Faith that Loves

The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost
St. John's Lutheran Church, Alexandria, VA
Hebrews 13:1-16

“By Faith: Faith That Loves”

This past weekend during my time off, I went to spend some time with friends of mine who live up in Philadelphia. I didn’t plan for that visit to connect with this weekend’s message, but it does. In fact, it ties in even starting with the first verse of this last chapter of the letter of Hebrews: “Let philadelphia continue.” Many of you know that the text of what we call the New Testament of the Bible was written in Greek, a common language in the First Century. But were you aware that you yourself know at least a little of that ancient Greek? Philadelphia is the word that refers to love: brotherly or familial love, the friendship and deeper attachment that we have for the people close to us. But philadelphia isn’t just a sentiment or emotion, it’s action. I experienced philadelphia in Philadelphia. And I don’t just mean eating an excellent cheesesteak… though I did that, too! My friends welcomed me into their home for several days. I was able to worship with them at their congregation (St. John Lutheran Church, a strangely familiar name) and enjoy the fellowship of the family of faith of which they and I – and you – are members. Today, as we come to the close of our “By Faith” sermon series, what does it mean to be connected to faith that loves?

Over these summer months as we’ve explored a few epistles in Scripture, I hope that you’ve come to see that we’re not all that different from the people back in the early days of the Christian Church. Like us, they struggled with many forms of temptation and pressure from the world around them. The culture encouraged them to engage in sexual conduct apart from the marriage relationship of a man and a woman, to be unfaithful to their spouses. They fell prey to love of money and greed for gain – stuff in this world. The Hebrews, we’ve heard, particularly struggled with how it was possible and what it meant to be the people of God. It seems like it’s the same today. Maybe you have wrestled with the impulse to gaze just a little too long at someone who you find attractive. Maybe your desire for emotional or physical intimacy has led you to look to a friend or coworker instead of your spouse or the person you’ve been dating. Maybe you find yourself always wanting something new that your friends have or that you’ve seen online or in an ad. And in addition to those challenges, both the Hebrews and we present-day believers have heard the subtle encouragement that you need to “live a good life” or “do good things” in order to get on good terms with God so that he’ll make your life all better – or at least, not so bad. But really, living a good life and doing good things doesn’t come to anyone naturally. And real love – that active care that put strangers ahead of oneself – that’s even rarer. How does faith equip us to contend with what we face in life in a world that seems to keep on changing?

Through the author of this letter, God points us to those who have gone before us in the faith: Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith. And, even more to the point, to that “founder and perfecter of our faith:” Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Jesus is the center of faith, faith that loves. Unfortunately, the assigned reading for today skips over several verses in this last chapter of Hebrews. But the point that they make is so important, we need to listen to them:

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.

Remember that the author of Hebrews is writing to people who are considering going back to the old practice of Judaism and the sacrificial system. In these verses, we hear why those early believers don’t need to go back to Judaism: Jesus has taken the place of the sacrifices that the people were to offer. Christ is greater than all the rites and rituals of the past, greater than any good life we might live or good things we might do. He purchased forgiveness for them through his body broken and blood poured out on the cross, a sacrifice that was also made for you and me. That sacrifice sanctifies God’s people, makes them holy. The love that led Jesus to the cross wasn’t just philadelphia; it was agape love, self-giving love. And his love still comes to us today.

In our worship services this weekend, we get to experience Jesus’ self-giving love through the Lord’s Supper. The altar from which it is given is that table around which we will gather in a short time. In our other Scripture lessons this weekend, God’s word refers to feasts and banquets, advising us to avoid taking a place of honor for ourselves. But today, God invites you to His table and to a place of honor. Here, at this table, Jesus’ love comes to you and connects you with your fellow believers, even with the Hebrews from so many years ago. Jesus Christ, who is the same yesterday and today and forever, gives power to faith that loves, philadelphia.

Faith that loves doesn’t come to anyone naturally. It isn’t something that comes from within us as Christians, either. It comes from outside us, from Christ. But though it comes from outside us, it means to shape who we are and what we do. That’s the sanctifying work that God the Holy Spirit is working in us even now. He is building that faith that loves in your mind and heart even now. And just as philadelphia comes from outside us, it is meant to go back out from us. God has connected us to Himself through His love, and now He connects us to each other through faith that loves.

In the past month or so, I have seen faith that loves at work here among the people of St. John’s. Some of you are aware of a family within our congregation that is facing a potentially terminal illness, one that has left a parent unable to support the family. Several years ago, our congregation established the Helping Hands fund to provide aid to our fellow believers here in just such a situation, and I’m very pleased to say that we have been able to meet some of the family’s needs. But what has been even better to see is the philadelphia shown by other members of St. John's who have visited with the family, prepared and delivered meals, and helped to plan for some longer-term needs. Opportunities for philadelphia abound! Such are sacrifices pleasing to God.

We are a people of faith. Over the past several weeks, we have learned about that faith: a faith that guides, a faith that encourages and brings hope, a faith that grounds, a faith that loves. By faith, we keep on going, as did those early believers who were the first recipients of the book of Hebrews.

Going out into the world this week as people who are connected with faith that loves, hear this benediction for you from these final verses of Hebrews: 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.