From our Sunday service on April 12, 2026, Hebrews 13. This is part 10 of our Hebrews series. Watch the full message: Applying Brotherly Love – Hebrews Series #10 on YouTube.
This is the final message in our Hebrews series. Last time we were told to invest in the kingdom of God, because it is the only investment that will last. We receive a kingdom that cannot be moved, and we are to serve God with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire. Now the writer shows us what a life shaped by that kingdom looks like. God wants you to give Him the gift of a life lived in brotherly love.
Let Brotherly Love Continue
The whole application is already in the first command:
Let brotherly love continue.
Hebrews 13:1
“Let” is a soft word in English, but the sense is that we are to ensure that brotherly love continues. It will not simply happen if we allow it. We have to put effort into it. The word here is not agape, sacrificial love, but phileo, familial love, the love of a household for its own. We are to treat one another as family, and then the chapter shows us how far that family love is meant to reach.
It begins with hospitality:
Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Hebrews 13:2
The phrase “entertain strangers” is the old word for hospitality, and in the Greek it carries the idea of a lover of foreigners, love for someone who has no attachment to you. In the first century, travel was dangerous and there was no sure way to book a safe room ahead of time. People depended on mutual trust, and a traveler often needed water, food, and a place to belong, not only a roof. We may not take strangers into our homes in the same way today, but the philosophy still stands. If you see someone outside your immediate community who lacks shelter, food, drink, or fellowship, extend that familial love until it includes him.
Some have entertained angels unawares. In Greek, angelos can mean a divine messenger, and in the Old Testament some literally hosted angels, as Abraham did. But it can also mean anyone who brings a message from God. I think of a man who was ready to end his life and sat down with a stranger only so they could be seated sooner. The stranger was pouring out a ruined marriage, and then said that there is no relationship where there is no communication. The man realized God was speaking to him: he had been complaining that God had not blessed him, but he was not communicating with God. Hospitality toward a stranger became the means of a message that turned him back. When we make room for people who have no claim on us, God often uses them to speak in ways we would have missed.
The same love remembers those in prison and those who suffer:
Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body.
Hebrews 13:3
It does not say they are in jail falsely, or that they are Christians. It says, across the board, remember them as if you were bound with them. It is easy to be judgmental, to ask only what they did to get there. That is not the right philosophy. People in bonds are often at the lowest point of their lives, and they may need someone more than they ever have. The same is true of those who suffer adversity, the oppressed and exploited. Do not stand apart and be glad it is not you. If the Lord is close to the oppressed, the body of Christ should be close to them as well, as if we ourselves were in their body. I have heard the modern idea of toxic empathy, that we should be careful whom we empathize with. This verse does not teach that. Scripture tells us to put ourselves in their place first. Empathy is not the same thing as calling evil good, but we start by understanding, and then we can help rightly.
Honor, Contentment, and Faithful Leaders
Brotherly love also has a clear boundary around marriage:
Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.
Hebrews 13:4
Marriage should be honored by everyone, and the bed left undefiled. Every Christian should respect that line. Do not flirt with another person’s spouse. Do not treat the covenant as a metaphor, or as a small thing. God will judge the whoremonger and the adulterer. Other sins may seem to offer some gain, but this one destroys your own soul as well as the other person. It is a sin with no benefit in any situation, and it always leads to more pain.
Then we are called to a life without covetousness:
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
Hebrews 13:5–6
“Conversation” here means lifestyle, not merely talk. Let your way of life be without the love of money, and be content with what you have, because He has said He will never leave you nor forsake you. That promise is worth more than any sum. The first readers were facing oppression, exclusion, and the threat of violence. Some were ready to give up their faith to make life easier. God was preparing them for a harder blow still to come. People later faced death and still said they would not fear what man could do, because the Lord was their helper. You and I may never face that kind of persecution, but we still face the temptation to let money, comfort, or fear set the terms of our faith. Be content, because God has not abandoned you.
We are also to remember those who have the rule over us, who have spoken the Word of God to us, and to follow their faith, considering the end of their lifestyle. “Rule” here is not the word for a tyrant. It is the word for someone who brings, carries, and leads. Look at a leader’s life, and imitate what is godly, as they follow Christ. A good pastor’s life will match what he preaches. If the weekday life contradicts the pulpit, that is how you know not to follow.
An Unchanging Christ and the Sacrifices God Wants
Why must we be so careful? Because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever:
Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever. Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.
Hebrews 13:8–9
He does not change, and His moral standard does not change. So we are not to be carried about with divers and strange doctrines, teachings that vary from what God has already said. In their day, some wanted to keep ritual foods and practices as if they were needed to maintain salvation. That adds a weight to the gospel that does not profit. The same warning still stands. Any teaching that says Jesus has changed, or that a new revelation has replaced what He already said, or that every religion is finally the same path, is a strange doctrine and should be refused. The heart is to be established with grace, not with meats.
Jesus suffered outside the gate, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood. Let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach, because here we have no continuing city. Salvation is not found in the old system anymore. It is found in Christ, who offered His own blood, and we belong to Him, not to a city that will not last.
What does God want from us instead?
By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.
Hebrews 13:15–16
He wants the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of our lips, gratitude for what He has done. He also wants us to do good and to communicate, that is, to share with those in need. With such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey and submit to those who lead you, because they watch for your souls and must give account. Let them do it with joy, not with grief. And pray for those who minister, that they would keep a good conscience and be able to serve faithfully.
The goal of Hebrews was never only to give us a system of doctrine. It was to call us to perseverance and to a changed life. Jesus is greater than the angels, greater than Moses, greater than the priesthood, and He was the perfect sacrifice for our sins. A life changed by that truth is a life of brotherly love: a love that opens toward the stranger, remembers the prisoner and the oppressed, honors marriage, stays content because it trusts God, follows faithful leadership, refuses false teaching, and offers praise and generosity instead of empty ritual. We do not live this way to earn salvation. We live this way because we already have it. We have received an unshakable kingdom from an unchanging Savior, and He will never leave us nor forsake us. The only gift we can give Him is a life that reflects Him. God wants you to give Him the gift of a life lived with brotherly love. Will you choose to live by brotherly love today?
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