Exhort One Another Daily

Hebrews 3:12-14:

¹² Beware, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief in departing from the living God; ¹³ but exhort one another daily, while it is called “Today,” lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. ¹⁴ For we have become partakers of Christ if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast to the end.

Every Christian today will face extreme hardship and persecution. It’s inevitable (John 15:18; 15:20; 2 Timothy 3:12). Being a Christian is hard. But in the end we will experience a reward that is worth far more than we experienced on this earth. If we persevere through the sufferings on this earth we will be rewarded. “He who endures to the end shall be saved” (Matthew 24:13).

Yes, this calls for endurance. Those who are born of God must endure to be saved. How can we do that? How has God commanded we endure to the end? What has He ordained so we continue persevering in the faith til the end?

The basis for this answer is found in Hebrews 3:12-14. God has ordained that we create and maintain relationships with other believers so that we can help each other fight against the hardships and persecutions that have been promised. We have been commanded to “exhort one another daily”.

Children, students, adults, single people, married couples, retirees must all be part of a cluster of Christian friends who help each other fight the fight of faith and protect each other from the subtle attacks of sin.

I do not think that if you are not a part of this kind of group you won’t be saved. However if God has appointed small groups as a way to preserve you and keep your faith you should make use of it! Rejecting this means of grace is very dangerous.

Practically how do we make use of this command? There is a very good example of a Christian friendship in 1 Samuel 23:15-18. These four verses describe the great godly friendship between David and Jonathan, Saul’s son.

1 Samuel 23:15-18:

¹⁵ So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest. ¹⁶ Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. ¹⁷ And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.” ¹⁸ So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.

David was being persecuted so Jonathan went and purposely met him to encourage him in God, reminding him of His faithful promises.

Yes, even David, one of the great heroes of the faith (Hebrews 11:32) needed encouragement and strengthening. It is for every believer. Don’t ever think that you’re too strong to be strengthened.

So David needed strengthening and Jonathan went and strengthened him in God. In God! Jonathan didn’t strengthen David's ego or self-confidence. The only place for help and strength is God. There has got to be a God-centeredness in our friendships and encouragement.

How did Jonathan encourage David? What did he say? What do we say in similar circumstances? Verse 17: “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.”

God had promised David that he would be made king. All Jonathan did was remind David of that. All Jonathan did was remind David of God’s promises.

So we should do that too. Encouraging each other involves reminding each other of the promises of God. The promises that we shall be made kings too. The promises that no matter what persecution we receive on this earth we shall be made kings in the future. That’s Christian encouragement. That’s Christian friendship.

For another meditation on friendships and small groups click here.