Our theme for this month: “Mistakes”
Our Bible verse for today: “And let us be concerned about one another in order to promote love and good works, not staying away from our worship meetings, as some habitually do, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25 (HCSB)
Our thought for today: “It is a mistake to be out of church fellowship.”
Yesterday I was reading David Platt’s book “Follow Me”. The book is a sequel to his best selling “Radical”. In the chapter I read yesterday, David addressed an issue of church life that is becoming more and more common, and more and more of a problem, in the USA today. It’s the problem of people being out of fellowship. In other words, they’re not actively and deeply involved in the life of a good church family.
In this respect technology has become a curse rather than a blessing. Many people simply stay home and watch a popular preacher on TV. They evidently count that as “going to church”. On-line church services are becoming increasingly popular too. Many other Christians have simply drifted away from the church for a variety of reasons and have fallen into a new habit of doing other things rather than being involved in the life of a church. This is a huge mistake. Let me share with you some of David’s very astute and convicting observations about this:
“To identify your life with the person of Christ is to join your life with the people of Christ. To surrender your life to his commands is to commit your life to the church. It is biblically, spiritually, and practically impossible to be a disciple of Christ (and much less make disciples of Christ) apart from total devotion to a family of Christians.”
David points out that it has even become somewhat trendy for Christians to say something like, “I’m in love with Jesus, but I just can’t stand the church.” To that David asks, “Isn’t the church the bride of Christ? What if I said to you, ‘Man, I love you, but have I ever told you how much I can’t stand your wife”? That’s essentially what we’re saying to Jesus when we claim to love him but not the church.
“Similarly, isn’t the church the body of Christ? What if my wife said to me, “David I love you, but I can’t stand your body”?
“It’s impossible to follow Jesus fully without loving his bride selflessly, and it’s impossible to think that we can enjoy Christ apart from his body. Jesus goes so far as to identify the church with himself when he asks Saul on the road to Damascus, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” Saul hadn’t persecuted Christ himself, but he had persecuted Christians, so in essence Jesus was saying, ‘When you mess with them, you mess with me.”
My friends, we cannot be in fellowship with God if we are out of fellowship with God’s people. The church is the body of Christ on earth. If we are out of fellowship with the church, we are out of fellowship with Christ. It is absolutely essential for the health of our relationship with the Lord for us to be actively and deeply involved in the life of a good church family. If we are not, we are suffering for it.
As we approach the weekend I encourage you to plan to gather with your church family this Sunday. If you don’t have one, you need to find one. If you’re anywhere near Crossville, TN we invite you to join us at Oak Hill Baptist, 3036 Genesis Road. Sunday school is at 10:00, Worship service at 11:00. It’s a mistake for any Christian to not be actively involved in a good local church.
God Bless,
Oak Hill Baptist Church 