Don't Lecture. Preach!

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8).

The verse jumps into Hebrews 13 after a very practical section of commands about love to various groups, namely to the brothers, to strangers, to prisoners, to spouses, and our possessions (13:1-6). The author then wants us to love our leaders by remembering those who spoke to us the word of God (13:7). The text not only follows that practical section, but it also precedes a rather detailed condemnation of strange doctrines and practices (13:9-16), and then continues by telling us to obey our leaders and submit to them (13:17).

At first glance, this marvelous affirmation about our Lord Jesus seems to stand isolated and alone, and pastors often preach it that way, namely to teach the eternality of Jesus. Well, the eternality of our Lord Jesus is an essential and vital truth that needs to be proclaimed. But why is that truth inserted here, seemingly out of the blue? I think that Hebrews 13:8 is where it is for the following contextual reasons.

As important to the Hebrew believers as those earthly leaders were (13:7), they were no longer with them. These leaders once “spoke” the word of God (past tense), and now the readers are commanded to remember them. It appears then that the reason for emphasizing the permanence of our Lord Jesus is because our leaders come and go, but there is one shepherd/leader who is always there, and that is the Great Shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus (13:20). An old saying is on target here. “God buries His workers, but His work carries on.”

A warning about some aberrant and heretical teachings that his readers may have heard follows this affirmation. “Do not be carried away by varied and strange teachings; for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, through which those who were so occupied were not benefited” (13:9). Again, we should ask what that “bad  stuff” has to do with the permanence of our Lord Jesus? Think of it this way. Just as teachers come and go, these novel ideas of false teachers also come and go. We can always ask about what new heresy that has arisen. But the changing views of misled leaders contrast starkly with the unchanging truths about Jesus’ person and work.

So how do we proclaim such a text as Hebrews 13:8? Even the great theological beliefs we confess are not presented to us in the Bible as isolated doctrinal affirmations. They have a very “real world” context. Preachers, don’t just lecture your hearers on theology! Affirm the creeds, of course. But proclaim these marvelous truths within the real-life contexts they were given in the Word of God.

In another context, the Apostle Paul presents to us this balanced approach to proclaiming the unchanging Word of God: “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:2).

Preach, reprove, rebuke, exhort, teach. It is all there. May God grant us the grace to do it!

©2023 William Varner. All rights reserved. Used with permission.