Continually Offer Praise and Thanksgiving to God

8-31-25

Hoonah-Hadley

Hebrews 13:1-8, 15-16

Call to Worship Psalm 112

Daily Verse Hebrews 13:15

“Therefore, by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name.” In the old 1773 hymn “God Moves In a Mysterious Way” penman William Cowper closes with this line: “God is His own interpreter, and He will make it plain.” Our daily verse today is a textbook example of Cowper’s observation, and for those of us blue collar simple folks, this is music to our ears. We have the standard, common “therefore”, a biblical mainstay, it is the application, what God wants us to see, it’s His intention for the verse. Less we somehow miss this in the interpretation, we’d do well to visit this often and repeatedly, the value, importance and stress God puts on persistence, a habitual, disciplined heart, mind and soul that is “continually” offering praise and thanksgiving to Him. In fact, we might have simplified our title by putting a greater emphasis on that very thing and then be tenacious and deliberate in the repetition therein, writing it on the tablet of our hearts that it might become us. There is much to do about God’s call on our lives, among other things, being doers, not only hearers of His word, and that “doing” is most often a “being”, a “continual” state of thought, word and deed with Him forever the recipient of our praise and thanksgiving. As long as we live, we are in a continual state of many things, things required to live, breathing, eating, sleeping, picking berries and so on. Let us see to it this morning to make praise and thanksgiving “continual”.  

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Hebrews 13:1 “Let brotherly love continue.” Sometimes we might ask God, why do you tell me this? Because there are things He knows we need reminded of.  God gives the responsibility to us to guard and encourage each other’s perseverance in our walk with Christ. Romans 12:10 “Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another, not lagging in diligence, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord.” 1 Peter 1:22 “…love one another fervently with a pure heart.” Should we continue here with God’s love, the Author of love, we would soon find there is no end to it, it is from everlasting to everlasting. However we would fall short should we not mention 1 Cor. 13:1-13 “Love is patient, love is kind…does not envy…behave rudely…is not provoked…thinks no evil…rejoices in the truth…bears all things, believes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. …but the greatest of these is love.” All aboard the love train, brotherly love, Godly love. Vs. 2 “Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels.” Hmmm? Strangers could be angels? Entertain strangers? Abraham himself was a stranger, in Genesis 18:2 showed hospitality to “three men” who proved to be the Lord Himself with 2 of His messengers. “Do not forget to entertain strangers”, herein one of the great biblical “Do not’s”. Vs. 3 “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them—those who are mistreated—since you yourself are in the body also.” This is a reference likely to Paul himself, but certainly to those who suffered for Christ’s sake. Ephesians 3:1 “I, Paul, a prisoner of Christ.” Also, in 2 Tim. 1:13-18 see how Onesiphorus ministered to Paul, he “refreshed” him and was not “ashamed” of Paul’s chains. This is loyalty, a chain welded together by brotherly love, “since we ourselves are in the body also.”  Pray for and encourage, remember your brothers and sisters, prisoners of Christ.

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Vs. 4 “Marriage is honorable among all…but fornicators and adulterers will be judged by God.” Marriage, another biblical institution authored specifically, deliberately, intentionally, purposefully and correctly by God Himself in the beginning. Genesis 2:24 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” As other verses there is much more, much, much more here, but one simple observation in passing is the “but”. The “but” here is a reminder that God is omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. All powerful, everywhere all the time and all knowing. Luke 8:17 “For nothing is secret that will not be revealed…” You can fool some of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all the people all the time, and you can fool God none of the time.  Vs. 5 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with what you have.” We’ll not pit one verse over another but this one may be more common than others. This picture can be painted a million ways, and we can blame the flesh, the world, the devil or all the above, but covetous is having a great desire to possess something belonging to someone else, this includes blueberries, excavators and motorcycles. From a different angle we could say, if you have Jesus, you have all you need, just make sure your old jalopy has oil in it and air in the tires. He did say He would never leave us or forsake us “So we may boldly say: ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” You cannot serve two masters, Matt. 6:24. Hear Spurgeon on the matter, “A jealous God will not be content with a divided heart.” Confessing Christ while simultaneously desiring your neighbor’s boat is a divided heart that makes God jealous. The enemy is persistent in bombarding us with temporary, perishable garbage that is an impediment to our continual praise and thanksgiving to God.

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Vs. 7 “Remember those who rule over you, who have spoken the word of God to you, whose faith follow, considering the outcome of their conduct.” These are divine appointments, the mother’s and grandmothers, fathers and grandfathers, brothers and sisters in Christ that are obvious gifts from God, treasures, blessings, encouragers, friends. This verse may be better rendered, “Remember those who have gone before you in word and deed…follow…consider the fruit of their labor.” Another reminder to remember.  Vs. 8 “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.” This alone brings us to a place of continual praise. The penman of Hebrews is setting us up for our daily verse. In this ever-changing world in which we live in, we can thank God that He hasn’t compromised who He is to accommodate the moral compass of the day, or should we say, the immoral compass. The format upon which we listen to music has changed, but Amazing Grace is still amazing. Vs. 15 “Therefore by Him…” Here’s the thing, the therefore, the because, the application, the why, what God wants us to see, His purpose, the heart of the matter is this, it’s in Him, by Him, for Him, because of Him, and without Him our house is built upon the sand. Vs. 15 continues, “let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God…” Without delay, in all things, at all times, together, corporately, “let us continually offer…” Herein the offering ordained “by Him.” Can you imagine the mess this place would be if we had to bring our chickens and cows to church with us every Sunday and then sacrifice them? There is an offering, and it is a “sacrifice”. A sacrifice is taking something of value to you and giving it to someone else. “That is, the fruit of our lips…” In our heart, mind and soul, yes, but climb on the roof and open your mouth in songs of praise! “…giving thanks to His name.” Oh come let us adore Him, thank you Jesus! Amen.