V 1.

Never cease to love your fellow Christians.

NIV.  Keep on loving each other as brothers.
NLT.  Continue to love each other with true Christian love.
TEV. Keep on loving one another as brothers in Christ.
The Message.  Stay on good terms with each other, held together by love.

While we are commanded to show love and care for all we come into contact with (Luke 10: 27 - love your neighbour as yourself) - all who are needy, our first duty of care as a church is to love and care for each other.
(John 13: 34, 35:  I give you a new commandment: love one another; as I have loved you, so you are to love one another.  If there is this love among you, then all will know that you are my disciples)

It was this obvious and practically expressed love for each other that set the people of the early church apart - that made them different from the culture they lived in.  In Roman and Greek culture it was 'me first'.  The Christians were different.

For the readers of Hebrews, who were under threat of persecution and had been arguing with each other about whether or not they should revert to keeping the Jewish laws, it was very important that they were reminded to love each other like brothers who have Christ as a big brother to emulate.

V 2.

Remember to show hospitality.  There are some who, by so doing, have entertained angels without knowing it.

NLT.  Don't forget to show hospitality to strangers, for some who have done this have entertained angels without realising it!

A number of passages in the Bible tell us that hospitality is important:
Abraham and Sarah were hospitable to strangers (Genesis 18: 1 -1 6) and were given the news that they were to become parents.  Lot was hospitable, protected and cared for two strangers in Sodom (Genesis 19: 1 - 26) and they warned him of the impending destruction of Sodom and helped him and his family get out of the city quickly.

Paul (Romans 12:13) and Peter (1 Peter 4: 9) both reminded the early church to show hospitality, especially to each other.  Paul listed hospitality as a requirement for church leaders (1 Timothy 3: 2)

C. Peter Wagner (Your Spiritual Gifts Can Help Your Church Grow. Regal Books. USA. p 63) includes the gift of hospitality among his list of spiritual gifts.  "...hospitality means 'love of strangers', and some people undoubtedly have a special ability to do this for the glory of God and the growth of the Church....... Not only do those with the gift have the ability, but they also love to do it ......people who have the gift of hospitality are happier having guests in the home than being alone.  This is a supernatural ability given to relatively few."
p. 66. "The growth of the Church in the Roman Empire in New Testament times was heavily dependant on hospitality."

Although not everyone may be gifted in hospitality, we are all able and expected to show hospitality.  There is no better place to show the love of Christ than in our own homes where we can care for people in a very personal way.

V 3.

Remember those in prison as if you were there with them; and those who are being maltreated, for you like them are still in the world.

Remembering those in prison with as much compassion as if it was me in there?  Here's where my first reaction is to be all self-righteous and say, 'Well, it was their choice to break the law.  Good luck to them! They're getting what they deserve!'

Whoops!!!!!   What do I deserve?  What punishment for sin would I be suffering if it were not for the wonderful grace of God and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ?  What right have I to feel self-righteous?

When the letter to the Hebrews was written, there were people in prison because they were Christians.  Although, as far as I know, it doesn't happen in my own country, there are also people today who are imprisoned and mistreated because of their faith.

Those who minister in prisons make a wonderful witness for Christ. Those of us who are not called to this kind of personal ministry are still called to 'remember'.  We can suport prison ministries through prayer and financial giving.....

....and get my atitudes right!  Who knows when God might decide I need more 'training' and send me in there?

V 4.

Marriage is honourable; let us keep it so, and the marriage-bond inviolate; for God's judgement will fall on fornicators and adulterers.
NIV. Marriage should be honoured by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.
NLT. Give honour to marriage, and remain faithful to one another in marriage.  God will surely judge people who are immoral and those who commit adultery.
The Message.  Honour marriage, and guard the sacredness of sexual intimacy between wife and husband.  God draws a line against casual and illicit sex.

The institution of marriage is not honoured in our society as it should be.  Jokes are made about marriage and married couples talk about their partners with a lack of respect.  With divorce a relatively easy option these days, people enter marriage knowing that they can change their minds if it doesn't work out the way they thought it would. So, when the first excitement of romance wears off, they opt out.

Some years ago when I studied a graduate course in human relationships education, one of the subjects was human sexuality. As part of this subject, we were presented with speakers who were homosexual and who shared with us some of their struggles and persecution.  As I listened to one of the women who spoke, I was filled with compassion for the difficult experiences she had faced and was still facing. Eventually, she began to make sweeping critical statements about heterosexual marriage and family life - no doubt accurate in her personal experience.  She spoke of women being inhibited and put down in marriage, among other things.  I felt it important that these statements not go unopposed, so stood and told her that her comments were not what marriage was all about and were certainly not reflective of my own experience.  After the lecture, some of the other students thanked me for my stand.

John Stott, in New Issues Facing Christians Today (Harper Collins, Lond. 1999.), p 323.  The nearest the Bible comes to a definition of marriage is Genesis 2: 24 (That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and the two become one flesh.) ... So Genesis 2: 24 implies that the marriage union has at least five characteristics. It is an exclusive man-woman relationship ('a man...his wife..'), which is publicly acknowledged at some social event ('leaves his parents'), permanent (cleaves to his wife'), and consummated by sexual intercourse ('they will become one flesh').  A biblical definition of marriage  might then be as follows: 'Marriage is an exclusive heterosexual covenant between one man and one woman, ordained and sealed by God, preceded by a public leaving of parents, consummated in sexual union, issuing in a permanent mutually supportive partnership, and normally crowned by the gift of children.'

The Hebrews were left in no doubt that sexual intercourse outside of marriage was not approved by God.

Our society seems to see marriage quite differently from this.

V 5, 6.

Do not live for money; be content with what you have; for God himself has said, 'I will never leave you or desert you'; and so we can take courage and say, 'The Lord is my helper, I will not fear; what can man do to me?'
The Message.  Don't be obsessed with getting more material things.  Be relaxed with what you have. ........

Our focus must be on God and his kingdom, not on gaining wealth and possessions in this world.  Jesus said that we are not to worry about the material things we need, but to 'set our minds on his kingdom' and trust God to supply our needs. (Luke 12: 22 - 34) If we truly trust God, we know that he will make sure we are supplied with enough to meet our needs (not necessarily our wants!)  Note: This does not preclude us from accepting fair pay for hard work done.

V 7.

Remember your leaders, those who first spoke God's message to you; and reflecting upon the outcome of their life and work, follow the example of their faith.

The Hebrews had begun to question the message they'd been given.  They needed to be reminded of the people who broughtthem the good news of Jesus and to remember what those messengers had gone through to bring them the message. They must floow in the footsteps of those leaders and take the message themselves to tohers, not forget it and go back to trying to follow sets of rules and regulations in a misguided effort to please God.

We too need to remember those dedicated Christians worldwide, through the centuries, and in earlier days in our local area who brought the message to us. If their work is to be worthwhile, we must carry it on.

V 8.

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Jesus doesn't change, and neither does his message.  We must not try to change it or make it fit the society in which we live and work.

**********

V 15, 16.

Through Jesus, then, let us continually offer up to God the sacrifice of praise, that is, the tribute of lips which acknowledge his name, and never forget to show kindness and to share what you have with others; for such are the sacrifices which God approves.

Here is worship: offering praise to God - not only during worship services, but in our everyday conversation - and also praise through practical actions such as showing kindness and sharing resources.  'Good deeds' should not be done in an effort to please or placate God, but as an act of worship of him.  So we can worship God every day, in all that we do, wherever we are, by our words and actions.