WHY COME TOGETHER?

Why should believers come together? Some Christians, discouraged with church gatherings in general, have elected to isolate themselves from all other believers. To them, the heartache is just not worth the effort. Most serious disciples can identify with that feeling. However, we must not allow such thinking to dominate our hearts and minds.

There have been other times when there was a general deterioration in the spiritual fabric of society. The prophet Malachi lived in such a time. God's people were not honoring Him, the priests had desecrated the Divine service, and things offered to God were polluted (Mal 1:6-8). The people were profaning His name, and the spiritual leaders were causing the people to stumble (1:11-12; 2:7-8). In their religious service the people had wearied the Lord, and had even stooped so low as to rob Him (2:17; 3:8-10). What a tragic time it was–a grievous time to live.

Yet, in the very midst of profane religion, "they that feared the LORD spake often one to another" (3:16). They did now allow the surrounding corruption to rob them of the benefits coming from being together. The Lord was not indifferent to their action. The Lord "listened and heard them." A "book of remembrance" was even written before Him concerning these people. The Living God affirmed, "They shall be Mine . . . On the day that I make them My jewels. And I will spare them As a man spares his own son who serves him" (3:16-17).

This record sheds light on a word of exhortation given to those in Christ Jesus. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is" (Heb 10:25). This is more than a law–a commandment to attend church, so to speak. Already, as the verse indicates, some had stopped meeting together. Being absent from an assembly is described as their "manner," or way of life. Such conduct is to be avoided by those in Christ Jesus. How different from the "custom" of our Lord, Who was always in the synagogue on the Sabbath day (Lk 4:16).

One of the benefits of coming together is found in speaking with one another. We do not come together as spectators, or to be entertained by religious performers. As with the faithful in Malachi's day, believers are admonished to "consider one another in order to stir up love and good works . . . exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb 10:24-26). The truth of the matter is that we need one another. God has placed each of us in the body "as it has pleased Him" (1 Cor 12:18).

Our Lord's good pleasure includes mutual edification, with one believer bringing strength and benefit to another. This confirms a condition introduced by Solomon: "As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend" (Prov 27:17). In Christ, however, much more than our countenance is sharpened, although that surely does take place. When we meet together in the Spirit, our faith is deepened, our hope renewed, and our joy increased. When we come together believing and expectantly, our understanding is broadened, our loads lightened, and our vision clarified.

Like a great choir, our hearts blend together to lift a beautiful sound to our Lord. Like the dedication of Solomon's temple, such occasions are like a multitude of sacrifices combined into one great offering (1 Kgs 8:63). It is also like the many singers and trumpeters that made "one sound in praising and thanking the Lord" (2 Chron 5:13). If God heard those offerings at the dedication of a temple that could not confine Him, what of the praises of those whose hearts have been purified by faith, and who have been joined to His Son? If those under the first covenant drew the attention of God when they spoke often with one another, what of those under the New Covenant, whose consciences have been purged from dead works to serve the Living God?

Why meet together? Indeed, why NOT meet together? Why should we not avail ourselves of such an occasion?

PRAYER POINT: Father, I thank You through Jesus for setting the solitary in families, and not placing them in isolation.

-- Monday: STRENGTHENED WITH MIGHT --