Should you exercise? How often do you go to the gym or workout in your home? Perhaps I just convicted you to put your phone down and take a walk! Just as we recognize the need to exercise our bodies so we can rely on them to remain useful, so we must exercise our godliness (1 Timothy 4:7–8). The disciple is one who exercises—the word is related to the same word from which we get gymnasium.
Aside from the label given in Antioch to Christ followers, “Christian,” we have a wide and regular use of the term “disciple.” I especially like the use of disciple in Acts 20:1, “and after the uproar was ceased, Paul called unto him the disciples, and embraced them, and departed for to go into Macedonia.” Not only do we read repeatedly in Scripture about disciples being disciplined, or having a work out regarding doctrines, the deposits of faith, and the study of the Scriptures, we also read of a regular commitment of disciples meeting together. Here in Ephesus the disciples exercised discipleship together. The disciples share embrace with Paul who exercised with them in such a capacity that they longed for one another—they felt the distance.
When the idea of church becomes based on a consumer mentality, based on entering a building, or receiving content, the label “disciple” no longer matches the picture Scripture utilizes. Disciples know the when, how, and what-for, of embracing one another (even if you are not a ‘hugger’) because they practice with frequency the discipline of fellowship.
How can we embrace one another with such a frequency that we would consider it a healthy spiritual discipline (it is after all just that)? How are you participating with the body of Christ? And how can you grow more intimate with our body here at First Baptist Wellsboro? If you have fallen out of the habit, now is the time—the fellowship here is as ready to embrace you as the Lord Himself.
Pastor Chris
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