With a Little Help from My Friends

This morning I admitted to my wife and youngest son a startling truth. I swallowed my pride and admitted that when I play a video game with my son, I can do better than if I play by myself. The video game that the two of us are now addicted to, thanks to a pastor friend of mine who will remain nameless, is a Hunger Games style game. It is a game where you run around picking up weapons and supplies and try to be the last man standing. You can play it solo or you can team up with others. My son and I found out the awesome advantage we have over other teams when we sit in the same room and play as a team. We regularly place in the top 5, even winning a few times, and have had some real fun playing together. I've noticed that when I play the game solo, that even though I've won a few times, I'm consistently placing in the top 5-10. Talk about taking a hit to your ego! It seems like if I want any hopes of winning this game on a regular basis, then I need to make sure my 12 year old is playing with me.

As I ruminated on this pride killing realization this morning, I realized that this video game had taught me more than I could have imagined. This fact of being able to accomplish more in a video game with my son's help correlates to the way God designed the church. From time to time I will hear the biblically inaccurate comment made by a person saying "I don't have to go to church to worship God." Although on some level that is true. We don't have to be in church to worship God. God is worshiped "in the Spirit and in truth" (John 14:23-24), but God also designed believers to thrive in community. We thrive best and grow spiritually more mature when we are plugged in and active in a local body of believers. This means being involved in the ministries and missions of the church, not simply taking up space on a pew. It means participating in Bible studies that will help you grow in your knowledge of Christ and your faith (Ephesians 4). It means being in relationships with other believers you can rely on and who can rely on you for support during good times and difficult times. To borrow from an old adage, when you disconnect yourself from the local church you are "cutting of your nose to spite your face." As challenging as it can be at times to live and fellowship in a community of faith with other believers, the pros of fellowship in the church far out way all the cons of life outside the church. If you want to grow to a place of spiritual maturity as God intended you to do, then the best place for this to happen is as an active part of the local church. If you are a believer and you aren't actively plugged into a church, then make the commitment to get plugged in this weekend.

I'll leave you with this illustration that is credited to the author and preacher Dr. John MacArthur.

A member of a certain church, who previously had been attending services regularly, stopped going. After a few weeks, the pastor decided to visit him. It was a chilly evening. The pastor found the man at home alone, sitting before a blazing fire. Guessing the reason for his pastor's visit, the man welcomed him, led him to a big chair near the fireplace and waited. The pastor made himself comfortable but said nothing. In the grave silence, he contemplated the play of the flames around the burning logs. After some minutes, the pastor took the fire tongs, carefully picked up a brightly burning ember and placed it to one side of the hearth all alone. Then he sat back in his chair, still silent. The host watched all this in quiet fascination. As the one lone ember's flame diminished, there was a momentary glow and then its fire was no more. Soon it was cold and "dead as a doornail." Not a word had been spoken since the initial greeting. Just before the pastor was ready to leave, he picked up the cold, dead ember and placed it back in the middle of the fire. Immediately it began to glow once more with the light and warmth of the burning coals around it. As the pastor reached the door to leave, his host said, "Thank you so much for your visit and especially for the fiery sermon. I will be back in church next Sunday."


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