Hebrews 10:23-25, New Living Translation, 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
I was listening to a conversation recently where a person self-assuredly stated that they believed it was not necessary for them to attend a church service as a Christian. That fellowshipping with other believers was not pertinent to their growth in their spiritual maturity and relationship with God.
When I heard this, the first thought that came to my mind was, “what about all the verses just in the New Testament that talk about our interaction and relationship with other believers, most of which contain the words “one another” and “each other”?”
As I have stated in many other articles in the past, we always need to be mindful that there are those of our church family who would love to be able to be present in our services on a regular basis but physically cannot because of health reasons or because the hours of their employment which make it impossible or very difficult. However, we are thankful that many who cannot be with us in person on Sunday morning join us on our Facebook broadcast.
When studying this topic, the verses we are going to look at, do not contain the word church family, but refer to a church family by using the pronouns “one another”, which is used 58 times in the NIV and “each other”, used 44 times in the NIV New Testament. You might be thinking to yourself at this point, “why mention how many times each term is used in the NIV New Testament?” The answer is simply, because if these terms are used so often in the New Testament, they have a level of importance that every believer in Christ needs to have as a reality in their relationship with God and with others of His Church.
In addition, in the context of many of the verses that contain these two terms it is important that we notice that with the term “one another”, the word “love” is mentioned 28 times in the same sentence. Why? And what does this have to do with the church family?
The importance of the spiritual characteristic of “one another” and “love” begins in the New Testament in John 13:34-35. Jesus gave us a “new command” which should be a predominant and distinguishing characteristic in the life of every believer, which primarily happens in a church context. “34 A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Jesus tells us in this verse the distinctive way that those outside of the church family will see or witness that we are believers in Christ because of how we love “Love one another”.
It is important to keep in mind the context of these words Jesus spoke. At the beginning of this chapter John writes, in verse one, “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” How did Jesus show or exemplify to them “the full extent of his love”? If we read the next verses, we see that He humbly washed their feet. John 13:2-5, “2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.” Because of what Jesus did to them He was able to later say in John 15:12, “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” The love we have for others in the church many times is exemplified by our humble actions.
As we continue to look at some of the verses in the New Testament it is important to note that the verses are written to or in the context of a church congregation.
The term “one another” in Paul’s letter to the Church in Rome only appears five times and twice with the word “love”. I would have liked to ask the person I overheard saying that being part of a congregation was not necessary for a Christian; “then how does a Christian do what Paul is telling the Roman Christians?” Sure, some of what Paul is telling the Romans could be done long distance or even nowadays virtually and will still have a meaningful affect. But how much more will our actions of love impact others when done in person?
Romans 12:10, Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.
Romans 12:16, Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
Romans 13:8, Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
Romans 15:7, Accept one another, then, just as Christ accepted you, in order to bring praise to God.
Romans 16:16a, Greet one another with a holy kiss.
Paul speaking to the church in the city of Colosse tells them that they should have particular virtues evident in relation to each other as a congregation. In verse fourteen of chapter three Paul tells us about the importance of love. In the following quote Warren Wiersbe explains to us how this verse applies to the lives of Christians. “This is the most important of the Christian virtues, and it acts like a “girdle” that ties all the other virtues together. When love rules in our lives, it unites all these spiritual virtues so that there is beauty and harmony, indicating spiritual maturity. This harmony and maturity keep the life balanced and growing.”
Colossians 3:12-14, 12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. 13 Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. 14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Concerning the virtue of love expressing itself in the life of a congregation, Paul tells the church in the city in Thessalonica the following.
1 Thessalonians 4:9-10, 9 Now about brotherly love we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. 10 And in fact, you do love all the brothers throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, brothers, to do so more and more.
The apostle Peter makes another important point that we must also experience in the life of the church concerning how we interrelate with each other as the church. “The purpose of gifts is to serve the Church in a way that brings glory to God.” The Fire Bible commentary excellently explains to us how what Peter says in these two verses serves the purposes of God and how it serves those of Christ’s church and even ourselves.
1 Peter 4:10-11a, New Living Translation, 10 God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. 11 Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies. Then everything you do will bring glory to God through Jesus Christ.
Finally, the apostle John writing to numerous congregations in four Roman provinces in these next five verses emphasizes the importance of the “fellowship with one another” but at the same time the importance of loving “one another”.
1 John 1:7, But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.
1 John 3:11, This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
1 John 3:23, And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.
1 John 4:7, Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
1 John 4:11-12, 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
From the many verses we just saw, the writer of Hebrews sums up much of what we read and tells us very clearly that our faith is something we should protect and highly value. As the believer of Christ Jesus or one who is redeemed, who is dedicated to a life that follows Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord; and if we physically able to do so, we all should be committed to and regularly fellowship with a congregation of believers. One of the characteristics of agape love that is expressed in verse 24 is simply giving others a place of importance greater than ourselves. Warren Wiersbe explains this point very clearly. “Fellowship with God must never become selfish. We must also fellowship with other Christians in the local assembly. Apparently, some of the wavering believers had been absenting themselves from the church fellowship. It is interesting to note that the emphasis here is not on what a believer gets from the assembly, but rather on what he can contribute to the assembly. Faithfulness in church attendance encourages others and provokes them to love and good works.”
Hebrews 10:23-25, New Living Translation, 23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Pastor John
