Memory Verse: Urging Believers to Attend Church

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. 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.” -Hebrews 10:23-25.

Maybe you’ve heard someone say, “I was brought up to go to church!” If so, listen to find out why. First, it is an admonition from the Word of God on how we should conduct the Christian life—with love for and faithfulness to the church. Jesus said that “upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18). Jesus was referring to the confession Peter made when he said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). To assemble ourselves together with other believers helps us affirm jointly that Christ is Lord. The church has no power to save us, but through the church we learn who Jesus is and come to accept Him as Savior and Lord.

In the focal passage from Hebrews we learn that the church has a mission to “stir up love and good works” among fellow believers. There we can help each other to understand the Word and in time together for study, prayer and worship, and then go forth to live out the love of Christ in our own lives, and to do good works. Christians strengthen and encourage each other. We also help as we are taught and then may become teachers ourselves.

I am glad that even as a child I loved to go to the house of the Lord. To be absent from the “assembling of ourselves together” was a felt loss in my week and on Sunday. In retrospect, I can see that this early love for going to Sunday School, worship services and mission meetings at my church was preparing me for future work the Lord had in mind for me to do. I never dreamed as a young child that one day God would want me to be the wife of a minister and assist in the teaching ministries of the churches he served and the mission work to which he was called.

Hebrews advises strongly: “Hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering,” and to “not forsake the assembling of ourselves together as is the manner of some.” This desire to be in the house of the Lord worshiping and studying should be a hunger of the soul. If that love for the church is no longer in your heart and practice, unless it is because of ill health or other necessary cause, I would say “beware!” A wise Christian leader taught me: “God does not move away from the believer unless first the believer strays from God.” There should be a strong desire to go into the house of the Lord. As we read in Psalm 122:1: “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord.’ “ If that joy is not with you, ask yourself “Why?” Seek God’s forgiveness and find a congregation of believers where you can experience the worship and fellowship the verses from Hebrews 10:23-25 teach, and the exuberance and praise that Psalm 122:1 radiates.

Dr. Vance Havner, a great minister of the gospel, wrote: “There is something wrong with our Christianity when we have to beg most of our crowd to come to church to hear about it.”

I love the words and music to the hymn, “Come All Christians, Be Committed.” Eva B. Lloyd wrote the words and James H. Wood adapted the tune “Beach Spring” from the Sacred Harp to go with her words on the same theme as we read in our focal passage for today.

“Come all Christians, be committed To the service of the Lord.

Make your lives for Him more fitted, Tune your hearts with one accord.

Come into His courts with gladness, Each His sacred vows renew,

Turn away from sin and sadness, Be transformed with life anew.” Amen!

-Ethelene Dyer Jones 06.26.2016

Going to the House of the Lord

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the Lord. Because of the house of the Lord our God I will seek thy good.” –Psalm 122:1, 9. One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in His temple.” –Psalm 27:4. “For a day in Thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. –Psalm 84:10. “And daily in the temple and in every house, they ceased not to tech and preach Jesus Christ.” –Acts 5:42. (KJV).

Going to the house of the Lord—for worship, praise, prayer, learning, listening, being challenged in the Christian life, for quietness and meditation, knowing that God is God, enjoying Christian fellowship! When it comes time to go to church, are you like the psalmist who exulted, “I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the Lord’ ”?

Each cited scripture above exclaims with what gladness the writers considered going to the house of the Lord and what a privilege for the worshiper. Even a lowly task, that of a doorkeeper, one who greeted people when they came to worship and bade them farewell when they left worship to go from the temple or sanctuary or place of worship into the work-a-day life, even a doorkeeper is better than considering wealthy dwellings of wickedness. And when the early Christians met to worship, even the threat of being jailed and persecuted (a very real possibility), they “daily in the temple and in every house” did not cease to meet, to teach and to preach Jesus Christ.

What has happened in our modern age to take away the love for and the help from assembling ourselves together at the house of the Lord? What has occurred to harden our hearts and remove our zeal for the church? I have heard many excuses as I have tried to encourage persons to renew their faithfulness to the Lord and their faithful attendance at church. The writer of Hebrews 10:25 admonishes: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is: but exhorting one another; and so much the more, as we see the day approaching.”

Some of the excuses offered for non attendance at church are: “I work on Sunday”—or “I work hard during the week, and I must sleep-in or rest on Sundays.” Another is “I can worship as well at home or wherever I am on the Lord’s day; I don’t have to go to church to worship.” Then this excuse, a bit more bitter: “I don’t like to associate with those ‘hypocrites’ at church.” Still others claim, “I can hear good sermons on television or radio; it’s not necessary for me to go to church.” And the excuses go on.

A person must develop his/her own commitment to the Lord that includes a love and longing for fellowship with other Christians in the house of the Lord, the church. For me, this is vital and necessary. I pray that, if going to church is not a regular and necessary part of your spiritual life, that you will pray about it until you, like the psalmist, can exclaim: “I was glad when they said unto me, let us go into the house of the Lord!” On this Lord’s day, I am eager to got to church and worship! -Ethelene Dyer Jones 11.15.2015

Some Practical Advice for Christians

“Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”  -Hebrews 10:22-25 (ESV).

The Christian lifestyle can’t be drawn up in a certain set of rules, with these rules memorized, followed and checked off as on a “doing well” list of commendations.  This practical advice given for Christians in Hebrews is in the context of a discussion of offering priestly sacrifices for sin.  Jesus, in his once-for-all sacrifice for all the sins of mankind, with the simple steps of belief and acceptance through faith, precludes our having to provide our own sacrifice for our sins.  This was done in the love Jesus manifested for us on the cross of Calvary.  Because of Him, we can enter boldly into the presence of God.  The Holy Spirit bears witness to this truth, saying:  “ ‘This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days,’ declared the Lord.  ‘I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds.’ Then He says, ‘I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more.’ “ (Hebrews 10:15-17).

After assuring us that we are indeed in a position of acceptance and forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice for us, we can then gather these practical ‘things to do’ that will strengthen our Christian life.  We should see how we measure up on this Christian ‘to do’ list:

(1)  Draw near.  In drawing near to God to worship, I come with confession, with heart ‘sprinkled clean,’ and with conscience cleared before God.

(2)  Hold fast.  I do not allow doubts to weaken my faith.  My pastor who taught me so much of the Bible when I was a young Christian, Rev. Claude Boynton, often said, “Know what you believe and why you believe it.”  “He who promised is faithful!”  (Heb. 10:23).  I don’t have to doubt that what Jesus tells me is true.  He is faithful!  He is my anchor.  Therefore, I can ‘hold fast' to Him.

(3)  Stir up each other.  I have a responsibility to fellow Christians and they to me.  A group of us in our church are meeting for special prayer for our church.  We can feel the movement of the Spirit of God among us as we meet to pray earnestly for the fellowship, work and outreach ministries of our church.  This is part of “stirring each other up” to prayer and good works.  We need each other to stimulate our faithfulness and keep us on track with what is important in the Christian life.  If we major on what is important, then minor irritations will diminish and we can see the work to which God has called us.  Therefore, ‘stir each other up’ to love and good works.

(4)  Assemble together.  We have the local church congregation for many reasons, but a very important one is for providing space for Christians to assemble and worship the Lord together.  It is also a place where we can learn and encourage one another.  Gathering together for worship, prayer, instruction and fellowship becomes even more important to Christians as we see “the Day” of His reappearance drawing nigh.

With heart humbled before God, I seek now to evaluate my own Christian walk on these four practical ways to live out my Christian profession.  –Ethelene Dyer Jones  12.01.2013.