|
Original Christian illustration by Jim Sutton: Picture of a
young woman expressing joy in Christian worship.
Not all Christians discover the power and joy
of gathering with other believers in fellowship and worship.
This failure may not always be something that can be avoided.
Some believers live in remotes places where they simply cannot
find another person who loves and follows Jesus Christ.
Some are in prison. Some are in hospitals or working in
lonely places void of other people.
Most often here in the United States, a
Christian fails to meet with other Christian because they simply
lack understanding. Laziness may be part of the problem,
or exhaustion caused by a busy work schedule. Sometimes,
an unbelieving parent or spouse forbids the believer to gather
with others who worship the Lord.
God is never weakened by our ignorance or
inability. The Lord God is sovereign in all things, in all
circumstances, and even in our weaknesses. The Lord knows
how to keep and to help His own. This does not mean,
however, that we will not suffer when we fail to give God the
place He deserves in our daily life, and in our schedule.
When we simply cannot meet with others for
prayer and Christian friendship and spiritual worship, the Lord
helps us and meets with us anyway. We not only have angels
of God gathering around us, we have the Lord Himself.
Jesus said that both He and His Father would come and make their
dwelling place with us when we trust in Him. (See John
14:23, for example.) God camps out with all who long for His
Presence and help.
But when we simply choose to avoid other
Christians, we lose out. We miss out on the special
blessings (the joys) of worshiping God with others. They
may sound like a light thing, but it isn't. If you have
ever spent time with God among His people, then you know what I
mean. On the other hand, if you have simply been to church
and endured a meeting, then you still don't know what you're
missing. Gathering with other believers is not about
watching the people or being entertained by the various
ministries of the church, it's about meeting with God in the
fellowship of others who love and worship Him in spirit and in
truth.
Jesus talked about that when He was chatting
with the Samaritan woman at the well, remember? He said,
"the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will
worship the Father in spirit and truth, for such the Father
seeks to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship
him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:23,24,
RSV)
The Spirit of God is the very core of
everything we have in Jesus Christ. Our fellowship with
God, communion with the Lord Jesus, our secret spiritual
strength, everything that makes this life in Christ a meaningful
walk with God is rooted in, and flows out of, the Holy Spirit.
And God's Spirit is with His people when they meet for worship,
prayer and fellowship in Christ. Real worship and service
is in the Holy Spirit, in the very Presence of God Himself.
And when we obey the Lord, gathering with other believers, we
get the full impact of God's grace for our lives.
The blessings (the joys) we receive are not
always something we can point to, specifically. But we can
always tell the difference in our lives when we have been with
the church in true spiritual worship and fellowship. We
are not transformed by such meetings into perfect saints.
We are still people. But we gain a depth and wisdom that
is reserved for those who participate with the Body of Christ in
a local Christian assembly or congregation.
Being born again makes us members of the Body
of Christ, the church. A hand or foot does not exist and
live very well all by itself. So also, as members of
Christ's body, we function best and gain the most when we are
working and worshiping with all the other members. There
is joy and strength and growth to be had in the gathering
together with other believers to exalt and worship our God.
He is glorified in us and we are built up in Him.
Want more joy, more strength for the journey,
more understanding and depth of Christian character? So do
the rest of us. So let's meet together and bring whatever
the Lord has been giving us. As we share together, the
Lord will bless us all, and all will be fed. The feast
will not simply be the sum of what we each bring. The Lord
will multiply whatever we give Him, whatever we share with the
whole group. And all will find more than they need, more
than any of us hope for. In Jesus. In church.
Jim Sutton
The above graphic may be used by Christian believers in various kinds of
personal witness, for church programs, and other Christian
activities. There is no charge for this use, so long as
the copyright/credit info is included with the image or a link
back to this site is provided.
To use the graphics on this site,
right click the image (Mac users hover the mouse cursor over the
image) and select the "Save As" or "Save Image As" and save the
file on your computer's hard drive. Images not saved to
your computer will not work properly (especially animated GIF
files), or will likely suffer broken links in a short time.
|
