Assembling Matters

1. Read: Hebrews 10:25

2. About the Text:

1) The book of Hebrews concerns Jewish Christians leaving the church.

2) They were being persecuted (Hebrews 10:24, 12:4).

3) Some left and went back to Judaism (Hebrews 6:4-6).

4) As a result, they left off assembling with the church.

5) Those who were being tempted were told not to forsake the assembly.

3. Ref. to S, T, P, O, and A.

1. We have the prohibitive command against abandoning the assembly.

1) “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching” (Hebrews 10:25).

2) “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3).

2. We also have positive examples of assemblies of the church.

1) “And when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. So it was that for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people. And the disciples were first called Christians in Antioch” (Acts 11:26).

2) “For if there should come into your assembly” (James 2:2).

3) “Therefore if the whole church comes together in one place…” (1 Corinthians 14:23).

3. We must do all things according to the pattern set forth in scripture.

1) “Hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me, in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus” (1 Timothy 1:13).

2) “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle” (2 Thessalonians 2:15).

3) “If anyone speaks, let him speak as the oracles of God. If anyone ministers, let him do it as with the ability which God supplies, that in all things God may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom belong the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:11).

1. The word “church” means “Assembly.”

1) It is the Greek word ekklesia.

2) This word is used in Acts 19:32 and 41 to refer to a common assembly in Ephesus.

3) To say the word church in New Testament times was equivalent to saying the word assembly.

2. How can we be united if we are divided?

1) “But God composed the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it, that there should be no schism in the body, but that the members should have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it” (1 Corinthians 12:24-26).

2) “for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?” (1 Corinthians 3:3).

3. Unity means that we assembly together as one body.

1) “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).

2) A body, by definition, is an assembly of parts.

3) “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another” (Romans 12:5).

4. Remember what God said about Adam after he was created: “It is not good that man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18).

1. Do we want to worship God acceptably?

2. Some worship must be done in the assembly.

1) The Lord’s Supper

a. “come together” – 1 Corinthians 11:17, 18, 20, 33, 34

b. The Lord’s Supper was observed as a body.

2) How can we sing to one another outside of an assembly?

a. “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (Ephesians 5:19).

b. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord” (Colossians 3:16).

3) How do we exhort one another outside of an assembly?

a. “When the Day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place” (Acts 2:1).

b. “And with many other words he testified and exhorted them, saying, ‘Be saved from this perverse generation.’” (Acts 2:40).

3. God ordained the church to get together every first day of the week.

1) “Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight” (Acts 20:7).

1. Assembling Matters because . . .

1) God commands it.

2) Unity demands it.

3) Worship requires it.

2. Invitation