Transcript

Morning, church. Hey. We're going through the Book of Hebrews and we're almost finished. We're in chapter 13. We've only got one more sermon next Sunday and we will have completed our journey through the Book of Hebrews.

And I have to admit that I'm a little sentimental about it. I've really enjoyed this series going through verse by verse, the Book of Hebrews. In the sermon series we've entitled Jesus is Greater. And we find this theme in the very first chapter, verse four. This shows that the Son is far greater than the angels, just as the name God gave him is greater than their names.

And so the purpose of the Book of Hebrews is to show just that, that he's superior, he's better, he's greater. He's greater than the Old Covenant. He brings the New Covenant. It's called Hebrews because it's written to a Hebrew background, Jewish background, group of people who came to Christ who are trying to figure how to read their Old Testament and how to understand it through the New Covenant. And so the Book of Hebrews is really, as I've been saying over the past few weeks, it's like the reader's digest version of the Old Testament, showing us how to read the Old Testament through the lens of the New Testament, even better through the lens of Jesus and through the Gospel.

And so this book is about his superiority, that he's greater. And now, as we begin to come to the last part of the Book of Hebrews, chapter 13, we have a message today. We've entitled A Greater Leader. A Greater Leader. Because Jesus is our great shepherd, our great leader.

But we live in a day today when people are skeptical of authority, they're skeptical of leadership. They've seen leaders fail in politics, they've seen leaders fail in business and even in the church. And the problem is, is that leaders, human leaders, are sinners too. And so when we look to them alone, they always fail us. But when we look to Christ, and then we look to those leaders that Christ has appointed over us, recognizing their frailty, but depending not on them, but on Christ, we get a right understanding of what it looks like to follow and obey and submit to the leaders that Christ has put over us in life.

And we're not to be led by dictators, we're certainly not to be led by celebrities, but to be led by God appointed spiritual leaders, shepherds that Christ puts over the church. Now, the Hebrew background believers had to be tempted, you know, to fall back to that which they were accustomed. They knew the Old covenant. They knew the sacrificial system, they knew the kosher laws. And now they're coming to Christ and they have this new freedom, this new grace.

But yet they were tempted to fall back and to give up the liberty that they had received. And so these voices of these apostles speaking to them, some of them apparently were turning away from that and trying to mix it together with their former teaching. And so we see a correction here as we begin to finish up the book of Hebrews, that the Lord is really calling us to listen to those who preach the word of God faithfully and to line up under them as they line up under Christ. And so that's what this final exhortation is about. I believe today that we can faithfully follow spiritual leaders that Christ has appointed for us, because not blindly, but humbly.

And as we look at the text today, I think we'll see four ways that we can do so that we can faithfully follow the spiritual leaders Christ has set over us. So let's look at the text. We'll start at verse seven of chapter 13. Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods which have not benefited those devoted to them. We have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp.

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Therefore, let us go to him outside the camp and bear the reproach he endured. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come through him. Then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God that is the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. This is God's word. Amen. We're looking for four ways we can faithfully follow the spiritual leaders Christ has set over us.

Here's the first way. By remembering the example of our former leaders by remembering the example of our former leaders. Look at verse seven. It begins with the word remember. Remember.

This is in the Greek imperative. In the Greek language of the New Testament, it's a command not to forget, but to remember who your leaders, those who spoke to you, past tense. So these are former leaders. These are leaders in your past that have spoken the word of God to you. Remember them.

Now, for the Hebrew background believers, it probably is referring to the apostles. They're still alive during the time of this writing. So don't forget Peter and Paul and John and Matthew and Luke, and don't forget James and Jude, the ones that are leading you. Don't forget the faithful word of God that they've been preaching to you. Remember them.

But it also, I think, refers to, well, we just had Hebrews, chapter 11, which refers to all those faithful people back in the Old Testament, right? So don't forget them. Remember them. So what's that look like, not forgetting those who have passed the word of God on to you? What does it look like to remember them?

Well, he gives you further instruction in verse seven. He says consider. So that means to think about it carefully. Consider what the outcome of their way of life. Okay, so they're preaching the word of God.

How is it changing their life? In other words, does their walk line up with their talk? Consider that. Okay, so it's given us really kind of a criteria of the kind of leader that we need to remember and the kind of spiritual leader we want to follow. Does their talk and their walk line up?

Does it match up like that? And anybody can be good for a day, right? Anybody can look good for a day. But over time, have they been faithful? And those are the kind of leaders.

And so to remember them, to call them to mind, to recall them. And then it says, it goes on and imitate their face to follow them as they follow Jesus. The Greek word there translated imitate is where we get the English word mimic. It's the same word in the Greek. And so it's the idea of be faithful.

The way you've seen them be faithful. You keep the faith and you follow them. Now I want you to think about who led you to Jesus. Who told you about Jesus? Was it a Sunday school teacher when you were in kindergarten?

Maybe you were at church at fifth grade, something like that, when you. Or was it your mom, or was it your dad? Or maybe your parents weren't. They weren't churchgoers and it was a neighbor who took you to church, or maybe they just told you or Maybe it was when you were a teenager and one of your friends at school started talking to you. Maybe you were already in college.

Hey, my goodness. It might be that you're here today and God's been speaking to you for your whole life, but you've never committed to him. But you could think back about the many times, who are those former leaders? Those leaders who have spoken the word of God to you and they've lived a way of life that was attractive to you, showing that they actually walked out what they taught? Who are those people?

Well, here's what Paul says about imitating him. He says in First Corinthians, be imitators of me as I am of Christ. He was bold about it. He didn't say, as some have said, don't do as I say, not as I do. No, he says, follow me as I follow Christ.

Imitate me as I imitate. He was bold about it because he said, I'm doing my best. I'm pursuing Jesus, so chase after me because I'm chasing Jesus. And that's the kind of person we want to look to. Who are you thinking of right now?

Who are those people that you should call to mind that have been examples to you? I want you to think about it. I've already mentioned Hebrews. Hebrews chapter 11 begins with a man named Abel. He was the second born son of Adam and Eve.

Eve. It says this in Hebrews 11:4. By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. And so he does.

The example of Abel, who offered a blood sacrifice that pointed to the fulfillment in Jesus still speaks. We still look to him as a former leader who spoke the word of God and lived it out and became the first martyr for his faith, the first one who was murdered for his faith and for the jealousy of his brother Paul. When he was talking to Timothy about Timothy was getting apparently a little timid. He was young, and Paul left him in charge of this big old church in Ephesus. And so he writes this second letter to Timothy telling him, you know, God's not giving you a spirit of fear, Timothy, but of love and of power and of a sound mind.

Don't get timid. And remember, he says, your mom and your grandmother. He says this in second Timothy 1:5. I'm reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice. And now I'M sure dwells in you as well.

And so he's reminding him, we don't know anything about Timothy's dad. We think his dad was a Greek, was a Gentile, but his mom was a Jewish background Christian, and so was his grandmother. And their names, by the way, sound a little odd in the Bible to me. Lois and Eunice. Sounds like they're from Black Creek or something instead of like from, you know, a Bible land.

They sound very familiar. Lois and Eunice. Somebody here has probably named that. You know, it's kind of a name. But he goes, hey, just remember it was your grandmother and your mother that brought you up from your infancy in the Scriptures.

So be faithful to what you've heard. Remember them. Remember your upbringing. Remember, be faithful to that. Now, I was very similar to Timothy.

I don't have a Paul testimony. I wasn't walking down the road and lightning struck me blind. I didn't have. I always admired people. Maybe you have a testimony like that that you were just really going this way and God got ahold of you and there was just no.

I was brought up in a Christian home. And instead of it being Lois and Eunice, it was Eddie and Wilda, my grandmother and my mother. And they weren't from Black Creek or Israel, they were actually from West Virginia. But they knew the Lord and they talked to me about the Lord. I mean, my mama wouldn't let a day go by that she didn't talk to me about Jesus.

And so when I think of remembering, I remember those two women more than my dad. My dad died when I was eight years old. He was a good man. He was a believer. He was quiet about his faith.

World War II generation, you know, fought in the Korean War, took us to church. But when it was time to even pray over the meal, he would elbow my mom and she would pray. I never heard him pray. But the year he got cancer and began to decline, he went from quiet faith to out loud faith. He saw the finish line, but I didn't get to know him as an adult.

But boy, I saw my mom and my grandmother and they didn't just talk the talk, they walked the walk. And they're in glory now, waiting for me, see how I'm going to finish this race. And I have not forgotten them. Who do you remember today? I'm not saying that you should idolize them.

I'm not saying that they were perfect. They weren't. But they were following Jesus and that's what they taught me. And who do you think of who do you consider and how do you want to imitate and follow faithfully as that path they set up for you? And so that's the first way we can faithfully follow.

It's by remembering the example of our former leaders. Here's the second way. It's by refusing to follow false teachers. So we move into a section of warning. In fact, as you look at 7 through 17, I've titled it A Greater Leader because It begins in seven about leadership and it finishes in 17 about leadership.

But you could almost call this an inclusio, that there's. There's a start and a finish. But in the middle, it's like he summarizes the stuff he's already taught us in Hebrews as the basis for his instruction. But he's moving now to a warning. We'll see it in verse nine.

Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings. So we have a warning. Remember what you've been taught, and be careful not to be led away from what you've been taught. From the old story, from the true story. For the good news.

Be careful not to be led by some stranger to diverse teaching. Now he sets it up with verse eight, which comes at you unexpectedly because he has given us an instruction about obeying and following and remembering and considering and imitating here, right? And then all of a sudden, he tells us this. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever. He just makes this pronouncement right here, suddenly like that.

And I think it's the basis for what he's teaching us here. That he is unchangeable. His gospel is unchangeable. His truth, his character is immutable. He's the unchanging God.

And so he tells us this because we want something new, don't we? We want something new. I used to run drugstores, and every year Crest Toothpaste would come out with a new minty flavor. Dentist approved new. New.

New. And they wanted you to give them new space on the shelf for new. Because people love new. It's still just toothpaste, but we'll buy. Oh, it says new.

I better get some of that. Like that. Because we're forgetful people. We have a hard time remembering. And we like new and Christian.

You can be that way too. And you'll be caught up by some new wind of doctrine just because you like the flavor. This because it seems exciting, because you want an experience, because you want a feeling. Rather than saying, no, I just need the old gospel truth. Jesus saves.

I need to know that it was by his blood that I was saved, and it was by his atonement. And going back to that, we never outgrow the gospel. We never outgrow that. And so I think that's why verse eight sits there, there. And then followed by the warning about, don't be led away by these diverse and strange teachings.

Now, here's what I see today in the church. I see that we either listen to legalism, and we try to make tradition our model. And so we decide to make the method holy rather than the message. And so we fall into legalism. And so then the pastor can't dress like I'm dressed right now, right?

Because you got to wear a suit and tie and you got to look a certain way or even higher church. I got to have a robe. I got to do this. In other words, I'm not preaching against any of those things. You can wear what, what God's calling you to wear, but that's an outward thing.

The kind of music we play, the fact that we bought an old movie theater and converted it, I mean, that doesn't seem righteous, does it? I mean, like, no, you're worried about the method. Like, yeah, we took Hollywood's temple and turned it into God's. What's better than that? Right?

And so we. And so we freely will grab methods that we're learning in order to reach more people with the gospel. We're not legalistic about that. And so the church can sometimes fall into the side of ritual and religion. They fall into that over here, which I think was what the Hebrews author here is concerned for the Hebrew background believers, that they would fall back into Judaism.

They'd fall back into worrying about what dietary laws they were following. That's legalism. That's one ditch. You're on the road to life. You can fall into legalism.

Here's the other ditch that I see a lot of churches, a lot of church people, a lot of Christians falling into. And that's the ditch of license. That's the other extreme ditch. And over here is legalism. Over here is license.

And that's where you say, I'm going to believe what the culture, not the methods, but the message of the culture. Now, that's far more dangerous, in my opinion. They're both very dangerous. This one's very dangerous. And so I'm going to believe what the culture is saying about marriage.

I'm going to believe what the culture says about gender. I'm going to believe what the culture says about human sexuality. I'm going to believe. Keep on feeling. I'm going to believe what the.

What the culture says about life and about the origin of life and the value of life and the sanctity of life. And you see, you see where I'm going. So that's about the fuzzy thinking of the culture that the church sometimes embraces and then departs from the good news. I see this and I see the warning here. Do not be led away, Christian, by diverse and strange teachings.

Strange to what? Strange to the gospel of grace. Well, Gary, how you know he's talking about that? Because of the next sentence. For it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace.

And what's grace? It's unmerited favor. It's the gospel. It's that you deserved what Christ took in your place. You were separated from God, you're a sinner, you're headed for death.

And Jesus took all three of those on the cross for you. He took your separation. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? He took your separation. He took your sin upon himself and he took your death so that he could offer you what, his sonship with the Father so that you could be at one with the Father.

His righteousness. He took your sins so you could receive his righteousness. And he took your death so you could receive his eternal life. Glory to God. That's the gospel of grace.

You didn't get what you deserved. You got what Christ deserved and he took what you deserved. There's no other faith like this. And it's the warning here is don't be sidetracked by either ditch. Stay out of legalism, stay out of license.

Stay on liberty and grace and love with Jesus. Stay on the straight and narrow. So do not be led away. Be strengthened by grace, not by foods. Now, what is he talking about?

He's talking about kosher food laws. He's warning the Jewish background people, what you eat doesn't save you. Like if you eat pork, you won't die and go to hell. Praise God. It's good because I really love bacon.

Really love bacon. I mean, I'd give up bacon if the Lord told me to, but that'd be hard.

So it's not foods that are going to give you salvation. Now, there might be some foods you ought to avoid or maybe an amount of them that you should avoid, but it says here, not by foods which have not benefited those who devoted to them. Here's what he's saying to them. Even though you follow those laws and you did all those sacrifices, that wasn't what saved you. That's not what benefited you.

It's what they pointed out, pointed to it pointed to Jesus. And if you don't have Jesus, you don't have life for the bodies. Verse 11. Okay. We're working through it, right?

You still with me? For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy places by the high priest as a sacrifice for sin are burned outside the camp. Now, what's he talking about here? What's he talking about? He's talking about this, that in Leviticus, chapter 16.

Look at this. And the bull for the sin offering and the goat for the sin offering whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the holy place shall be carried outside the camp. Their skin and their flesh and their dung shall be burned up with fire. So here's the instruction from the book of Leviticus. Remember, this is the reader's digest version of the Old Testament.

The Hebrew author is telling them, here's what your stuff meant. Here's what it all meant. So when you had the sin offering and the high priest would put his hand on the bull or on the goat and all of the sins of himself because he was a sinner too, and the sins of the people would be put upon that bull, and then bull would be offered. Then they would take the blood, the high priest would. And sprinkle it before the mercy seat, right?

But he was not to eat of it. Now, the other offerings the priest could eat of, but he was not to eat of it. But because sin had been ascribed to it, they were to carry that body outside the camp and burn it to ash because it represented the sins of the people. And so that's what he's referring to here. He says, do not.

He says, we have an altar from which those who serve the tent have no right to eat. And then he talks about. And how they were burned outside the camp. And so the altar. Now who's we.

We have. That's us believers. We have an altar, not the one that they were talking about, that was inside the tent, which represents the tabernacle, which is only a copy or a shadow of the true one in glory. And basically all of that. So here they are in the Old Testament, they're all offering all these animals, which are really like checks written on a future deposit.

They're all placing their faith in some provision of God that will make all of those sacrifices good. They were pointing to it. But left to themselves, if Jesus doesn't come and die, none of this has any value. Just Worthless. Whereas we, we stand over here on the other side of the crucifixion, past the New Testament, and we look back to what Jesus did.

And so both Old Testament and New Testament saints are believing in the same sacrificial offering of Jesus. We have the same faith. And so he's looking at this now. He's going to draw a comparison. Remember how they used to have to carry the sin offering out and burn it up outside the camp?

Verse 12. So Jesus also suffered outside the gate. Ooh. He even brought meaning to that. That was not accident.

He wasn't crucified within the walls of the city of Jerusalem. No. He had to drag his own emblem of sacrifice, his own cross, on his shoulder. He had to drag it down the Via Dolorosa and outside the city gates and up Calvary, up the hill called Golgotha, the place of the skull. He had to carry it outside the gate and be crucified there.

He became a sin offering his blood. His blood was presented before the Father in the true sanctuary, in the true mercy seat before the Father, but his body was offered outside the gate. Now we have an altar. But our altar is not the one inside the tent. Our altar is the cross.

Our altar is the empty tomb. Our altar is Jesus.

So Jesus also suffered outside the gate. Let's remember the true teaching of the Gospel. You can't earn it. He already earned it for us. Don't be caught up in cultural strange teachings and bring them whole into the church and somehow lose the good news of the Gospel.

Don't be bogged down by legalism and dress codes and food and dietary ideas. Is don't let either of these ditches keep us from the gospel truth, which is we have liberty and salvation and grace in Jesus. Refuse to follow false teachers. Here's number three. By responding to the sacrifice of our greatest leader, how do we faithfully follow the spiritual leaders that he's given us?

By responding to the sacrifice of our greatest leader. We're at verse 13 through 16 now. And 13 begins with a word that we talk about at church a lot. Right? Therefore.

And we should always ask when we see the word therefore, what's it there for? And it tells us that what was said previously results in what is now to be said. Now, I've taught you some things about Jesus and how he was led outside the gate and crucified on the hill Gol Golgotha, and how it was emblematic of the sin offering that was taught in the Old Testament. Therefore, now we're Going to apply it. Let us go to him outside the camp.

He's outside the camp. He's not in the city. He's outside your camp. He's outside. It's hard to be cool at school talking about Jesus, isn't it?

Young person, young person that's still in school, you're still in college, still in high school, still middle school. It's hard. Start talking about Jesus and you're outside the camp. You understand what I'm saying? You're outside the camp and he doesn't say.

He's not saying like, yeah, that'll happen, you'll be outside. No, he's saying go there. He's actually saying let us go there. Let us just willingly go outside the camp. Let's not worry about being cool at school.

Let's not worry about whether or not we get invited to the after work parties at the workplace. Let's not worry about what our neighbors or the people think about us. Let's just go ahead and willingly say, I'm going outside the camp to be with Jesus and knowingly know this and bear the reproach he endured knowing that people are going to shame you, people are going to make fun of you, people are going to say things about you because they did it to Jesus. Here's what the author of Hebrews is saying to us. Look what he did for you.

Join him out there. Go ahead, go ahead outside the camp and bear the reproach that he bore. Identify yourself with him boldly, openly. I'm on his team. Think what you will about me.

I'm a follower of Jesus and to be bold about it, therefore let us go. Let us identify with Jesus even when it means rejection by the world. I will identify with Jesus because he was sacrificed outside the religious system. He was sacrificed outside the world system. He offers us the grace and the gospel of liberty.

And so I go outside to follow him. What it will mean sometimes is religious people won't like you and worldly people won't like you because you're following Jesus and the law of liberty and love and you're following him and you're not turning back and he keeps going. Therefore, let us go outside the camp and bear the reproach for here we have no lasting city. Remember chapter 12 when he said that this world's going to get shaken but we're part of an unshakable kingdom. This city's not going to last, this world's not going to last.

So you might as well go outside the camp because the city's going to be judged. Go on out there because we're looking for something better. For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. We're seeking a better city. He's talked about this in chapter 11 when he was talking about those people in the Faith hall of Fame.

He said this in verse 16 of chapter 11. But as it is, they desire a better country that is a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has repaired for them, prepare for them a city. And so we go ahead and go outside the camp because the people inside the camp that stay there are lost. And we're going to go out there because it's good for us, but it's also good for them because now we're preaching the gospel and we're sharing the good news with them.

If we really love them, that's what we'll do. And we go outside the camp to be with Jesus because we're looking for a better country, a better city, greater city. It reminds me of a hymn that we sang growing up. I could still hear my sweet mother sing it in my head as I'm thinking about it. I'm bound for that city God's home that bright city oh yes I am I'll never turn back to this world anymore no matter how rough may be the way no matter how long I stay stop to pray I'm bound for that city on God's evergreen shore I've sung that a couple of times in Hebrews, but I can't stop because I'm bound for that city.

How about you? I'm looking for a city that's not here. It's a city four square, not built by human hands. But it's that city that Jesus said, I go there to prepare place for you that where I am, there you may be also. And so he has gone to prepare a place for us.

And so what's our right response? Well, we should join him outside the camp and we should identify with him. We should seek his place, his city. And then what kind of sacrifices should we offer? We don't offer blood sacrifices anymore as believers.

What's our sacrifice? Well, let's look through him then. Let us continually offer up. Now that's sacrificial language. Going to offer up something.

What are we going to offer? The sacrifice of praise, huh? To our God that is the fruit of our lips. Oh, so our sacrifice is to talk about him, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. What name?

What name? Jesus. What name? Jesus because he's greater. And that's the name that we're to offer up as an offering of sacrifice, of praise before the world.

And we're to come outside the camp and boldly do it. Not quietly, not trying to be a double oh, seven Christian. Keep it a secret. We don't want anybody to keep it on the DL. We don't want anybody to know I'm a believer.

No, we get out loud about it. Not. But Gary, if I do that, you know, people gonna think I'm a fanatic. Good, good. You're enthusiastic about the Lord.

I'm not saying be too weird.

I don't know what that means.

All my kids. My kids and especially my grandkids. Papa. First of all, all your jokes are kind of lame.

I know, but I used to be so cool a long, long time ago. I was a legend in my own mind.

But no, that doesn't matter, you know? What matters is are you offering up a sacrifice of praise to Jesus? Are you talking about him everywhere you go? And so that's one of the sacrifices that you can offer. You talk about Jesus and then verse 16 gives you another sacrifice.

And that's to do good and to share what you have. Let you walk in your talk. Line up.

Romans 12:1 says, I appeal to you, therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. What does your altar look like? What does your altar look like? Is it Jesus? Is it the cross?

Is that where you bow down and say, that's my altar? I bow down before King Jesus. I identify with him publicly. I willingly bear his reproach because I bear the name. Here's number four.

Here's the fourth way that we can follow the spiritual leaders that Christ sets over us. It's by respecting the authority of our current leaders. We've talked about our former leaders. We've talked about Jesus and his leadership. And now we're.

Verse 17. We're at our last verse. I told you that it does this. It started with seven, introduces the idea of leadership, and then kind of gives us some background. Then it comes back to the topic of leadership in verse 17.

Obey your leaders. Respect the authority of your leaders. Obey and submit to them. This is present tense language. It's in the Greek imperative.

Again, obey and submit. Submit means to line up under your leaders. This is the conclusion of this passage, and it's a direct instruction. And we live in an age where we are. We suspect we're suspicious of Leaders, we have a hard time with authority.

We live in a skeptical and a thought resistant age. It's hard to be a schoolteacher these days because children don't respect authority. Teachers are leaving, they're leaving the teaching profession by droves because they can't manage the children, because the parents think the child is always right. Man, I don't think my mom ever thought I was right.

She never thought I was wrong. But that's parents today. I mean, you know, they take the child side. So the teacher and the police officer. So hard to be.

You know, every time you pull someone over, it's a problem. It's hard to be a flight attendant, to get somebody to sit in their seat and do what they're told at the airport or on the airplane. You go on and on. I mean, all you have to do is go on one of these social media sites and look at Twitter or X or whatever it's called. Now look at any of these videos that go by and see the crazy rebellion against authority.

But the church is not supposed to look like that. We're supposed to be unified. We're supposed to line up under the leaders that God puts over us. Not blindly, not as a dictator. But if they're following Jesus, we give them the grace to lead.

We support them if they're doing their best to follow Jesus, because none of us are going to be perfect at it, but we give them room to do it. And so he says here, obey your leaders and submit to them. Why? Because they're keeping watch over your souls. They've been called to be shepherds, to watch out for your spiritual maturity and recognize the high and holy calling.

And it's not just me. This is not me trying to build myself up. I'm just preaching the next verse. Right? But if you're a small group shepherd, we call them community groups.

Then you're to watch over everyone in your community group. You're to keep an account over them. How are they doing? Did anybody miss this week? I need to check on them.

Is somebody sick? And you watch out for them and you see how they're progressing in their faith. And if one of them is not talking in small group, you know, this one's talking a lot, but this one never talks. How can I get this one to talk more? So they're expressing their faith and how can I shepherd?

If you're a mom or a dad, you're a spiritual leader. Hey, when you had that kid, you signed up for spiritual leadership and now your job, you think it's to, you know, to feed them and clothe them and put a roof over the heads. Yeah, that's your job too. But you know, the most important job you have on planet Earth is to introduce them to Jesus so that they know the One who made us, and they were ready for his future for them. And so wherever all of us are called to this leadership, but what we learn is that we need to obey the ones that God has put over us.

And there's a season for that. So obey them, do what they tell you as long as they're telling you the word of God, and to submit to them because they're keeping watch. And by the way, they have to give an account. Wow, that's heavy. They have to give an account someday.

I've been at this 34 years. This month we started in my living room in November 1991. Our first public worship service was in January of 92, and that's the church's anniversary. But we started out as a small group before we formally became a church. In my living room.

We started with seven people, counting me and Robin. Five people showed up. It was about Big Sunday.

That's how we started. And someday the Lord delays his coming. I'll give an account. And to one he gave five, and to one he gave two and another he gave one. And he wants you to give an account for what he entrusted to you.

I don't know how many to entrust to you. How many people in your circle of influence has he entrusted to you? Is it your workplace? Is it your friends at school? Is it your neighborhood?

Is it your family? Yes, yes, yes, and yes. That's your circle of influence. Are you going outside the camp and talking about Jesus offering up the sacrifice of praise so that they know what you're about, so that then when the opportunity comes, you can share your faith with them. Because you and I will give an account of those souls that, that he's put under our circle of influence, our circle of accountability.

Jesus has given us different kinds of leaders. It says in Ephesians. So Christ Himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers to equip his people for works of service so that the body of Christ may be built up. We have all kind of leaders in the church, all kinds of ministers, but they're all. Christ gave them all to equal equip the church to grow up to be like Jesus.

That's our goal, that's our job. And we give an account for that. Let them do this. It says in verse 17 with joy and not with groaning.

Whenever someone comes towards you, maybe it's someone under your circle of influence and you see them coming, does it bring a smile to your face? Or do you go, oh boy, there she comes. She's going to say something that's going to be hard to hear, like that. It's an unusual instruction here, isn't it? Make the people that are over you, your boss at work, your pastor at church, your small group leader, your mom, your dad, whoever, your teacher at school, the police officers that pulls you over for speeding.

Make it a joy to lead you and don't grumble about it. That's the instruction. Make it a joy for the ones that God has put over you. Make it a joy for them to be able to lead you and to give you a good word and to watch over you, because it would be of no advantage to you to make them grumble about you. How can we do this?

Well, I think we can pray. Pray for your pastors, pray for your shepherds, pray for your parents, pray for your boss at work. Pray for those that God has put in leadership over you. And pray for obedience and submission and to be a joy to those that God has put over you. Why?

Because we all replace to a greater shepherd. Look at what it says in First Peter. Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, watching over them not because you must, but because you are willing as God wants you to be. Not pursuing dishonest gain, but eager to serve. Not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.

And when the chief shepherd appears, that's Jesus, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. Amen. Someday I want to hear him say, don't you want to hear him say this? Well done, good and faithful servant. I entrusted you with a little.

Now I'm going to entrust you with much.

That's a good word. Remember the example of the spiritual leaders who invest in in you, refuse to follow false teaching, respond to Christ's sacrifice with praise and good works, and respect the authority of those that he's placed over you in this season of your life. Let's pray. Lord, thank you. But thank you most of all for the chief shepherd.

Thank you for Jesus who gave his life for us, that we might have eternal life. I pray for that person that's here today. And you've never surrendered your life to Jesus. You've never said to him, I'm a sinner and I want to be saved and I want to Follow you. I want to give you a chance to do that right now.

You can do it through prayer. Just pray along with me. Right in your seat. Maybe you're watching online. You're in the next room, right where you're at right now in this very moment.

Pray like this. Dear Lord Jesus, I'm assuming sinner, but I believe you died on the cross for my sins, that you paid the payment. I believe that you were raised from the grave on the third day and that you live today. Come and live in me. By your spirit.

Forgive me of my sins. Adopt me into your family. As a child of God, I want to follow you all the days of my life. I give you my life. I make you my king and my Lord.

If you're praying that prayer of faith, believing he'll save you, that's the most important thing that you could do today. And what about you, my dear beloved believer? You're a follower of Jesus, but you would admit today, many of you would admit today that you have not been going outside the camp. You've been trying to have one foot in the world and one foot in the Lord. Would you go ahead and just start living out loud for Jesus right now.

Would you just say, lord, forgive me, Lord, forgive me for not having your praise on my lips, for not telling my lost friends and family about Jesus. Lord, help me, help me to be more bold in my faith and give me the love for people so I know when to speak and when not to speak. So I know how to speak and how not to speak, Lord, so that I can ably talk about you. Lord, we thank you now for answering these prayers in Jesus name, amen.