Hebrews 13:15, commentary and pictures

Through Jesus Christ believers are to continually offer God gratitude expressed in words that honor His name, made acceptable by Christ's merit.
That gratitude is to be given in every circumstance and amid trials and sorrow with cheerfulness, taking the place of fault-finding and murmuring.
It requires lips that are sanctified and guarded, free from worthless, passionate, complaining, and idle talk, with thankfulness flowing from sincere hearts in harmony with heaven.
Such praise fills the lips when Christ's love and light dwell within through the Holy Spirit, magnifying Jesus while self is hidden.
It is sustained by habitual communion with God and secret prayer, and is expressed in worshipful music and in words and acts that build others up and bear witness of salvation.

Meaning and Context

By him means by Jesus Christ, through whom believers continually offer God the sacrifice of praise. His merit makes their worship acceptable, and the offering is expressed in thankful words spoken in honor of His name as part of a life whose speech builds others up and gives thanks to God.

The sacrifice of praise is the fruit of the lips giving thanks to His name, that is, words spoken in gratitude that honor God. It is offered with heart, soul, and voice, and speaking such praise glorifies Him. Waking to find life sustained by God calls for thankful words that honor Him, and believers should train their speech to give thanks and to speak timely words that help others. When God's love is in the heart the lips have good things to say and are used to praise and thank Him, while being guarded against unwholesome words. The fruit of the lips is to be sanctified, not made up of worthless or cheap speech, but reflecting gratitude for God and His grace and acknowledging Christ's grace and God's goodness and blessings.

This praise belongs with doing good and sharing with others, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Those who receive Christ have reason to praise God for adoption as His sons and daughters and for an immortal inheritance, with love leading them to acknowledge the cross as salvation and to give their gifts and offerings to God. Devotion includes costly acts of self-sacrifice and benevolence, and no sacrifice offered in faith is too costly, for good works done for Christ are remembered and rewarded. Thank offerings and praise offerings, together with kind deeds and self-denying sacrifices, are offerings brought to Christ as the foundation of salvation, which endure and are more valuable than earthly riches.

Its setting is Jesus suffering outside the gate, with His followers going forth to Him outside the camp bearing His reproach, having no continuing city here but seeking one to come. It requires conversation without covetousness and with contentment, boldly saying the Lord is helper who will never leave nor forsake. It calls for gathering with Christ shoulder to shoulder in His work instead of centering self, cherishing grievances and bitterness, and scattering away from Him. Sacrifice no longer requires offerings of slain animals, for God requires obedience from all reasoning creatures, and thanksgiving and praise to God remain a continual offering and a privilege and duty.

Sanctified Heart and Speech

Praise is to be offered continually through Jesus, giving thanks to his name even amid trials and sorrow and in every circumstance as a privilege. It is to be expressed with cheerfulness because God has done all things well, showing the bright and cheerful side of religion. This sacrifice of praise takes the place of fault-finding, murmuring, and indulging unhappy feelings. Choosing praise rather than unhappy feelings keeps believers from losing blessings, for trials received as educators produce joy rather than continual mourning.

The fruit of the lips must be sanctified and guarded, offered to God and shaped by the Holy Spirit into good and sound speech that glorifies him. It is not to be made up of worthless, cheap, disorderly, passionate, complaining, unwholesome, idle, or frivolous talk, and the lips are to be guarded against unwholesome words. Thanksgiving is to go forth continually from sincere, unfeigned lips, with no guile and no deception, no impurity allowed in the heart, and no unkindliness in speech or attitude toward one another. This is cultivated with grace and love and deep interest in spiritual things, as learning here the language of Canaan that will be in harmony with the language of heaven.

Praise and thanksgiving fill the lips when Christ's light shines in the soul and when his love and God's love are in the heart, giving the lips good things to say. They are accomplished through the Holy Spirit and Christ's grace, power, and presence purifying and sanctifying the heart. So Jesus is magnified while self is hidden, and since every good thing comes from Christ there is no reason for self-exaltation but every reason to magnify and praise the Lord. Thanksgiving as an offering includes praise from the lips and the whole being, which belongs to God as his purchased possession, with gratitude for his blessings expressed in a life devoted to him.

Waking to find life sustained by God calls for thankful words that honor him. Praising God kindles love in hearts and helps resist idle, frivolous talk. Prayer and praise offered continually on the lips show the guidance and control of the Holy Spirit.

Worship Service and Witness

Music is a branch of worship for continually offering the sacrifice of praise to God. Voices lifted in songs of praise and devotion ascend to Him as an acceptable offering, joined when practicable by instrumental music in glorious harmony. This singing is to be purposeful, with beauty, feeling and power, and made with care and preparation rather than from impulse, only for special cases, or left to blundering that lessens its effect on the minds of those present.

Continual praise grows out of habitual communion with God in which wants are made known and the heart is kept open to receive fresh blessing. It is sustained by secret prayer that keeps the inner life alive, creating desire to commune with God and holy confidence in leaning upon Him. It is kept ascending by conforming to the Word of God, bringing truth and righteousness into the home life, establishing the family altar and maintaining it, having a mind for prayer and being instant in prayer, and earnestly seeking power from above to exercise in the family. Neglect of this family praise and prayer dishonors God by nonconformity to His Word.

Love to Jesus in the heart cannot be repressed but must express itself, appearing in spoken words, in acts of active kindness to others, and in public worship. The refreshing received from Jesus so appears because thankful words that honor His name are part of a life whose speech builds others up and gives thanks to God. The fruit of the lips is praise offered with heart, soul, and voice, and believers are to train their speech to give thanks and to speak timely words that can help others. Reflecting to others the light God has given and bearing the good news of salvation are precious offerings to God, made by hearts filled with praise.

Those who receive Christ have reason to praise God for adoption as His sons and daughters and for an immortal inheritance. Love for the Saviour leads them to acknowledge the cross as salvation and to give their gifts and offerings to God in word and deed. Showing appreciation for those who are trying to work for the saving of souls and giving encouragement by showing appreciation is a good offering of praise to the Lord, but praising people in a way that lifts them up is not to be done.