Hebrews 3- Hold On Together

Please take time to read Hebrews chapter 3.

This chapter is full of great truth (I feel like a broken record because I need to type that each week).  In this chapter we see our calling to fix our thoughts on Jesus who holds the highest office in both Judaism and in the Church.  We see how Jesus is greater than Moses.  We even see a quote from the Holy Spirit Himself.  There is so much good truth in this chapter but I'll look at just a few truths.

Look at verses 7-11.

"So as the Holy Spirit says:
'Today, if you hear His (Christ's) voice,
do not harden your hearts
as you did in the rebellion,
during the time of testing in the desert,
where your fathers tested and tried me
and for forty years saw what I did.
That is why I was angry with that generation,
and I said, 'Their hearts are always going astray,
and they have not known my ways.'
So I declared on oath in my anger,
'They shall never enter my rest."

Notice each "I", "me" and "my".  The subject of all of those is the Holy Spirit.  Ponder on that.  The Holy Spirit is NOT a tertiary character; rather He is God Almighty and was a force in history long before Pentecost.

"See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God.  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 have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first."  Verses 12-14

I'm going to steal a line from my pastor's sermon last week.  "Staying faithful to God is a community project."  We have to encourage one another daily in order to hold on firmly to Christ.  This means that we need one another.  The Christian race is not a series of personal quiet times.  While personal quiet time is deeply important it is not what the Apostle Paul said would keep us from being hardened by sin's deceitfulness.  We Christians are designed to rely on one another.  In fact, don't you think that might be why God established the Church?  Isn't that why He puts the lonely in families?  Isn't that why He gives us Jonathan and David type friendships?  Isn't that why He gave Eve to Adam?

Are you part of a church family?  If not, join one.  Are you part of a small group?  If not, join one.  Do you have a confidant that inspires and encourages mutual growth?  If not, become vulnerable and find one.  We need one another.  And this is no trivial task; this is a matter of eternal life or death.  I'm not saying that you can lose your salvation but I am saying, "We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly till the end the confidence we had at first."

Staying faithful to God is a community project.  Find a church family and dive into it.  If you have a church family, remember to daily encourage and to be encouraged by your church.  Hold on firmly to Christ.  Hold on together.  Encourage one another toward endurance and growth today.