Reflections – 2023.04

All Things for Good: The Communion of the Saints

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to His purpose. (Romans 8:28)

As the stones in an arch help to strengthen one another, one Christian by imparting his experience, heats and quickens another.
– Thomas Watson

Each month, we participate together in the LORD’s Supper.  I make the point each time that although our faith is a deeply personal faith, it is not a private one.  Rather, our faith is deeply corporate.  We are, as God’s people, a communion of saints, a communion of those who have been saved through the blood of Christ.

As such, we are called on to love one another, pray for one another, meet together, show hospitality towards one another, minister to the needs of one another, forgive one another, speak truth to one another, serve one another, encourage one another, and rejoice with one another.  There are many times we do this throughout the week, whether at worship or Bible Study or over meals or in hospitals or in our communications with each other every day.   One of the many particular ways I have been encouraged over the last several months has been in seeing so many of you working together with the common purpose of repairing and upgrading our church building.  So much has been done, so many conversations have occurred, a great deal of life has been shared.  All of this has worked together for our good, not simply because we are now able to worship again in the building, but because we grew closer together as a congregation as we walked through the process of figuring out what we wanted to do and then actually doing it.  Many encouraging words have been spoken to one another.  I would want to say thank you again to all who gave of their time, energy and resources to this project.  It was a labor of love by those who are learning to love one another.

Please remember that we need each other.  Thomas Watson points this out in the quote above from his book, All Things for Good.  “One Christian”, Watson says, “by imparting his experience, heats and quickens another.”  I have been on the receiving end of that kind of encouragement many times.  I pray that I will be on the giving end of that encouragement as well, that my experiences and gifts will “heat and quicken” others.

We are the communion of saints.  Our words and our actions have the power to strengthen and encourage other Christians.  May we be about that work, so that when we look back on this time we have had with one another, we can see with clarity the ways in which the LORD has used the communion of saints to work together all things for good.