Satan’s Strategy for Your Life #25: Stop Your Fellowship

“But since we were torn away from you, brothers, for a short time, in person not in heart, we endeavored the more eagerly and with great desire to see you face to face, because we wanted to come to you—I, Paul, again and again—but Satan hindered us. For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at His coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.” 

—1 Thessalonians 2:17-20

It’s fall, the leaves are changing, the air is cooler—jackets and coats replace flip-flops and shorts. The air is filled with the smell of pumpkin spice and apple cider as small campfires keep the huddled few gathered around them warm. I enjoy a good campfire in the fall, but the important thing about a campfire is that it must continually be stoked so that it might continue to burn bright and hot. So too are we as believers to be continually stoked through the preaching and proclamation of God’s Word in order that we might not become cold and ineffective.

Satan desires that our love and zeal for God would grow cold, so he does his best to keep us from God’s people, the church. It is by going to church that we are continually stoked to remain hot for God. And he will do anything—anything to keep us from worshiping with God’s people. Satan knows it is  

“…through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.”—Ephesians 3:10. 

He knows the church’s power. The church is where Jesus is proclaimed, the Word is preached, sin is condemned, discipline administered, and the presence of Christ is manifested (cf. Matthew 18:20; 1 Corinthians 5:4; 14:24-25).

Paul was writing to the church of Thessalonica about coming to them for fellowship and encouragement, but Satan “hindered” them. The devil kept them from coming together to fellowship because in their uniting, the name of Christ could be magnified. It is when we fellowship with one another that the name of Christ is seen in a fantastic way.

In Tim Keller’s book, The Prodigal God, he writes about C.S. Lewis and the writing group of friends he belonged to called, “The Inklings” and how they “fed off” one another. Keller writes,

“This is a discussion by C. S. Lewis in his book 'The Four Loves' where he discussed the nature of friendship. He was one of a small circle of friends who would ‘feed off of” one another, but he said there was something in each of the friends that only one of the others could bring out. When one of them died suddenly, he said, ‘Now that Charles [Williams] is dead, I shall never again see Ronald’s [Tolkien's] reaction to a specifically Charles joke. Far from having more of Ronald, having him “to myself” now that Charles is away, I have less of Ronald.’” [pp. 125-7, from C.S. Lewis, The Four Loves (Harcourt, 1960), pp. 61-61]

The point is that when we are together, we learn more about God by how He interacts with each of us. When we are alone or try and attempt to worship God by ourselves apart from the church, we actually lose God. It is through our fellowship with other worshippers of Christ that we learn more about Christ. Satan does not want us to have a greater understanding of Christ, so in order to stifle it; he tries to keep us from fellowship with other believers in church.

The church is where the Word of God is taught and faith is strengthened, and where we are stoked by hearing the Word of God proclaimed, and it is in gathering in worship with God’s people that our souls are spiritually strengthened. Which is why the author of Hebrews wrote,

“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near”—Hebrews 10:24-25.

We are to help stir one another, in order that we may not be “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin”—Hebrews 3:13. Sin and Satan work in tandem to cool the coals of our hearts because Satan knows that the church is the organism and organization that has been established by Christ in which “the gates of hell shall not prevail against”—Matthew 16:18.

We must be on guard against Satan’s schemes and make every effort to be with the people of God each Sunday so that we might gain a greater understanding and love for God. Don’t give in to your schedule, don’t slack off, and don’t allow the enemy to let the less important keep you from what is most important. Worship with God’s people. If you haven’t gone in a while, then go this Sunday. Plan ahead, find a good Gospel-preaching, Bible-believing, Christ-exalting church if you haven’t already and go there to worship with God’s people for His glory and your joy. Amen.