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Except for a 2 year period, I have not regularly attended any institutionalized church for the last 38 years. I actively and passionately seek out fellowship, and pursue opportunities to minister to others as the spirit of my Lord Jesus Christ leads. In fact, at the present time, I am actively involved in 3 separate home-type fellowships (one takes place at a local private college).
Yet I have had many, many people through the years ask me what church I go to. They have urged me, with the best of intentions, “Well, you should really go to Church.” In response I usually ask them, “Where does it say that in the Bible?”
Now usually, after I ask that question, I either get a blank stare, or the well-meaning person just repeats himself, as in, “Well, you just know that you’re supposed to go to Church.” Like, we should do it just because that’s the way it’s done!
The only verse anyone has ever gone to in answer to my question (fairly paltry, seeing as so many people are so adamant about going to church on Sunday as being a requirement of God)……has been:
Hebrews 10:25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some;
First of all…. this is it? This one single verse is the basis for the existence of all the buildings referring to themselves as Christian which exist all over the world? This verse is the reason a billion or more people go to a building most every Sunday; sing, kneel, bow, yawn, smile, act nice and then relax because their duty to God is done for the week?
Those words “assembling of ourselves together” is one single Greek word….episunagogen (you may see the word “synagogue” in there), and means literally “an intimate or thorough bringing together.” This is a good description of what our fellowships can be… in Christ.
Please review previous studies on: What is Fellowship? What Christian Group Should I Belong To?
In fact, look at the verse just before Hebrews 10:25 and the phrase just after the portion we quoted above……..
And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works; ………………...and………….. but exhorting one another……
Pretty difficult to do these things when you’re alone, or being a loner.
And this “being a loner” has nothing to do with attending or not attending a group. I’ve seen thousands of people attend church regularly, but giving nothing into the body of Christ. They dress up, they show up, they smile, and they leave, but they don’t connect. They aren’t engaged. They….are spiritual loners.
This phrase, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together,” has everything to do with not participating in the gathering of the body of Christ (the body of Christ is the true Church).
The above is not telling us to go to church on Sunday. It’s telling us to be sure to be involved in the being the church that God has churched us into. This active participation makes us an integral participant of a very special group (made up of spiritually specialized individuals), within which group we are to share fully in the benefits of the God-given strengths of each individual member.
If you have the spirit of Christ within, having believed unto and accepted the truth that God raised Jesus His son from the dead, then you “belong” to the true church.
Now seek out those with whom you can get together on a regular basis to explore the reality of this fantastic body (group) you are now a part of. It’s a spiritual group….everyone in whom the spirit of God is born. Not every member is seeking to grow in an understanding of the Christ within…..find those who are.
See: How to be Saved ….. X 3 and How to Be Born Again
Amazing! Every Sunday, millions of people religiously adhere to a practice that is not commanded anywhere in the Bible. In the Old Testament, (after the Exile anyway) the Jews had to “keep the Sabbath holy.” Over time, the Christian church, of the New Testament, has adopted practices from the Old Testament.
Today the encouragement of God’s Word found in Hebrews 10:25 is not that we should attend an organized church on Sunday, but rather that we not allow ourselves to drift away from actively seeking out close, intimate fellowship with other believers. Where, and how often we are to do this is just not spelled out in God’s Word.
Romans 14:5, 6a, 7, 8 One man esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. He that regards the day, regards it unto the Lord; and he that regards not the day, to the Lord he does not regard it. For none of us lives to himself, and no man dies to himself. For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord’s.
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Other related studies:
What or Who is antichrist?
The True Purpose of Christ’s Ministers ….. Ephesians 4:11-24
Belonging to the Tribe
How Christ is Building His Church
