Category: Fellowship (Page 13 of 17)

There’s an old story about the great evangelist D. L. Moody. I assume it’s true. Come on, I’m a preacher!

Moody was visiting a prominent Chicago citizen when the topic of church membership and involvement came up. The man told Moody, “I can be just as good a Christian outside the church as I can be inside it.”

Moody didn’t say anything. He just walked over to the big fire blazing in the fireplace, removed one of the many red-hot burning coals, and placed it on the hearth.

Both men sat in silence together and watched the single ember die.

And the host simply turned to Moody and said, “Oh. I see.”

I think you can probably get to heaven without close friends. But you cannot be all you can be for the Lord without someone right beside you pushing you, lifting you up, helping you, challenging you, serving with you. We were never ever intended to do this alone. We need each other. We need the mutual loving and studying and questioning and affirming and supporting. I think better when I’m with other Christians. I sing better when I’m with my brothers and sisters. I pray better in a group of faithful believers. I make better plans. I sin less. I think about myself less. My eyes are much more open to God’s Holy Spirit and his redemptive power when I’m with God’s Church.

We cannot separate our relationship with God from our relationships with one another. We don’t belong to ourselves, we belong to Jesus. And Romans 12 informs us in strong language that if we’re in the Body of Christ, we each belong to one another. Our connection with Christ and our connections with each other are so interwoven they absolutely cannot exist in isolation.

And our Christian lives flow from there. We care for each other. We’re committed to one another. We protect each other, confront each other, sustain each other. We rejoice together. We mourn together. Together we fuel the fire. We give and receive Holy Spirit energy and we bask together in the warmth and the light. It’s in community—together—where we reach our God-ordained potential as his children.

Don’t burn out on the hearth. Jump into the fires of the community of faith.

Peace,

Allan

“Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” ~Romans 12:9-10

Sincere love is difficult. Devotion based on brotherly love isn’t easy. It demands that we detest what is evil in our friend’s lifestyle or attitudes. We “love the sinner but hate the sin.” Our love for the person committing the wrong is real, not pretended in any way; but in sincere love we must abhor the evil that can only cause him or her harm.

God’s love is like that.

God loves us so much that he accepts us just as we are; but he loves us too much to let us stay that way.

God certainly loves us without any phoniness and with total acceptance, but he cannot stand anything in us that is contrary to his will. Our Father is continuously working to purge the evil from us and transform us by the renewing of our minds into the image of his great Son.

And we see and relate to our Christian brothers and sisters the same way. We would never watch our brother drink a cup of deadly poison while we sit in the shade and sip iced tea. We would leap across the table and knock the cup out of his hands to save him. Because we love him. We would not allow a friend to step into the path of an on-coming bus while we skipped safely along the sidewalk. We would push or drag her out of harm’s way. Because we really care about her. Even though our brother might not understand at the time or our friend might think we were meddling. Sincere love — loving devotion — means sincerely caring and acting for their eternal interests.

It means making the phone call. It means doing the lunch. It means having the talk you’ve been meaning to have for months. Or years. It won’t be easy. But it’s a vital part of living together in Christ’s community.

Peace,

Allan