Thank you for joining me again in our study of Hebrews. We are in Hebrews 10, verses 24-25, a very practical passage for us to focus upon today.
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
We are looking at the importance of biblical fellowship and in this passage we see that assembling together, being together, is important, but that fellowship is more than just physical proximity—it involves ministry towards one another.
I love the fellowship of believers. I enjoy getting together with other people who love Jesus Christ. David expresses how I often feel in Psalm 16:3, “As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight.”
Our text begins with the method of fellowship, or how fellowship begins. It begins by “considering” one another, of paying attention to one another. In Greek the verb “concerned,” (NIV – consider) means to fix one’s eye or mind on another. (C. S. Lovett, Lovett’s Lights on Hebrews, 229-30). It means to study them, to look at them closely and carefully.
The beginning of fellowship is putting others in the forefront of our minds, consistently. In means that we have to get our minds off of ourselves. I think the reason there is not more growth in God’s kingdom AND in individual believers’ lives is because we live such self-centered, self-absorbed lives.
Now I know, when we are hurting, when our lives are falling apart, it is hard not to think of ourselves. At those times hopefully others are thinking of us. But one of the reasons God used Joseph is that he paid attention to the people around him and saw when they were troubled. Joseph was able to minister to the cupbearer and the baker because “When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were troubled” (Gen. 40:6). He noticed them. His mind wasn’t preoccupied with self-pity about how he had been falsely accused and thrown into prison. Rather, his eyes were open and he noticed “that they were troubled.” It registered.
Then Joseph asked them a question, “Why are your faces downcast today?” Now, sometimes, when we ask questions like this, people will think we are prying. But God was with Joseph and He worked in their hearts to open up about their dreams and share their troubled hearts with Joseph.
Who knows, that may happen to you. So this Sunday, when you see someone standing alone, or when you notice a sad look on their face, don’t turn around and head for your seat or thank God that you aren’t struggling like that. Rather, go up to them and ask them, “Why is your face so sad? Or worried? Or even happy?” They may not answer you. They may not want to answer you. But they will know that you care and even that may make all the difference in their life that day.
So look at the eyes, the body language, the facial expression. Pay attention.
Now, in the Greek, this word “consider” is in the present tense, meaning that it calls for continuous consideration. Not a brief glance, not a monetary thought, but to deeply and for a good while, to think about it.
God is calling me to exert mental energy, to spend time thinking about how I can inspire and motivate you to love (with is an action verb) so that it results in good works.
Let us remember that we are Christians not only for our own sake but also for the sake of others. No man ever saved his soul who devoted his whole time and energy to saving it; but many a man has saved it by being so concerned for others that he forgot that he himself had a soul to save. It is easy to drift into a kind of selfish Christianity; but a selfish Christianity is a contradiction in terms. (William Barclay, The Daily Study Bible Series, Hebrews, 121)
Oswald Chambers has written that a Christian must consciously identify with Jesus Christ’s interests in each of the other people in his life. Please think about some of the near ones in your life. How well to you really know them? Do you know their dreams, their fears, their goals? Do you know what they are committed to be and do for the Lord and for others? What are you doing to press into their hearts to find out this vital information?
This, by the way, is what shepherds do. They know their flock. They know well the condition of their sheep. They pay attention to who is present or absent and they pay attention to anything that causes them trouble or fears and anxieties.
Next, we see the goal of biblical fellowship, which is “to stir up one another to love and good works…” This is what we are to focus our thoughts on, what we are to “consider.” Our focus on others is to help us understand them well enough (their needs, values and goals) so that we know how to “stir” them up to putting love into action through good deeds.
The word “spur” here, is the Greek word “nnnnngggggg” (sound of a nasal mosquito), which means to “irritate” or “pester,” just like a mosquito does.
Actually, the Greek word is paroxusmos, from which we get paraoxysm, which describes a “sudden attack or violent expression.”
Depending upon the context, it can be positive, “to rouse, incite,” or negative—“to irritate, provoke.”
Last March I was at Leon Rogers’ funeral. Before the funeral started, I said hello to the person sitting next to me and someone poked me on the shoulder. It was Frank Rosipal, who used to come to Grace Bible Church, so I said hello to him and to Stokes Herod, sitting to his right. Then I got another tap. It was from Reba Rosipal, since I hadn’t already greeted her.
Her husband mentioned then how she was an irritator and joked that she had been for years. I said, “Well, it’s OK, because Hebrews 10 tells us to irritate one another…to love and good deeds.”
So the idea here is that we irritate, we agitate, we bug the heck out of someone, we become a burr under their saddle, until they get up and act in love with good deeds.
What is in view here is an action which doesn’t rest until it produces something, something good in this case. It’s like teammates, who push one another to work harder and do better. We should be each others’ biggest fans and cheerleaders.
Oswald Chambers said, “It is a most disturbing thing to be smitten in the ribs by some provoker from God, by someone who is full of spiritual activity.” Yes, it can be disturbing, but it has a good aim. We’re not trying to make people mad, like those little kids on the school bus who sat behind you and picked, picked, picked, until you wanted to turn around and smack them!
No, this is an irritation that turns into something positive—an expression of action-oriented love.
Normally, as in the rest of the New Testament, this is not a pleasant word (for example, “a sharp disagreement”— paroxysmos —came between Paul and Barnabas, Acts 15:39; cf. 1 Corinthians 13:5). But I believe here our author believes it is something positive, at least something that produces a positive result.
So, with some it may be your example that motivates them to love and good deeds, with others it may be your soft encouragement, but with some it’s going to be that continual needling until they do something.
What we might call “the other side of the coin” is found in verse 25. There our author calls us to “encourage one another.” The Greek is parakaleo, which means to come alongside someone to provide a word for them. It is more gentle than paraxysmos. While stirring is agitating; encouraging is soothing. It pictures a preferable future. One Greek historian used parakaleo to describe a military regiment that had last heart and was utterly dejected. The general sent a leader to talk to the disheartened ranks and he so enlivened them that their courage was reborn and a body of dispirited men became fit again for heroic action.
The present tense of that participle calls for encouragement to be the believer’s continual practice.
Journalist Robert Maynard related the following story from his childhood in The New York Daily News: As a young boy Maynard was walking to school one day when he came upon an irresistible temptation. In front of him was a freshly poured piece of gray cement—a piece that had replaced a broken piece of sidewalk. He immediately stopped and began to scratch his name in it. Suddenly he became aware that standing over him with a garbage can lid was the biggest stone mason he had ever seen!
Maynard tried to run, but the big man grabbed him and shouted, “Why are you trying to spoil my work?” Maynard remembers babbling something about just wanting to put his name on the ground. A remarkable thing happened just then. The mason released the boy’s arms, his voice softened, and his eyes lost their fire. Instead, there was now a touch of warmth about the man. “What’s your name, son?”
“Robert Maynard.”
“Well, Robert Maynard, the sidewalk is no place for your name. If you want your name on something, you go into that school. You work hard and you become a lawyer and you hang your shingle out for all the world to see.”
Tears came to Maynard’s eyes, but the mason was not finished yet. “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
“A writer, I think.”
Now the mason’s voice burst forth in tones that could be heard all over the schoolyard. “A writer! A writer! Be a writer. Be a real writer! Have your name on books, not on this sidewalk.”
Robert Maynard continued to cross the street, paused, and looked back. The mason was on his knees repairing the damage that Maynard’s scratching had done. He looked up and saw the young boy watching and repeated, “Be a writer.”
There is amazing power in an encouraging word. You and I can change a life with a kind word. Encouragement is a Christian duty. Lives of provocation through prayer, example, Scripture, and encouragement are gifts the church needs desperately.
So, when you come to church, pray, ‘Lord, help me to know how to stir someone or encourage something to love and good deeds.” Come to church on the lookout. Come to church on mission. Be watching and listening and contemplating how you can encourage someone to a new or deeper expression of love through doing something good for someone else.
Spurring (v. 24) and encouraging (v. 25) are both calling us to speak up. Don’t be silent. First, use your eyes and ears to learn how best to move someone to greater love and kindness. Then speak up.
I have read (and highly recommend) a great book, The Silence of Adam, by Larry Crabb (written primarily for men). The premise of the book is that in Genesis 3:6, Adam was right there with his wife when she sinned, and he did not open his mouth. He did or said nothing to prevent her from falling into Satan’s trap. Likewise, far too many men today tend not to open their mouths and speak from the heart, even to their wives.
Believers can have a profound impact on the lost when they combine a godly life with a loving witness. We all know of instances of conversions simply because dedicated Christians let their light shine. On the other hand, we can recall with grief some lost persons who rejected the Word because of the inconsistent lives of professed believers.
In the summer of 1805, a number of Indian chiefs and warriors met in council at Buffalo Creek, New York, to hear a presentation of the Christian message by a Mr. Cram from the Boston Missionary Society. After the sermon, a response was given by Red Jacket, one of the leading chieftains. Among other things, the chief said:
Brother, you say that there is but one way to worship and serve the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so much about it? Why not all agree, as you can all read the book?
Brother, we are told that you have been preaching to the white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while and see what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them honest and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what you have said.
So speak up—stir up and encourage—but make sure your life backs it up. Be a good example first, of love and good deeds, then stir up and encourage others to love and good deeds. It is a fact that loving God and man and doing good deeds are more readily caught than taught. To provoke others upward by example is the high road indeed.
So the goal of fellowship is to produce something positive—a response of love that does something good for others.
Love is the motivation—both the evidence of Christ in us and the empowerment of Christ living through us. Good deeds are the manifestation of what it means to have Christ living in us. Good deeds is mentioned in a number of New Testament passages, encouraging us that although we are not saved by good works, we are definitely saved for good works (2 Timothy 2:21; Ephesians 2:8-10; 2 Corinthians 9:8; 1 Corinthians 15:10; 1 Peter 2:12; Matthew 5:16). Believers are to be known for what might be described as consistent aggressive goodness, done however not simply out of a sense of obligation or duty, but out of an unselfish love for both our Lord Jesus and for other people.
How do you empower someone to love? How do you help them to find more motivation (love) and resources to love that hard husband, that rebellious teenager, that lazy roommate or coworker?
Believing in the promises of God is the root of love. As you encourage others to have confidence in the promises of God, it helps them fight unbelief in their hearts and helps love to take root there. This is implied in verse 23: “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love…”
The object or focus of biblical fellowship is “one another.” This is the only time our author uses this term (although it is quite common in the NT, used 54 times to express “one another ministry”). Leon Morris says, “He is speaking of a mutual activity, one in which believers encourage one another, not one where leaders direct the rest as to what they are to do.”
Now, in Hebrews 3:12-13, which we looked at briefly last week, that says the object or focus or target of our fellowship is our brothers. Again, those verses say…
12 Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
Some of you, when you went to college, had an orientation session or maybe a first class in which an instructor or professor said, “Look around you, in a few weeks, 25% of these people won’t be here.” In other words, dropouts were expected.
The author of Hebrews is warning us of something very, very serious. It is quote possible that some of us might develop an “evil heart of unbelief” and walk away from God. We’ve seen it among some Christian celebrities. Even some pastors. It could happen right here.
We all need to be stirred up, encouraged and exhorted by each other. You need MORE than just my exhortation to you. You need MORE than your Sunday school teachers exhortations. It requires all of us exhorting all of us to keep us from developing an evil, unbelieving heart.
There are many elements that go into the total concept of fellowship, as it is described in the New Testament, but the sharing together in suffering is one of the most profitable. It probably unites our hearts together in Christ more than any other aspect of fellowship (Jerry Bridges, Trusting God, p. 189). Our author knew that persecution and suffering lay in their future, if not in their present situation. They would need fellowship with other believers in order not to fall away.
Grace Still Amazes 