Hebrews Chapter 10 – How We Can Encourage One Another
In the Old Testament, the priests had to offer the same sacrifices repeatedly. And yet Hebrews 10:3-4 tells us these sacrifices did not forgive sins but only reminded people of them.
In contrast, Jesus’ sacrifice has sanctified us once and for all. This act of love allows all of us to enter the Holiest and draw very near to God—a privilege that only high priests from the Old Testament were afforded once a year (Hebrews 10:10, 19).
But though we have been sanctified, we can still lose our salvation. For someone who sins willfully, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sin (Hebrews 10:26).
Hebrews 10:22-25 provides a solution for us to avoid this tragic end: stand strong with God in faith and hope, and stand strong with your spiritual community. Here I’d like to zoom in on the latter.
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 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.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)
How do we stir one another to love and good works? Hebrews 10 does so by performing all of the following functions – rebuke, instruct, explain, encourage, and reflect. These are all actions a healthy spiritual community takes to keep itself holy and faithful to God.
Here are 3 points we can learn about encouraging one another:
1. Warn one another of what happens should we sin grievously
The chapter reminds its audience the grave consequences of sinning deliberately (Hebrews 10:26-27).
To help them understand how fatal this is, the author references a Bible moment: “Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.” (Hebrews 10:28)
Sin often creeps up on us slowly, a process that James likens to being from conception to adulthood (James 1:14-15). The gradual nature of such a decline may cause us to become numb to sin and God’s justice.
Sharing with our spiritual buddy biblical examples of God executing his holiness is useful. It helps us see His punishment towards grave sins not as an abstraction, but as possessing real consequences in our lives, whether now or for eternity.
2. Remind one another of victorious peaks in our faith
Sometimes, though, we grow a little too enthusiastic with our reminders of God’s justice and punishment and we neglect this next point: encouraging our spiritual buddy with the positive moments they’ve shared with Christ.
A benefit that spiritual companionship brings us is the tenderness of shared memory. No speaker sermon knows or can directly bring to mind that time your spiritual companion deeply felt God protect her from an abusive boss, or the kind gestures she showed that boss, despite everything, in order to imitate Christ.
When we journeyed with one another for a time, we open up about how we have experienced Christ and acted out our faith. Committing these experiences and milestones to our spiritual community is powerful, for these companions can strengthen us by helping us recall how God walks with us.
Notice how after the author’s warning of sin’s severity in verses 26-31, he doesn’t linger there. Immediately, he brings up moments when his audience had demonstrated significant acts of faith, where they demonstrated great compassion and hope towards their heavenly calling.
It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, as the last verse of the “warning” segment says. But the immediate transition we see here reminds us that what protects us is clinging on to God’s grace, and aspiring towards previous peaks in our faiths so that we may rekindle our faith, and rise to even greater victories.
3. Cling on to Jesus’ work in all our lives
When we care for our spiritual companions, there may be times where we grow tired or very heavy-hearted when it seems that nothing we do or say can rouse them out of a lukewarm faith or spiritual sleep.
Not everyone in Hebrews’ audience was an enthusiastic, mature disciple of Christ.
Some of them were not gathering together much (or at all) – probably missing Sabbaths (Hebrews 10:25).
Some were consuming “milk” rather than the “solid food” they were expected to have, for they struggled to discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:14).
Some were even accused of being “dull of hearing” lengthy explanations of important biblical concepts (Hebrews 5:11), or as the Chinese says, 听不进去, not taking in what the apostles were teaching.
Some of our friends (and of course – us!) become such believers in our lifetimes for a period of time.
Towards these friends, do we then totally lose hope? Do we think, rather mistakenly, that they are hopeless – beyond the grace, love, and help of the Lord?
The author of Hebrews recalls the abundance unleashed for us through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Not only are we “perfected forever”, God promises, “I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them… Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:14, 16-17).
If the Lord Jesus died for you and me while we were still sinners, it’s truly inconceivable to imagine the extent He will go to protect and call back home the children He has redeemed!
We must endure in believing God’s great mercy towards our friends who are weak (see 1 Corinthians 12:22-23), persisting in showing them the love that Christ shows us in our weaknesses.
After all, we are not always strong too—and we too hope to have spiritual companions who will uplift us when we are down.
We pray for that our church continues building a strong culture of care and spiritual companionship, following the example that Christ and his servants have set for us.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!
The chapter reminds its audience the grave consequences of sinning deliberately (Hebrews 10:26-27).
To help them understand how fatal this is, the author references a Bible moment: “Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.” (Hebrews 10:28)
Sin often creeps up on us slowly, a process that James likens to being from conception to adulthood (James 1:14-15). The gradual nature of such a decline may cause us to become numb to sin and God’s justice.
Sharing with our spiritual buddy biblical examples of God executing his holiness is useful. It helps us see His punishment towards grave sins not as an abstraction, but as possessing real consequences in our lives, whether now or for eternity.
- Remind one another of victorious peaks in our faith
Sometimes, though, we grow a little too enthusiastic with our reminders of God’s justice and punishment and we neglect this next point: encouraging our spiritual buddy with the positive moments they’ve shared with Christ.
A benefit that spiritual companionship brings us is the tenderness of shared memory. No speaker sermon knows or can directly bring to mind that time your spiritual companion deeply felt God protect her from an abusive boss, or the kind gestures she showed that boss, despite everything, in order to imitate Christ.
When we journeyed with one another for a time, we open up about how we have experienced Christ and acted out our faith. Committing these experiences and milestones to our spiritual community is powerful, for these companions can strengthen us by helping us recall how God walks with us.
Notice how after the author’s warning of sin’s severity in verses 26-31, he doesn’t linger there. Immediately, he brings up moments when his audience had demonstrated significant acts of faith, where they demonstrated great compassion and hope towards their heavenly calling.
It is indeed a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, as the last verse of the “warning” segment says. But the immediate transition we see here reminds us that what protects us is clinging on to God’s grace, and aspiring towards previous peaks in our faiths so that we may rekindle our faith, and rise to even greater victories.
- Cling on to Jesus’ work in all our lives
When we care for our spiritual companions, there may be times where we grow tired or very heavy-hearted when it seems that nothing we do or say can rouse them out of a lukewarm faith or spiritual sleep.
Not everyone in Hebrews’ audience was an enthusiastic, mature disciple of Christ.
Some of them were not gathering together much (or at all) – probably missing Sabbaths (Hebrews 10:25).
Some were consuming “milk” rather than the “solid food” they were expected to have, for they struggled to discern good from evil (Hebrews 5:14).
Some were even accused of being “dull of hearing” lengthy explanations of important biblical concepts (Hebrews 5:11), or as the Chinese says, 听不进去, not taking in what the apostles were teaching.
Some of our friends (and of course – us!) become such believers in our lifetimes for a period of time.
Towards these friends, do we then totally lose hope? Do we think, rather mistakenly, that they are hopeless – beyond the grace, love, and help of the Lord?
The author of Hebrews recalls the abundance unleashed for us through Jesus’ sacrifice.
Not only are we “perfected forever”, God promises, “I will put My laws into their hearts, and in their minds I will write them… Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (Hebrews 10:14, 16-17).
If the Lord Jesus died for you and me while we were still sinners, it’s truly inconceivable to imagine the extent He will go to protect and call back home the children He has redeemed!
We must endure in believing God’s great mercy towards our friends who are weak (see 1 Corinthians 12:22-23), persisting in showing them the love that Christ shows us in our weaknesses.
After all, we are not always strong too—and we too hope to have spiritual companions who will uplift us when we are down.
We pray for that our church continues building a strong culture of care and spiritual companionship, following the example that Christ and his servants have set for us.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!