“These people left our churches, but they never really belonged with us; otherwise they would have stayed with us. When they left, it proved that they did not belong with us.” 1 John 2:19 NLT
Pastor John…Apostle John, writes some pretty brutal truth in his three short letters to the Church. He’s no longer that sweet, innocent guy that leaned on Jesus’ chest at the last supper.
He’s older, wiser and has experienced the explosive growth of the early church as thousands of people believed in Christ and began gathering together for common good. He now wields truth like a well trained swordsman, and he’s deadly accurate with it. Who are these people who left? They are those who are falling away in the end times, those lured by worldly cravings or have settled to believe the lies of many antichrists. He also mentions a way that you can KNOW that things just aren’t right with you and God – it’s a compelling pull from the Holy Spirit. “But you have received the Holy Spirit, and he lives within you, so you don’t need anyone to teach you what is true. For the Spirit teaches you everything you need to know, and what he teaches is true—it is not a lie. So just as he has taught you, remain in fellowship with Christ.”
John ties in a hard truth about our faith, belief and certainly our behavior. If we are not in fellowship with Christ, it will undoubtedly show up that we are not in fellowship with His Church.
There are statistics flooding in about the serious decline in church attendance. And there could be a good but not great argument that church attendance alone is a horrible indication or mark of a disciple. In other words, it’s very clear that you can sit in a pew or padded chair and win all the church attendance awards possible and not grow, develop or mature as a follower of Jesus at all!
However, I can tell you this NOT being in fellowship with other believers is a sure way to fall away from Christ. I hear story after story of those who had great excuses at first but then they turned into habits, which then turned into the awkward Christmas & Easter christian. The excuses were work (i’ve gotta make a living), sports (my kids must be on a team for their social development) and just tired all the time (Sunday is my only day to…. whatever fish, camp, sleep, game, bike, run, rest).
However, when I hear the truth of what happens in their life and definitely their family is this cool-to-cold passion for Jesus. There must be some correlation between ZERO fellowship with believers and little passion for the love of their life – Jesus! Folks aren’t becoming monks to drive out to the desert to pray and fast on Sundays, they’re just dropping out of the body of Christ.
John’s warning was an “end of days” sign then and it’s certainly true today. So, even though church attendance is a bad way to gauge maturity, it’s also a great way to watch a “falling away” in progress. I would be the first one to acknowledge there have been missteps, mistakes and hurtfulness from within the church. However by now you realize that’s because we’re human – not because the gathering of God’s people is bad! Our relationship with Jesus is primary. The church is THE way for our growth and gospel witness to form us into the image of Christ. It’s where we practice our faith, learning to love, pray, worship and be challenged by hearing God’s word TOGETHER.
Christianity is a cooperative community not a solo lifestyle. I would say you shouldn’t do the believer’s walk alone. John would say you CANNOT do it alone.
PRAYER:
Dad,
My heart aches for the sins of the church in our past. The way we judged, bickered, fought and abused our authority. But I’m also broken for those who would use those hurts as an excuse to walk away from you! I pray for unity. I pray for reconciliation among the family of God. I pray for a restored fellowship of believers. I pray that we would be one, just as you are one.