At church, we kicked off the new year with a back-to-basics sermon series about how to have a closer relationship with God. The first two weeks of the series tackled the importance of Bible study and prayer, and in week three we talked about the significance of Christian community.
A few months ago, I wrote about the phenomenon of “lone wolf” Christians:
These days, too many people try to live their Christian lives as “lone wolves.” People have withdrawn from church and Christian community — even faithful believers — in a trend that has accelerated since COVID-19. There are families I know from church who have never come back to church after the pandemic, and they’re not going anywhere else.
I can’t recall who said it, but I remember hearing somebody not too long ago say that Christianity is a team sport.
In an era when we’re dealing with an “epidemic of loneliness,” we need the church more than ever. In Sunday’s sermon, Kurt, our campus pastor, had different people around the room share 30-second testimonies about how the church has rallied around them.
One woman who is in chiropractic school talked about how church members dropped her daughter off at school and picked her up while her husband was deployed last year. Another woman talked about how a women’s small group bought school supplies and clothes for her kids while her husband was in jail — and Kurt baptized the husband on Sunday! Those are just two examples of how the community at Eastridge has rallied around members.
Kurt reminded us what the author of Hebrews wrote:
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:19-25 (ESV)
“God’s calling us into a life that’s active in our faith,” Kurt preached. “We need to help each other with them. Let’s spur each other on.”
Related: Sunday Thoughts: There Are No ‘Lone Wolves’ in the Body of Christ
He pointed out that the word “together” in verse 25 is the Greek word koinonia, which means “fellowship.”
“It means togetherness; it actually is communion,” Kurt said. “We have [something that goes] deeper than even communities; we’re doing life together. What he’s saying is don’t give up doing life together with each other. If you don’t have a tribe of people that you’re doing life together, I’m telling you, you’re missing out.”
The encouragement that came with the idea of having a tribe is being involved with a local church family for a weekend service but also plugging into small groups, Bible studies, and ministry teams. Our koinonia goes deeper than Sunday mornings and extends to Christian community throughout the week.
Kurt added that Jesus has given us together as the church access to the holy places that were once only the domain of the high priests of the old covenant. He used the images of the temple under that covenant to show that all of us believers have access to God without having to go through an intermediary.
The community of the church is so important that Jesus prayed for us believers just before he went to the cross. He prayed “that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21, ESV).
In the book of Nehemiah, when the Israelites back from exile finished repairing the walls of Jerusalem, the entire nation gathered in one community, or as Nehemiah 8:1 puts it, “as one man,” to read the Word of God together. The leaders declared it a holy day of celebration.
If we’re tied in with a community of faithful, Bible-believing Christians, we’re never alone. My church family has rallied around my blood family time and time again. When my grandmother died in 2011 and when my grandfather died in 2016, the church was there for us. When my brother had his kidney transplant in 2018, our church family surrounded us with love, encouragement, and prayer. And when my dad died in 2020, even though we were locked down in the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the church supported us in unique and heartwarming ways.
“Share your burdens with your brothers and sisters in Christ,” writes Christina R. Fox. “Rely on their prayers, receive their acts of service, and rejoice when they preach the gospel to you. For in Christ you are united to them as one.”
If you’re not plugged into a Bible-believing community of fellow Christians, take that step this week. My prayer for and encouragement to you is that you can find a church family to be your “tribe.”
Here’s Kurt’s sermon in its entirety (the 30-second testimonies I cited are from a different service):