"Strive to excel in building up the congregation," 1 Corinthians 14:12.
And this is the thing about the church. We meet Jesus here. (We're talking about the group of people who belong to Christ. The assemblage of Christ. The array of Christ. The church of Christ. The congregation of Christ. We won't get confused by denominational double-talk.) We, humans, want our religion a personal affair between self and God: to commune with God in private language. To be served. But this is the thing about his congregation: Jesus develops this assemblage of multiple people carefully, intentionally, deliberately. He expects his people to congregate. When we congregate, Jesus expects each one to build up the other. To speak words of life, not to cryptic agendas. So that we all grow up in the face of Christ.
As we see each other today, brother or sister, we speak words that draw our minds to the focus of our fellowship, Christ. And, together, to God, we say Thank You for continuing to mature us. Patiently.
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