We place a great emphasis on the gathering together of the saints. We stress the importance of joyful family bonds, and labor to cultivate a robust community of Christians who are in fellowship with God and each other. In part, this is corrective to the foul wind of individualism that lays heavy like smog above our culture.
Some have recommended that the term interdividuals would be preferable to individuals, and that is a good instinct. We ought to recognize that we are one body with many members. The gross error of our age is the conviction that you are an individual in isolated & sovereign authority over yourself with no reference to others. But that’s just not how God made the world. He made us intricately connected to a whole hierarchy of relational loves and duties.
That said, we must not overlook the need for individual reflection. Are you heading in this particular direction of reformed evangelicalism simply because you are around other saints who are? Just because the saints around you are rejoicing in the things of Lord does not mean that you hold all these things dear and precious yourself.
Proximity to Christ & His Church is not where salvation is found. Dwelling in Christ by faith is your only hope of salvation. The fellowship of the saints is a great boon to our faith, but God calls to us individually to lay hold of Christ. Not because the person next to you is, but because you have seen in Him the sum of all glory, the precious pearl, the brightness of the Father’s radiance.
The bread & wine on the table is a meal for God’s family. But each member must lay hold of and apprehend Christ individually. Here is Christ, given for you. Yes, every last one of you.
So come in faith and welcome to Jesus Christ…
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