Title: Let's Encourage One Another (Hebrews 10:25)
I'll give you a dollar to anyone who calls me.
How would a lonely old man make such an advertisement if there were no people visiting and no one to call him? A ferry is about to depart from the port of Liverpool in England, but a gentleman, not getting on the boat, suddenly turns backwards and jumps into the marina. Went.
Many people on the boat are greeted by their loved ones, family and friends, but this gentleman seems to have been sad because no one greeted him.
He found a young boy in the marina watching the boats gliding. The gentleman handed the boy a handful of coins and asked him to wave a white handkerchief as he left the boat.
This is the loneliness of modern people living in modern times. Modern people feel lonely not because there are no people around, but because they do not have true neighbors with whom they can share their lives. I think the expression solitude in a crowd is really appropriate. Some cultural anthropologists point to the tragedy of modern man, saying that there is a crowd but no community. They said it is a modern tragedy. Just because there are a lot of people together does not automatically form a community. A true community is a group of people who can share their lives, share their lives, and march together toward a clear goal.
Encouragement Community The Israelites who were living in the wilderness had many problems. At that time, more than a million flocks moved together. According to some scholars, nearly 2 million people lived in the wilderness as a group. Imagine how difficult it must have been for them. When we meet on Sundays without knowing each other deeply and only greet each other and disperse, the problems are not well revealed, but when we live together, even the slightest problems appear.
I have led a pilgrimage to the Holy Land twice, and then I fully understood Moses' difficulties. I was at a loss while leading 40 people, not a million, and I guess the difficulties of Moses and the people were beyond words.
The Israelites, who were marching through the wilderness while suffering like this, are a true community. Because they shared the same life and marched toward the same goal centered on Jehovah God. At the end of the day's journey, the twelve tribes encamped and gathered around the tabernacle.
The tent was a mobile tent. If you go through the wilderness carrying the Ark of the Covenant along with the tent and stop in one place, you will set up a tent. After setting up the tent, three tribes in the east, west, south, north and south follow order and settle down.
Desert nights are very cold. They sit around the tent, light a bonfire, and start a conversation. Confessing how many difficulties were encountered while marching for a day, two, or a week, and whether there were no bumps, cracks, or injuries, we solve the problems
When they encounter a difficult problem that they cannot solve, the priest takes the problem and goes before Jehovah God, who dwells in the tent. When the priest enters the tabernacle, the Israelites around the tabernacle fall into a deep silence. In particular, when the high priest meets God and learns about Israel's problems, he is anxiously waiting for the message the priest will bring.
When the high priest meets God and comes out, he usually comes out with three important messages.
First Message ／ Forgiveness of Sins The Israelites sit down and confess their sins. The priests carry the sin and enter the sanctuary. The high priest enters the Most Holy and confesses their sins to God before the ark of the covenant. God forgives their sins. The high priest then delivers the message of forgiveness.
Second Message ／ Love The people of Israel get the strength they need to march through the message of love.
The high priest often communicated the importance of love and the need for the community of Israel to unite by speaking the Word of God.
Third Message ／ Giving Goals Israel is on the road to keep moving forward in the direction God has indicated. The high priest communicates the goals of tomorrow, what to do next, and a vision for the future to the people of Israel in words.
These three messages help the people of Israel to overcome their own problems. How many troubles must have arisen while the two million marched, they overcame these difficulties through a tent-centered fellowship.
I grabbed hold of the goal God had given me and made my way through the long and difficult wilderness.
The people of Israel were a community centered on God.
If you give Israel a nickname, it is a community of encouragement. It requires understanding and cooperation among community members to gather around the Lord to solve common problems. When a representative comes to God with a problem and receives an answer, there must be an attitude of encouraging and loving each other. They can be said to be a community of encouragement that accompanies them until they arrive at the real goal to walk, the land of Canaan flowing with milk and honey, where God tells them to go.
How much do you think our church today is acting as a community of encouragement in the sight of God? We suffer from many problems during the week. In relationships with family members, between bosses and subordinates at work, and even among members of the church while serving in the church, I sometimes hurt and get hurt.
However, when we come to the Lord and worship Him, we experience the fact that God forgives us. In spite of our many weaknesses, we discover the real reason we should love each other. And we gain the energy of life to run again toward the goal that God shows us. Is this really happening in the church? How are the members of the church you serve encouraging each other? Is it growing into a beautiful community in God's eyes? Take interest in your neighbors. Find out how you've been, if it's not hard, and if you don't have anything to guide you. There is a starting point from which we can begin a life of encouragement. The starting point is none other than gathering.
In order for us to create an encouraging community, we must first of all come together well.
We need to meet regularly and continuously. If the people of Israel had not gathered around the tabernacle, they would not have been able to form a community of faith before God.
The secret that the early church was able to display such powerful power was that they gathered well. When did the early church meet? The first day after the Sabbath, and once a week? Acts 2 records how often the early church met.
Every day we strive to gather together in the temple with one heart (verse 46).
The early church members gathered every day. We shared food, praised God, and worked hard for evangelism.
It can be cumbersome and difficult for us to get together every day. However, it is certain that the power is shown in the gathering. Meeting once a week on a Sunday is too few times for the saints to encourage each other.
Encouragement of faith, hope and love Look at Hebrews 10:25.
Let us not refrain from meeting together, as is the habit of some, but encourage them, and more so as we see the day drawing near.
Perhaps the early church at the time when the book of Hebrews was written was facing a crisis in which the heat and zeal that had gathered every day gradually cooled down. That's why the writer of Hebrews exhorted us not to forsake our gatherings, as is the habit of some, but to strive to gather more as we see the coming of the Lord near.
What about the modern church? Are you making efforts to gather more as the time of the Lord's coming nears, or are you abolishing gatherings? Some churches even abolish afternoon worship altogether, gradually abolishing gatherings. I do not intend to share the Word, encourage, and praise together for even an hour more.
Do you know how precious the time we spend together? Are there people who do not gather and their faith grows? Are there people who learn to love without meeting? Can we witness the glory of God without meeting?
We must experience the event of meeting through this gathering. It is not just a gathering, but an event of meeting must occur in the meeting.
When God's people gather, who should they meet? First, they must meet God.
Where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them (Matthew 18:20). We must experience the presence of the Lord, who promised. Look at the people of Israel gathered around the tabernacle. Why did they gather around the tent? God was in the tent....