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"Outside the Camp": Hebrews 13

LANDON SAUNDERSHouston, Texas

Few, if any, of the diseases that plague the people of God are morefatal than "insiderism." The reason is clear: Insiderism conspiresagainst the very heart and mission of the church. It confuses identity;

it distorts the message; it poisons the spirit; it weakens the members; itbetrays its head; it violates the basic law of the kingdom.

Evidences of insiderism are everywhere. The flow of money inchurches is from the members to the treasury and back to the membersagain in the form of buildings, programs, personnel, and equipment.Members are told to give, while those responsible for the funds keep.Leadership insists on spending on ourselves even when it threatens todisturb the harmony of the congregation. The voices that cry out for

others are drowned by the voices who want to build. One wonders if we believe the kingdom of God is dependent on sticks and stones. Itis always easier to build buildings than to lay down one's life forthe world. The kingdom that comes by observation is always easierto manage than the kingdom within.

Further evidence is the presence of an institutionalism that relieson its operations. Constant efforts are made to mobilize theseoperations for church work and evangelism, which usually amountto little more than inflated rhetoric released during special days of heightened activities and subsequent press releases, which are usually,

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suburban areas to talk to the people to find out where they are andhow they view their lives and what they think of their humanity and

what their needs are. Jesus lived and worked every day among thepeople. Insiderism has so successfully captured us and intrigued usthat we have little inclination to go outside and are apt to be paralyzedby the thought of how and where to begin. We rarely make it ourbusiness to understand the world God loved and gave his only son for.We are even apt to become defensive before the challenge.

More evidence of the prevalent disease of insiderism is in the qualityof our worship together. If a person is confined to a small enoughspace, the air is soon poisoned by his own breath. He becomes sluggish,his speech unclear, and his effectiveness destroyed. Illness and deathresult.

Such conditions are apparent in many of our assemblies. Sluggishnessand boredom betray our words. The reality of God has been replacedby artificiality and ritual. We are consuming ourselves.

When the church is engaged in her life-and-death mission in the

world, her assemblies will be vital and the reality of God evident.We must examine ourselves: Are we serving the institution instead of

people? Do we mistake religious language for the Word of God? Arewe more concerned with our image than we are with a servant-mind? Is our eye more on the brotherhood than on our elder brother?Do we confuse edification with our mission in the marketplace?

Perhaps no chapter speaks to this problem more compellingly than

Hebrews 13. The key to the chapter may be verse 16: "Do not neglectto do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices arepleasing to God." Here is the heart of what we are about. When wefail here, we are no longer pleasing to God.

We are in the world for sacrifice. This is not a painful, negativecalling; rather it is the highest and noblest plane on which one canlive. To fail to grasp this point is to fail in our understanding of howto fulfill a human life. Contrary to suggesting a do-without kind of hangdog existence, this calls us to a have-everything kind of exhileratingadventure. It is not an option; it is the only road to human fulfillment.

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'Outside the Camp": Hebrews 13 21

Jesus Outside

"So Jesus also suffered outside the gate in order to sanctify thepeople through his own blood" (Hebrews 13:12).

Jesus came for the lost. To reach them he lived among them. Helived outside; it was appropriate for him to die outside. He knew onecould not save the outside from the inside. He lived and died outsidethe gate in order to sanctify the people through his own blood. Jesusknew the cost of reaching people. He believed people were worth thecost.

It is important to remember that his style was to give his life-whetherto a woman by the well, a Zacchaeus in the tree, a blind man by theroadside, or on a wooden cross. His life was a sacrifice as much ashis death. He did good and shared what he had and was pleasing toGod.

Living outside, he knew what insiders could never knowthepeople. He experienced their pain and suffering, their struggles andyearnings, their questions and doubts. He viewed the little things of

their lives. As a result, huge crowds assembled to hear him. Theyheard him take those little things and give them a perspective thatlifted them from the daily dull routine that brought deadness tospirit and body to a life that is free and loving and significantnoticedand cared for by a heavenly Father. He touched their wounds,acknowledged their tears, listened to their stories, convinced them of their value, and inspired them to act with courage and hope.

From the outside he could see clearly the problem of the inside.

He knew they were no longer stressing the greatest commandment orthe second one. He saw the gnats and camels and knew which waswhich! He could differentiate between mint and dill and cummin andthe weightier matters of justice and mercy and faith. The insiders'preoccupation with themselves, their language, their traditions, theirself-righteousness, their commercialism was clear to him. With thesinful woman he felt the dehumanizing weight of self-righteousness,heard the impersonal arguments that feigned concern for the poor,which were not there, while treating with callus scorn the person whowas there. Yes, from the outside he saw the inside that had become"whitewashed tombs full of dead men's bones and all uncleanness "

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"Outside the Camp": Hebrews 13 23

God locked in mission will have certainty and boldness that willastonish the world.

To lose our mission is to lose our hope. True hope arises fromtrue mission. To see God's power at work in the deadness of humanlife is to have the heart buoyed and the spirit revived; it is to knowthat here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is tocome. To see Christ coming in the human life, forgiving andtransforming, is to be assured again and again of his coming in theclouds. We see this when we go forth to him outside the camp.

The Outside StyleWhat are the practical implications of this? What can we do? Where

do we begin?The writer of Hebrews speaks to these questions. In fact, he speaks

clearly enough for everyone to understand where to begin and how toproceed. His words are very doable. Here's a plan for those who arewilling to make the decision:

1) "Let brotherly love continue." Obviously, this is critical to ourwork outside. "By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:35). We can all do this.

2) "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers. . . ." Goingforth to him outside the camp does not mean you must quit your job,sell your house, and move to a strange place. It is living in Christ'sway right where you are. It is living out the mind of Christ. It meansusing your home as a place where hospitality is extended to outsiders.

You may not feel you could evangelize, but you could love strangersby having them in to eat and talk. Establishing relationships is oneof the critical aspects of evangelism, and your home is one of thebest places in the world to do that work.

By so doing your children will experience your discipleship andlearn the way to fulfillment as God's child.

3) "Remember those who are in prison . . . and those who areill-treated . . . " So gently the writer focuses our attention on theoutside. What if every congregation obeyed these words? Are we willing?Do we really want to follow Jesus? The outside causes us to probe

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never be known. Going forth to him outside the camp will putexcitement in a marriage that nothing else will. And the world will

see5) "Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content

with what you have; for he has said, will never leave you or forsakeyou.' " Can we ever get money in its right perspective as long as welive inside? When we have learned what to do with our lives, then

we will know how to view our money. He is pointing us to realfreedom.

6) "Remember your leaders . . . consider the outcome of their life,and imitate their faith." If members of the body were doing this,

where would the church be? When we've decided to live outside thecamp, then we will love leaders in a new and exciting way.

7) "Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings." Oncemore, the outside will always mean risk. It will also mean a new incentive to study, a new challenge to our faithfulness. We encounternew pressures outside, but these, when understood, bring us into a

deeper life and grace.8) "Do not neglect to do good and share what you have, for such

sacrifices are pleasing to God."

9) "Obey your leaders and submit to them . . ."

We live in a very complex period of history. The United States has become a pluralistic society. Assumptions of yesterday are of little value in understanding our nation today. Values, morals, and religionhave undergone profound changes since World War II.

But we must not stand before this nation and the world intimidated,ingrown, or fearful. Rather, we must take up the cross and march

boldly to the outside, knowing that he who walked that way first isthere to greet us and to be with us.

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, thegreat shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in you that which ispleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.

Hebrews 13:20, 21

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