It took me about 16 years after God first saved me to start understanding the importance of true, godly fellowship.
Growing up, I would usually have a couple of close friends at any given time; I was never popular. And that has not changed by very much. My fellow friends would sometimes be Christians, and others of them would be kids in a Christian school who may be saved and may be not.
What did we talk about? Usually stupid, boyish things. (Let young boys be interested in the things of young boys; at their age, they should be protecting forts and fighting dragons - not trying to get a girlfriend.) In elementary school, it was the Pretend World. Some of my classmates had imaginary friends; I had a whole world of imaginary friends and only a couple of real friends. We would talk about Lego sets, computer games that have become a footnote in video game history by now, that kind of stuff. I was very self-centered at that point in my life. Only a couple other boys ever got through to me spiritually on anything, although I had been saved in first grade and had memorized a lot of Bible verses.
In junior high and high school, I would spend most of my time with other Christian boys who would allow me to constantly talk about girls, music, and sports with them. There was huge potential for edification there, but I missed out on a lot of it. Study hall at my homeschool group was where I first heard about predestination, the doctrine that God determined the fate of the universe and everyone in it (including exactly who would be saved) before creation. When I heard of it there, it was like a faint murmur compared to conversing about sports and games and listening to guitars and pennywhistles. But now that I have read of this doctrine for myself, I consider it very true and beautiful.
In college, topics of conversation took a hard turn towards my studies, since I spent most of my time and lost a lot of sleep trying to stay afloat in computer science classes at my college. I was in a great Bible study there for 3 1/2 years and learned quite a bit. Maybe fellowship with other believers was starting to become more centered on spiritual topics. But mostly I remember getting a whole lot of questions with identical words: "How's school?". I learned to dislike this question after a while and prefer to spend time with people who actually wanted to know me and the stuff that I liked doing. And mostly, the folks I actually knew were people with whom I could talk about sports, at least to some level.
-----
All told, I thought that spiritual things were best left for church and Sunday school. But then something funny happened on the way to the small group: the guys in my group who were big sports fans moved to other parts of the country. God really got my attention with that, because for a while I was wondering, "What am I going to talk about with these guys?" Then, when some new guys who didn't like the same sports that I did moved in and started going to our group, it struck me: I am a child of God; they are children of God. Talk about God with them. Discuss what we are reading in Scripture; edify each other in sound doctrine; grow in the grace and in knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ!
So, go to Scripture and realize how it defines godly fellowship. It does not use the phrase "godly fellowship", so you will have to dig for it. But godly fellowship is not "self-centered"; it is not "hobbies-centered"; it is not "other people-centered"; it is God-centered. There is nothing in the Bible that says, "Thou shalt never talk sports with another Christian man." But fellowship with believers that does not give any place to God is not godly and does not take advantage of one of God's gifts to us in the Christian life: other believers who will bring us along, build us up, and keep our focus set on Christ - not on the things of this world.
-----
"We are a forgetful people. One of the reasons why we must have sound Bible study, one of the reasons why we must read good books, one of the reasons why we must enter into true Christian fellowship in a church that consists of people dedicated to the things of Christ is that we must constantly be reminded. We must be like iron sharpening iron. We must constantly push one another!
"Now, Christian, let me ask you a question. How many times in all your fellowships do you talk more about sports after the church than how does that sermon apply to your life? I know part of going to church - a big part of it for me - is what happens afterwards. I'll be honest with you. I love my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I just love to talk with them about all sorts of things. But look at what we're doing! We're going to church, going to meetings like this; and as soon as it's over, we're talking about every manner of thing. You should be talking about what you heard. You should be applying it. You should be sharpening one another. You should be calling one another on the telephone. You should be talking much about the Word that was given! You should be sharing Scripture with one another! You should be constantly prescribing these things.
“The only malady that the Christian has is his forgetfulness of the goodness of God and the duties that have been laid at his feet! So it must be constantly prescribed to him, and re-prescribed to him; we must constantly be telling one another these things! That's what a body is for. That's what a church is for."
- Paul Washer, “Things Applicable for God’s Servants”.
-----
"This is the Lord's way of delivering those who keep his word: thus He shuts them away from the temptation that comes upon others. He seems to say, 'Dear child, since you will not go beyond my written word, you shall not be tempted to go beyond it. I will cause the enemies of the truth to leave you alone. You shall be offensive to them, or they to you, and you shall soon part company.'
"Remember how Mr. [John] Bunyan pictures it [in The Pilgrim’s Progress]. When Talkative came up to gossip with Christian and Hopeful, he chattered away upon all sorts of topics, and they were wearied with him. To get rid of him, Christian said to Hopeful, "Now we will talk a little about experimental godliness;" and when they began to speak about what they had tasted and handled of divine truth, Mr. Chatterbox dropped behind. He did not like spiritual conversation, neither do any of the breed. The holy pilgrims were not so rude as to tell him to go; they only talked about heavenly things, which he did not understand, and he went of his own accord. I believe that result is sure to follow holy conversation and sound preaching."
- Charles Spurgeon; posted on Pyromaniacs.
No comments:
Post a Comment