Eph 5:18-21 (ESV) And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.
God is in favor of interaction. In the passage above, He assumes we will interact with fellow believers. He, the one true God, even chooses to exist in three Persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God’s perfect order is for persons to commune with one other. We see this in creation:
Genesis 2:18 (ESV) Then the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him.
It’s not good for man, or woman, to be alone. We all have a need for the input of others.
The Greek word for Church, ekklesia, means “assembly” and is translated as such in Acts 19:32 when describing a confused mob:
Acts 19:32 (ESV) Now some cried out one thing, some another, for the assembly was in confusion, and most of them did not know why they had come together.
I’m not trying to compare the church with a confused mob, though sometimes . . . . I’m just pointing only to the fact ekklesia refers to a group of people. Jesus sees His church as one with Him. Like a true Bridegroom, He sees an attack on His church as a personal attack on Himself. We see this best when He speaks to Saul on the road to Damascus:
Acts 9:4-5 (ESV) And falling to the ground, he heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?” And he said, “Who are you, Lord?” And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.“
Notice Jesus said Paul was persecuting Him. Our communion with Jesus is such that Jesus sees any attacks on us as a personal attack on Him. We are His church, His bride.
The Bible uses other endearing words to describe us. We are God’s fellow workers, working beside Him to be used in His plan:
1 Cor. 3:8-9 (ESV) He who plants and he who waters are one, and each will receive his wages according to his labor. For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.
But at His resurrection, Jesus uses my favorite term for His disciples; He calls us His “brothers:”
John 20:17 (ESV) Jesus said to her, “Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ”
Why is this important?
Our God is a God of interaction with His people and expects interaction among His people. We are not to be lone Christians but are to be a part of a whole, the body of Christ.
All the communication devices we use today, often without thinking, also reduce our fellowship with others. Texting, emailing, social media don’t give us the same interaction as with personal one-on-one conversations.
If your Christian life does not include frequent interaction with other Christians, you are missing out and so are they. After Covid, many Christians stayed home and watched church services on television. Sadly, that habit became too hard to break. Many are still at home and missing out on the needed interaction with other believers. Their lives are not as full as God would like.
We’ve all heard, “I don’t need church. I like to commune with God in the great outdoors” and similar “reasons” to not join others in God’s assembly. God didn’t design the church for loners. We are important to one another. For more on this, see our blog on the church.
Believers Armed and Dangerous 