We Need Each Other

“I don’t need to be in church to be saved.” I keep hearing people say this and well I would say that’s true, you don’t have to be in church to go to heaven, however, I personally need my church to survive earth!

I recently went to a concert that was packed! It was at the Little Caesars Arena in Detroit. As I sat there it was so refreshing to sing, dance, worship, and just have a fun time with thousands of other believers! We had a few serious moments, a few quiet moments and a lot of silly dancing fun! As I took in this experience my soul was refreshed to know I am not alone! There are so many believers right there in that arena with me, worshiping the same God together.

A few years ago in a Bible study my friend Joy gave us an example to explain why we need each other, it really stuck with me and I want to share it with you this week. I think of this daily as I put wood in my fireplace. Joy explained this so well, I hope I can do it justice so you understand what I am trying to say.

The Bible teaches us, if we believe that God created man with a free will to chose. Man choose to sin which caused a divide between man and God that no one can bridge. So God sent Jesus Christ His Son to be our Messiah to create that bridge. If you have prayed asking Jesus to forgive your sins and be the Lord of your life, you are saved and when you die you will go to Heaven. Yes that is all it takes to be saved. No where in the Bible does it say you have to attend Sunday service 3 out of 4 weeks a month. However it does say in Hebrews 10:24-25 "and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good deeds. Let us not neglect meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage one another- and all the more as you see the day approaching." Why does it say we should not neglect meeting together? So that we will stir up one another and encourage one another. Which brings me to Joy's analogy.

You see when I get home after a day at work and all I see when I look in my fireplace is ashes, it appears the fire has gone out. We believers in Christ are supposed to be the light of the world. Psalm 34:5 says "Those who look to Him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed" Matthew 5:14 says "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden." In the same way as my fireplace, we are made to be a light, a fire to warm and help those around you. But as Matthew says "a city on a hill cannot be hidden." However a single match all alone lit on a hill will be impossible to see from a distance. In the same way when I get home and see the fireplace full of ash, it is rather disappointing that I will have to start all over again with making a fire. However I always take the big metal poker and stir up those ashes. And most days I find that my fire hasn't really gone out. As I stir up what remains in the fireplace I find, red hot coals all around you can't see under the ash.

As I stand in front of the fireplace with no flame left, but on some days there is a beautiful bed of red hot coals uncovered, this picture wasn't one of those days. This picture is a day we almost waited to long and the fire was really close to truly being out. But on the days there is a beautiful bed of red hot coals, I would love to just sit and enjoy the glow and bit of warmth that comes from the newly formed pile of coals. But if I linger to long those coals will go out and be gone. Spiritually we are the same, if we just sit alone in the joy of knowing our Savior and knowing we are saved, our glow will die off if we don't feed that flame.

That is why I find a few small pieces of wood and gently feed the fire. I open the damper all the way up and let the air flow through to fan the flame. And soon after I will put a few bigger pieces of wood on the newly created flames. Before we go to bed at night the whole house has warmed so much we are opening windows because we are too hot.

In the same way, if we try to live life alone as a single red hot glowing coal, our light will get covered by ash, we will find ourselves barley making a flame and frustrated and tired. We need to bring all those coals together and stir each other up in encouragement, love, help and warmth, so our flame doesn't die off. If we don't stir up the fireplace regularly and throw another log on the fire to feed it, it will go out eventually and so will each of our lights if we don't feed ourselves spiritually.

In the same way meeting together regularly with other believers will keep your fire fed and fanned. 2 Timothy 1:6 says "for this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God" We need each other, we need to be together helping each other to stay lit and hot, we need to be piled up together to get the fire started again. And if we do that we will be a city on the hill that cannot be hidden, and all those who are left out in the cold without a flame will see from a distance and come to get warmed and hopefully they will chose to receive the gift of a flame from God for themselves.

Don't leave me here, I know some of you are thinking, the church is full of hypocrites, or you were hurt by the people of a church you attended in the past. Some people hide in the church with intentions to purposely hurt the vulnerable in the church. The stories I have heard of people who have been abused and horrifically hurt by people who claimed to be Christian is absolutely heart wrenching. However, that is not all the people or all the churches. There are bad churches, there are bad people in good churches. However there are good churches! There are good people in good churches! I would even say there are good people stuck in a rut in bad churches.

There are bad fast food workers in town, oh have I seen things that completely grossed me out. That does stop me from eating at all fast food places. I wish it did, but I still go back for my quick meal. There are bad snow plowing guys out there, that doesn't mean we just stop plowing our driveways. Our family is in the logging and farming business, and I can tell you there are bad loggers and bad farmers out there. That doesn't mean we are going to stop logging and farming responsibly and to the best of our ability. Whatever it is you do for a living or for fun, I am certain you can think of people in the same field that are bad representations of your chosen passions. But you keep doing them well because it is what you love.

So why are you allowing your flame to be covered and dimmed because you ran into a bad church or a bad person in a church. Do not give them that power over you to close the damper that will fan your flame that will heal you from the hurts they caused! Please, go find another church or group of truly Bible believing people, there are many good churches in Otesgo County and the surrounding area. If you aren't comfortable in the first one you try then go try another until you find where you fit, where your damper is fully opened allowing your spiritual coal to be fanned into a flame and you are stirred up and encouraged in the love of Jesus Christ.

I can't imagine surviving this earth without my weekly stirring and time with like minded people. Just like going to that concert was refreshing to my soul to see we are not alone. There was tens of thousands of believers worshiping together and it was a fan to my flame! Please as Christmas season gets going and we enjoy this beautiful snowfall to get us all in the mood, take time on Sunday to find a Bible teaching church where you feel the love of God the good good Father, the presence of the Holy Spirit and the simple but amazing gift of Jesus Christ.