According to Hebrews 10:20-21, this “new and living way” – opened up for us by Jesus’ sacrifice and his intimate care for us as our high priest – creates some real differences in how we think. Like, for instance, finding ourselves “thinking about how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds” in verse 24.
Which, in the case of those in Hebrews, was remarkable, because life had been tough for them, so wouldn’t their minds be more on their own worries? But here we see the power of the Holy Spirit at work – in “the love you‘ve shown God by the help you’ve given to his people, and are still giving” (6:10). They were, for instance, “standing side by side with those who were being publicly shamed and ridiculed” and taking the hits with them (10:33-34). And in “sympathy for those in prison” – whose very survival in the first century depended totally on friends providing food, water and clothing – they were doing whatever it took to keep their imprisoned friends alive, no matter what danger to themselves.
Hebrews gives a couple of reasons why this looking out for each other was so important too – the first being “to keep each other encouraged – especially as you see ‘the Day’ approaching” (10:25), which for those in Hebrews must’ve felt real, just as it does for us, as evil, deceit and twisting the truth infiltrate every aspect of our culture, filling it with ideologies that very cleverly counterfeit God’s Word. And how wearying it all becomes, especially when refusing to go along with it and being socially isolated and scoffed at for doing so. How pleasant it is, then, to get together with kindred spirits (25) and feel the Spirit’s power, love and wisdom soak into our minds instead.
The second reason for looking out for each other is in Hebrews 3:13, that we “encourage one another every day – while it’s still ‘Today’ (not wait ’til tomorrow) – to make sure that none of us are deceived into straying from God.” The Greek word for “encourage” here has some ‘bite’ to it, because parakaleo (p-racka-LAY-oh) means exhort, suggesting it’s time for a serious one on one chat, and no delaying it either. Again, it’s the Holy Spirit inspiring such thoughts – in this case to help protect each other from drifting away and being “hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
It gets really serious on this point back in Hebrews 10 too, because it dips into the touchy subject of “What makes God angry”….(next blog)
Buck To Basics 