Because if we are the Elect of God, we will…
Assemble: Hebrews 10:19-25
Obey and Submit: Hebrews 13:7; 17
Hear, Act and Learn: 1Timothy 4:13, 16
Then, we can say we are being Built up by Christ and Empowered by the Holy Spirit.
Have you ever gone about your day and ran into a “fellow believer” who participated in a very engaging theological conversation for hours? You find yourself wondering where this person attends on the Lord’s Day, because you want to be encouraged that there is a body of like-minded believers out there and that you and your church are not so much the minority as you might sometimes think. So you ask, “Where do you go to church?” The person replies, “Well, uuum you see, I belong to the Universal Body of Christ.”After a few more questions for clarification you find out that in fact, he belongs to no local church, has not attended one in a few years and has never been a “member” of a local body of believers.
For those of you that are having trouble lighting your torches and gathering your kindling, relax, put your bics away (save them for the cloves, later on). Let us not immediately assume this individual is an Apostate. While there are some in rebellion out there, let us also consider the theological climate of this world, which we find ourselves in. Could it not simply be a case of Isaiah 5:13 with a heavy dose pending of Hosea 4:6? We must examine every case separately, but my money is on (or to be biblical, my lot is cast for) the majority of believers being in ignorance of what a church and church membership really is. Have you looked for seminary courses, sermons, books, or articles on ecclesiology lately? It is extremely difficult to find such things. But more on this later.
The Holy Scriptures do not excuse ignorance or apostasy. In fact they warn against both. The writer of Hebrews shows us that ignorance leads to apostasy (Heb 2:1; 3:12; 4:1; 5:11-12; 6:1-8), and apostasy to eternal and merciless damnation (Heb 10:26-31). Therefore, those of us who currently find ourselves in the faith, take heed to what the writer says in 12:28-29:
Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe; for our God is a consuming fire. (NASB)
Many scholars, including Lenski, see the book of Hebrews as an appeal to all believers “to counteract the defections from Christianity.” Whether this exodus was happening due to racism, persecution, or apathy will be saved for another day. I want to bring your focus in on the climax of the writer’s argument in 10:19-25, and then next time we will tighten the scope to verses 24 and 25. His summation goes as follows:
Since we have…
1. A New Salvation in Messiah (v. 19-20), and
2. Messiah as our New High Priest (v.21)…
Then Know, Be, and Do the following…
V.22
Know- Our hearts and bodies have been sprinkled and washed clean by our New High Priest, therefore…
Be- Ones sincere in heart and full in assurance of our Faith, that you may…
Do- Continue to come near to our God and Father.
V.23
Know- The One who promised this Hope is faithful, therefore…
Be- Ones who do not waver! That you may…
Do- Continue to hold firm to the Hope we confess.
V.24-25
Know- “The Day” is coming near, therefore…
Be- Ones who do not forsake the Assembling of Believers, that you may…
Do- Continue to consider how to stimulate and exhort unto love and good deeds.
Please notice the “Be’s” with me. The author is saying “brothers” be those who are fully assured, not wavering, and not forsaking the assembly of your fellow brothers. He is identifying believers as those who are assured in their faith, stand firm in the faith and gather for worship and exhortation with the faithful ones. By implication, those who are lacking some of these characteristics are in danger of falling away. Those who lack all of these characteristics have crossed the line and are now considered “tramplers of the Son of God” and “insulters of the Spirit of Grace (v.29).” Believer take a moment to examine yourself. Do you have assurance in the finished work of your Messiah and High Priest Alone? Can you stand firm on that assurance given to you by the Holy Spirit? Do you love to gather with the believers who share this salvation? If the answer is yes, then the author is speaking to you when he says, “brother.” If the answer is no, I beg you, flee to the cross immediately. Find the Messiah and High Priest that can only be found there. Plead with Him to grant you repentance, cleanse your heart and wash your body. Ask the Father to give you that promise of Hope that is given to all believers. Flee, for “the Day” of wrath is near. Christ is your only hope.
Believer, let us go on to the “Do’s.” The author begins all of the “do’s” with the phrase let us. He is implying that these are things that only brothers or believers can do, clearly contrasting that these are not the actions of those who are about to abandon the faith. Believer, see the author encourage you to continue drawing near to God, hold firm our confession, and contemplate how you might come alongside to provoke and implore your brothers to love and good deeds in your local assembly. Those who have gone fully apostate can no longer do or receive these things. Apostate, beware! While you no longer desire to come to Him, the living God will come to you. He will hold you firm in his hand, confess your eternal sentence, and then cast you into the fury of fire. Here you will be irritated and His full wrath will be invoked against you by His very own hand. Terrified? You will be… you will be (v. 26-31).
The author then takes his readers back in time to remember when after coming to the Messiah, they endured great persecution one with another. This is where belief tells you to get your hands dirty with your fellow believers. When there is persecution, sufferings, humiliation, imprisonment, or loss of property, can we endure joyfully? Do we share in these sufferings or walk the other way? The author appeals to the strongest form of their testimonies as true believers. He appeals to the time when one-anothering was at its height, in the midst of tribulation. During these times come joy, confidence and an assurance of a future reward to the believer. Not because he endures by himself, but he endures with and because of his brothers, and the Spirit rewards this with the fruits of the Spirit and the perseverance in faith to the saving of the soul (v. 32-39).
It is my prayer that through this series, we would come back to seriously examine how we do church, understanding that the local church is where Christ is glorified and worshipped before the eyes of the world. Let us warn one another, if we fail to do as He says and reflect Him accurately, He will remove our lamp stand and Himself from us (Rev. 1:12; 2:5).
Next time we will bring our scope down to Hebrews 10:24-25. Is the author just making a suggestion, giving some helpful advice, or is this just another one of those keys to happiness? Or could it be something more?
{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
I would love more than ANYTHING to be able to attend a gathering of fellow believers! Believe me, I understand fully the reasons we should gather, and the pitfalls of not doing so. But what in the world are we to do when we live in a place that has nothing but apostate “idol temples” and there are absolutely NO true churches anywhere near?? We live back in the “boonies,” and there are not even any other believers anywhere near us, let alone a real church.
We went to one of those “churches” for quite a while, until we tired of coming home and telling our children that what was taught was not biblical at all. I know there are many others in the same situation we are, and we all would dearly LOVE to be part of a body of believers. Please don’t lump us all with the ones who just do not see any need to attend church. Not saying that you are doing that here, but I see it all the time. In these times when so many have gone apostate, it is impossible for many believers to find a church to attend.
I appreciate your emphasis on the local church Darrin. Most professing Christians don’t see the need for the local assembly and think its a Romans 14 issue.
Kim, I understand your frustration. Its hard to find a decent church here in CA too.
I wonder: would it be a step of faith and faithfulness to the Master to move where there is a biblical church? Not many consider this or think its possible. However, if we walk by faith in obedience to Him, could this be something He wants us to do? Pragmatism shouldn’t be what holds us from finding a church. At what cost will we be willing to make to be obedient to God’s command to be in a local church?
Something to consider…..I ponder on this as well.
Moving is a great idea – IF we were able to financially. We actually looked at a pile of houses last year, none of which we could even dream about affording. Even the tiniest little shacks were out of our price range. And renting would have been even more expensive monthly than buying. We live on one income, homeschooling our girls, and make just enough to get by. We are plenty happy with it, and not complaining at all, but we just cannot afford to move unless the Lord decides in His providence to enable us to do so by some miracle. We will continue to pray that He will provide a way for all His people to have a body of believers to belong to.
Kim
I completely understand your situation. I would not “lump” you in with the apostate group, because you desire that fellowship. The apostate has no such desire.
You have exactly what NT believers had when starting thier churches:
1. A desire to worship and serve the Living God.
2. An obligation to preach Christ crucified, risen, and coming again.
3. Submission to the Authority of Scripture
4. A Family
5. A Home
6. The Holy Spirit, who is with all believers
7. The commission of Christ to go and make disciples, baptising and teaching.
If there is no local representation of Christ’s Church, no lamp stand that identifies the body of believers as Christ’s, then become one. Just as those in the early church did.
You as a family decide that you wish to begin a local representation of Christ’s church, to Glorify the Living God, Submitting to His Word, Honoring Christ the Risen Savior, and willing to be empowered by the Holy Spirit to carryout this task.
Then become visible as such in your community. Then be in prayer and watch Christ build His Church, using you.
Hi Darrin.
I cannot imagine how we could practically work out what you have advised, my husband being a very new Christian himself. So many of the reformed people I read and respect seem to believe that we are not really being obedient if we do not become a member of a church with an ordained pastor. It is really discouraging. :-/ I am greatly looking forward to the rest of this series.
Good post Darrin! It’s rather out of vogue these days to be part of a local body. So many think that watching sermons online and going to Starbucks with their Christian friends (who also don’t attend anywhere) a good alternative!
Kim: Ditto Denise and Darrin. Pray God will allow you to find a church within distance, or if you really have looked everywhere, that He would bless your family with a raise or show you a good price home near a healthy church, or let you know if He wants you to start a home church.
I’ve seen people stop going to church and they think they are fine and they slip slowly (so they don’t notice) but surely (others will, at least in time) from the faith. It’s dangerous because one grows a false assurance.
Kim-
I would just encourage you with a few things:
1. Those who started house churches in the NT were also new believers.
2. Of Items 1-7 that I listed for you above, which ones do not apply to your husband and yourself?
3. If you are able to discern other churches are not teaching according to the Scriptures and can explain that to your children, you are further along than some pastors out there.
4. You are reading some reformers, so we see you know what to study.
5. We here at BT would love to help and encourage you in any way we can.
6. Do not be confident in your own abilities, because you are right, you are not sufficient.
7. Be confident in the Word Revealed to us and preached by you. Be confident in the Savior who Saved You. Be confident in the Spirit who will supply to all sufficiently.
My question to you is not are you able. My question to you is are you willing?
Darrin,
Thanks for the post. I look forward to the series as well.
To Kim: Faithfully teaching your children the ways of the Lord is one of the highest callings for a woman, so be encouraged! For your husband, one of the highest calls he can fulfill is to be the prophet, priest, and king of the household. As far as the absence of a local body is concerned, I agree with Darrin to “become” one. Of course this can seem difficult at first and maybe even impossible given your present circumstances.
But what you must realize is that there are certain “ideals” (for lack of better platonic words) given in Scripture that sometimes cannot be fulfilled on demand per se, while others can.
An example would be water baptism. If an Eskimo in remote Alaska hears the preaching of the gospel and receives Christ by faith, repents and receives newness of life, but does not have access to a pool of water or necessary means for water baptism, s/he can continue in the faith with a clear conscience knowing that when water becomes available to be baptized in, s/he will perform the act of obedience and publicly undergo the symbolic representation of the participation in Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.
The delay due to a lack of proper means should not be viewed as having an impact on the objectivity of one’s conversion. However, a sense of incompleteness should abound for the remote Eskimo awaiting the fulfillment of the command to be baptized given to all believers. In the mean time, it should not affect the prayer life, worship in spirit and truth, the presentation of the body as a living sacrifice, etc.
In your case, I would encourage you to make it your aim to establish the home as your ministry (for now) – the place to fulfill yours and your husbands callings, while awaiting that day with hope should God be pleased to bless you with a local church body to serve and enjoy.
I know this won’t solve all your problems, but I hope, by God’s grace, that it at least provides you with some sense of fellowship – only a picture foreshadowing the glorious fellowship we will have with Jesus for eternity – which is really what the local body is anyway.
Where in VA? There might be some good places to worship within a couple hours…
Kim,
I have to second Darrin and Stephen, I know your struggle I was there, and asked Dr. Bob, and Stephen the same questions, I will be praying for you, keep reading the word and asking questions.
I might be in VA in March, may be we can all meet up.
I think you all should move to Houston, TX. Housing is cheap and jobs seem plentiful. Plus, you would be near me
Thank you all for your encouragement. So much is discouraging, especially when you see things that will say it is better to be in an apostate church than none at all. I am sorry, but I just can NOT do that, and especially cannot expose my children to such. What a way to confuse kids!
We actually did try driving a couple hours to a pretty good church for a year. While the people there were wonderful, and the preaching was great (expository), we never could actually get involved, living so far away, and we still were like newcomers even after all that time. My understanding is that church members should be involved with one another’s lives, not just gather in a room once a week to hear the preacher, which is what it amounted to for us. We may still try that again at some point though, because it is just so lonely as is.
I don’t want to post my life story here, but I will testify to the fact that we were definitely not meant to “go it alone.” One thing that happens is that you “forget” things that you know. For example, I had become very discouraged over the state of things in the world, and started questioning why in the world the Lord would leave His people here and not just take us home. Why He actually did things the way He did. Thankfully, I have a couple telephone friends, whom I met on the internet and talk to regularly, and they reminded me of what I had said so many times myself. That this life is NOT about us, but about glorifying CHRIST. That if we never experienced evil, we would not know what good is. Among other things. I was immediately encouraged by these things that I knew, but had forgotten in the midst of emotion and discouragement.
That is only one reason we need one another, but it is my most recent example, so I thought I’d share it.
Sorry to ramble, and I still look forward to the rest of this. Thank you again for the encouragement, suggestions, and prayer. It is such a blessing just to know that I have “family” out there.
Sir Aaron, we actually have said that if we ever do move to another state, it would be Texas.
I live in western VA, by the way. Don’t really like to say specifics on the internet though.
Texas…come on out. You can stay with me while you look for a job.
Not because he endures by himself, but he endures with and because of his brothers, and the Spirit rewards this with the fruits of the Spirit and the perseverance in faith to the saving of the soul (v. 32-39).
Very necessary teaching in the face of today’s evangelical churches.
Standing together! We must love and encourage one another here and because the Lord is coming back and the day will come when we enter eternity and enjoy koinonia forever! Thanks Darrin!