Hammer on Anvil '

I actually wrote this post back in January for my blog site. It has continued to be a favorite of mine and people often search for this topic so there is regular traffic to it. I hope that you find it encouraging!

Last night we had our first Youth Group meeting for the year. I had been excited about it all day. This is what I thrive doing! All the office work, reading, and preparing I do is all for this. It is great to have parents come drop their kids off (or they actually drive on their own!) to come participate in a conversation about God.

As I was preparing for this lesson I thought about how much I missed having our Sunday and Wednesday night meetings.

It was not that I missed going to the building. I go there just about everyday. Even if it is just for a few minutes or a couple hours on Saturday, I usually show up.

I missed gathering together with other believers and getting into God's word together. I missed the discussions and the questions. I missed the passion that others bring to the table and the ideas that they have about putting God's word into practice.

I am so glad that we were not one of the churches that did not have services on Christmas and/or New Years Day. I would have felt so deprived.

But it got me thinking about why going to church is important. What's so important about going to some building we have made or picked out and meeting with all these other people? Here are some reasons why going to meet with other believers, going to church, matters.

We were not meant to be alone. In the very beginning God made Adam. Yet the creation was not finished. God saw that it was not good for Adam to be alone, so He crafted for him a mate. Now I know this account is used for marriage, as it should be, but the message is clear: we are not meant to be alone! Even if we are married, we still need other relationships. As men we need other men to go hang out with and do manly stuff with or talk about manly things. The same is true for women. The church provides those kinds of relationships.

cannot figure it all out on our own. The Bible is a book that people have been trying to completely figure out for roughly 2000 years. As we read it there may be times we come across a passage that we do not completely understand. This is where a preacher or even another Christian friend comes in handy. They can come along side us to explain a verse. They can also help us to discern what it is God wants for the next stage in our lives. They can pray for us and with us. They challenge us to trust in God.

The early church was doing it. In the book of Acts we are told of the activities of the early church. One verse that stands out is Acts 2:46. It says, "Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart". They actually were meeting in the temple and in each others houses on a daily basis! Can we really not get up to meet with others one or two days a week? How selfish!

The Bible commands that we do it. In Hebrews 10:25 we are told to not stop meeting together. It is really quite straight forward. Meeting together at the assembly is something that the writer of Hebrews commanded that his readers do. When we do something that the Bible commands us not to or when we don't do something the Bible commands that is called a sin. So by forsaking the gathering together we would be sinning. To give up church because you don't think you need it week after week would be a habitual sin.

I know a lot of people who claim they do not need to go meet with other believers. They can be great Christians all on their own. So rather than spending Sunday or Wednesday going to gather with other believers they spend it sleeping in or doing an activity that they just want to put above God.

I understand that no church is perfect. When you get a group of people to meet together regularly there is going to be conflict from time to time. There are going to be sins found out.

But for us to look at a command in the Scriptures and turn our noses up to it because we just don't want to listen is wrong. There is a book by Joshua Harris called Why Church Matters. If you are struggling with this issue I would highly suggest you read it.

The Church is the Bride of Christ. He loves it so much. I cannot get along with someone who loves me but hates my wife. How can we hate the Bride of our Savior?

What other reasons do you have for going to meet with other believers?