So Hebrews 10 has given us three invitations: to draw near to God with a sincere heart, to draw near to Him with the full assurance that comes from faith, and to hold without deviating to the hope we profess.
These are each invitations for us as individuals, as families, and as a church. They are invitations for us to walk closer with God.
The next three turn our attention to how we relate to one another.
The first is found in Hebrews 10:24, which says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds…”
Boots and spurs.
It’s interesting the choice of the word spur. As my kids have learned to ride horses, spurs have become something we actually own and use.
Prior to lessons with Courtney and Trina, my image of spurs were the ching, ching, ching that came with each deliberate step, as the outlaw faced the law on that dusty Wild West main street. A tumbleweed rolled by, and the camera took a close-up of those wild, spinny, pointy, jangly spurs.
They were everything I dreamed of as a young boy. They represented power and authority. And they looked so cool.
But spurs are not about exercising authority over your horse—or even over the outlaws. Spurs are about clear communication. They amplify the message sent by squeezing your horse with your legs and boots. It says to your horse, I’m not just brushing up against you or holding on for dear life, I’m telling you which way to go.
And they say, I mean it.
And this is the how we are to relate to one another: to communicate clearly, to speak the truth (as Ephesians 4:15 says) in love.
But the word really means to stimulate, incite and stir up. Its as if, wherever you are, you turned to the person next to you and said, Wake up! But not in the hushed office tones which are common at work. Say it again like you mean it, Wake up!
And in the church, we have work to do. We have a calling. We have a mission in our communities. And it is our responsibility, one to another, as members of one body, to turn to one another—and not as authority or lording power over someone, but as people who love each other—to say, “Wake up!” we have work to do.
And the author of Hebrews, tells us what it is. To what end do we spur one another on? Toward love, it says, and toward good deeds.
Brotherly love.
Love here, in verse 24, is agape, commonly described as brotherly love, and almost synonymous with good deeds. It is love that results in something.
Romans 5:8, uses the same word. It says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Agape is love demonstrated in sacrifice for the good of another. That is the kind of love God showed us. And that is the kind of love we are called to. And that is the kind of love we are to encourage each other to: love resulting in action.
Good work.
And, the author of Hebrews says, we are to spur one another on toward good deeds. It’s really a good product. Kalos ergon is Greek word which refers to the good results from a day’s labor. And it here refers to the good that comes from demonstrating love in our communities.
When I was in campus ministry, we used to ask the question, if we closed the doors, if the ministry disbanded, would anyone notice? Would people say, whatever happened to His House Christian Fellowship?
Not the people who attended regularly, but the people who didn’t. If the product of our love suddenly disappeared from our community, would people stop and say, whatever happened to Crossroads Church? Would anyone notice at all?
Today, turn to someone and say it again: wake up… we’ve got work to do… there are people to love…
Caution.
One caution and clarification: ultimately, it’s not about people noticing us or this church.
Matthew 5:16 says we ought to “let our light shine before others, that they may see our good deeds [the product of our love] and glorify our Father in heaven.”