Are you seeking an eternal home?
The writer of Hebrews continues with words of encouragement and admonishment – “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. Obey your leaders and submit to them – for they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account – so that they will do this with joy and not with groaning, for this would be unprofitable for you.” (Hebrews 13: 14-17)
This earth, and everything we can see will one day be destroyed. Earlier in Hebrews we learned – “And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.’ Now this expression, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.” (Hebrews 12: 26-27) Only those things that eternal will remain, all things that are ‘temporal’ will be destroyed.
It also says in Hebrews about Abraham – “By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise, for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.” (Hebrews 11: 9-10)
If we are believers as it says in Hebrews we have come to Mount Zion which is another name for heaven – “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the festal gathering and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” (Hebrews 12: 22-24)
New Testament believers are all priests and can offer praise to God. God wants us to praise Him and thank Him for who He is and for what He has done and is now doing in our lives. We are not under the old covenant which required animals to be sacrificed to God. Jesus was the last and perfect sacrifice. His death resulted in the veil of the temple in Jerusalem to be torn from top to bottom signifying that now there is a new and living way for people to enter God’s presence.
We are not to neglect doing good and sharing. We learn from Isaiah 58: 6-7 – “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to release the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the afflicted homeless into the house; when you see the naked, you cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” And from James 1: 27 – “Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.”
We are to obey our leaders as they preach, teach, and apply scripture in our lives. However, we must determine if our leaders are teaching us the truth or leading us astray through false teachings. Our protection is studying the Bible for ourselves and then holding all teachings, teachers, and philosophies up to what we find in the Bible. Scriptures can be twisted and taken out of context. Just because certain preachers and or teachers may be very popular and sell many books, does not mean they are teaching the entire truth of God’s word. All preachers, church leaders, and teachers will give an account to God for how they did their work. If they were just working to become popular and wealthy, to glorify themselves rather than to glorify God, someday they will answer to God for their works.
How good God is that He paid the price for our eternal redemption. He did what we could not do for ourselves. There is nothing we can do to earn our way into heaven. Only the righteousness of Christ placed upon us through faith in His finished work is sufficient. Are you clothed in the righteousness of Christ through faith in Him? Or are you trying to work some other way to please God. The truth is Jesus Christ paid it all and then to Him all I owe. He is both our Creator and our Redeemer.
We learn from John – “There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens everyone. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to what was His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1: 9-13)