One of the more visible signs of straying from the faith is the Christian's habitual neglect to come together with his brethren for edification. This seems to be a wide-spread problem, especially on Sunday night and Wednesday night, in almost every congregation of God's people; and it has existed for as long as I can remember. However, the fact that this neglect is widespread does not justify its practice. When approached concerning their absence, the unfaithful may ask, "Where's the scripture that says I have to attend on Wednesday night?" or "Why do I have to attend every service?" These questions are evidence of problems:
- They are untaught concerning the purpose of our assembling together.
- They don't appreciate the blessings to be received from assembling.
In Hebrews 10:24-25, we read the command for Christians to "not forsake the assembling of the saints together." This instruction is too plain to miss without help. It was the "custom" of some to "forsake" (egkataleipo) "to leave behind in some place,... to desert" (Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright (c) 1994) this blessing and not "consider one another to provoke unto love and good works." Assembling is one way we show consideration for one another's spiritual well being. Our willful absence, in essence, says we are not concerned about the spiritual well being of others. Obviously, there is value in assembling together - who can deny it?
God, in His infinite wisdom, commanded that we meet together to edify each other. The basic meaning of the word church (ekklesia) is "called-out people."
- The word "church" may refer to all Christians everywhere, universally, as in Matthew 16:18 and Ephesians 1:22.
- It may refer to a local group of disciples who have mutual responsibilities to one another, a certain organizational structure, and their own peculiar work, as in Acts 20:17-35. This constitutes a local congregation, with certain mutual responsibilities, whether in assembly or not, as in 1 Timothy 5:16.
- The word "church" may apply to an actual assembly of disciples in one place, as in 1 Corinthians 11:18, 14:19,23,35. The Corinthians came together "in the church."
- The word "church" may refer to the disciples dispersed over the city, a distributive sense. Saul "laid waste the church, entering into every house, and dragging men and women, committed them to prison." (Acts 8:3)
After one obeys the gospel and God adds him to the universal church (Acts 2:47), he must join himself to a local congregation of God's people who worship and work in a specific place (Acts 9:26). We are commanded to come together (assemble) with these disciples, to whom we have joined ourselves, and with whom we share mutual responsibilities, as often as they meet.
The apostle Peter taught us to "long for the spiritual milk" (1 Peter 2:2), and "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (2 Peter 3:18) God designed the act of assembling together for that very purpose. We come together to worship God in prayer, songs of praise and thanksgiving, and Bible study. On the first day of the week, we partake of the Lord's Supper and return to God a portion of that with which He has blessed us, as we have purposed in our hearts, and according to the amount we've prospered. These commandments are given to enable Christians to be built up in the faith and grow to maturity. These things do not occur when we deliberately choose not to assemble with the saints. Do you really wish to stand before God in the Day of Judgment knowing you were guilty of this?
Brethren, something is terribly wrong when Christians feel they don't need to come together with those of "like precious faith." Others, it seems, fail to comprehend the blessings to be received from assembling with their brothers and sisters. I know of many who regularly miss worship, but who are not so lax about attending their jobs, ball games, picnics, or many other secular activities with which they choose to involve themselves. Priorities need reexamination.
We need also to realize that simply attending services doesn't make our hearts right with God. Jesus said, "they that worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." (John 4:24) My motivation for attending services must be to please God, not to socialize or to grudgingly keep the preacher off my back. "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he..." (Proverbs 23:7) This pinpoints the real problem that underlies lack of attendance at worship services and true devotion to God. If our hearts are not right before God, we must repent and change our hearts.
Finally, we damage our influence when we willfully forsake the worship services. Not only do we damage our personal influence, but we harm the church's influence. Jesus spoke of the tremendous influence Christians have in the world (Matthew 5:13-16). By neglecting to assemble with the saints, we can be guilty, among other things, of being stumbling blocks to our husbands, wives, children, brothers and sisters in Christ, and yes, even to those in the world. Whether it is Sunday or Wednesday night, we cannot show those who watch us that we love the Lord and "hunger and thirst after righteousness" (Matthew 5:6) if we fail to assemble with the saints. Brethren, let us realize that we come together to offer praise and glory to God and to edify our brethren - "that I with you may be comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine." (Romans 1:12)
Brother Galloway has discussed a subject that is very touchy to many members of the Lord's church. I, too, have pondered and been amazed at those who willfully neglect the "assemblies" of God's people and remain convinced that they love God! Whenever a person begins a question with the words "Do I have to...," two things are certain-that person is looking for a way out, or his heart is not consumed by that about which he is asking. I've always replied to this question with the same answer-you don't have to do anything in service to the Lord. In other words, if it doesn't come from a willing heart, God will not accept the service, regardless whether or not it is right!
Failure to attend the assemblies is just a sign of a much deeper problem. If we can't bring ourselves to attend three services per week and a couple gospel meetings per year, something is wrong with our hearts. Does anyone know of even one church member who became stronger by attending less, rather than more! Ask yourselves the following questions about those who come once in awhile: Do they visit the sick? Do they volunteer to teach classes? Are they active in the personal work of spreading the gospel? Do they encourage brethren in other ways? I've observed that those who are weak about their attendance are also weak in other aspects of Christianity. Think about it.
Brother Galloway hit the nail on the head when he discussed the brethren who fail to see the benefits that others derive from witnessing the regularity with which they attend the services, as well as their devotion to other Christian duties. Let me ask one more question-does my absence encourage the brethren when they know I could be here, but am not? I believe it has the opposite effect--it is a great source of discouragement. Where will you be on Sunday night and Wednesday night? (KMG)