Fellowship

Do you need some encouragement about now? Do you feel like you are in an undertow with all the bad reports in the news? Is there a situation in your personal life that has you down? I understand. Sometimes we get so discouraged we just want to crawl under a rock and give up on following Jesus.

Recently a verse from Hebrews has been rolling through my mind, “Do not forsake assembling yourselves together, and all the more as you see the day appearing.” Hebrews 10:25. I think this verse is important for us at this point in time. “Do not forsake assembling yourselves together”…. Or put in a positive command, “Keep on getting together with other believers!” This literally means meeting face to face with fellow believers on a regular basis. Meeting in this way becomes part of our life-style as we walk on the ancient paths with the Lord.

“And all the more as you see the day appearing”…the day that is appearing is the day of the Lord’s return. So this verse teaches that we will be able to discern when the Lord’s return is appearing on the horizon. It also infers that as His return draws closer we will need to gather together more than ever. We will need to encourage one another to remain faithful to the Lord.

In the coming weeks we will be talking about the day of the Lord’s return, which I think may be on the horizon. For now I want to focus upon the importance of getting together with fellow believers.

We need one another. We are created for relationship, both to be in relationship with our creator and with each other. The life of Jesus models for us how to relate to one another. Jesus was a part of a small group! He made his small group a top priority. He allotted a large portion of His time on the earth to hanging out with His small group of disciples in the Gospels. He was vulnerable, He was real. His small group saw Him mourn when John the Baptist was killed. They saw Him weep at Lazarus’ tomb. They saw Him praying in agony at Gethsemane. They also saw Him rejoice greatly when the seventy returned from their missions trip. Jesus prayed for His small group. He washed their feet. If you took the scenes of Jesus with His small group out of the Gospels you would miss so much. Time spent with this group was a huge part of the earthly life of Christ.

In I Corinthians Paul uses the imagery of a body to describe believers. As part of this body, we need one another. We cannot exist alone, any more than and eye can exist apart from a body. If I crush my little toe, my whole body will stop and take care of it. I had better not say, “Well that little toe isn’t important, I can just ignore it.” If I do, it may get worse and my whole body may become incapacitated. No, I must stop and give that little toe the attention it needs. In the same way, we in the body of Christ are to nurture and care for one another. When one member hurts, we stop and care for that member.

To care for one another we must meet together so that our lives intersect and we know what is going on in one another’s lives. I believe that one of the devastating effects of Covid-19 was that churches stopped meeting. We were isolated and alone. This is exactly what Hebrews 10:25 advises against. We need to keep on getting together!

It is in small groups that we get to know one another in increasing intimacy; we cannot remain anonymous in a small group like we can in a congregation of thousands. We need a smaller group to be “relatable”. In a small group we share life together. In the words of Paul, we weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice. In a small group we cannot fake being super-spiritual, we are transparent and real, like Jesus was with His small group. We are vulnerable. We share our challenges, disappointments, struggles and heartaches. We also share our joys and answered prayers. In a small group we support one another. We pray for one another. We are accountable to one another.

In a small group we put into practice the verses in the Bible about “one another”. We encourage one another to follow Jesus. We search out the Scriptures together and help one another to act on the words of Jesus (also called obeying Him!). We build up one another. We bear one another’s burdens. We spur one another on to good deeds. We love one another.

The only way to practice these “one anothers” is to follow the instruction of Hebrews 10:25 and to get together with fellow believers on a regular basis. And so my question to you is this, do you have a small group of fellow believers with whom you regularly meet? You may have just moved to town and not know anyone. You may not have close friends who are believers. Maybe you used to meet with a small group but for some reason you don’t have a group now. I have an instruction for you: Ask the Lord to provide a small group for you. Ask. Seek. Knock. The Lord wants this for you. He will provide. And when you see His answer, grab it and start hanging out together!

Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank you that You created us for relationship, both with You and with others. I ask you to provide (or thank Him if He has already provided) a small group where I can be transparent and vulnerable, a place where I can share life with fellow believers, a place where I can encourage others and be encouraged. I ask you to provide a group I can relate to and pray for, nurture and love as we keep on meeting together.
In Jesus name,
Amen