Benediction & Amen

            Hebrews 13:20-25 May 11, 2015

This Week’s Study

This week we conclude our study of the Epistle to the Hebrews. With a benediction and personal greeting, the writer both blesses and encourages his audience. Reading this benediction caused me to reflect back on the church services of my childhood, and to summarize for you what has most encouraged me as we have studied this epistle together.

This Week’s R2R Distinctive | What Is This?

Peace(Philippians 4:6-7): I am free from anxiety because things are right between God, myself and others.

Benediction and Amen.

I grew up in a Reformed church during the 1970s. Everything seemed so simple…and formal. To be honest, there just weren’t a lot of choices when it came to how we worshiped the Lord. In fact, with the exception of electricity, even as late as the 1970s, the church service still looked quite similar to how services had looked for the last two hundred years.

Most churches, regardless of size or denominational affiliation, worshiped with hymnals accompanied by an organ or piano. There were no projectors displaying words on a screen or fancy lighting effects. Bibles came in one flavor–King James. There were a few translations starting to appear (the NIV and NAS, for example), but these were considered luxuries. Essentially, the English speaking Christian world relied on the KJV.

Pastors were formal, too. It was uncommon to ever see a pastor without a tie. Ever. When the summer temperatures soared, the pastor would exchange a long sleeve white shirt for a short sleeve white shirt, but that was as casual as he would dare go. Air conditioning? Hardly. Our church supplied little fans on a small wooden stick in the back of the pew so the ladies could fan themselves. The fans had pictures on them of Jesus standing at a door or in a field holding sheep.

Our worship service had a rhythm and rhyme to it, too. Every service consisted of a “Call to Worship,” which was typically an organ anthem that ended loud and strong. The pastor would then stand and greet the gathered congregation “on this fine Lord’s day.” This was called the Invocation. It might include a short prayer and the reading of a psalm. After a congregational song or two (announced as “Please stand with me as we sing hymn 342, verse 1, 2, and 4), there would be another short prayer and then the recitation of the Apostle’s Creed. It was a sign of well-schooled children when a family could stand with even their smallest, preschool-aged children reciting the Apostle’s Creed from memory.

As we headed towards the middle of the service, there was the Pastoral Prayer. To be honest, as a kid, these seemed like the longest 10 minutes of the week, but, at the same time, I never doubted for a second that any man who could pray so eloquently and for such a long time was a true man of God. Then there was another hymn and an “offertory solo” by one of the church members. (Something like He Touched Me; it usually wasn’t very good.) Finally, the sermon.

The service would end with another rousing hymn and the benediction and doxology. (We were Reformed, so there was never an invitation. “When the Lord saves somebody,” one of the older men would inform, “he doesn’t need an audience of onlookers.”) For the benediction, the pastor would raise his hands over the church congregation and recite the same verses from Numbers 6: “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee; The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee; The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.” (Yes, he spoke the benediction in King James. Most older men prayed or spoke of the Lord in King James.) We would conclude the service with the singing of the doxology: “Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow; Praise Him, all creatures here below; Praise Him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”

This is how the Epistle to the Hebrews comes to an end. If you remember, when we started our study of this book, we identified it as a “sermonic epistle,” a letter that was crafted by the writer as a sermon to be read during a public worship service. With the conclusion of his teaching, the writer offers his doxology and benediction upon the people:

“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.”

With the sound of the “Amen” and the brief greeting that followed, the church service was finished. How do you think those First Century church attenders heard this magnificent message? Sometimes when you go to church, it is clear God has spoken to you. Something said or the word of encouragement from fellow believer was just what you needed to hear that day. I’ve even heard some folks say “it was as if the Lord was speaking directly to me.”

What did the Lord say to you through this study of Hebrews? Where were you challenged or corrected? One thing that is clear for me is that the Lord Jesus is indeed worthy of all the praise and worship we can offer to Him. Oh, what a Great Shepherd and Great Savior we have!

I am also challenged to live my life even more with His glory in mind. As I have read and studied the hallowed words of this great epistle, I am convinced that nothing brings more glory to Jesus than when we His disciples yearn to be more like Him, to follow him through pain and suffering until we cross the finish line of life.

As you pray and meditate on these final verses of Hebrews, I want to leave you with the words of an old hymn that summarizes beautifully this call to discipleship.–Chris Eller

I Would Be Like Jesus

Earthly pleasures vainly call me, I would be like Jesus; Nothing worldly shall enthrall me, I would be like Jesus.

He has broken every fetter, I would be like Jesus; That my soul may serve Him better, I would be like Jesus.

All the way from Earth to glory, I would be like Jesus; Telling o’er and o’er the story, I would be like Jesus.

That in Heaven He may meet me, I would be like Jesus; That His words ‘well done’ may greet me, I would be like Jesus.

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