A Word in Season: Preparing for Glory (Hebrews 10:25)

The People of God as the Family of Christ

How do we think of God's people? What is your disposition towards the saints, those to whom you are bound by bonds of love, those with whom you are united in the Holy Spirit, those to whom you are cemented by the crimson blood of Christ Jesus, living stones in the temple of the Holy Spirit, so that you are together, the very people, the true family of God?

The writer to the Hebrews is concerned that we should have the right disposition and expectation toward one another. Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, he says in Hebrews chapter 10 from verse 24, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.

He wants believers then and now to live in the light of Christ's return, not to become careless, thoughtless, lazy, in the day between Christ's first coming and his second coming, but rather to think, not just of how we may serve God, but the overflow, the outflow toward one another of our devotion to him.

We need to consider one another, we need to take one another into account with the view of stirring up love and good works, because if you are anything like me, love and good works are two of the things that take a battering in this world.

And unless we are proactively considering one another, disposed to help one another in these things, looking for ways to stir up love and good works, they will fade not only in us, but in others. There's a tendency too, given the pressures of the time, to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.

The Lord's Day Assembly and Mutual Exhortation

I think that clearly has primary reference to the gatherings of the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, that resurrection day, when we're gathering in God's presence, the closest thing on earth you get to being in heaven itself.

God's people gather together in the presence of God by his Spirit. Now, the verse here doesn't tell us at what time we should gather. It doesn't even tell us at this point how often we might consider gathering.

But the danger would be that we drift away from that united expression of our devotion to God. Many did then, many do now. And we are not to be like that, but we are to exhort one another. And I think the exhortations there are not just that you should go to church, but that we should be gathering, and that in that context we'll be stirring one another up to love and to good works.

This is the encouragement. This is the calling people up alongside. This is the helping hand that makes sure that none are left behind. This is that mutual regard and care for the whole body of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And the difficulties of the day, and the pressures, and even the persecutions that we face, far from being reasons not to gather, are all the more reason why we should come together as the people of God.

Living in Light of the Day Approaching

That day is drawing near. We do not know when it will come, but we do know that it shall come, and that, at least in the scheme of God, it is not far off. It is the next great event in the divine calendar on earth, if I can put it like that.

And we then need to be very conscious of the fact that we're living in days that will undermine our faith, our hope, and our love. That it will be very easy for us to grow weary in well-doing. And that unless we are together, ready both to give and to receive those encouragements, those remembrances, those reminders, those helps to stir up love and good works in our hearts and with our hands, it will be too easy for us to drift away.

So let me plead with you not to forsake assembling together with God's people. To do it on the Lord's Day first and foremost, the resurrection day when the risen Christ draws near to his people to encourage and stir our hearts, and when the preacher, with the help of the Holy Spirit, feeds our souls as an under-shepherd.

And to do it besides, to be in the habit of engaging with God's people, and to do it always with the wish and the intent of stirring up love and good works, exhorting and encouraging one another in the light of the return of our beloved Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ.