Stronger Together
It is indeed good news that we are able to come before the throne of God, that our sins are forgiven, and that we can have a personal relationship with the Almighty through Jesus Christ's sacrifice. As I've written before, we also have an embarrassment of riches in the availability of God's word, the Bible, which reveals to us who He is, what He's done, and what He has for us to do. Christ gave Himself up for the church and gave us the job of spreading the Gospel, making disciples, and building up the body of Christ.
This week I would like to highlight another treasure for you.
Solomon the Wise writes, “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow. But woe to him who is alone when he falls and has not another to lift him up! Again, if two lie together, they keep warm, but how can one keep warm alone? And though a man might prevail against one who is alone, two will withstand him—a threefold cord is not quickly broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12).
Our modern philosophers talk a lot (as did the ancient philosophers— it seems to be an occupational hazard) of the “gaze of the other.” The idea is that we behave differently, or at least with a different awareness, when we are aware that we are being watched. I see this as a dark take on something that can be quite positive. There is an accountability that comes from awareness of others. Left to my own devices, I can drift way off course. My go-to example is one of the great testing grounds of my faith in my daily life: the driver’s seat of an automobile.
I remember a church elder who told the story of the time he was rushing to get to a meeting at church and got stuck behind a slowpoke on the freeway. He cursed and grumbled, tailgated and intimidated, but could not get ahead. Eventually it became clear that the driver of the other car shared the same destination, and was, in fact someone in grief on the way to seek counsel from the pastor. That is a moment of accountability. I think about it a lot.
The church is a place of accountability. We pray together, we sing together, we serve together. And, together we seek to lift each other up and care for each other. We love one another and genuinely want to see each other grow in our Christian walk. The author of Hebrews, after walking us through some of the great heroes of the Bible, says, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God ” (Hebrews 12:1-2).
That cloud of witnesses includes Moses and Peter and David and Sarah and Samuel and John and so on and so on. But it also includes the believer who worships with us today! How sweet it is to talk about the things of the Lord with a fellow believer. What a blessing it is in times of trouble or temptation that I can talk to another believer about what I'm going through and have them encourage me! What a beautiful treasure it is to have a place we can go to bow our heads together and come before the throne of God, to tell Him together what is on our hearts, and to praise Him.
Friend, I encourage you to go all-in with the church. There is no other place where you will find the deep satisfaction that comes only from pursuing the Great Commission together with the family of God. There is no other gathering that will give you answers like the people who come together to study the inspired word of our Creator. And there is no richer fellowship than that which we have in Jesus Christ. Avail yourself of what you have in the church, where people love you and want to worship Christ with you; where you have teachers who earnestly desire to exposit God's word plainly. We are called to walk this Christian walk together, and together we will not easily be broken.
