Authority. Who gets to say which course gets changed? And where do they get that authority?

“You’re not the boss of me” “You can’t tell me what to do.” Especially in Western culture, where we are used to having the right to do what we want to do, it’s difficult to submit to authority.

But as Christians, the whole idea of Lordship involves submitting with the correct perspective of authority:

Matthew 7:28-29 When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, for he taught with real authority— quite unlike their teachers of religious law.

In other words, there is a kind of authority that is not Tyrannical, but actually beneficial for those who are being led. The kind of authority Jesus talked with was different, obviously different than the religious rulers of the day. And in the next few chapters in Matthew flesh out this idea and show Jesus’ authority over sickness, over nature, and over demons. Then in chapter 8, we get the big picture about authority:

Matthew 8:5-10,13 When Jesus returned to Capernaum, a Roman officer came and pleaded with him, “Lord, my young servant lies in bed, paralyzed and in terrible pain.

Jesus said, “I will come and heal him.” But the officer said, “Lord, I am not worthy to have you come into my home. Just say the word from where you are, and my servant will be healed. I know this because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my soldiers. I only need to say, ‘Go,’ and they go, or ‘Come,’ and they come. And if I say to my slaves, ‘Do this,’ they do it.”

When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. Turning to those who were following him, he said, “I tell you the truth, I haven’t seen faith like this in all Israel!... Then Jesus said to the Roman officer, “Go back home. Because you believed, it has happened.” And the young servant was healed that same hour.

Authority matters. The officer understood it. HE had authority over soldiers and could command them to accomplish certain tasks, and so Jesus was able to perform miracles because all things are under his leadership. He is the ultimate authority – not just in this world but in the spiritual world as well.

Reading through Scripture, there is a correct way to embrace authority in our lives…

A 5-year-old girl was sitting at the breakfast table one morning and, in between bites of sugary cereal, she sang with one hand in the air and the other cradling her spoon. Her mom asked her what she was doing. “I’m praising God, Mama.” Then, in a huff of overly dramatized exhaustion, she dropped her hand on the table saying, “But sometimes praising God is hard. My arms get sooooo tired.”

Do you realize how true that statement is? There are definitely times when praising God is easy… Blessings are realized, we feel close to God, there’s so much good things going on.

But then there are times when it is almost exhausting to lift up praises to God. Life wears us down, people are taken away from us, things seem to end up in failure. Maybe you are in a season right now when praise just gets stuck in your throat and, like that little girl, you drop your arms on the table, crying out: “It's too hard!”

We are coming to the conclusion of this amazing letter to the Hebrew believers. And in the midst of the doctrine it teaches, we can see that ultimately what the Author is demonstrating is how the new covenant through the death and resurrection of Jesus is actually designed to lead God’s people into a new way of worship. Previously the Hebrews had been burdened with fulfilling the Mosaic Law, but by his sacrifice and resurrection, Jesus fulfilled those impossible standards and opened the way for the Holy Spirit to indwell believers and write the Divine Law on their hearts.

And if this is a new way of worship, then through that same Holy Spirit at work in our lives to get rid of the old self, the sinful nature, we are led into this lifestyle of worship.

A couple of weeks ago, as I was gearing up for the children’s performance down in Bend, I had a conversation with one of the dads of the kids in the theater group. He is a film-maker and he and I started up this conversation about potential collaborations. And in the course of the conversation it was brought up that he was a Jew - but he was quick to point out he wasn’t a “practicing Jew.” Now, I THINK I know what he meant. But it got me to thinking about the first part of Hebrews 13, and the practicality of how the Author of Hebrews is ending his letter.

Remember the letter is about encouraging the Hebrew believers to stay the course and to not go back to an inferior system of being made right with God. It’s a giant commercial for Jesus, if you recall. There hasn’t been a lot of practical application - more just teaching about correct doctrine and God’s plan for salvation. But now we are heading into this passage that is VERY practical. And connecting it with the conversation I had with this Jewish man who was not a “practicing Jew,” I look at today’s passage as a way to help us determine what is a “practicing Christian.”

And to be honest, I have come to a strong belief that true believers can ONLY describe themselves as “practicing Christians,” or in other words, Christians who put their faith into practice; not just leaving it as abstract theological thoughts and discussions. But truly life-changing faith that HAS to be put into practice in order to grasp faith that God has called us into...living your faith out loud.

In today’s passage, we have a good list — it’s definitely not the exhaustive complete list, but a good list nonetheless about what living out loud looks like for a Christian. Let’s read the passage and then talk about five pieces of evidence that would convict us if being a Christian were outlawed. These are some of the main marks of living our faith out loud.