And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.But don’t forget to be doing good and sharing, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
3 sermons cite this verse
… that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Please notice, sacrifice is plural. So what do we have here? He says, number one, don't neglect to offer the fruit of our lips, that which gives thanks to his name. Don't forget to give praise. So we do that. Every time we gather, it's our priority to minister to the Lord. We minister. We give an offering. We go beyond what's convenient. You've had a rough morning. You come in. If you're like me, you raise your hands anyway. You sing. You declare his greatness regardless. It's a sacrifice. You go beyond convenience, and it actually changes the giver. It changes the person who is giving the offering. But then he goes on and he says, don't neglect doing good. Doing good are the good works. It's caring for the poor. It's visiting somebody in prison or the hospital. …
… the fruit of lips that confess his name, and do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Who's he talking to? Who's the writer of the Hebrews talking to? All the Christians. Who is Peter talking to? All Christians. We all do sacrifices. This is what's happened. Jesus Christ is the priest to end all priests, and he's the sacrifice to end all sacrifices. He gave himself. He atoned for our sins once for all. He's the priest who mediates the presence of God to us once for all. But there's a sense in which, because Jesus Christ is the priest to end all priests and the sacrifice to end all sacrifices, all of us now become priests because we're all empowered. We all have the presence of God. and therefore we are empowered to do ministry, which is a pleasing sacrifice to God that God particularly honors. And actually, Hebrews 13 gives you two kinds. It says, first of all, the fruit of lips that confess your name. When you sit with a very discouraged, unhappy, grieving person, and you just simply share out of your heart truths, Christian truths about God and about Christ and about love and about grace, or if you teach in Sunday school, or if you just share your faith with a friend who doesn't believe. In other words, if you ever confess Jesus' name, if you do it through instruction, through counseling, through encouragement, through evangelism, through all these various things. That's not just busy work. …
3d. The next sacrifice which is offered by this spiritual priesthood, is obedience, sincere obedience. The sacrifices under the law did not only represent Christ’s satisfying for sin by suffering, but they also represented Christ’s obeying in suffering; for the sacrifices under the law were not only for propitiation, but they were for purchasing benefits, and so typified not only the satisfaction, but merit, which was by obedience. Ps. xl. 6, 7, 8. “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire: mine ears hast thou opened; burnt-offering and sin-offering hast thou not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God; yea, thy law is within my heart.” And though the obedience of saints has no merit, yet it is pleasing and acceptable to God; it is as a sweet-smelling savour, and is compared to sacrifices, and preferred before them. 1 Sam. xv. 22. “And Samuel said, Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” Christians, by offering obedience to God in their lives and conversation, do what the apostle calls offering their bodies to be a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, as their reasonable service. They offer their bodies, that is, they dedicate their bodies, to holy uses and purposes; they yield their members as instruments of righteousness unto holiness. The soul, while here, acts externally by the body. And in this Christians serve God; they yield their eyes, their ears, their tongues, their hands, and feet, as servants to God, to be obedient to the dictates of his word, and of his Holy Spirit in the soul. …