In 1932 Picasso painted ‘Girl before a mirror’ in a style typical of him. It is clear that this woman is not looking into an ordinary mirror but one that reveals things about her not obvious on the surface. When we look at ourselves in a mirror we get some idea of what we look like outwardly. Without a mirror it is both possible and necessary for us to look at ourselves and make a similar assessment of how we look inwardly. This is done by means of self-examination. Socrates famously said that an unexamined life is not worth living. Some are forever checking their stocks and shares; others are the same with their lottery numbers. If we are wise we will often be checking on our souls.
Hebrews 3:12, 13 is a call to corporate self-examination.
Personal responsibility
The writer calls the Hebrews brothers. He assumes they are what they say they are. However, anyone who claims to be a Christian has a duty to make sure he is. He cannot assume it. See to it, brothers. A wife asks ‘Shall I lock the doors and put the cat out before bed?’. Her husband says ‘No, I’ll see to it’. He will do all that is necessary. So Christians are urged to ‘do all that is necessary’ to make sure their hearts are not sinful, faithless, turning from God. Not all that glisters is gold and not all who claim to be Christians are. Remember Jesus’s warning that many will say Lord, Lord on Judgement Day. It is the responsibility of every professing Christian to realise this and take steps to examine himself.
The need to examine our hearts
It is not ‘See to it that none of you has a sinful life style or thought life.’ I am sure the writer would be happy to say such things but what he actually talks about is the heart. By the heart is meant the whole person. He is urging examination of the whole of ones life. How important. A superficial examination will do no good. We need to dig deep. We shrink from this painful duty but it must be done. It takes time and effort and if we rush through life at break neck speed it will be squeezed out. Most of us find time to brush our teeth. Why? We do not want rotten teeth. There is time for self-examination.
What to look for
In particular, he says See to it that none of you has - a sinful, unbelieving heart – the root sin. With it goes a heart that turns away from the living God.
It is possible to be a ‘believer’ and yet have a sinful, unbelieving heart. A person may profess to be a Christian but conduct his life on principles of sin and unbelief or disbelief. This sort of unbelief, says Owen, is ‘the greatest provocation of God that a creature can make himself guilty of’. That a pagan in some far flung dark corner should not believe is unsurprising but that people should hear the preaching of the gospel, profess to believe it and then still go on in sinful, unbelief - what wickedness that is. Yet it happens. Many think a lack of faith no great sin but here it is labelled as sinful, evil. It is. Imagine a husband with no trust in his wife, a child with no confidence in its parents, a community with none in the banks.
This is why it is possible for a ‘believer’ to turn from the living God. Unbelievers turn aside to idols, of course, and worship things that are not, but the professing believer can fall into such ways too. No true believer can finally fall away, but it is possible for an apparent believer to turn from God, even though he has so many privileges and opportunities. Think of Judas. That is what happened in the desert when the Children of Israel turned from the living God to idols. How shall we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?
Corporate responsibility
Interestingly, he speaks of helping one another. But encourage one another daily, he says. We tend to think of self-examination as a rather solitary task but it has a corporate dimension too. We need to help each other in this. We need to exhort or encourage one another so that we are not self-deceived. This is part of what church is all about. Obviously, those who are preachers have a duty to preach on such subjects and to make clear that self-deception is possible. But it is not only preachers. We all have a duty to each other – to encourage faith and godliness and to discourage hypocrisy and unbelief. Are we taking this responsibility seriously?
Urgent
The writer says this is a daily thing not just for Sundays. Further, he says that we are to do this as long as it is called Today. This takes us back to Psalm 95, Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion. For the Christian there are really only two days – Judgement Day and Today, the day of God’s grace. We are alive today by God’s grace. If today we will hold back from hardening our hearts and put our trust in the Lord, we can be certain all will be well. As for tomorrow, we cannot be sure whether that will be a day of grace or of judgement. So there is an urgency about this work of encouragement. Now is the day of salvation; today is the day of grace. It is our duty to do all we can to support the faith of those who profess to be our brothers and sisters. We are a team, a body, an interconnected whole.
Self-deception
Why the emphasis on mutual support? Surely, all we need is faith in Christ and all will be well. To speak like that is to forget sin’s nature. We need such encouragement so that none are hardened by sin’s deceitfulness (trickery). Sin is thoroughly deceitful. It presents itself as something it is not, promising much but giving little and constantly mutating so that we scarcely recognise it for what it is at times. Like the devil, transforming himself into an angel of light, sin pretends to be sweetness and light when within are maggots and worms. A man promises the world to a pure woman. He will be true and do her no harm. They make vows in church. But before long he has a mistress and physically harms his wife. What deceivers are about! So it is with sin. How easy to be deceived by it and think we are Christians when we are not or think we have no reason to be concerned about our spiritual state when we have every reason. Sin told the Hebrews they needed a more ancient religion. Today it says there are many ways to heaven; no-one can be holy in the present climate; good intentions are enough, etc. If you leave it, bread left will go hard – so will our hearts if we neglect them. See to it that no-one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many.
