Life Together
Acts 2:41-47; Hebrews 10:23-25
“Wow, what a great worship service and day at church!” The singing was uplifting, the sermon was powerful and encouraging, the fellowship with each other was glad-hearted, many new professions of faith in Jesus were made, and the presence of God was surely experienced by all.” What a wonderful testimony this was after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost.
I always enjoy when youth return from a retreat and present to the church an offering of their experiences while they were away. You can always count on one or more stating that they wished all of life could be like the mountain-top experience encountered while on retreat. All Christians have had some type of experience with the presence of God that we wish could be everlasting. Unfortunately the “reality” of this world soon overwhelms these joyous experiences. Does it need to be this way?
The fellowship of believers in Jesus is a prized blessing. Of all of the blessings or realized benefits of being a Christian is what modern terminology might refer to as the “social networking” enjoyed by the church of Jesus Christ. The writer of Hebrews might call this the fellowship of hope. The faithful in Christ participate in life on the basis of hope. Each day is greeted with the fact and faith that our Lord is present and active in all areas of our daily lives.
We meet as believers to, as the writer puts it, “stir up one another to love and good works.” In a real and practical way, it is impossible to grow as a Christian outside the loving walls of the fellowship of believers. We are admonished to meet together and encourage one another. But what about the mountain-top experiences and the valleys between them?
As far as the valleys go, we can take a lesson from King David, who wrote, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” We may not be facing the presence of death in the valley we traverse, but we do walk through valleys of doubt, discouragement, and sometimes despair. Isn’t it wonderful that our friend in Christ and our friends in the fellowship of believers are there with us as well to offer hope and encouragement!
Perhaps just as important as a great worship service is the affirmation that between the services our God has provided fellow travelers in the faith of our Lord Jesus to walk with us as well.
Jim Motes– Lessons by Jim Motes, associate professor of Christian ministry in the College of Christian Studies at Anderson University. He is a graduate of Southeastern Seminary and Southern Wesleyan University, and is completing a doctorate at Gordon Conwell Seminary.