FRIENDS: WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT GOING TO THE CHURCH!! Perhaps the first question to ask is, what is church. Is it a building? Is it a gathering of individual believers? Is it a corporate structure? Is it a denominational hierarchy? The word church in Greek, which is the original language of the New Testament, is the word ekklesia. It simply means a gathering together of people for some purpose. In the case of Christian believers, the purpose is to worship God, to be instructed, and for fellowship. Old Testament believers also congregated in a similar fashion. The totality of all Christian believers, past present and future, is now called the Body of Christ. Jesus Christ Himself is the head of this Body (EPHESIANS 1:22,23). He directs its corporate as well as individual activities. Analogously, the physical body is made up of individual cells and each cell is of a given type. When cells of the same type are joined together they form what is called tissue. Organs of the body are made up of tissue. All cell types are dependent upon all other cell types. No cell type can survive without the nutrients and benefits afforded by other cell types. For example, a liver cell can perform its function only when it is given protection by white blood cells, when kidney cells are effectively filtering out toxins, when red blood cells are supplying oxygen to the whole body, etc. As Christians in the Body of Christ, no individual is designed or equipped by God to live independent of other believers. We all have finite abilities and callings. The Body is designed by God to function as a whole (1CORINTHIANS 12:20-27), not as separated parts. None of us lives to himself (ROMANS 14:7). There are many Scriptures that speak of unity and gathering together of believers as necessary for proper function. PSALMS 34:3 says, O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together; PSAMS 55:14 - We took sweet counsel together, and walked to the house of God in company; PSALMS 122:1 - I was glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the LORD. The New Testament also speaks along the same lines: 1 CORINTHIANS 12:20-22 - But now indeed there are many members, yet one body. And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you; nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you, meaning, the Body of Christ does not function correctly without all members working together. 1 CORINTHIANS 13:9 says, For we know in part, and we prophesy in part - no one has all knowledge and insight into the Spirit of God. The part that you have may be the part that all the rest of us need to hear. 1 CORINTHIANS 7:7 says, Every man has his or her individual gift of God, one after this manner, and another after that. Your gift may be the one missing from a congregation to function well. EPHESIANS 2:10 says we all have a ministry: For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Our ministries are wrapped up in Jesus, and Jesus is the Body of Christ (1CORINTHIANS 10:16,17). No body is disjointed and separated from itself. A believer outside a functioning church is disjointed and cut off. Knowing to do good and not doing it constitutes sin (JAMES 4:17), and habitual sin prevents prayers from being answered (PSALMS 66:18; ISAIAH 59:2). If you know these things and dont do them, you are in sin and your prayers are ineffective. Perhaps your heart has become hardened on this issue of going to church. Lets look at what the Bible says about that. HEBREWS 3:13,15 says, But exhort one another daily, while it is called Today; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. While it is said, Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts. How can we exhort one another if we are not regularly assembling? Hearing God speak to your heart is much easier when believers are assembled together in one heart and mind than when by yourself. We need to encourage one another lest sin and discouragement take over. Going to church is not just a once in awhile thing but a regular behavior. What we do every once in a while does not really effect us. Its what we do consistently that changes us. Physical exercise is an example of this. ROMANS 2:7 admonishes the believer: By patient (consistent) continuance in well doing ... do we inherit eternal life. Eternal Life is the life of God. It is experienced at the new birth but also continuously on a day be day basis (EPHESIANS 5:18,19). In Greek eternal life is the word zoe. It is a force that brings dead things to life, changes discouragement to encouragement, sorrow to joy. It comes to the Christian believer, in part, by consistent behavior of well doing. Regular church attendance is part of doing well. HEBREWS 10:24 says, And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works. Provoking or admonishing one another to keep on seeking the face of God and to pray for one another cant be done effectively outside the assembly. Perhaps you have not received encouragement at church. This does not prevent you from encouraging someone else. Jesus said when we give something to someone else we will receive back in kind (LUKE 6:38). If you need encouragement, give some away. If the sermon was poor and the worship stiff and religious, the promises of God still hold: you will receive the reward from God for obedience to gather together. It is conceit to think youre so spiritual or so intellectually developed that you cant get anything out of the service (ROMANS 12:16). Jesus said an attitude of hunger for more will result in blessings (Matthew 5:6). Whatever gifting you have as an individual came from God, not from yourself (JOHN 3:27). The power of your hands to do things, the brain on your neck to think, were both given to you by God (DEUTERONOMY 8:17,18). Its pride that thinks these are owned: our body and spirits belong to God (1CORINTHIANS 6:20). The greatest person is the servant of all, the Scripture says (MATTHEW 23:11). Go to church to give rather than receive. As you give you will receive back in kind from God directly. God instructed Moses in NUMBERS 10:1-3 to make a trumpet for the purpose of gathering the believers together for assembly at the tabernacle for church. Why would He do this unless He ordained church gathering on a regular basis? The ordinances of feasts in Old Testament times were all directed to the assembly, not just to the individual. The Scriptures say the Old Testament was written for our learning (ROMANS 15:4). How can a family be separated from itself (EPHESIANS 3;15)? If it does so it is dysfunctional. Dysfunction is sin. The Good News is that Jesus has overcome sin (ROMANS 8:2)! The last verse of the Old Testament describes lack of mentoring as a curse (Malachi 4:6). How can one be mentored without assembly? There is strength in numbers and unity, even non-Christians know this. Church is a place where everyone is doing the same thing you are: worshiping God. If you were to ask God if He wanted you to go to church, do you honestly think He would say no? He does not contradict Himself. He wont say one thing to your heart and something contradictory in Scripture. The Scripture is a more sure Word of prophecy (2PETER 1:19), meaning, if there is a contradiction between your heart and the Scripture, the Scripture should take preeminence. The Bible speaks of satan and demons as being enemies of God and His people (1PETER 5:8). Their agenda is to kill the believer if possible; to steal property, health, and relationships away from them; and to destroy everything and anything associated with them (JOHN 10:10). There is therefore a war going on between the church and satans demonic forces. A Christian believer outside a church body is an easy target for him. If one can draw an analogy of a wartime situation, if a platoon of soldiers is in enemy territory fighting the enemy and one of its members gets lost or straggles behind, the enemy sees this and easily shoots and kills this individual with little or no resistance. The enemy will probably receive little or no retaliation from the other platoon members. Why? Because they are not together and dont even realize that one of their members has been shot. There is strength in numbers and cohesion. Satan hates unity. ECCLESIASTES 4:9-12 says, Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labor. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falls; for he has not another to help him up. Again, if two lie together, then they have heat: but how can one be warm alone? And if one prevail against him, two shall withstand him; and a threefold cord is not quickly broken. So, the answer to the question of what is church, it is an assembly of believers in Christ Jesus who regularly meet together for reasons of prayer, worship and instruction. Strictly speaking, it does not involve a church building. These assemblies may meet in a school auditorium, in private homes, or public owned facilities. They are recognized and mandated by God. They are not simply believers meeting together without oversight. They have an authority structure ordained by God. EPHESIANS 4:11 says, And (God) gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the encouraging and building up of the Body of Christ. Christ is the Head of any believer, but God has ordained that believers called to be apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, or teachers are there to run the local church, whether it embodies a handful of individuals or thousands.
Posted on: Mon, 04 Nov 2013 08:47:19 +0000
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