WWJD By Dr. Richard Youngblood
Question: Do Christians have to go to church every time
the church meets? What would Jesus do?
Jesus would not say “going to church every
time the church meets” is a “have to” matter.
Instead, he would teach us about the purpose and benefits that can come
from assembling with fellow-believers. A
“have to” attitude can lead to a spirit of resentment. With this attitude, one may be present in
body but absent in heart because he/she does not want to be there. Jesus would encourage his followers to serve
God everyday out of a sincere faith and love from the heart instead of trying
to meet legal demands about what we “have to” do (Romans 7:6).
With regard to meeting together with the
church regularly, consider the attitude expressed in Hebrews 10:22-25. Four times the Hebrew writer used the words
“let us”: “let us draw near to God,”
“let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,” “let us consider how we may
spur one another on toward love and good deeds” and “let us not give up meeting
together.” Each of these is an appeal to
the hearts of Christians and not a command. They are not approached as something
Christians “have to” do but as opportunities to participate in blessings from
God. However, if one does not see these
things as blessings, he will not willingly respond to these appeals. Let’s look at these appeals more closely.
The last appeal, “let us not give up
meeting together,” is the key to fulfilling the previous three appeals. While we can “draw near to God” and “hold to
our hope” through private worship, the regular gathering with the church is
designed to enhance our nearness to God and hope of eternal life in his
presence. The group singing, prayers,
communion and study of God’s word can take us to a level of spirituality that
we may miss if we do not have this interaction with other believers. At the same time, private worship is
important to our worship together. We
need to see our private worship of God as providing something for us to bring
to share with others when we meet together.
The third appeal, “let us spur one another
on toward love and good works” can only be achieved by Christians coming
together with one another. Love and
service toward God and toward one another is at the heart of what it means to
be a follower of Jesus Christ. Jesus
said: “By this all men will know that
you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:35). Beginning with the
words, “Love must be sincere” (Romans
12:9), the apostle Paul gave a list of instructions about Christian attitudes
and actions toward one another. In order
to relate to the God we have not seen, we must learn to love our brothers and
sisters in Christ whon we have seen (1 John 4:20-21). This is an important part of meeting with the
church. It is our opportunity to find
love, encouragement, grace, help, forgiveness, hope and peace. In the church we can find living examples of
faith in time of trial and loving Christians to challenge us to become more
than we may have thought possible. All
of this and more is possible with the help of our Lord and our fellow-believers
who share with us in life’s daily struggles.
Finally, the appeal to
“not give up meeting together” is not a command to never miss any specific
church gathering. It is a loving appeal
to not forsake the habit of regularly meeting with God’s family as you have the
ability and opportunity. It is an appeal
based on the previously mentioned blessings that can come from Christians
meeting together. We have not sinned by
missing a church meeting, but we should not give up the practice of regularly
meeting with our Christian family. If we
do, we will miss out on many blessings God intended for us to receive through
his church.
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