John N N Ng’ang’a Meditation of January 6th, 2025….Hebrews 12…. The appreciation of Christ sacrifice on the cross is seen in your holy living
Day 1
Hebrews 13
Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. 2 Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it. 3 Continue to remember those in prison as if you were together with them in prison, and those who are mistreated as if you yourselves were suffering
As we conclude the book of Hebrews in Chapter 13, the question is: now that you know that Christianity is far above any other way of worshipping God; now that you know that Christianity is far above Judaism, now that you know that Christ is offering something better than any other saviour could offer, how are you going to lead your life? And that is something you need to think about seriously.
As we see in verse 1 above, now that you know that Christ paid a very high penalty to save you and give you a relationship with God that is good for you, how are you to live your life? I hear the answer: live life to be a blessing to others. That is what the next verses are saying.
Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” So, we confidently say, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”
So, in your new life, let brotherly love continue, and treat other Christians as you would treat your mother’s children. That is the same thing that earlier Hebrews 10 was talking about, stirring each other to good works.
We also saw verse 3 saying, do not neglect welcoming strangers. Your house should not be just for you, your husband, and your children. It should be a place where you show hospitality. It sounds like this is an expectation of the New Testament saints, practicing hospitality. Isn’t that why you can welcome people to your place so they can be blessed?
I still remember when my children were small, and my wife would organize for all her little nephews and nieces, children of her brothers, to come and fill up our house so that she could take them for a whole week daily to VBS - vocational Bible school, which other churches did not have but the church we were attending did. Those children are now adults, but they still remember the treat from their aunt and the message from God, hoping that it will help them in their walk with the Lord in adulthood.
If you are a Christian, you need to remove this self-centeredness that makes you not allow others to invade your private area.
If truly we are Christians, Hebrews 13 tells you the kind of life you will be expected to live. Paul talks about hospitality in verse 4. Verse 3 talks about caring for those with problems, like those who have gone to prison, and those who have been mistreated. Thus, going to visit those kinds of people is part of your new lifestyle.
What about your home? Verse 4 says you should have a marriage that is honoured where immorality is not known. Here the words used are, the marriage bed is kept pure. You cannot claim to have known the price Christ paid on the cross for you by dying on the cross and then at the same time be unfaithful to your spouse. Let the marriage bed be kept pure; thus, you cannot have sex outside of marriage. If you are single, be properly single until the day the Lord gives you a spouse. If you have a spouse, whether they are available or not available sexually, you cannot go to enjoy sex outside, keep the marriage bed pure. Why? God will judge the adulterers and all the sexually immoral.
Day 2
Hebrews 13
5 Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.”[a]
Then verse 5 says, we should learn how to handle money and not be materialistic! Keep your life free from the love of money. That can only happen if you learn how to be content with what you have. How can you be content with what you have? When you know you are not alone! Now a quotation from Deuteronomy 1:6, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." That is God’s promise! So, you do not have to have anything, since your provider has it all… even when you cannot see it yet. We are just like children; they are going on a trip, they have no money on themselves, but as long as they are with their parents, they will be provided for. “Oh, I am hungry, buy me an ice cream!” They have no money on themselves, but they know their parents have money.
So, he is saying, if you do not want to live a materialistic life, learn to believe God’s commitment that "I will never leave you nor will I forsake you." It means you are with God the provider everywhere you happen to be. So, you do not have to have any money of your own. That way you do not become materialistic-minded. That will be a sign that you trust in God fully. That you know, like the Book of Hebrews is telling, that you have a high priest who knows your infirmities, who understands you, which gives you contentment. And that will be something important to know and practice.
So, if you are going to say you understand what Christ has purchased for you on the cross, then you will be able to declare, "The Lord is my helper!" and because God is my helper, I will never be afraid; fear will no longer be part of you. After all, what will you be fearing? You must believe that whatever causes fear are God’s creations; they are mere mortals, they are here today and tomorrow they are gone!
That is the kind of life that is expected of people who have understood the sacrifice Christ bought for them on the cross.
Day 3
Hebrews 13
7 Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.
In other words, you are going to live a righteous life because of the sacrifice Christ gave for you on the cross, and because He is going to be with you. But there are examples! Look at the good examples. They are people as human as you, but they have lived righteously.
You know verse 8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
That knowledge should help you to trust in God and follow Him. The fact that He helped those people in the past should encourage you. If He helped the people we have read about in the Bible or the people you have read about in biographies of Christian men, if He was with them, then He declares, "I am the same yesterday, today, and forever; I do not change!" If He was with them then, He can be with you now. Or put it differently, you have seen the hand of God in your life in the past, and He is promising He is going to be there even tomorrow. So do not say, “What will happen to me when I retire?” “What will happen to my children when they are at university, and they require very high school fees?” He is saying, "If I have been with you up to now, I am the same as yesterday, today, and I will be there into the future."
And if you do that, verse 9 says, "Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat."
You will not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. You will not join cultic groups because of the things they are promising. You do not trust in cultic leaders; you trust in God. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by ceremonial foods, which are of no value to those who eat them. That is what the cultic people would teach, “Oh! If you do this, oh! If you are called this! Oh! If only you give this! Oh! If only you go to this conference.” Please know that verse 10 is saying, "We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat." What you have is so far more superior that those following ancestral spirits cannot come to your level; you are much higher. We have an altar in heaven, not on earth, which surpasses anything that the cults are teaching, or the ancestral way of worship is teaching. Listen to that again, "We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat." In other words, they are so junior they cannot participate at our level.
Day 4
Hebrews 13
12 And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood. 13 Let us, then, go to him outside the camp, bearing the disgrace he bore. 14 For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come
You know, we must worship at the altar, going outside the camp to where Jesus is. You know verse 11 says, "The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place as a sin offering, but the bodies are burned outside the camp."
If you believe in Christ, please understand you may be rejected by your parents, you may be rejected by your clansmen, for Jesus similarly was rejected. Let us be out there with Him, where rejected people are, because you will be assured, we are still with Him. Go out of the camp to Jesus. And I think that will be something that you need to have at the back of your mind as you face rejection due to what they consider strange beliefs.
You know, verse 15 is saying, "Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess His name. And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you. Pray for us. We are sure that we have a clear conscience and desire to live honourably in every way. I particularly urge you to pray so that I may be restored to you soon."
You know a lot of people think that God will be impressed by the sacrifice of property, "You know, I am the one who gave the plot where the church is built! The sacrifice!" they proudly say. "Oh! You know, I am the one who paid the total bill for that poor guy." But the sacrifice God is after is a heart turned to Him and lips that pronounce that God is the one who has done it. Sacrifice of the fruits of lips that openly profess His name.
When you talk like it is you that has achieved anything, that God needed your help…it does not matter how much you give, you have lost it! He wants you to have lips that openly profess His name, give Him credit for your life, give Him credit for anything you have achieved. That is the sacrifice God is after. If you give money, okay! If you do a lot of difficult things for the extension of God's kingdom, okay! But is your heart having the right attitude, and are your lips pronouncing that it is Christ who has done it?
In verse 16, He is not saying you should not deprive yourself so that you help others, that will be okay. But the initial thing is He wants you to have a heart and lips that give Him glory. Verse 17 says, if you truly know the sacrifice Christ made for you on the cross, then you are not going to be a difficult person to the leaders God has given you. You will not be the one causing division in the church, you will submit to the authority of those in charge of your church, in charge of your Bible study, in charge of your fellowship if they are leaders who have integrity and are accountable.
Day 5
Hebrews 13
17 Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you
In other words, you are being told to reject cult leaders. It is leaders who live as those who must give an account that you honour. They are not absolute leaders! You know a lot of cult leaders do whatever they want, and if you ask them a question, they throw you out of the church! That kind of church you should never have joined. Do not stay there. You need a church where people are always accountable, where nobody is above question, and where the senior pastor has a board of elders above them.
The board of elders also calls regular annual general meetings to whom they account. So, everybody is senior and junior at the same time, for they are all held to account. Church leadership must be structured in such a way that everybody, including the apostle, is held to account. Read it again. Have confidence in your leaders, yes, respect them, yes, and submit to their authority, yes! Respect them because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Make their work enjoyable because that is what we should be doing.
So, is that the way you live your life once you realize the sacrifice given for you? Do you become difficult to your leaders? Even when they are leaders who are accountable and really watching over your life and trying to help you grow in the Lord? And you are difficult to them? Then there is something wrong between you and Christ who sacrificed for you.
He finally concludes verse 18 by saying, "Pray for us." You know, he is a preacher, he is the apostle, but he knows God listens even to new believers' prayers. That is why he is pleading for prayers from people whom he is teaching. Are you like that? Do you understand that all of us are Christians, we are all the body of Christ, one may be a leg, the other may be an arm, but we are all in one body. That is why we all can pray for each other. It is not like in the Old Testament where the priests were the only ones who could pray for the others. No! Now the others can pray for the priest. This writer is saying, "Pray for me! Especially pray for me so that I can have a way of visiting you physically rather than writing letters to you."
Day 6
Hebrews 13
9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so.
The writer is also saying they have a clear conscience. Number two, they are living honourably in every way, not in some ways, but in every way. Is that true in contemporary Christianity? It is not the way of Christ! When Christ becomes the master of your life, He is going to oversee every aspect of your life, be it social, spiritual, financial, or marital; all of it must be done in a way that is honourable and brings glory to God. I think that will be something that you have to ask yourself whether that is what you do.
Look at verse 20, "Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, equip you with everything good for doing His will, and may He work in us what is pleasing to Him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
What a prayer! As he parts, he tells them they need God's peace because these people need peace. He is the one who, through the blood of the eternal covenant, brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus. He is a God who causes the resurrection; and if He can do resurrection, what can’t He do for you that you need? So, it is God the Father who has given us the Son as the great Shepherd of the sheep. You know, He has paid for us to be equipped by that Lord. He will equip you with everything good for doing His will. He wants us to be equipped so that we can do His will, so that our lives will be lives that are honouring to God. He wants to equip you with everything good. You can see what a wonderful prayer for you it is!
Next, that this Shepherd of the sheep may work in us what is pleasing to Him. His prayer for these people is that whatever they do will be pleasing to God, but it will be God who makes it possible for them to work like that. That is possible through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Every prayer and every wish is to God. Are you getting it? He is not blessing you by saying, “I am a source of your blessing.” No! No human being can bless you; your parents cannot bless you; they can only pray for you to get blessings. And this great Apostle knows he cannot bless, so he prays that God would bless them so that they get the things that he is saying they need to have.
It is when you have this kind of confidence in your leadership that you enjoy being part of the fellowship, and you also learn how to share whatever you have with others. You will learn to give praise and honour to God.
It is wonderful to see that our altar, our worship, and our way of worship are so far superior to whatever all others have. They cannot meet our standards, and this is a warning against joining cultic groups. Here he is calling them people with strange teachings.
Day 7
Hebrews 13
20 Now may the God of peace, who through the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, 21 equip you with everything good for doing his will, and may he work in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.
The good thing is that we have the Bible, and if you are literate, anyone can read it. This means you should listen to any preacher, every pastor, including me as I write this, and check whether what they say aligns with the Bible. The Bible is written and final, so why follow false teachings? If they teach something contrary to Scripture, leave them. Remember, the promises God made back then are still true today. Why? Because, as verse 8 says, “He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.”
I have been born again for more than 50 years, and I think about the many people God has used along the way to disciple me. I remember the elderly man who came to our school and preached about being born again. While boys laughed, the Spirit of God convicted me—and that moment was orchestrated by God. Most of those people are now long gone, but God used them! The pastor who taught us the basics of the faith and trained us when we got saved is also long gone. God knew I would need that foundation when I became saved over 50 years ago.
Here, we are reminded to “remember your leaders who spoke the word of God to you.” Do you remember them and thank God for them? If they are alive, do you respect them? Do you emulate them by doing for others what they did for you? The verse goes on to say, “Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”
Ask yourself: Is that how you are living? Are you grateful for the people God has placed in your life?
Also, do you take His promise seriously? He promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Sometimes I wonder why He uses both “leave” and “forsake” since they seem similar. It occurred to me that to leave someone might imply a temporary absence, but to forsake someone means to abandon them completely. God assures us that as Christians, He will neither leave us temporarily nor forsake us permanently. He is with us 24/7. You can never be without Christ.
This means we can enjoy His constant presence. That is what Christ bought for us when He died on the cross—His ever-abiding presence. With this assurance, we should be free from the love of money, and our marriages should be pure. As verse 4 states, “The marriage bed must be kept pure.” Immorality should not even be mentioned among us.
Walking with the Lord also means being willing to help others.
The writer concludes in verse 22:
“Brothers and sisters, I urge you to bear with my word of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you quite briefly.”
Verse 23 continues, “I want you to know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he arrives soon, I will come with him to see you.”
This statement reveals that Timothy had been in prison. Paul encourages them by announcing Timothy’s release. He finishes by saying, “Greet all your leaders and all the Lord’s people. Those from Italy send you, their greetings. Grace be with you all.”
This letter, comprising 13 chapters, is described as brief! Verse 23 also gives a clue that Paul, likely the author, wrote it while imprisoned in Rome.
Now, we must ask ourselves: Have we understood the message of Hebrews? It urges us not to return to Judaism or traditional ways of worship. Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was a one-time act, sufficient for all eternity. To continually offer sacrifices undermines His ultimate sacrifice.
Secondly, are you living your life in a way that reflects the teachings of Chapter 13? Does your life demonstrate gratitude for what Christ did on the cross? If so, your life will show the superiority of Christ over angels and of Christianity over all other ways of life. The knowledge that Christ is coming soon to take us to Himself should motivate us to live for Him. This gives us the hope of eternal life.
Audio Preachings
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel for Audio Preachings
Get access to my books on Amazon:
Marketplace Leadership - The Nehemiah Style
Christianity and Culture
Discover your Life's Purpose
A Leader's Work Ethics
The Secret of Contentment
A Leader's Source of Influence
Christian Professionals - Leading in the Marketplace
The Character of an Influential Leader
Leadership King David's Style
Integrity - The Litmus Test of Good Leadership
The Leader as a Steward
Finding a Life Partner
Friendship
Check out previous devotions on www.johnnganga.org
