I. Introduction
A. One of the great things about the rest of the book of Hebrews is that the familiar passages look so much richer in light of what we’ve learned so far. In other words, when we understand the point and context of Hebrews, the passages which have always been familiar to us will have a new glow.
1. And today’s passage is one good example.
2. We have seen that the thrust of the book of Hebrews is urging a community of persecuted Jewish Christians not to forsake Jesus and return to Judaism.
B. Now in Hebrews 10:24-25 he’s talking about stirring up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together and encouraging one another.
II. Helping one another not fall away
A. The author is not changing the subject. He’s still talking about holding fast.
1. That’s obvious from what precedes (Hebrews 10:23 “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering...”)...
2. and what follows in the rest of this chapter (Hebrews 10:29 refers to “the one who tramples underfoot the Son of God, and profanes the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified.”)
B. The point is this: We have a responsibility to each other in this. Holding fast our faith is not just an individual responsibility, it is something we’re supposed to be working at as a community: stir up one another, encourage one another.
1. It’s not just ‘Don’t fall away,’ it’s ‘Help each other not fall away.’
2. It’s “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.”
C. This command shows us that we are not just supposed to live and let live. We are supposed to try to help one another to follow Jesus and live for Jesus.
1. We have a responsibility for each other.
2. Bear your own burdens, sure. Mind your own business, sure. But part of my business is my brother and my sister.
3. We need to be involved in each other’s lives.
III. We see here that there is a relationship between fellowship and falling away.
A. What does going to church have to do with falling away?
1. Haven’t we all seen people thrive in the context of fellowship?
2. Haven’t we all seen people’s faith shrivel up when they withdraw from fellowship?
3. Fellowship is one of God’s primary tools for empowering people to keep going in their faith.
B. Part of not falling away from Christ is helping others not fall away from Christ.
1. You have to keep others healthy so that they’re healthy enough to help keep you healthy.
2. We’re in this together. We need encouragement from others, and we need to give encouragement to others.
C. Is neglecting fellowship a SYMPTOM of falling away or a CAUSE of falling away? Both.
1. Neglect of fellowship causes falling away by withdrawing from a person many spiritual nutrients important to growth.
2. But often it is because a person is beginning to drift away from Christ in his heart that he begins to neglect meeting with other believers.
D. How does fellowship prevent falling away? How does fellowship promote spiritual growth and perseverance? Well, in the gathering of believers there are many benefits which promote spiritual growth and health:
1. Teaching which helps you see the glory of Christ in the Scriptures
2. Being reminded of the love and goodness of God
3. Being reminded that God is bigger than our troubles
4. Being reminded that reality is not ultimately what we can see with our eyes
5. Being reminded that this world is not our home, that we have a heavenly home, a place of rest and comfort and exceeding joy
6. Inspiring examples of love, inspiring examples of trusting in the Lord in the face of trouble
7. Seeing the Holy Spirit at work in people’s lives fashioning them into the beautiful image of Christ.
8. “Have you ever stood in the family with the Lord there in your midst? Seen the look of Christ in your brother, then I say, you’ve seen Jesus my Lord.”
IV. Stirring up
A. The fact that we need to stir one another up shows that there is a certain level of reluctance that must be resisted.
1. I know I can identify with that. It’s obvious to me that there is a part of me that is not at all interested in doing what Christ wants. I want to enjoy myself, not worry about others. By nature each of us is selfish.
2. We see this further in 2Thes.3:13 “Let us not grow weary of well-doing.” It is not only hard to get going, but to keep going.
3. And because of this selfishness that resides in every human heart, even in the hearts of Christians, there is a need for prodding, for reminding, for nudging, for inspiring one another to get us to think the way we ought to be thinking and to do what we ought to be doing.
4. (The non-believer, of course, needs more than prodding. He needs a new heart.)
B. How can we stir up one another?
1. It’s real easy to sit back and criticize others in your heart: “That guy is a selfish Christian.” or “Those folks sit around feeling sorry for themselves and never think about anybody else.” Well, that assessment may be right but that’s not the loving response. The loving response is to try to help them, to try to stir them up to love and good deeds. Maybe we need to do less complaining about people and more trying to help those people.
2. It is also very easy to just lay down the law for everyone else. But this passage isn’t just about challenging. It’s about considering how to stir up one another (or “provoke one another”).
3. How do you get someone going? It’s not easy. Sometimes it’s hard to figure out what to do. It takes creativity, it takes a lot of thought. It takes emotional intelligence. It takes consideration.
4. God knows it takes a lot of effort to figure out how to stir up one another. He asks us to be thinking about ways that we can help each other to love.
5. Any good school teacher knows what it’s like to wrack your brains trying to figure out how to get their students motivated: how to get through to Johnnie about history, or how to get little Margo to learn her multiplication tables.
6. There are many ways to stir up one another.
a. Inspiring example of joyful service — Isn’t it obvious that a spirit of love and good deeds is caught more than it is taught? The best way to spread this spirit of loving others is to be an inspiration of it to others, to live a life that makes others want to love and do good deeds.
b. Asking others to join you (e.g. hospitality)
c. Praying for others
d. Ministering to one another through Scripture
7. But the one which is mentioned specifically here in Heb.10:25 is encouragement.
a. Encourage here is not meant in the affirm sense.
b. The word here is PARAKALEO. It’s a very rich and broad word. It’s translated by 14 different English words in the ESV NT, including urge, encourage, comfort, beg, appeal, exhort, implore, plead, entreat, and invite.
(1) It is actually the verb of the noun PARACLETOS, which Jesus uses to refer to the coming Holy Spirit in John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7: meaning helper, counselor, advocate.
(2) It includes comforting someone with tears of sympathy, and it includes giving someone a swift kick in the pants.
(3) Jesus is the supreme example of this. Think of all the variety with which He dealt with people. Sometimes He was very strong. Other times He was amazingly tender. He even wept. But in each case He was acting to love the person the way they needed to be loved, He was saying what the person needed to hear.
c. The same word PARAKALEO is translated EXHORT in Heb.3:13, which is a parallel passage to this: “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.”
V. Going to church every week
A. Verse 25 is often used in debates about whether the Christian is obligated to go to church every Sunday: “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.”
1. Of course, the Bible never directly says you have to go to church EVERY week, but 1Corinthians 14:23 refers to the time “When the whole church assembles together...” If people only go to church 50% of the time, then there is never a time when “the whole church assembles together.”
2. Then there’s the example of Jesus in Luke 4:16 (“He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up; and AS WAS HIS CUSTOM, He entered the synagogue on the Sabbath...”), though there was certainly no “church” worthy of His attendance.
3. But let’s think about what Heb.10:25 is talking about. Is it even talking about the assembling of believers each week on the Lord’s Day? I don’t think so, not specifically at least. I would suggest that he’s talking about EVERY day. That’s what the parallel passage says: “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.” – Hebrews 3:13.
4. Now few churches have daily gatherings, but in the first century things were different: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. And everyone kept feeling a sense of awe; and many wonders and signs were taking place through the apostles. And all those who had believed were together, and had all things in common; and they began selling their property and possessions, and were sharing them with all, as anyone might have need. And day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved.” – Acts 2:42-47
5. And God tells us not to forsake the assembling of believers.
6. “as is the habit of some” — to their own harm Christians have been skipping church for 2000 years, in spite of the fact that God says not to.
B. We must not forget that we don’t just come to church for ourselves, we come for each other.
1. Everyone who joins a PCA church takes this vow: “I promise to support the church in its worship and work to the best of my ability.”
2. When we come to church we aren’t just looking to find help or encouragement, we’re supporting the worship, and bringing encouragement to others.
C. Each believer has a need to be involved in the church life to the point that this kind of godly influence can take place.
1. The kind of effect this passage is talking about can’t take place without contact. And not just any contact, but the kind of contact where this kind of ministry – inspiring, challenging and encouraging each other – can take place.
2. The Christian church was not meant to function without meeting together with others. This was part of it from the very beginning
3. And every Christian needs to make sure that he/she is having this kind of contact with other believers.
D. And just coming together doesn’t mean anything beneficial is happening.
1. What do we talk about? Do you come away from time with others inspired to love and do good deeds?
2. It is very possible to talk a lot but really get nowhere, isn’t it?
3. Sometimes two people who each have a desperate need for fellowship, with hearts crying out inside of them, chat for a long time without ever plunging into the deep, meaningful conversation they both want and crave.
4. We don’t spend time with one another just for the enjoyment of it.
5. Sometimes, if no one initiates a meaningful conversation, it will not happen.
VI. Falling away and eschatology
A. “and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
1. Satan wants us to forget the end part of falling away.
2. I won’t talk more about this today because this is where we’re headed next week.
VII. Conclusion
A. So what's the key to avoiding apostasy (falling away)? Hebrews 10:24-25 says that one key is the faith-encouragement we receive from the people of Christ.
a. On our own each of us is prone to be impressed by arguments which question or compromise our faith in Christ, but in the healthy atmosphere of Christian fellowship the emptiness of these arguments is more easily seen as manifestations of “the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb.3:13).
2. It’s interesting how often the solution to a problem is not a simple answer or a quick fix, but a change in lifestyle, a change in life pattern. Here the solution to their spiritual struggle is to have a certain pattern of interaction with other believers.
B. We have seven weeks of stirring up one another to love and good deeds coming up in adult SS through the months of September and October.
C. Mothers of young children
1. Hebrews 10:24–25 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.
2. You need fellowship. It’s the hardest time of life to get it, but one of the times you most need it. You’ve got to figure out a way to spend time with God’s people. You may need to ask someone to babysit. You may need to ask someone to come over for tea.
3. It won’t be easy. You’re going to have to fight for it. And you won’t be able to get as much as you feel you need. But, for the sake of your children, for the sake of your own soul and everyone you influence, you must find a way to be with God’s people.