"…not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some" (Heb. 10:24).
Winston Churchill once described how he personally related to the local church. His relationship was, "a lot like a flying buttress," he said. He "supported it from the outside" (You know what a flying buttress is… it's an external support that reinforces the vertical walls of old cathedrals).
Man, Churchill said many things that still make me laugh and I've seen what goes on in some of those old cathedrals too, so I don't blame him. Some of it is not good at all. But what is happening in America today is not so funny or as supportive as what he described. Many people are claiming to be Christians (and many of them really are regenerated inside), but they have not committed themselves to being active in …or aren't yet faithful to.. a local fellowship in their area. Such a thing was unheard of in the New Testament church fellowships!
In New Testament times, to be a Christian meant that you were involved and faithful in a local expression of the body of Christ that was active in their community fishing for souls. The believers back then knew that the church wasn't to be an exclusive country club for saints; rather it was to be more like a hospital and a rescue center for the perishing. They participated in that effort and so should we!
Paul (in Philippians 2:1-2) also talked about fellowship saying, "If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose."
The Bible says, "If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin" (1 Jn. 1:6-7).
And so, my journeys away from church have always circled back to the church.
— Philip Yancey
We join our hearts and hands together, faithful to the Lord's command; we hold each other to God's standards—all that truth and love demand. —Dennis D. Haan
Having a strong union with Christ and walking in His humility—that's what will make fellowship work!
kurtvonSCHLEICHER fish4souls.org
Click here to contact Kurt von Schleicher if you need to get right with God. Please be sure to read the verses above in their own context when you get the chance for the purpose of properly hearing all that God wants to say and for rightly applying them in their life.
