You are not alone

God did not save you to walk this life alone.

You may be the only Christian in your family, your marriage, your friendship group, your office, your school. But hear this. You are not alone!

When God saves us, he puts us into a family. The Church family. The men and women who stand around you on a Sunday are no longer strangers, or acquaintances, but brothers and sisters in Christ. God has given us these people to help us live for him!

I need my Church family, and they need me. It is only together that we will all be able to grow, mature and flourish in the Christian life.

But why do we need each other? Here are three reasons but there are many more…

Because we need to preach the gospel to one another. Somedays I am doing well as a Christian, and somedays I’m not. On the days I am struggling to follow Jesus I may be battling with sin or overwhelmed with shame. In those moments I need a Christian friend to tell me that God loves me, he sent his son to die to save me, and that all my sin is dealt with on the cross.  It is only this news which can liberate me and keep me going.

Because we need to encourage each other. The Christian life is not an easy one. There will be people all around us who will tell us to stop following Jesus. It can be hard to keep going when theirs is the only voice we hear. Also, Jesus tells us to deny ourselves, carry our cross and follow him. That sounds like the opposite of easy. So, we need to meet and encourage one another. We need to spur each other on. We need to be each other’s cheerleaders.

Because we need each other to fulfil our purpose.  Hear these words from Ephesians 2:19-22:

Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.

Do you hear those words? Every Christian is a brick, and together we become a structure, and that structure is a temple! And who is going to live there? GOD!!! This is our purpose. To become the dwelling place for God. I can’t do that alone. I need you and you need me. We need each other to fulfil this God given purpose and be the men and women God has called us to be.

God has given you the Church, and he has given you to the Church. You need Christian friends, and they need you. You need people who will preach the gospel to you, be your cheerleader in the race of faith, and be part of the temple with you. In the same way they need you. They need you to preach the gospel to them, they need you to cheer them on, and they need you to be a part of the temple of God. So can I encourage you to get involved in Church! Be there on Sunday, get stuck in during the week, build friendships. It is worth it!