Persevering With PurposeSample

Day 4: Gathering With His People

For most of us in our western Christian culture, church is somewhere we attend, not something we tend to.

At the 2024 Paris Olympics, despite the stadiums’ total spectator capacity of 300,000, it was expected that around 15 million visitors would attempt to attend an Olympic event somewhere during the two-week Olympic program. Yet only 10,500 athletes competed, representing more than 200 countries. Thus, less than 0.08% of people who attended the Paris Olympic Games were athletes who competed for the prize. In a comfort-culture western church, I can’t help but wonder if our spectator-competitor ratio is not perhaps even more unbalanced?

Hebrews 10:25 is often quoted from the pulpits to remind churchgoers not to skip services. But if we understand the context of the first century church, they were not vying for greater attendance. They were vying for greater involvement. The church does not need more spectators. The church needs more contending athletes. It is not simply about gathering with believers but being grounded among believers and growing along with other believers.

Now, before you consider yourself to be some rogue prophet contending for the Gospel in some unreached sphere of society where you don’t have to be a part of a local community of believers or gather with them, consider this: The person who runs a record-time somewhere on an open but secluded field won’t have an official Olympic record. This won’t even count as a world record. It must be done in the stadium, at the event, in front of an audience and next to other contenders. Likewise, the athlete who keeps training in seclusion, without a competition on the horizon and the hope of glory or prizes, loses heart eventually. It is easy to quit training if there’s no thrill of the arena awaiting you. It’s hard to persevere if there’s no promise of participation. And participating alongside God’s people is the fourth pillar of perseverance.

Don’t keep training by yourself. Join the team. Together everyone achieves more – TEAM. But don’t just spectate from your seat, participate from whatever your position might be. It is from a place of participation that you stay encouraged to persevere. If you fall through the cracks, or only attend from a place of expectation – yours or others’ – you will lose hope and struggle to stick it through. However, if you are actively involved with a community of believers, a community in which you can give and receive alike, you will keep finding the encouragement to endure.

The New Testament writers were not guilt-tripping us into church attendance. They were motivating us to active involvement with God’s people to achieve our goals, our purpose, and to press on with the resolve to finish strong. Look at what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:12-14:

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”

Remember. . .You can keep pushing forward and persevere with God’s purpose for your life by drawing from His presence, professing His promises from scripture, playing your part in His plan, and being grounded among and growing along with His people.