The basis for this fellowship is brotherly love. As Christians, these Hebrew people no doubt had been rejected by their friends and families. But the deepest kind of fellowship is not based on race or family relationship; it is based on the spiritual life we have in Christ. A church fellowship based on anything other than love for Christ and for one another simply will not last. For other references to “brotherly love” see Romans 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9–10; 1 Peter 1:22; and 2 Peter 1:7.
Where there is true Christian love, there will also be hospitality (Heb. 13:2). This was an important ministry in the early church because persecution drove many believers away from their homes. Also, there were traveling ministers who needed places to stay (3 John 5–8). Many poor saints could not afford to stay in an inn, and since the churches met in homes (Rom. 16:5), it was natural for a visitor to just stay with his host. Pastors are supposed to be lovers of hospitality (Titus 1:8), but all saints should be “given to hospitality” (Rom. 12:13).
Moses (Gen. 18) gave the story of Abraham showing generous hospitality to Jesus Christ and two of His angels. Abraham did not know who they were when he welcomed them; it was only later that he discovered the identities of his illustrious guests. You and I may not entertain angels in a literal sense (though it is possible), but any stranger could turn out to be a messenger of blessing to us. (The word angel simply means “messenger. “) Often we have had guests in our home who have turned out to be messengers of God’s blessings.
Love also expresses itself in concern (Heb. 13:3). It was not unusual for Christians to be arrested and imprisoned for their faith. To identify with these prisoners might be dangerous, yet Christ’s love demanded a ministry to them. To minister to a Christian prisoner in the name of Christ is to minister to Christ Himself (Matt. 25:36, 40). In our free country we are not arrested for our religious beliefs, but in other parts of the world, believers suffer for their faith. How we need to pray for them and share with them as the Lord enables us!
The home is the first place where Christian love should be practiced (Heb. 13:4). A Christian home begins with a Christian marriage in the will of God. This means loyalty and purity. Sex outside of marriage is sinful and destructive. Sex within the protective bonds of marriage can be enriching and glorifying to God. Fornication is committed by unmarried persons and adultery by married persons. (However, in the New Testament, the term “fornication” can refer to many kinds of sexual sins. See Acts 15: and 1 Cor. 6:18.)
How does God judge fornicators and adulterers? Sometimes they are judged in their own bodies (Rom. 1:24–27). Certainly they will be judged at the final judgment (Rev. 21:8; 22:15). Believers who commit these sins certainly may be forgiven, but they will lose rewards in heaven (Eph. 5:5ff.). David was forgiven, but he suffered the consequences of his adultery for years to come, and he suffered in the hardest way: through his own children.
In these days, when sexual sins are paraded as entertainment in movies and on television, the church needs to take a stand for the purity of the marriage bond. A dedicated Christian home is the nearest thing to heaven on earth, and it starts with a Christian marriage.
If we love God and others as we should, then we will have a right relationship to material things (Heb. 13:5–6). Times of suffering can either be times of selfishness or times of service. It is not easy to take “joyfully the spoiling of your goods” (Heb. 10:34). But with the economic and ecological problems in our world today, comfortable Christians may soon find themselves doing without some luxuries that they now consider necessities.
A Christian couple was ministering to believers in Eastern Europe, behind the former Iron Curtain. The couple had brought in Christian literature, blankets, and other necessary items. At the church gathering, the couple assured the believers that Christians in America were praying for believers in Eastern Europe.
“We are happy for that,” one believer replied, “but we feel that Christians in America need more prayer than we do. We here in Eastern Europe are suffering, but you in America are very comfortable; and it is always harder to be a good Christian when you are comfortable.”
The word covetousness literally means “love of money”; but it can be applied to a love for more of anything. Someone asked millionaire Bernard Baruch, “How much money does it take for a rich man to be satisfied?” Baruch replied, “Just a million more than he has.” Covetousness is the desire for more, whether we need it or not.
Contentment cannot come from material things, for they can never satisfy the heart. Only God can do that. “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12: niv). When we have God, we have all that we need. The material things of life can decay or be stolen, but God will never leave us or forsake us. This promise was made to Joshua when he succeeded Moses (Deut. 31:7–8; Josh. 1:5, 9), and it is fulfilled to us in Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:20; Acts 18:9–10).
The affirmation of faith in Hebrews 13: comes from Psalm 118:6. This is a messianic psalm and is fulfilled in Jesus Christ, so we may claim this promise for ourselves. It was a source of great peace to the early Christians to know that they were safe from the fear of man, for no man could do anything to them apart from God’s will. Men might take their goods, but God would meet their needs.
A woman said to evangelist D. L. Moody, “I have found a promise that helps me when I am afraid. It is Psalm 56:3—‘What time I am afraid, I will trust in thee.’”
Mr. Moody replied, “I have a better promise than that! Isaiah 12:2—‘I will trust and not be afraid.’”
Both promises are true and each has its own application. The important thing is that we know Jesus Christ as our Lord and Helper, and that we not put our trust in material things. Contented Christians are people with priorities, and material things are not high on their priority lists.