07/12/2018
Are you a loner in your faith? Do you feel like you can take the Bible and journey to a mountaintop on your own without regard for the Church or the body of Christendom? Do you look at bible characters such as Elijah the prophet who was sent to the mountain to wait in a cave for the Lord God to appear and say “this is me! I am meant to be alone!”; do you think that is what Jesus did? Well if so, you had better rethink your position of faith, and your approach to religion. We are all meant to be one, just as God calls us to believe as one, He then joins us to the body of faith to become one with it... one Church.
“There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”
Ephesians 4:4-6 ESV
Elijah was not a loner in his faith; he was sent to the mountaintop for a short time so that he could have a private audience with God, but once that was done he was sent back to do God’s will among the people... back to be rejoined with the Church as a whole. What happened to Elijah is similar to what we experience every day in our prayer closets around the world... just more dramatically. We too are sent back to rejoin our Church.
Elijah didn’t live his life in a cave away from all of the children of Abraham. He went to Jerusalem, made offerings, participated in Passovers, other feasts, and did all of those things that every Jew was expected to do; just like Jesus did, and just like we are expected to do. Yes our faith involves a personal decision, but it also brings us into the body of Christ.
“In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”
Ephesians 2:22 ESV
We are meant to live a dual, but closely joined, role in our faith; the first is to seek out our own salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), but the second is to be together with the rest of the body and bride of Christ. We have a personal relationship, and a common relationship, and they can’t be separated. If you are still having trouble with this then ask yourself “what good is a prophet alone? Who would hear his prophesy, and why would they pay any attention to him?” Prophets, even Old Testament prophets were not separate from the people of God, they were an integral part of Judaism, and the Church... and, whether you consider yourself a prophet or just alone in your faith, you should be as well. Alone you are a tiny outbuilding in the backyard... separate from the main house. Together you are sharing the table with all believers in the mansion of God.
During my walk of faith I have run into several who have claimed to be solitary in their walk with God, but to a person it became very evident that their separation really wasn’t true... they were deceiving themselves. Those I met who claimed to be loners were not entirely alone, but were like moths that swirled around the light of the Church. Some were angry about something that had happened at church, some were unable to convince those around them of a point, or points, of faith they had latched onto, and then there were some who wanted to be leaders but nobody in the established church followed them... so they took off to make their own church, their own religion. But in all cases they kept coming back to touch The Church, because they needed the unity, fellowship, and the acceptance. None of them ever truly walked alone into the desert and just lived there... never to be heard from again.
We need our personal faith, but in addition to that, we need our common faith. We need to be a part of that thing which God put under Jesus Christ. We need to feel the fullness coursing through us.
“And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.”
Ephesians 1:22-23 ESV
So we struggle, and seek out our faith with fear and trembling. We make personal mistakes, and common mistakes, but in either case we must reunite ourselves together with God; adhering once more to His will for us individually, and coming to do His will as a Church... a people. It is in this way that Jesus will claim us as His bride.
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.”
Ephesians 5:25-27 ESV
Are you washed clean with the Word? Have you joined together in a local church, and is it washed clean with the Word as well? Do you consider yourself apart, or joined together with The Church, The Bride? Just as in the beginning when Adam was not meant to be alone, neither are we in our faith, nor are our individual churches in themselves. Come out of the cave Elijah, and hear the small still voice... then do the will of God.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your Word that leads me as I seek out my faith as an individual, but much more as a member of The Church. I thank you Father for never allowing me to be alone, not alone without you, and not alone without other believers. Whenever I find myself in a position where I am by myself in my faith, help me Father to reconcile my position with your Word, and your will. When I am standing by myself help me to realize that this is unnatural, and lead me in your will to reunite with the body of faith. Keep me in Communion Father, and lead me to realize that I am a part of your body, and should not be working apart from it. Help me to see that an arm acting alone is useless to the rest of the body, and that too many breaths in a row will cause me to faint, and my body to fall. Show me Heavenly Father how I am to work in your will, and in unison, for the good of your Church. Lead me to join you, and your saints as your Word instructs. You are a Great God, and your Church the body of Christ. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you who takes the sinners we were and reconciles us with you, and the body of Christ... your Church.
Rich Forbes