Damein Schitter: Thank you, thanks for listening.
Ashley Lipscomb: Please pray aloud this prayer with me.
Ashley Lipscomb: Eternal God, the grass withers and the flower fades, but your word will stand forever.
Ashley Lipscomb: Holy Spirit, help us to love and trust your word Through Jesus Christ.
Ashley Lipscomb: We pray Amen.
Ashley Lipscomb: This is super helpful for people who are old and can't see anymore.
Ashley Lipscomb: Okay, our scripture for today is a long one, so remain standing if you're able.
Ashley Lipscomb: It's Hebrews 13, 1 through 21.
Ashley Lipscomb: Let brotherly love continue.
Ashley Lipscomb: Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Ashley Lipscomb: Remember those who are in prison, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated.
Ashley Lipscomb: Since you also are in the body, let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Ashley Lipscomb: Keep your life free from love of money and be content with what you have, for he has said I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Ashley Lipscomb: So we can confidently say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear.
Ashley Lipscomb: What can man do to me?
Ashley Lipscomb: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.
Ashley Lipscomb: Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Ashley Lipscomb: Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Ashley Lipscomb: Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them.
Ashley Lipscomb: We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat, for the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.
Ashley Lipscomb: So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
Ashley Lipscomb: Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured.
Ashley Lipscomb: Go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured, for we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come Through him.
Ashley Lipscomb: Then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Ashley Lipscomb: Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Ashley Lipscomb: Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account.
Ashley Lipscomb: Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Ashley Lipscomb: Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
Ashley Lipscomb: I urge you the more earnestly to do this in order that I may be restored to you the sooner Now.
Ashley Lipscomb: May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do, his will working in us, that which is pleasing in his sight.
Ashley Lipscomb: Through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Ashley Lipscomb: Amen, this is God's word.
Ashley Lipscomb: You may be seated.
Benjamin Kandt: Well, good morning.
Benjamin Kandt: My name is Ben.
Benjamin Kandt: I'm a pastor here with New City.
Benjamin Kandt: One of the things I've been doing this whole spring thus far is trying to shrink my sermon length.
Benjamin Kandt: Those of you who serve in city kids are thankful, and one of the reasons for that is because I wanted to create more space for the all of life spotlight so that you could hear the word of God from the people of God, like David just offered to you.
Benjamin Kandt: So thank you, david, for your encouragement of us.
Benjamin Kandt: Today we actually conclude our spring sermon series.
Benjamin Kandt: We've spent February through May working through the book of Hebrews and we get to the end.
Benjamin Kandt: Today, and throughout this whole book, what we've been hearing over and, over and over again is how can we have a deep rooted, unshakable confidence?
Benjamin Kandt: That's why we named the sermon series Unshakable.
Benjamin Kandt: It actually comes from Hebrews 12, 28, which says that we've received a kingdom that cannot be shaken.
Benjamin Kandt: How do we touch that?
Benjamin Kandt: How do we get more of that into our lives, this unshakable, deep-rooted confidence?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, over and over and over again, the book of Hebrews has been asking and answering the question which is is Jesus sturdy enough to be the center of your existence?
Benjamin Kandt: And the resounding answer is absolutely yes, absolutely yes.
Benjamin Kandt: And so as we close out this series, we're just going to keep looking at the same thing we've been looking at for the whole spring semester here.
Benjamin Kandt: But I want to warn you, the commentators three at least on Hebrews 13, said that there is no rhyme or reason or structure to how Hebrews 13 as a text unfolds, which is really hard for a preacher.
Benjamin Kandt: So you can discern for yourself whether this is completely self-motivated or if this actually is a good idea.
Benjamin Kandt: But I structured the sermon around our definition of a disciple.
Benjamin Kandt: Our definition of a disciple is that disciples are united to Jesus in communion with God, community with one another and co-mission for the world.
Benjamin Kandt: And so those are my three points communion, community and co-mission.
Benjamin Kandt: So if you have a Bible, a device, the worship guide, get Hebrews 13 in front of you, and we're actually going to begin with the end, which is this kind of benediction that this letter closes out with.
Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 20 with me.
Benjamin Kandt: It says this Hebrews 13, 20.
Benjamin Kandt: Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you to do his will.
Benjamin Kandt: That's the summary of that benediction, but the big question is how.
Benjamin Kandt: How Well?
Benjamin Kandt: Verse 21 says simply through Jesus Christ.
Benjamin Kandt: Through Jesus Christ.
Benjamin Kandt: What does that actually mean, though?
Benjamin Kandt: Let me ask you, what if there was something more true of you than your story?
Benjamin Kandt: What if there was something more real to you than your thoughts and feelings and desires?
Benjamin Kandt: What if there was something more relevant to you than the swirling circumstances around you?
Benjamin Kandt: What if you were defined by something deeper than all of those things?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, if you belong to Jesus through simple faith, there is something that defines you.
Benjamin Kandt: There is something that's more significant to you.
Benjamin Kandt: That is what we call union with Christ.
Benjamin Kandt: The fact that you are united to Jesus is the truest thing about you if you belong to Jesus, and so the relevance of that it matters, because the whole book of Hebrews exists to tell you that the only thing that will enable us to face the intolerability of the uncertainty of our lives is the truth in Hebrews 13, eight, which says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Benjamin Kandt: And if we are united to him, although the world seems to constantly just be passing us by, what if there was a center that we could penetrate into that, had a stillness, a calm about it.
Benjamin Kandt: What if that existed?
Benjamin Kandt: What if that was on offer to you at any given moment of any day?
Benjamin Kandt: You and me, we ebb and flow, we rise and fall, we wax and wane, but our Lord is the same today as he always has been.
Benjamin Kandt: He's unchanging.
Benjamin Kandt: And so, in moments of uncertainty, the unchangeableness of Jesus is actually a source of reassurance that we can draw from, because we're united to him by faith and we can draw on that union through communion with God.
Benjamin Kandt: That's the hope, that's the point of this text in many ways.
Benjamin Kandt: Now, when everything around you seems like it's shaking, we can turn to Jesus and we can confidently say to him you who move all things, are yourself unmoved, you're stable, you're steadfast, you're secure.
Benjamin Kandt: Jesus alone is firm in the midst of flux.
Benjamin Kandt: You know, scientists say that one day our sun is gonna just burn out, which blows my mind, by the way.
Benjamin Kandt: One day it's just gonna stop doing what it's been doing.
Benjamin Kandt: But listen, if that's true, the brilliance of Jesus will shine for eternity, never growing dim, never growing cold.
Benjamin Kandt: He's the same yesterday and today and forever.
Benjamin Kandt: This matters because that also means, if he's our unchanging center, then the high watermark of our experience with Jesus is not some past moment in our lives, but a present possibility at any given moment.
Benjamin Kandt: This is what I mean.
Benjamin Kandt: There is no nostalgia in Christ.
Benjamin Kandt: There's never a time when you go oh, I wish I could get back to those glory days.
Benjamin Kandt: He's the same yesterday and today and forever.
Benjamin Kandt: And so if your history in Christ feels like anything, if you want it to feel like now or never, you need to realize that Christ is himself an all-sufficient and unchanging friend right here, right now.
Benjamin Kandt: I want that to be a lived reality for everybody in this room.
Benjamin Kandt: I want you to know what that looks like, what that feels like, how to draw on that, and so that's what we call communion with God.
Benjamin Kandt: It's simply drawing on all that God has for us in Jesus Christ.
Benjamin Kandt: Now we use two words to describe how to do that.
Benjamin Kandt: The first one is we receive and then we respond.
Benjamin Kandt: So throughout this sermon you're going to hear me talking about receiving from Jesus and responding to Jesus.
Benjamin Kandt: Let me tell you a quick story about what that looks like in practice.
Benjamin Kandt: In the 1800s, there was a guy named George Mueller who literally cared for 10,000 orphans through prayer alone.
Benjamin Kandt: So amazing.
Benjamin Kandt: And in 1838, his donations just suddenly stopped.
Benjamin Kandt: He had no more money.
Benjamin Kandt: It had dried up, didn't have a way to provide for them and so, with no money left, he walked around his garden and he meditated on Hebrews 13, 8, our passage Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Benjamin Kandt: And then he wrote in his journal this quote as I prayed, the present need came to mind and I said to myself Jesus, in his unchanging love and power, has always provided.
Benjamin Kandt: He will provide again, and he writes.
Benjamin Kandt: A flow of joy came into my soul while realizing the unchangeableness of our Lord.
Benjamin Kandt: And moments later a letter arrived with the exact amount he needed to feed the orphans.
Benjamin Kandt: You see, this is important because George Mueller knew how to draw on all of Jesus for all of life.
Benjamin Kandt: But it's also important that you know that there is nothing that anyone in the past has ever experienced any strength, any love or joy, any brave hope or patient endurance, anything, any kind of deep, welling confidence that anybody had in the past who walked with Jesus.
Benjamin Kandt: That Jesus himself does not stand by your side today, ready to give you.
Benjamin Kandt: We simply receive all that God has for us.
Benjamin Kandt: Quote through Jesus Christ, end quote as verse 21 says it.
Benjamin Kandt: So if we're united to Jesus, we're also united to everyone who is also united to Jesus.
Benjamin Kandt: Our communion with God flows into our community with one another.
Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse one and I'm gonna walk through this.
Benjamin Kandt: If this feels like staccato, disjointed, like I'm just bop, bop, bop, that's because that's how the text reads.
Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at it.
Benjamin Kandt: In verse one, it says this let brotherly love continue.
Benjamin Kandt: Now, I love this.
Benjamin Kandt: I think Hebrews 13 is a sermon, and one of the most enjoyable things as a pastor is to commend the people that you get to lead, and that's what the author's doing here.
Benjamin Kandt: Let brotherly love continue.
Benjamin Kandt: You're doing it.
Benjamin Kandt: Keep it up.
Benjamin Kandt: And I can say that about New City, because I, you know, I can pop the hood on this place, I can see how the sausage is made, as they say, and it's actually really good.
Benjamin Kandt: Like y'all love each other.
Benjamin Kandt: Well.
Benjamin Kandt: And so I can say let brotherly love continue, just like the author can say that.
Benjamin Kandt: But I wanna look at this.
Benjamin Kandt: What's happening here?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, he's using this word brotherly love, which is Philadelphia in Greek.
Benjamin Kandt: I just think that's cool.
Benjamin Kandt: And it's this sharing in this common life together, and really what it means is, if I belong to Jesus, I also belong to you.
Benjamin Kandt: In Kenya they have this term, ubuntu, which means I am because we are.
Benjamin Kandt: It's a deeply Christian understanding of what it means to be human, unlike our expressive individualism in the West, which is very unchristian in many ways.
Benjamin Kandt: I am because we are.
Benjamin Kandt: That's why we let brotherly love continue, because we've got a stake in it with each other.
Benjamin Kandt: Your flourishing is my flourishing and vice versa, and so we pursue the brotherly love of one another.
Benjamin Kandt: Why?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, because Hebrews 2, way back in February, if you remember it, says Christ is not ashamed to call us his brothers and sisters.
Benjamin Kandt: So if Jesus can look at you in all of your sin and suffering and sorrow and, far from turning his nose away in embarrassment, actually moves towards you in compassion and tender heartedness, how much more then can we receive that from him and respond by offering that brotherly love to our siblings in Christ?
Benjamin Kandt: What would that look like practically?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, look at the next verse, verse two Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Benjamin Kandt: I don't know why it's unawares.
Benjamin Kandt: That's the text, but I always stumble over that word because it's just really interesting to me.
Benjamin Kandt: But this idea of hospitality is in Greek.
Benjamin Kandt: It's actually stranger love.
Benjamin Kandt: That's what the word hospitality means the love for the stranger, the outsider.
Benjamin Kandt: There's a woman named Rosaria Butterfield who came to know Jesus out of the LGBTQ plus community.
Benjamin Kandt: She wrote a few books on it.
Benjamin Kandt: The third one she wrote is called the Gospel Comes with a House Key, one of my favorite books on hospitality.
Benjamin Kandt: And in there she asks really, the book is asking this question Is the Christian community strong enough to call people to repent and to come out of the LGBTQ plus community and into the Jesus community?
Benjamin Kandt: Do we have on offer a family that can replace the possibility of never having family again?
Benjamin Kandt: And she asked this question.
Benjamin Kandt: She says to you and to me she says have you ever thought that you, your house and your time are not your own, but rather God's ordained way of escape for someone Like your table today after worship, inviting some rando, a stranger, as the text says, to come over and to share a meal with you, might be God's way of escape for their life.
Benjamin Kandt: To leave temptation, to leave sin.
Benjamin Kandt: Romans 15 puts it like this welcome one another.
Benjamin Kandt: That's how we respond as Christ has welcomed you.
Benjamin Kandt: That's what we receive.
Benjamin Kandt: Do you hear this?
Benjamin Kandt: We welcome one another because God in Christ has welcomed us.
Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse three.
Benjamin Kandt: It says this remember those who are in prison, and here's the reason why.
Benjamin Kandt: As though in prison with them.
Benjamin Kandt: And those who are in prison, and here's the reason why.
Benjamin Kandt: As though in prison with them.
Benjamin Kandt: And those who are mistreated.
Benjamin Kandt: Here's the reason why, since you also are in the body, jesus so identifies with us that, whatever state we're in, when we visit a brother or sister in prison, we are visiting Christ himself.
Benjamin Kandt: That's what Matthew 25 says.
Benjamin Kandt: He says this quote I was in prison and you came to me, and the righteous in that day will look at him and go I don't remember that Jesus.
Benjamin Kandt: He's like.
Benjamin Kandt: Well, when you did it to the least of these, my brothers and sisters, you did it to me.
Benjamin Kandt: That's how identified Jesus is with his people.
Benjamin Kandt: And so the text is so interesting though it says as though you're in prison with them.
Benjamin Kandt: Why?
Benjamin Kandt: Because it says as though you're in prison with them.
Benjamin Kandt: Why?
Benjamin Kandt: Because if I'm united to Jesus, I'm united to you.
Benjamin Kandt: And then it goes on.
Benjamin Kandt: It says, since you also are in the body, people debate what that actually means.
Benjamin Kandt: But John Calvin and I both think it refers to the body of Christ, which is the most pretentious way I could say that I understand, but I just wanted you to know I got some credibility behind having that view.
Benjamin Kandt: Is that this is you're in the body of Christ, you're united to one another.
Benjamin Kandt: Many members, one body.
Benjamin Kandt: That's why, when your brothers or sisters are being mistreated, you feel it.
Benjamin Kandt: You feel it If you belong to Jesus, you belong to one another.
Benjamin Kandt: Look with me at verse four.
Benjamin Kandt: Let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled, for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Benjamin Kandt: I have a practice of when I find somebody's, find out somebody's anniversary, I usually try to write it down and text them happy anniversary.
Benjamin Kandt: The reason why is because I think it's probably maybe more important to say happy anniversary than happy birthday, because it's statistically harder to stay married than it is to stay alive, and so that's just important to me.
Benjamin Kandt: I'm just like I want marriage to be held in honor by all.
Benjamin Kandt: I want to just hold that up.
Benjamin Kandt: That's what the text says here.
Benjamin Kandt: But why is marriage such a big deal for the people of Jesus?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, it's because from beginning to end, genesis to Revelation, the Bible's a divine romance.
Benjamin Kandt: It's the story of a faithful husband pursuing his unfaithful bride, the church going after her, doing whatever it takes with an undying love to woo and win her affection back to himself.
Benjamin Kandt: And so when we receive Jesus's fidelity through adversity towards us, we can respond by being faithful to our spouses, even when they don't deserve it.
Benjamin Kandt: And so it says in the text, though one of the motivations here is that God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Benjamin Kandt: If that's true, what hope is there for those of us who have experienced defilement in this area of our lives?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, if you look at verse 12, it says this Jesus suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
Benjamin Kandt: You see, jesus alone can cleanse the defiled.
Benjamin Kandt: He alone can bring undefilement.
Benjamin Kandt: I've got thousands of hours of therapy sitting with people and I can tell you there is nothing that deals with guilt and shame of your past, quite like the blood of Jesus Christ.
Benjamin Kandt: If you don't know what I mean by that, come talk to me afterwards.
Benjamin Kandt: I'd be happy to share with you what that means.
Benjamin Kandt: There's nothing, no psychotherapeutic techniques, that can deal with the guilt and the shame, especially around sexual sin, like this text is talking about, like the fact that Jesus shed his own blood to sanctify us, to make us holy and clean before him.
Benjamin Kandt: That's what he does for his bride.
Benjamin Kandt: Hebrews 13 doesn't stop there.
Benjamin Kandt: It goes from sex to money.
Benjamin Kandt: It's almost as if the Bible's relevant for contemporary problems.
Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse five.
Benjamin Kandt: Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have.
Benjamin Kandt: For he has said I will never leave you nor forsake you.
Benjamin Kandt: So we can confidently say the Lord is my helper, I will not fear.
Benjamin Kandt: What can man do to me?
Benjamin Kandt: We actually preached a sermon series on the art of divine contentment last year.
Benjamin Kandt: I think Damien, this Sunday last year preached on this text, so you can go back and listen to it, the series on contentment.
Benjamin Kandt: But what we said there was the secret of contentment is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.
Benjamin Kandt: The secret of contentment is not having what you want, but wanting what you have.
Benjamin Kandt: What do we have?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, the text here in verse five says the triune God, the creator of the universe, who upholds all things by the word of his power, says to us I will never leave you nor forsake you, you have God.
Benjamin Kandt: You have God.
Benjamin Kandt: As we receive the fact that God is for us and will never leave us, we respond by refusing to get caught up in the endless drive for more and better.
Benjamin Kandt: We will not believe the greener grass conspiracy, because, let me just tell you, the grass is not greener on the other side.
Benjamin Kandt: The grass is greener on the septic tank, and you can trust me, I have a septic tank.
Benjamin Kandt: That's just true.
Benjamin Kandt: And so we refuse that.
Benjamin Kandt: We've refused to live lives of discontentment, thinking that if only I had X, y or Z, I'd have enough.
Benjamin Kandt: God is looking at you and he's saying you have me, that's enough.
Benjamin Kandt: But it's hard to believe that sometimes, and so what we need is some proof of concept that Jesus is enough, and that's why this text goes right from being content to our leaders.
Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse seven.
Benjamin Kandt: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God.
Benjamin Kandt: Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
Benjamin Kandt: Remember your leaders.
Benjamin Kandt: I wanna take a moment to obey this, because it's the Bible, that's what you do with it, and I wanna actually invite you right now to remember some of your leaders.
Benjamin Kandt: I love this biblical definition of leadership your leaders are those who spoke to you the word of God Pretty simple, pretty straightforward.
Benjamin Kandt: So my question for you is who taught you?
Benjamin Kandt: Maybe it was a faithful parent or grandparent who led you to faith.
Benjamin Kandt: Maybe it was a friend or a campus minister who discipled you.
Benjamin Kandt: Maybe it was somebody that you can recall, bring to mind, a pastor, or I'm saying that leaders here is simply those who spoke to you the word of God.
Benjamin Kandt: Now we talk a lot about disciple making here.
Benjamin Kandt: Our mission is to call, form and send disciples who make disciples, and the reason for that is is because disciple makers are simply those who speak the word of God into people's lives.
Benjamin Kandt: They're those who follow a way that has a good outcome.
Benjamin Kandt: That's why we have this all of life guide is to help you with your way of life, hoping and aiming towards a good outcome.
Benjamin Kandt: That's why we have this all of life God is to help you with your way of life, hoping and aiming towards a good outcome.
Benjamin Kandt: Disciple makers are people who live by faith, so that other people can see.
Benjamin Kandt: They've got models of what that looks like.
Benjamin Kandt: But what is the connection between verse seven and verse eight?
Benjamin Kandt: Look at the text again.
Benjamin Kandt: It says this in verse eight Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Benjamin Kandt: How does verse eight follow?
Benjamin Kandt: Well, across the generations, the true apostolic succession is disciple makers, who have been models of what this unchanging character of Christ looks like, on display in the people who lead us.
Benjamin Kandt: Leaders are models of Christ in our midst, what CS Lewis calls little Christs.
Benjamin Kandt: We all need them.
Benjamin Kandt: We need leaders that stand up in front of us, who have the ability to speak to us the word of God and have a way of life that has a good outcome and live by faith in a way that we can actually imitate and emulate them.
Benjamin Kandt: But leaders will come and go, and yet Jesus Christ remains the same.
Benjamin Kandt: There's a saying, that is, leaders ought to be content to preach the gospel, die and be forgotten.
Benjamin Kandt: That's true.
Benjamin Kandt: But this text is saying remember them for your sake, remember those people, pay attention to them.
Benjamin Kandt: And it goes on to explain why.
Benjamin Kandt: In verse nine, it says do not be led astray, do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good Now.
Benjamin Kandt: There were two Carls who were influential theologians in the 20th century.
Benjamin Kandt: One was Carl Barth, the other was Carl Henry.
Benjamin Kandt: This is going to be a nerdy illustration, so bear with me.
Benjamin Kandt: They met once, actually at a press conference, and Carl Henry, who was the first editor of Christianity Today that's a magazine if you've ever seen it before, and he was the first editor and Carl Henry asked Carl Barth if the resurrection of Jesus was a historical fact.
Benjamin Kandt: Did Jesus really rise from the dead?
Benjamin Kandt: He asked him in a really cool way.
Benjamin Kandt: He pointed to the press table which had reporters from Religious News Service, the Washington Post, all these other media outlets, and he asked if these journalists had their present duties in the time of Jesus.
Benjamin Kandt: If they were journalists or reporters back then, was the resurrection news in the sense that anybody on the street would understand the term news?
Benjamin Kandt: Karl Barth mockingly asked him did you say you're a Christianity today or Christianity yesterday?
Benjamin Kandt: Got a laugh, everybody laughed in the room until Carl Henry replied yesterday, today and forever, mic drop punk rock moment.
Benjamin Kandt: I love that.
Benjamin Kandt: I don't know if I'm that witty, but that was great.
Benjamin Kandt: And here's why I tell you that story, because Christians have always been pressed to update their teachings.
Benjamin Kandt: This is outdated, this is archaic Christianity yesterday.
Benjamin Kandt: Come on, you should just assume that Jesus is the channel marker for our lives, that when we navigate strange and diverse teachings.
Benjamin Kandt: We don't wanna run aground on either shore.
Benjamin Kandt: We wanna let Jesus be the channel markers, because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever, and we dare not lose the good news about him.
Benjamin Kandt: Why?
Benjamin Kandt: Because verse nine says it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.
Benjamin Kandt: You see, the grace of Jesus alone embraces us where we are in our sin and suffering and sorrow.
Benjamin Kandt: But the grace of Jesus also alone empowers us where we are, not to have to stay there but to live with fruitful mission in all of life.
Benjamin Kandt: And that's where this text ends.
Benjamin Kandt: Is that Hebrews ends by sending us out into the world.
Benjamin Kandt: Look at the third point here, which is co-mission for the world.
Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 12, it says this so Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood.
Benjamin Kandt: Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured, for here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.
Benjamin Kandt: You see, jesus was mocked for his faith, not so that we wouldn't be, but so that when we are, we can do it with him.
Benjamin Kandt: It says in the text that we get to go and bear the approach that he endured.
Benjamin Kandt: And that only happens as if we identify with Jesus publicly.
Benjamin Kandt: What we call witness.
Benjamin Kandt: That's what the scriptures call witness too.
Benjamin Kandt: Co-mission is work and witness.
Benjamin Kandt: It's this ability to bear witness to Jesus with our words and with our lives.
Benjamin Kandt: And so the author of Hebrews says therefore, let us go to him.
Benjamin Kandt: Well, where is Jesus?
Benjamin Kandt: According to the text, he's outside the camp, among the least and the last and the lowly and the lost.
Benjamin Kandt: The same place he was all the time when he was walking around on earth.
Benjamin Kandt: He's still there.
Benjamin Kandt: You wanna find Jesus?
Benjamin Kandt: Go to the poor.
Benjamin Kandt: You wanna find Jesus?
Benjamin Kandt: Go to the lost.
Benjamin Kandt: Co-mission we're sent on mission with Jesus, to the frontier of mission, where he is, where he's pushing back the reign of darkness with the kingdom of the beloved son, and he's inviting you to join him.
Benjamin Kandt: Therefore, let us go to him.
Benjamin Kandt: That's what Hebrews 13 says, and so, as we do that, that purpose, it says that we seek the city that is to come, the new city, you could say.
Benjamin Kandt: This is where we get our name from.
Benjamin Kandt: We here work hard in our jobs and with our children and with our neighbors, and we bear witness, and we do all these things in a way that says this city is not the end all be all.
Benjamin Kandt: We seek a city that is to come and that actually sets us free to love sacrificially, here and now.
Benjamin Kandt: Well, what does that look like?
Benjamin Kandt: Look at verse 15.
Benjamin Kandt: It says through him now, that's I'm calling that, drawing on our union with Christ Through Jesus Christ, then let us do three things Continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.
Benjamin Kandt: Second thing is do not neglect to do good.
Benjamin Kandt: And the third thing is to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.
Benjamin Kandt: I wish I had more time, because in the New Testament there are eight spiritual sacrifices that replace all of the sacrificial system in the Old Testament.
Benjamin Kandt: We got three of them here.
Benjamin Kandt: The three of them here are praising God, doing good and sharing what you have.
Benjamin Kandt: That's how you live, in such a way that looks like seeking a city that is to come.
Benjamin Kandt: You praise God, you do good and you give freely.
Benjamin Kandt: You share what you have and as we do that, we join with Jesus through work and witness on his mission in the world.
Benjamin Kandt: And these are, as it says, sacrifices that are pleasing to God, I wanna land the plane here with verse 17.
Benjamin Kandt: It says this obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls.
Benjamin Kandt: As those who will have to give an account, let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
Benjamin Kandt: I wanna ask this question what does it mean that your leaders are those who will have to give an account?
Benjamin Kandt: I have a daily reminder that pops up and it says this simply this day and that day, that day is capital D day.
Benjamin Kandt: This day and that day and this day is the day that the Lord said he's made and I'm just gonna walk in it, rejoice in it, but that day is the day when I will stand before King Jesus one day.
Benjamin Kandt: A day's coming.
Benjamin Kandt: It's either coming or it's not, and I'm assuming it's coming.
Benjamin Kandt: And so, if it's coming, the Bible is clear that there's this day when we'll all stand before King Jesus one day, and people who reject Jesus will receive condemnation, but people who receive Jesus will receive commendation.
Benjamin Kandt: There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Benjamin Kandt: This is important, and so, as we stand before Jesus on that day, the word for the judgment seat is not a courtroom bench, it's actually the judgment of judges at an Olympic games.
Benjamin Kandt: Now think about that.
Benjamin Kandt: If you're competing in the athletic games in the Olympics, you're not getting punished for anything.
Benjamin Kandt: You're getting rewarded for how you ran the race.
Benjamin Kandt: That's the judgment seat of Jesus.
Benjamin Kandt: For Christians, it's a place of reward.
Benjamin Kandt: It's a place where he gets to respond to your love of response to him, where he gets to tell you how he feels about your life, of love towards him and towards your neighbor.
Benjamin Kandt: That's what happens in this day.
Benjamin Kandt: But here's the thing that day's going to come and I'm going to be evaluated for how I stewarded my life and for how you stewarded your life.
Benjamin Kandt: I'm going to give an account for you.
Benjamin Kandt: That gives me a sobriety, a hopeful one, because Jesus is really kind, but a sobriety nonetheless.
Benjamin Kandt: And so there's gonna be a day when I stand before King Jesus and I'm gonna look at him in the eyes and he's gonna look back at me and they're gonna be the kindest eyes that anybody's ever seen and yet utterly uncompromising.
Benjamin Kandt: And in that moment I'm gonna feel searched and known as Psalm 139 said.
Benjamin Kandt: And in that day I'm going to stand before him and I'm going to have to give an account for my life and the lives of the people that I have the privilege of leading, and so one of the reasons why this text ends here and why it's such an important thing for us to make a big deal out of, is because I want more than anything else to hear him say well done, good and faithful servant, you've been faithful over a little, here's a lot.
Benjamin Kandt: Enter into the joy of your master, and I think on that day I'm going to experience that, and as I stand before him and I give an account for my life, I want that day to be a day of joy, not just for me, but for you too.
Benjamin Kandt: This is one of the reasons why we talk so much about disciple making here at New City, because Jesus is not like one of those teachers where you're like I have no idea how to get an A in this class.
Benjamin Kandt: He's just super clear about it.
Benjamin Kandt: In Matthew 20, he says how we serve is what greatness looks like in his kingdom.
Benjamin Kandt: In 22, he says how we love and in 25, he says how we steward our lives.
Benjamin Kandt: So those are some of the things he's going to be reviewing with us, but in Matthew 5 is the most explicit one I know.
Benjamin Kandt: Matthew 5, 19 says this whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
Benjamin Kandt: They're still in, they're just least.
Benjamin Kandt: But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Benjamin Kandt: Translation disciples who make disciples will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Benjamin Kandt: Those who do his commands and teach his commands is right there in the text.
Benjamin Kandt: And so we want to order and organize everything we do here at New City to champion you on that day, so that we can quote give an account for your life, not with groaning, give an account for your life not with groaning but with joy, and you can too.
Benjamin Kandt: And New City, I can say with delight I look forward to that day.
Benjamin Kandt: It's gonna be a good day for me and for us.
Benjamin Kandt: Not because we're so successful and self-righteous.
Benjamin Kandt: Jesus is so kind to us, his grace empowers us to be about the things he's about, and then he rewards us with a generosity that is utterly undeserved in every way.
Benjamin Kandt: So let me end where this text ends Now.
Benjamin Kandt: May the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do, his will working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Benjamin Kandt: Amen.
Benjamin Kandt: Let's pray, king Jesus, we do look forward to that day when we get to stand before you, when we get to say nothing in my hands I bring simply to the cross I cling.
Benjamin Kandt: What a day of joy that'll be, because we get to rejoice not in who we are and what we've done, but because of who you are and what you've done.
Benjamin Kandt: Jesus, give us your spirit.
Benjamin Kandt: Work in us that which is pleasing to your Father.
Benjamin Kandt: We pray in your name, amen.