10/18/18 - Heb 3

Oct 18, 2018

But encourage one another daily, so that none of you may be hardened by sin's deceitfulness. Heb 3:13

Surround yourself with faithful people, so that sin doesn't take control.

It’s an old adage that still carries weight:  You are what you eat.

Not that we turn into an orange if we eat oranges, but if we eat vitamin-based products, we’ll have that in our bodies.  If we eat fats, we’ll have that too.  More importantly, if we constantly take in anger, we’ll become more angry.  If we surround ourselves with sin, we’ll sin more.   So if that’s the case, when we surround ourselves with faithful people, we’ll tend to become more faithful.  It’s also true that being among encouragers gives us more courage. 

In every letter Paul wrote, he called the churches to get rid of sin in their lives.  And in this book, the writer of Hebrews tells the church the same thing, but with one helpful instruction: we stand against sin when we stand together with faithful people!  So often, when we are surrounded by people who don’t believe in Jesus, we’ll find ourselves questioning our faith.  Doubts will creep in, behaviors become compromised, sin becomes accepted, and faith gets lost.  However, when we are surrounded by people of faith, then challenge turns to change and behaviors become beliefs.  You will be more successful by connecting to a body of believers than you ever will on your own!  (Yes – that flies in the face of our independent mindsets, but it’s still true today!)

Sin is just like a terrorist, he is an unfair fighter.  It preys on people who live alone.  It attacks when we are at our weakest.  And it knows how to defeat us when our defenses are down.  Sin knows how to form a majority party when we are voting alone!  Don’t let sin control your life.  Surround yourself with a much larger party of faithful people, and allow the positive encouragement of the crowd to fight off that terrorist called sin.

And yes… faithful people make mistakes.  They sometimes set up stricter rules than necessary.  They too fight pride and arrogance.  They fail to defeat sin every time.  That’s why YOU are there!  You’re supposed to help others as well fight off sin, by sharing in fellowship and serving each other together.  If you have been hurt or disappointed by believers, don’t let Terrorist Sin separate you from the group.  Kick out sin and help the group to grow.  Both you and the group will be FAR BETTER OFF together with Jesus than you ever will be alone.

Listen to the wise writing of the Hebrew preacher.  Encourage each other daily!  We all need help fighting off sin, so encourage those around you to be faithful, and surround yourself daily with faithful people.  And remember, in addition to those in your church, family and small group, you also have the faithful witnesses of Scripture to add to your party!  Bring them all into your life, so that you can fight off the deceitfulness of sin. 

After all: You are what you eat!