My dear readers,

What Might Happen When We Do Not Fellowship?

Hebrews 10:23-25: “Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

 The desire to assemble together is strong in most of us who are God’s children ever since the circuit breaker came into operation. Mankind made in God's image have this innate propensity to socialize. For Christians, it is more so because we are commanded to assemble. When we assemble together biblically, God calls it “fellowship”. Christian fellowship has an impact that has benefits beyond measure. The benefits are not material but completely spiritual. These past few weeks have made Christian fellowship a near impossibility outside of face-time through the internet. The mandatory stay-home order is not a negotiable one. Those who break it have been fined and can even be jailed. This “circuit breaker law” must be observed for our own protection and that of others as well. This is a time of unprecedented trial for all of us especially when it comes to Christian fellowship. What might happen to a Christian if he lacks fellowship? The text that teaches the potential pitfalls of having no Christian fellowship is Hebrews 10:23-25.

Might weaken the holding fast of faith: Hebrews 10:23-25 is to be understood as one unit. The believer is strongly encouraged to hold fast, i.e. take possession of the profession of his faith. Note that God says “the profession of our faith” and not just “our faith”. If we say we are Christians then we must take possession of that proclamation, for the reputation of Christ is now on the line. If we do not take possession but live in sin and carnality, then the Name of Christ will be maligned, and sinners and other believers will be badly stumbled. Christ is faithful to keep His promise. In other words, He will do His part in ensuring that all believers will not be tempted above that which they are able to bear; but they must trust Him to be victorious. Christ is faithful and has promised that once a sinner is born again in Christ he becomes a child of God. That Father-child relationship cannot be broken forever as nothing can ever separate him from God in Christ!

However, Hebrews 10:23a speaks of human responsibility whereby a person who has confessed that he is a believer will want to ensure that he does not shame the Name of Christ by living in sin and carnality. He will desire to live in holiness. How can a truly born-again child of God desire to hold on to sin knowing that it cost his Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ’s life-blood to wash him as white as snow? Furthermore, he has the indwelling of the Holy Spirit to convict him and he will have no peace in his heart when he holds on to sin. For these reasons, he should greatly desire to repent and seek God’s forgiveness in Christ. Christian fellowship will be the added blessing that will encourage him to do so. The reason is that through Christian fellowship he will realize that all believers are in the “same boat” of holiness, struggling with God's help to get rid of sin. Pride often stands in the way because we think that we need to present a facade of holiness and we think we are the only ones who struggle with sin. That is not true. Christian fellowship helps all believers to share their struggles. This desire to hold fast and struggle against sin is a lifetime experience that stretches from the day of salvation to going home in glory. Christian fellowship is a blessing that enables us to hold on to our faith through all the different phases of life. 

Unable to provoke unto love and good works: The primary purpose of Christian fellowship is to provoke, i.e. to exasperate a person. In other words, we mutually keep on poking until there is a reaction. In this context, it is to exasperate fellow believers to love and to do good works. The love here is “agape love”. When believers are so affected by the world that they become carnal and worldly, their love for the Lord is “asleep” or has grown cold. Their love for the world has dominated their love for Christ. Fellow believers through Christian fellowship are to stir up this love of Christ and bring it back to the forefront of the believer’s life so that the love of the world is pushed out of his heart! With this love restored in his heart then he will begin to do good works again, i.e. his life will now be able to point others to Christ once more. The “good works” here focus on works of intrinsic goodness, i.e. more spiritually than physically beneficial. There must be the right motive of love for Christ behind the good works rather than the good works per se. This means that a believer could be “doing” external good works like giving to the poor or visiting the sick or even going to church and giving of his tithe and offering regularly, but his heart may be far from the Lord and he is doing them for the wrong reasons. Fellow believers can help him to come back to the right path.

Christian fellowship is a mutual blessing experience. Just as a Christian can help other believers to come back to the Lord, they in turn can do the same for him when he is down and needs to be reminded of his love for Christ. This is not an unconscious desire or act but a conscious one. That is why the Bible says “let us consider”, i.e. “let us exercise the mind fully.” The believer has to realize and understand the great reciprocal blessing that comes with Christian fellowship. This verse of course was written before the invention of modern technology like Whatsapp and “face time” where we can still see each other even though separated by distance. But face to face is what Christian fellowship means. Of course more than just meeting face to face, we are to provoke one another to love the Lord and keep on doing good works with this love. Without Christian fellowship, this is not possible.

Unable to mutually exhort: These two verses emphasize the above point. When believers forsake the assembling of themselves together the above blessings will be forfeited. The lack of Christian fellowship can become a bad habit that a believer can get used to. The first time he stays away it might evoke a strange feeling as the Spirit of God in him would convict him. But after a longer absence of Christian fellowship he will get used to not needing it. Once it sets in and becomes a habit (albeit a bad habit) it will be doubly hard to compel him to return and have Christian fellowship again. The grip of carnality has gotten hold of his heart and he might not even be aware of his own carnality because he believes that all is well in his soul and he has already gone back to the world and become like the world! That is the meaning of the phrase “as the manner of some is.”

Believers need to beware of this pitfall that can subtly creep into every believer’s life. That is why backsliding is often the result when a person begins to withdraw from Christian fellowship. He stops attending worship, prayer meetings and then the ministries in the church. Instead God says he needs to “exhort”, i.e. draw himself near to others and experience the reciprocal blessings that Christian fellowship brings. This is urgent as he sees the day of the Lord fast approaching whereby he has to meet his Lord Jesus Christ and give an account to Him for how he has professed his Name! If it is not in holiness, he has much to answer to the Lord for! If it is in holiness, he must persevere on and his Lord will be pleased with his witness when He returns. 

Conclusion: The above are potential pitfalls that can happen when Christian fellowship is absent in our lives. Obviously the context is of believers who wilfully do not want to have Christian fellowship. It is not in the context of believers who cannot have Christian fellowship because of reasons beyond their control such as imprisonment or sickness or overseas travel or a circuit breaker. There were believers in the Bible who desired to have fellowship but were unable to, like when the Apostle Paul was in prison. But they would draw closer to the LORD due to this lack. All who profess to be believers ought to make Christian fellowship their conscious desire as it will help them as well as enable them to help other believers become better witnesses for Christ in these last days. May God keep us in His love and abiding care as we see the day of the LORD fast approaching. Amen.