1 John 2:24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
What does it take to remain in Christ? To remain in Christ is to sustain a vital relationship with Him. John explained this more fully in his gospel when he used the analogy of a branch that remains connected to the vine (read John 15:1-8).
Sustaining a vital relationship with Christ means sustaining vital relationships with fellow Christians because we are His body (Ephesians 5:23). This is why Hebrews 10:25 is such a significant verse. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Some are in the habit of not meeting with a congregation of the Lord’s people because they wrongly interpret what a relationship with Christ means. The world has taken this idea of a personal relationship to a point that is not biblical. Tom T. Hall had a hit song back in the early 1970’s called “Me and Jesus”. Here are the words to the chorus of that song:
Well, me and Jesus got our own thing goin’; Me and Jesus got it all worked out; Me and Jesus got our own thing goin’; We don’t need anybody to tell us what it’s all about.
That song was a cultural response to organized religion which had started to turn a lot of people off. Organized religion turns a lot of people off because it isn’t as much about the truth of God’s Word as it is about our man made traditions. But that doesn’t mean we should just quit going to church. We have fellowship with Christ when we have fellowship with one another. We do need others to sometimes tell us what it’s all about. We need others to help hold us accountable, and more importantly to encourage us because the world is a hard place. Jesus does have it all worked out but he has it worked out through His church which is His body. We need the company and fellowship of fellow Christians and that is how we sustain our relationship to Christ.