Joyfully Walking Together Series: Alive in Christ

A Sermon on Hebrews 10:19-25

ME - Different types of contracts and covenants to mediate relationships we have together.

We have different kinds of relationships that are set up differently in life.

– usually built around a common interest or period in life.Friendships

– when you start a new job, you sign that contract where you promise to be at work for so many hours a week and your employer promises to give you a certain amount of money for your time and benefits for your work.Work contracts

– those people you are related to through biology or marriage, some of the people you spend the most time with, connected through common ancestry.Familial relationships

– marriages, more than a contract. A promise to one another to be with them through good and bad times.Covenantal relationships

Transition: But there is one relationship that doesn't fit neatly into any of these categories, and it's actually the most important one we have. It's the one between us and God, and between us and one another in his church. And the way God set that relationship up tells us everything about what the church is supposed to be.

We - Throughout Scripture we see that God's relationship with human beings has been mediated through covenants.

Throughout Scripture God relates to his people through covenants – not contracts, not casual arrangements, but binding promises.

– God promises to sustain creation.Covenant with Noah

– God gives the law, calls Israel to be his holy nation.Covenant with Moses and his people

– God promises a throne that will last forever.Covenant with David

– fulfilled in Jesus.The New Covenant with Christ and his people

These covenants don't all work the same way. Sometimes God makes them and says he will keep them no matter what. Other times, when his people do not live as they should, he sets consequences for disobedience.

But with all of them, he never gives up on his promises. He never totally throws his hands up and says, "I have had enough with you people, let's get our lawyers together and part ways."

Transition: So the question for us today is this: if God has always related to his people through covenant, what does that mean for how we relate to him now? And what does it mean for how we relate to each other?

GOD - God has allowed us to draw near to him – and to one another – through the grace of his covenants.

The book of Hebrews is all about how God's promises continue from the Old Testament to the New Testament. The whole argument builds to this moment in chapter 10.

Background: The Covenant at Sinai (Exodus 24)

Walk through the confirming of the covenant with Moses and the people through the sprinkling of blood (Exodus 24). Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you."

At Sinai, the people were terrified to approach God (Exodus 20). Thunder, lightning, trumpet, smoke – they trembled and stayed at a distance. Only Moses could go up the mountain. Only the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies. (CEP)

1. Draw Near to God (v. 19-22)

"Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body..."

The word "new" almost certainly has the new covenant in mind. "Living" likely refers to Jesus' resurrection (Schreiner). This is not a dead ritual; it is a living pathway through a risen Savior.

"Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water."

The sprinkling of blood and washing with water echo baptism and covenant identity. Under the new covenant, all of God's children enter the Holy of Holies. (Tom Long) We come not because of our own holiness, but because of the work of Christ. We have been cleansed by his blood.

As believers we have rest and peace of heart through Jesus' blood. Shame and guilt are no longer ours. (Schreiner)

[Sprinkle the people with the water from the baptismal fount.]

2. Hold Unswervingly to Hope (v. 23)

"Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful."

Our perseverance is grounded in the faithfulness of God. The same God who kept every covenant – with Noah, with Moses, with David – is the one who holds us now.

But notice: this is a communal command. "Let us" – we hold fast together. This is the "engage" side of our vision. We remind one another of the promises when discouragement comes. We speak truth in love.

3. Spur One Another On (v. 24-25) – The Heart of "Engage and Enfold"

"And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching."

The word "consider" (katanoeo) means to think carefully, to pay close attention. This is intentional, not accidental. Mutual growth doesn't happen by default. It takes deliberate investment in one another.

"Spur one another on" – the goal is not just showing up. It's provoking, in the best sense, love and good deeds in each other.

The warning against giving up meeting together is not about attendance for its own sake. It's that you can't spur someone on if you're not present with them. Relationships that mature faith require proximity, consistency, and intentionality.

O'Brien (cited by Schreiner): "Their gathering together anticipates the final ingathering of God's people. The assembly is the earthly counterpart to the heavenly congregation."

Tom Long: Christian worship is an eschatological event – participation here and now in the eternal praises of God, a foretaste of the approaching victory.

This is the biblical blueprint for what we're pursuing as Engage and Enfold. Every relationship in the church carries a spiritual calling. We are not simply gathering alongside one another but are called to speak truth in love, bear one another's burdens (Gal. 6:2), and spur one another on (Heb. 10:24-25). Ephesians 4:15-16 – the body "grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work."

YOU - Know that you can draw near to God and invest in one another because of what Christ has done.

Not because we've earned it. Not because we've got it all together. Because of his blood, his covenant, his faithfulness.We can draw near to God and worship him because of what Christ has done.

Each week, during the service, we come together and approach God in worship using the general outline of the covenant that was first made by God and his people on Mount Sinai.

[Look at the bulletin with the congregation and outline the movements in it.]

But here's the thing the writer of Hebrews presses on us: it doesn't stop at worship. The same grace that brings us into God's presence sends us into each other's lives. "Consider how we may spur one another on."

What does that look like practically?

It means showing up consistently – Sunday mornings, Bible studies, fellowship meals – not out of obligation but because you can't build relationships that matter if you're not present.

It means being intentional – not just "How are you? Fine." but really knowing one another. Asking the harder questions. Praying specifically.

It means enfolding others – the new family, the visitor, the person sitting alone. The body grows as each part does its work.

We - Rest in the grace we have been given in Christ, and build the kind of covenant community that makes us more like Jesus.

Remember a few minutes ago when I talked about how different covenants God made were set up?

The New Covenant – the one that mediates our relationship with God today – is one that is made possible through his work alone.

Christ sealed this covenant with us through his blood on the cross. There is nothing we can do to change that fact.

We make our entrance into this covenant through baptism – the washing of our sins, our death and resurrection in Christ.

We remember and continue to live into this covenant every time we celebrate communion together.

Because of Christ’s covenant, we are not just individually saved. We are knit together by the Holy Spirit into a body. A family. A covenant community where every relationship carries spiritual weight.

This is who we are as Ellsworth CRC. We are a church that engages and enfolds – that draws near to God together and draws near to one another, because Christ has opened the way. Let's be the kind of community where faith grows not in isolation but in love, as each part does its work.