Submission and Petition
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2025 · 23 March 2025
Hebrews 13 is not easy to understand, but it’s been very instructional. We are talking about Christian Ethics, Example, and Energy. We have covered much material in terms of what God expects out of believers in the matter of their behavior, and we’re going to talk about the example and the energy. You cannot eliminate God. You cannot eliminate ethical standards and morality.
But there is a God of morality, there is a God who sets standards. The God of the Old Testament had some very stringent standards for life and conduct. And it is the same God in the New Testament who sets standards of behavior to govern the lives of individuals. And God is a God of order, that God is a God of principle, that God is not a God who says, “Do your own thing.”
We have given you in the past several weeks at least three reasons for God giving the ethics at the end of the book of Hebrews, the standards for the Christian life. He has all the way through been presenting the new covenant and now within the framework of a new covenant, knowing Christ, living in the age of grace, there are some standards. He gives them for three reasons.
Reason one –He wanted the Jews to know that it’s the same God in the New Testament that was the God of the Old Testament. It’s the same God of laws, it’s the same God of rules, the same God of ethical standards of morality that you knew in the Old Testament. This is not new, this grace does not mean you now do what you want. The same God has the same standards morally.
Secondly, He gives these ethics because they bring joy to the Christian. To be obedient is to be joyous. And to be able to do what God wants you to do results in fruit in your life. It results in productivity, and that results in joy. And the third reason that God wanted us to live lives that fit His standards was that we might give a witness to the world. And so Hebrews ends with a list of basic principles.
We began to study the ethics in verses 1 - 19. We said there were three categories of ethics that a Christian needed to follow. First category, in relation to others. That we have a responsibility toward others in two areas, sustained love and sympathy. The second area of responsibility for our ethics is in relation to ourselves in the matter of sexual purity, satisfaction, and steadfastness.
We need to keep ourselves pure sexually, we need to be content with whatever we have, and we need to be steadfast in the faith, not following around false doctrine. The last category of ethics is in relation to God. We saw that God wants from us separation. Let us go outside the camp, for here we have no continuing city but we seek one to come.” God wants us separated to Himself.
The second thing is God wants sacrifice. Verse 15, the sacrifice of praise from our lips, verse 16, the sacrifice of a holy, pure life and sharing with other people. And with such sacrifices, God is well pleased. We see, then, that separation and sacrifice were the two first ethics in relation to God. Now, let’s go to the third one tonight and then the fourth, and then wrap it up.
The third standard toward God is submission. Not only separation to Him, not only sacrifice made to Him, but submission to Him. Verse 17, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account, so that they can do this with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you. ”Now, here is a responsibility toward God.
It sounds like a responsibility towards some rulers. Yes, it is, but God mediates much of His rule in this world through men. Throughout the Old Testament, God mediated His rule through kings, prophets and judges. And in this age, God mediates His rule through Spirit-controlled men. Someday God will mediate His rule in the living Christ who sits and rules in the Kingdom, right?
Now, if we study the New Testament, we find that God has set leadership in the church. And there were in the assembly of the Hebrews here certain men given the rule of that congregation. The Apostle Paul defines these men as elders, bishops, or if you choose the teaching pastors. These men were ordered of the Spirit of God to have the rule of the church. They are called under-shepherds.
There are some church governments today where the congregation rules the leaders. That’s foreign to the New Testament. The rule of the church was always given to the gifted men placed by the Spirit of God. It says, “Obey them that have the rule over you.” There’s no qualification to that. The Spirit of God has placed them there to rule. This is part of God’s command within the church.
It is the right of those men to declare the direction of the church, to preside, to teach the Word, to reprove, to rebuke, and to do it with all long-suffering, and to do it in meekness. “Feed the flock of God,” the word is literally pastor and pastor means to feed them and the food is the Word. That’s the job of the pastor, is to take the oversight to rule the church not by constraint but willingly.
There are many perils to the pastorate. Number one is the peril of covetousness. Some people want to rule because they covet authority, they covet bigger churches, more money, more power, and they wind up being tyrants who dominate over the church. Paul said to Timothy, “You should be an example to the believer in everything,” word and deed. Be a pattern that others can follow.
There is a second peril and that’s conceit. And we have to deal with the problem of pride. And He deals with the peril of conceit in 1 Peter 5:5, “In the same way, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. All of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble.” In the pastorate, there is the desire to be exalted.
And thirdly, there is the peril of compromise. Verse 8, “Be sober-minded, and be alert. Your adversary the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion, looking for anyone he can devour.” There’s always the peril of compromise, giving in to Satan, watering down your convictions because it’s expedient. And so it is not easy to rule, but that is the calling of God.
In the framework of the church, there are some given to the church by the Spirit of God to rule in the church. And I always think it’s a tragedy when you have a pastor being led around by the congregation. That’s not the way God intended it to function. You’re responsive and sensitive to the needs of people. But the Bible indicates clearly that we are the under-shepherds of Christ.
It’s a serious responsibility, and we have to give an account to God, for how we rule. Notice one other thing in verse 17, it says obey them and submit yourselves. The term “obey” has definite connection to teaching. The word “submit” has definite connection to authority. And this is not our duty to these men, it’s our duty to God. Because they rule instead of Christ, don’t they?
The qualities that a Pastor must have are four things, narrowed down as our obligations to God. Separation, sacrifice, and the third one is submission to God. In verse 17 it says further, “Obey your leaders and submit to them, since they keep watch over your souls as those who will give an account.” The priority that I have as a minister, is the priority of watching for all your souls.
There’s another reason you ought to be submissive. Not only joy for me, but joy for you. Look at verse 17 again, “Obey and submit that they may do it with joy, not with grief for that is unprofitable for you.” If you don’t obey and you don’t submit, guess who loses? You do. If you don’t have a willing and loving, obedient spirit, then you lose. Because you’re not doing what God is doing.
Verse 18-19 says, “Pray for us, for we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything. 19 And I urge you all the more to pray that I may be restored to you very soon.” Instead of rebelling against your leaders, what should pray for them. Instead of criticizing, pray. Believe me, the servant of Christ stands in tremendous need for prayer.
So what is our obligation toward God? Separation, sacrifice, and submission to those that God has set to rule. Fourth, our obligation to God is petition. The first word of verse 18 is what? “Pray.” Prayer makes things possible. Prayer moves the hand of God. Prayer ties into the power source. And it’s connected to the previous point because he says pray for us. He is one of the elders in the church.
We are men, we are weak, we are sinful, we are foolish, we are ignorant, we are erring, and we desperately need the prayers of the saints. We’re often tempted to water down our convictions because we’re afraid to face the issue. Tempted to all kinds of sin, and we need your prayers. Pray for us. And so the writer encourages them to pray. Paul says pray for me. Pray for me that I might be bold.
Look at verse 18, “For we are convinced that we have a clear conscience, wanting to conduct ourselves honorably in everything.” I believe that I am God’s man, in God’s place, with a pure heart. I deserve your prayers. Now, that’s not arrogant. That’s like saying I deserve it. What do you mean a clear conscience? Well, we could talk a lot about conscience.
Conscience is the faculty of the mind that enables us to perceive right and wrong. It’s a built-in system. It’s the inner principle that decides whether something is right or wrong. And conscience is a court that’s always in session. There is never a recess in the court of conscience. It’s really the nearest thing in this world to standing at the bar of God. To begin with, an unsaved man has a defiled conscience.
Titus 1:15 says, “The unsaved man has a defiled conscience.” But you know what happens when you get saved? When you get saved, you get a new conscience. Hebrews 9:14 says, “How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, cleanse our consciences from dead works so that we can serve the living God?”
Who first taught you the Word of God? Remember them? Follow their faith. Pattern your life after their lives. Look at the results. Consider how their life ended, and you pattern your life the same way. That’s our example. He refers to their leaders, their pastors, their evangelists. Look at those that God has set over you and look how they live and what the results of it are.
Your first group of examples? Men. The supreme example is Jesus Christ, who never varies, who never changes. And you notice it uses His earthly name, Jesus. Uses His earthly title, Messiah, Christ. Because it’s presenting an earthly pattern. He says to them, “Follow the men who were your leaders,” but if you really want to pattern your life, pattern it after the human Jesus.
You want to see sacrifice? Paul says in Ephesians 5:2 , “And walk in love as Christ also loved us and gave Himself for us, a sacrificial and fragrant offering to God.” Listen to Jesus in the garden as He prays, “Not my will, but your will be done.” You want to see petition? Watch Him in the garden as He prays for Himself, for His disciples, and for all the Christians who would ever be born.
Verse 20-21, “Now may the God of peace, who brought up from the dead our Lord Jesus—the great Shepherd of the sheep—through the blood of the everlasting covenant. 21 equip you with everything good to do his will, working in us what is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.” You know what you need? You need the energy.
You want to hear something exciting? He gives you the ethics, He gives you the example, and then He gives you the energy. You say, “What’s the energy?” It is the power of God. Your Christian growth has nothing to do with your own power, it is God working in you, right? The power is yours, it isn’t mine, do it in my life.” And notice verse 20 just explodes with the power of God.
That’s the greatest display of divine power in the history of the universe, isn’t it? What God accomplished in the death and resurrection of Christ. He’s the one who can make you perfect. You can’t function on your own energy. 2 Corinthians 3:5 says, “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God.” Notice it says He wants to make you perfect.
It says He wants you even to do His will, in everything working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight. 2 Corinthians 9:8 says, “And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work.” Just let God do it, will you? And then when He does it at the end of verse 21, who gets the glory? Jesus Christ gets the glory.
He deserves it, doesn’t He? “For it is God who works in you, both to will and to do His good pleasure.” It’s God. There’s your energy, beloved. The new covenant’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it? But it’s not just free grace, there’s some ethics. Beyond the ethics, there’s a living, vital example. Beyond the example, there’s energy, and it’s the power of God in your life. Let us pray.