Consider One Another (9-27-11)

Hebrews 10:24 - "And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds."

This is a difficult verse for me. I don't spend a lot of time really considering other people and how to stimulate, or provoke them to love and good deeds. There are people in our lives who it is easy to encourage them in these things, but God doesn't want us to consider how to do this only towards those people that it's easiest to do it to, He wants us to consider how to stimulate all believers to love and good works, even the ones we don't get along with too well.
Hebrews 10:23-25 - "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near." The early church was a great example of this. They didn't worry about themselves, but instead they all looked out for everyone else. Acts 4:32 says - "And the congregation of those who believed were of one heart and soul; and not one of them claimed that anything belonging to him was his own, but all things were common property to them." Can you imagine if the church had that kind of attitude toward one another today? The world would be radically different. So many people today are looking out for number 1. They think, 'If I don't look out for myself then who will?' What a dumb attitude for believers to have. Think about it, if all of us as believers are looking out for the interests of our brothers and sisters rather then just looking out for self, we'll have the entire family of God looking out for us.
One reason we don't spend time considering how to stimulate one another to love and good works is because we're to focused on ourselves.
Philippians 2:3-4 says - "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others." And the passage goes on to talk about Christ, how He did not look out for His own personal interests, but humbled Himself. Romans 15:2-3 says - "Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached Thee fell on Me.”

I know personally that there are certain believers in my life who I spend more time considering how I can avoid than I do considering how to provoke them to love and good works. I don't regard them as more important than myself, but I should. God wants me to. And it's going to take discipline. But by the grace of God we can learn to stimulate one another to love and good works, not forsaking the the assembling of ourselves together but encouraging one another, and all the more as the coming of the Lord draws near.

1 Thessalonians 5:11 - "Therefore encourage one another and build each other up."