Introduction

I want you to picture a roaring campfire on a cold Texas night. The flames are dancing, and at the heart of the fire is a bed of glowing, red-hot embers. As long as those embers stay together, packed close, they share their heat. They keep each other burning bright and hot, radiating warmth to everyone around them.

Now, imagine you take a pair of tongs and pull one of those embers out of the fire. You set it off by itself on the cold, dark ground. What happens? For a moment, it still glows. It’s still hot. It still looks like it’s part of the fire. But slowly, inevitably, the edges begin to darken. The vibrant red fades to a dull orange, then to a lifeless gray. Cut off from the heat of the other embers, it grows cold. Its fire dies. It becomes nothing more than a dead piece of charcoal.

That single ember is the Christian who decides they don’t need the assembly. They think, “I can be a good Christian on my own. I have my Bible. I can pray by myself. I don’t need all those other people.” For a while, their faith might still glow. But separated from the heat, the encouragement, and the provocation of the gathered body, their fire begins to fade.

The writer of Hebrews understood this. He knew that in a world hostile to our faith, spiritual isolation is a death sentence. And so he gives us one of the most urgent, intense, and practical commands in the New Testament. He tells us that our survival depends on staying in the fire together.

The book of Hebrews is a sermon written to a group of Christians who were exhausted. They were tired. They were facing persecution, and the temptation to drift back to the familiar, less costly religion of their past was immense. The author has spent nine chapters showing them the absolute superiority of Jesus Christ over everything that came before—over the angels, over Moses, over the Levitical priesthood.

Now, in chapter 10, he brings that theology down to street level. He’s just reminded them that through the blood of Jesus, we have bold, confident access directly into the presence of God. But he knows that a faith lived only in the vertical—just me and God—is incomplete and dangerously vulnerable. Our faith must also be lived in the horizontal—me and God’s people.

So, in these two power-packed verses, he lays out the non-negotiable blueprint for Christian community. He’s going to tell us that fellowship isn’t a potluck dinner or a social club. It’s a spiritual survival strategy. It is the God-ordained arena where we keep each other’s faith blazing hot until the day our Lord returns. This isn’t a suggestion for the super-spiritual; it’s a command for every single one of us.

1. The Mindset of Fellowship: Deliberate Consideration

Cross-References:

1. Philippians 2:4: “do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” Paul commands the Philippians to have the same mindset. This is the practical outworking of “considering” one another—actively looking for and attending to the needs of others.
2. Romans 15:1-2: “Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” Our consideration must lead to action. We are to bear with the weak and actively seek to build them up.
3. Galatians 6:10: “So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith.” Fellowship provides the primary “opportunity” to do good to our spiritual family. The assembly is our God-given workshop for mutual edification.

A good cattleman doesn’t just let his herd wander out on the range and hope for the best. He’s constantly observing them. He knows which calf is a little weak, which cow is about to give birth, which bull is getting aggressive. He doesn’t just count them; he considers them. He studies them. He knows their condition, and he makes a plan to care for them.

We are called to be spiritual cattlemen for one another. We are to come to the assembly not just to be counted, but to consider the flock. To know the condition of our brothers and sisters. To have a plan in our hearts to strengthen the weak, encourage the weary, and challenge the comfortable. It’s a deliberate, focused, and essential work.

2. The Action of Fellowship: A Holy Provocation

A good coach doesn’t always speak in gentle tones. Sometimes, at halftime, when the team is playing lazy and unfocused, he comes into the locker room and lights into them. He’s loud. He’s intense. He points out their mistakes with sharp, direct language. Is he doing it because he hates his players? No. He’s doing it because he loves them, and he knows they are capable of playing so much better. His sharp words are a paroxysmos—a provocation designed to shake them out of their complacency and stir them up to play with the passion and skill he knows they possess. Brothers and sisters, sometimes we need a coach in the locker room of our souls to provoke us back into the game.

3. The Arena of Fellowship: The Assembly

During the heat of battle, soldiers in a foxhole depend on each other for survival. They share ammunition, they cover each other during enemy fire, they bandage each other’s wounds, and they keep each other awake on watch. For a soldier to voluntarily abandon his post and try to fight the war by himself would be foolish and suicidal. He would be cut off from his supply line, have no one to watch his back, and be quickly overwhelmed by the enemy.

We are soldiers in a spiritual war. The church assembly is our foxhole. It’s where we get resupplied by the Word, where we cover each other in prayer, and where we encourage each other to keep fighting. To forsake the assembly is to abandon your post in the middle of a war. It’s spiritually suicidal.

Gospel Invitation

The beautiful picture of fellowship in Hebrews 10—this community of mutual consideration, holy provocation, and faithful encouragement—is a direct result of the gospel. We can only draw near to one another because the blood of Jesus first made it possible for us to draw near to God. We are called to be the family of God.

But you cannot be a part of the family until you are adopted by the Father. You cannot be a member of the body until you are joined to the Head, Jesus Christ. The invitation of the gospel is a call to leave the cold isolation of the world and come into the warmth and safety of the fire of God’s people. The path into that fellowship is clear.

1. Hear the good news about Jesus Christ (Romans 10:17).
2. Believe that Jesus is the Son of God (Mark 16:16).
3. Repent of your sins, turning away from a life of isolation (Acts 2:38).
4. Confess Jesus as your Lord (Romans 10:9).
5. Be baptized for the forgiveness of your sins, being added by the Lord to His church, His assembly (Acts 2:38, 47).
6. Remain faithful, never forsaking the gathering of the saints (Revelation 2:10).

Conclusion

We are not embers meant to burn alone. God created us for community, and He redeemed us into a body. He commands us to stay in the fire together, sharing our heat, sharpening one another, and keeping each other’s faith ablaze.

Christian fellowship isn’t passive encouragement but an active, holy provocation—a deliberate stirring up of one another to love and good works as we await the Lord’s return.

This is our mission.

• Let’s be a people who consider one another with intense, focused love.
• Let’s be a people who are courageous enough to provoke one another to holiness.
• Let’s be a people who are faithful to assemble, knowing that our spiritual survival depends on it.

Don’t let your fire go out. Stay in the assembly. Stir up the saints. And let’s burn brightly for the glory of God until the Day our Lord returns.

Word Study