Staying Connected

Q: Is there any scriptures in the Bible about staying connected to God and other Christians?

A: There are two primary passages, in my opinion, that speak to both the idea of staying connected to God and to other Christians. Those being John 15:5 and Hebrews 10:25. When it comes to staying connected to God we must first remind ourselves exactly what salvation is. Salvation is the restoration of the life of God, lost in Adam, restored to all those who have accepted Christ by faith. Therefore, the actual life of God, in the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit, lives within a believer. Just by mere location of the Holy Spirit, all believers are connected to God. In John 15:5, we read, "I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing." Now these words were said by Jesus prior to His death, burial and resurrection, so the Holy Spirit had not been offered yet. However, He gives a clue, if you will, as to how a believer will bear much fruit in their lives; a byproduct of staying connected to God. And that is by abiding in Him because apart from Him we can do nothing. Jesus Christ is the life of every believer. The life He lived in the flesh, He now wants to live out in and through each believer. The reason He said that apart from Him we can do nothing is because without dependence on the indwelling Holy Spirit guiding us from within, the things we want to do cannot be accomplished. We are connected to God because He lives inside each Christian through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Christian life is all about discovering how to trust God with our daily lives as we grow in the grace and knowledge of Him. The key to staying connected to God is to learn to walk in the Spirit.

There are many scriptures which illustrate this point. "Do not get drunk on wine which leads to deabauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18)." Being filled with the Spirit means to be controlled by the Spirit of God. Whatever it is that you are dependent on in this life in order to find meaning and purpose will control you. Being filled with the Spirit is being filled with the love of God. "And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:17-19)." The love of God controlled Paul. "For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that One died for all, and therefore all died (2 Corinthians 5:14)." The love of God controlled Jesus. "As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you, Now remain in My love (John 15:9)." In order to determine if you are "connected" to God, you must first be certain that you have accepted Christ as your Lord and Savior. And secondly, you must ask yourself, "What are you being controlled by?" Is it your flesh which makes you chase after the lusts of the world? Or is it the love of God that teaches you to say no to ungodliness and worldly passions? As one Christian pastor writes, "It is only as we are filled to the measure with the fullness of God's love for us that we will "bear" the fruit of love for others." That is the essence of staying connected to God.

When it comes to staying connected to other Christians, scripture is quite clear that we should do so. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching (Hebrews 10:25)." Unfortunately, many Christians will take this verse from Hebrews and use it to put other Christians back under the law. They will say that it commands a believer to go to church. No, the verse encourages believers not to give up meeting with each other. This is very practical advise. After all, what is the best way in which to be encouraged, get questions answered, fellowship, edify and build up each other, then for Christians to meet together. Granted, the modern day church building environment is the most accepted form of this. However, Christians can meet anywhere and everywhere. Jesus said, "For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst (Matthew 18:20)." Two or three believers can meet anywhere any time. That can happen at church, in a home, a library, a coffee shop, a park bench, the employee lounge at work, anywhere you can find time to meet, including on the internet as I do on a daily basis. As I said earlier, the Holy Spirit indwells every believer. Therefore, when two Christians get together, it is the two Christians and the Lord meeting together. The Teacher and His students!

Scripture indeed tells us to stay connected to God and to other Christians for obvious reasons, of which learning to trust God and build up each other are the two primary reasons for doing so. Some more scriptures that talk about the results of staying connected to God, or abiding in Him, to quote the Lord, are as follows. Learning that nothing can separate you from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39). That you will bear much fruit (Galatians 5:22-23). You will not be fulfilling the desires of the flesh (Galatians 5:16). You will learn to have an attitude of restoration not condemnation (Galatians 6:1; 2 Corinthians 1: 3-5). You will learn to forgive others as Christ forgave you (Colossians 3: 12-14; Ephesians 4:32). All of this leads to you trusting God to work all things together for good (Romans 8:28) and to give thanks in all things (1 Thessalonians 5: 18). Staying connected to other Christians, and the reasons for doing so, are given in these passages. We stay connected because we are members of his body (Ephesians 5:30). We are to comfort one another (1 Thessalonians 4:18). We encourage and build up one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11). We teach and admonish each other (Colossians 3:16). There are many more passages like these. And all of them are written for us to get to love one another. God loved us first by sending Jesus Christ to die for our sins and rise from the dead to give us life. We respond to His love by placing faith in Him. He, in turn, through the power of the indwelling Spirit, lives the Christian life through us. The end result is that the love He has shown to us is expressed through us to the rest of the world.