Putting God's Word into Practice

I have never been alive during a global pandemic before, and the impact on church gatherings has been felt.  When businesses and churches were locked down in Sydney for months last year it prompted us to begin live-streaming Sunday sermons.  As restrictions eased I entered discussions if we should continue live-streaming or if it encouraged people who were permitted to worship with a body of believers (with restrictions) to stay isolated in the comfort of their homes.  In the end it was decided any means of sharing the word of God and the Gospel was more profitable than seeking to exert control over the decisions of others.  Each one of us will give an account of himself before God, and to leave matters in His hands is best.

My experience largely lines up with people from other church fellowships I have spoken to, that there are people who regularly attended church before the pandemic who have not made it back.  We have also seen new people visit and attend our fellowship when their churches were not yet meeting.  In a church that practices expository teaching through the Bible from the pulpit, it has occurred to me the emphasis on teaching might convey it is the primary need or means of being "in fellowship."  This, of course, it not true.  Genuine fellowship occurs between people and God when they are born again by faith in Jesus and are filled with the Holy Spirit.  Believers comprise the church of which Jesus is the Head, and we gather together in His name.  Regular gathering with other Christians is assumed in scripture, for over and over Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Corinth, "When you come together..." not "If you come together."

It is a real problem if people think teaching is all they need for fellowship and spiritual health, as if knowledge alone is enough.  A coach knows a lot about the sport he or she coaches, and they are coaching because for whatever reason they are no longer playing.  Knowing the truth doesn't mean we follow it ourselves.  I have spoken words of encouragement straight from the scripture to people who attended church who later attempted suicide.  This shows attending church, hearing and knowing the scriptures does not profit us unless we heed it!  James 1:22 guides us, "But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves."  There are a lot of deceived people in the world, and those who are born again (and not of this world) should take care we are not numbered among them.  Hearing and not putting into practice what we have heard leads to self-deception, and this warning is for believers to take to heart.

This is the key:  we must put into practice what God has said.  Professional athletes are not beyond practicing.  I daresay these who rise to the pinnacle of success in their sport often practice the most and best!  None of us needed to work to earn salvation, for it is a work accomplished by Jesus.  He invites us to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him, to be the servant of all as we follow His example.  This means to practice more than church attendance, reading the Bible or praying:  it means taking action afterward accordingly to what we hear at church, what we read and what God impresses on our hearts.  If God speaks encouragement, let us receive it.  Should He correct us, let us admit we have been wrong about that and seek to do right.  It is when we put faith in Christ into practice we finally begin to grow.