Fellowship

John 20:24 Now Thomas (also known as Didymus[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

I have a friend, an example in my life who says he is a ‘fellowship junky’.  He really is.  He absolutely loves to be in church. Any church,  I envy him.  He believes almost everything, it’s kind of amazing actually.  

I am not big on going to church.  I wish I was, but I am not.  I go, but not as whole heartedly as I know I should. I have been really disappointed with pastors and churches in general.  Also, I have disappointed other people myself, with my own actions. The old saying is, if you find the perfect church, DON’T GO! You will contaminate it. Jesus on the other hand has NEVER disappointed me.

People tend to ‘sell’ their churches.  I heard a pastor the other day say that ‘If your child does not attend a big church with a big sunday school class, you are being negligent’.  I have heard pastors tell their flocks what type of church to go to. *It always seems like THEIR church is the only one that qualifies*.  My opinion is, if you feel welcome  and you get spiritually fed on the Bible, that should be your church.  Once you find YOUR church, don’t change.  If you go to a church that you LOVE, you are in the right place.  I think that is why there are so many of them, everyone has different tastes and styles of worship.

We all need FELLOWSHIP.  We need true Christian fellowship MORE than we need to go into a building for an hour a week.  Doing both would be ideal, but that doesn’t always happen. If you can’t find a building to go to for an hour on Sunday morning, that is no excuse not to get together with other believers during the week.  It is vital to your spiritual life.  The Bible says when two or more are gathered Jesus is there. Two isn’t a church. Two is you and your wife. You and a taxi driver. You and a bum. When you are interacting with another person, Jesus is there. When you are both Christians, you are having church. 

Without fellowship, as in Thomas’ case, you begin to doubt. The Bible tells us to exhort one another.  Sometimes that will totally put someone else on track.  Hopefully you will get back on track as well.

Fellowship is ALWAYS for the other person, not for you. If you look at it in that way, your own faith will be built up and you will stop doubting.  And you will be a blessing to others