Personal and Communal Transformation / Hebrews 10:19-25
Introduction: The Flow of Gospel Transformation
If you would, go ahead and pick up your Bibles and turn to Hebrews chapter 10. Hebrews 10 is where we are going to end up today.
As you are turning there, it is 2017. Did you know that? I can hardly believe it is 2017. Tonight was actually the very first time I wrote down “17” while dating something. It is just crazy how fast time moves. Today, I am going to ask us to do something that might be a little stretch for some of us: I want us to think back to 2016. In fact, let’s stretch back to September 2016, before it got cold.
If you have been part of The Well Community Church, think back to what we called the State of the Church. During that gathering, we introduced a concept called gospel transformation. We talked about it happening in three distinct areas: personal gospel transformation, communal gospel transformation, and citywide gospel transformation. As we looked at where God has us right now and where He is leading us in the future, we recognized that He is taking us deeper into transformation across all three of these areas.
Over the next four weeks, we are going to dive into this. For the next three weeks after today, we will focus heavily on citywide gospel transformation. But before we can talk about transforming our city, we have to back up and talk about personal and communal gospel transformation.
When we say “gospel transformation,” remember what the gospel means—it is the good news of Jesus’ death, burial, and resurrection reconciling us back to God so that we can have an intimate relationship with Him. When you accept that truth, hand your life over to Him, and receive Jesus, an astounding personal change occurs. We now know God in a completely new way. We have access to Him and a relationship with Him that we never had before. He initiates, we respond, and it completely alters the way we see Him and live our lives.
Then, that personal reality naturally spills over into communal gospel transformation. We discover that we are not standing alone; we are part of the body of Christ with other individually transformed people. The way God changes me begins to change how I look at you, how I react to you, and how we interact together.
As we are communally transformed as a healthy body of believers, we become an incredible agent of change in the neighborhoods and city around us. It works like a row of dominoes: personal transformation leads to communal transformation, which leads to citywide transformation.
Put the other way around, we can never be truly effective in our city if we are an unhealthy body of believers. And we can never have healthy communal transformation unless each of us is experiencing ongoing personal transformation with God. When something happens in me personally, it overflows into how I treat you, and together we overflow into the world.
The Core Nature of God: A God of Community
So if transformation starts with the personal, let’s begin where everything begins. It does not actually start with how I respond to God; it starts with how God responds to us and initiates with us. Let’s go right back to the basics: what is God really all about?
We might give many answers: God is about truth, justice, righteousness, and holiness. Those are all true. But if you look at the very foundation of His essence and core nature, God, beyond everything else, is a God of community. He is an intrinsically communal being.
Why do I say that? Some might say, “Well, God is a Creator God.” And He is. He creates life from dead things and speaks existence out of nothing.
Genesis 1:1 (NASB)
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
That is what He has done since the beginning. But what about before that? What did God create before Genesis 1:1? Nothing. God has not always been creating. What has He always been? In eternity past, what was God about?
I was asked this at a retreat recently, and it blew my mind. The leader asked, “Before God was Creator, what was He?” After a few moments of silence, someone raised their hand and said, “He has always been Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.”
Exactly. God has always existed in community. For all eternity past, there has been an unbroken, intimate relationship among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. God has always been about relationship.
When God created mankind, He did not create us because He was lonely or bored and needed our help. He created humanity so that we could be invited into, enjoy, and experience the perfect community He has shared within the Trinity for all eternity.
Think about Jesus’ prayer the night before He went to the cross in John 17. He prayed that we would be one with Him and the Father, caught up in the very same love and intimacy they have shared forever.
John 17:21 (NASB)
that they may all be one; even as You, Father, [are] in Me and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
He was praying that we would experience the same intimate community that the Godhead has shared for eternity. God is a God of community, and He designed us to walk in community with Him.
The Barrier of Sin and Limited Access
As we know, you only have to turn a couple of chapters into Genesis before the wheels fall off. Sin enters the world. Sin always separates and destroys community. Because of sin, our intimate relationship with God was fractured, and we were cut off from His presence.
Yet throughout the Old Testament, you see a God who stops at nothing to reconcile us back to Himself. When He established the tabernacle and temple, He showed His desire to dwell among His people, but the old system of law and sacrifices demonstrated that an enormous obstruction remained between holy God and sinful humanity.
Everything about the temple layout illustrated limited access. There was the Court of the Gentiles on the outer perimeter—Gentiles could get nowhere near the inner sanctuary. Then Jewish women could enter the Court of Women, but could go no further. Jewish men could proceed closer, but only priests could enter the Holy Place.
Inside the Holy Place, at the very center representing the tangible presence of God, was the Holy of Holies. In front of it hung a massive veil. In Herod’s temple, that veil was roughly sixty feet high, thirty feet wide, and four inches thick. It was an impenetrable barrier reminding everyone: you can only come so close, because your sin separates you from a holy God.
Only one person could ever enter behind that veil: the high priest. And he could not simply walk in anytime he wanted to chat with God like Adam did in the garden. He could only go in once a year on the Day of Atonement, carrying blood to make a sacrifice for his own sins and the sins of the people. The entire system served as a constant reminder that sin blocks full access to God, and repeated animal sacrifices could never permanently remove that barrier.
Access Granted Through the Blood of Jesus
That brings us directly to Hebrews 10. The author explains that the old sacrifices had to be offered over and over because they could never take away sins. But then Jesus entered human history.
Hebrews 10:11-12 (NASB)
Every priest stands daily ministering and offering time after time the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins; but He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, SAT DOWN AT THE RIGHT HAND OF GOD,
Jesus offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, and then He sat down because the work was finished. He dealt with the sin problem once and for all. Through His torn flesh and poured-out blood, the veil was torn in two, opening the way for us to return to full intimacy with God.
Hebrews 10:19-21 (NASB)
Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He inaugurated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh, and since [we have] a great priest over the house of God,
We do not have an earthly priest who must constantly make sacrifices for his own shortcomings. We have Jesus, our great High Priest, who is completely holy, perfectly unified with the Father, and yet fully human—the ultimate bridge bringing God and humanity together.
Because the barrier is gone, look at the invitation we receive:
Hebrews 10:22 (NASB)
let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled [clean] from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Why does the author have to tell us to draw near? If you found out the door to God’s presence was wide open, wouldn’t you run straight in?
Put yourself in the shoes of a first-century believer who grew up seeing the temple barriers every single day. If you walked up to the temple and suddenly all the barricades were gone and the veil was torn open, you might freeze. You would look around and whisper, “Are we allowed to look? Can we really go in?”
When I was a kid at amusement parks, they had those wooden cutouts near the roller coasters with a line showing how tall you had to be to ride. I remember wearing my thickest shoes and standing on my tiptoes, trying to stretch my head just high enough to brush the mark. As long as I was too short, I was stuck on the spinning teacups that made me sick. But the day I finally measured up, I had access. I didn’t hesitate—I rode that roller coaster over and over again because I finally had access I never had before.
Through Jesus, we have been given total access to the very presence of God. You have been washed clean. Your guilt is removed. Why hold back?
Some people say, “I can’t go to God right now because I’m struggling with sin.” Listen: Jesus already bore your sin on the cross. Your struggles are the very reason you need to run straight into His presence. You cannot clean yourself up on your own; transformation only happens in His presence.
Hebrews 10:23 (NASB)
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
God is faithful to His promise. Once you are His child, you are always welcome in His presence. You were made for personal communion with Him.
Communal Transformation: Spurring One Another On
Having complete access to God sounds like the ultimate goal, but the author does not stop there. Right after declaring our open access to God, he immediately pivots to our responsibility to one another.
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NASB)
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 immediate fruit of personal intimacy with God is genuine community with other believers.
The word “stimulate” or “spur” carries the idea of prodding or nudging someone forward—almost irritating them in a loving way so that they do not remain stagnant. We are called to be so invested in each other’s spiritual growth that we continually challenge, motivate, and encourage one another toward love and good deeds. And we do that by refusing to neglect gathering together.
Why is communal connection the natural outcome of knowing God? Because our God is a God of community. When you spend time in His presence, you begin to take on the heartbeat, passions, and priorities of your Father.
If someone claims, “I have an incredible, deep walk with God, but I’m just a loner and don’t need the church,” I would say you have a profound misunderstanding of God’s character. You cannot read the Scriptures and conclude that God is satisfied with isolation. We were created in His image to reflect His relational nature.
Sin shattered that mirror, but Jesus restored it so that we could reflect God’s heart back into the world. He designed the church as an interdependent body where we need one another. The more you dwell in the Holy of Holies with God, the more your heart will break for the isolated and the more you will desire authentic, biblical community.
Taking the Next Step
What does this mean for us practically today?
First, if you are here and you do not yet have a personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ, that is where you must begin. If you have been trying to navigate life on your own, the veil remains between you and God because you have not surrendered to Jesus. Today, place your faith in His finished work on the cross, receive His forgiveness, and step into the relationship you were created for.
Second, for those of us who already know Christ: let us soak in the reality of God’s heart for community. He stopped at nothing to bring you close. Let’s reflect that same commitment toward one another. Let’s do whatever it takes to build real, authentic relationships.
At The Well, we live this out practically through our groups and teams—primarily through life groups and ministry teams. If you have been attending on Sundays but remain disconnected, take a step. Join a life group where you can be known, loved, and spurred on toward Christ. Join a serving team where you can link arms with others to do good deeds and build lasting friendships.
God never intended for you to walk alone. He made a way for you to have intimacy with Him, and He has placed you in a family so we can reflect His glory together.
Let’s pray.
Lord, thank You for reminding us of who You are. Thank You that You are a God of community, and that when we broke fellowship with You through our sin, You did not abandon us. You sent Your Son to tear down the veil and bring us home.
Father, help us to boldly take advantage of the access we now have through the blood of Jesus. Transform us in Your presence. And as You change our hearts, teach us to love one another deeply. Give us the courage to step out of isolation and into genuine community. Show each person here what their next step is—whether that means placing their faith in Jesus for the first time, joining a group, or serving on a team. We want our lives and our church to reflect Your heart to our city. In Jesus’ name, Amen.