Forsaking Fellowship

" . . . what fellowship can light have with darkness?" (2 Corinthians 6:14)

According to Scripture, not every fellowship in which we can engage will improve our spiritual welfare or further our devotion to Christ. We must be careful to discern with whom God would have us spend our time.

Certainly, Christ calls us out of our "holy huddles," as I've heard Christian circles described, to reach out to a dark and dying world. As He left the comfort of religiousity to touch lepers, dine with tax collectors and converse with prostitutes.

If all we ever do is sit inside our homes, inside our churches, and speak of holy things, we dishonor the sacrifice made by Christ to bring us into His resurrection and to sanctify us into a generous holiness that allows His love, grace and Truth to be poured out onto the world.

Remember, however, that though Christ did go out into the world to be among the broken and the destitute, to heal the sick and preach the Truth with both His words and His actions, His inner circle was the believers -- the Apostles.

We must be careful not to allow our inner circle, those with whom we share the most intimate and most frequent fellowship, to be those who do not profess and truly desire Christ.

We can never confuse or substitute the activity and relationship borne of reaching out to the lost with the fellowship among believers that is necessary for sharpening one another.

"As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another" (Proverbs 27:17).

We are able to sharpen one another for service because we are all made of the same material -- Christ is the iron in each of us. What becomes interesting here is that we need a wide variety in our fellowship so that there is the quality of iron needed for each of us to be sharpened.

The iron in us will need iron of a stronger quality against which it can be whetted and honed -- the more spiritually mature brothers and sisters in our fellowship, particularly those in leadership.

And the iron in us will be useful for filing away the rough edges of the "infant" believers around us, with whom we can share what has been revealed of Christ and His faithfulness to us at this point in our journey.

In addition to instruments of sharpening, we are meant to be a spiritual comfort and encouragement to one another in our assembly.

"Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another . . ." (1 Thessalonians 5:11).

It is foolishness from the heart of rebellious individuality to think that we are wise enough and spiritually strong enough on our own to bear the weight of the ministry of Christ.

The burden may be easy, the yoke may be light, but our "flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41). It is pride that will not allow us to concede that truth, and pride must be crucified in us if we are to come into the fullness of the perfection to which we are called.

Our point in gathering is not to revel in our good fortune as those who are saved and being sanctified, for we deserve nothing that God has granted.

Instead, we come together to "spur one another on toward love and good deeds" (Hebrews 10:24) and to "warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak" and "be patient toward all" (1 Thessalonians 5:14).

Make no mistake. It is not easy work, and it rarely comes with the satisfaction of being "useful" in the eyes of those who believe the only true work of the believer is that which is done outside the church walls.

But it is necessary for us and our brethren, that we might walk in unity and completeness as the body of Christ to the world. So, "let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching!" (Hebrews 10:25).