How to Please a Happy God: Six Glimpses of the Christian Life

0:00 in the summer of 1962 a famous Swiss Theologian named Carl Bart visited the United States for the first time and the only time while he was here he did did a tour much celebrated he was on the cover of Time Magazine and he was doing a Q&A in Chicago when another Carl this a guy named Carl Henry he's also a theologian he was the editor of Christianity Today during that Q&A Carl Henry stood up announced himself Carl Henry Christianity today and he asked a question about the factuality historical factuality of the resurrection of

0:46 Jesus and apparently Carl Bart didn't like the question and kind of got a little upset and he pointed at Carl Henry he said did you say Christianity Today of Christianity yesterday and the the room was full of Mainline non-evangelical professors and clergy and so they all had a good good chuckle but Carl Henry undaunted waited for his moment and when the laughter died down he said in the words of Hebrews 138 yesterday today and forever sir verse

1:32 eight on the sameness of Jesus his constancy his theological word is immutability he does not change is such a precious Truth for our Christian lives and it is right at the heart of this final chapter in Hebrews last week we saw that chapter 12 culminated with verse 28 let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship with reverence and awe and in Chapter 13 follows under this Banner of

2:19 acceptable worship and chapter 13 is about all of Life Worship has been liberated from the Temple of the first Covenant to all of life and that word acceptable it appears again in verses 15 and 16 look look down to verse 15 and 16 it's translated pleasing in verse 16 that's good it's the same word let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name do not neglect to do good that's part of worship do good and share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God so this section from the

3:09 end of chapter 12 through chapter 13 verse 16 is knit together as a vision for practical Christian Life that is pleasing to God we might think of chapter 13 as a sketch of glimpses of how to please God and we're going to see that pleasing language again next week in verse 21 but before we spend the rest of the message under this Banner of pleasing god let's first put chapter 13 in the context with the 12 chapters that have come before all right so kids little review review from 2023 and grown up

3:56 kids what has been our repeated refrain R from the beginning of Hebrews back in January Jesus is better that's right Jesus is better he's better than the Angels chapters 1 and two better than Moses in chapter 3 better than Joshua in chapter 4 better than Aaron in chapters 5 to8 the high priest the he and he's better than the first Covenant and its place and its priests and its sacrifices Jesus makes better promises and he gives us a better hope and a better country and he's the better possession over all other worldly

4:43 possessions and so in saying again and again that Jesus is better the message of the first 12 chapters has been at least this Jesus is pleasing he is is gain he is good and not just good but better than the standard of comparison that comes before he makes our souls happy with the very joy of the Eternal God Jesus as the second person of the Triune God shares in the infinite happiness and unshakable Bliss of the

5:29 godhead and so as we say in our leadership affirmation of faith God is supremely joyful in The Fellowship of the Trinity each person beholding and expressing his eternal and unsurpassed Delight in the alls satisfying Perfections of the Triune God this God is so blessed so infinitely happy So Satisfied in himself so full of joy that he overflows in pleasure to create and even better to redeem his people from sin and from Death by coming

6:16 himself in the person of his son as our true high priest chapters 5 to8 and as the true sacrifice chapters 8 to 10 so to this point for 12 chapters the refrain in one sense has been about the pleasantness of Jesus the very joy and blessedness of God himself in himself shared with us in and through Jesus and by his spirit and when our souls come to taste and enjoy the pleasantness and the joy of God himself and that Jesus is better by any standard of comparison then what do what do we want to do when we've tasted and we've

7:04 seen well for one we want our lives to be pleasing to God it pleases us to please him which doesn't mean that there's a sad God that we make Happy by anything that we do there's no sad God to be God is to be infinitely happy infinitely pleased quite apart from anything we say or do or anything outside himself but amazingly this God gives us the Dignity of pleasing him in some modest measures yes as

7:53 Echoes of his own pleasantness so cus Lewis at the end of his sermon the weight of Glory says it like this he says to please God to be a real ingredient in the Divine happiness to be loved by God not merely pied but delighted in as an artist Delights in his work or a father in a son It seems impossible a weight or burden of Glory which our thoughts can hardly stain but so it is it is Grace to be

8:39 forgiven and it is Grace to become holy it is Grace to be pied by God and it is Grace to be pleasing to God so Hebrews 13 gives us a vision for the pleasing life the Christian Life a life that is first pleased with God and then seeks to please him in some real way with what we say and do and think and feel so then what does it look like to live such a life pleased in God believing that and enjoying that Jesus is

9:25 better captured in six glimpses here at least in in Chapter 13 so six glimpses of the life that pleases God if Jesus is better and we know it and believe it how do we live like it number one we express our joy out loud this verse 15 we express our joy out loud that is We Praise Him lips of Praise are an aspect of lives that please him God is pleased by heartfelt words of Praise so look at verse 15 through him that is through

10:11 Jesus let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name so the god pleasing life includes praise and in some way it's it's rooted in praise praise is not peripheral we acknowledge his name with our mouths so we say out loud I'm a Christian I love Jesus I worship Jesus he saved me he's my treasure he's my Lord Jesus is better I commend him to

10:58 you And We Gather here weekly on Sunday mornings to acknowledge his name together so there's two aspects here to number one we express our joy in Jesus both in professing our faith in him and in corporate praise as we just did as we sang In Christ Alone Together such good application in verse 15 before we even knew it we clearly publicly unashamedly identify with Jesus and commend Jesus and we make a habit of corporate worship beginning each new week setting the tone reconsecration ourselves to him with

11:44 joyful praise and lips that Praise Him lead to lives that please him number two we fight to Free Our Hearts from money verses five and six we fight to Free Our Hearts from money now even 20 centuries ago Christians could not free their hands from money even when Jesus was here he talked about the temple tax he miraculously produced a coin made provision for his tax and peters's there was a money bag for Jesus and his disciples we live in physical world with physical needs

12:32 served by coins and bills and credit cards that represent and transact value for the betterment of life and our loved ones and our society in this age there's no going without money so to speak as if that's a choice you can make but what Hebrews warns about here is not money itself it's if having and handling money itself self is the problem what Hebrews talks about is Love of Money taking the money into our hearts look at vers 5 and six keep your life free from Love of Money and be content with what you have for he has said I will never leave you

13:18 nor forsake you so we can confidently say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to me so the question you might have is how can I use money without loving money and the verse continues with one instrument one Avenue through being content with what you have do you have modest food and clothing then in an important sense you can be content as Paul says in first Timothy 68 if we have food and clothing with these we will be content it's enough

14:07 sufficient but then Hebrews doesn't stop merely with contentment he goes on to give us this remarkable personal reason to be content in the last part of verse 5 for he has said I will never leave you or forsake you in other words don't just be content with what you have be content with whom you have have another love than money a bigger love a deeper love that relativizes the pull of money on the human heart in Jesus we have

14:56 God if you have Jesus you have God himself as your great possession and he says he'll never leave you or forsake you so if you have God what more ultimately in the end finally for all eternity what more could you need to have God is to have everything you ultimately need the clock is ticking on every material thing and every dollar verse five gets right to the bottom of this chapter to the joy and the pleasantness and the happiness that upholds and energizes this whole

15:41 practical vision of the Christian Life as long as you don't abandon Jesus you have God he will not leave you or forsake you in fact as we'll see next week he will be working in you so that you do not abandon Jesus and lose him and so we can confidently say the Lord is my helper I will not fear what can man do to me which relates not only to verse five but also to verses 1 to three so number three we love and serve others okay most of chapter that's a it's a

16:26 large portion verses 1 to 17 of chapter 13 I just don't think I have time to adequately deal with verses 1 to three okay so this will be an article I'll send you a longer article this week it'll on Friday we'll send it out I'll talk about verses 1 to three which I'm so excited to talk about this was my longest point so children be happy I just cut my longest Point okay here's the summary of we love and serve others joy in Jesus does not lead to turning in on ourselves and isolating ourselves and neglecting the needs of others or just sitting around endlessly by ourselves and enjoying the glory of Jesus as if you can really enjoy it by

17:12 yourself rather being pleased with his pleasantness leads to our wanting to please others with his pleasantness or we might say from our fullness of joy in Jesus we do good for other s we share we love so I'll read verses 1 to3 and verse 16 and move on and the article will come this week God willing verse one let Brotherly Love continue do not neglect to show Hospitality to strangers for thereby some have entertained angels unawares remember those who are in prison as though in prison with them and those who are mistreated since you also were in the body verse 16

17:59 do not neglect to do good and to share what you have for such sacrifices are pleasing to God so we express our joy out loud we fight to Free Our Hearts from money we love and serve others number four we prize marriage verse four we prize marriage there's four kinds of loves in verses 1 to four there's brother love stranger love that's what the word Hospitality means stranger love sympathy or

18:44 compassion and marital love and let me just say that verse four is for all of us it says among all just relevant for all of us married and single old and young so I want you to ask yourself in these next few moments as we Linger on verse four what does this mean for me it's not just applicable for marriage what does this mean for me how do I hold marriage in honor are there ways in which I'm tempted not to hold marriage in honor or better question in what ways I'm sure there are ways in what ways am

19:31 I tempted not to hold marriage in honor what's your heart's default perspective on marriage is it your salvation If I Only Had marriage is it your fear fear of commitment fear of what will happen fear of the exaggerated statistics about half marriages ending in divorce is it pain from your own from your parents is it annoyance would you Christians just stop talking about

20:17 marriage look at verse four let marriage be held in honor among all and let the marriage bed be undefiled for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous so first let's be clear about the second part of verse four in case what was obvious to Christians is not obvious to some today I say this because earlier this year there's a young congresswoman from South Carolina who professes to be a Christian while at the podium of a

21:03 Christian prayer breakfast made a few comments about her living fiance that made it very clear to all that they were not waiting for marriage and like she's joking about it she's totally oblivious like she has no clue about verse four so City's Church we've come to verse four let there be no confusion at city's church about the second part of verse four here we are at it and we saw it last week too apparently it was a live issue in the first century in the church to which Hebrews is writing you know they're saying all this stuff about oh I should go back to the old Covenant and these

21:49 theological questions about going back and really their faith has grown dull and they've compromised with the world the issues in among the readers of Hebrews aren't just theological they're moral chapter 13 IS F filled with moral issues it's like John 4 the woman who'd had five husbands and is with another and Jesus points that out at the well and she's like oh uh let's have a theological discussion and change the subject on that should we worship at our mountain or the mountain in Jerusalem very similar here in Hebrews last week we saw it among the seits in chapter 12 verses 15- 16 the

22:38 third one was see to it that no one is sexually immoral same word pornos same word but I love that Hebrews 13:4 puts it in a larger context so let's linger over the first part of verse four which is an even higher bar of application think it's a far higher bar of application don't miss the specifics of the second part don't miss the vision of the first part the first part includes the second and a lot more so let marriage be held in honor among all and so we ask ourselves very practically what would it mean for me to hold marriage in

23:25 honor and to get even more specific the word translated honor here is typically understood to have a more affectional element to it like highly value or Prize or precious like 1 Peter 1:19 the precious blood of Christ we sing that in Christ alone here in the precious blood of Christ same word precious or second Peter 1:4 he has granted us his precious and very great promises Hebrews using that same word here usually precious so here verse four like this let marriage be

24:10 precious among all Let It Be highly valued Let It Be prized among husbands prize it among wives among the unmarried among widows among children among teenagers and this does not entail any devaluing of singleness or childhood or widowhood so consider how you talk about marriage is it often the butt of your jokes the old ball and [Music] chain now most comedy routines include

24:58 at least a short if not a long section about marriage and men and women Dynamics between men and women I get it some of it's funny right some of it can be a way of enjoying how God made us different the world loves to pretend there's no real differences and comedy shows us there are real differences in everybody laugh at the real differences some of it's okay some of it reveals a heart that does not highly value marriage and that can shape us over

25:44 time we honor marriage and we honor God's good design by prizing it in our minds in our hearts in our words and in our obedience to God's design number five we seek the better City verse 14 this might be the most countercultural of all of the vision this whole vision is very countercultural praising Jesus whole prizing marriage it's a very countercultural Vision not loving money this one here might be the most countercultural because we live in an

26:32 age so focused on here's the term the imminent frame that is what we can see and feel and touch and taste and smell the imminent world the phenomenological world there's this great cultural pretense that there's nothing beyond what you can sense and see and touch in verse 14 is not not the first mention of city in these chapters right we've seen this chapter 11 chapter 12 there's a city that is coming that you can't see and touch and taste right now 11 chapter 11:10 Abraham was looking forward to the city that has foundations

27:17 whose designer and Builder is God in chapter 11: 14 to 16 people who thus speak that is acknowledging that they're strangers and Exiles on the earth they make it clear they're seeking a Homeland they're not at home here they're seeking a Homeland they desire a better country that is a Heavenly one so when he talks about the future city he's not just saying first century there's a future city and it's relational in the church beyond the destruction of Jerusalem he says Heavenly the better city is a heavenly ly City and then last Sunday we rehearsed

28:02 the seven glories of Mount Zion that are not only glories to come but already ours in some sense by faith in chapter 12:22 you have come to Mount Zion to the city of the Living God the heavenly Jerusalem Revelation 21 the Heavenly Jerusalem will someday come out of the sky to be the new heavens and new earth and then verse 14 in our passage here we have no lasting City but we seek the city that is to come there is in Christianity a principled

28:48 Liberation from the imminent frame from all that you can see and touch and feel and taste clearly that doesn't mean that we don't love each other and love strangers and show sympathy and prize marriage he just said all these things that's his chapter it's very practical we don't neglect to do good and share what we have such sacrifices are pleasing to God verse 16 but in It All Above It All beneath it all we are not finally at home here and that actually frees us to love

29:34 and serve here we seek the city that is to come like Paul says in Philippians 3:20 our citizenship is in heaven Philippians would be really good for 2024 wouldn't it this is such a good reminder at the end of 2023 we didn't plan this it's just it's the end of Hebrews it's the end of 2023 because next year's 2024 what is 2024 well it's a leap year meaning they give us an extra day for ads political ads that's what the leap year is

30:22 for 2024 is an election year in this country and in an election year some otherwise seemingly sober-minded people lose their heads I'm old enough now I've think I'm in my 40s I've seen it enough I've seen the cycle over and over write it down watch it with me for the next 12 months but as we Orient on our Here and Now City the polus the city politics Christians in principle are those who

31:09 say here we have no lasting City but we seek a better City we seek the city that is to come which frees us to love and serve our city and not get ours now not about getting ours we have ours which leaves verses 7 and 17 to finish number six we thank God and pray for our leaders and here again this chapter 13 is so countercultural this is countercultural too it's a very different approach than what's on offer in the

31:55 world regarding leaders look at verse 17 first go down to 17 first we'll come back to seven obey your leaders and submit to them for they are keeping watch over your souls 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 here's my summary verse 17 The Pursuit Of Joy is critical is a critical start it again The Pursuit Of Joy is critical in a healthy dynamic between church leaders and their

32:40 people let's do this together for the rest 2023 and 2024 and it's easy to say that because thank you God for the congregant of cities Church who do this so well here's how it works first Christian leaders want to do the work 1 Timothy 3:1 talks about aspiring to the office and Desiring a good work they want to do it from Joy they set out in joy to work for the joy in Jesus of the congregation so they seek to persuade the people and convince them win them from the heart with God's word they don't demand raw obedience not how

33:25 Christian leadership works don't demand ra obedience you may ask what about that word obey beginning of verse 17 obey here comes from the same word that typically means convince or persuade or make confident or win trust this is essentially what it means in three other uses of this word in Hebrews including the next verse verse look at Verse 18 the word sure here it's the same word as the word sure pray for us for we are sure meaning we're convinced we're persuaded we're confident that we have a clear conscience

34:12 right second then the people if they're spiritually healthy want to be led by Worthy leaders there's not a deep instinct to throw off all leadership they're eager to be taught eager to be persuaded from the word eager to be convinced they have a disposition to yield to and receive worthy leadership and being so one by their leaders from the word they gladly submit now to clarify this submission is not in the context of a congregational meeting where the church assembles and the elders come come to the podium to say

34:58 all right church submit to us no no no no in in when the when the congregations gathered to make decisions the elders are there to serve there's not a call to submit to any and every Elder recommendation at a congregational meeting it's a call to be persuaded by the word and submit to the word as it's Faithfully taught from scripture as you're persuaded as you're convinced from scripture and in this disposition wise Christians know that it will be to their own advantage and gain if their leor if their leaders labor with joy and not groaning if we are groaning pastors it

35:45 will be to your detriment and this doesn't mean that it's the church's job to make the leaders happy it also means that is not the church's job to make the leaders miserable which we can say and smile about because C's church you've been so gracious to us you make it easy to labor happily and without groaning I thank God for that the healthiest dynamic in the church is leaders who don't presume submission but they seek to persuade and win the people with the word from the heart and a congregation that isn't just willing but eager to be led and persuaded by its

36:32 leadership so verse 17 is about present leaders and then close with verse seven which is about past leaders remember your leaders those who spoke to you the word of God consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith notice he says your leaders spoke to you the word he doesn't say remember among your leaders there was one or a couple of them who spoke to you the word of God he just identifies leadership with speaking the word of God it's how it works in Christianity Christianity is a teaching movement good

37:20 leaders teach and good teachers in time with exemplary lives come to lead the Authority for Christian leadership comes from the word it is not in us it is in Jesus in his gospel and in the scriptures so we're people of the book as Christians and our leaders are to be men of the book who teach and lead from the book and their words and their way of life go together they not only speak the word but they model a way of life a way of finishing their course that validates their words words and way Belong Together

38:07 words give meaning to way of life and way of life models and confirms words but notice this this this is subtle here Hebrews doesn't say to imitate their way of life and we're talking about past leaders here not leaders in your own generation past leaders he doesn't say to imitate their way of life rather he says imitate their faith a new generation has come with its own challenges a new generation encounters slightly different circumstances and context than before times do change although it is really easy to

38:54 overstate it and over anticipate it situations change and the particular expressions of love that are required in a particular generation may vary but he says imitate their faith why because Faith focuses on its object who is the same yesterday and today so above all imitate this about their about your leaders in the past these past leaders we celebrate they followed Jesus they leaned on him trusted him looked to him Stak everything on

39:39 him and Jesus proved himself to be reliable and steady and trustworthy in every generation for 20 centuries and so he will be the same for us whatever challenges we face and however anxious you are about them from one generation to the next to the next he is the same yesterday for them and today for us now sameness on its own isn't necessarily glorious I mean Satan's always been a liar he's the father of Lies it's a

40:25 disgrace not a glory that Satan's the same as he's been but if someone tells the truth and is the truth then their enduring sameness accentuates and sweetens the glory of their truthtellah will that change okay I get that he's been better maybe right now I experience him as better will he always be better he may have proven himself to be enough for the previous generation will

41:11 he be enough for us and to that Hebrew says he is the same yesterday and today gloriously the same constant steady immutable unchangeable and then he adds and forever to the ages he is the same in that he's God and will not change and the holy God took on Humanity suffered and died for us rose again ascended is seated at God's right hand in glorified humanity and he is gloriously the same in his glorified

41:56 Humanity he took to save us doubly the same what's underneath this whole chapter is that Jesus is better and that will not change he's not only better right now he will always be better he will not lose his betterness we will not lose our grounds for Joy for being pleased in God and living to please him so we come to the table verse 10 mentions an altar we have an altar from which those who serve the tent that is the Jewish

42:41 priest under the first Covenant from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat still at this contrast between old Covenant New Covenant this Altar for Christians is not first and foremost the Lord's table as if Hebrews are saying Jews have their food and we have ours when verse 10 says we have an altar he means the sacrifice in blood of Jesus the cross the cross is the place where the sacrifice is made for uniting man and God Jesus At The Cross is our altar he

43:29 died to make us holy and happy we're not strengthened by ritual foods but our hearts are strengthened by grace and that's what we come to do at the table this is a way of remembering you're not strengthened by just eating this bread or drinking the cup we're strengthened by grace through faith in Remembering our altar where