Hebrews 13:21

Hebrews 13:21

The Great Prayer Based on Great Pleas.

I. Consider the prayer which the name excites: "Make you perfect in every good work." We should expect that all the discord of our nature shall be changed into a harmonious cooperation of all its parts towards one great end. We bear about within us a warring anarchy and tumultuous chaos, where solid and fluid, warm and cold, light and dark, storm and calm, contend. Is there any power that can harmonise this divided nature of ours, where lusts, and passions, and inclinations of all sorts, drag one way and duty draws another, so that a man is torn apart as it were with wild horses? There is one. "The worlds" were harmonised, adapted, and framed together, chaos turned into order and beauty, and the God of peace will come and do that for us, if we will let Him, so that the low schism which affects our natures may be changed into perfect harmony.

II. Note, secondly, the Divine work which fulfils the prayer: "Working in you that which is well-pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ." Creation, providence, and all God's works in the world, are also through Jesus Christ. But the work which is spoken of here is yet greater and more wonderful. There is, says the text, an actual Divine operation in the inmost spirit of every believing man. God does not work by magic. The Spirit of God, who cleanses men's hearts, cleanses them on condition (1) of their faith, (2) of their submission, and (3) of their use of His gift. If you fling yourselves into the war of worldly life, the noise of the streets and whirring of the looms, and the racket of the children in the nursery, and the buzzings of temptations round about you, and your own passions, will deafen your ears so that you will never hear the still small voice that speaks a present God.

III. Lastly, notice the visible manifestation of the inward work. God works in order that you and I may work. Our action is to follow His. Practical obedience is the issue, and it is the test, of our having this Divine operation in our hearts. There are plenty of people who will talk largely about spiritual gifts, and almost vaunt their possession of such a Divine operation. Let us bring them and ourselves to the test, Are you doing God's will in daily life in the little things? If so, then you may believe that God is working in you. If not, it is of no use to talk about spiritual gifts. The test of being filled with the Divine operation is that our actions shall be conformed to His will. Action is the end of all. We get the truth, we get our souls saved, we have all the abundance and exuberance of Divine revelation, we have the cross of Jesus Christ, we have the gift of the Divine Spirit, miracles and marvels of all sorts have been done, for the one purpose to make us able to do what is right in God's sight, and to do it because it is His will.

A. Maclaren, Paul's Prayers,p. 91.

References: Hebrews 13:22. Expositor,1st series, vol. vii., p. 155; Fletcher, Thursday Penny Pulpit,vol. iii., p. 157.