(This post is the first in a series of four posts on Hebrews 13:20-21. All posts in this series are adaptations from Emily's session at the women's event "Equipped to Serve" on February 18, 2023 in Newport, TN.)
"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" (Hebrews 13:20-21).
The writer of Hebrews ends his letter with an amazingly beautiful prayer filled with a depth of theology that is critical to understand if we want to live a life of service and be equipped to serve. The author orders his words in such a way that prioritizes the one who is doing the equipping. The focus is not on the equipped or on the method of equipping but rather on the Equipper. We must pause and behold the beauty and the glory of the one who equips us in order to be properly equipped to serve. This prayer brings to light one title for God and two titles for Jesus that are important for us to remember as we serve in any form of ministry: the God of peace, our Lord Jesus, and the great shepherd of the sheep. This first post of the series will focus on the first title, the God of peace.
Believers in the first century were outside of the social mainstream. They regularly faced threats of imprisonment and death for their faith. Christians all around the world today face similar threats. Here in America, especially in East Tennessee where I live, we are not facing anything close to that level of severity. But we are entering a stage in which it is becoming increasingly difficult to hold to certain Christian beliefs. We should not be surprised, and we should not be scared. Why? Because we have a God of peace who equips us to continue serving in the face of opposition.
In Philippians 4:7, Paul speaks of a peace "which surpasses all understanding." When Paul penned those words, he was in prison under the threat of execution. Praising a God peace in that kind of circumstance is not natural! In the next verse he tells us to think about "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable" and "excellent" and "worthy of praise" (Philippians 4:8). He says that when we think about such things and practice such things, the God of peace will be with us. The God of peace fills us with peace, and that peace surpasses all understanding as he equips us to do his will.
More importantly than the peace with which God fills us is the peace of God's disposition toward us if we are in Christ. We need to understand how bad our sin actually is before God. Sin is a declaration of war against God, but sadly we often use euphemisms to describe our sins. We call them mistakes or struggles or slips or little white lies. We use phrases like “Well, nobody’s perfect.” While it's true that no one is perfect, we can't use that as an excuse for when we sin. We can't justify our wrongdoings. We should never forget the seriousness of our sin.
Blindness to the seriousness of sin is why so many people have bought into the lie that they can do enough good things to be right with God - as if the good things can somehow outweigh the bad things. There is not a single so-called good thing we can do to outweigh or cancel the declaration of war we have made against God by our sin. We cannot make peace with God by anything we do. Only God can make that peace, and that’s exactly what he did. Romans 5:8 tells us, “but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Even while we were still sinners – even while we were declaring war on him – he declared peace at the cross for those who would follow him. Let us never forget that – that the God of peace made a way, the only way, for us to have peace with him. If you are a believer, you can confidently call God the God of peace because his disposition toward you is one of peace.
If you’ve been called to a ministry – and every single believer has been called to some kind of ministry – you will face attacks from the enemy. It’s paramount that you remember your God of peace as you serve.
Peace was made possible at the cross, and peace remains possible forever because of the resurrection. Because Jesus rose again and now lives forever, we can have peace with God forever. And because we have peace with God forever, we can have the peace that surpasses all understanding in every circumstance as we serve here on earth. If you’re committed to serving in ministry in any capacity, you’re going to face some not so peaceful situations and some not so peaceful people. I’ve had several conversations with friends lately who have recently taken on new ministry roles – roles in the church, roles in a church plant, roles in the home. Every single conversation has involved talking about the attacks and the spiritual warfare that has come as a result of those ministry roles or certain ministry decisions. If you’ve been called to a ministry – and every single believer has been called to some kind of ministry – you will face attacks from the enemy. It’s paramount that you remember your God of peace as you serve.
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