The Unchanging Christ and Our Unashamed Sacrifices Text: Hebrews 13:1-16
Introduction: The Great Sorting Out
The book of Hebrews is a magnificent, sustained argument for the absolute supremacy of Jesus Christ. The author has spent twelve chapters demonstrating that Christ is better than the angels, better than Moses, better than Joshua, and that His priesthood is better than Aaron's, His sacrifice better than the bulls and goats, and His covenant better than the old. After all this glorious, high-altitude theology, he brings it all down to where the rubber meets the road. He lands the plane. Chapter thirteen is about what this superior faith looks like in shoe leather. It is about the practical outworking of a heart that has been truly captivated by the glory of Christ.
We live in a time of great shaking, a time when what can be shaken is being shaken, so that what cannot be shaken may remain. Our culture is engaged in a frantic, desperate project to redefine everything. They want to redefine love, marriage, money, truth, and even what it means to be human. They are trying to build a city, a civilization, on the shifting sands of human autonomy. And because of this, the church is being sorted. The pressure is on, and it is revealing what we truly believe. Is our faith merely a set of abstract doctrines, a Sunday-morning hobby? Or is it the central, organizing reality of our entire lives?
This passage in Hebrews 13 gives us a series of rapid-fire, concrete commands that function as a diagnostic test for genuine faith. It is a checklist of Christian normalcy. This is not a list of suggestions for the super-spiritual; it is the baseline. This is what it looks like when people have been truly gripped by the reality of an unshakeable kingdom and an unchanging Christ. This is the kind of life that is a pleasing sacrifice to God, offered not at a stone altar in Jerusalem, but in the midst of a hostile world, outside the camp.
The Text
Let love of the brothers continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves also are in the body. Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled, for the sexually immoral and adulterers God will judge. Make sure that your way of life is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, “I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,” so that we confidently say, “THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?” Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
(Hebrews 13:1-16 LSB)
The Marks of a Living Faith (vv. 1-6)
The first section lays out the tangible, social expressions of a heart transformed by the gospel.
"Let love of the brothers continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by this some have entertained angels without knowing it. Remember the prisoners, as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you yourselves also are in the body." (Hebrews 13:1-3)
He begins with brotherly love, philadelphia. This is not a sentimental feeling but a rugged, covenantal commitment. It assumes this love is already present; the command is to let it continue. This love is the primary apologetic to a watching world. But it is not an abstraction. It immediately gets cashed out in practical terms. First, hospitality. In the ancient world, this was a vital ministry. Christians traveling for ministry or fleeing persecution needed safe places to stay. The command is not just to be hospitable, but not to neglect it. This implies it is easy to forget. And there is a glorious incentive: some, like Abraham, entertained angels without realizing it. You never know who you are welcoming. Every believer who comes to your door is sent by the King, and how you treat them is how you are treating Him.
This love extends to those who are suffering. "Remember the prisoners." This is not a vague sentiment. It means to actively care for them, to identify with them so closely that you feel their chains. Why? "Since you yourselves also are in the body." We are one body. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. This is a direct assault on our modern, individualistic, atomized version of Christianity. Your faith is not a private affair between you and Jesus. It is a corporate, embodied reality. We belong to each other.
"Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled, for the sexually immoral and adulterers God will judge. Make sure that your way of life is free from the love of money, being content with what you have; for He Himself has said, 'I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU,' so that we confidently say, 'THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?'" (Hebrews 13:4-6)
Next, the author turns to the two great temptations that have always sought to destroy the church: sex and money. Notice the connection. A culture that dishonors the marriage bed will inevitably be consumed by the love of money. Both are forms of idolatry, seeking security and pleasure outside of God's ordained boundaries. The command is clear: marriage is to be held in honor. This means it is to be esteemed as precious, valuable. This is a direct polemic against the rampant sexual immorality of the Greco-Roman world and, of course, our own. The marriage bed is to be undefiled, pure. The warning is stark: God will judge. This is not a suggestion. Sexual sin is not a victimless crime; it is an assault on a divine institution and it invites the judgment of God.
The antidote to the love of money is contentment. And contentment is not rooted in our circumstances, but in a divine promise. The reason we can be free from the love of money is because God has said, "I will never desert you, nor will I ever forsake you." This is the bedrock of Christian contentment. Our security is not in our bank account, but in the presence of the living God. If He is with us, what can man do to us? This is not bravado; it is a logical deduction from a theological reality. If God is for us, our enemies are, to put it mildly, outmatched.
The Foundation of a Stable Faith (vv. 7-9)
From the practice of faith, he moves to the foundation of faith.
"Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited." (Hebrews 13:7-9)
Stability in the Christian life requires us to look in three directions: backward, upward, and inward. We look backward to our leaders. Remember them. Consider the outcome of their lives. Imitate their faith. This is a call to honor the legacy of faithfulness. We are not the first generation to follow Christ. We stand on the shoulders of those who have run the race before us. We are to learn from their example, not their quirks, but their faith.
But we do not ultimately follow men. We look upward to Christ. Our leaders pass away, but "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." This is the anchor of the soul. In a world of constant change, fads, and shifting philosophies, our Lord is immutable. His character does not change. His promises do not expire. His gospel does not need updating. This is why we must not be "carried away by varied and strange teachings." The cult of the new is a deadly trap. The truth of the gospel is ancient. Any teaching that presents itself as a new, secret insight is, by definition, a strange teaching.
Finally, we look inward. The heart is to be strengthened by grace, not by foods. This was likely a reference to Jewish ceremonial laws that some were trying to drag back into the church. The point is this: spiritual strength does not come from external rituals or dietary regulations. It comes from grace, apprehended by faith. Legalism, in all its forms, is a system of self-strengthening. Grace is a system of God-strengthening. To trust in rituals is to trust in the flesh, which profits nothing.
The Location of a Sacrificial Faith (vv. 10-14)
Now the author explains the radical reorientation of our worship. It has a new altar and a new location.
"We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no authority to eat... Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one to come." (Hebrews 13:10, 12-14)
The old system had an altar, but it was a shadow. We now have the true altar, which is Christ Himself and His finished work. Those who cling to the old system, who "serve the tabernacle," have no right to eat from our altar. You cannot have both. You cannot mix the shadows with the substance.
The author then draws a powerful parallel. Under the old covenant, the sin offering was burned "outside the camp" (Lev. 16:27). It was a place of uncleanness, of judgment. Jesus, as our great sin offering, suffered "outside the gate" of Jerusalem. He was cast out, rejected, and made a curse for us. He took our uncleanness upon Himself.
And here is the radical application: "So, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach." To be a Christian is to identify with the rejected one. It means leaving the comfort and respectability of the world's "camp" and joining Jesus in the place of shame. The world system, whether it is the Jerusalem of the first century or the secular establishment of the twenty-first, will despise the cross. To follow Christ means to willingly accept that reproach. We must choose. Will we stay inside the camp, where it is safe and respectable, or will we go outside to Jesus? We cannot do both. Why should we be willing to do this? "For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the one to come." Our citizenship is in heaven. We are pilgrims, exiles. To be too comfortable in this world is a sign that we have forgotten our destination.
The Sacrifices of a Pleasing Faith (vv. 15-16)
If we have a new altar and a new High Priest, what then are our sacrifices?
"Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that confess His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased." (Hebrews 13:15-16)
Having left the old sacrificial system behind, we are now called to offer new covenant sacrifices. These are not animal sacrifices to atone for sin; Christ has done that once for all. Our sacrifices are responses to His finished work. They are offered "through Him."
The first sacrifice is praise. Specifically, "the fruit of lips that confess His name." This is worship. This is verbal, articulate confession of who God is and what He has done in Christ. It is not a silent, internal feeling. It is spoken, sung, and declared. And it is to be offered continually.
The second sacrifice is practical. "Do not neglect doing good and sharing." Our vertical praise must be matched by horizontal love. Good deeds and generosity are not optional add-ons for the spiritually elite; they are sacrifices that are pleasing to God. Notice the connection back to the beginning of the chapter. Brotherly love, hospitality, and sharing are not just ethical duties; they are acts of worship. When you open your home, when you give to someone in need, you are placing a sacrifice on the altar. With these things, God is well pleased.
This is the shape of true, biblical faith. It is anchored in the unchanging Christ. It is strengthened by grace. It identifies with Him in His rejection by the world. And it overflows in a continual stream of sacrifices: the praise of our lips and the good works of our hands. This is the life that pleases God, because it is a life that revolves entirely around His Son.