Last week we studied the three verses in the Gospel of John of Jesus’ command to “Love one another”.
- John 13:34-35, 34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
- John 15:12, My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you
- John 15:17, This is my command: Love each other.
We studied the point that fulfilling this command is not natural for most Christians, and that at least fifteen times by three different writers of the epistles, Christians are reminded to obey this commandment and are encouraged on how to exemplify and or how to live out loving each other.
Today among Christians there is a growing belief and trend, that it is not necessary to regularly attend church services, and or be committed to a church congregation. The Barna Group states it this way, “…those who self-identify as Christian and who strongly agree that their religious faith is very important in their life, but are “dechurched”—that is, they have attended church in the past, but haven’t done so in the last six months (or more). These individuals have a sincere faith (89% have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important to their life today), but are notably absent from church.”
My concern as a pastor is, if being “dechurched” is a trend in a Christian’s life, it will almost be impossible to fulfill Jesus’ command to “Love each other”. Yes, these Christians probably do love God, but doesn’t Jesus tell us, “If you love me, you will obey what I command.” John 14:15.
It is so very important to realize that there are Christians who have conflicts with their work hours and would faithfully attend church if they could. There are also those who physically cannot attend services for one reason or another who would regularly attend church services if they could.
The Bible teaches us that loving each other is much more than regularly attending weekly church services and Bible studies. Loving each other happens inside the church building and outside the church building. However, it is impossible to “Love each other” by yourself when you do not have contact with other Christians on a regular basis in a formal setting such as in a weekly service or in a Bible study.
Hebrews 10:25a tells us the following, “Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing…”. From this verse, it is clear that Christians over two thousand years ago got into the “habit” of not regularly attending Church services, which is no different from what is happening in many Christian’s lives today.
Habit – “Practice – denotes a customary, often chosen pattern of individual or group behavior.”
The writer of Hebrews in that same verse (Hebrews 10:25b) continues to tell us to, “…let us encourage one another — and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” If I have the “habit” or the regular practice of not regularly attending Church services, I would be limiting the opportunity to be encouraged by other Christians or to be an encouragement to others.
To fulfill or live out Jesus’ new commandment to “Love one another” in the multiple ways we studied in (note the verses below) last week’s sermon, we must regularly fellowship with other Christians.
- Romans 13:8, Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.
- Ephesians 4:2 Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.
- 1 Peter 1:22, Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.
- 1 Peter 3:8, Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble.
Loving one another is not the only way we are to interact and have fellowship with other Christians. Just doing a simple word search in a New Testament commentary of the phrases, “one another” and “each other”, we will clearly see how important it is to fellowship with other Christians. The following verses are just a few examples of which is impossible to be experienced or expressed by ourselves, or as a Christian who got into the “habit” of not regularly attending Church services.
- Romans 12:16, Live in harmony with one another.
- 1 Corinthians 16:20, Greet one another with a holy kiss.
- Ephesians 4:32, Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.
- Ephesians 5:21, Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.
- Colossians 3:16, Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom,
- 1 Thessalonians 5:11, Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
The Barna Group in their study also makes the vital point and asks the Church a crucial question that we must also seek to answer.
“The critical message that churches need to offer this group (the dechurched) is a reason for churches to exist at all. What is it that the church can offer their faith that they can’t get on their own? Churches need to be able to say to these people—and to answer for themselves—that there is a unique way you can find God only in church. And that faith does not survive or thrive in solitude.”
“But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” Hebrews 3:13
If the church, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and with as many means of commination available as it has at its disposal, does what the writer of Hebrews tells us “encourage one another daily”, how many more Christians would prefer to live out their relationship with Christ regularly with the family of believers than by themselves?
Pastor John
