This past Sunday evening, our pastor was preaching about winning souls to Christ and how it is the responsibility of every Christian to share the gospel. As he continued, my mind began to wander. For some reason, the Lord kept bringing my mind to this verse: The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel (Joel 3:16). This morning I decided to see what a couple of my Bible commentaries said about this verse, and each one highlighted the phrase, “the Lord will be the hope of his people…” One of the commentaries defined hope as being a place of repair or a safe harbour.
I do not know when my fascination with ships started, but I have always loved seeing them. While stationed in Germany I took several river cruises in a half-dozen European nations and was always amazed at how efficient the crews were in securing the boat to the dock. Each mooring rope had its specific place where it had to be secured to hold the boat in the desired location. If only one of the moorings were out-of-place, then the ship wasn’t secure and could come lose from the other moorings. I began thinking about how this relates to our faith in Jesus – what are the moorings that keep us tied to Him?
Christians have His promise
The first mooring we have is the promise from Jesus: My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand (John 10:27-29) and All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out (John 7:37). There is nothing like knowing that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ. Even the apostle Paul rejoiced and encouraged other Christians by reminding all, For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39) and For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day (2 Timothy 1:12).
Because of the nature of our understanding and of what we see in society, we have a hard time understanding, and at times, accepting the Biblical teaching that if we are a child of God then nothing can separate us from His love. But that is exactly what the Bible teaches. We only see the things around us through a limited view. It is hard for us to comprehend such a love for us when many of us have experienced abandonment by parents, siblings, friends, and spouses that we thought would always love us. Whereas our understanding of love often comes with a conditional tag, God’s love toward us is unconditional. Jesus even shared the extent of His Father’s unconditional love for humanity: For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16). The apostle Paul explains this unconditional love in perhaps the clearest way it could ever be expressed: But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8).
With God loving mankind enough to send His Son to die for our sins, how could He ever allow those who accept His Son, Jesus, and their Lord and Savior, to become separated from Him? Jesus taught: Are not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of them is forgotten before God? But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows (Luke 12:6-7). One of our moorings that secures us to the Lord Jesus Christ is His promise to us.
The moorings of fellowship
If having the promise of the Lord is not enough of a mooring that fastens us securely to Him, there are other moorings the Lord has created. One of the greatest joys of our salvation is the fellowship it brings with the Lord and with others who have also accepted Jesus as their savior. The book of Acts contains the first mention of this: And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers (Acts 2:42). This fellowship that is being described is what we have come to think of as Christian fellowship – a time of prayer, rejoicing, singing, breaking bread, and all done with a singleness of heart and of thanksgiving towards God (for a complete scriptural defining of fellowship, please see Acts 1:14 & 2:46, Romans 12:12, Ephesians 6:18, Colossians 4:2, and Hebrews 10:25).
By our nature, humankind are social creatures. For the lack of a better description, we are hard-wired to seek out those who have a like mind to ours and to spend time with them. Each year, many in our nation will travel across the country to spend the holidays with loved ones. Some of us will even make plans to meet with family and friends throughout the year just to spend time with one another. As Christians, we still have the need for fellowship with those of like mind and heart – the need to fellowship with other Christians and with the Lord Himself. This is important in securing us to Christ and I believe this is one of the reasons the apostle Paul wrote, Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching (Hebrews 10:25). No, I am not saying that we need fellowship with other Christians to save us or to maintain our salvation. We need the fellowship because it strengthens our faith, it encourages us to be more Christ-centered, and it can bring focus into our life.
