In our first teaching in the series, Ancient Paths, we talk about a practice that has been preserved for millennia: gathering. It’s so obvious –but sometimes getting to church on Sunday morning feels impossible. And yet, something eventually clicks in the brain of a Christ-follower, and suddenly gathering becomes indispensable. In fact, it is common to look back throughout history to see Christians that actually risked brutal death just to gather! What could possibly inspire that level of commitment to this practice?
In the teaching this week, we discover in the scriptures (Hebrews 10:19-25) what makes the ancient practice of gathering so irresistible. It’s not to get God-points, it’s a truth injection. Also, having other Christians active in our lives is critical. The Bible says, the church is a body, and body parts are freaky when not attached to the rest of the body! And those parts don’t do well unattached. If you lost a finger, you would throw it on ice and speed to the hospital! We can’t afford not to Gather!
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If I understand Hebrew correctly the issue being dealt with is moving away from our confession of faith and going back to the Jewish rites and laws. The writer wanted the Jewish Christians to know that Jesus is sufficient and nothing else is needed for both initial salvation and an on going relationship with the Creator God hence verses 10:19-23.
However because of the sin nature that continues to try to control our lives and the selfish need to add to what Jesus has done, Jesus will not allow anyone else that glory, the temptation is there to fret and disbelieve and either try to add to Jesus’ work or despair the Christian life all together.
That is why encouraging fellowship is needed. It moves us toward grace and strengthen us to what may lay ahead in life. Fellowship stirs us up to love and good works which is a work of the Holy Spirit; as Jesus has said “where two or three of you gather together in my name there am I in the mist of them” That is a promise and where Jesus is there is always change toward God even if we don’t see it. Which is why we need to be stirred and encouraged.
When I was in Desert Storm I had often felt alone and helpless. I wrote in my Journal about wolves that come upon us. How they seek to move us toward the pack and devour us. To move us to conformity but pretending to care their aim is to destroy what we stand for. Fighting these wolves alone weakens us and the glory that God would want to be reflected from us; but together as a fellowship there is strength to match the onslaught.
In verses that follows (I find these very disturbing as has other Christians) is a warning to those that fall away from the truth of the Church confession which Christian fellowship is designed to provide a buffer against.
The sermon this morning on the topic of gathering spoke directly to me. As someone who accepted Christ as a child and grew up in the church (involved in attending small groups, participating in awanas, and teaching children's ministry), I am bewildered at how I am just NOW returning to the church at the age of 28.
As a young adult, it was so easy to become complacent about attending church. School, work, friends, and other responsibilities slowly become a priority over Christ on Sunday mornings. And before I could blink an eye, years had passed since I stepped food into His house. And I have seen the result of this in my life. The things which I once knew to be black and white had become shades of grey. Just as Robey pointed out, if we do not gather, we become victims to the bad ideas and truths of the devil.
Not only have my husband and I made a new commitment to Christ and his Word, but also to gathering with other Christians. We know this to be important, not only for the future of our marriage, but also for our future children and their lives as well.
Jasmine
When you have a sense of community with other Christians, it seems to be so much easier to live like God's Word calls us to. And, even when it's not easy, the Body pours courage and true joy into your life so you can continue pressing on for the goal.
I especially loved the analogy of what happens if you cut your finger off by accident. There's still hope for it to be reconnected, but a doctor has to work quick. One of my good friends recently started avoiding church and her Christian friends for fear that they'll judge her. She still opens up to me, and that analogy really encouraged me to talk with her before it's too late. She's not just a friend I miss - she's a part of the Body of Christ. If you read this, pray that God will work in this situation. Thanks.
Thank you so much for your openness. These are some great comments! Dieter thanks for your biblical insight and sharing about your experiences in Desert Strom. Jasmine, I appreciate your vulnerability - I think your experience is very easy to relate to for many of us. giftofgod4 we will be praying for your opportunities! Thanks again! Let's keep these interactions going, it is such an encouragement to see all the ways God is working in our church body!
It's amazing how quickly a detached body part can be rejuvenated when it is attached again.
I spent my four college years in Gainesville and never really found a church to call home. I floated between a number of different churches and too often got into the habit of skipping church altogether. Campus Crusade for Christ was the closest thing to a church body with which I had regular contact. Even then, I only attended and never really connected.
I got married two months after graduating, and my wife and I lived in Gainesville for another six months. Thankfully, we found a church that we together could call home. The fellowship we found in that church was like water for a parched plant. We were more encouraged, not to mention much more social. Especially for me, the time I spent with the men of that church fulfilled a need which I hadn't realized existed.
We are called to gather. That calling is not merely to attend some church somewhere just on Sunday mornings; it's not natural for a finger to belong to one body this week and to another body next week. I was that finger, and it doesn't work. We are to belong to a community of believers.
Gathering together on a regular basis helps remind me of how big God is and how small I am! Sometimes I can get so wrapped up in my own little world that I forget to consider others as better than myself as scripture instructs me to. Gathering together also provides opportunities for me to see and hear how God is working in other people's lives. It takes the focus off ME and puts it back on God and His Sovereignty. For He is The Only One who is able to sustain the very ground I walk on and provide the very air I breath. How often I can forget that truth if I haven't gathered together with other believers! Not only does the gathering remind me of God's work in my life...but His miraculous work in the live's of others too!
Mrgossett thanks for sharing your personal experience. You have lived out what this passage is saying! Great stuff. Melissa*e, every time I come in and see the guys sweatin' it out doing the set up and tear down, and all the kids volunteers, and the sound team and the praise team and the powerpoint team and the first touch team, I am so reminded that God is about something much bigger than my little life!
I agree with those who said the gathering gives us a sense of community. I remember experiencing true community as I became an adult and it made me hunger for the real thing. Growing up in church, where my family never missed a Sunday, I was present, but my heart wasn't always there. As a youth , I would look around and see everyone had it very much together. They were self sufficiant. Church, then, became a fashion, show wearing the latest trends. This became a barrier for my heart to overcome because in this church culture, vulnerability was seen as a weakness. I'm so encouaged that we do experience genunie community at WPCC. Gathering with other believers reminds me we are in this together. It also helps me to gain an others-centered perspective rather than just focusing on what I've been dealing with all week.
I remember the Nazareth example - how a "gathering of unbelievers" actually limited the Son of God so that he only healed a few sick folk according to Mark 6:5-6. Jesus "marveled" at their unbelief and He described it as a lack of "honor." Imagine the reverse - a community gathered together with a mutual heart's desire to "honor" the Lord in all of His Glory and Fulness - imposing no limitations or restraint upon Him. It would be wonderful. Like CS Lewis said, He is not a tame Lion.
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