I don’t know about you, but the verse in Hebrews 10:25 about not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together sure gets quoted a lot when it comes to attending church or not attending.
Once someone hears my wife and I have stopped attending an organized service each week, the first thing we usually hear is this verse.
Truth of the matter is, I do not think this verse is even talking about what we call church.
As I’ve stated before, church is not a building or a place. Church is the people of God, those of us born into His kingdom by grace. Church is not an organization, it’s an organism. Church is not a one day event, it is a daily lifestyle of people loving God and loving others.
When reading the verses preceding this verse, you find it is talking about how we are now granted permission to enter into the Holy place, not a building, but into the presence of God. This happened when Jesus died and the veil was torn from top to bottom.
To me, this verse is saying that we need our brothers and sisters in Christ for encouragement and to stimulate one another to love and good deeds in Christ. It has nothing to do with an organized religious service in a building. It has everything to do with loving and communicating with other Christians.
One of readers of this blog, José Arroyo made the following comment, which goes along with this thought… “we assemble to motivate each other (to) love and good works…exactly what I didn’t get in church when I attended. Nevertheless, I can assemble with one or two, and Jesus is there to motivate us himself. Our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. That makes a threesome, enough for an assembly”.
When you think of countries where Christianity is against the law and churches are closed down, do we think the Christian people are wrong for not attending a service every week? They get together in small groups in houses or where-ever they feel they can meet safely. It may not be more than two or three people.
Another reader, Viki Wieland Manera, made this comment…”I have only been out of the church for <1 year, but I am finding the assembly of just 2, 3 or 4 is 100x more powerful than my former assembling with 200. There is deeper meaning and honesty. The masses for me created a falseness and mimicry that I was never comfortable with – even after 20 years of it”.
Jesus said where two or three gather together in my name, there I am in their midst. We do not need buildings or large groups of people to gather to fulfill this verse about assembling. We do need each other, no matter if it is meeting at home, or meeting for dinner at a restaurant, or getting together in a park. The important thing is to love God and love one another and be available to our brothers and sisters in Christ to encourage and build them up.
An interesting comment made by Terrence Williams said…”this verse stresses to me the absolute difference between “assembling” and “gathering”. A box of Legos can be constantly gathered together but it only takes shape to represent the desire of its creator when it is assembled by him. Then it is ready to perform the function it was created for. So is the body of Christ. Therefore, those who put all their eggs in the basket of Sunday church, it is they who have truly forsaken the “assembling” of themselves together. They are constantly gathering but never really assembling”.
Let me again point out I am not against church or those who attend. My wife and I were part of the weekly service for years, but over the past couple years, we have found that for us, it makes more sense to be outside the walls of religion and seek meaningful fellowship each day with our brothers and sisters in Christ rather than continue to sit in a pew listening to a select few participate. We believe in the priesthood of all believers, and that it is a daily lifestyle, not a weekly event, with everyone being equally important parts of the body.
A more in depth study of this topic can be viewed at the following link, written by my good friend David Yeubanks of truthforfree.com: Click here: http://www.truthforfree.com/forsaking-the-assembly/
Its easy to forget that Hebrews was written to Hebrew (Jews) believers, some of whom were on the fence about Christianity. They wanted to go back to Judaism and animal sacrifices. The author is trying to convince them that there is a better sacrifice: Jesus’ shed blood on Calvary for the forgiveness of sins. These Hebrews did not attend church like we do today. Christians ARE the church. They lived it out daily. What we see today are church buildings ruled by one man acting as the leader and a passive laity. This is not even scriptural.
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Thank you. I totally agree. I appreciate the comment.
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Old thread new take on He 10:23-25
They were Judahites going back to works based salvation leaning toward the Hebrew traditions.
Do not forsake the Truth, which is the promise and hope that Christ did and His coming.
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Thanks Jeff.
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I once worked in a small engine repair shop and often a customer would bring in a lawn mower or a chainsaw that they tried to fix themselves and gave up and brought us the pieces. We called these “box jobs.” They would assure us that all the pieces they had carefully gathered up were in the box, but they were not assembled. The churches of today are “box jobs.” Only Jesus can assemble His body and join His members together so that they work as the body HE intended, edifying itself in love. Paul wrote,
“For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: That we from now on be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive [sounds like my experience with churches]; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, who is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body being fitly joined together and knit together by that which every joint supplies, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, makes increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.” (Ephesians 4:12-16 KJ2000)
What a contrast Paul brings forth in this passage. THIS is the “assembling together” that Hebrews chapter 10 is talking about not an hour a week staring at the back of hundreds of heads while one man pontificates his greatness.
Thank you, Michael. Bless you, my brother!
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Hi Michael, thank you for your comment about ‘box jobs’. That was interesting. Good point also with the verse from Ephesians. I appreciate you taking the time to post this comment.
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Thanks for the Lego analogy!
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Thanks Becky. That was actually Terrence who gave that analogy. I agree, it was pretty good.
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Excellent post as always!
This time I am particularly fond of your idea that Heb. 10:25 is akin to the previous verses in which we are invited to approach the Holiest place by the blood of Christ. When we consider this though, we realize that we, collectively and individually are the Holy of Holies were the fullness of Christ Spirit abides. When we assemble in this spirit, we can then fill each other with the particular essence of Christ’s outpouring of His Spirit and gifts endowed to each one. All to the purpose of the edifying of each other in love. What a marvelous idea!!!
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So true, we are the Holy place because God is within us. Good comment. Thank you.
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