“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
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