Good Morning!
Twice a month I have the honor of posting two essays like this one on a minister’s blog called Seventeen82. Those of you on Facebook or Twitter have probably seen them fairly regularly. It is nice to have a collaborative place where ministers in our denomination can write on a all numbers of different themes and provide a healthy buffet of challenges, devotions, and helpful theological arguments that cause us to reevaluate beliefs and maybe even make some changes as needed. Earlier in December I wrote on the subject of how to minister to shut-ins and others who either may be homebound or just do not have the family nearby that so many of us are blessed with here at Bethany. The crux of my post was simple. Just go do it. You don’t a program or a 10-step procedural guide. Go ask what they need and spend time with them.
Personal interactions are the lifeblood of the church. As I said in the Sabbath School lesson from Mark 4 last Sunday morning it’s hard for a preacher to know what to preach if he ain’t visiting his people, and the same can be said for members of the body. How can we pray for our spiritual brothers or sisters in Christ if we have no real relationship with them? I mean I know you see each other for a brief flash on the Lord’s Day, but how much do you check in with non-blood relative members of the church on a regular basis? This kind of stuff isn’t hard. Yet we make it hard because we allow things to gum up the works. We claim we don’t have time, or remember a slight that person did to us many moons ago and allow that type of thing to hold us back from doing our Christian duty to one another. To be honest there may not even be a reason. You might be an introvert and just don’t like being nosy. However, there is not really an option in the Christian life when it comes to caring for one another. It is a command, not part of the Believer’s value menu where certain activities can be paired for a less costly price. Momentum is a hard thing to get going, but when we do get it going we find the actual activity to not be as difficult as we had built up in our mind. It is easier than ever to send a text, facetime, snapchat, message, or heck even send a snail mail letter to that person you see across the sanctuary that you don’t get to talk to very often because you leave from different doors and park on different sides of the building. Again, just do it. You and whoever you send a note to to will be glad you did.
In the second half of today’s prayer and worship help we’re going to look at a Scripture lesson to assist us to get motivated to start fellowshipping more. The first one may be an obvious one, but things are obvious for a reason. Because they are obvious. In John 13 we have Jesus Christ preparing His disciples for the Cross and all the events that will happen in the meantime. After Supper was over and they were kind of sitting around letting their food digest our Lord gets everything together to start washing the disciples feet. As you know Peter kind of recoils from it at first, seemingly out of humility, yet we see pretty clearly that it is not a knowledgeable kind of thing, as Peter does what he normally does and gets his cart before the horse. Jesus makes it clear to him that this act is one of service, a way of reminding them that His work at Cavalry was going to make them clean, not in a fleshly sense, but in a spiritual one. The salvation purchased by our Lord Christ on Golgotha was a complete one, not a partial one where the recipients would have to finish the job after Jesus got it going. How this applies to fellowship is made clear at the end of the passage. In v.12-17 He makes application to the example He has shown. If we are going to serve one another then we must be willing to wash one another’s feet. That doesn’t necessarily mean (though in certain circumstances it could) we literally bathe each other. What it does get at is that while we are pure in the eyes of the Father because of the sacrifice of the Son we are still going to be at need of sanctification in this life. Part of how we get clean in that sense is by having brothers and sisters in Christ washing our feet, humbling themselves to help us when we wallow in the mire of sin and misery, not with the judgment of Pharisaical jerks, but as those willing to take off their own clean garments and get dirty for the sake of the blessing of a fellow believer in Jesus. That’s the kind of fellowship we need and cannot live without.
One of the things that can hold us back from getting dirty with one another is that we have a tendency to think everything has to be organized. Most of the time real fellowship happens on accident (not that I am denying God’s providence). It begins with just saying hi, then leads to a conversation, and next thing you know you are having each other over for supper and sharing prayer requests and struggles, etc... We need to be more open, more willing to be honest and real with those called to love us. We also need to think about how busy we are. Are our times and opportunities for comradery in the Church hampered and choked by our schedules? Let me make a suggestion. Those things that we think are important often aren’t. That thing we think we need to do can be put off. Gaining a closer relationship with those you are fighting the fight of faith with is about the most vital thing in the world for your soul, your countenance, and your strength.
We can’t love our Savior if we don’t love His bride. Just do it. Call/Text someone today.
Here is a bit to read on this today:
https://www.monergism.com/lord-are-you-going-wash-my-feet-john-136-15
Have a great day!
Blessings in Christ,
Rev. Benjamin Glaser
Pastor, Bethany ARP Church