Quick Note – Hebrews 10:24-25 – Three Reasons for Fellowship

Hebrews 10:24-25 – “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” 

In last night’s Bible study at my church, we talked about the importance of fellowship with other believers to a Christian’s growth; it was one of the four essentials, which also included prayer, reading and studying God’s Word, and witnessing.  Now, none of us can deny the influence that others can play on our lives, for we know the saying is true, “You become like the people you hang around.”  Therefore, if you spend time with fellow Christians that are growing, you certainly will become a growing Christian as well.  But how can their fellowship benefit you, and your fellowship benefit them?  I thought about these questions during that Bible study, and I found at least three ways fellowship is important – admonishment, encouragement, and challenge“ment”.

The first benefit of fellowship with other believers is admonishment.  To admonish someone is to correct him when he is doing wrong.  It is like giving a stern warning to prevent that person from doing something wrong again.  For example, at my work, I am responsible for the safety of the lab; therefore, if I see someone not following safe work practices, it is my job to admonish him and help guide him towards safer practices for himself and others in the lab.  I am not correcting him so that I can show superiority or to give him a hard time but to warn him of the potential danger he is putting himself and others in and to push him to stop.  In the same way, when you have fellowship with other believers, they can admonish you when they see you are straying out of the way of God and into the ways of the world.  They can see the sin that you might be calloused to and provide you a stern rap on the back to wake you up and get you back on the right path.  Without that fellowship, that sin could be easily overlooked and cause major damage in your heart and life.  At the same time, by fellowshipping with other believers, you can do the same for them, warning them of sin that may be in their heart.  This brotherly admonishment, which should always be done in love, will help build the kingdom of God, for it protects the church from sin that can tarnish the name of Christ.  There are plenty of verses throughout the Bible on admonishment but none as famous as Matthew 18:15-17, “If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”  In those three verses, we are given a protocol for how to admonish a fellow believer in sin.  If we follow this method and do so in love, we can use the bonds that we build through fellowship with other believers to admonish them and get them back on the right track on their Christian walk.

The second benefit of fellowship with other believers is encouragement.  Being that I am a pastor’s son, I know first-hand the encouragement a pastor receives when he sees a person walk through those church doors and take a seat in a pew.  Just their presence alone can lift up a heart that is ready to give up on the work.  Using another example, in sports, why do you think a team always does better on their home court?  It’s obvious, right?  It is the presence of the fans encouraging them to push forward and win the game.  It is the same in the church; when believers are fellowshipping with each other, they can build each other up constantly.  Not only can they admonish each other, but they can specifically encourage each other to draw closer to Christ.  They can remind each other to study God’s Word and to pray daily.  They can push each other to seek after God and work on the problem areas they have been struggling with.  They can pray for each other, give words of comfort, and provide support and relief in times of need.  Encouragement helps you stay the course in Christ when all seems loss.  1 Thessalonians 5:11 tells us to encourage one another and build each other up.  This is the job of every Christian and should be actively practiced by us as well.  But the funny thing is that when we encourage another, we usually also encourage ourselves either by seeing the fruit of our work before our eyes as a fellow Christian grows closer to Christ or by heeding the words of encouragement ourselves.  By fellowshipping with other believers, we can be this tool of encouragement whether we speak a word or not.

The third benefit of fellowship with other believers is what I call challenge“ment” or simply put the opportunity to be constantly challenged.  The first benefit is to help get you out of sin; the second benefit is to help you stay the course in Christ; this third benefit is to challenge you to grow closer to God and to actively minister to Him and others.  I can’t tell you how many times in my life, just being in the presence of actively, growing Christians has challenged me to develop a closer relationship with Christ.  For example, while I was in Boston, I met some friends who loved Christ so much that it was their focus almost all the time; when they talked, it was focused on Christ; when they listened to music, it was focused on Christ; when they did anything, it was focused on Christ.  Their lives whether they knew it or not caused me to reevaluate my desires and to start seeking to have a heart that is more focused on Christ.  In D.C., I met a friend who always asked me about my Christian walk and what I was learning from God recently.  The conversations I had with him challenged me to take my walk with Christ more seriously, to have more spiritual conversations with others, and to really embed the lessons God wanted me to learn during my personal times with Him.  The thing about being a Christian in fellowship is that you are always being challenged whether outright through clear-cut words spoken by a fellow brother or sister in Christ or through a life lived out for God.  This challenge then pushes you to seek Christ and to love Him more.  The same goes for anybody who sees your growing walk in Christ, for that challenges them to seek Christ even more as well.  Why do you think good sports players always look for another player who can challenge them?  It always makes them better.  As Christians in fellowship, we will always be challenging one another to draw closer to Christ.

Fellowship with other believers is essential in the Christian walk, for it provides much needed admonishment, much appreciated encouragement, and much inspiring challenge“ment”.  As Proverbs 27:17 states, “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.”  By surrounding ourselves with fellow Christians, we will be sharpening each other in our relationships with Christ.  Don’t neglect the assembling of yourselves when you get the chance, for you will not only get something out of it, you will likely give something inadvertently too.