Not Neglecting Meeting Together

“Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 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.” (Hebrews 10:19-25 ESV)

Jesus Christ, the second person of our triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – left his throne in heaven, came to earth, and was born as a human baby to a human mother, but conceived of the Holy Spirit. So he was without sin and he never sinned while he walked this earth. He grew to be a man and he ministered to the people. He fed the hungry, healed the sick and afflicted, and he drove out demons, delivering people from them. And he performed many miracles, even raising some people from the dead.

And during his earthly ministry he preached repentance (turning from sin) for the forgiveness of sin and obedience to him for salvation and eternal life. He confronted sin in the hypocritical religious leaders in the temple, and in the synagogues, I believe, too, who were teaching lies and who were living immoral and wicked lives. He taught that to come after him we must deny self, die daily to sin, and follow him in obedience. For if we hold on to our sins, and we do not obey him, we will not have eternal life in him.

Now, Jesus Christ was and is the fulfillment of the promised seed of Abraham, the Christ (Messiah) who was to come. But most of the Jews did not receive him as their Lord and Messiah, and some are still waiting for a messiah to be revealed. And some of them hated him so much that they arranged for him to be arrested, put on trial, beaten, and then put to death on a cross. But when Jesus died, our sins died with him so that we can now die to sin and walk in obedience to his commands in the power of God.

Also, when Jesus died on that cross he did away with the Old Covenant liturgical, ceremonial, sacrificial, purification, and dietary laws and restrictions, including the requirement of circumcision of all males. And he summarized the law into two commands, that we should love God with our whole being and that we should love our neighbors as ourselves, for love does no harm to its neighbors. And he made Jew and Gentile one people by genuine faith in Jesus Christ, no longer divided, if by faith in Jesus.

The curtain that stood between humankind and the Holy of Holies in the temple was torn in two, thus representing that Jesus had now made the way for all who believe in him to come into the presence of Almighty God. And we who believe in him have now become his temple, his body, the church, in whom God dwells by His Spirit. And we worship God in spirit and in truth, regardless of physical location. And we can meet with other believers any day of the week for fellowship, teaching, prayer, communion and ministry.

Therefore, since Jesus did all of that for all of humanity, if we believe in him with God-persuaded and God-gifted faith in him, in the surrendering of our lives to him, in dying with him to sin, and now walking in obedience to his commands, in his power, we are to draw near to God with a true heart in full assurance of faith in Christ and in what he did for us in delivering us from our slavery to sin and in empowering us to live holy lives, pleasing to him. And this will mean self-denial, dying daily to sin, and walking in His ways.

[Isaiah 53:1-12; Matt 7:21-23; Matt 26:26-29; Lu 9:23-26; Lu 17:25; Jn 1:1-36; Jn 6:35-58; Jn 8:24,58; Jn 10:27-33; Jn 20:28-29; Rom 5:8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 9:5; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 11:23-32; 1 Co 15:1-8; 2 Co 5:15,21; Eph 4:17-24; Php 2:5-11; Col 2:9; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 1:8-9; Heb 2:14-15; Heb 4:15; 1 Pet 2:24; 2 Pet 1:1; 1 John 3:4-10]  

And when we are walking in the ways of the Lord, and sin is no longer our practice, but righteousness, godliness, moral purity, faithfulness, honesty, and obedience to our Lord are what we practice, then we are to stir up one another to love and good works. And this love comes from God, and it prefers what God prefers, which is all that is righteous and morally pure. And the good works we are to do are those God prepared in advance that we should walk in them, by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:8-10; Titus 2:11-14).

Now when this says that we are not to neglect meeting together with other followers of Jesus Christ, this is not talking about us needing to attend church services on Sunday mornings at some institutional market-driven “church” incorporated under the state which is entertaining the masses, and which is diluting the gospel and the character of God/Christ in order to make them more acceptable to human flesh, and which is not operating as the biblical body of Christ in all of us ministering to one another. 

A lot of “institutional church” Christians will throw Hebrews 10:25 at you to guilt-trip you into showing up at one of their “churches” on a Sunday morning, where you sit as spectators, and where you might be able to sing along with songs someone else picked out, many of which you may not know at all, and may not be sound in doctrine biblically, and for which no written music is provided like it was in the old days of hymn singing. And you may have to listen to one man doing all the teaching with no one challenging him.

But that is not the biblical church! The biblical church is the universal body of Christ comprised of all who have been crucified with Christ in death to sin, and raised with Christ to walk in newness of life in him, no longer to live as slaves to sin but now as slaves to God and to his righteousness. And, as parts of that body we are all to be ministers to one another, and we should all be given opportunity to use our spiritual gifts for the encouragement and the spiritual maturity of the whole body of Christ (Ephesians 4:1-16).

And the purpose of our gatherings is so that we can stir one another up to love and good works (of God), and so we can encourage one another, and so that we can speak the truth in love to one another so that none of us are led astray by con artists who are deceitful schemers who are leading God’s people to a false gospel message. And all of us are necessary to the proper working of the body of Christ in order that we might all reach spiritual maturity, as each part is working properly.

And we all are to be addressing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs which God gives to us individually to share with the body. And we all are to be teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom. And we are to be exhorting one another EVERY DAY so that none of us may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. All of us who believe in Jesus are to be doing these things in ministering to one another so that we can all grow to maturity in our walks of faith. And we are to help the fallen back to faith.

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; 1 Corinthians 14:1-5; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Ephesians 6:10-20; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:12-16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]