Consider One Another

Introduction

Seeking first the kingdom, the theme we’ve been working through recent weeks has more to do with life than just our schedules or our personal priorities, and also changes the way that we think about the people that God has placed in our lives. A life centered on Christ cannot be a life in which I am just living really for myself or focused on the things that I’m interested in or the things that I want to do.

Inevitably, if I’m living for Christ, I’m going to be focused on people like you, people who are around me, people who are together worshiping together, living life together. And I hope as we were singing this last song, you were thinking about just the power of the togetherness that we have. We are in a place where we are not alone. Not only do we have God the Father, which is really more the focus of the song, but we also have each other. We have each

Other in moments like these. We have each other in moments like yesterday when many of us spent time together or throughout the week as you sometimes maybe are in each other’s homes or you’re around each other. When you are part of God’s people, you are not a person who is alone. You have others around you, and that’s the ideal. That’s the way it is supposed to be, and that’s part of what I want to look at this morning as we talk about

This idea of consider one another, thinking about each other. And I will look at Hebrews chapter 10 to do this. There’s a number of passages as you’re going to see in a little bit. There’s all kinds of different scriptures we could turn to. And for particularly the young people who are taking notes this morning, just know there’s going to be at least one slide that you will not be able to copy. I’m just going to tell you right now.

Just going to give you a heads-up. And on the slides you will see there’s going to be some There are going to be simple words on parts of them that you can just copy that if you need to. Because really the sermon’s going to be focused around three main terms, and we’re going to build it a little bit more fully from those, but they’re going to be observe, influence, and participate. Those three terms you will see, so you can write those down on your paper and your notes.

And if you’re faster, you can maybe write some of the longer points and that’s fine as well. But, I want to begin by reading from Hebrews chapter 10, starting in verse 19. And give you a little backstory on what’s happening here. This is all about how Christ’s sacrifice is better. His sacrifice is full. It fully accomplishes God’s purpose and God’s plan. it’s not something that has to be done regularly, frequently, every year. And the Hebrew

Writer is contrasting what the priest would do as they would come daily, as they would come yearly on the day of atonement, and offer sacrifices. And then on the other side of that, he’s talking about how Christ is better once for all. He offers this sacrifice, which now gives us access to the holy places. We can now come before God the Father like priests. And he has some things to say about that. And so, that’s where we’re starting in verse 19. It says,

"Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without

Wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 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." Now, there’s a lot of great content in that short reading. In fact, you could build a sermon around the three let us statements. Let us draw near, let us hold fast, let us consider how to stir

Up one another to love and good works. But, this morning, at least, we’re going to focus on that last phrase. The last concept of let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. Certainly, the backing for that, and the reason that we’re able to do that, has everything to do with what Christ has done. I want us to understand that like Christ, we should consider others. That’s the whole background of

Everything. The reason that we are here this morning, the reason that we are going to commune together later is because Christ considered us. He thought deeply about our needs. He realized that the situation that we are in because of our sin, and in our great need, he came and he offered himself. He gave himself up for me and for you. He was thoughtful and he was considerate. He cared. He was looking out. He was noticing. He was observing. He was aware

Of the things in our life that desperately needed attention. And so in that vein, we are trying to imitate, we’re trying to be like Jesus. And when we understand what’s going on in the early part of Hebrews 10, it really leads up to this concept that we are priests ministering not just to our own needs, but also to the needs of others. We draw near to the throne of God. We can do that with confidence, with full assurance. And we hold fast

This confession of hope without wavering. And that doesn’t just help me, it also has an impact on the others around me. When I hold fast the confession of hope, there’s a statement being made to other people. Other people are hearing the truth. They’re hearing the realities that need to be heard, and they also are drawn in to the things of God. But then there is this last statement, this idea of considering one another.

1. Think Beyond Yourself

This has to do with our ability to notice, to pay attention, to observe things that are external, that are not just about me and my needs and what I want and what I think. And so this idea of consideration begins with careful attention. Let us consider calls for deliberate awareness, not just a passing thought. I think this is a pretty challenging thing.

Because you can just look around the room and you see a lot of people. and what I don’t want to do this morning is guilt you into the idea that you have to call every single one of these people, you know, every day or every week or that sort of thing. But what I do want us to realize is the importance of having real connections, developing true relationships and true friendships so we can accomplish what’s

Being talked about here. This is not just some sort of a law or rule that you have to keep. Okay, I texted everybody in the church this week or I called half the church this week and I’ll call half the church That’s not the point of what we’re doing here. It is the reality, the authenticity of having true connections to the people that we are around. Now, that does involve deliberate action. It does mean that sometimes we break out

Of our typical groups. And again, I have no problem with us having friendships and people that we’re closer to. I think scripture supports that idea as well, but it also supports the reality that we need to be people who observe, people who notice, who look around and see that maybe someone has a need and then the needs can be all sorts of needs. They’re not limited to just a few things. It’s not always they just need somebody to talk to. Sometimes there’s

Other things that we need to notice and be aware of, but the reality is we can’t do that if we aren’t willing to really look outside ourselves. If we are mostly here in a situation like this to think about what we are receiving. You know, how am I helped by coming to worship? How am I encouraged? What am I getting out of this? To some extent, I think there’s

Value in wanting to get something out of what we’re doing here. Obviously, that’s part of what we’re doing, but what Hebrews 10 is really pushing us toward is in a moment like this thinking, "Who needs something from me? What can I offer to the person next to me or the person beside me? What am I able to give? Whether it’s in a time like this in worship or other times and places that we are together, the focus here is not just what am I getting out

Of this, but also what am I giving to others considering how to stir up how to pursue the idea of helping someone else see the need to love and to do good things. How am I encouraging others in their walk in their faith with the Jesus Christ? Encouraging other people to draw near with the confidence that I know I can draw near with or hold fast the

Confession. How are we incorporating all of this not just for our own good, but also for the good of the others around us? Maybe primarily so. One of the ironies, I think, in all of this is when we merely focus on ourselves it actually becomes somewhat empty for us, as well. whereas when we put others’ interests before our own following the model of

Jesus in Philippians 2 as Paul describes it, and we consider other people and we think about them, that also has a tendency to fill us up in the process. We are relational beings. We’ve been created that way. And as we grow increasingly individualistic in our culture and our time, people also become increasingly more empty and anxious and depressed through their isolation and for their desire to only think on their own needs

And their own wishes and their own pleasure, and by doing so, they actually strip all of that from themselves. And what the gospel itself calls us to in being like Jesus and giving ourselves for others is actually the relationships that truly bring fulfillment to us. That it’s not just about me trying to get things. That’s the world’s mindset. But we seek first the kingdom we realize all of those other things,

They’re going to be added. That’s not the focus. We all have needs. We all have wants. And we are going to pursue some of those things in life. And sometimes we need to. We need to eat and we need clothing, all the things that Jesus mentions there in the Sermon on the Mount. But, they are not the primary focus of life. And when we focus on what matters most, what Jesus is saying is these other

Things and they’re going to take care of themselves. They’re going to be handled. We need to first focus on what is most important. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, and your strength. And the second is like unto it, love your neighbor as yourself. And what the Hebrew writer is doing, I think, is honing this even more. We should love the world in general, all

Creatures created in the image of God, but here it’s talking in a very specific way about the people of God and the way that we feel about them and the way we interact with them, that we’re looking not just at our own walk of faith, but as a part of that process, I’m interested in your walk of faith, and you’re interested in my walk of faith, and we’re walking this together. And by doing so, we will share in each

Other’s sufferings, and we will share in each other’s joy. Paul talks about this in 1 Corinthians 12. In fact, a lot of that chapter has some things about it that relate to what we’re talking about this morning, but we’re not going to read all of that, but I’ll just point you to one verse for now. It says, "If one member suffers, all suffer together." This is verse 26. "If one member is honored, all rejoice together."

This means we’re not only just aware of what’s happening in each other’s lives, but we also care. We care what’s happening in each other’s lives. If something good and wonderful has happened for you, I should celebrate that with you. I should rejoice with you. We should We should take joy in the good things that are happening to our brethren that we are close to. If someone’s suffering or

Going through trial, we should care about that. We should be compassionate. I think in our world, and I want to be careful between this distinction, but I think it’s worth making, we are really pushed toward this idea of empathy. And I want us to understand the distinction between empathy and compassion. Empathy can be a good thing, but we need to be very careful about this idea because actually what empathy can do is actually turn inward and

Become about me. The idea of empathy is that I am feeling what you feel. And it can become very tempting to then just kind of make it actually about my story and the things that I’ve been through. And rather than appreciating the thing that you’re going through, whether it’s good or bad, I kind of just turned it inward. About, "Oh, yeah, that’s like when I had this or I did that."

A long time ago, I was at a young preacher’s workshop that Mark Roberts used to do in Irving and he had a whole session, he and Warren Berkeley, where they talked about how you deal with trauma in people’s lives. this actually became very helpful for me. I think it was in that year that we lived in Tennessee at the time, one of the members

Their s- their son, who was probably my age now, just suddenly died in his sleep. I mean, these are the kind of traumatic events that happen, that you end up you encounter people, you have to go talk to people and you’re helping them through these kind of situations. And the very first thing on the list, it was kind of like the simple list of things you should do and you shouldn’t do. It was, "Don’t talk about

Yourself." Now, there’s times where you can relate, you know, maybe you’ve been through some similar things or that sort of thing, but very rarely do I actually understand exactly what you’re going through. And very rarely do you understand exactly what I am going through. Now, we may understand some similar things. That’s compassion. We can feel with you. You know, I know what it’s like to spend a lot of time in a hospital

At this point. And so, if you spend a lot of time in the hospital, I can have compassion. I know I have a little bit of knowledge what that’s like. You know what I don’t know though? I don’t know exactly what your situation was. It becomes it can become kind of trite and uncomfortable when someone in their effort to try to help you begins talking all about themselves.

And so, that’s the And warning I want to give here when we talk about considering one another and think Don’t turn this into an opportunity to just talk about yourself. Right? When someone’s struggling or they’re going through a difficult or when they have something good happen, let’s talk about the good happening to them. Let’s talk about the struggle they’re having and how we can help them with their struggle. Let’s not take this

As an opportunity to think about ourselves more. Just a warning. Because the temptation in our world is very much to push ultimately toward this thing that cycles back to me and who I am and what I’ve been through. And while elements of that may be helpful, often what people need is someone to walk beside them. Particularly when they’re going through

Struggles and difficulties, not to try to relate everything to how they feel the same way. And so, thinking beyond self means we observe what people actually need. Some people need comfort. Other people need correction or reassurance. Right? There’s a lot of reassurance being given in this passage about the confidence we can have to come before the throne of God. Sometimes people just need companionship, someone

Who can be close to them or someone who’s willing to listen to the things going on in their life. I And so, what I’m getting at is there’s no tricks or hacks about how to do this. There’s not some one-size-fits-all approach that we can just place over every situation. The reason for that is that’s not what fosters deep relationships. The way we handle this is that we truly try to get to know one another.

That we care about each other’s lives and we say I don’t know the perfect way to handle this, but I want to help the best way I can and we do whatever is needed in the moment. We’re considering one another, how to stir up each other. How to help? This can be an agitation that is good. It can also be one that is corrective. We’re provoking toward good things. That’s the idea of the verb being used here that we’re going to

Consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works. And so my question as I’m thinking through this is am I overlooking someone or someone else’s needs because I’m too occupied with myself? And in our culture, it’s very easy to do that because we are supported in that way of thinking. Our culture is all about you having some me time. You know, getting away for

Yourself. Making sure you’re taking care of, self-care, right? This is this whole phrase we even have for it. And again, some of these things can be valuable particularly in limited capacity. But it also can be very easy in thinking about myself and my needs to overlook this very critical thing that scripture talks about that I am noticing, I’m attentive, I’m observant

Of others around me. And the kinds of things that they need in their life. And in the end, as I mentioned earlier, I think this is the kind of thing that actually helps us probably much more than just spending time deliberately focused just on myself all the time. Realizing that other people and the their importance in my life actually is something that builds me up as well. And that we need each other. That we it’s

2. Be Intentional About Your Influence

Important that we have these relationships. And in that regard, we realize the importance of the influence that we have. So, it’s not just the observation, it’s not just noticing, but it’s also the idea of influence. The importance of the influence that we have. Our lives are already influencing other people. Often in ways we may not even realize. May not be fully apparent to us how

Important our presence may be. And I think this works all up and down the spectrum. I don’t care if you’re 10 years old, you probably have an influence on someone younger and older than you. I’ll tell you what young people, older people love it when you come and you give them attention and you talk to them. That means something to them.

They value that. That’s encouraging to them. It’s encouraging for them to see that you know your Bible and that you know sometimes just Bible facts and you pay attention in class. Those kinds of things matter. So even the youngest among us, you can have an influence on the people around you. This is the idea of stirring up. It’s the influence that we have, this intentional influence, a recognition

That I am not just neutral in my environment. Sometimes it’s just the observation that others have of me and the things I’m doing that has then an influence on them and this can be both good and bad actually. sometimes people can observe things that are not great in my life maybe and that has a poor influence and I need to be aware of that. But hopefully more often they’re noticing good things in

Our lives and they’re being influenced in a positive way. This happens through our words and our attitudes, our habits, the examples that we give, by the things that we do. The type of life that we promote by the decisions that we make. And so it’s not whether or not I influence people, it is how I am influencing people. I’ve already mentioned this a few weeks ago but I think it’s worth mentioning again.

What kind of influence am I having on the people around me? Is it always negative? I mean we look at those Israelites who grumbled in the wilderness, they found ways to complain about everything imaginable. and we look at that and we can’t believe they would act that way. And yet how easy is it in my life to be very negative and to grumble about things? And what kind of influence does that have on my children or the other

People around me? Or am I in the very positive way pointing people toward Christ? When I go through something difficult or it’s not the best thing that’s happening to me, how do I react to that? How do I respond to the things happening in my life that then will influence the people around me in the right direction? I’ll tell you, I struggle with this in the car. My kids Sorry, but you know people just drive in irrational ways.

It’s been a lot in the last few days, Katie can tell you. and it’s not that it’s not true, it’s very true. we’ve almost like rear-ended a couple people cuz they did crazy things in the middle of 2978. This guy was going and he just stopped right in the middle of the lane. I don’t know what he was doing. and then after a sec he then decided to get into the massive turn lane that nobody was in. I don’t know why he waited with cars coming behind

Him, you know, and you know you’re worried people are going to hit you. It’s just total chaos and that’s frustrating. and so how do we react to that? Well we can tell because our kids copy us and they start saying, "That guy’s an idiot, you know." And so you got to realize got to be careful about the things that you say around your kids. So that’s a confession.

>> people to do good works in their life. And I don’t mean that we’re trying to, you know, obligate them to things they don’t want to do, but by our actions or by our encouraging words, we are stirring things up that in a way that they’re going to do good things in their life, not bad. Right? If I’m stirring my kids up in such a way that they’re always complainers, that’s not good. That’s not stirring them up to good

Works. That’s not stirring them up to be loving and kind. In fact, it ends up being just the opposite. And so there needs to be some intentional thought, and I’m just using children as an example because it’s so clear and obvious. But this also goes for the others who are around us, maybe in our workplaces or within our congregations as Hebrews is really focused on this idea of God’s people

Being together. And so if we just get together and complain all the time as God’s people, that’s not good. that doesn’t create the sort of atmosphere that the Hebrew writer is talking about here. Sometimes, as well, encouragement isn’t always fun. Sometimes it requires courage to have difficult conversations, to offer loving correction, or a call to perseverance. Again, don’t

We do all these things with our children? You know, I’m sorry that’s hard, but you’re just going to have to keep doing it. Right? You got to keep working through it. It’s not always easy. We can’t always take all the burdens and the difficulties away, and so we encourage our children to push through even when things are difficult. Or maybe they didn’t do the right thing and they

Need some careful, loving correction from a parent. All of these things are in scripture when it involves each other, too. my love for you and your love for me may be needful that we take the time and we have the courage to say some things that are uncomfortable to each other. but it’s because we’re doing in this out of love. We want the proper influence

In our lives. Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter 5 says you were the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. That statement is inherently our influence. Both of those things. It’s about the character of who we are and how that influences things around us just like the character of salt and what it does is it flavors, is it enhances. That the

Idea of light as it kind of expels darkness. When there is light, there is no darkness. That’s the whole point he’s making, right? You’re the light of the world just as Jesus is the light of the world as John 8 talks about. Is it’s being like him, you’re the light of the world. That has everything to do with influence. And so we have to take great importance in the intentionality of our influence

On the people around us and what that does to them. Are others more likely to love and to serve Christ because of my influence? Or are they more likely to be drawn away from the nature of being like Jesus? And serving like Jesus. We’re looking at a text here that is consumed with the concept of who Jesus is and what Jesus does and then calls us to be like that.

Is that what I’m calling people to by the way I live? That’s in a sense what the text is asking of me. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and to good works. And then this sort of cycles back. This third point really cycles back to the first point. This idea of thinking beyond ourselves and this concept of reality the reality that Christianity is not something that’s lived in isolation.

3. Remember That Christianity Is a Shared Life

Again, in our culture, even our religious culture, spirituality is often talked about this way. Whether it is the way we talk about things or maybe our religious friends, people that often that we don’t even agree with about things. The way this is pushed like Jesus is your personal savior. These kinds of phrases that we hear. And certainly, discipleship is personal. There are decisions that I’m

Going to make that are about me and about my faith and what I believe and what I think I need to do and it’s going to be the same thing for you. There’s no getting away from that. But there’s also no getting away from the reality that in scripture Christianity is a shared experience. It’s a shared life. And if I see it as something that’s lived in isolation that’s just about me and my choices and I don’t involve other

People around me, I don’t really understand the message of scripture. There is observation that’s important and the influencer on this but also participation that we are participating and we see as vital in the Christian life that we are involved, that we are participating with each other. This is the idea of where the writer goes into in 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. There’s a lot of statements within scripture that cannot be fulfilled alone. There are certainly times when we have to stand up by ourselves and we have to make choices and they may not involve anybody else as we make that choice and we decide whether or not we’re going to follow Christ in one moment or another. But there are so many things within

Scripture that are not about those kinds of situations. It’s about the importance of being together and living life together and being God’s people together. Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12 both have a lot to say about this. We’ve already talked about 1 Corinthians 12 but Romans 12 says this. This is verse 4 and 5. For as in one body we have many members and the members do not all have the same

Function so we though many are one body in Christ and individual members of one another. Yes, there’s an individuality here. We are each members of a body and Paul uses this body imagery both in Romans and in 1 Corinthians to talk about this kind of intersection of the individual and the group and how much this matters. It matters what I’m doing and what you’re doing and how that affects all of

Us. You just can’t get away from that concept. There are places like Ephesians 5 where it talks about how we worship, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart. Yes, we’re making melody to the Lord, but also we’re told to be addressing one another.

To be teaching one another and admonishing one another. We can’t do that alone. Christianity, as it is presented in scripture, cannot be lived in isolation by ourselves. Communion. one of the center points of the Christian faith that we come together and we share in the body and the blood of our Lord. Paul in 1 Corinthians 11, that the big

Problem here is they weren’t waiting for one another. He starts with this and he ends with this. This is the issue. This is the real point of action that Paul’s taking here. And so at the end of this text, as he’s telling them they’re doing some things wrong, he says, "The real problem is you’re doing this out of hunger. If you’re hungry, eat at home. That’s not really what this meal is about." It’s the fact that you’re supposed to be

Eating this meal together. And so he concludes saying, "So then, brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another." You can’t do that alone. This is something that is the term itself, communion, is you’re communing. We are doing this together. Not It’s not something that’s done in isolation. And he actually says earlier in that text that we are to be considering the body. And he’s talking about the people, God’s people together. We

Are to be considering the body. This is something that we do together as God’s people. And here, even in the text we’re looking at in Hebrews, he talks about stirring up one another and encouraging one another as you see the day approaching. There’s all kinds of ideas about what this day is. Is this Sunday? You know, is this the day of

Worship? Or is this eternity? And ultimately, I think either way, the same point is being made. There’s a sense of urgency. There’s urgency in the need to be encouraging and uplifting each other. There is an urgency in being together and supporting one another. All of this is vitally important to what it means to be part of God’s people. as I was working through this concept and making the slide, I thought this is

Actually an entire sermon series. So, maybe I’ll tuck this away and do this later. and this is the one that you won’t be able to copy down, kids. Sorry about this. but as you see, there’s a whole lot of content here on this slide, and that’s on purpose. I want you to see just visually how prevalent this concept of one another is in scripture. It’s all over the place. We just can’t get away from This is how

Important it is that we are with one another and that we care about one another, and that we’re serving one another, and that we’re loving one another. It’s all over the New Testament. In fact, that phrase, at least in the ESV, consider one another, or the phrase one another, is found 99 times in the New Testament. A lot of them are right there behind you on the screen in these different categories, and those

Key passages there are all times that this phrase one another is used. Right? So, it’s prevalent. It’s everywhere in scripture. The concept here is that we don’t live Christianity by ourselves. That something like what we’re doing right now is vitally important, and I mean that phrase exactly for what it means. It is about life.

The vitality of our Christianity is tied to the reality that we are together as God’s people. This is not something that we can accomplish in the way that God wants, according to scripture, if we isolate ourselves and we are not involved and we don’t participate with God’s people. it’s just an assumed and implied part of what it means to walk with Jesus and to follow him. That we love and care about people and

That we are there to support one another. And that we are unified. And that we care about the relationships that we have here. And a lot of focus gets put here often in Hebrews 10:24 on the idea of maybe Sunday worship. I certainly think that is a part of this idea of not neglecting to meet together as is the habit of some. I think maybe the bigger point though is

Just how antithetical this is to what it means to be in Jesus Christ holistically. when there are things happening with God’s people and I am regularly not there. I don’t make an effort to be a part of it. I’m not interested in that. That says something about what I think about this. and I think that’s bigger than just

Worship times that happen a couple times a week. It’s about the way we’re living our life because that’s what scripture is actually interested in. It’s interested in how we live our whole life, not just some things we do a couple times a week. Those things are important and they’re meaningful and they matter, but it’s actually much bigger even than all that. Let me show you that from scripture. Back in Hebrews chapter 3.

Hebrews chapter 3 earlier in this letter. This is what the Hebrew writer tells them. He says in verse 12, Hebrews chapter 3 in verse 12, "Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil unbelieving heart leading you to fall away from the living God." So, be careful about not being hardened by sin and turning from God. How do we counteract that?

How do we deal with this tendency or maybe the temptation to be hardened, to do the things that I want to do and not do the things that God wants me to do? How do we handle this? He says, "Here’s what you do. But, exhort one another every day as long as it is called today that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin." This is not about some rule to keep. You know, that you just make sure you’re

Always here when the doors are open because that’s what a good faithful person does. There’s actually a purpose, right? There’s a purpose to all of this. There’s a reason behind it because when we are not being exhorted and encouraged every day, our tendency is to be hardened sometimes to the things that we get into and the thoughts that we have and the direction that we go. And we need this encouragement from each other, which is why God built this

Into the how we live and what we’re supposed to do, that we are together regularly. And here, the Hebrew writer is telling them that you do this daily. Every day you’re exhorting each other. Lifting each other up, encouraging, admonishing, teaching. Whatever the need may be in the moment. All of this is vitally important what it means to be part of God’s people. Encouraging one another.

Paul’s body metaphor that we’ve already talked about really implies that every member of the body is part of this shared life together. This is what he says a little bit earlier from where we were at earlier in 1 Corinthians 12. He said, "If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?" And then he pulls out some other similar type of logical thoughts. But then he

Says, "But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each of them as he chose." Every single part of the body is important. And it matters. And sometimes maybe you perceive that well, what I do isn’t very valuable or it doesn’t accomplish a whole lot. But if you think about the way the body works, sometimes we think of things that are really small or insignificant, but

Then if we have a problem with them, how does that go? Like my fingernails are pretty small, but if I peel one away or cut it too short, do I think about that fingernail a whole lot at that point? Yeah, it’s pretty important. and because the fingernail isn’t right, does that affect the rest of my body? Yeah.

If you’ve ever done that, you know how that feels. It’s not very comfortable. And as you’re walking around day-to-day, or maybe here’s a thought, have you ever done this? You hurt yourself, you got a little cut, tiny little scratch, paper cut, or something in your fingernail, and then you get in bed, you go to sleep, and you can’t sleep because it keeps getting hit and touched, and it’s uncomfortable. Right? This is the kind of concept Paul

Wants us to understand about how important each of us are. You may think, "Well, I’m just that little fingernail, or I’m just an eye, I’m not the mouth." Or whatever the whatever we perceive to be the greater or more important part of the body is, but how much does that actually matter in reality? Paul says a great deal. That whatever part of the body we are, we have a functional importance

To what the body is doing and trying to accomplish. And we actually need one another to grow and to persevere. So, there’s an urgency to what’s being said here. Right? And what he’s talking about not neglecting meeting together, not neglecting this opportunity to be with each other and to spend time together, and to encourage each other. And he says, "Even more so

As the day is drawing near." There’s a sense of urgency in how important it actually is that we build these relationships. I think one way to think about this, in terms that probably all of us can appreciate, at least it makes sense to me with some things that have happened in our life, is you’re building and you’re investing in these relationships, and maybe things are great now. Maybe you don’t you’re not

Having any struggles, or you’re not having any difficulties, but you’ve built this family, and you’re a part of it. And so, when you do have a struggle or a difficulty, you have people in place who care, who are there for you. Isn’t that amazing when you experience that? And probably that we weren’t thinking about that, you know, in day-to-day interactions as we’re growing these

Relationships, or we’re noticing each other and building this the friendships that we have. We’re not necessarily thinking, "Well, I’m going to do this so that when I have a bad day later on, they’ll be there to help me." And I’m not even I’m not suggesting we should do that. That would be kind of a selfish motivation for this. But I think we can at least appreciate the reality and the wisdom of God in building a family and a community so that when we

Do find ourselves in a time of need, we have a whole system in place where tens or hundreds of people already care about what we’re going through, depending on the size of the congregation that we’re a part of. And I’ll tell you it even goes broader than that. As brethren all over the world sometimes hear about the things that you’re dealing with and they reach out with support and with prayers and with

The Challenge

Love. We need each other. And the way that we treat one another is such an important and huge thing in all of this. So, in this short, rather short statement in Hebrews, here’s what I see. That we should be observant. We should notice. We should be attentive to the people around us. We should build those relationships and think deeply about the influence that we have on each other and

See the need to participate and be involved in each other’s lives. But I want to leave you with a challenge for this week. Here’s the challenge I want to issue you. What is one thing just one thing this week that you can do to look beyond yourself and influence somebody around you in our community. Just one thing. Now, you may do more and that’s great.

But I just want us to think about a single way that we can do this. A person we haven’t connected with. A conversation that we’ve never had with somebody. Maybe someone we need to meet or we need to talk to. Whatever it might be, we think about just one way this week that we can reach out and I’m specifically talking about among the members at Decker Prairie where we can help encourage and build each other up. That’s the challenge for

The week. I’m going to do it. I want you to do it. How can we grow as God’s people together in this place with the instruction and the wisdom given in Hebrews chapter 10 that we consider one another to stir each other up to love and to good works. And maybe this morning that you desperately need to be in Christ. I want you to know this is a group of people who love each other and care

About each other. Earnest talked about this in the intro this morning. there’s people who go through all sorts of things here and people stand by each other because we follow Jesus Christ. And because we care about him and we see the love that he has for us and we want to be that kind of people. And we’re not always perfect and we don’t always do it right, but that’s our aim and that’s our

Goal. And we want you to see that comes from Jesus and who he is, not just cuz some people here are good people. And we want you to have that in your life. We want you to give yourself to Jesus Christ, to give up who you are because as we talked about earlier, we have to look beyond self, get out of who we are and realize what we need desperately in our life is to be like Jesus Christ. That is the answer. And if you haven’t done that yet, where

We stand ready to help you. We have water ready. You can be baptized into Jesus Christ and begin this process of becoming a new person, living for him. And we will stand behind you and with you in this process as well. Can we help you right now? Won’t you come as we stand and we sing.