One of the
greatest problems facing the church today is that of absenteeism.
There are church members present at the Sunday morning worship hour
who are not present Sunday night, Wednesday night or for the Bible
study period on Sunday morning. There must be some reason for this
deficiency in attendance. This author believes it is because due
emphasis has not been placed on the importance of attending all
services of the church in order to be faithful to the Lord. In some
cases encouragement is given to this fault by endorsement to those
in the church who hold prominent positions. It makes no difference
who is guilty, the sin is the same. "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"
(Heb.
10:25). This is connected to "willful sinning" (v. 26).
The effect of
absenteeism on the preaching of the gospel to the outside world is
greater than most of us realize. We cannot expect to convert people
to Christ when our lives speak against his religion. The empty seats
on Sunday night and at the mid-week services speak loud against the
power of God to save. It is the earnest hope of this writer that
this little booklet will do much to call attention of the reader to
the seriousness of being unfaithful in attendance to services of the
church. "And the things that thou hast heard of me among many
witnesses, the same commit to faithful men, who shall be able to
teach others also" (2 Tim. 2:2).
Must I
Attend Every Service of the Church?
Mysteries
confuse us mightily! Of all mysteries, the behavior of men and women
purchased by the blood of Christ is the greatest. If any people on
earth should rejoice on the Lord's day to attend public worship and
service to God, the Lord's people - Christians - should. Yet,
apparently, they are the ones most indifferent. It is an open sin,
as will be shown on the following pages, to neglect the
opportunities and blessings afforded in all services of the church
of our Lord.
Absenteeism
is a term that well defines the conduct of many church members.
Various excuses have been offered by those who are guilty of this
sin; many not worth a mention, while others sound so "reasonable" as
to require attention here.
Absenteeism
falls into four well defined classes: (1) The physically
handicapped. (2) The vacationers or visitors. (3) The business
people. (4) The pleasure seekers. A few words on each of these
should be sufficient.
1. The
physically handicapped include those who are ill, feeble or
stranded. Only those who are so ill that they are unable to carry on
the other necessities of life, such as business, play, housework,
etc., are released from the responsibility of worship to God. Many
have a chronic illness which might be called "Sunday morningitis."
This illness comes on the patient about 9:30 a.m. on Sunday only,
and lasts until about 12:00 noon. Then it reoccurs about 6:30 p.m.
on the same day and lasts for about two hours. Again on Wednesday
about 6:30 p.m. the same illness comes on the patient again, and
lasts about two hours. At no other time does the patient suffer.
This kind of illness does not excuse one from service to God. The
illness that will keep one from work, play, etc. will hinder him
from public worship to God, and only that kind of illness.
The feeble
are those who have reached the age or have such weak bodies that
they cannot go anywhere. If one is not too feeble to go to ball
games, parties, visiting, etc., he is not too feeble to go to
church. His duty is to be there, and he sins if he isn't.
The stranded
are those who are unable to attend church services for reasons they
cannot help. Floods, earthquakes, fires, such weather that would
keep one from work, school or play; imprisonment (for the cause of
Christ, which is unlikely in this land and day), the care for one
who is really ill: one who must depend upon you, and then
arrangements should be made so that you could attend one service on
the Lord's day. These hindrances would keep one from one or more of
the services of the church.
2. There are
many who select the Lord's day to go visiting or take short
vacations. In some cases it may be the only time one could go visit
relatives or friends, but to do so at the expense of public worship
to God is certainly sinful. If you must go visiting on Sunday, be
sure to attend worship. Christ does not mean much to the person who
will go visiting and neglect his worship to God.
3. Business
keeps many from public worship one or more times each week. The
greed for money drives thousands to hell each week. Any man or woman
who puts his business ahead of his duty to God is in a bad way. He
is just too busy to go to heaven. "But seek ye first the kingdom of
God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto
you" (Matt. 6:33). This means just what it says. When one selects
his business before his duty to God, he might as well mark this
passage out of the Bible; he doesn't really believe it. Some day you
will die, then what will your business mean to you? It is a
reflection upon the intelligence of men to excuse one from any
service of the church by saying "He was just too busy to come." Any
business, as such, that interferes with public worship to God is too
much business.
4. Pleasure
seekers include the greater portion of absentees from the services
of the church. Many do not have enough love, knowledge, faith and
care, to attend to their duties as Christians, thus filling the
atmosphere of the church with lukewarmness. Everything that appeals
to the lusts of the flesh, or the comfort of the body, entices the
pleasure seeker to absent himself from one or more of the worship
services of the church. There is not a reasonable excuse under the
sun that can be offered by this class of people for their sin.
Condemnation hangs over their heads. The wages of sin will take its
toll on this class of absenteeism.
Man has three
separate obligations: (1) to himself; (2) to his fellow man; (3) to
his God. Futile is his attempt to escape either of these three. We
want to turn our attention now to an examination of each in order as
given above. But first a few remarks.
Most people
have the strange idea that it doesn't make any different whether or
not they attend any service of the church other than the service on
Lord's day morning. Many have offered excuses for this idea, varying
in extremes, but when the facts are presented we see the utter
fallacy of every one of them.
"Prove all
things; hold fast that which is good" (1 Thess. 5:21). In all
religious matters the word of God is the standard for proving all
things. Whatsoever can be proved by the word of God is good for all
to do. What is not proved by the word of God is not a matter of
faith, and sinful if practiced religiously (Rom. 14:23). We must
hold fast to all that is proved good.
We do many
things by habit. The forming of habits is good if the habits
themselves are good, but to form habits that are at variance with
the will of God is a dangerous thing.
Much of the
failure to attend service Sunday night or Wednesday night is due to
habits formed by church members. When we learn that any habit is
wrong, we should immediately give it up. Some say: "I am out of the
habit of going to church other than on Sunday morning. That is the
reason I do not come." But does that excuse you? Will that make it
all right because you have formed a habit of not attending services?
Certainly not! Would that be said about an immoral sin? Would you
say a person is all right because he has formed the habit of
stealing? Why no. If that is the only excuse you have to offer,
never use it again. Be more consistent.
Christianity
is a reasonable religion. Peter says: "Be ready always to give an
answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in
you, with meekness and fear" (1 Pet. 3:15). Paul writes the Romans:
"I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye
present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,
which is your reasonable service" (Rom. 12:1). We, therefore, are
obligated to show the reasons for attending all services of the
church.
Again,
Christianity is a religion of "do" and "do not." It commands and
forbids through divine principles set forth in the New Testament.
The warnings are given to all who add or take from the Book.
Inasmuch as Christianity is positive and negative, and inasmuch as
God is no respecter of persons, we conclude that we are obligated
alike to the same standard. If one Christian does right in attending
all services, then it follows that it is right for all Christians to
attend all services. But if it is wrong for-one member of the church
to fail to attend all services of the church, it is wrong for all.
The word, of God speaks to all alike. Another thought on this before
we pass on. We will all be judged by the same standard on the
judgment day. What one is required to do, all are required to do.
This, of course, is gauged by the ability of the individual. We all
have the same responsibility in service.
To Be
Continued...
Guardian of Truth -
November 19, 1987
Click Here for Part
2
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