fellow believers

The Walking Greg

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / Leave a comment

For my exciting Saturday evening, I binge-watched season 5 of The Walking Dead. Not all of it, just most of it.

It is interesting to me how the core group of the show has been scattered many times over the course of the series, yet they always find a way to reconnect.

That’s a great picture of the Church. We meet corporately on Sunday to remember and celebrate what God has done during the week and then each go our separate ways on Monday through Saturday, to reconnect the next Sunday.

I’ve learned that that by itself isn’t enough. You need more than once a week togetherness to pull through. You need brothers and sisters in Christ who will encourage and support, as well as hold you accountable at least once or twice during the week (other than Sunday).

There it is. Not exactly earth-shattering or new. The secret is community.

Yet how many times are we tempted and drawn to the whole “you have to fight your battles alone and trust no one but yourself” thing? It seems that the first instinct when any struggle arises is to retreat into isolation.

That’s where most temptations are fought . . . and lost.

Most of us aren’t strong enough to face demons alone. We do really need each other.

So that’s my not exactly original message to you. It’s been said before (and probably better), but it does bear repeating that community is vital to survival in a world increasingly hostile to those who proclaim and actually follow Jesus.

It’s probably only going to get worse from here on out, so take heart and reach out to connect with fellow believers.

That’s all I have on this Saturday night at 10:29 pm.

Good night.

 

A Moment of Whoa!

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 1 Comment

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I had a Joey moment. It’s one where I literally almost said “Whoa!” out loud. I did said it in my head.

One of the men staying with us at Room in the Inn said something that paused me in my tracks. Proverbially, since I was already sitting down, but it got me thinking. Here’s what he said:

Sin has the letter I right smack dab in the middle of it, while Jesus has the word “us” in it.

There’s an I in sin. Right in the middle, which puts me in the center of my life instead of God. Sin is all about me doing things my way and setting myself up as the ultimate authority.

There’s an US in Jesus. As in although Jesus saves us one person at a time, He puts us together in community, what we sometimes refer to as the body of Christ. Jesus never saves anyone to live out their faith on their own, but in the midst of other believers. Simply put, we are better together.

Sin leads to isolation and loneliness. And as just about anyone can tell you, you are much more prone to temptations and pitfalls when you’re fighting alone. Jesus leads us to accountability and encouraging and mutual bearing of burdens. When we are together, we compliment each other because where I am weakest, someone else excels, and where that person may fall short is where my gifts and calling lie.

Beware of anything that leads you away from fellow believers. I understand that not all of us are extreme extroverts and some of us like times to be alone. But no one should spend all their time alone, away from others who can watch out for them and warn them of imminent dangers they might otherwise walk blindly into or possibly speak that word of encouragement that enables them to go on for one more day.

There’s an I in sin and and US in Jesus. It’s that simple.

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Thoughts on Authenticity and the New Testament Church

/ Ragamuffingospelfan / 3 Comments

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I’ve been reading over Acts 2:42-47 lately and I am struck by how radically different the Early Church was from my own experience of Church. For one thing, we in the South (me included) talk about “going to church,” while the early believers talked about “being the church” and being the hands and feet of Jesus. Church for them was not a place or an event, but a shared way of life.

Where is the sense of awe? Where are the signs and wonders? By that I don’t mean crazy gibberish, but the genuine miraculous moving of God among His people. I think part of the answer is that the early believers spent so much time together. They fellowshipped and broke bread together DAILY. We do good if we see each other twice a week. They shared everything. They were willing to sacrifice of themselves to help fellow believers. They were of one mind, one purpose and had one goal– to lift up Jesus in such a way that He would draw all people to Himself.

They faced a level of persecution that we know nothing about. There was no room for casual Christianity, because to proclaim “Jesus is Lord” was to risk torture and death. I have never faced that in my life.

How do we change course? I know for me, that if I am comfortable and satisfied with the way things are, the staus quo, I will never change. Only with a holy discontent can I seek the face of God to bring the change in my life. When we are willing to take off our masks and be real, to stop talking Christianese and Sunday School answers and be brutally honest about ourselves, then we see change. Only God can initiated that in His people, but we have to want it.

Who’s with me? Who’s tired of just going to church? I see the main problem with the American Church everytime I look in the mirror.  I am the main problem. If I want to see change, I have to be the change. I must desperately want God to change me, to transform me, to live through me in the Person of His Son, Jesus, and through His Holy Spirit.

It’s time to break up our shallow ground and seek the Lord. Who’s with me?