Fellowship vs Companionship
Any time the subject ‘gathering together corporately’ comes up people will inevitably go to, “it’s not about attendance, it’s about the heart”, to which I would agree.
It is about a heart that sees obedience as optional (Jn 14:15). It is about a heart that sees every other activity as supreme, and gathering together as secondary (Lk 14:33). It’s about a heart that does not crave to be with others who are wholly committed to Christ (Heb 10:25). It’s about a heart that has no longing for the milk of the word of God (1 Pet 2:2-3), for the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (2 Thes 2:13, Eph 5:25-27), for the light of Christ and the gospel (Jn 3:19-21).
Christ died and became head of the church, the eklesia, the fellowship of believers. Paul describes each believer as a part of that body (Rom 12:4). An arm lifting high a stone that has fallen on a foot. A foot that runs fast away from a rabid animal attacking an arm. Each part lending their strengths, each being supported in their weaknesses, based on their gifting and design. Each working in concert with one another under the headship of Christ (Rom 12:5).
Now imagine an arm, a foot, a hand… severed from the body (Jn 15:6). They gather, but they gather as disconnected limbs separated from sustenance. A group of hands finding comfort in the sanctuary and company of other hands. Feet, with feet. Arms, with arms. They say, “we have fellowship!”, yes, but your fellowship is in rebellion. For you care not for the body. You care not to utilize your abilities in service to the body, in obedience to the head, but long merely for companionship. For true fellowship cannot exist where each part is not using their God gifted abilities in service to one another. These care merely for themselves.
So yes, you are 100% correct. It is about the heart.
The solution isn’t “I better show up to church”. The solution is to confess and repent of a heart that still seeks its own will and own desires over that of the Father’s.
Acts 2:42 (ESV) And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.
Hebrews 10:23-25 (ESV) 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Acts 20:7 (ESV) On the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul talked with them, intending to depart on the next day, and he prolonged his speech until midnight.
1 Corinthians 16:2 (ESV) On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
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