Tag: Hebrews 10:19-25

Spurring one Another On, Bringing Out The Best In Others: How Well Does Anyone Really Recognize The Truest Urgency of Encouragement? Hebrews 10:19-25

Hebrews 10:19-25 Christian Standard Bible

Exhortations to Godliness

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus— 20 he has inaugurated[a] for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)— 21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. 23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

The word for “encouraging” here means literally “to stand alongside.”

https://www.blueletterbible.org/lexicon/g3870/kjv/tr/0-1/

It has to do with assuring someone that you care, strengthening them by just being there, by coming alongside of them. It’s also similar to a word used to describe the Holy Spirit—parakletos, which means “counselor, advocate.”

Is there anyone out there who does not need to be encouraged today?

There is a high probability that the answer to that question is a resounding NO!

We all do!

Anyone who says they never need encouragement is probably a hurting person.

There’s nothing wrong with desiring or needing encouragement. Jesus did.

His Father encouraged him, saying, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22). An angel encouraged him as he struggled alone one night, knowing he would soon be arrested and crucified (Luke 22:43).

In the Upper Room as they were all together celebrating their Passover, Jesus mightily stirred them up by declaring as he broke the bread – “this is my body which is broken for you, then declaring as he raised the cup – this is my blood which is being shed for you, then getting up he shed his tunic and he stated to wash everyone’s feet – John 13:6-8

6 He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

7 Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.”

8 “You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.

Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”

The disciples were completely stunned, disoriented by these declarations.

Jesus could easily sense this disorientation and moved quickly to encourage.

John 14:1-6 Amplified Bible

Jesus Comforts His Disciples

14 “Do not let your heart be troubled (afraid, cowardly). Believe [confidently] in God and trust in Him, [have faith, hold on to it, rely on it, keep going and]  believe also in Me. 2 In My Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, because I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and I will take you to Myself, so that where I am you may be also. 4 And [to the place]  where I am going, you know the way.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going; so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him,  “[a]I am the [only] Way [to God]  and the [real] Truth and the [real] Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

How well do we recognize when our neighbors need anyone’s encouragement?

One may be a student leaving home for college. Another may be a tired, frazzled mother facing the stress of child care and a strained marriage. Another may be a new widow or widower or new mother whose young child is now facing a severe life threatening medical diagnosis and facing long, lonely and uncertain days, an addict or an alcoholic who is burning one bridge after the other in their days of active use and abuse – they are just about to become unsupported, homeless.

Or perhaps there’s someone you have not seen at worship in a while. When that person is contacted, you discover their life has been put on notice when words like marital separation or divorce are being showered by tears all around them, or their house is being foreclosed, sudden loss of job, and any other countless and diverse reasons for tears. People who need encouragement are not far away.

Our children’s teachers, our worship leaders, pastors, elders—all of these folks need encour­agement. Elderly members of our congregations going through a time of transition, moving into senior or assistive living, having to surrender their driver’s license. Being available, a daily encourager can be an addictive but healthy habit. Loving by encouraging, by exhorting, can bring energy and joy.

Will you ask for it?

Will you give it?

Will you do it?

Will you receive it?

Transformation Through Exhortation

2 Timothy 4:1-5 Amplified Bible

“Preach the Word”

4 I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: 2 preach the word [as an official messenger]; be ready when the time is right and even when it is not [keep your sense of urgency, whether the opportunity seems favorable or unfavorable, whether convenient or inconvenient, whether welcome or unwelcome]; correct [those who err in doctrine or behavior], warn [those who sin], exhort and encourage [those who are growing toward spiritual maturity], with inexhaustible patience and [faithful] teaching. 3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate sound doctrine and accurate instruction [that challenges them with God’s truth]; but wanting to have their ears tickled [with something pleasing], they will accumulate for themselves [many] teachers [one after another, chosen] to satisfy their own desires and to support the errors they hold, 4 and will turn their ears away from the truth and will wander off into myths and man-made fictions [and will accept the unacceptable]. 5 But as for you, be clear-headed in every situation [stay calm and cool and steady], endure every hardship [without flinching], do the work of an evangelist, fulfill [the duties of] your ministry.

Some of us need to be told to get off the sofa and be productive. Sometimes we just need to receive an order. That’s why there are many commands in the Bible.

Paul motivates Timothy through exhortations, such as Preach, be prepared, correct, rebuke, encourage.

Paul says, “You’ve got an important job to do. I have encouraged you; I have equipped you; I have given you an example; and now I charge you to get down to God’s business.”

The more I get to know myself, the more I realize that I often need a push to volunteer for service in God’s army. I need God himself as my drill sergeant.

We are all born with different personalities.

Hearing a command motivates some while frustrating others.

Prohibitions against disgraceful behavior can actually stir up a desire to disobey.

Something I frequently heard in my more mischievous youth; “Tell that child to stay away from the cookie jar,” and soon Mom would hear its lid rattling open.

Similarly, a “KEEP OFF THE GRASS” sign will actually prompt some soul to deliberately walk on the grass. But although commands might not work for all, most of us needed several stout words from our parents authority in our lives.

God is the ultimate authority in all of our lives.

We follow his commands because He has ultimate authority.

In awe, fear and deep reverence, we know he cares for us, has our best in mind, and acts from an eternal perspective and God’s criticism is always constructive.

And his exhortations are priceless advice. He charges us to hear, listen, obey.

Unswervingly Spur others to Greater Works …

John 14:12-13 Amplified Bible

12 I assure you and most solemnly say to you, anyone who believes in Me [as Savior] will also do the things that I do; and he will do even greater things than these [in extent and outreach], because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in My name [[a]as My representative], this I will do, so that the Father may be glorified and celebrated in the Son.

Unswervingly, in generic English translation it means to follow a direct path, to never turn aside and to be steadfast and loyal.

In Greek, the word is anthistemi, which means to set against or withstand without giving up or letting go.  We are to withstand without giving up on the hope we profess. We cannot turn or be turned aside from that hope.

We must hold tightly to it with a single-minded belief that this hope we have in Jesus, that which we profess is based on God’s promises which are unfailing.

The second word that grabbed me here was, spur. 

When I hear or see the word spur I think of an attachment to a cowboy’s boots which is meant to get their horses moving forward with a bit more urgency…

Spur also means to provoke or stir up, to goad in to action or to incite. 

It also means to urge or encourage to action, to move in vigorous pursuit of an object, to stimulate, to impel, to drive.

We are to spur each other on toward love and good deeds and not to neglect meeting together.

Spur does not mean suggest, imply, or consider.

It does not mean that we should think about it or wait for the right time or even to hold off till it’s convenient.

The sense of urgency here is clear.

We are to stand firm without turning aside, setting ourselves against all that comes at us in the hope of God’s promises.

Additionally, we are to drive and incite each other toward love and good deeds.

This is action! As I read this scripture with new eyes, I don’t see it as the warm fuzzy that I once did, encouraging me to remember God’s promises and to make sure I remain disciplined enough to continue to meet together with the Body.

This is a call to action.

A call for us to stand firm in the living Word of God, and the promises of God in our beliefs, our faith, to encourage one another to act as Christ has taught us.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Psalm 20 Complete Jewish Bible

20 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David:

2 (1) May Adonai answer you in times of distress,
may the name of the God of Ya‘akov protect you.
3 (2) May he send you help from the sanctuary
and give you support from Tziyon.
4 (3) May he be reminded by all your grain offerings
and accept the fat of your burnt offerings. (Selah)
5 (4) May he grant you your heart’s desire
and bring all your plans to success.

6 (5) Then we will shout for joy at your victory
and fly our flags in the name of our God.
May Adonai fulfill all your requests.

7 (6) Now I know that Adonai
gives victory to his anointed one —
he will answer him from his holy heaven
with mighty victories by his right hand.

8 (7) Some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we praise the name of Adonai our God.
9 (8) They will crumple and fall,
but we will arise and stand erect.

10 (9) Give victory, Adonai!
Let the King answer us the day we call.

Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.

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If We Are The Body of Christ, The Church: And Seeking God Through Our Community? Hebrews 10:19-25

How much do we believe we need God and how much do we believe we need each other?

We have long since proven, time and time again, to everyone who is with us, who is around us and against us we cannot make it on our own.

God calls us to “get it together,” to get together regularly to encourage and to motivate each other to live vibrant lives of service and faith.

With the day of Jesus’ return and our ultimate victory on the horizon, we should be motivated even more to help and to encourage each other.

Question is, are we as completely, fully, motivated to be together in community as God is always and forever in Community with Himself?

Hebrews 10:19-25 New American Standard Bible

A New and Living Way

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, 20 by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, through His flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let’s approach God with a [a]sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let’s hold firmly to the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; 24 and let’s consider how to [b]encourage one another in love and good deeds, 25 not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

If We Are the Body of Christ and Seeking God’s Face?

For the Body of Christ, disciplining ourselves, learning to seek the face of God is the very foundation for our experiencing the amazing life Jesus died to give us.

As the Body of Christ, we have available to us through our Savior Jesus Christ all of the opportunities, the wonders, excellencies, and satisfaction we can fathom.

As the Body of Christ, God has granted us grace upon grace, mercy upon mercy, forgiveness after forgiveness, affection upon affection, and love upon all love.

As the Body of Christ, as we pursue him through all the avenues available to us, a door is opened in which we discover all our heavenly Father longs to give us.

Our Savior Jesus Christ did not die and we, the Body of Christ were not created to go about this life apart from a real relationship with fellow children of God.

Without the friendship, without the fellowship of our brothers and sisters, we will never authentically experience the true fullness of life God intends for us.

Together, in community, we inevitably discover our place in the body of Christ.

In community, we learn what it is to actually serve out of love, honor, respect.

And in the fullness of community, we receive the healing and love that can only come from those who gather together in friendship to share in the same Spirit.

And We Are Seeking God Through Our Community?

Acts 2:40-47 Amplified Bible

40 And Peter solemnly testified and continued to admonish and urge them with many more words, saying, “[a]Be saved from this crooked and unjust generation!” 41 So then, those who accepted his message were baptized; and on that day about [b]3,000 souls were added [to the body of believers]. 42 They were continually and faithfully devoting themselves to the instruction of the apostles, and to fellowship, to [c]eating meals together and to prayers.

43 A sense of awe was felt by [d]everyone, and many wonders and signs (attesting miracles) were taking place through the apostles. 44 And all those who had believed [in Jesus as Savior] [e]were together and had all things in common [considering their possessions to belong to the group as a whole]. 45  And they began selling their property and possessions and were sharing the proceeds with all [the other believers], as anyone had need. 46 Day after day they met in the temple [area] continuing with one mind, and breaking bread in various private homes. They were eating their meals together with joy and generous hearts, 47 praising God continually, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord kept adding to their number daily those who were being saved.

Acts 2 describes the Church community that my soul fully longs for.

We, who are the Church was created by God for honest, vulnerable fellowship.

We were created by God through the life blood of His own Son Jesus to help each other, eat together, celebrate and worship our God, also celebrate, love others.

Through engaging with fellow believers, we become an authentic witness to the world of what happens when our One true God works in the hearts of each of his children – we gather together to celebrate and declare through our love for each other, the life and joy that comes from a relationship with our heavenly Father.

Scripture is clear that true community requires sacrifice and vulnerability. 

1 Corinthians 12:25-26 says, “That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”

God’s desire is for all his children to humble themselves and live as one body.

Division and Rancor among His Children is Satan’s idea right from the start. (Genesis 3:1-7 The Message)

3 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”

2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”

4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”

6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.

7 Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.

When one part of a physical body “sees what is really going on,” they “see themselves as being naked” the rest of the body sees what is going on, sees themselves as being “naked” and start “sewing their own makeshift clothes.”

When one part of a physical body hurts, the rest of the body feels the pain and is supposed to come together, one body, with the goal of working together to heal.

Instead of this ideal situation, in our rush to panic, to cover our hurt and our naked embarrassment we rush to become our own kind of specialized doctors.

We sew together our own fig leaves.

Then when God comes to His Garden for a standard “Wellness Check” we panic further, get embarrassed by our nakedness all the more – and rush to “hide.”

We forget what we know about God, that we are created in His Image, not ours.

For God so loved the world, which would soon include His Children, created by His own hand, that He spoke into the darkness of chaos, the mess of disorder and brought one order – His order, not ours – poured His love into that order.

God desires His order, to be the same One order, One community, as He is in Community with His Son and Holy Spirit, among the spiritual body of believers.

As we stand before the world, in the embarrassment of our nakedness being our mistakes, missteps, misjudgments – “trying to sew all our fig leaves together,”

He desires to fill us with his love and use us to provide healing for one another.

From our embarrassment at being naked, He longs to guide us to a lifestyle of humility and sacrifice in pursuit of being his hands and feet for each other.

To find consolation together, to find the “mind and humility of Christ Jesus” and to work together and together to make it our own, to model it to the world as Savior Christ did. (Philippians Chapter 2:1-16 The Message)

He Took on the Status of a Slave

2 1-4 If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care—then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.

5-8 Think of yourselves the way Christ Jesus thought of himself. He had equal status with God but didn’t think so much of himself that he had to cling to the advantages of that status no matter what. Not at all. When the time came, he set aside the privileges of deity and took on the status of a slave, became human! Having become human, he stayed human. It was an incredibly humbling process. He didn’t claim special privileges. Instead, he lived a selfless, obedient life and then died a selfless, obedient death—and the worst kind of death at that—a crucifixion.

9-11 Because of that obedience, God lifted him high and honored him far beyond anyone or anything, ever, so that all created beings in heaven and on earth—even those long ago dead and buried—will bow in worship before this Jesus Christ, and call out in praise that he is the Master of all, to the glorious honor of God the Father.

Rejoicing Together

12-13 What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure.

14-16 Do everything readily and cheerfully—no bickering, no second-guessing allowed! Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God. Carry the light-giving Message into the night so I’ll have good cause to be proud of you on the day that Christ returns. You’ll be living proof that I didn’t go to all this work for nothing.

It takes receiving the love of God in the same spirit it was given to give love the God in the same spirit God first gave it. (1 John 4:7-21 The Message)

God Is Love

7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.

11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

13-16 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.

To Love, to Be Loved

17-18 God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

20-21 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.

It requires a work of the Spirit to fill us with courage to be vulnerable with our community in order to receive and give the love we’ve been given in Christ.

So, will you be a child filled with the very first love of your Father God today?

Will you allow God to use you to help a brother or sister?

Will you choose the purpose and joy and humility, the “mind of Christ” that comes from carrying the cross of Jesus, living sacrificially and vulnerably?

If so, you will discover a satisfaction second to nothing else, only found in the mercy of God and the edification that comes from believers loving one another.

May you one day, find the fellowship your heart longs for as you courageously celebrate and love your brothers and sisters as God celebrates all His Children.

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Guided Prayer:

1. Meditate on the importance of community. Allow Scripture to fill you with a desire to love and be loved by your community.

“Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken.” – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12

“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” – Proverbs 27:17

“And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.”- Acts 2:42-47

2. Reflect on your need for community. Where do you need the healing that comes from relationship with others? What people has God placed in your life? How can you in humility reach out to them for help?

3. Take time and pray for an increase in God-filled community in your life. How does he want to use you to help another person today? How can you lead out in being courageously vulnerable? If you lack such a thing, ask God to provide you with this type of community to share life with.

Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working . . . . My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” – James 5:13-16, 19-20

God does not ask us to wait forever in our Upper Rooms for others to step out and live in accordance with his Spirit before He calls us too. (Acts 2:1-4)

His will for us doesn’t hinge upon others’ obedience.

God is calling you and me to come away from our “nakedness” to a lifestyle of joyful service, sacrifice, and love regardless of people’s initiatives or responses.

He longs to make garments of praise, fill us with the courage to love others well and help them through their brokenness to a place of honesty and vulnerability.

May you and I one day come together to be the loving hands and feet of Jesus to your brothers and sisters who so desperately need a forgiving touch from God.

The Word of God for the Children of God.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son: and to the Holy Ghost; As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be: world without end. Amen.

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Consider how to Motivate each Other. Just how to Stir One another Up to love being the Church. Hebrews 10:19-25.

Ye Servants of God (Charles Wesley, 1707-1788)

1. Ye servants of God, your Master proclaim,
and publish abroad his wonderful name;
the name all-victorious of Jesus extol,
his kingdom is glorious and rules over all.

2. God ruleth on high, almighty to save,
and still he is nigh, his presence we have;
the great congregation his triumph shall sing,
ascribing salvation to Jesus, our King.

3. “Salvation to God, who sits on the throne!”
Let all cry aloud and honor the Son;
the praises of Jesus the angels proclaim,
fall down on their faces and worship the Lamb.

4. Then let us adore and give him his right,
all glory and power, all wisdom and might;
all honor and blessing with angels above,
and thanks never ceasing and infinite love.

Hebrews 10:19-25Disciples’ Literal New Testament

Therefore, Let Us Approach God in Full Assurance of Faith and Hold on Without Wavering

19 Therefore, brothers, having confidence for the entering of the Holies by the blood of Jesus— 20 which fresh[a] and living way He inaugurated for us through [b] the curtain, that is[c], His flesh— 21 and having a great Priest over the house of God, 22 let us be approaching God with a true heart in full-assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled[d] from an evil conscience, and having our body washed[e] with clean water. 23 Let us be holding-on- to the confession of our hope without-wavering, for the One having promised is faithful. 24 And let us be considering[f] one another for the provoking love and good works, 25 not forsaking the gathering-together of ourselves as is a habit with some, but exhorting[h] one another, and so-much more by-as-much-as you see the day drawing-near.

The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.

Ye Servants of God, What Exactly Are We Doing with our Life Which Points to Jesus?

When you get up in the morning and you face a day, what do you say to yourself about your hopes for the day? What do you do to motivate yourself? When you look from the beginning of the day to the end of the day, what do you want to happen because you have lived? What difference do you want your life to make?

If you say, I don’t even think like that, I just get up and do what I’ve got to do, then you are cutting yourself off from a basic means of grace and a source of guidance and strength and fruitfulness and joy.

It is crystal clear throughout the Bible, including this text from Hebrews, that God means for us to aim consciously at something significant in our days.

Gods revealed will for us is that when we get up in the morning, we don’t drift aimlessly through the day letting mere circumstances alone dictate what we do, but that we aim at something — that we focus on a certain kind of purpose.

I’m talking about children here, and teenagers, and adults — single, married, widowed, moms, every age, every season of life and every walk, every trade.

Aimlessness is akin to lifelessness. Dead leaves in the back yard may move around more than anything else — more than the dog, more than the children.

The wind blows this way, they go this way. The wind blows that way, they go that way. They tumble, they bounce, they skip, they press against a fence, but they have no aim whatsoever. They are full of motion and empty of real life.

God did not create humans in his image to be aimless, purposeless wanderers, like a mound of lifeless leaves blown around in the backyard of life. He created us to be motivated, purposeful — to have a focus and an aim for all our days.

And this is not the least bit oppressive. It’s not slavery. It’s not depleting.

To find what we were made for and to do it with all God’s might (Colossians 1:29), is freeing (Galatians 5:13) and energizing. Jesus said, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me” (John 4:34). Food! Aiming day by day to do what we were meant to do is like eating: it gives and nourishes life and energy, rather than taking it away. You will eventually die if you do what you were meant to do.

You and I may be young, or we may be old. That is God’s choice, not ours. But when live and die doing what we were meant to do, we live, die well and full.

Ye Servants of God, what do we consider the Aim, Focus of Our Lives as Christians?

Would you please consider with me what these verses from Hebrew teach us about the aim and focus of our lives as Christians?

I fervently pray God may use them to bring crystal-clear focus to your life. He may use them to blow away all the confusion and fog, the excuses and fear, and shall give a lucid, bright, crisp, spring-morning clarity to the aim of your days.

1. Ye Servants of God, Embrace Your Living Hope

First, verse 23 says, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

Now that is not something you do with your hands or your feet. You don’t go to the kitchen to do this, or to the den or across the street or to the office or to school. This is not done where anyone can see. This is an affair of the heart.

Embrace your living hope.

Hold fast to your living hope.

Be a hopeful, hope-filled person. Hope in God.

Because God has made promises to you, and he is faithful.

He has promised to write the law on your heart (Hebrews 10:16) and work in you what is pleasing in his sight (Hebrews 13:21);

He has promised to remember your sins no more (Hebrews 10:17);

He has promised that we will be perfected for all time by a single sacrifice (Hebrews 10:14);

He has promised never to leave us or forsake us (Hebrews 13:59);

He has promised to bring good from all our pain (Hebrews 12:10).

And so, Ye Servants of God, believe with all your heart God keeps his word.

But that does not provide you with a sufficient focus for the day?

God did not create you to curl up under the covers and hope in God all day in bed. Without some effect on your life, hope in God would be invisible and bring no public glory to God’s power and wisdom and goodness and trustworthiness.

If the act of hoping in God were all that he created you to aim at, then verse 24 would be wasted words.

But they are not.

God created you first to hope in him, and then to make that hope visible by the effect that it has on your life. And that effect is given in verse 24, and it is to be the aim of your daily life. This is why God wakes everyone up in the morning.

2. Ye Servants of God, Motivate yourself to Motivate others – Stir Up Each Other to Love and Good Deeds

Let’s read it. Verse 24: “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.”

Here is the focus for our life. Here is what we aim at from morning till night as a Christian. Notice carefully: it is not what you might expect. It is not: consider how to love each other and do good deeds. That would be Biblical and right.

But it’s different: “Consider how to stimulate each other to love and good deeds.” Focus on helping others become loving people. Aim at stirring up others to do good deeds.

And of course, the implication would then also be that if others need help and stirring, we do too, and so we would be aiming at what diverse sorts of ways we can think and feel and talk and act that will likewise stir each other up to love and to do good deeds. The true aim of our lives is not just loving and doing good deeds but likewise helping to stir up others to love and to good deeds.

3. Ye Servants of God, Consider Each Other

But let’s be more precise. There is something in this text that is very hard to bring over into English.

The word “consider,” (“Let us consider how to . . .”) is used one other time in the book, namely, Hebrews 3:1, where the writer says, “Consider Jesus.”

That is, look at him; think about him, focus on him, study him, let your mind be occupied with him.

“Jesus” is the direct object of the verb “consider.” “Consider Jesus.”

Consider what? Consider Jesus. Well, in Hebrews 10:24 the grammar is the same: the direct object of the word “consider” is “one another.” Literally, it says, “Consider the Savior Jesus Christ in one another.”

Ye Servants of God – God’s Call for Everyone

Consider one another. But this is almost impossible to bring over into English with the rest of the sentence, because it would be so awkward.

It would have to go something like this: “Consider one another toward the stimulating of love and good works.” Now that is terrible English — good Greek word order but terrible English. The best we can do, it seems, is to say, “Consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.”

But I want you to get this nuance of the original so you can feel the force of this as a daily aim and focus for your life.

Literally, this is God’s call on each of us to consider one another, that is, to look at one another, think about one another, focus on one another, to study one another, to let your mind be occupied with one another. And the goal of this focus on others is to think of ways of stimulating them to love and good deeds.

I ever so strongly urge you to hear God’s word in Hebrews 10:24. When you get up in the morning, Consider — think about, ponder, deliberate, meditate, mull over — other people, with this conscious goal: what can I do today so that they will be stirred up to radical, random, Christian acts love and to good deeds?

Now there is a reason to live and a focus for every day that will never be boring.

Every day is new and different. People change. Their circumstances change. You change. But the call remains the same: consider, consider, consider these people you will be around today.

What are they like? What am I like? What will the situation be like?

What helps a person become more loving?

What is the origin of genuine good deeds?

This is a reason for living that is focused enough to be practical and big enough to last a lifetime.

Ye Servants of God, Motivate yourself to Get Together, to Encourage One Another in God.

So, let’s look at the text to find the answer to how we go about this. Verse 24 gives the focus and aim: “Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds.” Then verse 25 gives us instructions how. It says, “not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but also encouraging one another.” Two things. First, don’t neglect to get together.

Second, encourage one another.

When I was growing up, I heard this text referred to most often as an argument for regular attendance at worship services. “Do not forsake the assembling of yourselves together — come to church regularly.”

And that is not a wrong application of the text since one of the most important kinds of encouragements and exhortations we get is from our preaching and our sharing, fellowship and talking of God’s word in the power of God’s Spirit.

(Hebrews 13:22 calls the book of Hebrews a “word of encouragement.”)

But in the context, the kind of coming together in view seems to be one where the members “encourage one another.” Verse 25 is explicit: come together and encourage one another. The “one another” implies that there is something mutual going on. One is encouraging another, and another is encouraging one. Each is doing or saying something that encourages.

If you ask what that corresponds to in our church, I would say the closest thing is the small groups — which is why I regard this ministry as so utterly crucial.

I am a great believer in preaching. There is something about the word of God that begs to be heralded and trumpeted and exulted over — as well as discussed and taught. But I have no illusions preaching is enough in the life of a believer.

The New Testament — and especially this book of Hebrews — calls us again and again to a specific kind of mutual ministry that involves all the believers in encouraging others.

So, I ask you to take stock of your life: Where are you in verse 25?

There are two groups: those who gather to encourage each other, and those who have formed the habit of not gathering.

See that little phrase in verse 25: “Not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some.” Non-participation in a fellowship group can be habit-forming and rather nonproductive to God’s Kingdom aims.

How are we doing?

Ye Servants of God, Consider What Kind of Encouragement Motivates & Stimulates?

Which leaves one last question remaining for us to ask ourselves:

What kind of encouragement stimulates others to love and good deeds? It’s not obvious to some that this question has anything to do with God.

Lots of people think that love and good deeds are a good thing to seek after, and many would say that encouraging others is the way to do it — and they might not even be Christians. Or they might be Christians who put little focus on God.

For example, I have repeatedly read where one church was described like this:

“While [the pastor] spoke of sending out missionaries, the feeling was that his congregation existed to heighten only to edify the self-esteem of its members.”

Whether or not that’s an accurate description of that church, the point is this: a lot of churches would try to stimulate love and good deeds that way.

But it’s not even close to being the biblical way.

The key to encouraging love biblically is given in verse 23: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.”

The key to love, in the New Testament — the kind of love that magnifies God and not man — is hope rooted in the faithfulness of God. Embrace your hope! Cherish your hope! Because I know God is faithful. He keeps all his promises.

Without this kind of faith and hope, sustaining us day by day through all the disheartening frustrations and crushing disappointments, we would not have any strength or energy or joy to stir anybody up to love and good deeds.

But if we bank on God, not on ourselves, we always have that extra something encouraging and hope-giving to say, namely, “God can be absolutely trusted, God can be utterly trusted. I have no strength, but God can be 100% trusted.”

Ye Servants of God, Do This All the More

  1. Make the aim of your life to consider others — study them, know them, figure them out — to the end that you stimulate them to love and good deeds.
  2. Be sure that you do this by getting together often with other believers for the specific purpose of encouraging each other.
  3. And let the heart of that encouragement be reminders of how great our hope is in Christ and that God can be trusted.

And as you see the end of the age drawing near, verse 25 says, do this all the more, not less.

Why?

As Jesus said, “Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end, he shall be saved” (Matthew 24:12).

In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,

Let us Pray,

Heavenly Father, thank You for loving me so much that while I was still dead in my trespasses and sins, Christ completed His finished work on the cross… so that by grace through faith in Him, I might have forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.

Thank You, my Savior, for those who taught me about the Lord Jesus and who demonstrated the love of Christ in their own lives – provoking me to love and good works in my own life. Help me to be so in tune with You that others may be provoked unto love and good works through my witness, as Christ lives in me and I in Him. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! AMEN.

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