Faithful Fellowship
…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some,..
~Hebrews 10:25a {KJ21}
God is the God of good times and bad times.
I’ve been thinking about people who apparently have an experience in their lives where they understand that Christ took their sin on Himself at the Cross. They are very grateful and, in an act of faith, invite Him to be their Savior, to live and reign in them. They are so thankful for a while and they attend church and maybe even get discipled by an older, wiser Christian.
Some profess faith in Christ and started attending church at difficult times in their lives. Marriage problems, unemployment or a wayward child cause them to look for support.
Many of these people will attend church and seek fellowship with believers as long as their battles rage. But when things get better, they stop attending and step back from the relationships. Oh, we may see them on Christmas Eve and Easter but, week by week, they don’t feel like they need to be taught or to study God’s Word. Work schedules and sports schedules have taken over their Sundays.
The writer of Hebrews tells us, “We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard, so that we do not drift away.” Hebrews 2:1 He further emphasizes the necessity of fellowship in Hebrews 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good words, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching.” And, the Apostle Paul tells the Philippians to “work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”
To stay in fellowship with other Christians and to keep our minds in the Word of God is to be prepared when troubles hit. God is sovereign over our good times as well as the difficult. When we step away from the disciplines of the faith that remind us of His love and faithfulness, we lose our confidence because we aren’t being reminded of what the Lord will do for us.
As we look at the Old Testament passages about when God was saving His people, Israel, we’re told He had to keep reminding them of who He is and what He had done for them. They repeatedly forgot and so do we. We forget His attributes if we aren’t regularly reminded of His goodness, faithfulness, mercy, and love.
God sent His prophets to speak to His people, to call them back to Him. Often, all of Israel would turn back as one people and God blessed them. Other times, He had to send troubles to remind them to turn back. (See the book of Judges.)
It is concerning that some professing Christians fail to see the gift that worship and fellowship are for us as a family of believers in Christ. When we read God’s Word, hear it preached, or engage in fellowship with others of the faith, we are getting reminders of how God ministers to His people.
Our God is not only the God of hard times. He is the Father of His people who mourns with those who mourn and rejoices with those who rejoice.
When professing Christians step out of fellowship and trouble comes again, will they wonder where God is and run to the church to look for Him?
Why not stay in fellowship where it is easiest and quickest to be the receiver of such grace?
I love serving Jesus Christ as one who “feeds His sheep”. It is my desire to teach God’s Word diligently, with reverence and awe for the Source of the truths I teach, and with an engaging, and sometimes witty, delivery so that the hearers will not just listen but do what it says.
- For Our Good - February 12, 2020
- Future Benefits - January 8, 2020
- Attention Getting Behavior - October 16, 2019
“Our God is not only the God of hard times. He is the Father of His people who mourns with those who mourn and rejoices with those who rejoice.” I can’t imagine either the trials or the celebrations without God’s people. I need the fellowship, plain and simple.
“…will they wonder where God is and run to the church to look for Him?” The body keeps us healthy. As a separate limb I cannot function well. Eventually it gets too tiring and hard to even walk upright. I think the whole concept is just too simple. How often have I looked for a complicated answer when the answer was always the simple way staring at me all along. Thanks for the reminder, Beth!