Our scripture reading this morning is taken from Hebrews chapter 13.
! Don't have any announcements or notices this morning, just to say that we gather on Sunday morning
! at half past 10 for morning worship, no evening service this week at St. Columbus.
Our reading, Hebrews 13. We're going to read the whole of the chapter. Well, really the first 21 verses of the chapter.
And our focus will be on verses 20 and 21. So, I'm not going to treat the whole of Hebrews 13 this morning.
You'll be glad to know. But let's read that passage together. Hebrews 13 from verse 1.
The writer says this,
Let brotherly love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers,
for thereby some have entertained angels unawares. Remember those who are in prison,
as though in prison with them, and those who are mistreated, since you also are in the body.
Let marriage be held in honor among all, and let the marriage bed be undefiled,
for God will judge the sexually immoral and adulterous.
Keep your life free from the love of money. Be content with what you have. For he has said,
I will never leave you nor forsake you. So we can confidently say,
The Lord is my helper. I will not fear. What can man do to me?
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.
Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a clear conscience, desiring to act honorably in all things.
I urge you the more earnestly to do this, in order that I may be restored to you the sooner.
Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep,
by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will,
working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Well, I'd like to begin this new year with a benediction.
Normally, of course, when we think of a benediction, we think of it coming at the end of a worship service.
The Westminster Directory of Public Worship says this,
let the minister dismiss the congregation with a solemn blessing.
And that is, in effect, what a benediction is.
Yes, the benediction at the close of worship is not just a kind of thoughtless add-on to signal the end of the service,
that it's time for a coffee and a ginger snap or a time for us to go home.
It's really a powerful statement or declaration of blessing upon the people of God.
It's the announcement of the blessing of God on the people of God from the Word of God.
And here in these closing verses of the letter to the Hebrews, we discover a magnificent benediction of God,
pronounced over the people of God by the writer.
May the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great shepherd of the sheep by the blood of the eternal covenant,
equip you with everything good that you may do his will,
working in us that which is pleasing in his sight,
through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
And I think those words seem appropriate for us to consider on a day like today,
as we stand on the threshold of a new year.
They are designed to get us to lift our eyes to our great and sovereign Lord.
A reminder that he is the one who is the source of all blessing.
And he is the one who is promised to lead, guide, and protect his people.
The letter to the Hebrews is really, I'm going to try and sum it up in just about two or three words,
an exposition or revelation of Jesus Christ and all the glory of his person and work.
If we were to sum up the burden of this great letter, it would be this.
If you really know the wonder and glory of Jesus, you will never want to leave him.
No matter how difficult and how challenging things may be,
you will never want to be disloyal to this great and wonderful Savior.
And so here at the close of the letter, the writer prays and asks for God to continue to bless and equip his people
that they might persevere in the way of faith and bring glory to God.
And that, I think, is precisely what we need as we look forward into a new year.
We all stand in need of God's help and presence to carry us forward in faith.
Without his benediction upon our lives and left to ourselves, to our own devices,
we are doomed only to fail.
And you'll notice here how the writer roots his request in the character of God.
Now may, he says, the God of peace.
That's the title he uses here.
It's an important, significant way of speaking about God.
We find that used elsewhere in the New Testament.
Paul, for example, uses it in Romans.
Romans 15, 33, he says,
Now may the God of peace be with you all.
And in chapter 16, verse 20,
The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
He tells the Philippians 4, 9,
The God of peace will be with you.
And over the season of Advent here at St. Columbus,
we've been thinking a little bit about what it means to have peace with God
and to enjoy the peace of God.
Because God is the one who gives or brings peace.
He bestows peace upon our troubled and disordered hearts.
He is the great peacemaker.
And the message of the gospel itself is one of reconciliation and peace.
We live in a world that does not know peace.
We live in a fractured world.
Discord, disharmony, broken relationships.
A world often enmeshed in hostility and all manner of conflict.
We have no peace among the nations.
No peace between peoples.
No peace in many communities.
No peace sometimes in our families.
No peace sometimes even in our own hearts and in our own lives.
And so the writer here wants us to look away from ourselves
and to the only one in whom real peace can be found.
The only one who can bring us peace.
The only one who can establish that peace that passes all understanding.
So notice with me briefly this morning
what this benediction tells us about the God of peace.
Let me highlight three things from our text.
The first is this.
He is mighty to save.
Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus,
the great shepherd of the sheep,
by the blood of the eternal covenant.
One of the features of this letter, Hebrews,
is the way in which it frequently references the exodus
and the journey taken by God's people out of Egypt
towards the promised land under the leadership of Moses.
And if you recall, that was not a trouble-free journey.
People were often tempted to go back to Egypt,
to the slavery of their former way of life.
But nonetheless, Moses led them as God's appointed shepherd.
He renounced Egypt.
He looked to the future with God.
He considered, the writer of the Hebrew says,
the reproach of Christ, greater wealth than all the treasures of Egypt,
for he was looking to the rewards.
And so, likewise, these Hebrew Christians were tempted,
being tempted to go back,
back to a former way of life, back to slavery,
back to Judaism, back to Egypt.
And we too may know something of that same pressure in our own day
and to, you know, that pressure to return to old patterns of living,
living or to the ways of this world.
But to press on in the way of faith,
to make progress in the Christian life,
these Hebrew Christians needed to have their eyes fixed,
not upon Moses, but upon Jesus.
Because he is the shepherd that they needed to look to and follow.
They are to look to Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.
They look to Jesus, who's bringing many sons to glory.
And look what the writer says here about Jesus, our mighty Savior.
He's the risen Lord, he says.
He led out from the dead our Lord Jesus.
By virtue of his resurrection,
he has sucked the fear and the terror out of death.
He's conquered death and drawn its sting.
Jesus has been led out from the realm of the dead.
And it's no surprise that the resurrection of Jesus
has lain at the very heart of the Christian message
from the earliest days.
And there's much in this life that we can evade and avoid,
but we cannot evade and avoid death.
We can't outrun it, we cannot defeat it.
But the good news is this.
The God of peace has led out our Lord Jesus from death.
He has triumphed over death.
He is its victor, its conqueror, its king.
And because Jesus has been raised,
so then all those joined to him by faith
will also be raised up.
As he has been led out from death,
so we who are joined to him will also be led out.
Robert Murray McShane
saw the peace of God in his dying brother's face,
and that led him to seek Christ.
He marked each and every anniversary of his brother's death.
And 11 years later, he wrote this.
This day, 11 years ago,
I lost my loved and loving brother
and began to seek a brother who cannot die.
And that is what we have in Jesus Christ.
We have a brother who cannot die.
A brother through whom and in whom we too shall not die.
Because Jesus Christ sets his people free
from that fear of death
that so profoundly grips the hearts of men and women.
He's the risen Lord.
Secondly, he's the great shepherd of the sheep.
It's a tender imagery here.
He's not just the good shepherd
who lays down his life for his sheep.
He's the great shepherd who is always with his flock.
He's the shepherd who leads and guides his people
through all the varied topography of life.
With us in the green pastures,
beside the still waters,
in the dark valleys.
He's with us when we're besieged by enemies.
His mercy and steadfast love
are with us all the days of our lives.
Because Jesus Christ is a great shepherd.
He's not a weakling.
His muscles are flexed.
He's ready to defend his flock.
No one, says the apostle John,
can snatch his sheep out of his hand.
The shepherd does not carry a club for nothing.
He's able to deal with all that the valley
may throw at us.
He can handle anything.
There's an old hymn that puts it like this.
I was lost, but Jesus found me,
found the sheep that went astray,
threw his loving arms around me,
drew me back into his way.
Days of darkness still come over me.
Sorrows path I often tread,
but his presence still is with me.
By his guiding hand I'm led.
He's the great shepherd.
He's the risen Lord.
And he's also the sacrifice who saves.
His is the blood,
says the writer here,
of the eternal covenant.
So one place in the letter
where the covenant is described as eternal.
There is no possibility of this covenant
being superseded,
becoming obsolete.
It is a forever covenant.
We know that the sacrificial system
of the Old Testament,
the old Mosaic covenant,
perpetual round of activity,
offering of sacrifices went on and on and on.
The ritual,
the ceremony never ceased.
The atonement they symbolized,
never complete,
never finished.
The high priest always on his feet.
Sin never decisively dealt with.
But now you see the blood
of the eternal covenant has been shed.
Jesus has accomplished
by sacrificing himself
on the altar of Calvary.
And that is why he sits down,
has sat down at the right hand of God.
That's language indicating
that his work is finished.
It's complete.
He's done it all.
Sometimes Christians are full of anxieties
that besiege by doubts and fears.
Have I done enough?
Am I good enough?
Am I holy enough?
Am I moral enough?
Often weighed down
by feelings of sin and guilt.
Friends, we need to be reminded
at the beginning of this new year
that the gospel tells us
that all our sin and guilt
has been taken care of
by Jesus Christ.
It has been atoned for
by the blood
of the eternal covenant.
He has wrought for us
a peace with God
that can never be taken from us.
And isn't that good news?
On this first day of a new year,
it isn't good to be reminded
of this wonderful truth.
If you're a Christian believer
this morning,
then God is reminding you
that your guilt
has all been paid for
completely and comprehensively.
In Jesus Christ,
in our mighty Savior,
in that fountain
filled with blood,
we lose all,
not just some,
all our guilty stains.
He is mighty to save.
Secondly,
He's ready to equip.
May the God of peace
equip you
with everything good
that you may do His will,
working in us
that which is pleasing
in His sight
through Jesus Christ.
not only
is He the God
who redeems His people,
He's also the God
who resources His people.
And the power of God
revealed in His mighty acts
of salvation
is the same power
that is at work within us.
He supplies and equips
all that we need
for this journey of faith.
He provides us
with everything good
that we may do His will.
And you'll notice there,
it matters here,
what matters here
is that we do the will of God.
Not enough just to know it,
we must do it.
Now, what is the will of God?
Well, in the context
of this letter,
God's will for His people
is that they cling
by faith to Jesus
and never give Him up.
No matter the opposition,
no matter the trials,
no matter the pressure,
they are to continue
to have their eyes
fixed on Jesus.
He doesn't want them
to be ashamed
and to walk away
from the Lord.
It's God's will
that they endure
and persevere
in the way of faith.
Earlier on in the letter,
chapter 10, verse 36,
he says this,
For you have need
of endurance
so that when you have
done the will of God,
you may receive
what is promised.
God's will
is that they continue
in faithful obedience
to Jesus Christ.
And that's God's will
for our lives also.
This is God's will
for you in 2026.
And doing the will
of God means
living for Jesus,
come what may.
Living for Him
maybe when nobody
else is looking.
Living for Him
when things are tough.
Living for Him
when nobody around us
is interested.
Living for Him
when we're tempted
to throw in the towel.
In the army,
when soldiers are sent
on a particular
mission or exercise,
they might be sent
to the quartermaster
to receive
the necessary equipment.
Now,
you wouldn't expect
a soldier
presented
with a particular
uniform
or battle dress
to say
to the quartermaster,
well,
you know,
haven't you got
something else?
Kaki really isn't
my color,
you know?
Don't you have
anything in powder blue?
The soldier
is given
what he needs
for the task
or mission in hand.
He's given
what he needs
and not what he wants.
And I think
that's the sense here.
God promises
to provide
what we need
not what we want.
He will give us
everything good
that we require.
And the word
equip here
is a word
that's used
elsewhere in
the New Testament
to describe
the disciples
mending their nets.
Used in Ephesians
where Paul speaks
of equipping
the saints
for the work
of ministry.
Literally,
it means
to put something
together
so that it
can be used
effectively.
And the idea
is that God
will supply
what is missing.
He will correct
what is wrong.
He'll repair
what is defective.
He will restore
what is broken.
He will make us
his effective
servants.
We cannot
do the will
of God
on our own.
We need
God's provision.
We need
his help.
We need
him to
correct us
and restore
us
and equip
us.
Here is the
God who supplies
all that we
need in and
through the
Lord Jesus
Christ.
He's worked
within us
in the power
of the Holy
Spirit.
And he works
in us to do
what is pleasing
in his sight.
In other words,
he's doing in us
what pleases
him,
not what pleases
us.
He's at work
in our lives
to shape
us and
to mold
us that
our lives
become pleasing
to God.
And that's a
somewhat scary
thought.
Who knows
what God
might do
in us
and through
us in
this coming
year.
Nonetheless,
he calls
us.
He calls
you to
yield
yourself
completely
to him
and to
hold nothing
back from
him.
Sometimes
it is
in like
the Hebrews
of old.
in the
crucible
of trial
and testing
that he
works out
his good
purpose.
And we
need to
know that
however
mysterious
and sore
sometimes
our
circumstances
can be,
they are
being woven
for our
good
and for
God's
glory.
He's
using
these
things
to
equip
our
lives
that
we
might
please
him.
Our
effectiveness
as
Christians
is not
about
whether
things are
going
well
in our
lives.
It's
not
about
our
health
or
our
wealth.
It's
about
the
God
who
is
at
work
within
us
shaping
us
to be
more
like
Jesus
Christ.
Are we
looking to
do
what is
pleasing
in his
sight?
Are we
living to
please
him?
If we
are,
then that's
a sign
that the
God of
peace
is already
at work
in our
lives.
He's
mighty
to save.
He's
ready
to
equip.
Thirdly
and finally,
he's
worthy
of
praise.
That's
the
third
thing.
Through
Jesus
Christ,
to whom
be glory
forever
and ever.
Amen.
The
God
who
redeems
his
people
is the
God
who
resources
his
people
is also
the
God
who
receives
the
praise
of
his
people.
He
is
worthy
of
all
glory.
That's
a
statement
of
fact.
We're
to
live
for
the
praise
of
his
glory.
Now,
we can't
be sure
here whether
this glory
refers to
the God
of peace
or to
Jesus
Christ.
It can
be read
both ways.
It's
perhaps
most likely,
I think,
it is a
reference to
Jesus who's
just been
mentioned.
It's
through
Jesus that
God is
mighty to
save,
through
Jesus that
God
equips
us as
his
saints,
and it's
through
Jesus that
he receives
all the
praise and
the glory.
Glory
belongs
to
Jesus.
So,
one of the
great features
of the
New Testament
is the way
both the
Father and
the Son are
deemed worthy
of praise and
glory.
It's the
basis of
our doctrine
of the
Trinity.
In the
New Testament,
a person's
glory is
their good
reputation.
It's that
about them
that is
praiseworthy.
And,
in a sense,
glory is not
something that
we can give
to God.
He already
possesses that.
We can't
make him more
glorious than
he already
is.
So,
when the
Bible
ascribes
glory to
God,
it's not
suggesting that
we can in
any way add
glory to
him.
It simply
means that
we are to
recognize it,
acknowledge it,
and declare
the worth
and the glory
that is already
there.
And here,
it's as if
the mention
of Jesus'
name sets
off the
writer's
praise instinct.
Most of us
will be aware,
perhaps in our
families or
amongst our
friends,
how just
the mention
of a
certain name
can set
off a
kind of
immediate
and very
predictable
response.
You know,
if you drop
a certain
person's name
into the
conversation,
it's almost,
you know,
we're lighting
the blue
touch paper,
and you want
to stand
well back.
You know,
you stand
back and you
watch them
go off in
one.
You need to
mention,
you know,
Keir Starmer
or Donald
Trump or
Nicola
Sturgeon,
whoever it
is,
it doesn't
matter.
But you
only need
to make
mention of
the name.
And whoosh,
people are
cannot help
themselves,
often launching
into a
well-worn
diatribe.
Now,
I wonder
if there's
something of
that going
on here.
It's just
the mention
of the name
of Jesus
Christ.
And immediately
the writer
goes off
in praise
and adoration.
Jesus' name
calls forth
an ascription
of glory.
Actually,
this is something
we see right
throughout the
New Testament.
It's a kind
of praise
instinct.
You know,
they just
cannot help
themselves.
I wonder
if you have
that kind
of praise
instinct
when Jesus'
name is
mentioned.
We're to
glorify the
God who
redeems and
resources us,
not only by
going to
church or
reading the
Bible or
praying or
sharing the
gospel or
praising His
name.
Of course,
all these
things are
good and
glorify Him.
But God
calls us to
glorify Him
in the
simple things
of everyday
life.
And drinking
a glass of
water,
eating a
sandwich at
work,
at recreation,
at leisure,
all these and
more are
included.
There is no
division of
life into
that which is
religious and
spiritual and
that which is
not.
For God in
Christ has
redeemed all
of our lives.
Our whole
lives are to
be given over
to doing His
will and to
doing what is
pleasing in His
sight.
And that's
what the
writer of
Hebrews wanted
his readers
to understand.
The God who
raised Jesus
from the dead
is well able
to keep them
and hold them
fast in troubled
times.
He'll resource
them so that
they can live
for His glory.
That's a vital
message for us
as we enter
this new year.
The future lies
unknown before us.
Who knows what
trials and
troubles may come
our way?
Who knows what
temptations we
will face?
Who knows the
challenges we're
going to
encounter.
Bereavement,
loss,
sickness,
death,
opposition,
trial.
Sometimes we
wonder if we
have what it
takes to make
it through
another year.
We question if
we have what it
takes to endure.
We're weak,
fragile human
beings.
How can we
make it?
How can we
make it to
heaven?
How can we
keep going in
the way of
faith?
Friends, the
answer is that
God will keep
us by His
power.
He will
guard us.
Paul says to
the Philippians,
I'm sure of
this, that he
who began a
good work in
you will bring
it to
completion at
the day of
Jesus Christ.
There's an
apocryphal story
of a Scotsman
traveling across
the Atlantic,
I think, by
ship.
and in
order to
save money,
he was a
kind of
archetypal
Scotsman.
He liked to
hold on to
his pennies.
He had
resolved on
this journey
only to
eat cheese
and biscuits.
And so
morning,
noon, and
night, he
had only
some biscuits
and some
cheese.
However, by
the third
day into
the journey,
his resolve
started to
weaken.
The cheese
was hard,
the biscuits
were soft,
and he
looked through
the window
into the
dining salon.
He saw
all the
people there
eating.
And so
he approached
the steward
and asked
them, how
much, you
know, how
much would
it be for
one meal?
How much
would it
cost?
And the
steward
looked at
him with
a quizzical
expression
before explaining
to him
that all the
meals were
included in
his ticket.
Friends, we're
to rest in
the assurance
that God's
power will
keep us and
preserve us
for heaven.
It's all
included in
the passage.
It's all
part of that
great salvation
won for us
by Jesus
Christ.
We may not
have what it
takes, but
Jesus Christ
does.
Remember on
this New
Year's Day
that he is
your risen
Lord.
Lord, he
is your
good shepherd.
He is your
great Savior,
mighty to
save, ready
to equip,
worthy of
our praise.
And as you
step into
this new
year, may
you, by
faith, receive
this great
benediction of
God.
Let's pray
together.
Lord, we
are weak
and frail
human beings.
We look
away from
ourselves.
We look to
you, the
living God,
the God of
peace.
We look to
our Lord
Jesus Christ,
the great
shepherd of
the sheep,
the one who
has shed the
blood of the
eternal covenant,
the one who
has risen from
the dead.
God, and we
rest our
faith in
him.
And we
pray that as
we step into
the rest of
2026, we
would draw
from you all
the resources
that we need
to live for
you and to
live for your
glory.
We pray this
in Jesus'
name.
Amen.