Why the Church Assembles
In our day the church is being minimized and marginalized by society. Satan and his minions are on the attack. Many Christians have taken a passive, take-it-or-leave-it approach. This is not the time for believers to take a step back from church! We live on the edge of eternity and now is the time for every church member to find their place and do their part to advance the cause of Christ. Soon we will see the Founder and give an account of what He gave us to do.
The word church means “a called-out assembly.” While the purpose of the church does not end with the assembly, it does start there. Some people so emphasize that the church must work outside the walls that they neglect the gathering with God’s people. However, it is in the meeting of the New Testament church that the ministry is set in motion. It is as we come together that we are edified. As we grow, we begin to function in this world.
Listen to this Study:
We Are Not To Forsake The Assembling Of Ourselves Together.
Hebrews 10:25 commands, “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” The Lord Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). There is something precious to Christ about His followers assembling. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He often took His disciples aside, by themselves, so He could teach them.
Christ still wants to instruct His followers. Notice what the Bible warns: “…as the manner of some is…” That describes the world we are living in. At the end of the age, when assembling ought to mean more, it seems it means less and less to many of God’s children.
On the average Lord’s Day morning, you can drive through the community and see people doing almost everything except going to meet with God’s people. That is not the Lord’s way.
We Must Exhort One Another.
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhort one another.” This great key helps unlock the purpose for God’s people to assemble. In fact, the previous verse, says, “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works.” In our world today many people look at church selfishly. What can I get out of it? Are my children going to have a good time? How will this benefit us?
We ought to turn the thing around. It should not only be about “what I can get out of the church meeting?” but “what can I contribute?” “How can I be a blessing?” 1 Corinthians 12 tells us that all of the members are connected to the body. All of the members are under the Head of the body, which is the Lord Jesus, but they all contribute to one another.
The Founder Is Coming Back.
All of us are participants. None are dispensable. Find your place in your local assembly. What can you do to make that church all God wants it to be? How can you play your part in that called-out assembly? Pray that your church will move forward to the glory of God.
Notice the powerful ending of Hebrews 10:25: “and so much the more as ye see the day approaching.” What day is the author referring to? It is the day of the Lord’s return. Jesus is coming back. The Founder is about to return. The Head of the church is going to show up. How ashamed we will be for Him to find us totally disconnected from the other members when He arrives. Christ loves the church. Christ bought the church with His blood (Acts 20:28). I want Him to find me in my place, doing exactly what God wants me to do.
Why go to church? Let’s study the example of the early church in the New Testament and note seven Bible reasons we are to assemble.
Here Are Seven Bible Reasons We Go To Church
1. We Assemble To Pray.
This is very important. Begin here. Most people assume the first is preaching, and I love preaching! I love to do it and I love to hear it. We begin with prayer, because God began there. (More on prayer HERE.)
Before His ascension, what did Jesus command His disciples to do? Go to the upper room and pray. In Acts 1:13-14, we read these words:
“And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode both Peter, and James, and John, and Andrew, Philip, and Thomas, Bartholomew, and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotes, and Judas the brother of James. These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”
The first meeting in the New Testament church after the Ascension was not an evangelistic crusade, not a revival meeting, not even a Bible study – it was a prayer meeting. Why? Because prayer sets everything else in motion. When we meet together, we should come together to pray with and for one another. Do not miss this: it is something every believer can do. Men, women, and children can pray. Shy or outgoing, healthy or strong, young or old – all of us can pray. Begin there.
2. We Assemble To Hear The Word Of God
Scripture commands us to”Give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine…” (1 Timothy 4:13). What’s your attitude towards the preaching and teaching of the Word of God? Christians in the New Testament church did not have their own copies of the Scriptures when they came together. Furthermore, the revelation of Scripture was not complete. Yet, there was expectancy when the Bible was read. They heard these inspired writings expounded. Is that same hunger and thirst in us? When we come together to hear the Word of God, it should excite us. (WATCH: “How to Listen to A Sermon“.)
3. We Assemble To Sing
Colossians 3:16 instructs us to speak to and encourage one another “in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.” The Bible says, “speaking to one another.” We speak to ourselves when we sing. We speak to God when we sing. However, we also speak to one another as we sing. We should sing from our hearts to the Lord. (Be sure to listen to 11 Reasons to Sing!)
4. We Assemble To Give
You knew that was going to be mentioned because it is given in Scripture. 1 Corinthians 16:1-2 commands, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.”On the Lord’s Day, bring your tithe and your offerings. Be a cheerful giver. (More on that HERE.)
5. We Assemble To Exhort One Another.
The early church was all about edifying, building up one another. It’s not about me; it’s about us. It’s not about what I can gain, but what I can give. And here’s the beautiful secret: as you give and minister, and exhort. Guess what the Lord does in you? He does the same building up in your heart in life. Everyone is having a hard time – encourage them! (WATCH: The Ministry of Encouragement.)
6. We Assemble To Observe The Ordinances.
God left us with two ordinances: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper.
Only a visible, local church can physically baptize. You also must have a local assembly to administer the Lord’s Table. These are church ordinances. They do not belong to me as an individual. They belong to the local assembly. (Listen to “The Simple Structure of God’s Amazing Work” to discover more.)
7. We Assemble For Fellowship.
At the end of Acts 2, we find a beautiful snapshot of the early New Testament church. Observe Acts 2:42, “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers.”
That passage proceeds to report on the ministry of the Word. Those assemblies of believers set in motion a chain reaction outside the assembly of the church. We carry our faith outside the church walls. But it begins by meeting together. From this, we minister to a lost world around us. Perhaps we are accomplishing so little in this world because the assembly of New Testament churches is crowded out by so many replacements. God’s ideas do not need to be replaced, they need to be followed.
I remember inviting a man to our church one time. His reply: “Oh, I worship God in the woods.” And I said to him, “Wonderful, I worship God in the woods.” And he looked at me a little surprised, and I said, “I don’t go to church simply to worship. I want to worship when I go. I believe in corporate worship, but worship is not a group sport; worship is the individual heart attitude.” You can worship anywhere and everywhere. Yes, you can worship God in your living room; but no, you cannot exhort one another in your living room.
Be Faithful
You cannot be a blessing and help to the whole local church unless you are there. I challenge you today. Belong. Be there. When the church meets together, let it mean something to you to be with God’s people. If the church was so important that Christ died for it, don’t you think our lives ought to stay connected to it?
Make up your mind this Lord’s Day, at the very next appointed meeting of your local assembly, by the grace of God, you will be there.
“Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25).
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