Climbing Mt. Everest is one of the most grueling and extreme experiences on earth. Even with intense training and professionally-guided teams, people die attempting it every year. Think you could do it by yourself? Impossible.

This is the kind of imagery that Hebrews 10 uses for the Christian life. Just like we would hold on to a rope while scaling a mountain, we must “hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering” (23). Just like you need endurance to climb Mt. Everest, “you need endurance” for the Christian life (36).

And just like we would need the help of others to climb Mt. Everest, we also need the help of others to hold on to Christ and endure in our faith. That’s what Hebrews 10:24-25 focuses on. How and why should we help one another keep climbing?

Consider One Another

We must give careful, attentive thought to one another. Don’t just think about ways you can encourage an anonymous “somebody” in your mind. Think about specific individuals that you know and can help. What are their specific struggles and circumstances? Do they need encouragement or rebuke? How do they best receive communication?

This takes time and effort, but this is Christlike love that enables you to give tailor-made help that has the strongest possible impact.

Let’s say you want to encourage more people in your church, so you send an encouraging verse in a group text. That’s good and would help some people in some way. But what about the senior saint who doesn’t text and is struggling with chronic illness? To that person, a handwritten note or personal visit would be much more effective than mass-producing Romans 8:28 in a text.

How well do you know the “mountain-climbing team” God has placed you in in your church? Do you give them enough consideration to know their specific struggles and the best ways you can help them? How much time and attention do you give to thinking of ways you can help them persevere in the faith?

Provoke Love and Good Works

If all we did was consider, we would sit in our armchairs all day. However, Hebrews calls us to strong action that stimulates change. We can’t treat this casually. Provoking love and good works is labor.

Like climbing Mt. Everest, it takes momentous effort to help someone change from being a self-centered or lazy person into a loving person who practices good works. It takes diligent labor to help someone look beyond earthly things and hold fast to Christ in faith. It takes constant vigilance to help protect someone from temptation’s onslaughts. It takes great encouragement to help someone endure suffering.

How much effort do you put into helping others persevere up the mountain? How much work do you put into pointing others to Christ? Do you wait for opportunities to pop up, or do you actively look for them?

Meet and Encourage

All this assumes that we’re regularly involved in the lives of other believers. The primary way we do this is corporate worship, so verse twenty-five warns us not to neglect gathering together and encourages us to encourage one another.

You can’t live the Christian life alone. That’s why God gave you the church. The church is one of God’s primary means of grace, and when we meet together, it’s one of the best opportunities to give and receive grace. We’re able to encourage one another, help people overcome sin, pray with and for each other, and fix our hearts on Christ together. You can’t do these things via livestream or social media.

Neglecting such a resource is, frankly, selfish and proud. You need the ministry of others, and they need your ministry. Don’t neglect attending church gatherings. Don’t neglect them by showing up bodily but checking out mentally. Don’t neglect them by rushing in and out without taking time to help someone else.

Positively, encourage others. When you gather, look for those who are haggard from fighting sin, and strengthen them. Seek out those whose eyes are captivated by worldly trinkets, and show them the glories of Christ. Find those who are worn from the trials of life, and give them hope.

Do you view church gatherings as prime opportunities to give and receive grace? What would tempt you to abandon this God-given means of grace? Actively engage in this necessary ministry, and help one another keep climbing.

The Day Approaches

Why do all this? Because the summit is near. The day of final judgment is coming, when the faithful in Christ will enter eternal rest with God in the new creation, and unbelievers will enter eternal judgment in the lake of fire.

Why does that motivate us to help one another? Precisely because, if we don’t, some people will not persevere. They won’t reach the summit and enter God’s eternal rest. They’ll turn back and meet only God’s judgment (26-39). No, our efforts and endurance don’t save us, but Hebrews is clear that those who forsake Christ will be eternally judged.

God is also clear that part of how someone perseveres is through other Christians helping him or her do so. Yes, they must personally pursue Christ. Yes, God’s Spirit and grace enable them to persevere. Yes, Christ holds fast every genuine believer and never lets them go. What precious truth!

And one of the primary ways God preserves believers and enables them to persevere is through the ministry of other believers. The Christian life is never meant to be “just me and Jesus.” He uses others to help you persevere, and he uses you to help others persevere.

And if the approaching day motivated Christians 2,000 years ago to do this, how much more should it motivate us now? How much closer is that final day? Even if it doesn’t come in our lifetime, the fact that we have a lifetime should still motivate us. Beyond death, or beyond the approaching day, there is no second chance. We must do this important work while we have the opportunity.

So, who do you know in your local church that you could help spiritually? If you don’t know anyone, what effort can you make to find someone and help them? At times, the Christian life really can feel like scaling Mt. Everest, so we must help one another climb.