“As soon as I have delivered this money and completed this good deed of theirs, I will come to see you on my way to Spain. And I am sure that when I come, Christ will richly bless our time together.”
Romans 15:28-29 NLT
Paul was looking forward to meeting with the believers in Rome and sharing a time of rich blessings. And not just a normal fellowship time, but one which would be “richly bless[ed]” by Christ. There is something special that will happen when Christians meet together. The common belief and faith in God draws Christians from all walks of life, even different ethnicities, together in a rich fellowship. It’s because God, through His grace and mercy, has forgiven us for all our sins. The coming together as believers is a foretaste of what will happen one day when we are all in Heaven. Joined together in perfect fellowship, as we all worship God together.
Gavin Calver, the CEO of the Evangelical Alliance, shared recently that he and 22 of his fellow church members went for a Men’s curry night earlier this year. The owner of the restaurant was intrigued, because there were 15 different nationalities and an age range from 16 to 80 represented in the group. He concluded that they must all be Christians because there was no other organisation that could unite such a diverse group of men. Christians, when they fellowship together, are immediately noticed. And if Christ is in the midst there is no stopping the impact it will have on the world around us.
How do we pilgrims feel when we are around other Christians? Is it something we look forward to, or is it a chore that we have to endure? This is where the “one another’s” comes into play. We read in Romans 12:10 (AMP), “Be devoted to one another with [authentic] brotherly affection [as members of one family], give preference to one another in honour“. Sometimes we find it difficult to work this out in practice, particularly if there is a person we cannot stand. But often God takes us into situations where He is wearing away the rough edges and prejudices that we carry with us, preparing us for the life to come. We read in 1 Peter 2:5, “And you are living stones that God is building into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are his holy priests. Through the mediation of Jesus Christ, you offer spiritual sacrifices that please God“. We have to remember that the analogy Peter used about being built as living stones in a temple is very apt and accurate. We are not bricks, factory produced and all exactly the same. We are unique and individual “stones” and to enable us to fit to the next “stone”, some rough edges might have to be chipped away. Of course we would much prefer God to use His hammer and chisel on the next “stone” but most of the time we discover that it is in fact our rough edges that he removes.
So rather than shy away from others in our churches, we should seek out the “one another’s”, always looking for opportunities for fellowship. And by doing so we will indeed find the rich blessings that Paul wrote about.
Dear Father God. In Your master plan, You are building is into a spiritual temple to Your glory. Rather than fight it, please help us to submit to Your loving reshaping. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
Being a Pilgrim 