MEETING TOGETHER
Hebrews 10:24-25 (NIV)
Let
us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing,
but let us encourage one another— and all the more as you see the Day
approaching.
I heard a joke I heard the other
day and it made me think of this passage.
First the joke . . .
Two buddies were out in a boat fishing on a Sunday morning when, off
in the distance, they heard the church bells ring. At first neither one
said anything. But after a few minutes one of the men said: “You know, we
really should be in church, it’s Sunday. I kinda feel bad bein’ out here
fishin’.” His buddy thought a moment and then answered: “Well, I could go
home, but I still wouldn’t be able to go to church; you know my wife is real
sick.”
Now some thoughts on the passage . . .
The truth of the matter is that many Christians consider church attendance a
matter of choice or convenience. (If I don’t have anything else I’d
rather do, and if the weather is nice – but not too nice, and if my favorite
shirt or skirt is clean, and if I didn’t stay up too late the night before, and
if the preacher didn’t look at me wrong the last time I went, I might just go
to church on Sunday). But look at the text above. Joining
with others for worship isn’t just about you. “Let us consider how we
may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.” “.
. . let us encourage one another.
The primary purpose of gathering is to glorify God, to honor Him,
and to worship Him. An added benefit, of course, is that He builds us up
in our inner man through the encounter with His Word and His Spirit. But
we should never forget that “In Christ we who are many form one body, and
each member belongs to all the others” -- Rom. 12:5. The whole body is
enriched and encouraged when it gathers in unity. On the other hand, the
body is diminished and weakened when members are absent. To put it
simply: Get a blessing, be a blessing and worship Christ together.
--- Pastor Keith Andrews