"So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing." (1 Thess. 5:11)
I love the idea in the bible of walking with Christ. Here is just a little sampling from the Bible:
- Genesis 5:24: "...and Enoch walked with God..."
- Ps. 26:3: "...I have walked in Your Truth."
- Psalm 116:9: I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living."
- Galatians 5:25: "If we live by the Spirit, let us walk by the Spirit."
- Colossians 2:6: "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him"
The main way we walk with God is in daily fellowship with the Word. A Christian who does not walk with God daily in the Word is like a person who forgets to open his eyes while hiking. That person will eventually stumble and miss out on the beauty that God has in store for them on their journey. What I have in mind here is not just a personal walk but a weekly walk of studying the bible with others. This is something that the early church throughout the book of Acts and the New Testament devoted themselves to: regular study of God's Word TOGETHER. One of the great things about going on walks with my wife is that we get to do it TOGETHER. We can talk and connect in ways that we so easily forget to do otherwise. I believe the church today has many professing Christians who are not doing the walk together on a weekly basis. They are not studying the word together in the context of a small group and as a result they are stumbling and fumbling around when they could be built and lifted up by others. I believe that even though a person can sit in a pew with someone on a regular basis in church, they can easily be disconnected and isolated from each other. Far too many marriages are failing, families are being destroyed, believers are backsliding, and churches are disconnected because Satan has figured out how to get us from walking in the Word TOGETHER. I believe that bible study is something that a believer should do every day with the Lord but I also believe it is something we should do with each other on a weekly basis. It has been my experience that studying the Word together in a small group of believers on a weekly basis greatly encourages my heart to keep going after Christ and not quit or give up. All studies indicate that a person who joins a church and does not get consistently involved in weekly small group will eventually quit going to that church because they never got connected to each other outside of a regular service. Sadly, I have seen this happen in a church way too often. A person walks an aisle, says a prayer, and joins the church and never attends a small group or Sunday school class. The next thing you know they are complaining about how they "don't feel loved" or "connected" to anyone in the church and they leave never to return. They will pass the blame on to others instead of taking responsibility for themselves. They had the opportunity to go on a hike with others but they decided they would go it alone or they only show up once in a blue moon even after many invitations. Even if they go on the hike they keep to themselves and don't open up. I have been in ministry long enough to know that these people are only fooling themselves and it won't be long until they give up the walk completely.
So let me give you five practical reasons this weekly walk with a small group is so important:
1) Accountability
When I attend a small group Bible study it keeps me accountable.I am being held accountable to not just attend church but to invest time and effort in the Word of God and buidling relationships with others. I know from my experience in the Army with road marches that the hardest leg of the journey in not the beginning but the end. It's when you have already been hiking for some time that you feel like giving up and qutting the march altogether. What keeps me steadfast to finish the walk? It is the encouragement of the one in front and the one behind me that says, "Keep going! Don't stop now!" It's the person behind me who comes along and helps me get back up on my feet when I feel like cowering to the ground in pain and exhaustion. It keeps me accountable. "We started together and we will finish together!"
2) Building
When I attend a small group Bible study on a consistent basis it helps in the buidling up of my soul. There is just something encouraging about being around a group of people who have learned to never say "no" to God even in the midst of great trial and difficulty. We all have people in our lives that can tear us down and put us down wouldn't you agree? Where I thrive as a believer is being around other people who lift me up, believe in me, and God's best for my life. They have been through the trial and they want me to make it through the trial as well. As we study the Word together "iron sharpens iron" and we are built up to withstand the storms and trials of life TOGETHER. The old saying is true: Together we stand, divided we fall.
3) Learning
Sometimes when I study the Bible for myself I have difficulty taking what I just read and applying it directly to my life. If not careful, I can also only see one side of the truth I am reading and studying. When I get around others I can bounce the bible off of them and get their feed back. I can learn some things that someone else has already learned and it can help expand my understanding of God's Word. It's often seeing and hearing how others have downloaded a truth into their life which helps me apply it to my life. The proclaimation of God's Word to each other helps me preach and teach God's Word to myself.
4) Staying Power
I can dehydrated on a hike pretty quick if I am not careful. I need to make sure I stay fueled up if I am going to finish the hike. When I get around a group of people that are fired up about God's Word and as a result the Lord is infusing that group with the Holy Spirit, it gives me staying power. Here is a group of people who have gone through the fire together and are still fired up and not giving up. They have staying power because God's Spirit is giving them the fuel they need through the Word to "keep on keepin' on." All of that can be used to help me put the fuel in my tank to keep on going and it can be a tremendous motivator to keep tapping into the same energy source as the rest of the group.
5) Protection
When I go it alone on a hike it can be a dangerous thing especially if I am not aware of all the particular dangers on a given trail. When I learn from someone else who has been on the trail and who knows to what watch out for, that helps protect me from those dangers. When I get into a small group on a weekly basis it helps to protect me from the dangers of isolation, attack, and the pitfalls of Christian living. The Christian walk was never met to be done alone because Satan is not working alone and he wants to bring every danger he and his fellow snakes can bring together against me. Bottom line: Their is strength in numbers when you walk into an unknown and dangerous area and watch out for one another.
So there are five practical reasons to get in a small group on a weekly basis. At our church the commitment looks like this: I will committ to a weekly walk in small group without inconsistency.
Will you make that same committment right now? If you do, it will help keep you from isolation and push you towards deeper devotion to God's word and God's family. It's a choice you can make every week even if you don't feel like it, so choose today!
For the Fame of His Name,
Pastor Ryan
