But encourage one another daily!
Hebrews 3:13
Community among believers represents a significant essential. And most Christians understand this truth. Most within the church understand that unity among the saints becomes a fundamental and necessary goal. But often we forget just how desperately we need one another. More than a oneness that simply attempts to emulate the words of Christ or acknowledge the first century epistles, we must remember that community (togetherness in the fellowship of the Spirit) stands urgently necessary for every Christian. Hebrews 3:12-13 instructs us with this urgency:
“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”
The potential of apostasy within the church and among believers was sternly warned against. And from within the greater context of the above passage, an Exodus typology (quoted from Psalm 95) addresses the danger of one growing indifferent in his or her faith (as the historical experiences of Israel in the wilderness were used to intensify such a warning).
“Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says,
‘Today if you hear His voice,
Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me,
As in the day of trial in the wilderness’.” (Hebrews 3:7-8)
Today, the church needs such a caution and warning. For, “when the heart is hardened, the heart then goes astray” (Oswald Chambers). Today the church must resolve with the commitment of Hebrews 3:12. “that none of us turn away.” Such a resolve serves the direct and divine correlation between the community of faith and overcoming hardened spiritual hearts. After the warning of Hebrews 3:12, we are then immediately given this exhortation:
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” (Hebrews 3:13)
The caution against spiritually hardened hearts falls into the hands of the Christian community vividly and purposefully. “As long as it is called today” suggests simple and obvious opportunity. While each within the body of Christ has life and opportunity (“air in our lungs”, to borrow a familiar parlance), we should urgently and passionately encourage one another. This encouragement does not stand as a simple congenial greeting often exchanged on Sunday mornings. This encouragement urgently bids us to disciple one another after the heart of Christ. We are called to encourage one another away from the ease of nominal faith and the spiritual blindness of unrepentant sins within the church. We are called to encourage one another toward living genuinely under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. And, if we do not encourage one another toward Christ, there are those who could fall away. Do we see that this has happened? Does this reality not burden us deeply? Then, we must genuinely encourage one another.
Today, do not view the community of the saints (meaning the togetherness among Christians) as merely social. For, there is much more at stake than “getting together and enjoying each other’s company.” We desperately need each other to rightly remain encouraged in our Christian faith. We need one another to not only stay the course, but to be encouraged closer and closer to Jesus Christ every day.
So, as you gather with one another (physically or virtually), ask yourself how seriously you consider your role in urgently encouraging those around you. Someone may need your example, influence, or spoken word today. There are more people struggling than can be detected beneath our Sunday morning exteriors. So, let’s encourage one another urgently and genuinely as we all grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This is the necessity of community.
Blessings.
