Hebrews 10:25

Hebrews 10:25: “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

It is a good thing for Christians to go to church, and this verse says that we should not stop this practice. However, many people go far beyond what this verse teaches. They say that Christians should attend church every time the doors are open, and if you’re not there twice on Sundays, and on Wednesday, and on every other special occasion, then you’re some kind of heathen. The “good Christians” are there on Sunday evening, and the “really awesome Christians” are there on Wednesdays too. Only “losers” attend church just on Sunday morning. Some Christians judge each other’s faithfulness based entirely on how many times per week they attend church. In fact, it gets so bad that some people only go to church on Wednesdays because they want to be seen as one of the top-tier Christians in the church. It boggles my mind, but in many places church attendance has become a ridiculous game of “I’m better than you”.

That is completely unwarranted. All this verse says is “don’t completely stop going to church”. It does not say “you are forbidden from missing even a single service”. There is a difference! Nor does the Bible say “Judge each other based on how many times per year you make it to church.”

Besides this, churches today are nothing like New Testament churches. Today people go inside, sit there for an hour while the pastor monologues, and then they go home. Aside from some singing there is no audience participation at all. (Well, there’s offerings too, I suppose.) In many ways it is a pretty empty experience: you go, you sit there, you listen, you go home. If you have questions about the sermon, well, that’s too bad. Your chances of cornering the pastor and having an in-depth discussion on the wild things he just said are pretty close to zero.

The New Testament church was much richer. People interacted; it wasn’t a case where only the licensed, seminary-educated Pastor was allowed to speak. Each person had a thought, or a piece of wisdom, or a need, or a request, or a struggle, or something. People discussed the challenges they were facing, formed relationships, and helped each other. It wasn’t a sterile experience that demanded nothing of those who came. You didn’t have to have a license and a Ph.D. to say something. It’s no wonder that many people are loathe to attend today’s church services! If I had the choice I would attend just once a week, on Sunday mornings; I only go every service because I have to run the sound system for the services. (Somehow software developers always get roped into running the sound system. It’s kind of odd.)

On top of all that, people almost always miss the second half of this verse: “and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”. The ‘day’ being discussed is, of course, the Second Coming. [Technically, he’s probably talking about the Day of the Lord, but that’s a different discussion.] Paul clearly expected us to know when the Return of Jesus was close at hand, and he urged us to meet even more often when we saw things starting to fall into place.

Sadly, many churches today either ignore prophecy entirely or are filled with false doctrines about it. Even those who believe that the Lord might come back one day aren’t aware of the signs that are being fulfilled and don’t believe that His return might be near. Churches have been asked “What things are you concerned about happening in the next fifty years?” Believe it or not, the Second Coming does not come up. The idea that we might be running out of time is about as big a worry to many churches as an invasion of Martians – unlikely at best, and laughable at worst.

The Church would be absolutely shocked if the Lord returned this afternoon. They’re not expecting it; they think they have all the time in the world. A great many people are going to be caught completely off-guard, despite the fact that Jesus told them to be watching for His return.

I don’t know what can be done about this. Perhaps this is just a sign of the times. It’s still depressing, though. We have badly lost our way.