“Love is the ultimate sign of true discipleship (John 13:34-35). Learning to love others is a huge component of the disciple-making process. If we aren’t intentionally striving to get along with other people, we are not growing in this area; we are not becoming spiritually mature, despite the amount of biblical information we may have acquired.” Jim Putman & Bobby Harrington, Discipleshift
I’m sad when I see Christians who have given up on church in the sense of assembling themselves together with other believers. Yes, there is some great teaching online and on tv. But there is no interaction, no accountability, no iron sharpening iron.
Not even the necessity of learning to die to self in order to serve the other person.
Of course, we do this at home, and for sure that’s part of the learning curve God provided for us. But those are the people we’ve vowed to love. Real growth takes place when we humble ourselves in service to the body of Christ, where we are hospitable to one another and diving into the Word together. “Doing life together” is more than a religious catch phrase. It’s Christian life!
And the blessing of the five-fold ministry described in Ephesians simply can’t be found electronically. Jesus set this up with a line of authority, not to control us, but to grow and equip us in local gatherings of His body.
I’m really not ranting. Rather, I’m reminding. There isn’t a huge portion of Scripture devoted to describing the church and what God expects of us–for our own benefit. But one key truth is in Hebrews 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.”
There are no perfect churches. But kind of like Noah’s ark–even though it stunk, it was the only thing floating. 🙂 Even when we’ve been hurt or disappointed–or disgusted–we still need other believers in the format God outlined for us. Finding a church body to call home is worth the effort, because the storms of life hit hard.
It’s part of His pattern to help us become mature followers of Jesus.
Worth Fighting For 