God wants you to be calculated and deliberate. He tells us: “consider how we may spur one another on to love and good works.” That’s what the word “consider” means. It doesn’t mean doing something at the last moment, in an impromptu way. It means thinking about something ahead of time.
So, God wants you to think ahead of time about how you can encourage your brother in Christ. He wants you to spend time mulling and pondering what you can say and do for your fellow Christian. Why? It’s all to help a brother in Christ to show love and do good works. So, devise, plot, and plan various ways you can spur on your brother in Christ. Then do it.
Of course, the book of Ephesians talks about “speaking the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15). Now, according to today’s watered-down definition of love, love means never offending another. It means never saying anything that may ruffle someone’s feathers. If that’s love, then a parent would never stop his child from sticking his finger in an electrical socket, because his feelings might get hurt.
But that’s not love. No, real love is strong and serves others–even if feelings might happen to get hurt. Now, I’m not making excuses for boorish behavior or someone being a bully. That happens. And such behavior is wrong. I’m talking about doing what is right, which involves “spurring one another on to love and good works.” And sometimes the love needed to “spur one another on” demands that you be blunt and direct. Otherwise, someone might not get the point.
Now, being blunt doesn’t mean that you have to be unkind. And today, I’m not preaching from the book of Ephesians. Today, we ponder God’s Word for us from the book of Hebrews. And God says to you today, “Consider how to spur one another on to love and good works.”
The word “spur” even has a rough edge to it. That’s because God wants you to consider and plan how to prod one another into love and good works. Stir the pot. Poke each other. Be an alarm clock to wake up your brother in Christ, so he does what is right (Luke 11:5-8).
So, why does God’s Word tell us to encourage others to do what is right? Simply put, your brother in Christ needs you. He’s a sinner. And so he needs your help in overcoming the slothful and lazy nature of his flesh. That’s what our Lutheran Confessions call “the mutual conversation and consolation of brethren” (SA, III, 4).
But what does that mean? It means that God wants to you to kick your fellow Christian in the butt, metaphorically that is, stirring him “to love and good works.” That’s because the flesh is weak. We need each other. Like you, your brother or sister in Christ also falters and fumbles. Like you, he continually needs to be called to repentance, to live a changed life, and live out such “love and good works.”
But there’s more to it than that. Your brother in Christ also needs to see how much you love him. Does your devotion to the body of Christ, those within Christ’s Church, go beyond a handshake and a smile on Sunday? For if you do nothing, you can unintentionally give the impression that you simply don’t care deeply enough to speak. Real love acts in real ways.
Dear Christians, “consider how to spur one another on to love and good works.” For that’s one way you show your neighbor a true and deeper love. That’s how you show a risk-taking, self-effacing, and sacrificial love that our Lord first showed to us.
Yet, it doesn’t stop there. You also benefit from encouraging others in Christ. For your act of spurring your neighbor on “to love and good works” will also change and improve how you view him. You’d think it would be the opposite. You’d think that you would look down on the one you are encouraging. But that’s not the case.
For when you encourage a brother in Christ, you increasingly see him as someone united with you in a struggle against the sinful flesh. Even more, through such works of love, you are considering him as “more significant than yourself” (Philippians 2:3).
Did you know that when you “spur one another on to love and good works,” you also are engaging in “love and good works”? For it’s then that you are serving your neighbor. You are showing him compassion and mercy. You are giving your neighbor a similar love that Christ first gave to you.
Even more, when you say what God wants you to say to spur a brother on “to love and good works,” you will find that Word of God also shaping and forming you. It’s as 2 Thessalonians 2:13 says: “God has chosen you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth.”
When you speak such needed words in love, that’s sanctification in action. It’s also God’s Word in action, spoken through you. And so the Word of God you are speaking is coming back to you, even shaping and forming you as you speak it. That’s the power of God’s Word.
So, God’s Word tells you to serve you neighbor. Do what is right for your neighbor. Don’t sit idly by, doing nothing. Do what is right for your neighbor, even if such love may, at first, anger your Christian brother.
Let’s say you plan to spur another Christian on “to love and good works.” But instead of being thankful for being shown such love, he responds in a sinful way. He lashes out in anger. What then? You rest in God’s peace. For at least he’s under no illusions. For if you have spoken God’s Word faithfully to him, then he has clearly heard what God wants His people to say and do.
But Hebrews doesn’t stop with only telling us to spur one another on to good works. It also tells why.
Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on to love and good works, not staying away from worship, as some habitually do. Instead, encourage one another, especially as you see the Day drawing near.
You see, part of spurring one another on to love and good works is calling, or meeting with, a Christian who has stopped coming to Church. It isn’t just the pastor or elders who are to do this. For if you know someone well, it’s your job more than someone else’s. Why? It’s because you know that person well. And because of that, God wants you to encourage him. God want you to help bring that person back to Church.
Church isn’t optional. Deliberately choosing tomissChurchis deliberately choosing to sin. The book of Hebrew minces no words. Hebrews tells us not to stay away from worship, that is, gathering around God’s Word and Sacraments.
So, here’s the point. One of the ways you “spur one another on to love and good works” is to encourage others to come to Church. For here in the Divine Service, heaven and earth meet. Here, in the Holy Spirit, God forgives you because of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Here, your Lord Jesus renews His vow to you that He will remain with you in every circumstance of life.
In the Divine Service, God the Holy Spirit creates and strengthens His gift of faith within you. He even gives you a faith that produces “love and good works.” As our Lutheran Confessions assert: “[Love and] good works certainly and without doubt follow true faith–if it is not a dead, but a living faith–just as fruit grows on a good tree” (SD, IV, 6).
Where God supplies and strengthens His gift of faith, good works result. So, “let us consider how we may spur one another on to love and good works, not staying away from our worship, as some habitually do. Instead, encourage one another, especially as you see the Day drawing near.”
With these Words, God is telling you that, during worship, He is giving to you His greatest gifts. He is also telling you that worship is a marvelous gift, not only for you, but also for your neighbor. For it’s here that you receive what is needed to for you to “consider how to spur one another on to love and good works.” Amen.
