"Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 3:13-14)
Do
you remember the all-time low in the history of intercession? Jesus asked His inner circle of disciples to
wait in the garden while He went a little farther to pour out His soul to the
Father as He looked toward His imminent death on the cross.
Within minutes, the three disciples were sound asleep. Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. "Could you men not keep watch with me
for one hour?Watch and pray so
that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the body is
weak."
(Matthew 26:40-41)
The
Greek term for watch literally refers to staying awake. So essentially, Jesus was saying, "Couldn't you stay awake with me even
one hour? Wake up and pray!”I
cannot imagine the disappointment Jesus must have felt. As for the disciples, they were missing the
action during one of the most important moments in biblical history.
I wonder how many times I have missed what God was doing because I dozed off
when I should have moved forward on my knees to the front lines of the battle.
Can God change your life?
God has made it possible for you
to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.
“And let us
consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving
up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one
another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:24-25)
In our consumer culture, I'm not surprised that people
treat church like a product. But I
confess I am surprised how long time, faithful churchgoers can suddenly “kick
the habit” with apparently little regret! Whether it’s a recent, young seminary graduate
who was training to be a church leader or a middle-aged individual who just got
tired of putting up with someone or something undesirable in their local
congregation, people are abandoning regular church attendance in record
numbers.
Many New Testament passages describe local congregations
of God's people conducting regular meetings to worship God and study His word.
(See Acts 20:7; 11:26; 1 Corinthians 11:17-34; Hebrews 10:25). These meetings are intended to provide
blessings and opportunities that benefit those who attend.
In the context of growing persecution of Christians in
Rome in the early-to-mid-60s, one could almost understand why Jewish believers
might want to play down their distinctives as followers of Jesus and retreat to
a form of worship indistinguishable from Orthodox Judaism. Once Nero unleashed his official,
state-sponsored persecution against Christians in 64 AD, they would be immune
from imprisonment and martyrdom.
Today, one can sympathize with believers from North Korea
and China to Iran and Afghanistan to Morocco and the Maldives, who might likewise
hide their Christian identities and not gather regularly for worship and
instruction with other believers, lest they be arrested and/or killed.
Strangely, it is exactly in such circumstances where we
also hear stories of great faith, great perseverance, and great sacrifice for
the sake of Christ and fellow Christians, including for gathering together with
them. It’s here in the U.S., in the
Western world more generally, where so much less is at stake that we offer up
such pathetic reasons for not joining together with fellow believers on a
regular, weekly basis. And almost all of
the excuses are anthropocentric rather than Christocentric. That’s a fancy way of saying we’ve reworded
the well-known praise song to make it say, “It’s all about me, Lord,” rather
than “It’s all about you, Jesus!”
We all know the excuses. We don’t like the style of worship or music. We don’t like the preaching. We don’t like the new time for Sunday school. We don’t like the way the church spends our
money. More seriously, we don’t like
certain people we have to see when we go there. The list seems almost endless. Yet the other irony is that we in the West,
especially in the United States, have more choices of churches than anyone has
ever had anywhere else in the history of the world!
Before the arrival of modern transportation, the two
major criteria for why a person belonged to church x (rather than church y) was
because it was (a) the closest church to where they lived (b) in their
denomination. Before the Protestant
Reformation, only (a) applied, except in those comparatively few places where
both Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy existed side-by-side. One generally learned to work things out with
the same group of people over a long period of time.
Today we are victims of our overabundance of choices. Now hear me well. I’m grateful for those choices. There do come times when churches have
substantially changed their beliefs or practices that for a person to be
faithful to their own basic convictions they must move to a different
congregation. If that happens, then
move! But don’t just stop going
anywhere.
Now, please understand, when I say that “church” as the
New Testament defines it can be a house-church, it can be independent of all
denominational affiliation, and it can take many creative forms and gather at
many different times.
I’m not saying all believers have to gather on Sunday
morning, in a distinctive church building, with one prescribed order of
service. Not by a long shot. But consider the implied arrogance by the
person who claims to be a Christian, claims to be in submission to Scripture, and yet also claims that no
existing expressions of Christianity anywhere close to them are sufficiently
God-pleasing for them to favor those gatherings with their presence!
Hebrews supplies the key to how to change one’s attitude in
such situations. One goes to church not
for what one can get, but what one can give. Spur one another on toward love and good works
and encourage one another.
In evaluating your church attendance, here are some
questions you should honestly ask yourself:
1. Am I really putting God first - before my own desires,
before my family, and before everything else in life?
2. Am I genuinely sorry when I must miss - or would I
really rather be doing something else instead of going?
3. Would I honestly be fulfilling my duty to God as well
by not going as I would be by going?
4. If some "emergency" would keep me from
attending, would the same circumstances keep me from other activities that are
of great importance to me?
5. Am I seeking to do as much as I can for the Lord, or
am I just trying to "get by" with minimal service?
6. If everyone else - including my family and loved ones
- were to imitate my attendance, would they please God?
Whether or not one is regular in attendance all depends
on whether or not he is really dedicated to God. If he is not dedicated, he
will probably miss services. If he is really dedicated, he will want so much to
attend that you could hardly keep him away!
“They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to
the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (Act 2:42)
Can God change your life?
God has made it possible for you
to know Him, and experience an amazing
change in your own life.
