Few English labels have traditionally carried more of a negative wallop than that of “do-gooder.” We tend to be critical of people we call “do-gooders,” perhaps largely because we assume they do good out of selfish motives. Yet Hebrews’ narrator ends this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson with a summons to “not forget [epilanthanesthe*] to do good [eupoiias]” (16).
Following the Spirit’s leading, preachers might choose to tie this invitation back to God’s people’s motivation for doing the kind of good that Hebrews 11 describes. We might also consider linking it to Hebrews 12:28’s call to literally serve God “acceptably, with awe and reverence.” With the Spirit’s help, after all, this turns Hebrews 13 from a source of a kind of spiritual Anne Landers advice column into true gospel proclamation.
Preachers who earlier chose not to preach on Hebrews 11 and 12’s exploration of faith might try to summarize Hebrews’ Preacher’s message there. Even preachers who preached on either or both of those texts might choose to offer a “refresher” on them.
Hebrews 11’s narrator describes the ways people like Abraham, Sarah, Joseph, and Moses lived by the faith that is “sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see” (1). But of course those examples are ancient for Hebrews 13’s readers of all times and places.
So preachers led by the Spirit might suggest that this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson helps “flesh out” part of what it means today to live by faith and serve God acceptably. We might begin by noting that the life of faith spreads out like concentric rings that touch both those who are in some way close to us and those who are in one way or another “far” from us.
Hebrews’ Preacher points to how the life of faith is marked by the good deeds that are loving service to the people God has placed nearest to us. “Marriage [gamos],” he insists in verse 4, “should be honored [Timios] by all, and the marriage bed [koite] kept pure [amiantos].”
It’s a reminder that Jesus’ friends don’t just live by faith in church, at work or in the living room. We also serve God acceptably in our bedroom as well. We honor not just our spouses but also our community by remaining faithful even in our most intimate relationships.
In verse 1 Hebrews’ narrator stretches the reach of the life of faith from the biological to the Christological family. “Keep on loving [meneto] one another as brothers and sisters [Philadelphia]” (1). Those who live by faith do good by treating our fellow Christians not as strangers or even just friends, but as our siblings in Christ. People whose elder adopted brother is Jesus serve God acceptably when we work and pray for our Christian brothers and sisters’ well-being.
Jesus’ followers serve and worship God with thanksgiving, awe, and reverence as we, what’s more, interact with what verse 7 calls our “leaders [hegoumenon].” “Remember [Mnemoneuete] your leaders who spoke the word of God to you,” the Preacher writes there. “Consider [anatheorountes] the outcome [ekbasin] of their way of life [anastrophes].”
While we might assume he’s writing about doing good in our relationships with civic or other leaders, it’s clear Hebrews’ narrator is talking specifically about the Church’s leaders. Those who live by faith don’t forget the people whom God uses to both lead us to and help us grow in our Christian faith. God’s dearly beloved people acceptably serve God by gratefully remembering not just the leaders of our Christian family, but also the impact of their life of faith.
But, of course, as Hebrews goes on to imply, not all of our family members are close to us, either biologically, emotionally, or physically. So in verses 2 and 3 the Preacher goes on to invite us to “not forget [epilanthanesthe] to show hospitality [philoxenias] to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality [xenisantes] to angels without knowing it [elathon].”
Christians show that we are sure of what we hope for and certain about what we don’t yet see by continuing to be generous with our hospitality. We do good by loving strangers as though they were members of God and our family. That kind of welcome is acceptable to God perhaps in no small measure because it shows proper respect for both God and those God creates in God’s image. In fact, “Who knows?” it’s as if the Preacher goes on to muse. “One of those strangers whom we treat hospitably might even turn out to be an angel in disguise!”
At first glance it may seem as if the life of faith’s “reach” may be lengthiest when Hebrews extends it to “those in prison [desmion]” (3). “Continue to remember [mimneskesthe] those in prison as if you were together [syndedemenoi] with them in prison, and those who are mistreated [kakouchoumenon] as if you yourselves were suffering.” While we might assume the Preacher is summoning us to remember those in our county jails or state prisons, he at least implies that he has in mind those who are imprisoned and suffering for their Christian faith.
Hebrews’ narrator insists, in other words, that the life of faith is one of constant mindfulness of and empathy for those whom we easily forget. We serve God with reverence and awe when we don’t just remember but also pray and work for the well-being of our Christian brothers and sisters who are being persecuted for following Jesus as though we were the ones suffering so terribly.
But in verse 16 Hebrews casts the perhaps widest net of the life of faith of all. There, after all, the Preacher summons those who are sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see to remember to “Do good [eupoiias] and … share [koinias] with others.”
Acceptable service to God knows no human boundaries. Worshiping God with awe and reverence includes working for the “common good” (The Message) of all people, but perhaps especially those who are our enemies and whom society shoves to its margins. By faith Jesus’ followers share with others because we know that everything we have is a gift of God’s grace that isn’t ours’ to hoard in the first place.
The life of faith Hebrews 12 characterizes is marked by some common characteristics. Preachers might note how often Hebrews’ Preachers suggests doing good includes a kind of holy mindfulness. Four times in this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson’s ten verses he calls us not to “forget.”
In a culture that easily forgets anything that’s out of sight or happened more than ten minutes ago, Hebrews invites Jesus’ friends to a holier, more Christ-like way. We worship and serve God by, among other things, remembering in ways that lead us to offer our lives as a sacrifice of praise.
The life of faith also sees our material possessions as little more than God’s gifts that God longs for God’s adopted children to share. Christians seek to “keep [our] lives [tropos] free from the love of money [aphylargios] and … be content [arkoumenoi] with what we have” (5). Instead of hoarding our money (and other possessions) we lovingly serve God with reverence and awe by, among other things, loving our neighbors by sharing with them what God has shared with us. We live by the faith that is sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don’t yet see because we know that we can completely count on God to provide us with everything we need.
But perhaps more than anything, preachers want to focus on the grounds of this far-reaching life of faith. We can be generous with our time, love, and possessions because God has promised “Never will I leave [ano] you; never will I forsake [enkatalipo]” (6). As a result, God’s adopted children can go on to confidently profess with Hebrews’ Preacher, “The Lord is my helper [boethos]; I will not be afraid [phobethesomai]. What can mere mortals [anthropos] do to me?”
Christians can live by a faith that loves God above all and our neighbors as ourselves because God is so completely trustworthy. We can act in ways that show we’re sure of what we hope for and certain of what we can’t see because we know we can count on God. We can do good by giving away not just ourselves, but also our time and resources because we can trust that God will never abandon us.
Preachers might consider ending our proclamation of Hebrews 13 with the lovely paraphrase of verses 15b and 16 The Message offers. It’s a fine summary of this Sunday’s Epistolary Lesson: “God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship – a different kind of ‘sacrifice’ – that take place in the kitchen and workplace and on the streets.”
*I have here and elsewhere added in brackets the Greek words for the English words the NIV translation uses.
Illustration
My friend Sandra once told me about what happened during her service as a missionary-teacher in Uganda. One time her colleagues and she tried to make a movie about Jesus’ birth. They recruited Ugandan women to play the women in a Bethlehem that had no room for Jesus’ family.
But as Joseph and the pregnant Mary knocked on various doors, the Ugandan actresses repeatedly “went off script.” They simply couldn’t resist welcoming the unborn Jesus’ family. Sandra told us hospitality was simply too central to Ugandans’ character for them to even act inhospitably.
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Sermon Commentary for Sunday, August 31, 2025
Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16 2025 Commentary