FELLOWSHIP FRIDAYS
It’s Friday!! When I was a kid, I loved looking forward to Fridays. I watched TGIF on ABC which included tv shows like family matters, step by step, and boy meets world. Ok, now that you are guessing how old I am, I’ll move on. I still look forward to Fridays, because I take the day off from the office to spend with my family, but the day I look forward to most is Sunday. I love worshipping the Lord together with other believers.
Fellowship Fridays will highlight various aspects of our life together as church. Maybe you are reading this blog, and don’t actually have a church family. If you are in the area of Wickenburg, Arizona or surrounding areas, my goal would be that you would come visit our family of believers at FSBC Wickenburg. If not, and you still desire to get connected to a church, maybe you just moved to a new town, and new state, shoot me an email at jhitchcock@fsbcw.com, and I will be happy to help you search for a church to connect to. I might even know a pastor in your area!
But what is the church, why gather with a church? Why do we need a church. Tony Merida in his book, Love Your Church, writes this:
God has given us a need for community-and he has given us the place where that need for community is met: the church. He gives us a place to belong; now we need to commit to belonging. Experiencing the blessing of community requires you to avoid distancing yourself from other brothers and sisters in the church, and to avoid neglecting times together.
This is what the writer of Hebrews was getting at in chapter 10:24-25.
and let’s consider how to encourage one another in love and good deeds, not abandoning our own meeting together, as is the habit of some people, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.
For a reason unknown to us, some of the believers were neglecting the gathering of believers at this time. Maybe you are too. Maybe you don’t like the preaching. Maybe you don’t like the music. Maybe you don’t like the seats. Maybe you wish we had pews and hymn books. Maybe you wish the preacher wore a coat and tie (It’s too hot in Arizona, thats not happening!). Maybe you moved to a new area, and its just easier not to hassle with new relationships, since relationships are messy. Maybe you just watch your favorite preacher on a podcast, or go to a neighborhood Bible study and dont see any point in “going to church.”
Whatever your reason for neglecting the gathering together in a body of believers that have joined together in covenant with one another to love, serve, and care for one another, I’m asking you to reconsider, and connect.
First, the word church literally means gathering. It is fundamental to who we are. The most basic aspect of being a part of a church is gathering with the body in the main worship gathering. That alone should be the very minimal of your commitment as a Christian. But notice in the text of Hebrews, we don’t gather for “what we get out of it.” We don’t gather because we like this, or like that, but we gather to encourage one another, some versions say “stir one another up to love and good works.”
We gather together not for the benefit of ourselves, but for the benefit of one another. In our gathering we encourage each other to love one another, and encourage each other in good works. How long ought we to do this…All the more until you see the day drawing near. As fas I can tell, Jesus hasn’t returned yet, so we are supposed to keep gathering.
If you are a member who since covid has basically slipped out of regular attendance, I ask for you to come back. Gather together with other believers, because you need them, and they need you. If you have moved to a new area, whether that be this one or somewhere else, don’t avoid church because relationships are messy, but get plugged in. There are literally several “one another verses” in Scripture that we are called to fulfill as believers that is impossible if we are not connected in community with other brothers and sisters in a local church. Whatever your reason for neglecting the gathering, I ask that you reengage in fellowship so that you can be encouraged and so that you can encourage others. We were made for community.Consider these verses as you live in fellowship with other believers:
POSITIVE COMMANDS
Love one another (John 13:34 - This command occurs at least 16 times)
Be devoted to one another (Romans 12:10)
Honor one another above yourselves (Romans 12:10)
Live in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)
Build up one another (Romans 14:19; 1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Be likeminded towards one another (Romans 15:5)
Accept one another (Romans 15:7)
Admonish one another (Romans 15:14; Colossians 3:16)
Greet one another (Romans 16:16)
Care for one another (1 Corinthians 12:25)
Serve one another (Galatians 5:13)
Bear one another's burdens (Galatians 6:2)
Forgive one another (Ephesians 4:2, 32; Colossians 3:13)
Be patient with one another (Ephesians 4:2; Colossians 3:13)
Speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15, 25)
Be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32)
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs (Ephesians 5:19)
Submit to one another (Ephesians 5:21, 1 Peter 5:5)
Consider others better than yourselves (Philippians 2:3)
Look to the interests of one another (Philippians 2:4)
Bear with one another (Colossians 3:13)
Teach one another (Colossians 3:16)
Comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18)
Encourage one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)
Exhort one another (Hebrews 3:13)
Stir up [provoke, stimulate] one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24)
Show hospitality to one another (1 Peter 4:9)
Employ the gifts that God has given us for the benefit of one another (1 Peter 4:10) Clothe yourselves with humility towards one another (1 Peter 5:5)
Pray for one another (James 5:16)
Confess your faults to one another (James 5:16)
NEGATIVE COMMANDS (how not to treat one another)
Do not lie to one another (Colossians 3:9)
Stop passing judgment on one another (Romans 14:13)
If you keep on biting and devouring each other...you'll be destroyed by each other (Galatians 5:15)
Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other (Galatians 5:26)
Do not slander one another (James 4:11)
Don't grumble against each other (James 5:9)
If you look at these verses, I hope you are beginning to see that we really do need other believers in our lives, and we need to be in theirs. We are called to love, pray for, and serve one another, bearing each other’s burdens. This is what life in the church ought to look like. It’s more than showing up on Sunday, singing your favorite songs, and hearing a good message, and going home. It’s about living week in and week out with other believers to stir you up to love and good works. That’s why we need to gather.