https://odb.org/MY/2022/07/02/surviving-together
Some people believe they can be a believer but need not join a church or a fellowship. Their argument is that their relationship with God is between them and God and thus they don’t need to involve anyone else, or rather it is perfectly OK to relate to God without involving other believers.
That belief is of course incorrect and misconceived as we need each other to grow spiritually and in maturity. The community of believers encourages and supports our faith, besides being a form of check and balance for us, for example, with someone telling us if we are off the narrow path. There is strength in numbers whether in war or peace, whether in prayer or spiritual warfare, whether in evangelism or discipling. Two is better than one and three is better than two. It is true with knots and threads and it is true with people. Even at work, working as a team is more encouraging and inspiring as we are able to achieve much more compared to working solo.
That is why Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:11 that Christ gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and the teachers to equip His people for works of service so that the body may be built up. The various ministries are to equip and build up the people of God for the work of God. They are not the work itself as they are to prepare the body for God’s work.
Of course when we meet as a body, we meet all sorts of people in various forms. Different believers are at different levels of work in progress in terms of our conforming to the image of Christ. That’s part and parcel of spiritual maturity. No doubt what matters most is our relationship with God and yet we need to relate to others in the body as part of our spiritual growth. The fruit of the Spirit can only be birthed and formed as we interact and relate with people, as we go through the difficulty of dealing with all sorts of people – even those who are in the family of God. In the modern Christian world, we cannot be a hermit and grow in Christ because part of that growth comes from us growing as we relate and connect with others. Never an easy task and sometimes we wish we can be all alone in our room or house. But that’s not life. God has made us with company. We are not alone. There are many out there. They need us as much as we need them. That is why we always need to meet as a congregation.
My encouragement to us today is that if we have been comfortable attending church online, it is time to dress up and step out of our rooms and houses and start to physically go to church. Real interactions in life occur face to face. Even businesses and companies have started to get people back to offices. The present ethos is work from home if you are not well otherwise come to office, in the same rein – unless you are not well come to church to worship God as a congregation!
Ronnie's Thoughts 