Incite to Right

The book of Hebrews can be somewhat difficult at times for the Gentile mind to encompass. It is, after all, written to Hebrews ... and we are not Hebrew. So there is all that stuff about sacrificial systems and such of which the Hebrew mind was well aware but eludes 21st century Americans. That's okay. We can work through it. We can get a handle on it.

Then we read stuff like this: "Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest, lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief." (Heb 4:11) Now that's a little bit difficult to grasp, isn't it? We are to work to enter rest? I mean, don't you cease work to enter rest?

Then, over in the 10th chapter, we read, "And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works." (Heb 10:24) Now how exactly are we to do that? The word there, "stir", is an interesting word. In Greek it is παροξυσμός--paroxusmos--from which we get our word "paroxysm". You know, a sudden attack of emotion or activity. We are to cause fits of love and good works. The word means to incite or dispute, to provoke or contend. It is rooted in the thought of sharpening and, figuratively, to exasperate. And we are to do it carefully and intentionally ("consider how to").

Now, you and I are Bible-believing Christians. You and I want to shape our lives by the instructions of God's Word. So you and I want to follow this command: "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works." How do we do that? How do we excite fellow believers into love and good works? How do we incite them? How do we provoke others to love and good works? How do we stimulate/sharpen/urge love and good works?

There are clues here. We do it by holding fast the confession of our hope (Heb 10:23). We do it by not neglecting to fellowship (Heb 10:25) (which, in this day and age, is alarmingly popular among self-professed Christians who "don't need to go to church to be a good Christian"). We do it by encouraging (rather then tearing down) one another (Heb 10:25). All this stuff is in the surrounding text. All are convenient ways to spur one another to love and good works. (Interesting, isn't it, when there is a sizable group of Christians who argue that "good works" are meaningless to Christianity?)

You can work through this on your own. What (in addition to the ones listed) are ways you can stir fellow Christians into love and good works? Remember, the command is to consider it. So think about it. Who will you incite to godliness? How will you do it? What will it look like? I'm not offering a comprehensive answer. I'm just encouraging you (and me) to be aware that it is a command, that we are to be doing it, and to go out and do it. Do we have time for a lengthy conversation about sports? Or politics? Or how she looked at church last week? Maybe. But you've got some stirring up to godliness to do. We should get started on that. Hey, wouldn't church be a good place to start?