There are a couple of things on my heart this morning, and honestly it was hard to choose between them, especially after missing a few days last week. Illness has swept our house, we battled the flu for nearly two weeks, and frankly I was just so depleted I couldn’t bring myself to the table to write. I landed on this topic today because of the image that the worn down state I was in last week, gives us of the importance of being part of a church body.

There isn’t anything in the Bible that says that in order to be saved, you must be part of a specific religion, go to a certain number of services, tithe a certain amount, or anything like that. It isn’t a gospel issue. However, the emphasis on gathering as believers in the books of Acts as the early church was established, the group that Jesus established around Him through the disciples during His ministry, the couplings he made of them as He sent them out in His name, the author of Hebrews stating, “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” (10:25), are all indications that the church, the body of Christ, and the regular assembly of its members is an aspect to the Christian walk that is necessary for our good.

The verse in Hebrews states that in assembling we are given the opportunity to exhort one another, and so much more as we see the Day approaching. “The Day” references the day of the Lord, the point of His return. Leading up to this point in time, the Bible says that the spiritual attacks of the enemy will be amplified, and that as believers we will face specific persecution as the enemy seeks to thwart the plan of God. Gathering together gives us the opportunity to exhort each other on toward righteousness, it strengthens and encourages us, and it glorifies God when the body is unified and exemplifying His characteristics toward one another.

Sin is such a sneaky and deceptive divider. The original sin divided Adam and Eve from their perfect unity with God and the enemy still uses sin as a divider today as we seek to hide our shortcomings from one another, avoid too much transparency lest anyone see the real us, and as a result the sort of ‘assembling of ourselves’ that the writer in Hebrew encourages us not to forsake is diluted. We can only exhort one another on toward righteousness if we know the specific pitfalls each other faces. Without a tribe of believers around me who know my specific sin struggles, I can hide away in the corners of my mind the battle the spirit wages against the flesh. The more hidden I keep it, even though I think that in doing so I can control the narrative of it, in actuality, the deeper I hide, the less control I have and the more likely I am to fall. The deeper I fall, the more I desire to hide. The deeper I hide, the greater the battle the enemy wages against me that my friends, my fellow believers, won’t want me part of their walk anymore, that I’ve disqualified myself from being part of their righteous community. The guilt fuels bitterness and resentment, and ultimately division from the body. Suddenly, Satan has me right where he wants me, separated from the flock, an easy target.

The Bible says that we are to engage in regular confession, repentance, and reconciliation with one another. As believers we are called to be discerning and wise with one another. If one of us falls into sin we are called to demonstrate good judgement, to address the sin, and seek to bring our brother or sister back into obedience through confession and repentance and we should desire that the body of Christ around us would do the same for us.

Hanging in our dining room, above a cabinet full of family photo albums, things we’ve collected over the years, and 90’s DVD’s, is a canvas photo. In the foreground is a small lamb, flanked by dark woods on either side, and completely unaware of the danger of its surroundings. It gazes out of the portrait nonchalantly, clearly lost, alone, and without protection. In the background, Jesus is on a full sprint run toward the lost lamb, on His way to rescue it from certain peril. When I first saw this photo, my breath caught in my throat and my eyes burned because when I saw this photo it wasn’t a lamb in the foreground that was lost, in danger, and alone. It was me. All the years I spent running from Jesus, hiding from the flock, He never gave up pursuing me. Not only did he rescue me, he placed me within the folds of a church family who has tirelessly loved my husband, me, our children. They have prayed over us, exhorted us, restored us, discipled us, disciplined us, and within this body of believers we have been able to demonstrate the gospel of Jesus Christ through confession, repentance, and reconciliation. It isn’t a gospel issue to be part of a church body, but it is necessary for the exhortation of the believer to keep us encouraged as we walk the narrow path, flanked by darkness that would seek to devour us on either side.

Today is the day of salvation. If you haven’t received Jesus as your Savior, today is the day to accept the eternal gift that is offered by grace through faith in His death and resurrection. If you are a believer, and not part of the sort of church that exhorts you, that judges you, that seeks to see you repent of sin, and encourages you toward righteousness, that depends on you to do the same, it’s time to find that sort of church. It is not loving to affirm sinful behavior. It’s the greatest sort of evil you could enact on someone to affirm sin patterns that disrupt and divide someone from obedience to Christ.

God bless.