All The Way To The Finish Line, Part 2

I have grave concerns that the current Covid-19 rush to streaming church services, while important for this season, could simply create a layer of consumer “Christians” choosing to stay disconnected from the Body of Christ. Frankly, it is our fault, as pastors, for not laying a Biblical foundation for what God does when we gather that, for the most part, doesn’t happen in your bathrobe and slippers in your TV room.

This life of “being saved” cannot be lived in isolation… or disconnected from other believers that make up the local church. Your salvation IS your baptism into a local church. “Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:13 NLT)

At a time when factions in the church of Corinth were dividing over everything…who the most popular speaker was, who was wisest, who was most spiritual…Paul writes, “Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16 NLT)

While we are “being saved,” which is a life-long process, we need everything the Holy Spirit has for us through His indwelling of God’s people together in each local expression of church. In a very real sense, we can’t be saved apart from the Body of Christ…because that is the dwelling of the Holy Spirit AND the only real context of the Christian life. We really do need each other AND the Holy Spirit at work in us through each other. The only Christian life is really “Together we are…”

TOGETHER we are…

…loving one another (John 13:35)

…serving one another (Galatians 5:13)

…forgiving one another (Ephesians 4:23)

…submitting to one another (Ephesians 5:21)

…encouraging one another (Hebrews 10:24)

…living in harmony with one another (Romans 12:16)

…welcoming one another (Romans 15:7)

…instructing one another (Romans 15:14)

…being patient with one another (Ephesians 4:2)

…being kind to one another (Ephesians 4:32)

…stirring one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:24)

…confessing your sins to one another (James 5:16)

This is just the surface of over 50 commands of Scripture concerning life in the local Body of Christ… indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is how our salvation is to be experienced and lived out… in a community of faith. There is no other way! Coffee and the Sunday newspaper won’t cut it. Staying home indefinitely and watching a streamed sermon cannot work for you “being saved.” God never designed the Christian life that way…and if it is His salvation, don’t you think we need to pay attention to the manufacturer’s handbook re: how it works?

Do you understand now, why the writer of Hebrews would say,

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24–25 NLT)

Do you see now why the enemy of the Church would want to indefinitely keep us isolated and apart… OR do serious damage to our walk with God while we have to be apart, due to the pandemic? We must contend for connection and togetherness as local bodies of believers ALL the way to the finish line!