Let us consider one another

Let Us Consider One Another

Pastor Keith Hassell

Foundation Scripture:            Hebrews 10:24-25

I.          Let us consider one another

A.        Adam Clarke’s Commentary says it this way, “Let us diligently and attentively consider each other’s trials, difficulties, and weaknesses; feel for each other, and excite each other to an increase of love to God and man; and, as the proof of it, to be fruitful in good works.”

B.         Amplified Bible:  “And let us consider and give attentive, continuous care to watching over one another, studying how we may stir up (stimulate and incite) to love and helpful deeds and noble activities:”

C.        Consider: (Greek êáôáíïÝù, katanoeo) means “to observe fully; behold; consider; discover; perceive”

II.        To Stir up love and good works

A.        Stir (Greek ðáñïîõóìüò,  paroxusmos ) means “to provoke”

B.         Not to stir up trouble, doubt, discouragement, stubbornness, rebellion

C.        Love (Greek PãÜðç, agapeô) means, “affection or benevolence; specifically (plural) a love feast:—(feast of) charity ([-ably]), dear, love.”

            1.         “A banquet of affection, love, and good will”

D.        Work (Greek hñãïí, ergon) means to “toil (as an effort

or occupation); by implication an act:—deed, doing, labor, work.”

III.       Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some

A.        Amplified Bible: “Not forsaking or neglecting to assemble together [as believers], as is the habit of some people, but admonishing---warning, urging, and encouraging---one another, and all the more faithfully as you see the day approaching.”

B.         Satan has launched an assault on the Sabbath principle

1.         God finished His work in six days and gave man the seventh day to enjoy what He had done.  Our job is not to work but to maintain and cultivate what God had already done.

2.         Satan seeks to destroy man’s undivided attention and worship of God.

3.         Dismantling man’s commitment to set aside one day for God will ultimately dismantle man’s commitment to God every other day of the week

4.         Once we tried to legislate the Sabbath principle.

            a.         Law of Moses

b.         “Blue laws”-puritanical laws prevalent in the New England colonies to prohibit dancing, shows, sports, business, etc. on Sunday. Originally they were printed on blue paper

c.         Jesus fulfilled the strict code of the Sabbath for us, so that we might now walk in the spirit of the Sabbath through love

d.         “Let us consider one another”

5.         A lack of commitment to being together with other believers in church

a.         Is a sin against God

b.         Treason against your own soul

c.         Irresponsibility toward your family

d.         A failure to consider your brothers and sisters in the church

C.        We are not islands in the faith.

1.         There has come an emphasis upon “the faith” to “our faith” leaving the impression that our faith stands alone. “Our faith” is simply our personal participation in and extension of “the faith”

2.         The Good Shepherd brings back the lost sheep to reunite it with His flock

D.        The “assembling” of ourselves together

1.         “Assembling” is more than a gathering. A gathering has no purpose, order, or direction. A gathering of people could even be a mob. As living stones, we are not to gather as a pile of stones, but to be assembled together in our proper place so that this holy temple may be assembled and built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Ephesians 2:21-22)

2.         Acts 2:40-47 The habit of New Testament believers

3.         We are a body (every member is needed and finds its function)

4.         We are a temple (every stone is part of the structure)

E.         Forsake (Greek dãêáôáëåßðù, egkataleipoô ) means, “to leave behind in some place, that is, (in a good sense) let remain over, or (in a bad one) to desert:—forsake, leave.”

F.         Manner (Greek hèïò, ethos ) means, “a usage (prescribed by habit or law):—custom, manner, be wont.”  (Ethics: The study of standards of conduct and moral judgment)

1.         In other words, our “manners” or “habits” are based upon the moral standards we adopt and live by

2.         Those who refuse to be self-governed and walk by the spirit of the law will be governed by the letter of the law (1 Timothy 5:9)

3.         A person who has a habit of forsaking the assembling of themselves together with others has adopted a standard that is different than that given by Christ and the Scriptures.

            a.         Sunday is my only day off (God gave you the day off )

            b.         Sunday is my only day to sleep in

i.          Ephesians 5:14 “Awake, you who sleep, arise from the dead, and Christ will give you light.”

c.         Sunday is my only time to fish, hunt, shop, or play sports or its my regular day to watch sports.

i.          Exodus 20:3 “You shall have no other gods before Me.”

ii.          Isaiah 58:13-14 “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable, and shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words, then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

d.         Sunday is my only day to catch up on chores or to make a little extra money

i.          Exodus 20:8 “Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work.”

            e.         Sunday is my only day to do what I want to do

i.          Matthew 16:25 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”

            f.          Sunday is our family day

i.          Ephesians 6:4 “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.”

g.         Sunday is our time to visit friends and family

i.          Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers an sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.”

h.         I don’t have to go to church to have a relationship with God

            i.          Matthew 16:18, “I will build My church.”

ii.          1 Corinthians 12:18 “But now God has set the members, EACH ONE OF THEM in the body just as He pleased.”

            i.          Me and God have our own thing going

i.          Matthew 16:24 “Then Jesus said to His disciples, ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.”

            j.          My reasons are exceptions to God’s standard for others

                        i.          Romans 2:11 “For there is no partiality with God.”

            k.         I don’t want to get too close to people. I like being by myself.

i.          1 Corinthians 12:21 “And the eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I have no need of you’; nor again the head to the feet, ‘I have no need of you.’”

ii.          Hebrews 10:25 “Do not neglect the assembling of yourselves together”

l.          I don’t want people telling me what I should be doing. What I do with my life is my own business.

i.          Hebrews 13:17 “Obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out over your souls, as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you.”

m.        I want to just be left alone. I don’t want to be reminded that I am not in church.

i.          James 5:19-20 “Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”

n.         I don’t want to be identified with other Christians. It will hurt my reputation with my friends.

i.          1 John 3:14 “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren.”

o.         Others “get away with it” so why not me?

i.          Romans 3:3 “For what if some did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faithfulness of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true and every man a liar. As it is written: ‘That you may be justified in Your words, and overcome when You are judged.’”

ii.          2 Corinthians 5:10 “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad.”

iii.         Hebrews 4:11 “Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.”

3.         Don’t accept the ethics of those who forsake the assembling of themselves together

IV.       But exhorting one another

A.        Exhort (Greek ðáñáêáëÝù, parakaleoô) means, “to call near, that is, invite, invoke (by imploration, hortation or consolation):—beseech, call for, (be of good) comfort, desire, (give) exhort (-ation), intreat, pray.”

            1.         To exhort is to call people nearer to God and to His holy standards

            2.         To refuse to draw near is to shrink back from the Lord (10:39)

V.        And so much the more as you see the Day approaching

            A.        Hebrews 10:26-39

            B.         Assembling together helps keep us ready for Christ’s return.