Blessed Assembly, Jesus’ Design! - Part 1

SCRIPTURE:  “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works, not neglecting to gather together as some are in the habit of doing, but  encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.”  Hebrews 10:24, 25 (CSB)    

You may or may not have a fireplace in your home, but you needn’t have one to relate to the desirability of their purpose or function.  While  the image of these ancient fixtures will soon recede to the background of our minds, due to the imminence of summer temperatures, we can appreciate what they teach us about the value of interdependence.

Who hasn’t heard the example of fireplace embers which have, for one reason or another, gotten separated from the other logs on the hearth?  Their glow is short-lived because of their distance from other logs with which it once shared a common function—i.e., “edification” of the fire, you could call it.  For Christ-followers this “fire,” which requires DAILY stoking—not just on Sundays—can be likened to an earnest pursuit of Christlikeness in our thoughts and attitudes, by regularly studying and obeying His word, and purposing to grow in our love toward one another.  (2 Peter 3:18; Jn. 14:34)  We can all too easily grow cold and lose our fervor for Christ and those in our local fellowship when we put church attendance on the back burner of life.

By now we’ve all heard the arguments (and jokes, too) about worshiping at “Bedside Baptist,” or about the soul that habitually forsakes assembling with other Christ-followers, expressing their preference for worshiping in God’s “nature sanctuary,”[the great outdoors], or by simply being a “good person,” etc.; but these reasons for avoiding in-house assembly are not at all supported in God’s Word.  While we know that the church building itself is not the actual church, but that it is defined as the body of believers who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ ALONE, the words of twentieth century theologian Dwight L. Moody state it well:  “Church attendance is as vital to a disciple as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man.”

Prayer:  Father God, thank You for ordaining the church as an essential pathway for our regular discipling in this sinful world through regular fellowship with like-minded believers—“iron sharpening iron,” helping one another to grow up to the full stature of Christ Jesus.  May we not neglect this blessed privilege.  Thank You, Lord, for loving us so fervently!  AMEN!

(by Denise Diggs)