Royal Priesthood, Holy Nation Acts
1:6
Don’t Forsake the Assembly
by
Robert T. Cooper
I’ve been hurt
at church and by church people. It seems that many of the people I talk with
have had hurtful church experiences. There are even those who say the election
of President Obama to a second term is the direct result of so many having been
hurt by church people. When we began the church of which I am a part, one of
its distinguishing characteristics was (and is) that it is a church for people
who have been hurt by churches.
Lots of people
will not attend church services because of those hurts. Others will not attend
because they have simply allowed themselves to become too busy with other
things in life they deem to be more important. Some people don’t see what the
big deal is; they believe one can be a fine Christian, or at least a fine
person, without the commitment.
Acts 1:6 deals
with a special time in the lives of the Apostles. Jesus had risen from the
dead. He was meeting with them frequently to give them final instructions. The
Apostles didn’t realize the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth would not
take place in their near future. They didn’t realize Christ’s Ascension was to
come before Pentecost. They were simply fixated on continuing to meet with
Jesus and with one another as often as possible.
After the
Ascension, 120 disciples set up an around-the-clock prayer meeting. They kept
the meetings they had with Jesus before His Ascension going. Jesus was no
longer meeting with them in the flesh, yet they knew they were supposed to keep
on meeting. After Pentecost, the meetings continued. Many of the meetings were
regularly scheduled meetings—at the Jewish prayer hours and at set times
between the prayer hours. Many of the meetings were spontaneous as they kept
inviting one another to spend time with each other—for the Teaching of the
Twelve, for fellowship, for meals, and for prayer.
As the decades
went by it became evident that some people were not keeping up with the
meetings. Perhaps they were hurt. Perhaps they were overscheduled. Perhaps they
were frightened by the persecution that came their way. In fact, the
unthinkable happened. Some people were getting to where they didn’t attend any
of the meetings at all. Using the terminology of the author of Hebrews, they
forsook the assembly.
I know how it
is. The situation is such that if something were to happen to my current church
or if the politics there drove me away, I don’t know that there is any congregation
left in our county I might attend. It would be hard to find a place where I
might fit in with the fellowship.
And yet I need
to continue meeting with believers. There is a special sense in which “where
two or three are gathered” Jesus continues to participate in meetings of
believers in ways beyond the manner in which He meets with individuals. It isn’t
just me; all believers need to participate in the life of a local congregation.
Questions: Have you ever been
through a period of your life in which you didn’t meet regularly with a local
church congregation? Why do you think it is so important for disciples to meet
together? What can you do to prevent yourself from dropping out?
