Daily devotion – Mondays
Monday’s after Church are always filled with thoughts of the blessing of worshipping together, the teaching of God’s Word, serving Christ, people prayed for, people who shared their struggles with you and people who were absent.
The Church is the body of Christ, headed by Jesus Christ Himself and it is a living organism birthed by God for the worship of God and designed by God to carry out His work collectively here on earth til He comes.
The Bible over and over emphasizes the need of our gathering together ass His Church throughout the New Testament and in fact, being unable to be part of gathering with the body of Christ was utilised as a means of discipline in the early Church.
People were living in an immoral situation in the Church at Corinth so Paul advised the Church there to exclude the couple from intimacy with the congregation (fellowship – Church attendance) – until repentance of their sin unto God. Thus being unable to fellowship was considered a dire consequence and one that you would not desire to be unable to do.
Sadly, there are some who consider being unable to fellowship with God and God’s people in the Church collectively, as not being important. Thus we have people who drift away from God and that which God has blessed them with (their gift) is unable to be shared with the rest of the body of Christ. In addition, their own lives start a path that misses out on being blessed by others which comes from fellowshipping together.
The writer of Hebrews addressed this very subject especially for us who are living in the Last Days with Christ coming so soon – And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. – Hebrews 10:25
The Apostle John spoke plainly about the reality of being part of God’s Church and what it reveals. These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us – 1 John 2:9
The Church is the ‘body’ of Christ and not an individual. It is the collective gathering together of all those who claim to be followers of Jesus Christ and who seek to fulfil Christ’s great and new command – John 13: 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
One cannot fulfil all the ‘one another’ commands like – Rom 12:10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another – if you remain outside of the fellowship of the body of Christ.
We are sheep and we gather together under the Good Shepherd who has created the Church to be the place where His sheep gather.
If you have been away alone from the body of Christ two parties are missing out – the one in isolation, and the body of Christ missing this important ‘living stone’ each time it gathers.
Jesus is coming soon and there is no such being as a ‘lone ranger’ believer.
Let us seize every moment to pray for one another, encourage one another, honour one another, love one another, and truly be brothers and sisters in Christ!