If
I were face to face with a friend who was not well informed about the
importance of regular church attendance, where would I go in the Bible to show
him God’s will? A lot of people are
familiar with Hebrews 10:24-25 which says, “And let us consider how to stir up
one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the
habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day
drawing near.”
This
passage is pretty clear. You really
could stop right there if the question were limited to whether or not God wants
His saints to regularly assemble. The
passage not only commands regular participation in a local church, it
anticipates that some will have, for various reasons, fallen into the habit of
not gathering together. Church
absenteeism can easily become a habit.
Getting to church becomes more and more difficult the longer we are
absent. Isn’t it amazing that even this
early into the church’s life, new Christians were already struggling with the
discipline of church attendance!
Not
only does the passage command regular church attendance, it commends a
particular kind of church participation.
Verse 24 keeps us from approaching our relationship with a local church
with a consumeristic attitude.
“And let us consider how to stir up
one another to love and good works...”
This verse also reveals what our
time away from church is supposed to look like.
Part of our week’s walk with Christ should involve putting real effort
into “considering how to stir up one another to love and good works.” If we
spend time throughout the week considering how we can encourage others, we will
approach our time at church with a sense of purpose and expectancy.
In recent years, many Christians are
neglecting regular and selfless participation in a local church in favor of
staying home and doing “family church.”
This approach fails to understand the uniqueness of what the English
Standard Version translates, “meet together.”
How does this phrase specify corporate worship? Couldn’t we understand “meet together” to be
fulfilled in a Christian home? Couldn’t
we understand “meet together” to be fulfilled in social gatherings among
Christians? How do we know that the
author of Hebrews has in corporate worship in mind?
We
find this exact word construction used only one other time in the New
Testament. In 2 Thessalonians, Paul is
talking about the return of Christ and says, “Now concerning the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathered together to him...” (2 Thessalonians
2:1)
One
aspect of Christ’s returning work is the gathering of His saints together to
him. Our gathering together before the
throne of God is one of the ways we are going to find ultimate joy in
heaven. It is also one of the ways in
which God is going to receive ultimate glory in heaven. The worshipers of Christ in the book of
Revelation often specifically praise his gathering work,
“Worthy are you to take the scroll
and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed
people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you
have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the
earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10)
Note the diversity of the gathering
in heaven. “People from every tribe and
language and people and nation...” are praising in unity. This what our corporate worship in the present
should be looking forward to. Note that
Hebrews 10:24-25 gives the return of Christ as a key reason for ever increasing
gathering together here on earth.
“...and all the more as you see the
Day drawing near.”
So
we can conclude that it is God’s purpose for us to regularly assemble in a
similar manner to our future assembly in heaven. In doing so, we express hope and delight in
Christ’s final gathering work. Note,
this passage eliminates staying home and doing “family church” as a legitimate
alternative to church attendance. Family
worship is wonderful, but it does not meet the “gathering together” criteria
set forth in scripture. Your worship
experience should look like heaven’s. By
necessity, that involves a level of diversity a single family cannot
offer.
The
passages in Revelation which give us a view of what that ultimate gathering
will look like, become for us a sort of standard by which we measure the
quality of our corporate worship gatherings here on earth. While all of our Christian get togethers
should reflect some of the qualities of heaven’s ultimate assembly, corporate
worship is uniquely positioned to more completely and consistently reflect the
ultimate state of God’s people.
We are going to conclude our
thoughts about corporate worship and church attendance by posing a series of
questions.
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The Bible shows that God is uniquely
glorified in unified diversity. What I
mean is that when many different people join together for the common purpose of
praising God, their agreement of purpose, in spite of all their differences,
magnifies God.
Question
1: Where do you go to participate in
this special activity?
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Hebrews 13:17 says “Obey your
leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as
those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with
groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.” While your shepherds have a sacred
responsibility to seek you out and help you grow. You have the responsibility to seek them out
and to hear what they are saying.
Question 2: How are you seeking to obey this command?
Question 2: How are you seeking to obey this command?
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Acts 6:4 suggests that pastors are
supposed to devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.
Question
3: Are you supporting their ministry
with your attendance?
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Acts also tells us that the early
church devoted themselves to the apostles’ teachings.
Question
4: To who’s teaching are you regularly
committed to listening to? Do they know
you?
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Among other activities, Paul told
Timothy in 1 Tim 4:13 to devote his pastoral work to “the public reading of
scripture...”
Question
5: Where do you go to hear the
scripture read publicly?
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Jesus commanded the disciples to
remember his sacrifice through a corporate observance of the Lord’s Supper.
Question
6: Where do you observe the Lord’s
Supper?
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Ephesians 5:19 commands that we
should be “addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing and making melody to the Lord with all your heart,”
Question 7: How are you obeying this command?
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Scripture teaches that not only are
we to pray for one another, but we are to pray with one another.
Question 8: Where do you regularly pray with the Body?
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Christ initiated church discipline
as a means of helping believers hold one another accountable for unrepentant
sin. The ultimate means of discipline
for unrepentant sin was the temporary exclusion of fellowship. The hard-hearted person would be excluded
from participating in church gatherings until they repented.
Question 9: If you needed to experience church discipline, how much of a difference would that make in your life?
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When David was experiencing
spiritual depression and God seemed very distant, his memory of past corporate
worship experiences encouraged his heart.
He said, “These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go
with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad
shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival.” (Ps 42)
Question 10: Have you cultivated the habit of regularly gathering with God’s people? Has the memory and expectancy of public worship encouraged your soul?
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Corporate worship isn’t the
exclusive answer to any one of these questions.
Yet I suspect that if you’re honest with yourself, you’d agree that
devoting yourself to corporate worship is going to help you obey many of these
to a greater degree than you are likely to do without that discipline.
Pastor Chris Oswald
Pastor Chris Oswald is a Pastor and founder of CrossHaven Church (http://crosshavenbelleville.org/). He has been a Youth Pastor at several churches as well.
Pastor Chris Oswald
Pastor Chris Oswald is a Pastor and founder of CrossHaven Church (http://crosshavenbelleville.org/). He has been a Youth Pastor at several churches as well.
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