Sunday morning, I made a statement in Bible class when talking about how the early church was devoted to fellowship that I have been thinking about for the last few days.
“We can not let the only interaction we have with each other be only on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, or Wednesday nights. We have to intertwine our lives together… that’s fellowship”.
The idea is that if you are only around your Christian family during worship, then you are missing a critical element that makes up a healthy Christian lifestyle.
Through this pandemic, you fall into either one of these two camps:
ONE: When we could not be together as much or not at all, I really missed fellowship.
TWO: When we could not be together as much or not at all, nothing really changed in my life.
Sadly, many feel that they don’t need to go to worship or enjoy fellowship to be near God. You can indeed learn about God, and you can study and understand the Scriptures on your own and in your own time. But it is NOT true that you can be lifted up, encouraged, and admonished by other Christians on your own. If you are not attending worship or not seeking out fellowship opportunities, you are missing too much for you to have a healthy relationship with other Christians, let alone with God. The benefits of Christian fellowship are many and profound. Here are three that I’ve been thinking about today.
- Mutual Edification. No matter where you are in your spiritual life, you can always learn more and draw closer to the Lord. Fellowship with your church family allows everyone to help everyone learn more and bring our spiritual maturity to a higher plain.
- Joyful Encouragement. There is great unity available to you in the Christian family. The experience is like no other experience that you can foster in any other group. Here is your opportunity to be with others who are devoted to God like you. It is an opportunity to enjoy the company of others, to laugh, and support one another as we all struggle and thrive together.
- Unconditional Acceptance. Our life together is not free from conflict. It sneaks its ugly face into the lives of Christians every day in every church. From time to time, conflict comes between us. But if we use it right, conflict can become an opportunity to be a blessing in disguise. It’s an opportunity to do as Jesus would do and practice acceptance with great patience and love.
If you lack fellowship with other Christians in your life, now is a GREAT time to alleviate that missing critical element. All you have to do is show up, and you will see what you have been missing and be blessed. If you do this, you will have the opportunity to benefit from others spiritually and benefit others simultaneously. Don’t let the only interaction you have with other Christians be when we worship. It’s too limited. Fellowship together.
It’s what the early church did and what we should do, too!
I love you,
Alex