According
to the writer of Hebrews, he and his readers were to
“offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the
fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name”.
In chapter thirteen and verse sixteen of
Hebrews, the writer shared
how he and his readers were not to “forget”
to “do
good and to communicate”
where we read:
But to
do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God
is well pleased.
The verse begins, “But
to do good and to communicate forget not:”.
The writer
began with the word, “But”
which is a disassociation conjunction that means what is about to be
written takes precedence over what was just stated” “to
do good”
or “beneficence and well-doing”“and
to communicate”
which is the Greek word “koinōnia”
that means “fellowship, association, community, joint participation
and intimacy” “forget not”
or “do not be neglecting, no longer caring, given over to oblivion
and uncared for”. Along with the “sacrifice
of praise”,
the readers of Hebrews were not to “neglect” “koinōnia”
fellowship and “well-doing” among themselves.
The
verse continues, “for
with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”.
The writer
added the word, “for” or
“even as, no doubt, seeing then, verily and therefore” “with
such sacrifices”
which means “costly offerings or victims” “God”
which refers to “the Godhead bodily and trinity which is comprised
of God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit” “is
well pleased”
or “is gratified entirely”. God is “entirely gratified” when
the readers of Hebrews have “close fellowship” with one another
and are beneficent toward one another.
When
we consider these words in Hebrews, we see the value of “fellowship”
and “well-doing” among believers in Jesus. The Hebrew writer
exhorted his readers not to “forget”
this, and he made these acts equal to the sacrifice of “the
fruit of our lips giving thanks to God”.
Jesus Christ came to demonstrate what God the Father is like, and
when we align with and believe the teachings of Jesus, we should
naturally desire to “praise the Lord” with our lips and have
“koinōnia”
and
“well-doing”
among ourselves. May the Lord Jesus inspire us to follow the Hebrew
writer's directive, and may we give “glory, honor and praise” to
God who is “well pleased”
when we offer these “sacrifices”
to
Him.
Next
time the writer exhorts his readers to “obey
them that have the rule over you”,
so read ahead, and we shall join together then.
Until tomorrow…there is more…
Look for the daily devotional book “Equipped for Battle – From Generation to Generation”, the marriage book “So, You Want to Be Married”, and the new devotional “One Year in the Sermon on the Mount” in all major bookstore sites, http://www.amazon.com ; http://www.barnesandnobles.com ; download to e-books, and find it locally at www.mrzlc.com/bookstore.
No comments:
Post a Comment