Question
Encourage One Another Daily
Hebrews 3:1-19
Key Verse 3:13
1. Read verse 1. What does "fix" mean? Why should we fix our thoughts on Jesus? (Consider the discussion in Chapters 1-2 especially 2:14-18) How is the title "apostle" or "high priest" related to us?
2. Read verses 2-6. The expression "God's house" is repeated. What is "God's house"? This passage indicates that four persons are involved in getting this house built: God, Moses, Jesus, and us (or you). What are the roles of each of them (God, Moses, Jesus and you) in this venture?
3. Read verse 6 again and think about "our courage" and "the hope of which we boast". The presence of the word "courage" indicates that "courage" is needed in working on this house. Why is courage needed? In what respect can "[being] his house" be characterized as the "hope" one can boast of? Why is this courage called "our" courage? What does it mean to "hold onto" [our courage and the hope...]? If one does not do these things, what will happen?
4. Read verses 7-11. Think about the exhortation "do not harden your hearts". The word "your" indicates that it is you who can either harden or soften your heart. Why does
anyone end up hardening his heart (when he hears God's word of promise)?
5. Read verses 12 and 13. What does "See to it" mean? The word "none" is repeated twice. Why is it such a serious problem for even "one" person to become "sinful" and
"unbelieving"? Why is it necessary for us to encourage one another "daily"?
6. Read verses 16-19 and consider the questions and answers given. What does this passage teach us about the consequences of unbelief?
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Message
Encourage One Another Daily
Hebrews 3:1-19
But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. (Hebrews 3:13)
I. The Heavenly Calling (1-6)
Look at verse 1: “Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess.” This verse begins with the word, “Therefore...” This passage is the practical application of what we learned in chapters 1 and 2. In chapter 1, we learned that Jesus is far superior to the angles because he is God’s Son. Yet, in chapter 2, we learned that God made Jesus lower than the angels. Why? To save us. God made Jesus a man so that he could go through all of the sufferings we go through and die in our place. Chapter 2 is full of so many amazing and wonderful messages about what God has done for us. Today's passage s about how we should respond to what God has done for us through Jesus Christ. Verse 1 summarizes what God has done for us with the expression, "heavenly calling." This expression captures all that chapters 1 and 2 is getting at: God has given us a heavenly calling in Jesus Christ. Because we came to believe in Christ, we are called holy brothers [and sisters] because we have been saved by Jesus' blood and set on a new course--the course of God's calling.
It is very important to understand what this means--the heavenly calling--because it gives us a clear idea of what the Christian life is about. Some people make the mistake of thinking that the Christian life is about believing in Jesus one time and then just going to church for the rest of their life. But the Christian life is not about one moment in my past--it is about one moment in my future. It is about the goal that I am aiming at--the heavenly calling that I have. When we hear that call as Christians, we believe in Jesus and repent of our sins and start heading in that direction. We need to understand that we are called to the kingdom of heaven, and we are not done until we are there. Our Christian life is like a pilgrimage to the kingdom of heaven.
In The Pilgrim's Progress, John Bunyun describes what the Christian life is like through a story. He described the Christian life as a journey to the kingdom of heaven. Along that journey, the christian had to overcome all kinds of challenges and problems. It was very difficult for him to make it to the very end. In fact, he saw many people who started the journey but didn’t make it to the end. That is what this passage is talking about.
We are holy brothers and sisters in Christ, and we have this calling, so the question is, “What should we do?” The answer is in verse 1: “fix your thoughts on Jesus, the author and high priest we confess.” The author of Hebrews summarizes what we should do in these words: “fix your thoughts on Jesus.” What does it mean to fix your thoughts on Jesus? Does it mean to think about Jesus with his long beard, robe, and sandals, walking through the streets and healing people? That might be helpful, but it is much more than that. The verse tells us what we are supposed to think about. Who is Jesus? He is the apostle and high priest whom we confess.
What is an apostle? An apostle is someone who is sent out with a message to deliver. In the old days, a king would send out an apostle to deliver a message to some people or someone. Jesus is God’s apostle. God chose his own son, Jesus, and sent him to us to give us the message--the calling to the kingdom of God. God gave us that calling through Jesus. Jesus made disciples, called them apostles, and sent them out with his message. They were Jesus’ apostles, but Jesus was God’s apostle. It’s good to listen to Peter and James, but they are Jesus’ apostle; Jesus is God’s apostle.
What about the high priest? The high priest mediates between God and man. He offers sacrifices to take care of the problem of sin so that the relationship between God and man can be restored. This is who Jesus is.
Now, “fix your thoughts on Jesus who is the apostle and high priest we confess.” What it means is that we could not hear this heavenly calling if God had not sent Jesus, and we could not receive this calling if God had not sent Jesus. It is only in Jesus that the heavenly calling makes sense and is possible. So what should we do? We must fix our thoughts on Jesus. If you want to make it to the end of the journey and not get lost, what should you do? We should follow the one who knows the way; we should follow the one who went before us and made the way. That’s really what our Christian life is about. It is about this journey that we make to the kingdom of God that we do through Jesus. It is about the focus of our life, which is Jesus.
In this passage, in verses 2-6, we see a practical example of what it means to think about Jesus and fix our thoughts on him. Look at verses 2-6:
2He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house.
The author of Hebrews emphasizes that Jesus is greater than Moses. I think he made this comparision because he was writing to Jewish Christians. As Jews, they grew up learning about Moses. They learned about the law of Moses. They knew that of all the servants of God in history, Moses was the greatest by far. If it was not for Moses, they would still be slaves in Egypt. They had a very high regard for Moses. But the author of Hebrews says that as great as Moses was, Jesus is greater. As worthy Moses is of listening to, Jesus is far more worthy. In fact, Moses is really a foreshadow of Jesus. What did Moses do? His mission was to bring the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, through the desert, and into the Promised Land. What about God’s mission for Jesus? It is the same pattern. God sent Jesus to save us from slavery to sin and death, bring us through this barren world, and into the eternal kingdom of God. That’s why verse 5 says, “Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future.” Moses gave the law of Moses, but in reality he was testifying to what would be said later on. He was setting up the message to come--the message that Jesus brought--the gospel. The Jewish Christians who were hearing this message should learn how important it was for them to fix their thoughts on Jesus. Many of them had the problem of legalism. They were focused on the law, but they didn’t know Jesus very well.
Not many of us have the problem of holding Moses in higher esteem than Jesus. In fact, before we met Jesus we used to hold so many worldly things in high esteem. But Jesus is greater than all these. Therefore, as Christians, we must see a transformation in our minds. It doesn’t make sense to confess Jesus as our high priest and God’s apostle but then have no room for him in our minds because our thoughts are full of worldly things. This calling that we have in Jesus gives us a completely different orientation for our lives; a completely different frame of mind. The thing is, however, that it doesn’t come automatically. We must make a choice: let us fix our thoughts on Jesus.
Look at verse 6: “And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.” This is another way of describing how wonderful God’s calling is. We believers are God’s house. This means more than just I am the wall, you are the sink. It means that we are God’s house; God’s house is made up of his children. We are God’s children. What a glorious thing to say: we are the children of God; we are the household of God. This is such a great calling. This is what Jesus did for us. But, there is a big IF. If what? If we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast. This tells us that, yes we are God’s children, but we haven’t made it there yet; there is still possibility of falling away. So we must hold on to courage and hope.
On a daily basis, living by faith in Jesus requires courage to make tough choices. Think about the choice Jesus made--even the choice to die on the cross. This took courage, and Jesus’ courage was based on faith. What about hope? If you don’t have God’s hope, then what will happen when something in the world comes along and tempts you? It may lead you down a wrong path, far away from where you should be. So this is what the Christian life is. It is a life of heavenly calling and journey. It is a life that is center on Jesus and means living by faith with courage and hope.
This is an encouraging and positive message, but we can’t stop here. The reality is that this issue is so serious and what is at stake is so important that we need to talk about this in more detail. So let’s think about the next point.
II. The Problem (7-11)
Look at verses 7-11:
7So, as the Holy Spirit says:
"Today, if you hear his voice,
8do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
9where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
10That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.'
11So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest.' "
These verses are from Psalm 95. The author of Hebrews uses this passage to help us understand the problem we face: the problem of unbelief. This is a problem that we might underestimate because we don’t really think about what it means to be unbelieving. It isn’t really talking about saying, “I don’t believe in Jesus any more.” It’s talking about unbelief that is evident in the choices we make in our lives.
This passage refers to what happened after God used Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. The plan was to make it into the land of promise. But along the way, they faced difficulties and hard situations. In the specific instance referred to in Psalm 95, they came to a certain place and there was no water. What did they do? They lost faith and complained. They said that it would have been better to be in Egypt. They totally forgot about what God had done for them and the promise God gave them. This unbelief made God so angry. God tried to help them, but they were persistent in their unbelief.
God called the Israelites out of Egypt with a mighty display of his power; ten plagues against Egypt; leading them with a pillar of fire and cloud. What more could you want to believe? Yet despite all this, they were constantly going astray. God summarized their problem in the words, “they have not known my ways.” They saw what God did, but they didn’t take it to heart. What was going on here was that though God was working, their hearts were only full of the things of this world. They could only think about food, drink, and being tired, and the long journey, and many more sinful things. They didn’t think about what God had done for them or God’s plan for them. Instead, whenever their sinful desire came up, they had the chance to choose between God and their sinful nature. What did they do? Consistently, they hardened their hearts to God so that they wouldn’t hear or think about anything that would prevent them from enjoying the pleasures of sin for a short time. God didn’t treat them like slaves--deriving obedience out of them with the threat of the whip. God wanted them to know his ways; to understand who he is and what he had in mind for them. But they wouldn’t do it.
What was the result? Look at verse 11: So I declared on oath in my anger,'They shall never enter my rest.' "
What a shocking message! After God did so much to save them, God swore on oath and in anger that they would never enter his rest. These are the scariest words you can think of: “They shall never enter my rest.” From the beginning of creation, God planned to bring his children into his rest. But they would not let him; they wouldn’t listen. They continued to rebel until God finally said, “Enough!” This is a shocking message that shows us how serious and chronic the problem of unbelief is. Do you think that the Israelites were more corrupt than other human beings? No. They are not different from us. So, we shouldn’t think that we are good people and expect ourselves to do good things. No, we should expect that unless we do something about it, we will naturally go away from God. I am a sinner, and my sinful nature loves to sin and hates to hear what God is saying. My sinful nature will always harden my heart. This is the nature we all have in us. This is why the Israelites died in the desert. Out of about a million people, only two made it out of the desert. This is the problem.
III. The Solution (12-19)
What, then, should we do? Look at verse 12: “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.” The answer is obvious: see to it that you don’t have a sinful unbelieving heart. How do you know if you have a sinful, unbelieving heart? The author says that sinful unbelieving hearts “turn away from the living God.” That is the sign of a sinful, unbelieving heart: it is the heart that turns us away from the living God. So you face this choice daily. You are here, God is there, and the sinful thing is there. You hear God’s voice saying, “I have what’s good for you,” and the sinful thing says, “No, I have what’s good for you.” You have a choice to turn either to the living God or the dead idols. It is easy to think about this in terms of “bad” sins; but the reality is that is possible to look like a good, clean Christian and still have an unbelieving heart. For example, God may tell you that you need to come and have fellowship with him; at the same time, your sinful nature says, “No, let’s go online and read something interesting.” That is the moment that we make a choice. It may not seem like a big deal, but to make the wrong choice is very serious--it is to harden your heart and turn away from the living God. So often we think that it’s no big deal. We make excuses. We never say, “Oh, I’m going to harden my heart now.” No one says that, but it is what we do. We don’t notice it because we do it so much that we don’t even realize how serious it is to harden our heart to God’s voice.
How, then, can I keep myself from going astray? If I’m so prone to harden my heart and turn away from God, how can I not have a sinful, unbelieving heart? That is where the key verse comes into play. Look at verse 13: “But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness.”
We are holy brothers and sisters; we share in the heavenly calling; we are God’s house. Therefore, we need each other. It is very hard to live the Christian life on our own. We are so sinful that we can’t rely on ourselves. But God has given us the fellowship of believers so that we can strengthen and encourage each other daily. As long as it is Today--and it is today--we need to help each other to overcome the problem of unbelief.
There are many ways we can encourage one another daily. If you are married, maybe you can encourage your husband or wife. Recently I experienced this kind of encouragement. Until recently, I wasn’t able to get up in the morning for personal fellowship with God. But about a month ago, one brother encouraged me and a few others to meet together in the morning for prayer and personal devotion. This meeting has encouraged me a lot to come to Jesus in the morning and to listen to his voice.
This morning, William called me to wake me up for the meeting. At first, I didn’t want to go. But because William called me, I knew I had to go; so I struggled to remember what I learned from this passage and fix my thoughts on Jesus. I remembered Jesus who got up early in the morning to pray. This helped me to go to the Center. When I arrived, I was greatly encouraged to see Charles, who has had a lot of trouble making it in the morning. I thought, “Good job, Charles, you heard the call and you didn’t harden your heart.” But there was one problem--Jason wasn’t there. William had called him, and Jason answered the call and made a good confession, “I’ll be there.” But he wasn’t there. Where was he? His body had fallen in the wasteland! But William didn’t give up. He called a second time and a third time--until Jason picked up the phone and came to the prayer meeting. That’s the dynamic of how we can encourage one another daily. We need to struggle for ourselves, but when we have the encouragement of our brothers and sisters in Christ, we can be victorious.
Let’s look at the conclusion of this passage. Look at verse 14: “We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first.” Remember what kind of confidence, zeal, and devotion you had when you first believed. If we aren’t careful, we will end up losing our confidence and end up worse off than we were at first. Look at verse 15: “As has just been said: "Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion."” This verse is repeated. It is very important. We must remember that Jesus is talking to us today; we must choose not to harden our hearts. The final warning is in verses 16-19:
“16Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt? 17And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert? 18And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed[c]? 19So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.”
Remember the connection between unbelief and disobedience; belief and obedience. Those who were unbelieving were disobedient. It is not enough for us to believe in Jesus once. We must live by faith that what God has for us is better. God is calling us to obedience, not for the sake of obedience, but because he has what is truly good for us. We must trust in him and believe that what he is saying is true. May God help us to take warning from the Israelites. May God help us to be realistic about our sinful nature so that we would daily struggle not to harden our hearts, but to listen to God’s voice and obey by faith.
One word: Encourage One Another Daily
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Biblenote
Encourage one another daily
Hebrews 3:1-19
Key Verse 3:13
This passage reminds us of John Bunyun's Pilgrim's Progress. As described there our life in the Lord is a journey to His kingdom, and the journey involves lots of difficulties and challenges. Although many choose to embark on the journey not all make it to the celestial city; like the Israelites who got out of Egypt and yet failed to make it to the Promised Land, so also many will get out of the grip of the devil and yet somewhere along the journey will lose faith and become statistics.
The real point of the message is that by you, after experiencing God's grace, and then remaining sinful, unbelieving, and disobeying the Lord, and thereby even leaving the community of people who still strive to follow the Living God, you become a source of great discouragement to others. Even one person doing this can so easily cause havoc to the community of believers.
For this reason the author exhorts us fellow members of the holy pilgrimage to encourage one another "daily" as a matter of life and death, for while we see that we ourselves need to struggle not to sin, we should not remain aloof to others who are faltering or flirting with the devil.
1. Read verse 1. What does "fix" mean? Why should we fix our thoughts on Jesus? (Consider the discussion in Chapters 1-2 especially 2:14-18) How is the title "apostle" or "high priest" related to us?
** Keep or let something or someone remain in one place or location.
** We are weak; in fact all descendants of Adam lost the battle to the devil's temptations. If we rely on our own efforts, we are all going to get an F minus in dealing with the devil. But it is different with Jesus. He alone defeated the devil and is able to defeat him all the time. In fact he gave a knock out punch to the devil via his death and resurrection, and now he is able to and is still there to help us win the one victory after another over the devil's temptations.
If however one fixes one's thoughts on something or someone else like laying his eyes on humans such as his girlfriend for she is cute or good looking, he is sure to fall victim to the devil's temptations; he is sure to become a bad influence to others. It is possible that one serves a beautiful message with a beautiful testimony saying, "I repent of my lust problem" but still he can chase after a woman, and thereby allow himself to be dictated by lustful desires. In fact there are as many if not more playboys or playgirls in the so called Christian communities than in those that are non-Christian.
2. Read verses 2-6. The expression "God's house" is repeated. What is "God's house"? This passage indicates that four persons are involved in getting this house built: God, Moses, Jesus, and us (or you). What are the roles of each of them (God, Moses, Jesus and you) in this venture?
** It is used both in an individual sense and in a collective sense; individually each believer is a house of God for upon one repenting and accepting Jesus as the Lord and Savior Jesus establishes his presence in that person's inner being by bestowing upon that person the Holy Spirit. Collectively then the church is called the house of God for she consists of those who profess their faith in the Lord.
This term is also used in a narrow sense and in a broad sense. In a narrow sense it refers to God's people in this physical world. In a broad sense it denotes the kingdom of God also known as the city of the heavenly Jerusalem as mentioned in Heb 12 and Rev 22.
** God is the builder; he is like the owner of a project.
Moses is a builder appointed (or hired) by God to build God's house. He served God's purpose in his generation (among the Israelites), but he served as a "servant" not as a "son" of God.
God also appointed Jesus as the builder. Unlike Moses Jesus is the son of God, who after completing the work of God he is going to become the heir of the perfected world.
** We are to open ourselves up to the Lord, by believing and obeying the Lord. The key is for us to trust in God (his integrity, esp. his faithfulness), believing that God's promise is true.
3. Read verse 6 again and think about "our courage" and "the hope of which we boast". The presence of the word "courage" indicates that "courage" is needed in working on this house. Why is courage needed? In what respect can "[being] his house" be characterized as the "hope" one can boast of? Why is this courage called "our" courage? What does it mean to "hold onto" [our courage and the hope...]? If one does not do it, what will happen?
** There are tons of enemies inside and outside of us; the enemies within the enemies without keep working to disrupt our journey to God's kingdom.
There is also a psychological effect called group instinct. Like sheep people have a fear problem; they are also weak when it comes to peer pressure. We influence others and are influenced by others. When everyone goes through a broad gate it is not easy to keep going through a narrow path.
More critically than this is the need for each pilgrim to be encouraged; like a man in a marathon a pilgrim requires a lot of strength and encouragement; slight interference would be enough to let that person falter or fall.
** This (eternal life in His kingdom) is called the hope of which we boast, for it alone is the only "living" hope which is truly worthy (though yet to be fulfilled), that is, the hope of receiving the crown of righteousness/life that is the life in a resurrected body in the eternal presence of God with souls whose spirits have been made perfect. This hope is that of eternal life in the eternal kingdom where all of our enemies will have been fully inoperative.
** It is called "our" courage for it is not one or two persons but a community of people that the Lord God is calling to join in the journey. Assuming it was Paul who wrote the epistle, he himself was a lonesome warrior/pilgrim for so many Jews tried to put him to death for his faith in the Lord. Several people joined Paul encouraging him to keep running the race bravely by faith. Referring to these fellow soldiers Paul uses the word "our", for they were the source of comfort and courage for Paul and fellow pilgrims.
** "Hold onto" means secure a firm grip of. You can hold onto not only that which is physical but also metaphysical such as courage or hope. In fact holding onto the latter is more important than the former, for what is not physically visible is more important than what is physically visible. If you lose courage how can you continue on with the spiritual journey? If you do not have the hope of heaven how can you get yourself going in this world where all are going to eventually perish spoil and fade away?
** They will eventually be like those whose bodies fell dead in the desert. They came out of Egypt in the hope of getting into the Promised Land. But they fell dead before getting into the land. The same is going to happen to those who lose courage and hope. They will not participate in the perfected world to come.
4. Read verses 7-11. Think about the exhortation "do not harden your hearts". The word "your" indicates that it is you who can either harden or soften your heart. Why does anyone end up hardening his heart (when he hears God's word of promise)?
** V. 13 says that their hearts were hardened because of sin's deceitfulness. At first you start out doubting (God's goodness, love, and power to provide for and protect his children) then go unbelieving then go sinning then as you sin you get deceived more so that you would go from bad to worse slipping into the darkness falling down to a bottomless pit. Due to the devil deceiving you, you think you are wise but you are foolish.
So by all means pray that you would be on the side of the truth by keeping God's word in your heart. The devil is always there to deceive you, so you could sin and then harden your heart.
5. Read verses 12 and 13. What does "See to it" mean? The word "none" is repeated twice. Why is it such a serious problem for even "one" person to become "sinful" and "unbelieving"? Why is it necessary for us to encourage one another "daily"?
** See to it: it means you need to pay close attention to the fact that someone, yourself included, might fall victim to the devil's temptations; thus you must watch out for yourself and others, with alertness, watching closely, just like a security guard staying alert, or an inspector from the Downey City Building Department coming out for code enforcement. You need to see to it with extra alertness for the devil who is very sneaky like a thief, might have already deceived you, by successfully having lodged into your heart unclean spirits. So you need to see to it to catch and remove any hint of yeast.
** Sin works like yeast which spreads secretly throughout the body causing the entire community to become sinful and unbelieving. It is like a cancerous cell spreading quickly unless it is rooted out before it is too late.
Consider how of the twelve spies that spied out the Promised Land ten spies made such bad discouraging reports that the whole community wept aloud, demanding Moses to go back to Egypt. Numbers 14:1 et seq.
** Damage to our faith can be done daily, so we need to repair our broken faith daily. You can be discouraged daily so you need to get encouraged daily.
6. Read verses 16-19 and consider the questions and answers given. What does this passage teach us about the consequences of unbelief?
** 1) Hebrews 3:16 Who were they who heard and rebelled? Were they not all those Moses led out of Egypt?
This passage teaches us that it is possible that those who once received release from the devil's power can become rebellious towards God.
2) Hebrews 3:17 And with whom was he angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the desert?
When one keeps unbelieving (after once upon a time believing and having been freed from slavery to the bondage to the power of the sin and Satan), eventually God will be angry for his sinning, and will cause that person to die in his sins.
3) Hebrews 3:18 And to whom did God swear that they would never enter his rest if not to those who disobeyed?
The bottom line is that if you remain disobedient, you will never be saved (which is the same as you not being able to enter God's rest).
4) Hebrews 3:19 So we see that they were not able to enter, because of their unbelief.
Unbelief results in the loss of salvation. For this reason Paul says that righteousness comes to us by faith from first to last. Rom 1:17
The end