There are many godly people who attend church, and there are many positive things about attending church. Many people have discovered and accepted Christ in a church. Churches are a good place to gather and hear the word of God, because it does not matter where one hears Gods Truth, as long as they hear it! We have been taught how we are to worship God and the belief that one must worship God in a physical building called a church. There is no command in the Scriptures that says a believer in Christ must attend a church building in order to worship God? This is true. Also, there are no examples of any follower of Christ going to a church building to worship God. They worshipped God by their obedience to Him in every area of life, every day of their lives. They did not worship Him by giving only one hour of their time every week to some temple made with hands. A Church is basically a temple made with hands. Does God dwell in temples made with hands? The Scriptures tell us: Acts 7:48, Howbeit the most High dwelleth not in temples made with hands; Acts 17:24, God...dwelleth not in temples made with hands; The command in Hebrews 10:25 (namely, to exhort one another) is also found in Hebrews 3:13, where it says we are to exhort one another daily. If we claim to obey Hebrews 10:25 by attending church one day a week, do we also fulfill the command to exhort one another daily, when we see other believers only once a week? Moreover, do we even obey the basic command to exhort one another when we simply listen to the polished speaker stand before the group? Are we really obeying the Biblical commands concerning exhortation, community, and mutual accountability by once a week attending a “worship service?” The real question is not whether believers should exhort one another daily, but whether is it required of believers to engage in a certain kind of meeting, with certain credentialed officers, to expose themselves to a specified ritual of acts which are called attending church. Is this a Scriptural command? The Old Testament looks forward to the Age in which all men would worship God everywhere, and not just in that place which the LORD your God shall choose (Deuteronomy 12:11). The New Covenant priesthood is decentralized and universalized, not restricted to the ordained and the church traditions of men. Exhortation is conversational, not sermonic. My point is not simply to be different, nor to insult all other churches. The purpose is to analyze apparently obvious traditions in the light of the Scriptures (Acts 17:11). The Mosaic law commanded Gods people to gather for worship and to hear Gods Word (Deuteronomy 12:5-12; 31:11-12). The Old Testament required travel to a centralized location to hear a special priesthood. The reason is that the Spirit was not yet given to the people under the Old Covenant, and since they had no Spirit to communicate with God, they had to go to a physical building and hear a physical priest to understand what Gods Word was. Do we still have to hear Gods Word from a special priesthood/preacher? Or does the Spirit of God dwell within us today? Compare these commands with Jesus conversation with the woman at the well (John 4:20-24) Joel 2:28 is an example of how the world-wide decentralized spread of the Gospel was spoken of by the Prophets. Similarly did Moses speak, when he prayed that God would make all of His people prophets and preachers (Numbers 11:29). Acts 2:17 is a fulfillment of Joel 2:28, when the Holy Spirit was finally given to His people. So you see, we are all prophets, priests, and kings today (Isaiah 61:6; 1 Peter 2:5,9; Revelation 1:6; 5:10). No building can be said to be the place to worship simply because of the presence of the special ordained priests. Every Believer is a Priest. We need not go to Jerusalem, or to atemple made with hands (Acts 7:48; 17:24). This is why, when Jesus died, and confirmed the New Testament, the physical temple was rent in half (Matthew 27:51, Mark 15:38, Luke 23:34). This is why New Testament believers worship from house to house, in homes (Acts 2:46), and not in temples made with hands. Also take a look at Hebrews 9 and the contrasting of the Old and New Covenants. Our body is now the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells within us (1 Corinthians 3:9,16,17; 6:19-20, Ephesians 2:20-22), just like Jesus referred to his own body as a temple (Mark 14:58, John 2:19-21). And as believers exercise dominion over the entire globe, Christ is correspondingly present (Matthew 28:18,20). The Judaizers told believers in Christ that unless they observed the ceremonial requirements of the Old Covenant they werent being faithful. Their purpose was not to make obedient patriarchs out of the new converts, but to gain power over them (Galatians 2:4). Don’t we do the same today? A person is considered “faithful” IF they attend church 3 times a week and “unfaithful” IF they do not. Do we need an institutional priesthood? Must we journey to a certain centralized location? Must we attend church? We are to gather and we can gain much from our fellowship, exhorting, and communing as a family of God. BUT are we to demand compliance to the status quo we call “worship service” and teach that it is necessary for salvation and commanded in the Scriptures? Has our emphasis been misplaced? Is our attending church man-based?
Posted on: Mon, 19 May 2014 05:04:27 +0000
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