Chapter 39 - Christian Behavior - In Relation to God (13:10-21)

39 Christian Behavior: In Relation to God (13:10-21)

We have an altar, from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come. Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased. Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you.

Pray for us, for we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. And I urge you all the more to do this, that I may be restored to you the sooner.

Now the God of peace, who brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant, even Jesus our Lord, equip you in every good thing to do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. (13:10-21)

I see in this passage at least four things God wants in our behavior that are directly related to Him: separation, sacrifice, submission, and supplication.

SEPARATION

Verses 10-14 are among the most difficult in the book of Hebrews. They are subject to many interpretations and applications, and I do not want to be dogmatic in the views I present.

Many Christians believe the altar mentioned here is literal, and that it refers to the altars at which believers today are to worship. These interpreters hold that right to eat refers to the Lord’s Supper. But who, then, would be those who serve the tabernacle, who have no right to eat? And verse 11 speaks of the bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the holy place by the high priest as an offering for sin. This hardly can describe Christian worship.

Some believe the reference is to a heavenly altar, such as that spoken of in Revelation 6. But again, who would be those who had no right to eat there? And, in any case, there is no eating or sacrificing of animals at the heavenly altar.

Others believe the altar is a figure of Christ, whose body we are to eat and whose blood we are to drink (John 6:53-58). But still the questions remain about who is not allowed to eat and about the sacrificial animals.

I believe the best explanation is to consider that We refers to the writer’s fellow Jews. That is, “We Jews have an altar. The priests serve at this altar in the Tabernacle, or the Temple. Ordinarily they are allowed to eat what remains of the sacrifices. But on the Day of Atonement, they are not allowed to eat the sin offering. The bodies of the animals used for this sacrifice are taken outside the camp and burned.”

In this view, an analogy is given for Christians. As the priest of old could not have a part in the sins of the people, so the believer should be outside the camp of the world, no longer a part of its system, standards, and practices. This is what Jesus did, pictured supremely in the crucifixion, which was outside the city gates. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered outside the gate. I do not think the analogy can be pressed any further. It is simply a picture of Christians, following their Lord, separating themselves from the things of sin. As our Lord was crucified outside the walls of the city of Jerusalem, so we are to be spiritually outside the walls of sinning people.

Hence, let us go out to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. (13:13)

The practical point is that, as Christians, we must be willing to go out from the system, to bear the reproach and the shame that both the sin offering and Christ Himself bore, and to be rejected by men. This is the attitude Moses had toward the world. He considered “the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of Egypt” (Heb. 11:26).

Paul had a great deal to say about separation. “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness? Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?” (2 Cor. 6:14-15). Christians have nothing in common with the world system and should be separate from it (cf. 2 Tim. 2:4).

After the incident with the golden calf in the wilderness, and before the Tabernacle was built, Moses set a tent outside the camp, “a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And it came about, that everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp” (Ex. 33:7). Whenever Moses entered the tent, the “pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the LORD would speak with Moses” (v. 9). Those who wanted to approach God had to go outside the camp, because Israel for the most part, siding with the world system, had rejected God.

Whether the analogy is of the Old Testament sacrifice being taken outside the camp, of Christ’s being crucified outside the gates of Jerusalem, or of the tent of meeting being outside the camp, the basic point seems to be that of separation.

For the Jews to whom Hebrews was written, separation from the world system meant separation from Judaism. God, so to speak, was no longer in the camp of Judaism. Whatever significance and importance the Old Covenant and traditional ceremonies, regulations, and standards of Judaism once had, they are now invalid. God now does His work completely outside the camp of Judaism. The moment Jesus died on the cross, the veil of the Temple was torn in two, and the Temple, the altar, the sacrifices, and the ritual ceased to be a part of God’s program. These were now a part of the world system, a part of man’s religion, man’s way, man’s work. God cast them aside and they became as pagan as any sacrifice in the temples of Baal or Diana. A Christian Jew had no more right to hold on to Judaism than a Gentile Christian had to hold on to the worship of Jupiter.

Separation from the system does not mean separation from unbelievers in the sense of never having contact with them. If this were so, we could never witness to them or be hospitable to them. Nor does it mean we try to escape the world by becoming monastics. As far as separation is concerned, the world is an attitude, an orientation, not a place. As long as we are in the flesh, we take some of the world with us wherever we go. Paradoxically, a holier-than-thou attitude is the essence of worldliness, because it is centered in pride. It is worldly attitudes and habits from which we are to separate ourselves. And we can participate in many worldly things just as easily with Christians as with non-Christians.

In His high priestly prayer, Jesus describes our proper relationship to the world. “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Thy word is truth. As Thou didst send Me into the world, I also have sent them into the world” (John 17:15-18). God sends us into the physical world, the world where people live. What we are to be separate from is the world system, the way the world’s people live (cf. 1 John 2:15-17).

You do not have to participate actively in the system to be a part of it. It is just as worldly to want to do the things of the world as to do them. To want worldly things is to have your heart in the world, no matter where your body is. If you are sitting in church thinking about the impression you are making on your fellow worshipers, at that moment and to that extent you are in the world—no matter how spiritual the worship service itself may be.

True separation is costly. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. 3:12). The reason why more Christians are not persecuted is simply because so few are truly godly, truly living outside the camp of the world. Speaking sarcastically of some worldly Corinthian believers, Paul wrote, “We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are prudent in Christ; we are weak, but you are strong; you are distinguished, but we are without honor. To this present hour we are both hungry and thirsty, and are poorly clothed, and are roughly treated, and are homeless” (1 Cor. 4:10-11). It is easy to be distinguished in the eyes of the world if we compromise godly living. Paul preferred being hungry, poorly clothed, and mistreated with Christ above being distinguished and well off in the world.

SACRIFICE

Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. And do not neglect doing good and sharing; for with such sacrifices God is pleased. (13:15-16)

Sacrifice was extremely important to the Jew. It was God’s provision for cleansing of sin under the Old Covenant. Many Christian Jews were no doubt wondering if God required any kind of sacrifice under the New Covenant. They knew Christ offered the one and only sacrifice for sin. But they were used to many kinds of sacrifice, and perhaps God still demanded some offering, some sacrifice, even of Christians.

Yes, He does, they are told. He demands the sacrifice of our praise and of our good works in His name. He demands sacrifice not in the form of a ritual or ceremony, but in word and in deed—in our praise of Him and in our service to others.

IN WORD

God no longer wants sacrifices of grain or animals. He wants only the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name. The psalmists knew a great deal about this sort of sacrifice. If their writings could be characterized by any single word it would be praise. “I will give thanks to the LORD according to His righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High” (Ps. 7:17). “Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why are you disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him” (43:5). “I will give thanks to Thee, O LORD, among the peoples; and I will sing praises to Thee among the nations” (108:3). All of the last five psalms begin with “Praise the LORD,” which in Hebrew is hallelujah. The sacrifice God desires is the cry of our lips in praise to Him.

The Christian’s sacrifice of praise is to be offered continually. It is not to be a fair-weather offering, but an offering in every circumstance. “In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus” (1 Thess. 5:18).

IN DEED

John warns us that “the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). In other words, if our praise of God in word is not accompanied by doing good and sharing, it is not acceptable to Him. Worship involves action that honors God.

Isaiah gave a similar warning to Israel. When the people asked God, “Why have we fasted and Thou dost not see?” the Lord replied, “Is this not the fast which I chose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke? Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” (Isa. 58:3, 6-7).

Praise of God in word and deed are inseparable. Lip service must be accompanied by life service. “This is pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father, to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world” (James 1:27). The only acceptable sacrifice we can offer to God with our hands is to do good to one another, to share, to minister in whatever ways we can to the needs of others in His name. “Little children,” John says, “let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).

SUBMISSION

Obey your leaders, and submit to them; for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with grief, for this would be unprofitable for you. (13:17)

The third standard of Christian behavior toward God is submission. The most obvious submission seen in this text is that given to church leaders. But God mediates his earthly rule, secular and spiritual, through various men. Even pagan rulers who have no use for God are nevertheless used by Him. “Let every person be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God” (Rom. 13:1). But for believers, God’s most important rule is through Spirit-controlled men. Someday God will rule all the earth through His Son, the King of kings, but in the meanwhile He rules His church through godly men. Submission to these men, therefore, is submission to God.

BECAUSE CHURCH LEADERS REPRESENT GOD

The leaders of the church are called elders (presbyters) or overseers (bishops), the titles being interchangeable. These mature men are ordered by the Spirit of God to rule over His church on earth until Christ returns.

As they traveled about, Paul and Barnabas appointed elders in every church they established (Acts 14:23). Paul directed Titus to “appoint elders in every city” (Titus 1:5). Every New Testament congregation had such men who ruled it. They fed and led the flock (cf. Acts 20:28).

In many churches today, the congregation rules the leaders. This sort of government is foreign to the New Testament. Church leaders are not to be tyrants, because they do not rule for themselves but for God. But the command is unqualified: Obey your leaders, and submit to them. It is the right of such men, under God and in meekness and humility, to determine the direction of the church, to preside over it, to teach the word in it, to reprove, rebuke, and exhort (Titus 2:15). They are to “shepherd the flock of God ... exercising oversight not under compulsion, but voluntarily, according to the will of God; and not for sordid gain, but with eagerness; nor yet as lording it over those allotted to [their] charge, but proving to be examples to the flock” (1 Pet. 5:2-3). Pastors and elders are undershepherds, who serve under the “Chief Shepherd” (v. 4).

Just as church leaders are to rule in love and humility, those under their leadership are to submit in love and humility. “But we request of you, brethren, that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction, and that you esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (1 Thess. 5:12-13).

Jesus said, “He who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me” (John 13:20). When a man is placed in the rule of a local church, our submission and obedience to him is equivalent to submission and obedience to Christ.

When you do not have Spirit-filled leaders who rule well or submissive people who follow well, you have chaos and disunity in the church and open the doors to all sorts of spiritual problems.

BECAUSE CHURCH LEADERS ARE ACCOUNTABLE TO GOD

The priority of every pastor, every elder, every church leader, is to care for the spiritual welfare of the congregation, for they keep watch over your souls, as those who will give an account. It is a sobering responsibility to be a leader in Christ’s church.

Paul had a pastor’s heart, an abiding concern for the spiritual welfare of all those under his care. He could say to all his spiritual children what he said to the Corinthians: “I will most gladly spend and be expended for your souls” (2 Cor. 12:15). John too could say, “I have no greater joy than this, to hear of my children walking in the truth” (3 John 4). A pastor’s sweetest joy is to see those in his church walking with the Lord and bearing fruit. And, contrarily, one of the saddest tragedies that can come to a pastor is that of spending years of his life working with those who do not grow, do not respond to spiritual leadership, and do not walk in the truth.

BECAUSE CHURCH LEADERS RECEIVE JOY

Let them do this with joy and not with grief is addressed to the people, not to the leaders. In other words, it is the responsibility of the church to help their leaders rule with joy and satisfaction. One way of doing this is through willing submission to their authority. The joy of our leaders in the Lord should be a motivation for submission. We are not to submit begrudgingly or out of a feeling of compulsion, but willing-ly, so that our elders and pastors may experience joy in their work with us.

It is a serious (and all too common) thing for stubborn, self-willed people in church congregations to rob their pastors of the joy God intends faithful pastors to have. Failure to properly submit brings grief rather than joy to pastors, and consequently brings grief and displeasure to God, who sends them to minister over us. Grief (stenazontes) means an inner, unexpressed groaning. It is a grief often known only to the pastor, his family, and to God. Because lack of submission is an expression of selfishness and self-will, unruly congregations are not likely to be aware of, or to care about, the sorrow they cause their pastor and other leaders.

Perhaps more than any other prophet, Jeremiah knew the grief caused by rebellious, stiff-necked people. He is called the weeping prophet for good reason. At his call God promised to make the prophet “as a fortified city, and as a pillar of iron and as walls of bronze against the whole land, to the kings of Judah, to its princes, to its priests and to the people of the land. And they will fight against you, but they will not overcome you, for I am with you to deliver you” (Jer. 1:18). All these opponents together could not silence Jeremiah or frustrate his ministry, for God was always with him. But even God could not prevent them from breaking the prophet’s heart. “Oh, that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (9:1). They were slain because of their wickedness and rebelliousness, because “all of them are adulterers, an assembly of treacherous men. And they bend their tongue like their bow; lies and not truth prevail in the land; for they proceed from evil to evil” (9:2-3). Jeremiah spent a lifetime of anguish because of the self-willed, sinful people over whom God had given him spiritual leadership.

Even the Son of God was not spared grief. Satan could not conquer Him and the scribes and Pharisees could not confound Him, but the people could grieve Him. Their hardness of heart and rejection caused Him to cry out, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, just as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not have it!” (Luke 13:34).

In spite of Paul’s straightforward exhortations and rebukes, most of the Corinthian believers apparently were little concerned about his authority or his feelings. There is no telling how many tears they caused him to shed.

But there is another type of response, the response that pleases God and pleases his leaders. To the Philippian Christians the apostle could say, “I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all” (Phil. 1:3-4). The reason was not that they were inherently a nicer group of people than the Corinthians (though they may have been) but that they held to sound doctrine and were submissive to their leaders. No doctrinal errors or rebelliousness is reflected in the Philippian letter. The squabble between Euodia and Syntyche is the only problem mentioned. The suffering Paul endured while serving them was not caused by them, but by critics outside the church. That sort of suffering simply added to his joy. “Even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all. And you too, I urge you, rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me” (2:17-18).

The church at Thessalonica also brought a great deal of happiness to Paul. “For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you, in the presence of our Lord Jesus at His coming? For you are our glory and joy” (1 Thess. 2:19-20). Paul was so grateful for these dear believers that he hardly knew how to express his feelings. “For what thanks can we render to God for you in return for all the joy with which we rejoice before our God on your account” (3:9). These two churches were a pastor’s delight.

Spiritual leaders, of course, are not infallible or perfect. There are times when a church member is justified in disagreeing with a pastor or elder, even in accusing such a leader of sin. But Scripture gives clear direction as to when and how this is to be done. “Do not receive an accusation against an elder except on the basis of two or three witnesses. Those who continue in sin, rebuke in the presence of all, so that the rest also may be fearful of sinning” (1 Tim. 5:19-20).

The attitude God wants His people to have toward their pastors and elders is, “that you appreciate those who diligently labor among you, and have charge over you in the Lord and give you instruction” (1 Thess. 5:12).

BECAUSE WE RECEIVE JOY

For members of the Body to be in constant rebellion against their pastors and elders prevents proper learning and proper growth. It brings spiritual barrenness and bitterness. A person who never brings joy will never have joy.

To cause our leaders grief is harmful to ourselves as well as to them and to the church as a whole. It is unprofitable for you. When we do not have a loving and obedient spirit, God is displeased, our leaders are grieved, and we lose our joy as well. Paul’s joy in faithful believers was always related to their joy. “Rejoice in the same way and share your joy with me” (Phil. 2:18). You will never find a truly happy pastor apart from a happy congregation, or a happy congregation apart from a happy pastor.

SUPPLICATION

Our fourth obligation to God is supplication. To pray for our leaders in the church is to serve and to please God. Prayer makes things possible; it moves the hand of God.

The writer of Hebrews apparently was a leader in the church, or churches, to whom he was writing, and here asks for the prayer support of those among whom he had ministered. Every servant of Christ needs the prayers of the believers he is called to work with. Church leaders are made of the same stuff as those they serve. They have sins, weaknesses, limitations, blind spots, and needs of all sorts, just as everyone else. They both need and deserve the prayers of God’s people, without which they cannot be the most effective in His work (cf. James 3:1).

God’s leaders face temptations that most other believers do not face to the same degree, because Satan knows that, if he can undermine the leaders, many others will go down with them. If he can get them to compromise, to weaken their stand, to lessen their efforts, to become dejected and hopeless, he has caused the work of Christ great damage.

Paul did not hesitate to ask for prayer. “Pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel” (Eph. 6:19). How much more do God’s ordinary ministers need the prayer of their people.

IT IS DESERVED

The writer asks for prayer because we are sure that we have a good conscience, desiring to conduct ourselves honorably in all things. He was not being egotistical or arrogant, but simply saying that, to the best of his own knowledge, he had ministered to the people faithfully—not perfectly, but faithfully. He not only needed their prayers; he had earned their prayers. He had a right before God to expect them to pray for him.

He did not simply imagine or suppose that he had been faithful. He had a good conscience about it. Even the unsaved person has a conscience, a built-in sense of right and wrong, but his is defiled (Titus 1:15). As Christians, our consciences are cleansed, purified (Heb. 9:14). We do not become infallible or omniscient, but, under the Spirit’s direction, we are able to distinguish right from wrong in a way we were never able to do before. A cleansed conscience not only enables us better to tell right from wrong but to be honest about it, with ourselves as well as with others. The writer of Hebrews could honestly say he had served well the people given into his care. He therefore had a right to expect their prayers.

I do not believe everyone deserves our prayer. Certainly not everything a person may ask us to pray about deserves our prayer. A man came to me once and asked that I pray for a ministry he had recently begun. It was a telephone ministry in which people would call up, leave a recorded message, and then be called on by this man or one of his workers. He had invested some $20,000 in electronic equipment and six months of time by himself and his co-workers. For this effort, they had seen two persons make “decisions” they “thought” were probably genuine. I suggested that, if he sold his equipment and began witnessing door-to-door, he and his workers could probably see more results in a week than they had seen in six months.

If a person asks for our prayer, we should want to know whether what they are asking prayer for deserves our effort. Prayer time is the most precious time we have, and it should be used wisely and carefully.

IT IS NEEDED

The writer was not asking for prayer only because he believed he deserved it. He had a need for it. The most urgent need on his mind when he wrote was that he might be restored to you the sooner. Whatever the reason had been for his leaving them, he was anxious to return.

Neither did Paul idly ask for prayer. Near the end of Romans he pleads with fellow believers, “strive together with me in your prayers to God for me, that I may be delivered from those who are disobedient in Judea, and that my service for Jerusalem may prove acceptable to the saints” (Rom. 15:30-31). He was asking a group of faithful believers to pray for his deliverance from a group of unfaithful believers.

God is sovereign, but prayer makes things possible that otherwise would not be possible.

CHRIST’S EXAMPLE

In all our behavior—in relation to others, to ourselves, and to God—Jesus Christ is our supreme example. If we want to see sustained love, where can we see it better than in Jesus, who, “knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end” (John 13:1)?

If we would learn sympathy, where better than from our Lord, who wept with Mary and Martha at the tomb of their brother Lazarus (John 11:35)?

If we want to know what sexual purity is like, who can show us better than Jesus, “who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15)?

If we want to learn satisfaction, who was more content than Jesus, who said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to accomplish His work” (John 4:34) and, “The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head” (Matt. 8:20)?

If it is steadfastness we need to appreciate, who was more steadfast than Jesus as He resisted Satan in the wilderness (Matt. 4:1-10)?

If we want to know how to be separate from the world, we should listen to Jesus’ prayer, “I do not ask Thee to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world” (John 17:15-16).

If we want to see sacrifice, Jesus not only made the perfect sacrifice, He was the perfect sacrifice, giving “Himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma” (Eph. 5:2).

If we would learn submission, who has ever submitted to the Father as Jesus did in the garden when He prayed, “Abba! Father! All things are possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt” (Mark 14:36)?

If we want to know what supplication is, we must listen to Jesus’ great prayer on our behalf that constitutes the entire seventeenth chapter of John.

THE POWER OF GOD

These verses are really a benediction and could stand without comment. Even Jesus’ own examples, perfect and powerful as they are, cannot in themselves enable us to follow in His footsteps. We need more than example. The writer calls on God to make possible the outworking of this truth in the lives of His people. To attempt to live the Christian life with the purest doctrine and the finest examples, but without God’s direct power, is to build with wood, hay, and straw (1 Cor. 3:12). We not only need to know God’s will, we need to have His power. We need the God of peace to equip us in every good thing to do His will.

So God gives us His ethics and He gives us the power to follow them, to live them out. Christian growth and obedience have nothing to do with our own power. Christian growth and obedience are by God’s power, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ.

The greatest display of divine power in the history of the universe was at the resurrection of Jesus Christ, when God brought up from the dead the great Shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the eternal covenant. God is the God of peace, in that He has established peace with man through the blood of the cross (Col. 1:20). By that cross an eternal covenant was made (cf. Zech. 9:11; Ezek. 37:26). So the blood of Jesus our Lord is eternally powerful (unlike the repeated, temporary Old Covenant sacrifices) and satisfactory to God, thus He brought Him up from the dead. It is the God of this power and the power of this God that enable those who love Him to do His will. “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God” (2 Cor. 3:5).

The thing we must contribute to the Christian life is willing yieldedness. All we have to do is open the channel of our wills and let God’s power work through us. “Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food, will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness” (2 Cor. 9:10). We can work out our salvation because God is at work in us “both to will and to work for His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:12-13). Because Christ does the work, He deserves the credit and praise, to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.