WORSHIP AND FELLOWSHIP

HEBREWS 10:23–25

Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching

(Heb. 10:25).

The final three exhortations of Hebrews 10:22–25 have to do with living together in the church. We are told in verse 24 to seek ways to spur each other on to love and good works. This involves three things. First, we have to take the time to study one another. Husbands and wives, for instance, need to study their spouses, learning their needs, likes, dislikes, fears, and the like. Second, we need to spur each other to love. Love means reconciliation. We must work overtime to heal, sometimes slowly and gradually, the conflicts that inevitably come up in interpersonal relationships. Third, and only after the first two, we need to encourage each other to good works. Good works are no good if they come from the heart of an unloving person.

The fourth of the five exhortations is in verse 25a: Keep coming to church. The worship of God, especially at His table, is the central act of our obedience. To stay away from church is to spit in God’s face and to despise His gift of the kingdom. In the Roman Catholic Church, it is a “mortal sin” to fail to attend mass weekly. Protestants don’t need to go that far, but we are far too lax in our view of the centrality of worship.

The last exhortation (v. 25b) says to encourage one another in the context of worship. Worship needs to be full of corporate action, especially singing. Congregational singing is very encouraging to the soul, and it works mightily to help heal and reconcile relationships, because it gets everyone actively focused on God. Most of our worship is far too passive.

The Hebrew Christians were being tempted to fall away. They needed to cling to the truth, especially as they watched the “Day approaching.” Some understand this “Day” as a proximate reference to the coming destruction of Jerusalem, preceded by signs such as persecution of believers (Matt. 24:4–28). Spoken of in this absolute manner, however, this “Day” also may refer to the final Day of the Lord—Christ’s Second Coming for judgment. Whichever application is true, sticking together in the worshiping body of the church supplies the grace all Christians need to make it through tribulation.

CORAM DEO

Ezekiel 40–42

Author and pastor John Piper has said, “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him, and we are most satisfied in Him in worship.” Read that statement again. Seek to glorify God in your personal and corporate worship, and there find true satisfaction.

For further study: Psalms 17:15; 90:13–17 • Isaiah 58:6–14

thursday

august