stir up one another

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. (Hebrews 10:24-25)

The “let us” in this verse is the third in a series that follows a “therefore”. Based on what has gone before, that Jesus is our great high priest, has put an end to sacrifices by his death, and made it possible for us to be with God, “therefore” “let us”.

The first “let us” is found in verse 22 and instructs us to have “full assurance of faith“.

The second “let us” comes in verse 23, instructing us to “hold fast” our hope.

Then in verse 24 we get a “let us” dealing with love.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Faith, hope, and love. (1 Corinthians 13:13; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 5:8; Colossians 1:4-5)

We are told to “consider”, which means to think carefully about something. So before we act, toward one another, we are to think carefully, so that the actions we do take will produce an intended result. The result is that we would “stir up one another”. Now we use the language of “stir up” still today. We might say that someone likes to “stir up trouble”, or simply “stir the pot”, meaning basically the same thing.

Try to picture it in your head by thinking about making some soup. You put ingredients in the pot and then stir them up. This causes them to be a bit agitated, to swirl around each other, to move, and to become soup rather than just a list of ingredients.

That what we’re supposed to do to each other, stir up, agitate a little bit, cause to move or take action, to blend together, one might even say “provoke”.

We are to “stir up one another to love and good works“. We should think carefully about how we can move each other to action, to love and good works, so that love and good works are blended seamlessly into our lives constantly swirling around us, like a pot of soup being stirred.

Verse 25 then gives us two means of doing this stirring up, by meeting together and encouraging each other.

Obviously, we can’t do much one another-ing if we’re not together. Often this verse is used to condemn people for not showing up to a Sunday morning service. I don’t think that’s what the author had in mind. I think he is suggesting that we need time together. Certainly that can be on a Sunday morning, but stirring up one another to love and good works is probably going to take more time than that. We’re going to need lots of time together, sharing meals, sharing our lives, serving others together, etc. And as we spend this time together we are to encourage one another, often.

I think this encouragement, in the context of this verse, has to do with reminding each other of the two previous “let us” statements. We encourage one another by reminding each other of Christ’s finished work on the cross, his “once for all” sacrifice, and the “therefore” that follows, namely, that we can be assured in our faith and unwavering in our hope, because Jesus is faithful for us.