Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Expectant Churches Gather Together

In the message that I presented on Sunday regarding the blessed hope of the believer (The Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ!), I made a point that churches that are made up of believers who are actively looking forward to the Lord’s return will passionately gather together regularly. This point was based on Hebrews 10:24-25 … “And 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.”

In brief, the points I made on Sunday included:
· Every time we gather together it is to be a dress rehearsal for Heaven. It is supposed to be a “foretaste” of glory.
· Our culture of the individual makes this sort of perspective difficult to comprehend or assimilate. We make fun of “it takes a village” sort of talk, but when we give up that value to our cultural norms, we find ourselves separated from the whole and hopelessly drift according to the prevailing currents.
· We are way too casual about church attendance. If there is nothing else to do, we go to church.

But what I didn’t say on Sunday has to do more with our level of commitment and devotion to the local church. In the early church this aspect of gathering together dictated their lives. Their devotion to the other believers in their local church governed their schedules. In essence, in the waiting church – the expectant church – the church came first.

We see it in the book of Acts as they gathered together daily and broke bread together. The apostles seem to assume this priority as they write their letters. This passage from the book of Hebrews indicates that there must have been some believers even back then who were not as devoted to gathering together as they had been and the call was to not let that happen.

There are a couple of factors in our day and age that make it tough for us to even imagine this sort of lifestyle.
· There were no other churches down the street. We’ve become consumer oriented in our church shopping and this leads to superficial commitment. “As long as my needs are being met by this fellowship … I’m committed.”
· Our lives are so full and there are so many competing priorities that to say that my life is centered in the gathered church is nuts! But keep in mind that while life was simple in Bible times, it was hard. The most mundane and simple tasks took so much longer than they do today.
· We live in a world that says, “You’re too heavenly minded to be earthly good.” The whole notion of living in expectation of the second coming says that “You no earthly good unless you are heavenly minded!”

I just finished a conversation with someone who told me of another pastor who, after a similar study on the Second Coming, would wake up every morning look over at his wife and say “This may be the day!” O that I would live that way! O that my family of faith would live in that context. O that He might come TODAY!!!