Wrestling with God over Church Attendance

Good morning everyone and welcome and especially welcome to our visitors today. We’ve had several with us and we’re glad to see you here and we thank Edward for that lesson this or for his song leading this morning. I’m giving the lesson obviously.

Things have been a little interesting lately with the football season starting and so I haven’t had much sleep, so I may misspeak this morning more than I usually do, but that’s something I can work on, and I hope that you’ll follow along with me today as we study through God’s Word. We’re going to continue our series of lessons this morning on wrestling with God.

Wrestling with God, you may remember, it’s based on 1 Corinthians 9, verse 25, which says, and everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. This word competes is a word that means to wrestle and we wrestle in our life so that we can then obtain that imperishable crown that God wants us to have. And so we are wrestling with God, so to speak. Obviously, when we’re wrestling with God, you know, we’re trying to align our values with God’s values. We’re trying to be more like Him. And things in this life confront us and then we have to wrestle them off, you know, so that we can come back to God and be more like God within our lives.

And so we’ve been talking about this in reference to different topics, and this morning, we’re going to talk about wrestling with God over church attendance. Now, that’s something that nobody wrestles with, right? Of course, we all wrestle with that from time to time, and it’s something that we face, you know, when we’re traveling or when we’re out on the road, sometimes the temptation is there. Well, maybe I won’t go to church today. Or maybe sometimes when we’re at home, you know, and we’re just kind of burdened by a lot of things and it’s time to go to church. And we think, well, maybe I need a break. Well, do we? And then sometimes we just get tempted not to go. And I know that maybe that’s a temptation that’s different for some than it is for others. Some people have already made that decision. And you know what? There’s not a temptation there for them. But for others, There’s temptation, you know, to do other things rather than to attend the services of the church.

Well, let’s talk about that this morning a little bit. We’re going to begin with Hebrews chapter 10 and verses 24 and 25, which says, And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 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 you know the book of Hebrews is a wonderful book and it’s it talks about encouraging people not to return to judaism and there were Christians in the first century who were also Jews and they were being persecuted. Hebrews 10 and verses 32 and 34 and chapter 12 and verse 4 tells us they were being persecuted by their own Jewish brethren in some ways. And so some were like, well, I can’t handle this. And so they went back to Judaism and Hebrews chapter 6 and verses 4 through 6 documents the fact that they did that.

And as a result, they left off, many of them left off attending the services of the saints and meeting with the church. And those who were being tempted, who were still coming, were told then in the book of Hebrews, hey, don’t forsake the assembly. Don’t get to that point where you’re not coming anymore to the weekly worship of the church.

And there were good reasons given in the entire book. You should read it sometime. It’s a great book, the book of Hebrews, to encourage Christians to stay faithful to Christ. But this particular verse, inspired by the Holy Spirit, is in the Bible, and it’s one of those verses that teaches us that when we come together as God’s people, we’re doing something important, something that God wants. We’re assembling together, and as a result, we’re stirring up love and good works when we come together in the assembly, and so it’s important. Attendance is important. You know, I did a quick check this morning on Facebook. I did a hashtag attendance just to see what came up, and you know, there was over one million hashtags on attendance, and I was like, why is there so many hashtags on attendance? And a lot of it has to do with the school systems. You know, they encourage attendance because children can’t learn if they’re not in the classroom. And then there’s other reasons why attendance is important for the school systems. But we recognize that attendance is important in certain secular contexts. Well, why wouldn’t it be important for the Lord’s church, a context that is so much higher and holier and spiritual and of general more eternal significance than that of a secular organization. Well, it is important, and we want to talk about that this morning as we think about wrestling with God over church attendance. Now, we wrestle with God over church attendance when we ignore God’s command because it is a command for us to assemble together on the first day of the week let’s look at that passage Hebrews 10 verses 24 through 25 again the command is this let us consider one another that’s the command So we have the command here, let us consider.

And so attendance is about taking consideration of other people. And then we have how we’re supposed to carry out that command in the next part of these verses. The how-to, if you will. How do we carry out the command to consider one another? By, number one, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together. And number two, by exhorting one another. Obviously, if you don’t come here and participate in the assembly, you can’t exhort me.

You can’t encourage me because you’re not here to do that. And how do we exhort and encourage one another? Well, by our very presence, for one. But then through the singing, we also exhort and encourage one another. We encourage and exhort one another when we all partake of the Lord’s Supper together, when we all give, when we offer those prayers together, we’re encouraging and exhorting one another. But we can’t do that if we’re not here to do it. And so we need to consider each other and really think about not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together because it is God’s command. And when we carry out God’s commands, we demonstrate love for God and we demonstrate love for one another. 1 John 5 verses 2 and 3 says this, 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. Do we love God? If we do, then we’re going to keep His commandments and one of those commandments is for us to assemble together on the first day of the week. And so we have some positive examples of church attendance. For example, in Acts chapter 11 and verse 26, it says, as we think about this, consider one another to stir up love and good works. From Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 24, but then in Acts chapter 11 and verse 26, 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. So here’s an example in the New Testament of regular church attendance. For a whole year they assembled with the church. Was that mean they came and stayed at the church building for 365 days and never left?

No, that’s not what it’s talking about, obviously. The assembly of the church met every first day of the week. We’ll get to that in a moment. But they did that regularly for a whole year. They assembled with the church in whatever assemblies they had in addition to that first day of the week assembly. And that was something that they wanted to do and something they continued to do every week as they had that opportunity to do that. In James chapter 2 and verse 2, James talks about one coming into your assembly. And there was an assembly in which one might come in. And that was a regular assembly, an assembly that the church met together for. And people were coming in, visitors were coming in. And then how do we respond to those visitors was the question that James is discussing there in James 2 and verse 2.

First Corinthians 14 verse 23, Paul writes about that the whole church came together in one place and that was done very regularly. In fact, in chapter 16, I believe it is, in verse 3, he talks about how that they were supposed to give every first day of the week and that tells us that they met every first day of the week to do that and so they hope the whole church came together and that’s important you know that the whole church comes together you know sometimes we wonder well maybe we should do something with the kids separate from the rest of the church or maybe we should do something for others separate for the rest of the church you know give them something special well there needs to be at least one assembly where the whole church comes together the kids the parents the adults the older members everyone we need to be together as a whole church at least once a week you know we can do other things at other times that’s fine but there needs to be at least one assembly where the whole church comes together. 1 Corinthians 14 and verse 23.

Now Paul told Timothy in 1 Timothy 1 and verse 13 that you hold fast the pattern of sound words which you have heard from me in faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. And so that part of that pattern of sound words is that assembling of the church together. 2 Thessalonians 2 15, Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. This is part of the pattern of the church in the New Testament for us to assemble together, and we need to follow that pattern.

1 Peter 4, verse 11, 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 well we want to speak as the oracles of God and the oracles of God tell us let’s get together and assemble on the first day of the week well secondly as we think about church attendance assembling matters assembling is important and when we think about assembling together and wrestling with God over church attendance we wrestle with him we really wrestle with him when we ignore church unity and church unity is part of our attendance as well and to forsake the assembly means to ignore church unity and so we don’t want to do that we want to participate in church unity we want to encourage church unity we want to be a united body as God’s people. In fact, the word church itself means assembly. The Greek word is ekklesia, and it is composed of two words, the word out and the word to call. And so when you call people out, you call them out and into an assembly. And so that’s what the word church means. Acts chapter 2 verse 47 says the Lord added to the church or the assembly daily those who were being saved. Acts 19 verse 32 and 41 that the word church is used in a secular context to describe an assembly of people at Athens. I’m sorry at Ephesus and so there is an assembly discuss there. So this is the word for assembly. The word church means assembly, and we want to understand when we use the word church, we’re talking about God’s assembly, God’s people, God’s church. You know, those are all very closely related concepts. But look at 1 Corinthians 12 verses 24 through 26 when we think about the church being united and the question we want to ask is how can we be united as a church how can we assemble if we’re divided and of course we want the assembly gives us that unity that we need first Corinthians 12 says but God composed the body having given greater honor to the 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 how can we be united together if we don’t know what’s going on with one another and that weekly assembly is where we can help one another it’s where we can learn about each other it’s where we can grow together. God doesn’t want there to be schisms in the body. What’s a schism? It’s a division.

It’s a cutting off of certain parts of the body. And, you know, just like I have awareness of my body, you know, if I were to stub my toe, I would know that. If something were to happen to my hand, I would know that because I have a united body. And we as Christians in the church trying to be the assembly that God wants us to be, when we come together, we get that ability then to check on one another, see how each other are doing, and to help one another as we have the opportunity. In 1 Corinthians 3.3, they had divisions. And Paul said, you are still carnal because of these divisions. Where there is envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?

And so God is calling us out of the mindset of just serving self, just living for self. And he’s calling us into the mindset of participating in something greater than who we are individually. And so unity means that we assemble together as one body.

1 Corinthians 12 and verse 12, 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. And we become and we are Christ’s body when we assemble together.

Romans 12 and verse 5, So we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. We are partakers of one another. And as we assemble together, we affirm that unity. We affirm the wonderful relationship we have to Christ in God.

And so church unity means that we need to assemble together. And then finally, as we think about this last point this morning, When we wrestle with God over church attendance, we ignore, and wrestling by means of fighting with God, in that sense, we ignore true worship because God wants us to worship, and he wants us to bring ourselves together with the church to worship, and that is part of what we need as God’s people and what we need as human beings, really, in a lot of ways. In John 4, verses 23 and 24, Jesus said this, But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. For the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.

God is seeking such to worship Him. God wants us to worship Him, and He wants people who want to worship to worship Him. And when we worship, it’s really good for us and it’s really helpful for how we order our lives and how we come together as God’s people. And that worship is done in the assembly. And there are certain aspects of our worship that can’t be done unless we are in the assembly together.

Let’s talk about some of those for a moment. First of all, let’s talk about the Lord’s Supper. You know, as we partake of the Lord’s Supper, that’s something we’re supposed to do in the assembly. In 1 Corinthians 11, verses 17, 18, 20, 33, 34, Paul uses this expression, come together. When you come together, he uses that again and again and again. And why is that? Because that was when they partook of the Lord’s Supper, when they came together. The Lord’s Supper is supposed to be observed as a body. We’re supposed to be together when we do that to affirm our fellowship, to affirm our commitment to Christ, to affirm that we are in communion with Christ and with one another.

And that is something we do together as a body of people. We also sing when we come together in worship. And that’s something that we can sing individually, but we can’t teach one another and admonish one another and exhort one another and encourage one another separately. We may sing individually at home by ourselves and encourage ourselves, but you can’t encourage your brother or your sister by singing unless they are in your presence. And so we’ve got to come together for that also. Ephesians 5 verse 19 says, speaking to one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord. And Colossians 3 16 says, 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. There’s just some things that can’t be done, that are talked about in the Bible, they can’t be done unless we’re together to do them. And singing is one of those things as we consider our worship in song. And how about when we exhort one another as well as God’s people? In Acts chapter 2 and verse 1, it says, when the day of Pentecost had fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. They were all together in one place because they wanted to be together. They loved one another. They appreciated one another and they wanted to encourage one another. And Acts chapter 2 and verse 40 says, with many other words, he testified and exhorted them saying, be saved from this perverse generation. So many other words he testified, he exhorted, but we can’t get exhortation if we’re not together we’ve got to be together to exhort one another and so God ordained the church to get together and he ordained the church to get together on every first day of the week. Acts chapter 20 and verse 7 teaches us that it was that first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread that is to observe the Lord’s Supper to encourage one another to exhort one another to do all the things that they needed to do together as God’s people. And this was done every first day of the week. And so we meet at least every first day of the week as Christians to do these things. Well, someone might say, well, what about Sunday night and Wednesday night? Well, what about those days of the week? Well, or those times, I should say, well, those are other times for us to get together as God’s people, and you know, that is something that our leaders have established for us, that our elders have said, you know what, we want to do what the Lord wants, but we also think that it’s important for us to have other times to assemble together other than just the first day of the week. And so that Wednesday night service, you know, is important.

Why? Because our elders want us to do that. And we’re supposed to cooperate with our leadership. Hebrews 13 and verse 17 says, Obey those who rule over you and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls as those who must give account. Let them do so with joy and not with grief, for that would be unprofitable for you now we all recognize that there are times when we can’t meet with the church for one reason or another maybe we’re out of town maybe we have a sickness and I’m talking about the local body maybe there’s always the opportunity to meet and be a guest at someone else’s congregation that would be great if you did that but there’s times when we have things that come up and sometimes we can’t but the general tenor of our life needs to be that we’re going to assemble with church on the first day of the week because we want to be there we want to worship God we want to encourage one another I want to see you I like seeing you y’all are my favorite people believe it or not and I know I don’t act like that sometimes but you are and I love you and I hope you feel that way about me also because that’s what God wants. That’s how God wants us to feel about one another and when we come together on the first day of the week that’s something that we can express and that’s something that we can work on together. And so that is how we need to be thinking about this issue of wrestling with church attendance you know we don’t want to wrestle with God over this we want to obey God over this because God has a command and his command is for us to assemble together because the unity of the church is important and we want to affirm that unity and finally because God is seeking true worshipers and we want to be true worshipers let’s not wrestle with God over the issue of church attendance we may wrestle with ourself on that but you know what we need to give way to God when it comes to this issue well what about you today how has your church attendance be and I’m probably speaking to the wrong crowd here about that because you are here and that’s good and we’re glad that you’re here, but we want to think about that, you know, and let that inform our minds and encourage us to be the kind of people that God wants us to be when it comes to church attendance. If there’s something that one needs to ask for prayers about this morning because of some challenges in that regard, we would be happy to pray for you. Or maybe you’re not a Christian. And maybe you’re thinking, you know what, this is something that I really need to get involved with. And to get involved with that, you need to become a child of God. You need to become a Christian. And the Bible teaches us that, you know, like we read about there in Acts chapter 2, that when Peter said, repent, be baptized, every one of you, they were added to the church. They were added to the church. And maybe you need to be added to the church today through hearing his word and believing it, repenting of your sin, confessing Jesus as Lord and being baptized.

That’s how you’re added to the church, how God adds you to the church. And you can be added to the Lord’s church today if that is your desire. While together we stand and sing.

End of transcript. Thank you for reading along!