Hebrews 13:8-9

Summary retelling of Hebrews 13:8-9

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and every day in the future.  We must be careful to not be led astray by false teaching – teachings that pull us away from the grace of God.  It is profitable that we remember that we get our spiritual strength from God’s grace, not from our obedience to things like food laws.

Thoughts for Today

First Thought:

Jesus is the same throughout time.  The first really neat point to make about this passage is in comparison to yesterday’s study.  Spiritual leaders come and go in our life.  Sometimes they move away.  Sometimes we move away.  Sometimes they die (because usually spiritual mentors are older than us).  Things happen and we sometimes find ourselves seeking new spiritual leadership.  But Jesus Christ never changes.  That is why we ultimately imitate Him (and only follow people who are also imitating Him).

How does this point relate back to yesterday with respect to the idea that following God is really about imitation?  How do we learn to imitate Christ?  Why is it important to follow people in whom we can clearly see obedience to Jesus?

Second Thought:

This verse also reminds us that Jesus does not change.  The apostles knew Jesus.  When they wrote about Him, they could write in confidence because the same Jesus that they knew and needed can absolutely be the person that others need, too.  When they talked about Him to others, they knew that this Jesus was the same one that the people who listened needed in their life.  Because His nature is constant (love, grace, forgiveness, accountability, etc) we can invite other people into a relationship with Him in confidence.

Have you ever thought about how the fact that Jesus does not change who He is really makes it easier to proclaim Him to the world more confidently?  What are you favorite qualities of Jesus to proclaim to the world?

Third Thought:

We must not be pulled away from grace.  Grace is how we are saved.  We cannot ever be “good enough.”  We can never says, “I saved myself.”  We can never say, “I was the motivating factor behind my salvation.”  In fact, I believe that when we say, “I was saved on ______ day,” that we are ultimately not seeing correctly.  All of us who are in Him were saved when Jesus died on the cross because it is His death that saves.  Regardless of my actions, without His death on the cross we could not be saved.

How focused on the cross are you?  Do you ever fall into the trap about thinking how good you are and how much God must love you?

Fourth Thought:

That being said, we should also understand the response to grace.  This is the neat thing about grace.  Good works and obedience follow grace.  We are saved by grace, we are obedient to God because we are saved.  We are never saved because we are obedient; we are obedient because we are saved.  This is an aspect to faith that is so easily to get messed up.

In what ways do you hear people talking about “obedience” in terms of salvation?  Why is it better for us to talk about obedience as a result of salvation rather than as a cause of it?

Passage for Tomorrow: Hebrews 13:10-13