Why do you go to church? If you don’t go now, what would be the reasons that you might go? Were you, at one time, a church attender and have stopped going (for any number of reasons)?
Even during the time that Hebrews was written, there were evidently believers who embraced the habit of not gathering together with other believers. The actual Greek is even stronger in wording as it literally says "as is the custom of some." They developed a custom, or culture, of not gathering together. Even some of these early believers had determined reasons or perhaps even doctrines why meeting together wasn’t necessary. Perhaps they even felt it wasn’t prudent. I’m sure they had good explanations as to why they had come to these conclusions.
In the era of megachurches, many people have "dropped out" of church. They feel lost. They feel overlooked and forgotten. And why not, when you go to church and are simply one in a sea of faces? It’s why many larger churches encourage people to join home groups or Sunday School classes where they can get to know each other much more intimately and where each person has the opportunity to minister to others.
There was a time (it was a rather short time in my getting-longer life) when I didn’t attend church. I tried watching it through the media; I tried having "worship" at home. But something was missing. It wasn’t that I wasn’t learning about the Word. I was. It wasn’t that I couldn’t enter in the presence of the Lord. I did (and do often by myself). It was that I missed the opportunity to minister to other Christians in a regular, more intimate setting. Of course, I can speak words of encourage in various different venues (on the Internet, through phone calls, even through personal visits). But there is a closeness, an intimacy develops when you meet for worship together with the same people week after week, when you share that common experience of teaching, worship, and communion.
Look at the scripture in Hebrews again. Attending church, of course, is about worship. Of course, it is about learning from teachers and pastors. But it’s so much more than that! Coming together at church is about each believer having the opportunity to encourage others, to spur each other on toward love and good deeds. It’s doing ministry together and becoming accountable to each other. It’s about practicing being the Body of Christ.
If you haven’t been to church in a while, I would encourage you to seek the Lord about which fellowship you should join. If you are in fellowship already, I would encourage you to reach out to those around you in that fellowship. This Sunday, encourage them, pray for and with them, and spur them on to greater love and good deeds. It’s time that the Church began acting like the Church. Think about who we might become and what we might accomplish if we actually started working out what the Bible says in our lives . . . collectively!
© 2017 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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