The sixth ordinance is that of attending the services of the assembled church. The Bible says we should be careful not to neglect this duty (Hebrews 10:25). Jesus himself, while here on earth, made regular attendance at the meetings of God’s people His custom (Luke 4:16). In Old Testament days, those who loved and feared God, “spoke often one to another, and the Lord hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written” (Malachi 3:~6). Our attitude
should be that of the writer in Psalm 122:1, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go unto the house of the Lord.”
Assembling together, like all the ordinances, has a symbolic meaning. It symbolizes dependence upon God and upon each other. There are a number of benefits that come from attending the services of the assembled church,
(1) We meet the Lord. In a special sense, where two or three gather, He is in the midst (Matthew 18:20). Thomas did not go to services on the night of the first Easter Sunday, and he missed seeing the Lord (John 20:24-25).
(2) We encourage one another. God’s people pray together; they strive together; they sing together; they work together. When we see the zeal of our fellowChristians, and share in their trials and rejoice in their joys, it gives us new courage and new devotion for the Lord.
(3) We receive instruction. Through preaching and teaching, we receive helpful and thoughtful exhortations from the Word. To “teach” means “to instruct the mind” and “to preach” means “to move the will” The teaching and preaching will help us conform more and more to the likeness of Christ.
(4) We let a testimony before others. Staying away from church services is a poor testimony to the sinner. Leslie Flynn tells about the elderly man who walked to services faithfully every Sunday morning. Neighbors knew he was deaf and couldn’t hear the sermon. A scoffer asked him one time why he spent his time in church services when he couldn’t hear anyway. The old gentleman said, “I want my neighbors to know which side I’m on.”
We should attend the appointed services of the church when it rains, when a stranger preaches, when the home preacher preaches, when we feel like going, and when we don’t feel like going. Assembling together is a Christian duty.
January/February 1976