Sin wants us to itself. We find this heart-stopping line in Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s classic work, Life Together. “Sin demands to have a man by himself. It withdraws him from the community. The more isolated a person is, the more destructive will be the power of sin over him, and the more deeply he becomes involved in it, the more disastrous is his isolation.”
Make no mistake: the power of sin in our lives gathers its strength when brothers and sisters in Christ do not gather in covenant relationship with a local church for fellowship, singing, preaching of the word, and prayer.
The power of sin can manifest itself in two ways concerning fellow believers. First, if you find yourself without a local gathering of believers, it becomes easier to make little compromises, which then quickly grow into more significant compromises. George Swinnock put it this way. “Satan watches for those vessels that sail without a convoy.” Second, if you are part of a local Christian fellowship and you begin to play with sin, that sin will then start its work to separate you from the community of believers.
The wedge sin drives between us and the local church usually entails two aspects: resentment and shame. Often, both are involved. First, resentment attempts to keep us from our brothers and sisters in Christ when we love our sin and we do not want other believers to get in our way. This resentment can present itself in major and minor ways. Sometimes, it is so subtle it sounds like this. “I’d like to sleep in. I might watch church online this morning. These people never do much for me anyway.” It will then begin to list all the ways you have been dissatisfied with your church. Second, when we do fall into sin, shame works to separate us from the family of God by making us want to hide. It tells us, “If they discover our sinfulness, they will no longer have us.” This lie can then lead to resentment. In doing this, the enemy is luring us away from the flock where he can have us to himself.
With the busyness of life and the rise of virtual church services keeping many Christians from gathering with other believers, it seems now is an excellent time to evaluate our hearts to see if sin is working to isolate us. If you have not been gathering with other believers, has time away from the brethren left you spiritually lifeless to where you no longer desire to return? Or worse, have you fallen into sin and are afraid to return because you do not want your sinfulness to come to light?
In gathering to worship Christ, we are all admitting to our sinfulness and need for redemption. We need to be honest about our weaknesses with each other. As Bonhoeffer puts it, when we gather and admit our depravity, our sin loses its power over us. The darkness has been exposed by the light and judged as sin. From here, the fellowship bears our sin with us; we are no longer alone with our evil. As a body, we present our sins to the Lord, who forgives our iniquity and sanctifies our hearts as we fellowship with sinners who live by the grace of God. Do not let sin have you to itself.
-D. Eaton
Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity! – Psalm 133:1
The Fight of Faith 