By Ken Benjamin, reprinted from the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.
…so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work and as you grow in the knowledge of God.
Colossians 1:10, NSRVue
It’s just possible that LICC’s emphasis on whole-life discipleship could be misinterpreted.
Given that we so strongly describe the missional opportunities the church has when we’re scattered out in the world, it’s conceivable we might be seen to be less positive about the times when the church is gathered together – in Sunday services and small groups.
Nothing could be further from the truth, as this five-part Word for the Week series will make clear. We’re part of the church when we’re gathered on Sunday and equally so when we’re scattered on Monday. They’re two sides of the same whole-life-discipleship coin. Our gathered times should equip us for our scattered times, whilst our scattered times should inform our gathered times.
There’s a clear warning in Hebrews 10:25 not to lose the habit of meeting together, and we see a clear assumption and pattern of believers gathering together throughout the New Testament. All the letters to churches, for example, assume a gathering. After all, that’s how the handwritten letters could be read out loud to all – probably on multiple occasions, picking up different lessons and applications each time.
Throughout the letter to the Christians at Colossae, these lessons include the repeated phrase “so that…” The words “so that” summarize the intent of the letter – and our purpose in life as Paul sees it. Today’s example states, “so that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, as you bear fruit in every good work.”
In other words, this prayer from Paul, to be read to a gathered church community, is that wherever your feet take you when you scatter, you would live fruitfully for God. And this scattered church context is further emphasized in the description of where we should be fruitful. We should bear fruit in every good work – referring to every action or labor we find ourselves tasked with, paid or unpaid, throughout the week.
So, what are we meeting for?
We’ll use different “so that” examples throughout this series to draw out different answers. For today, we meet to pray for each other and learn lessons, so that wherever our feet carry us we may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way, bearing fruit in every good work.
How does your time gathered together with other Christians help you ‘walk worthy of the Lord’ when you’re apart?
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