Articles
Embrace the Body
One common theme that we see throughout the New Testament letters is writer’s desire to be with the brethren that he is writing to, hopefully in the near future. To give a few examples of this idea, we could turn to: Ro-mans 1:11-13, 2nd Timothy 1:4, Titus 3:12 (wants Titus to come to him at Nicopilis), Phi-lemon 22, Hebrews 13:23, 2nd John 12, 3rd John 13-14. In all these examples, we see great godly character being displayed. These men want to be with their brethren. It’s something that was important to them, some-thing they looked forward to if given the op-portunity. A fear that I have for myself and for others, is that we don’t share in that attitude.
In the spring of 2020, there was the beginning of a worldwide event that changed all of our lives in some way, being the pandemic. It changed a lot about how we live, whether it was for a short term, or even things that are still in place today. One thing that it changed for many churches, including us at Northern Kentucky, was not meeting together in the church building to try and not spread illness. Me personally, I wasn’t a member here yet, but I remember what this was like at the church I previously attended. It was awful. It was hard to not be able to see brothers and sisters. To see the smiling faces of those serv-ing Christ like you, to hear the jokes they can tell, to be a support for someone struggling, to rejoice with someone who is rejoicing, to sing praises to God and have just a small taste of what that will be like in heaven. To be able to take the Lord Supper together. All of that was altered at that time. Not that the things of worship stopped happening, as we still sang praises to God and partook of the Lord Supper, but it wasn’t the same as being in the building. Certainly, the fellowship with each other was much different.
The fear that I mentioned having earlier for myself and others, is that we have forgotten that feeling. It was awful to not able to go worship with each other. But now we are about 4 years removed from the initial issues that it caused us. Have we forgotten what it was like? Now that we have been able to be back at worship togeth-er in the setting we once had, do we forget what it was like when we couldn’t do that. I had a conversation with a sister in Christ who wasn’t and still isn’t able to get to services, due to her health. She still watches online and does what she can, making sure she is doing what the Lord commands us to do. But, you know what is one of the things she misses the most, is being able to be together with her church family. Something that she may never be able to do again for the rest of her life. I know she would be beyond excited and beyond thankful to be able to worship with her church family at the local church she attended one last time.
Do we view going to worship God as something we have to do or get to do? Do we view being around and fellowshipping with our brethren as something we have to do or get to do? In looking at the first question, if worshipping God is a chore to any of us, there’s a misunderstanding on that person’s part. God is the only reason I woke up today, can write this article, can speak, can drive, and is the only reason and One that can get me into heaven. The only One. If worshipping the One who loves me more than I can ever love my-self is a chore, then I have work to do. He is worthy of praise and the good works that we are to do is what is due to Him as Romans
4:4 points out. In looking at the second question, do we realize what we have? Temptation and trial are something that man has dealt with since Genies 3 and something that will be dealt with until judge-ment day. We all are tempted by different things but in the end, we are all tempted. We all have struggles in our lives. We have moments where life is going great, and we have moments where life is just hard. We all have the highs and lows of life. But, do you know what is such a blessing? To know that there are people in this world, who are aware of the evil, aware of the temptations, aware of the trials but chose to not embrace the evil or temptations but walk for Christ. To know that God is always there for us! To know there are people like you and me in this world, and for us as local church, in close, local proximity! To know that is great. To embrace that and take ad-vantage of it is even better! In Acts 4, when there were needy Chris-tians, the brethren came together and bring the proceeds of what they sold and lay them at the apostles’ feet, and they distributed them to the extent that any had need. That’s embracing the oppor-tunity to help your brethren. That embracing the opportunity to know you don’t need to do it alone. In this case it was a financial need, but perhaps for you, you may just need someone to talk to about a difficulty in your life or a question you may have. The body of Christ is there for you, following in the direction and attitude of Jesus Christ in the best way we can. We all are facing trials of various kinds. You aren’t alone and no one should ever judge you for any struggle you may have, because we all are guilty of sin and tempted by some-thing. What a joy and what a blessing it is to have brothers and sis-ters! Let’s not take that for granted! We saw earlier how the apostle Paul longed to be with who he was writing too, and we may remem-ber the longing we had to be together with our brethren when times were hard just a few years ago. Let’s not forget how those times were hard, but let’s rejoice in that we get to be a part of a local body of Christ and worship our God to the best of our ability together!
