Able To Do God’s Will - Hebrews 13:20–21

Tommy Lasorda was the manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers major league baseball team for twenty years. He was known for being a winner, and also for being a character. He once told the media, “The only way I'd worry about the weather is if it snows on our side of the field and not theirs.” On another occasion, he stated, “My theory of hitting was just to watch the ball as it came in and hit it.”

And in an interview with Sports Illustrated magazine, he spoke, among other things, about his bad habits. He said, “When I thought smoking was a weakness, I took a pack of cigarettes from my pocket, stared at it and said, ‘Who's stronger, you or me?’ The answer was me. Then I took a glass of vodka and said to it, ‘Who's stronger, you or me?’ And again the answer was me. Then I took out a plate of linguine with clam sauce, looked it in the eye and said, ‘Who's stronger, you or me?’ And the answer came back, ‘Linguine with clam sauce.’ I cannot beat linguine.” We all have habits that are hard to break, don’t we?

We all have hang-ups that haunt us, struggles that are tough to shed, fears that keep coming back, doubts and weaknesses that we know are not the will of God. There are even areas of our lives in which we give up on doing God’s will. We think that when it comes to this or that struggle, doing God’s will is either not possible because the compulsion is too powerful, or doing God’s will is not necessary because grace has it covered. We even believe that despite some habits and hang-ups, if we don’t deal with the major shortcomings that others have, our minor struggles to do God’s will are not important.

But those beliefs are wrong, though; in fact, each one is sin. It is possible and necessary to pursue God’s will in all of life, even where it seems most difficult or hopeless or unimportant. God has made it possible for us to do His will, and even though salvation is through grace alone, doing the will of God is still necessary. And while it is true, sadly, that some folks may have made more seemingly heinous mistakes in life than others, and some people may have delved into especially harmful desires and behavior, God requires total submission to His will.

We may minimize our particular sins, but the truth is that all people desperately need Jesus. Only through Him are we able to please God and be acceptable in His sight. And because God has made it possible for us to do His will, His will should be our aim. A life wholly devoted to God must be our deepest longing and our most diligent pursuit.

But how do you and I begin and then continue to do God’s will, even as we face our most difficult struggles? Two ways that we see in these verses today: First and foremost, by making much of who God is and what He has done for you through Jesus, and then, by fighting for what God is doing in you and who He will one day cause you to be through Jesus. So let’s look at these together.

You may recognize these verses as a common benediction. “Benediction” comes from the combining of two Latin words, “bene” which means “good” and “diction” which means “word.” A benediction is a “good word” or “blessing” from the Lord. We see these kinds of statements throughout both the Old and New Testaments as a kind of send-off. The writer of Hebrews ends this letter/sermon with one.

Actually, you might say he ends with two, because after this he adds a “p.s.” (which we will look at next week) and then he writes, “Grace be with you all.” In other words, “may God’s favor be upon all of you, always.” We end each worship service with a benediction because in the Scriptures we see this practice over and over as the “last word,” so to speak, spoken to the people of God.

Notice that this writer, this preacher, begins this compact but rich statement by first making much of who God is and what He has done for these people through Jesus. Throughout the whole book of Hebrews he labors to help the congregation see the glory of Jesus Christ. He explains the work of Jesus, the mission of Jesus on earth, and also who Jesus is.

The work of Jesus was initiated, you see there in verse 20, by “the God of peace.” This “peace” is not just peace in general. Peace in the Middle East, peace in our nation, in our homes; a peaceful, easy feeling. What is in view here is the peace needed for sinful people to be in harmony with a holy God. There is naturally a hostility or enmity between mankind and God. The NT says we were enemies of God, alienated from and hostile toward Him.

But notice the rest of verse 20, “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.” Scripture says that Jesus made peace by the blood of His cross. In Leviticus 17 in the OT, Moses wrote these words of God: “it is the blood that makes atonement by the life.” Death is the payment God requires for the guilt of sin.

We’ve seen throughout Hebrews that Jesus made one final and sufficient payment for the sins of His people. Notice who performs the action in verse 20. It is God who makes peace with us. How are we assured of that peace?

Think for a moment about when you purchase something online, or when you pay a bill. You should receive a confirmation, basically a receipt. The company sends you an email or a text to confirm that the transaction was completed, that your form of payment was accepted, that the money was received.

The death of Jesus purchased our peace, and His resurrection is confirmation of the purchase. And Jesus is “the great shepherd of the sheep.” The shepherd puts himself in harm’s way for his sheep. If the sheep are in danger, a good shepherd will not turn tail and run. He will protect the flock. He will save them if he can. The Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life to save His sheep from certain danger and death. And He did so according to a covenant initiated by God with sinful human beings long ago.

A covenant is an agreement between two parties. Previously in Hebrews, we’ve followed the development and unveiling of God’s covenant, the covenant of grace, beginning with Adam and Eve when they received grace after their sin in the Garden of Eden. We saw the covenant clarified through God’s grace toward Noah, and then in His promises to Abraham, then further clarified as God spoke to Moses, and then David, and we saw how in Jesus Christ, the covenant of grace comes into complete focus and all the eternal promises to Abraham are fulfilled.

Jesus Christ is the pinnacle of hope for God’s people, both the OT and NT eras. Through Jesus we can be confident that every covenant blessing is ours for eternity! Verses 20 and 21 are a pronouncement of God’s blessings based on His promises,based on all that God has committed to do for us and be to us through Jesus. In verse 21, the writer expresses His hope and confidence that God will change these people and make them more and more like Jesus.

But notice where He begins. Our hope of doing God’s will begins with God’s doing, with what God did through Jesus. If you are to ever change and do God’s will in the areas of greatest struggle in your life, you must begin with this great work of the God of peace. We must be more and more consumed with the reality of who God is and what He has done through Jesus. In this life, t is natural to be consumed with worldly comfort and greed.

It is natural to be consumed with sexual immorality. It is natural to be consumed with self-centered glory, and pride, and vengeance and hate and a whole host of vices and crutches to get through this life. It is natural to be consumed with fear. But to see and be consumed with the person and work of Jesus, that, my friends, is supernatural. And God has made it possible.

Look now at verse 21, “equip you with everything good that you may do his will.” One Bible scholar, Philip Edgecumbe Hughes, prefers the translation, “make you perfect in all goodness.” Either way, the meaning is “make complete.” In light of all God has done for His people, may He now make them complete. May He make them whole. May God strengthen them to overcome every hang-up and habit. May they break free from all that burdens them.

With the work of Jesus in view, may God’s people choose what God desires. May they love and desire what is good as God does. Hughes writes this: he says, “The new man in Christ is a man restored to the harmonious integrity of his humanity.” Salvation is reconciliation with God. It is also re-creation to be able to live for God.

Notice the rest of the verse, “working in us that which is pleasing in his sight. God is “working in us,” in other words, doing in us what is necessary that we may do His will and live a life acceptable in His sight. How? You see it there: “through Jesus Christ. Through the reconciliation and re-creation that comes through Jesus, God transforms us in every part of ourselves. God makes obedience possible.

And God is involved. In Philippians, the apostle Paul writes that, “it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.” God works in us, even as we make every effort to live for Him. God helps us. We should think of it as “help” because God does not diminish the human will. We are not passive in obedience to God.

But His work is so complete and so perfect for those who were helplessly dead in sins that Hughes describes it this way: “The union of the divine will and the human will is the true harmony of creation. This is by no means the eclipse of the human will but on the contrary, its fullness and perfection. God working in us enables us to work with Him and thus to perform the purpose of His will.” There is this maturing unity between God and those whom He saves. We are transformed, and we are transforming as this every-increasing unison between us and God is brought about in us by Him.

As I considered this increasing unison between God and His people, I thought of a funny story I heard recently about Cale Yarbourough, the NASCAR legend from nearby Timmonsville. Nowadays it’s normal for cameras with microphones to be installed in these racecars, but one of the first drivers to have a camera in his car was Cale Yarbourough, many years ago.

An old TV broadcaster tells the story of how the production crew who installed and operated Cale’s camera were able to get the camera feed coming from the car, but they were puzzled by this humming sound. It wasn’t the car; it was something else. They thought it was feedback, so they checked the camera and its wiring. But they could not figure out where this noise was coming from. Eventually they discovered what it was. It turned out that as Cale Yarbourough drove his car, he mimicked the sound of the engine with his own voice. “Mmmmm, mmmmm, rrrrrrr!” It’s common for these drivers to say that they need to “feel the car,” they need this kind of unison with it.

Now that’s a silly story, of course. The racecar driver builds and understands and drives the racecar; he or she has something of a “connection” with the car and works to operate in unison with it. It is no means a perfect illustration of God’s working in us and we work to do His will. But you must realize: the Scriptures teach that in a way we cannot understand, our “doing” of God’s will is not just our doing. It is also God’s doing. The God of peace is working in us that which pleases Him.

In Colossians 1, the apostle Paul talks about how he labors to fulfill God’s will for his ministry. Paul wanted to accomplish so much for the Lord, and he says, “For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.” Paul fought the good fight to obey God, certain that God was strengthening him and making him supernaturally able to fulfill God’s will.

And Philippians 1, Paul writes, “I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” God does not only call us to be like Him; He causes us to be like Him. And He does all this through Jesus. Yet not I but through Christ in me. See the last part of verse 21, “through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Christians, this is what we must do: we must go about our days making much of who God is and what He has done for us through Jesus. When we rise, and when we lay down to sleep. As we go through life, we reflect on Him and we give Him praise. We repent and we worship.

And we must fight for and make every effort to be who God desires us to be. We must put sin to death, as the Word says, and “put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.”

You must “put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

Each day we fail to do God’s will. We are up and down, up and down. But as we go now to the Lord’s Table, at this table we fellowship with Him who was able to God’s will perfectly. He did God’s will in our place. Do you believe in His name? Have you cried out in faith, turned from your sin, and placed your trust in Him? Are you aware of that desperate need, the need for peace with God and union with God which can only be met through Jesus? He stands, ready to receive you. Come to Him.

Let’s bow in prayer.