A believer may attend a congregation regularly and still need help learning how to read a biblical passage, recognize a misleading claim, or obey a command when obedience carries a cost. The congregation’s meetings give him a place to hear sound teaching and receive encouragement. What he does with that instruction becomes visible in the decisions he makes after the meeting. Paul describes Christ as providing men to equip the holy ones for service and portrays the congregation as growing when each part does its work (Ephesians 4:11–16). Hebrews likewise connects maturity with discernment trained through practice and tells believers to consider how they can stir one another to love and good works (Hebrews 5:11–14; Hebrews 10:24–25). These passages give mature believers a responsibility to help others understand the truth, exercise judgment under it, and carry it into daily conduct.

Christ Provides for the Growth of the Whole Body

Paul names apostles, prophets, evangelists, shepherds, and teachers among those Christ gave for the building up of His body (Ephesians 4:11–12). The work of equipping makes the holy ones ready for service. Paul explains its aim by pointing to unity in the faith, accurate knowledge of the Son of God, and maturity measured by Christ (Ephesians 4:13). A congregation can see the difference this makes when a brother who once depended on someone else to explain every passage begins to follow a biblical argument and can help another person understand it. He is making use of what he received, and another believer now benefits from it. The shepherd’s work has served its purpose in that instance by making a member better able to carry out a Christian responsibility himself.

Paul describes the body as joined together under Christ, its head, and says that its growth involves the working of each individual part (Ephesians 4:15–16). The picture gives a place to work that may never be seen by everyone at a meeting. A mature sister can help a younger woman study the Scriptures and apply what she learns in her household, in keeping with the teaching entrusted to older women (Titus 2:3–5). A mature brother can help a new believer prepare to explain a biblical conviction to a relative who has questions. In either case, a believer gives someone else the benefit of knowledge and experience gained over time. As that person learns to act and eventually to help others, the congregation becomes better able to care for people whose needs extend beyond what the elders can address in a single meeting.

Giving Believers a Way to Examine What They Hear

Paul gives a reason why growth in accurate knowledge matters. Children in the faith can be carried about by every wind of teaching and misled by people who use trickery (Ephesians 4:14). A person in that condition may recognize familiar biblical terms and assume that the argument built around them is sound. For example, a claim that Christian love requires approving every choice may sound plausible to someone who knows that love is kind but has never considered what else Paul says about it. A mature believer can open 1 Corinthians 13:4–7 with him and ask him to notice what love rejoices in and what it refuses to celebrate. Once he sees how Paul joins kindness with a commitment to truth, he can explain why a loving response can include a truthful objection to someone’s conduct.

Speaking the truth in love, as Paul directs in Ephesians 4:15, governs how that help is given. If a younger believer brings a teaching he heard from a friend, the mature Christian can ask him to state the claim fairly and identify the passage offered in support. They can read what comes before and after it, consider the question the author is answering, and determine whether the proposed meaning fits. If the younger believer has misunderstood a word, he can be shown how it functions in the sentence and what changes when the sentence is read as a whole. He may need time to reconsider the claim, especially if it came from someone he trusts. Truth spoken in love gives him a reason to change his judgment and treats him with the patience needed to make that change thoughtfully.

When Years of Hearing Have Yielded Little Growth

Hebrews 5:11–14 addresses people who had been receiving instruction long enough that they ought to have been able to teach others. The writer wants to explain more about Christ’s priesthood after mentioning Melchizedek, but his hearers have become dull of hearing (Hebrews 5:9–11). They again need instruction in elementary things, which he compares to milk. The rebuke concerns the way their response to what they had heard had left them unprepared to receive further instruction. Time had passed, but their capacity to understand and use the word of righteousness had not grown as it should. A congregation can take that warning seriously by noticing whether people who have heard the same truths for years can explain them accurately and see their bearing on an unfamiliar situation.

A mature Christian can help someone who struggles by finding where his understanding breaks down. A brother may know that Jesus gave His life for sinners yet have difficulty explaining why Christians approach God with confidence through Him. Reading Hebrews 4:14–16 together gives the brother a place to start, since the passage connects the appeal to draw near with the identity and sympathy of the great High Priest. The more experienced believer can ask him to state the connection in his own words and then help him see how it bears on prayer when he has sinned and needs mercy. That conversation gives him something he can return to in his own reading and use when encouraging someone else. In this way, learning a doctrine becomes preparation for drawing near to God and helping others do the same.

Discernment Develops Through Practice

Hebrews says that solid food belongs to those “who through practice have their discernment trained to distinguish between good and evil” (Hebrews 5:14, UASV). The practice in view is repeated use of the judgment formed by the word of righteousness. A person may know that Scripture condemns falsehood and still fail to recognize a misleading omission when it serves his interest. If a supervisor asks him to leave a known defect out of a report, he has to decide whether the omission would lead someone to believe something untrue. A mature believer can help him consider Paul’s instruction to put away falsehood and speak truthfully, then ask what an honest description of the defect would require (Ephesians 4:25). The disciple trains his judgment by working through that decision under Scripture and acting on what he understands.

Practice also exposes habits that can hide from a person who thinks only in general terms about obedience. James tells believers to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, and he explains that human anger does not produce God’s righteousness (James 1:19–20). A brother may agree with the instruction in a study and then interrupt his family whenever he feels criticized. Someone helping him can ask him to recall a recent conversation and identify the point at which he stopped listening. He can prepare for the next conversation by resolving to hear the other person’s account in full before he answers and by acknowledging an earlier wrong if one occurred. A later conversation can help him consider what he actually did and where he still needs to practice the instruction.

What Believers Are to Consider When They Assemble

Hebrews 10:24–25 brings mutual encouragement into the purpose of gathering. The believers are to “consider how to stir up one another to love and good works” and are to encourage one another as the day draws near (Hebrews 10:24–25, UASV). The preceding verses call them to draw near to God through Jesus and hold fast the confession of their hope because the One who promised is faithful (Hebrews 10:19–23). Their encouragement is grounded in that shared hope and directed toward conduct consistent with it. The word “consider” requires attention to the people who are present and the help they may need to keep going. A member who comes prepared to listen to a discouraged brother has already begun to act on the command before he knows what words the conversation will require.

The gathering gives believers a place to notice opportunities for good works that may be easy to miss during the week. A woman caring for a sick relative may mention after a meeting that she has fallen behind on ordinary errands. A mature sister can listen and find out what help would be welcome, then offer to accompany her to an appointment or arrange for someone to bring groceries. A younger believer can take part and learn how Christian love pays attention to what a person actually needs. The service grows out of a conversation made possible by assembling, and the encouragement continues when the promised help is given. In that case the gathering has stirred believers to a good work that takes place somewhere else.

Following Through Between Congregational Meetings

Help between meetings can begin with an ordinary agreement to read and discuss a passage. After a sermon on prayer, a mature believer might arrange with a newer Christian to read Colossians 4:2–4 during the week. They can trace Paul’s instruction to persevere in prayer with thanksgiving and his request for an opportunity to speak the message clearly. At their next conversation the mature believer can ask what the passage taught about what to pray for and whether any of its instruction changed the way the newer Christian prayed. That question makes room for an honest answer and identifies where further help might be needed. The conversation extends the teaching of the meeting by giving the learner a chance to understand it more fully and act on it in his own circumstances.

Follow-through also matters when a believer has to make a decision before the next gathering. A younger Christian who wants to put right a strained relationship can ask a mature believer to help him think through Romans 12:17–18. They can distinguish the duty to avoid retaliation from the responsibility to pursue peace as far as it depends on him. The mature believer might help him consider what an honest apology would say and encourage him to acknowledge his own conduct directly. Afterward, he can ask whether the conversation took place and whether there is a further step the younger Christian can take. The responsibility for the decision and its consequences stays with the person acting, while the help he receives gives him a clearer way to obey the passage.

Helping Learners Become Able to Help Others

Paul tells Timothy to entrust what he has heard to faithful men who will be able to teach others also (2 Timothy 2:2). The instruction concerns the reliable transmission of apostolic teaching and shows that Timothy must think beyond the people he is instructing immediately. In ordinary congregational life, a mature believer can give a learner room to explain a passage, show how he reached his understanding, and receive correction where he needs it. If the learner leaves out a qualifying phrase, the person helping him can take him back to the sentence and let him explain how the phrase changes his account. As he becomes more accurate and patient, he can use what he has learned to encourage someone whose questions once resembled his own. The congregation gains another person able to give careful help, and the learner has an opportunity to practice the same care he received.

A useful sign of progress comes when a believer begins to bring Scripture to bear on a responsibility before someone reminds him to do it. He may remember a person who missed a gathering, make contact, and discover an opportunity to encourage him. He may hear a claim about a passage, read the context for himself, and explain his concern without misrepresenting the person who made the claim. He may recognize a wrong he has done and take the first step toward putting it right. In each case, a mature believer can take an interest in what happened and help him think through the next decision under Scripture. The work of building up the congregation in love becomes visible as a person who once needed that attention learns to give it to someone else (Ephesians 4:16).

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