Hebrews 13:15-16
'Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is pleased."
As the writer draws to a close, he starts giving summary statements. These are the, "Okay, since we now know all this, now what ..." statements. One of the first "now what' statements is stated above. Using the little word, "then" he tells us that since Jesus is the most superior sacrifice for us and has equipped us, by faith, we can and should continually offer up the sacrifice of praise to God. Giving thanks to God ... giving thanks ... is contrary to our nature. We are a selfish people and we constantly see the down of everything. We constantly want things. We have no issue coming to God FOR something. But, we seldom want to come to Him simply to say thanks. In the writer's approach, also, the most natural result of thanking God is doing something for others. Our lives are to be characterized by thanking God and doing good and sharing with others. The Greek word in the above verse for "sharing" is "koinonia." Koinonia is often translated as "fellowship" in God's Word. Our "doing good" is for the purpose of "fellowship". The concept here is that we are "one in Christ" and therefore "share" with each other as needed. It is amazing in our churches today how restrictive they are in the concept of "koinonia." Many churches are very much into "headline koinonia." Giving to be seen giving is giving that is not pleasing to God. In the above verses the writer tells us that once we learn of Christ's great sacrifice for us (once for all ... total, complete and finished) we will in turn want to share, sacrificially, with others in a spirit of thanks and praise to God. The evidence of our faith is characterized by this passage. Evidence is how loud we sing on Sunday. It is how open our hearts are to the believers in our lives, every day of the week and whether we are praising and thanking God on a daily basis for His great gift to us.
My 2024 Theme Verse: Psalms 71:17-19 O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?
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