Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Prayer Meeting Lesson Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/pm/pm20110831.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Hebrews: The Superiority Of Christ To Errant Religions
Part VI: The Response Of Faith To Christ's Superiority, Hebrews 11:1-13:19
H. Living By Faith Applied, Hebrews 12:1-13:19
8. The Call To Acknowledge Christ's Biblical Priesthood In Living
(Hebrews 13:15-16, 18-25)
  1. Introduction
    1. The author of Hebrews extensively developed the theme of the superiority of Christ's priestly ministry to spur his Christian readers not to abandon Christianity for alternative priesthoods in other religious faiths.
    2. Accordingly, in Hebrews 13:15-16, 18-25, he uged his readers to acknowledge this teaching in living for the Lord, explaining in practical terms how they were to do so (as follows):
  2. The Call To Acknowledge Christ's Biblical Priesthood In Living, Hebrews 13:15-16, 18-25.
    1. Since the Lord Jesus Christ is the Only, All-Sufficient Great High Priest of us true children of God who are saved by faith alone in Christ (Hebrews 3:1-6; John 1:11-12), we have a heavenly altar to which we can make offerings to God of which those who do not know Christ as Savior have no part, Heb. 13:10.
    2. Thus, we are urged to apply that heavenly priesthood in everyday life as follows, Heb. 13:15-16, 18-25:
      1. By Christ's mediatorship with God the Father, we believers are continually to offer the sacrifice of praise to God, Hebrews 13:15a, the fruit of our lips in the form of the verbal confessions of the name of Christ opposite false theology that contradicts His rightful exaltation, Hebrews 13:15b NIV:
        1. Though Hebrews 13:15b KJV claims the fruit of the lips is "giving thanks to his name," the NIV correctly views the Greek New Testament text's words homologounton to onomati autou that literally translate: "confessing His Name." (U. B. S. Greek New Testament, 1966, p. 777)
        2. This offering is to be made continually (dia pantos, Ibid.), "always, constantly" (Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 178) opposite (in the extended context) the prescribed times of the Levitical order! (Heb. 13:15a; Henry Alford, The Greek Testament, Vol. IV, 1861, p. 269)
        3. Since the burden of the author of Hebrews is to urge his readers not to abandon Christianity and go back into dead Judaism, the sacrifice of our lips that please God is the believer's constant verbal exaltation of the Person and Work of Jesus Christ opposite denying Him, cf. John 16:13-14.
      2. The other type of sacrifice we are to offer grows out of our exaltation of Christ, and that is our ministry unto the needs of His people, fellow believers: doing good and sharing of our material possessions with especially needy believers are sacrifices that please their Lord and our God, Hebrews 13:16 NIV.
      3. As an extended explanation of this second type of sacrifice unto the Lord, Hebrews 13:18-25 reveals a variety of deeds of goodness we can perform for fellow believers (as follows):
        1. We can offer God the sacrifice of intercessory prayer for other needy believers: in Hebrews 13:18-19 NIV, upright, needy believers had requested prayer that they might be released from some circumstantial restrictions they faced that they might be reunited with the rest of the Church body.
        2. We can offer God the sacrifice of taking Biblical theology and applying it to the lives of other believers for their spiritual edification as in the great Hebrews 13:20-21 benediction.
        3. We can offer God the sacrifice of patiently heeding the instruction of Godly teachers, Heb. 13:22.
        4. We can offer God the sacrifice of nurturing upright leaders who have faced suffering for the sake of Christ's kingdom as in the case of Timothy who was about to be released from prison, Heb. 13:23.
        5. We can offer God the sacrifice of even graciously saluting those who lead us in the Lord along with all fellow believers, a practice the author of Hebrews himself exemplified in spirit in ending his epistle in Hebrews 13:25 with the gracious remark, "Grace be with you all." (Hebrews 13:24-25)
Lesson: As believers in Christ, may we offer to God the Father through Him, our Great High Priest, the sacrifice of verbally confessing Christ above false theological beliefs, and offer the added sacrifices of material bounty and of doing good especially to fellow believers in deeds such as intercessory prayer, edifying teaching, receiving such instruction, nurturing needy brethren and graciously saluting them.

Application: As God's true children, may we thus acknowledge Christ's Biblical priesthood in living.