I dont know who I got this from, but it is pretty good. I hope all of my FB friends will benefit from it. Biblical Reasons for Attending Church How often do we hear professing Christians shrug off church attendance by saying, I can worship at home! The perfect response to such a remark is simple: But do you? Or, if you stumble upon a rare individual who may actually strive to worship at home, you may ask him: When did you last take the Lord’s Supper at home? Many who profess to be Christians today know too little of devoted commitment to Christ. A major aspect of genuine devotion to Christ involves our attending, worshiping in, and serving through the local church. In fact, church membership and attendance is a biblical obligation for all who profess the name of Christ. We may discern this obligation on several grounds. I will present four of these in this article, then four more in the next. 1. The Lord Jesus Establishes the Church Since Christ establishes the Church it is a part of His plan for His people. Matthew 16:18 says: I will build my Church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Shall we neglect that which Christ our Savior creates as His own possession, and which is designed for the purpose of disestablishing Satan? The child of Satan’s kingdom is consistent in avoiding church, for Satan’s kingdom is threatened by its presence! But we who claim to be Christians must encourage the building up of the Church, not the neglect of it. 2. The Lord Jesus Died for His Church. Acts 20:29 says: Feed the Church of God which He has purchased with His own blood. The context shows that Paul is speaking to elders of a local church (vv. 17-18). Ephesians 5:25 says: Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it. Now think seriously: The very Church which Christ is building in history is the one for which He suffered and died. What greater reasons to attend could there be? How may we deem the Church an inconsequential thing when Christ our Lord and Savior shed His blood for it? 3. The Church is the Center for Christian fellowship Acts 2:42 says: And they continued steadfastly in the Apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in the breaking of bread and in prayer. Shall we forsake the Apostles’ doctrine? their sacraments (breaking of bread)? or prayer? Then, how can we neglect their example of fellowship among the saints? Their doctrine urges church attendance (see point 8 below). The sacrament of the breaking of bread is offered only at church. Prayer may be at home, to be sure. But it is also a vital aspect of public, corporate worship. The Lord’s Prayer speaks in the plural: Forgive us and Lead us. It obviously was designed for corporate use, use within the context of the local church. Clearly, the Apostles have left us an example to follow regarding Christian fellowship. Their example should motivate us to join in fellowship with fellow believers in Christ. 4. Church Attendance Is Essential for Spiritual Nourishment Christ establishes His Church in the world for a number of reasons. One is to be an essential structure for learning the Word of God. Ephesians 4:11-14 teaches that the Church works for the perfecting of the saints so that believers might not be tossed to and fro...by every wind of doctrine. To absent oneself without providential cause from the church is to free oneself from an anchor in a time of storm. The church is where Paul intended Timothy to be faithful in his ministry, his giving attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine (1 Tim. 4:13). All believers need to attend church to hear, to be exhorted, and to learn from God’s Word 5. God Emphasizes the Church by Giving Her Officers In the early apostolic church we learn that God reveals much detail regarding church order and government: Acts 6:1-7; 13:1-2; 15:1-4; 20:17-38; 1 Timothy 3:1-13; 5:17-22; Titus 1:5-9; and other passages. God ordains officers to govern His people. There is a real, judicial sense in which when church officers act, Christ acts (Matthew 18:18-20). How can they govern the Church if the people do not attend? How can a true believer opt out of the very institution which provides him with Christs government? Is he the head of the body, the church (Col. 1:18) which only exists theoretically? 6. God Gives the Church Disciplinary Power In Matthew 18:15-20; 1 Corinthians 5:1-13; and elsewhere, the Lord authorizes His Church officers to bar the rebellious and immoral from the church assembly. In Matthew 18 the one removed from the church is to be reckoned as a heathen man and a publican (Matt. 18:20). He did not say, Reckon the one removed as a Christian who doesnt go to church much. How can some who profess the name of Christ opt themselves out of the Church voluntarily and without providential cause? Ironically, they choose to be where the officers of the church (ought to - my insertion - REH) remove the rebellious to (Matt. 18:20)! They went out from us, because they were not of us (1 John 2:19). When the church at Corinth removes one of its members, that member is being turned over to Satan, since he was by that ecclesiastical action outside the church (1 Cor. 5:4-5). 7. God Gives the Sacraments Only to the Church In Matthew 28:19 Christ commands the first officers of the Church to baptize his people. In 1 Corinthians 11:23ff Paul speaks of the Lords Supper service at church as a communion service, which implies a real communing among Gods people (1 Cor. 10:16-17). He commands us to keep the Lords Supper until Christ returns (1 Cor. 11:26). With such a command before us, may we say, I prefer to not go to church and take the Lords Supper? By absenting ourselves from church we are doing just that. We are effectively excommunicating ourselves from the church. We are refusing to hear Christ who commands: Take, eat; this is my body (Matt. 26:26). By not attending church we are refusing to obey the command of the Savior. 8. God Clearly Commands Us to Attend Church Hebrews 10:24,25 says: And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is. Here the author of Hebrews is rebuking Jewish Christians who are beginning to apostatize back into Judaism. Their sin is deemed a forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. Then he derisively notes: as the manner of some is. Shall we follow the Jews who professed Christ in the first century, then apostatized back into their former lifestyle and commitment? May we tell God, No, I will not assemble with other believers? Does not God expect us to hear and obey His commands? The full passage warns of God’s judgment upon those who refuse His worship in and among his community, the church (Heb. 10:24-31). Concluding Exhortation Friend, there are many who say they are believers, but who do not publically and corporately live like believers. We must recognize that even though salvation comes by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8-9), a mere empty professing faith is not the same as a genuine possessing faith in Christ. Think of those who claimed to believe in Christ because they saw some benefits in such belief: Christ rejected them -- despite their alleged belief(John 2:23-25). Professing faith is not always a true sign of salvation, as we see also in John 8. In John 8:31 we read that though many believed Him, Jesus urged them to continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine. He saw through their profession and warned them of the need of a deeper commitment (John 8:34-37). After all, does not James say: You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder (Jms. 2:19)? For all the reasons given above, a true believer is one who believes from the heart and who follows Christs instruction. Jesus teaches that My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me (John 10:27). Those who proclaim the gospel must not only baptize converts to Christ but, according to Christ himself, teach them to observe all that I commanded you (Matt. 28:20). We are to observe all things He commanded us -- not in order to gain salvation, but because we are saved. For upon the basis of Gods grace -- and his grace alone -- are we saved (Eph. 2:8-9). But those who are truly saved are created in Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them (Eph. 2:10). And, as is obvious from the above eight biblical observations, one aspect of living the true Christian life it to live it within the fellowship of and under the governance of the local church.
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 01:58:31 +0000
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