Hebrews 10:19-25
Because of what we’ve been given in Jesus Christ, we can and should minister deeply to each other.
Since this is a special sermon for Gather at the Grove, we’ll only focus on the last two verses.
What to Do
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works…
It begins with consideration. The word means to study, take note and detect. It means to think a subject from top to bottom until you reach a firm conclusion. Christian, you are a detective and your brothers and sisters in Christ are your cases. How can you stir them to love and good works?
The word translated stir conveys an aggressively intentional idea. It is a provocation that jabs someone so that they must respond. This is more than soft influence. This is hard, dirty work.
To help us think through our duty to stir one another to love and good deeds, let’s look at 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 for a reminder of what love is:
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
- Love is patience, rather than anger.
- Love is kindness, rather than malice.
- Love is contentment, rather than complaint.
- Love is humility, rather than arrogance.
- Love is propriety, rather than rudeness.
- Love is selflessness, rather than selfishness.
- Love is forgiveness, rather than resentment or bitterness.
- Love is truthfulness, rather than falsehood.
- Love is discretion, rather than gossip.
- Love is belief, rather than scepticism or suspicion.
- Love is hope, rather than despair.
- Love is endurance, rather than exhaustion.
It has been said that our sanctification is a community project. Failure to love is (among other things) a failure of fellowship. Success in this kind of love is a success of fellowship. It is our job to cultivate love and good deeds into each other.
What it Looks Like
…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.
Some fall away from spending time with their church family due to habits that wedge into the schedule. However, the opposite of neglecting to meet together is not mere attendance. The opposite of neglect is encouragement. The gospel does not produce a desire to attend meetings and gatherings. It produces a desire to encourage one another, which leads to and requires time together.
When you neglect to get together with your brothers and sisters in Christ, you’re not just hurting yourself, you’re hurting everyone.
Discussion Starters
- How have you been? Share a high point and a low point from the last two weeks.
- Read Hebrews 10:19-25 together. List all the things that are true for Christians based on this passage. (i.e. we have confidence to enter the holy places, etc.)
- List all the things we should do. (i.e. draw near with a true heart, etc.)
- Read verse 24 again. How can we stir one another to love and good works? What are some practical things we can do? (Use 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 as a reminder of what love means.)
- Share an example of when someone (not a pastor, but a Christian friend or mentor) effectively stirred you to love and good works.
- Read verse 25 again. What tempts you to neglect meeting together with your brothers and sisters in Christ?
For Personal Reflection
- What response do you provoke in your fellow Christians at Dulin’s Grove?
- If everyone stirred up what you stir up in Dulin’s Grove, would the church be a loving or unloving place?
- Is there specific sin you need to confess and repent of in response to this passage?
- Is there someone you can invite to stir you to love and good works? Someone you respect? Someone you would listen to, even if you didn’t like what they had to say? When and how will you contact them?
- Is there someone you should cultivate a deeper relationship with so that you can stir them to love and good works? How will you proceed?
