THIS
MONTH’S TOUGH TEXT IS ONE THAT HAS been close to my heart for most of my thirty-five
years of ministry. It has also been a cause of great
burden—not the text itself, of course, but rather its
implications and the lack of impact those implications
seem to have on many believers. Our text
declares:
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.
Dear Christian
Friend, I would like to speak to you from two
perspectives. First, I would speak from a teacher’s
mind, carefully examining the text exegetically and
historically, for that must always come first. Second,
however, I want to speak to you from a pastor’s
heart, sharing with you the
profound implications of this principle both in the
Christian’s experience and the life of the
church.
From a
Teacher’s Mind
While the recipients of
Hebrews has been debated, there is no doubt that the
audience was predominantly Jewish. The chief point of
the letter—which reads more like a sermon than a
letter—is the superiority of Christ (note the repetition
of “better” throughout) over the levitical system. It is
devoid of all things Gentile and is aimed solely at
Jewish Christians to encourage them not to return to the
old system, a system that has been rendered null and
void because of the fulfillments of it in
Christ.
Turning to our text, then,
there was for some reason a tendency among these Jewish
believers to neglect meeting together for
worship. There have been several theories offered as to
what this reason was. Perhaps they didn’t think it was
important, perhaps it was due to apostasy, or perhaps
they simply had no interest in it.
One strong possibility was
that they were dissatisfied with other church members.
While the congregations were mostly Jewish, there would
have been at least some Gentiles, since the “middle wall
of partition” between them had been “broken down” by
Christ (Eph. 2:14). The Jews had always been exclusive,
however, and despised other nations. It’s quite
possible, as Calvin puts it, that “the Gentiles were a
new and unwonted addition to the Church,”[i] causing many to forsake
attendance altogether.
Another strong
possibility—and we think it possible that more than one
of these reasons existed—was that they simply feared
persecution. Persecution is referred to, in fact,
further down in the passage (vs. 32–39; 12:4). It is
reasonable to assume that this applied even to meetings
in house churches, as the Romans, like all
dictatorships, were suspicious of private
meetings.
The challenge,
therefore, given to these believers was not to
[forsake] the
assembling of [them]selves
together. The language here is significant.
First, assembling
is episunagoge. The root sunagoge
(assembly or congregation), of course, was the name of
the Jewish gathering, which is transliterated directly
into the English synagogue.
Many Bible students believe that it was during the
Babylonian captivity that the system of synagogue
worship was instituted due to the absence of the Temple.
Added to
this root, then, is the preposition epi, which
fundamentally differentiates this gathering from the
strictly Jewish one. As one Greek authority submits:
“The preposition epí,
“to,” must refer to Christ Himself as the one to whom
this assembly was attached. Thus it would have the
meaning of not betraying one’s attachment to Jesus
Christ and other believers, not avoiding one’s own
personal responsibility as part of the body of
Christ.”[ii]
That picture is all
the more evident in the only other New Testament
occurrence of episunagoge: “Now we beseech you,
brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by
our gathering together unto
him” (2 Thes. 2:1; emphasis added). This unique word,
then, emphasizes that the Christian congregation is just
that, a gathering of believers in Jesus Christ for the
express purpose of worship, fellowship, and learning
with Him at the center.
Second, is the word forsaking, egkataleipo,.
While the root leipo means “to leave or forsake,”
kataleipo is stronger, as in “leave down, that
is, leave behind or remaining.” Adding the prefix
eg (or en), “in, at,
or by,” further strengthens the word to its fullest: “to
leave behind in any place or state . . . to leave in the
lurch.”[iii]
That
expression “to leave in the lurch” is itself an
interesting one. It “alludes to a
16th-century French dice game,
lourche, where to incur a ‘lurch’ meant to be far
behind the other players. It later was used in cribbage
and other games, as well as being used in its present
figurative sense by about 1600,” as in, “Jane was angry
enough to quit without giving notice, leaving her boss
in the lurch” (The American Heritage®
Dictionary of Idioms).
The strength of
egkataleipo is further seen
in some of its other New Testament occurrences. Paul
uses it to describe Demas, who had once been an active
partner in ministry (Col. 4:14; Phile. 24) but had now
“forsaken” Paul (2 Tim. 4:10). Six verses later Paul
goes on to write that as he sat in prison in Rome,
everyone had deserted him; all had indeed left him in
the lurch. Stronger still, this is also the word Matthew
used of our Lord when He cried from the cross, “My God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt.
27:46).
We should also note
that the construction of this verb in out text is the
present participle, which expresses continuous or
repeated action. There was, therefore, a continuing
habit of staying away from the gathering of the church,
a consistent pattern of forsaking the
church.
So what
does it mean to forsake the assembling of ourselves
together in the local church? It means to abandon those
who remain in the congregation, to leave them in the
lurch. In light of the reasons for leaving noted
earlier, the reason is actually irrelevant. Because of
that truth, one
commentator pulls no punches with his very first comment
on this verse:
One of the first
indications of a lack of love toward God and the
neighbor is for a Christian to stay away from the
worship services. He forsakes the communal obligations
of attending these meetings and displays the symptoms of
selfishness and self-centeredness.[iv]
Those are strong words,
indeed, but words that need to be heard in our day. They
lead us, in fact, to our second emphasis.
From a
Pastor’s Heart
Dear Christian
Friend, this issue is not a minor one. On the contrary,
this is an extremely serious matter that every true
pastor is burdened by. Commenting on our text, R. Kent
Hughes shares his pastor’s heart when he
writes:
People have a thousand
reasons to stay away from church. This is not a new
problem. The early Jewish church had had a fall-off in
attendance due to persecution, ostracism, apostasy, and
arrogance. Today persecution and ostracism may not be
our experience, but people find many other reasons to
absent themselves from worship, not the least of which
is laziness. But de-churched Christians have always been
an aberration, as Cyprian, Augustine, Luther, Calvin,
and the various classic confessions repeatedly
affirm.[v]
John Gill is equally
candid: “This evil practice arises sometimes from a vain
conceit of being in no need of ordinances, and from an
over love of the world.”[vi] Commentator and professor
E. Schuyler English also effectively “meddles” into the
life of such Christians: “Point out a man or a woman who
does not desire communion with other Christians, and you
are pointing to one whose spiritual condition is low and
whose testimony for Christ is weak indeed.”[vii]
Speaking from my own
heart, in all my years of ministry, I have never quite
gotten past this oddity. I simply don’t understand it. I
have seen countless things come before church, proving
that such attendance is not only not the priority but is
also flippantly considered as “no big deal.” I’ve seen
Christians abandon church for any number of reasons. We
could make a list, but such a list would go on ad
infinitum, ad nauseam. It would
be far better if we each examine ourselves to see where
our priority lies. One I just can’t resist mentioning,
however, is the lady I once heard say, “Oh, I can’t be
at church tonight because I’m getting my hair done.”
If I may also say from my
heart, I lovingly submit that there is something
seriously wrong with the Christian whose priority is not
faithful, consistent attendance in the local church. I
know that might sound intolerant—or even that most
terrible of words “legalistic”—but such nonchalance
about unfaithfulness is a staggering contradiction. What
can possibly be more important than our attendance in
the local church, where we worship, fellowship, and
receive the essential nourishment of God’s Word?
I would, therefore,
offer seven reasons for not forsaking the
assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some
is.
To Obey
Christ
This is first and
actually should be enough. We have seen in our text that
such attendance is not to be neglected. To neglect it,
therefore, to abandon it and “leave it in the lurch,” is
simple disobedience. Attendance in the local church is
repeatedly assumed (Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1Cor 5:4; 11:17;
11:18; 11:20; 14:23; 16:2). While there will certainly
be times of illness, the yearly vacation, or the
unforeseen emergency that keeps us away from church,
these are the few exceptions that prove the consistent
rule.
To Praise and
Worship Our God
While the common
attitude in our day is that the local church is a place
for entertainment and the meeting of our “felt needs,”
it is on the contrary, first and foremost, the place for
corporate worship.
David’s words in
that well known verse lay an Old Testament foundation:
“I will dwell in the house of the lord for ever”
(Ps. 23:6b). The Hebrew behind “dwell” (yašab) primarily
means to sit (Gen. 27:19; Ex. 11:5; 2 Sam. 19:8; etc.).
Several other meanings include “to inhabit, endure, or
stay,” but the most common is “to dwell” (e.g., Lam.
5:19, “remainest”).
Significantly, the Septuagint
renders yašab?
here, and elsewhere, as the Greek
katoikeo,
“to inhabit a house.” Elsewhere (e.g. Ps.
102:12), yašab?
is translated
meno, which denotes remaining in one
place, keeping an agreement, and remaining valid, as in
a law. The clear truth in all this, then, is permanence,
continually dwelling in a place. Does
not David, therefore, teach us about attendance in
corporate worship? He speaks of spending the rest of his
life worshipping God in the Tabernacle. Should that not
encourage and challenge us? R. Kent Hughes again
writes:
We meet Christ in a special way
in corporate worship. It is true that a person does not
have to go to church to be a Christian. He does not have
to go home to be married either. But in both cases if he
does not, he will have a very poor
relationship.
To Hear the
Word of God
One of the most important
reasons for our consistent attendance in the local
church is that it is here we receive the teaching of the
Word of God. The primary reason the office gifts were
given (Eph. 4:11) was “for the perfecting of the saints,
for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the
body of Christ” (v. 12).
“Perfecting” translates
katartismos, which occurs only here in the
New Testament. The root artismos
comes from
the related word artios (English artist) and means suitable, complete, capable, sound.
With the intensifying prefix
kata, “according to,” the meaning of
katartismos is very instructive: “to put in
order, restore, furnish, prepare, equip.” It was,
therefore, the responsibility of the “apostle” and
“prophet” in that day and is the responsibility of the
“evangelist” and “pastor-teacher” today to put in order,
restore, furnish, prepare, and equip the
saints.
I am reminded often
of a military illustration. As soldiers are trained as a
combat unit at a specific training facility, Christians
are likewise trained in a specific place. What would be
the result if soldiers were as unfaithful to their
training sessions as some Christians are to the church?
What would that do to the quality of the unit in both
combat readiness and morale? Likewise, we are in a war,
and we are not only required to be in training,
but we should also want such
training because of the ferocity of the
war.
To illustrate another way,
what if we were as unfaithful to our daily job as we are
to the local church? How long would we have that job?
Consider David
again: “Behold, I have longed after thy precepts” (Ps.
119:40a). In stark contrast to the common dismissing of
church today, David’s use of the words “longed after”
are most instructive. The Hebrew ta’ab appears only twice in the Old
Testament, both of which are right here in Psalm 119.
David declares in verse 174, “I have longed for thy
salvation, O LORD; and thy law is my delight.” A
derivative (ta’abâ) occurs once more back in verse
20: “My soul breaketh for the longing that it hath unto
thy judgments at all times.” This word speaks of an
intense hunger, and David was broken hearted when
deprived of God’s Word. How many of us are broken
hearted when we can’t be under the preaching and
teaching of the Word? Mark it down: the consistent
Christian is one who has an insatiable appetite for
God’s Word.
To Edify
Yourself
Another
critical reason for faithful church attendance is that
of your personal edification. Returning to Ephesians
4:11–12, our Lord gave the office gifts not only
“for the perfecting of the saints, for the work
of the ministry,” but also “for the edifying of the body
of Christ.” The Greek oikodome, along with its other forms, is
a compound word comprised of oikos, “house or dwelling,” and
doma, “to build.” While the entire
body of Christ, of course, is in view here, individuals
comprise that body, so each is vital to the structure,
which in-turn can obviously be applied to the local
church. No single building material is isolated from the
rest in building a literal house; none is meant to stand
alone. Likewise, it is vital that every believer be
present for God’s use in building.
If I may change
analogies, I read of a pastor who visited a man
who wasn’t attending church very faithfully. It was a
cold, winter day, so they sat by a fire and warmed
themselves as they talked. To this irregular attendee
the pastor said, “My friend, I don’t see you at church
on the Lord’s Day. You seem to come only when it’s
convenient, or only when you feel like you need to come.
You miss so very often . . . I wish you’d come all the
time.” The man didn’t seem to be getting the message, so
the pastor said, “Let me show you something.” He then
took the tongs from beside the fireplace, pulled open
the screen, and began to separate all the coals so that
none of them were touching each other. In a matter of
moments, the blazing coals had all died out. “My
friend,” he said, “that is what’s happening in your
life. As soon as you isolate yourself, the fire goes
out.” Likewise, the Christian will not survive alone out
in this world.
One commentator puts it
still another way: “We Christians are like short-lived
radioactive isotopes; we have a very short half-life.
Get us away from the worship of God with other saints
and our radioactivity dissipates quickly and we lose our
effective radiance.”[viii]
To Encourage
Your Pastor
I can tell you from
personal experience, there are few things that
discourage and grieve a pastor more than seeing
Christians who are sporadic in their attendance.
Scripture calls him a shepherd, and like a literal
shepherd he wonders where in the world his sheep are
when they are absent from the fold. He is concerned
because those sheep need nourishment but have wandered
from the rich pasture where the food is waiting. He is
concerned because there are predators just waiting for
such a moment to pick off a wandering sheep that is
completely oblivious to the danger. The biblical pastor
spends the majority of his time in the Word of God so he
can feed those sheep. So when they don’t care to show up
to hear what God has laid on his heart, it grieves his
spirit. If I may confess, more than once I have thought,
“What’s the point in going on?” but I then remember that
God simply demands our faithfulness (1 Cor. 4:2) not our success or even our
attendance numbers.
To Encourage
Other Believers
Many
people feel they can worship God by being out in nature
or by viewing a church service on television. But what
of other believers? What about the other
Christian soldiers in our company? Just as literal
soldiers depend upon one another, so do we. We encourage
each other in spiritual combat. We love, encourage, and
protect each other. Those who just shrug this off by not
“showing up” discourage the others that do. Consider
this often quoted statement by Martin Luther: “At
home, in my own house, there is no warmth or vigor in
me, but in the church when the multitude is gathered
together a fire is kindled in my heart and it breaks its
way through.”
To Be a
Testimony to Others
I again have grieved when
I’ve seen Christians forsake their responsibility of
church attendance in such a way that unbelievers see it.
I have seen many other things take precedence even
though unbelievers at those times knew that the
Christians involved missed church to be there. What
message does that send? How is this a testimony of our
commitment and love for Christ? Is our faith and
spiritual life important only when it is convenient and
doesn’t interfere with our schedule? Is our church life
just a satellite that revolves around everything else,
or does everything else revolve around it? What is
really at the core of our “universe”?
Finally, our text
goes on to declare: exhorting one another: and
so much the more, as ye see the day
approaching. Which day is approaching? The
views vary: death, the last judgment, the destruction of
Jerusalem, heightened persecution, or Christ’s Second
Coming. While I lean toward one of the latter two
(perhaps even a combination of the two), in the final
analysis does it really matter in practice? The point is
that whichever event is in view, that event is
approaching.
This is the Greek eggízo¯, “to bring near, to be at hand.”
Today we might say, “It’s just around the next corner.”
In light of that impending day, then, we should be
exhorting
one another (parakaleo), that is, comforting,
beseeching, admonishing, and even imploring one another
in this area of faithfulness to the assembly. As one
commentator submits:
To neglect Christian
meetings is to give up the encouragement and help of
other Christians. We gather together to share our faith
and to strengthen one another in the Lord. As we get
closer to the day when Christ will return, we will face
many spiritual struggles, and even times of persecution.
Anti-Christian forces will grow in strength.
Difficulties should never be excuses for missing church
services. Rather, as difficulties arise, we should make
an even greater effort to be faithful in attendance.
(Life Application Study Bible)
Dear Christian Friend, is
there any doubt as to the critical importance of
faithful attendance in the local church?
Dr. J. D.
Watson
Pastor-Teacher
Grace Bible Church
NOTES
[i]
Commentaries, note on Heb.
10:25.
[ii] Spiros Zodhiates, The
Complete Word Study Dictionary: New Testament (AMG
Publishers), p. 640 (entry 1997).
[iii] Zodhiates, p. 499 (entry
1459)
[iv] William Hendrickson and Simon
Kistemaker, Baker’s New Testament Commentary
(Baker, 1984), electronic edition, comment on Heb.
10:25.
[v] R. Kent Hughes, Preaching the
Word: Hebrews, Volume 2, An Anchor For The Soul
(Crossway Books, 1993), electronic
edition.
[vi] John Gill, Exposition of the
Old and New Testaments, electronic edition, comment
on Heb. 10:25.
[vii] E. Schuyler English, Studies
in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Findlay, OH: Dunham
Publishing Company, 1955), p. 315.
[viii] Lloyd J. Ogilvie (Ed.), The
Preacher's Commentary (Thomas Nelson, 1982-1992),
electronic edition, note on Heb.
10:25.
