Wrapping up this letter to his friends, the author of Hebrews urges them to view their leaders as God gift to their community. This passage explains how we?re to follow faithful leaders, and where those leaders should be leading us.

Because of Jesus, worship looks different. There are no more temples, sacrifices, or ceremonial cleansings; now worship is a way of life, a life defined by gratitude for what God has done and will do for us through Jesus. This passage gives examples of what should mark a grateful life.

This passage, the rhetorical climax of the letter, summarizes the major themes of Hebrews. It reminds us where we?ve come through Jesus, where we?re going, and how we get there.

Samuel said to Saul, ?To obey is better than sacrifice.? Obedience is lovingly conforming our lives to the ways of God in thought, word, deed, and attitude. The apostle John, in his last writings, put it even more simply: walk as Jesus did. We do not impress God with our obedience; we delight him. It gives us the peaceful fruit of righteousness.

If the Christian life amounts to a long, difficult, and painful race, we?ve got to work as a team to strengthen each other and bind what is broken?to create a community of healing. We must work hard at what God is working out in us; this looks like peace with each other and a fuller dependence on God. And we must take responsibility for each other?s faith, pushing each other beyond apathy, hard-heartedness, and fleeting pleasure.

The witness of Israel?s heroes and especially of Jesus is this: God?s promises are more precious than the comforts of this world. But this text reveals another dimension to how we should view our pain as people of faith. Our pain is used by our Father to discipline us; it shows God loves us, it aims at our holiness, and it always bears fruit.

This conclusion to Hebrews?s list of faith?s exemplars offers a striking contrast. Sometimes faith brings back the dead, and sometimes faith costs everything. But the key point is this: if Jesus is alive, the difference between gaining or losing everything in this life doesn?t ultimately matter.

Moses?s life shows how faith is a matter of identity. Faith says that Jesus is more satisfying than the fleeting pleasure of sin. He?s more rewarding than the greatest treasures of this world. He?s more secure than the powers we admire and crave. And that?s because Jesus alone overcomes our inadequacy and makes us children of God.

The life of Abraham offers one of the Bible?s best examples of what it looks like to claim the promises of God by faith. Here our author uses Abraham?s life to call us to live as exiles in this world because we live with a homesick longing for the world to come.

If Jesus represents what God has done to redeem our broken relationship with him, faith is what that healed relationship looks like in us. Hebrews 11 is one of the Bible?s most beautiful descriptions of faith, and these first verses show us what it is and why it pleases God.