted greatly if he feels that there is no uncertainty in the minds of those who follow him, and that his orders will be carried out confidently and in expectation of success.”
Friends we find ourselves in the final chapter of this glorious epistle of Hebrews, a letter written by an unknown first century pastor to a church he knows well and cares for greatly. This final chapter is a series of exhortations—to love the church, to honour marriage, to live a life of financial contentment.
But before asking for prayer, this pastor turns to a final and essential aspect of our Christian lives, how we view and respond to Christian leaders.
Now as we take up this topic I’m aware that we live in an age where the topic of leadership and authority has fallen on hard times. There are too many examples of leaders who use their power and position to promote themselves, enrich themselves, and they do so at the expense of those they were supposed to be serving. So many are asking, can leadership be good?
We should follow good leaders, because they help us follow Christ.
Well the writer of Hebrews certainly thinks so. He writes this passage to tell us we should follow good leaders, because they help us follow Christ.
How do spot good leaders? How can we be good leaders? What are good Christian leaders like? They are unoriginal, tell you the truth about false teaching and work for your benefit.
Unoriginal (Heb 13:7-8)
You’ll notice that our passage is bookended with the mention of leaders in Hebrews 13:7 and Hebrews 13:17. But in Hebrews 13:7, the church is called to look back at former leaders, to remember them, and that phrase there “consider the outcome of their way of life” is more literally the end or terminal point of their way of life. It is likely that these are leaders who first preached to the church and are now dead. So this is an inspiring call to think back on these who would have been very dear to them. I want you to notice how complete he wants their remembrance to be:
They should remember what they taught them about the word of God. It doesn’t matter if you can remember specific sermons or not, I am too old a man to ever ask a congregation if they remember what I taught even one week earlier. That is a sure-fire way to discourage everybody, yourself and the people. But that doesn’t mean the cumulative effect of speaking the Word is not enormous. Both by example and by building up a storehouse of truth in the mind…these leaders made a profound investment.
And they should remember secondly their way of life — their personal walk with God, their commitment to personal holiness, the way they organized their time according to eternal priorities, their evident love for people.
As they remember these two things — the word of God they spoke and the way of life they lived — he exhorts them to imitate their faith, to follow after them, as they followed after the Lord.
Then, as they remember these two things — the word of God they spoke and the way of life they lived — he exhorts them to imitate their faith, to follow after them, as they followed after the Lord.
When I think about my own growth as a Christian — it was nearly all based on imitation. I bought the Bible John had and read it like I saw him do. I watched how Todd met up with other students in the dining hall for appointments — I did that too. I watched some guys going early to where the church met to set up chairs. I just copied them.
It’s worth asking both who you are imitating, and whether you are living in a way worth imitating.
Now, why does the author say they should remember and imitate these leaders. Hebrews 13:8 is an interesting verse, it has to be up there on the list of verses most quoted out of context. Why does he say this here? Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is saying that what those former leaders taught about him is the same thing you are being taught about Him, and Lord willing and if He does tarry in heaven a bit longer, it will be what future generations are taught about Him.
Isn’t that interesting? He grounds the call to imitate these guys by saying that they are completely unoriginal.
One of the first things I did when asked to candidate for a pastoral position at this church was to read the wonderful history of the church on the website — if you haven’t you really ought to — just go to “explore” then “Grace Baptist Church” then “our history”. It walks through things by decade with wonderful pictures, some black and white some color, and then some explanation of the more than 60 years now of the ministry of this church. Many of you are like me and have joined the church in the past 5 years, the pictures are just pictures to us. But to some of you — I imagine that pictures of Amelia Clement and Dorcas Lau are deeply moving ones. Those black and whites of Herbert Holley and Ernest Poulson make you remember first gatherings and first sermons and first faith.
If you think about it, Christianity is one long chain of a passed down message. The inspired word of God and the convicting work of the Holy Spirit ensure that this message is preserved in terms of its integrity. But it’s an old, old story.
So though I wasn’t here, I never heard any of those people preach — I know what they were saying. I know because the message has been preserved generation by generation here. I know what your former preachers were preaching about. They were preaching about Jesus Christ as the second person of the triune God, who existed from eternity past in glory with the Father and the Spirit. That in the fullness of time He became incarnate by the Spirit in the womb of the virgin Mary. That He lived a sinless life, and died a substitutionary death on a Roman cross of wood. That on the third day He rose again from the dead, and sits and enthroned in heaven at the right hand of the Father. And that He will come again to judge the living and the dead, and that his kingdom will have no end.
Charles Spurgeon tells a story about his grandfather: “I shall never forget one day, when my dear old grandfather was alive, I was to preach a sermon. There was a great crowd of people, and I did not arrive, for the train was delayed; and therefore the venerable man commenced to preach in my stead. He was far on in his sermon when I made my appearance at the door. Looking to me, he said: ‘You have all come to hear my dear grandson, and therefore I will stop that you may hear him. He may preach the gospel better than I can, but he cannot preach a better gospel.’”
That’s the idea. Spurgeon goes on to say: “Do not imagine that God will bless one preacher only or one denomination only. He does bless some preachers more than others, for He is Sovereign; but He will bless you all in your work, for He is God.”
The message about Jesus never changes. This is what good leaders provide. In their teaching and in lives that amplify the witness of their teaching they provide truth to believe and an example for us to follow.
The message about Jesus never changes. This is what good leaders provide. In their teaching and in lives that amplify the witness of their teaching they provide truth to believe and an example for us to follow. We are to remember them, to think on them, and we are to imitate their faith.
A word of application here is to choose a church wisely. The younger generation is increasingly mobile — some of you will be here until you die, but many of you will be in other places and other churches. I know very well that there are a whole constellation of considerations when you choose a church, it’s not easy. There are geographical questions and relational questions and needs of children and young people and opportunities to serve. Friends remember that not all considerations are equal. God always forms His people through his word, and He always grows His people through His Word. There is nothing else that his Spirit will bless, because His Spirit inspired the Word. He wrote the Word. There is no dichotomy between a Spirit-focused church and a Word-focused church. You resolve to always search until you find a church led by leaders who speak the word of God — and whose message is an unoriginal one of an unchanging Jesus. If that church meets under a tree with no parking or children’s program — you go there.
Tell you the truth about false teaching (Heb 13:9-14)
This church was in danger. We see it here in the words “do not be led away.” The whole book of Hebrews has been one long call for this church to endure in their faith, to not give up faith in Christ for something else. We see here something of the specific temptations they were experiencing. He tells them not to be led away by “diverse and strange teachings.” And then he zeroes in on one particular strange teaching that was besetting them.
Biblical interpretation of these New Testament letters is in many ways like listening to one side of a phone conversation— maybe you’ve been on the MRT and someone takes a call and you can’t help but listen in and try to figure out what they are talking about. When you only have one side, you’ve got to look for clues to piece together the whole. We’ve got several clues here.
Notice in Hebrews 13:9, he says “it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them.” So some kind of ritual or ceremonial meal is in view here.
It is connected with Judaism—the mention of an altar (Heb 13:10), and those who serve in the tent (tabernacle) as priests, in Hebrews 13:11 this is a reference to the day of atonement from Leviticus 16 where animals were sacrificed for their blood as a sin offering but their bodies burned outside the camp. So a food ritual connected with Judaism.
It had real attraction. Something about it drew them, else why worry about them being led away? And we can guess why. This is the religion many of them came from, probably many were raised in it. It was an approved religion by the Roman government — we can feel the desire to keep government rules, can’t we? And maybe most of all whatever this teaching was — it promised something tangible in the here and now — which is why he has to underscore there in Hebrews 13:14 that we shouldn’t be talking about this life as a place where we have anything lasting.
Now before we think about how he addresses the false teaching we should ask — are we surrounded by this kind of false teaching today? Sadly we are. It took me no time to generate a list of strange and diverse teachings I’ve encountered recently among Christians. Things like:
Love is defined by your affirmation of my choices rather than by desiring my good
Hoarding wealth is a good and godly thing to do
Even though Jesus said nobody knows the time of his return, we can actually know the time of his return.
Bible teachers that ignore reasonable principles of Biblical interpretation.
By His stripes we are healed, so that verse from Isaiah 53 about Jesus means that temporal healing is included in the atonement of Jesus Christ
It is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace… He means that you are going to have to focus on grace, meditate on God’s unmerited favour to you. It should never lose its wonder. If you yawn at grace you are in deep trouble, and in a truly weak state.
So how does we confront this kind of false teaching? What is the author’s argument? Simply put, he says yet again that Jesus’ is better. In Hebrews 13:9, we read that it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. He means that you are going to have to focus on grace, meditate on God’s unmerited favour to you. It should never lose its wonder. If you yawn at grace you are in deep trouble, and in a truly weak state.
We have an altar to eat from that the Old Testament priests can’t even eat from this altar (Heb 13:10). Why? Because on the day of atonement, the animal wasn’t eaten but rather burned outside the camp (Heb 13:11).
From Hebrews 13:12, we see that Jesus was like this sacrifice because He also went outside the camp to suffer — He is pointing here to how the crucifixion happened at Golgotha in this despised place outside Jerusalem. But the sacrifice of Jesus is different and better how? It sanctifies His people through His blood, it makes us holy (Heb 13:12). But also we are provided an altar we can eat from, because we can feed on Christ in our hearts by faith. And this isn’t a sacrifice you have to repeat. So it’s a better sacrifice.
Rather than being tempted to look for something better out there, they should be doing two things. One is letting this truth strengthen their hearts. Secondly, it should make them want to follow Him even though it brings a stigma on them. That is what reproach is in Hebrews 13:13, literally a “stigma” in the eyes of those around us. Let us follow Him outside the camp, bearing the stigma He bore — its another way of saying let us take up our cross and follow Him.
So how do we avoid being led astray by the swirling false teaching around us? By focusing on Jesus’ better sacrifice, and being willing to follow Him even if it means suffering persecution in the here and now, focusing on the city that is to come with Him in heaven.
Friends, the older we get, the less we should trust ourselves. You and I can forget so quickly what is true, what matters. We are so easily distracted by that which promises comfort in the here and now. If you and I are not going to be led away — we need faithful leaders who will preach the word to us. You need them, and I need them.
Friends, I wonder where you are facing danger right now. I wonder what teaching is attractive to you. What voices you are listening to. When I think about friends I’ve had from the past who drifted away from Christ, it wasn’t usually because of some traumatic event. More likely it was that they started focusing on other things. They stopped seeking the city that is to come, started living like this world was what it is all about, living like we have no lasting city.
And let’s remember to keep choosing our pastors wisely. When Paul was exhorting a young pastor named Timothy to give himself to preaching the word faithfully he said this in 2 Timothy 4:3-4: “For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.”
Interestingly Paul puts the onus not just on Timothy the pastor but on the congregation, who accumulates for themselves teachers to suit their own passions? The congregation does. One of the reasons why we can’t install a pastor here without a congregational vote is so you can hold us accountable for our teaching. Did you realize that? That is an important part of your congregational job.
To make sure you have unoriginal pastors who tell you the truth about false teaching.
Work for your benefit (Heb 13:15-17)
The language of sacrifice is continued here — we don’t have a physical temple to offer animal sacrifices, but we do as Romans 12 says offer ourselves as living sacrifices. He actually gives us 4 different ways we offer ourselves to God:
By praising Him — we offer up a sacrifice of praise to God in public and private and family worship. We adore Him and sing and pray and speak of Him as the source of all good and the one worthy of our whole lives
By confessing Him — praise is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Part of our offering is just making sure we identify with Jesus. Run up the flagpole of your faith in your workplace, your community. Do it early, do it clearly, do it often. “I am a Christian. That is what is most important to me. Jesus changed my life. I love him. Do you know about Him?”
By doing good — we turn horizontal here and think about the basic posture of trying to do good to those around you. To have a gracious readiness of mind to be of spiritual and physical benefit to other people. Is that so simple you pass right over it? Try to apply it before you leave today.
By sharing what we have — every person here has something to share. It could be material — a home or a car or financial help to others in need. It could be time — maybe you are younger but could look to help someone in your Care Group that could use help caring for children or helping someone older with projects around their house. Everyone has something to share.
I met a friend in Shanghai that was converted to Christianity in part because in his words “I kept seeing Christians share food with each other.” He got invited to a church where between potluck meals and being invited over to other peoples houses for meals — and people bringing food to share made a profound impact on him. He had just never seen people sharing what they have like that.
So an exhortation to love God in 2 ways — praising him and confessing him and loving others in two ways—doing good to them and sharing what you have with them.
And then we get our bookend verse about our leaders, it is a famous and important verse. “Obey your leaders and submit to them.” This is not a blind and absolute obedience, but insofar as they speak the word of God and work within their office, leaders should expect your support. They are servants of Christ, and his gifts to the church. Do not speak against them behind their back, undermining their reputation. Frail and weak vessels though they are, they are worthy of some piece of the affection you have for Jesus.
A church should be ever striving to be a place where you know others and you are known. A place where some leaders know you and are praying for you and where there is a relationship.
But it is interesting here that our author seeks to motivate them by pointing out that their ministry, even there very purpose is your benefit. He says that they keep watch over your souls. What is it like to have someone keep watch over you? Friends it means someone cares. I don’t just mean that there are smiling greeters, though we have those. One of the things that we have lost in our age of mega churches with movie theatre style dimmed lighting and multiple services where we funnel people in and out is the care of souls. In some ways our growing cities and mobile populations make this challenging, but friends a church should be ever striving to be a place where you know others and you are known. A place where some leaders know you and are praying for you and where there is a relationship.
We should make the work of our leaders to shepherd us a joy and not a thing to be groaned at—for that would be of no advantage to you. Again a good leader is living for your good, your benefit.
Friends, make it easy for your leaders to know you. Show up, engage with people, talk to us when you have needs and concerns. Please don’t ever say to an elder “I know you are busy, but…” Everyone has the same 24 hours in the day, just tell us how we can pray for you, how we can help you. He says there that we should make the work of our leaders to shepherd us a joy and not a thing to be groaned at—for that would be of no advantage to you. Again a good leader is living for your good, your benefit.
I am not naïve enough to think that all leaders will live that way. James 3:1 says that leaders are held to a stricter judgment precisely because of how important it is that they do not abuse the trust they are given.
So perhaps I will close with a word to fellow leaders. To the deacons that serve this congregation so well. You have a high calling, for you model for us a Saviour who did not come to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many. May you do your work with joy.
And to my fellow elders, I am aware of no verse I all the scriptures that so clearly lays out our calling, our joy, and our accountability so clearly. Our business is one of care of souls. There are other things too that matter, budgets and buildings, teachings and trainings. But at its core we keep watch over eternal souls — and there is great joy in that. As we think back on conversions and growth, of camaraderie in the work, and vision for the future. But there is this sobering truth to—that we will give an account to the master. We should let it sober us, and motivate us.
Scottish pastor John Brown had an occasion to write to a seminary graduate who had been assigned a small parish, 30 some people. He wrote this in his letter to the young man: “I know the vanity of your heart, and that you will feel mortified that your congregation is very small, in comparison with those of your brethren around you; but assure yourself on the word of an old man, that when you come to give an account of them to the Lord Christ, at his judgment-seat, you will think you have had enough.”
We should conclude.
Good leaders are unoriginal. They tell you the truth about false teaching. They work for your benefit.
In some ways the challenge of responding well to Christian leadership is harder for us that it was even for Shackleton and his men on the Endurance. For them, the challenge of survival had a way of focusing their minds and hearts towards their objective. They stayed focused, and amazingly all 27 of the men stranded on an Antarctic icefloe made it safely home.
The stakes are not less for us, they are greater. The danger is more subtle — losing focus on the unchanging Jesus, being led away by strange and diverse teaching, or beginning to think that here we have something lasting. And that is why in God’s providence we ought to remember our leaders, those who spoke the word of God to us. Consider the outcome of their way of life, imitate their faith. Many you have known are dead and gone. The message they preached is not. By God’s grace generations yet to come will preach the good news of Jesus Christ from this pulpit. His death for sin. His resurrection for our justification. His imminent return. For Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. Believe that friends, and let it give you endurance. Let’s pray.