The Advent Part 80
The second thing that all those who had been filled with the Holy Spirit continued steadfastly in was fellowship.
I will be the first to admit that finding true fellowship is becoming increasingly difficult in our day and age, as is finding likeminded brothers and sisters in Christ with which to pray and study the Word, but difficult and impossible are two very different things.
We cannot give up on seeking fellowship with the brethren just because it is difficult, and as God has had His people throughout every generation, He has His people today, those with which we can congregate and seek after the deeper things of the kingdom.
If we are steadfast in the apostles’ doctrine, then we will be steadfast in three other areas that constitute the four pillars of spiritual wellbeing. Being a believer requires that we live in love with other believers as well, that we allow the bonds of love to bind us together and keep us in unity.
Just as single members or organs of a body cannot function or survive outside the body for an extended period of time, believers need the bond of fellowship, they need to be within a body of believers that they might function properly. It need not be a congregation of ten thousand, it need not be a congregation of fifty, you can have true fellowship in your home, with your family, with your spouse, or with a handful likeminded believers just as long as the unity is evident, and the purpose is the lifting high of the name of Jesus.
Matthew 18:20, “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.”
The followers of Christ are named living stones within the Scriptures, and in order for stones to become a spiritual house they must be built upon each other, and knit together. A stone is just a stone until it is placed upon another stone, and another stone is placed upon it, the builder choosing which stone must go where, that when it is done, when it is complete it will resemble that which the builder intended. A stone has no will of its own, it cannot demand that it be placed anywhere except for where the builder places it, nor can it say that the other stones surrounding it are beneath it.
1 Peter 2:4-5, “Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.”
Romans 3:4-6, “For every house is built by someone, but He who built all things is God. And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end.”
There is a fine line between finding it difficult to find fellowship, and thinking ourselves too righteous to fellowship with anyone else. During almost a quarter century of ministry, I’ve seen both those who just couldn’t find a congregation of believers that taught the Word of God in their area, but I’ve also seen individuals that deemed themselves so righteous that any church, any group, any Bible study was beneath them.
Our purpose as one body, our purpose as the spiritual house of God is to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ, not to compare ourselves to our brothers and sisters and conclude that we are spiritually superior to them. I am a stone, just as you are a stone, and the Master Builder will place you where He deems necessary.
The will of God the Father is that all His children be in one Body. Knowing this, how can some believers pray ‘Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven’ when they can’t look past the denomination they belong to when it comes to fellowship.
A more honest prayer would be ‘Lord, I belong to this denomination, You know the one I’m talking about, all my friends are here, we don’t really associate or fellowship with anyone else, so please forgive me for not being able to do Your will here on earth.’
The Word of God is very clear on the topic of fellowship, and the fact that we are not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together.
Romans 10:24-25, “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.”
Although the Word tells us that we are to assemble ourselves together, and exhort one another so much the more as we see the Day approaching, it seems we are doing the exact opposite of what the Bible instructs us to do.
Getting people to come to church nowadays is like pulling teeth, and unless there’s a special speaker, a special service, a special concert or a special raffle, countless souls can’t be bothered to get into their cars, drive to the house of worship, and sit on a comfy pew.
Never mind the fact that others in different parts of the world walk five and ten miles each way just to get to a house of worship, which is nothing more than a mud shack with a few wood benches, never mind the fact that others in different parts of the world congregate together every night of the week whether to pray, or to hear the word of God preached to them, we have more important things to do, we have video games and cable television, we have hobbies and distractions, who has time to assemble together and exhort one another?
With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.
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