All of my life, I have heard preachers and teachers teach and preach on Hebrews 10:19-39. All of this teaching on the “Full Assurance of Faith” is excellent teaching material. There are three verses that have stood out from this teaching and that is taken from verses 23 to 25, which reads, “23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 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.”
Lets look at this a little more and unpack what this is saying. According to the notes found in the English Standard Version Study Bible, Verse 23, hold fast calls forth a faithful, unwavering embrace of the confession of our hope which is the Church’s assent to the teachings concerning Christ and His work. These teachings produce hope, for He who promised is faithful. We shall have confident hope in God’s promises which stems from God’s trustworthy character.[1]
In verses 24-25, “Let us consider call for serious thinking about other Christians with a purpose to stir up or provoke them in their love or service. Christian perseverance is therefore a community endeavor. We are to encourage one another in our assembly or church groups so that we will help to strengthen one another’s faith.”[2]
By strengthening one another’s faith through encouragement, this will help us to prepare for the Second Coming of Christ Jesus as depicted in Verse 25. We must not neglect to meet together as we can help build one another’s faith.
There is another Scripture that reads, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another” (Cf. Proverbs 27:17). This means that in order to become better at what you are or what you do, another person can mentor a person that may not be as strong in the faith.
I am seeing a trend that many people are no longer attending church or even attending Christian meetings. This trend can set a dangerous precedent. We all have excuses, but are those excuses valid? For example, a new Follower of Christ who is won to the Lord but never gets engaged in a group of like-minded Believers may soon fall away from the faith because they are not being discipled or mentored.
Failing to attend church can leave a Christian without any support and they are stuck at potentially being a “Baby Christian” only having consumed the milk but never advancing their faith to where they are consuming the meat of the Gospel of Christ. The only way to be sharpened like iron is to be involved in a Bible believing group or church which is also known as an assembly, meaning group.
Failing to attend anywhere is not following the teaching of the Church and that is to encourage one another in their faith walk with Christ Jesus. My question to you is this, are you encouraging other’s in their walk with Christ? If not why? I pray that you will get involved in Church and make disciples who make disciples. This would be what Jesus would want you to do.
References:
[1] The ESV Study Bible, Crossway, 2008, p. 2378.
[2] Ibid, p. 2378.
Copyright June 7, 2022. Marketplace Evangelism Ministries Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Marketplace Evangelism Today 