"Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV)
The first "W" tool that will help keep the toolbox of our heart in order and clutter free from the hinderance of self, sin, circumstances, and suffering is this: Worship Christ Weekly. If you had to sum up the theme of the entire Bible in a sentence it would be: "Worship the Lord Jesus Christ--period!" That's the whole point of life: attribute worth to Jesus and not yourself, not your sin, and not your stuff. That is a principle found through out all of Scripture that you can look up for yourself and I will not take the time to expound upon here. What I have in mind is not just worship, but Weekly Worship. No matter which way you try to spin it or dice it, the Bible is crystal clear in the book of Acts...believers met together on a weekly basis for the purposes of discipleship, prayer, fellowship, worship, and evangelism (See Acts 2:38-40). For them, weekly worship was something they prioritized, anticipated, and committed to regardless of their circumstances. Weekly worship did not get added on to a long list of "to do" activities for the week and get worked around little Johnny's baseball games or the spouses mood and feelings on Sunday morning. Weekly worship was something that was at the center of their lives and one their core committments. This was not just something Christians looked on as duty but as a delight. However, today most professing Christians look on weekly worship as a burden rather than a blessing, more duty than delight, and more option than command.
In Hebrews 10:24-25 we have a command and warning. In verse 24 the writer says "Consider" which is the same verb used in Hebrews 3:1 about Jesus. Simply, it is an invitation to look at things the way Jesus did and respond to those things the way Jesus did. "Consider" means to give it your complete attention and diligent observance. The Hebrew church had a problem: Their intial attraction to Christ was in danger of eroding and the writer is saying that mutual encouragment to make full committment is crucial. He states that collective and corporate worship is a vital part of the spiritual life. The warning here is against apostasy: an intentional falling away or defection. Apostates are those who move toward Christ, hear and seem to understand the gospel, but utlimately rebel and turn away. They are not people who lose their salvation but people who prove they never had a genuine conversion experience to begin with. This is one of the most serious warnings in all of Scripture. While attending a weekly worship service cannot save or sancitify you (make you more holy), it can help keep you from drifting away from the Living God and living in rebellion against Him. Weekly worship is one of the tools God uses in the life of a believer to sharpen their faith and sharpen the faith of others. Sadly, most professing Christians treat weekly worship like a roadside emergency kit. They will use it only when they get in an emergency or when they have a break down. It's an optional thing or used only when I think I need it. However, the Bible is very clear that "the heart is wicked and desperately sick, who can know it?" People who play the game on Sunday morning, "Do I feel like going to church today? Do I think I really need it today? Nah....I will be fine," are ultimately in danger of destroying their spiritual lives. They begin to drift away with excuses and the next thing you know, one Sunday becomes two, two becomes three, three becomes four...and well, you get the picture. Many professing Christians don't just wake up and say "I am done with church!" No, for most it happens more gradually. One of the things they will do to justify their habitual absence from church is: Compare. They'll say, "Well, look at so and so. They go to church every week and they're a mess! I know I don't go much, but at least I don't have thier problems." Uh, word of warning to that type of thinking: When you compare yourself to all the other boats in the water, you don't realize how far YOU have drifted from the shore! You will stand before God and give an account of the way you lived your life, not the way someone else lived theirs. Compare yourself to God not people. Another thing they do is: Catergorize. I have on numerous times communicated this to our church: "Jesus first, then family, then church." This is something I try to practice in my own life. However, there is a danger. When a Christian who is caught up in busy schedules of work, school, kids, extra this and extra that hears that, they usually think to themselves: "Yeah, thats right, family first before church!" but they end up using that excuse to justify all their busyness. They end up not just putting their family before church, but their family before Jesus. We have to be careful that we don't use the "family" thing as an excuse or an idol. There is no justification in Scripture of people forsaking fellowship on a weekly basis for "family time" or because they had a "hard work week." When people say to me, "Well I have been working alot of hours...or we haven't had any family time," that sounds all nice and practical but usually it's just an excuse for a lack of priorty and committment. We all have periods in our lives of lack of time, sleep, and/or family. According to the text, that's all the more reason we need church not forsake it, because of all of those things and more can cause us to fall away from Christ.
So the challenge in my life is to stop making excuses as to why I am not going deeper with the Lord when it comes to weekly worship. The challenge for us is to look in the tool box of our heart, pick up the tool and start using it for what it's meant for. Stop making excuses and stop ignoring the problem. Someone has once said, "You can't follow Jesus by yourself. You must be connected to his body. To dismiss the church is to reject his Bride & Family." The problem isn't just your schedule...the problem is you. The problem is your commitment to using the tools God has given you. Don't use the tools and the Lord can ultimately take them away and allow you to go your own way. This is very serious and not an option. So make a choice to prioritize weekly worship and schedule it into the begininng of your week and not the end of your week.
One of the new distinctives in our church (which is not really new at all) is this: I commit to weekly worship without compromise or excuse making. I encourage you to make that your core conviction based on Scripture and considering how believers are to respond to Hebrews 10.
For the Fame of His Name,
Pastor Ryan
