And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.

23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 

The next two exhortations, found in verses 24 & 25, have to do with what we might call a person’s ‘churchmanship’. The Cross has implications for not only our vertical relationship with God, but also our horizontal relationships within the church.

Verse 24 challenges us with regard to the amount of thought we put into our church life. ‘The Message’ says:

Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out…

‘Every Christian needs the encouragement of every other Christian. Everyone who comes through the door of the place of worship, whether it be a house in a back street or a great cathedral in a public square, is a real encouragement to everyone else who is there. This is part of the way, along with an actual word of encouragement when necessary, in which we can ‘stir one another up’ to work hard at the central actions pf Christian living, ‘love and good works’ (a deliberately broad phrase to cover all sorts of activities.’ Tom Wright: ‘Hebrews for Everyone’, p.117.