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Do We Need to Go to Church Every Week? · Pastor John Piper's answers

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  Speaker 1: The alarm buzzes Sunday morning. You hop out of bed
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  Speaker 1: and prepare your heart for worship and get dressed and
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  Speaker 1: go to church, all eagerly expecting to meet God there
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  Speaker 1: with the people of God. I hope that's true. And
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  Speaker 1: I hope that's true of you this weekend. It should
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  Speaker 1: be true of us. But it can go in another
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  Speaker 1: direction as well. The alarm goes off. You pause. And
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  Speaker 1: in that pause comes a question, a question maybe you
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  Speaker 1: debate for a moment. Should I just turn off the
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  Speaker 1: alarm and fall back asleep? You're tired. Last night was late.
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  Speaker 1: And you think to yourself, I'll skip today. Just this once,
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  Speaker 1: I'll skip today. The problem is that it won't just
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  Speaker 1: end with once. Once leads to twice, leads to a
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  Speaker 1: third time. So today on Ask Pastor John, we're asking
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  Speaker 1: the question, do we need to go to church every week?
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  Speaker 1: It's Bridget's question, a relatively new believer and a college student.
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  Speaker 1: Pastor John, hello to you and thank you for this podcast.
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  Speaker 1: In Hebrews 10, verses 24 to 25, which is in
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  Speaker 1: our Bible reading tomorrow, the writer emphasizes the importance of
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  Speaker 1: not neglecting to meet together as a church, but instead
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  Speaker 1: calls us to encourage one another, especially as the return
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  Speaker 1: of Christ draws near. Can you help me understand this
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  Speaker 1: text in two ways? First, why do we go to
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  Speaker 1: church every week? Is that pattern in the Bible? And second,
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  Speaker 1: how do I know if I'm achieving Hebrews 10 rightly
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  Speaker 1: by going to church services every week? How would I know?
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  Speaker 1: Thank you.
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  Speaker 2: I think it is good now and then to step
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  Speaker 2: back and ask why we do some of the most
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  Speaker 2: familiar things that we do. Like, why do we eat
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  Speaker 2: three times a day and not two or four? Why
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  Speaker 2: do we pray before we eat? Why do we have
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  Speaker 2: family devotions or personal devotions? Why do we have church
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  Speaker 2: services once a week or twice a week or three
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  Speaker 2: times a week? Why do we sing as part of
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  Speaker 2: the service of worship? Should we even call it worship service?
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  Speaker 2: I know people who think that since the New Testament
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  Speaker 2: never calls our gatherings worship, we shouldn't call them worship either.
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  Speaker 2: So should we? Why is there such a thing as preaching?
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  Speaker 2: Why is it so central in the Protestant church and
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  Speaker 2: on and on? So I think it's just as important
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  Speaker 2: as asking those questions that we ask them in the
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  Speaker 2: right spirit. And I think that includes having a lot
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  Speaker 2: of respect for historic patterns of Christian behavior that have
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  Speaker 2: gone for years and years, hundreds of years. It's very
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  Speaker 2: likely that a good deal of careful thought has gone
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  Speaker 2: into these things, most of which we know very little about.
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  Speaker 2: We don't know all that thought that's gone in. It's
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  Speaker 2: likely that in our present questionings, we have a lot
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  Speaker 2: to learn. I certainly have a lot to learn in
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  Speaker 2: asking some of the most basic questions of why we
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  Speaker 2: do what we do. So I think we should be
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  Speaker 2: humble and eager to understand and slow to become iconoclasts,
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  Speaker 2: tearing down things, or anarchists who just love to tear
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  Speaker 2: things down rather than do the hard work of building
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  Speaker 2: them up. Oh, my goodness, the work it takes to
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  Speaker 2: build things and the ease with which they can be
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  Speaker 2: torn down. What a contrast. Oh, to devote our lives
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  Speaker 2: to construction rather than destruction. So Bridget is wondering about
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  Speaker 2: why we worship weekly, and she refers to Hebrews 10,
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  Speaker 2: 24 to 25 and asks, how do I know if
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  Speaker 2: I'm achieving this? And what is this? Here's what the
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  Speaker 2: text says. Let us consider how to stir up one
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  Speaker 2: another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together,
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  Speaker 2: as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another,
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  Speaker 2: and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Now,
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  Speaker 2: let's notice four things. First, Christians should meet together. It
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  Speaker 2: doesn't say What kind of togetherness? It could be a
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  Speaker 2: worship service or it could be a small group gathering.
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  Speaker 2: You can't tell from these verses, but what's crucial is
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  Speaker 2: don't be a loner. Don't be a lone ranger Christian.
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  Speaker 2: Be with other Christians regularly. It doesn't say how often,
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  Speaker 2: but it does say why. And that's the second thing
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  Speaker 2: to notice. When you come together, with other Christians, make
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  Speaker 2: sure that you aim to encourage others and to be
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  Speaker 2: encouraged in your faith by them. It's mutual, back and forth.
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  Speaker 2: And my simple counsel to people for how to do this,
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  Speaker 2: if you come together in a smaller group, say, and
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  Speaker 2: you aim to encourage others, how should you get ready
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  Speaker 2: to do that? So that when you walk into that group,
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  Speaker 2: you can do it. And the counsel is, When you're
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  Speaker 2: having your devotions in the morning, look out for some
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  Speaker 2: simple truth that encourages your heart to keep on trusting Jesus.
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  Speaker 2: And then tell the group what you saw in your devotions.
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  Speaker 2: That's how you encourage each other. That's the easiest way
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  Speaker 2: and the most helpful way I've ever thought of for
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  Speaker 2: how a small group works like that to be mutually encouraging.
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  Speaker 2: And the third thing to notice in these verses is
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  Speaker 2: that the aim of the encouragement is to stir each
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  Speaker 2: other up to love and good works. In other words,
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  Speaker 2: the encouragement is not just to keep the light of
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  Speaker 2: faith burning, but to let the light shine in doing
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  Speaker 2: good things for other people. And fourth, it says that
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  Speaker 2: we should do this with all the more urgency and
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  Speaker 2: and frequency as we see the day of Christ approaching. Now,
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  Speaker 2: why would that be? Why is it important that we
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  Speaker 2: be busy at doing good deeds and loving each other
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  Speaker 2: and encouraging each other all the more as the day
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  Speaker 2: of Christ approaches? It's interesting what 2 John verse 7 says.
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  Speaker 2: It says, this is love. that we walk according to
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  Speaker 2: his commandments because many deceivers have gone out into the world.
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  Speaker 2: In other words, when Christians love each other and their
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  Speaker 2: enemies the way we should, it's a great protection against
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  Speaker 2: being deceived and drawn away by the world in the
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  Speaker 2: last day. Jesus described those days like this. Many will
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  Speaker 2: fall away. and betray one another, and hate one another.
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  Speaker 2: And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray.
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  Speaker 2: And because lawlessness is increased, the love of many will
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  Speaker 2: grow cold, but the one who endures to the end
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  Speaker 2: will be saved. That's Matthew 24, 10 to 13. So,
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  Speaker 2: exhorting each other, encouraging each other, stirring each other up
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  Speaker 2: to love is essential. And all the more, during those
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  Speaker 2: deceptive pressures of the last days. So, Bridget, in view
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  Speaker 2: of that, how can you know if Hebrews 10 is
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  Speaker 2: happening in your life? And very practically, these are the
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  Speaker 2: questions I'd ask, and I think they're the way you know,
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  Speaker 2: based on what the verse says. Do you regularly meet
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  Speaker 2: with other Christians for this kind of mutual encouragement? If so,
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  Speaker 2: you're doing the text. Do you come to those meetings
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  Speaker 2: ready to encourage others with the promises of God, perhaps
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  Speaker 2: something from your morning devotions? Do you welcome encouragement from others?
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  Speaker 2: Are you eager to receive it from the things that
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  Speaker 2: they share? Are you drawn by these things, these gatherings
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  Speaker 2: and these sharings, to do good works for other people,
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  Speaker 2: to let your light shine for Christ? Do you find
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  Speaker 2: yourself more resilient against the deceptive forces of our culture
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  Speaker 2: because of coming together with other Christians? Those would be
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  Speaker 2: some of the ways you can tell if you're experiencing
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  Speaker 2: Hebrews 10, 24 and 25. Now, just very briefly, what
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  Speaker 2: about weekly worship? We don't base this. We don't base
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  Speaker 2: that custom. The church never has based that custom merely
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  Speaker 2: on Hebrews 10, because Hebrews 10 does not say weekly.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, in Hebrews 3.13, it says we should encourage
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  Speaker 2: each other daily. The weekly pattern for Christians getting together
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  Speaker 2: to sing together, to eat the Lord's together, that pattern
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  Speaker 2: almost certainly was taken over from the Jewish synagogue by
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  Speaker 2: the earliest Christians in the New Testament. We see it.
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  Speaker 2: We see in the New Testament that Jesus practiced this
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  Speaker 2: weekly custom as a faithful Jew in Luke 4, 16.
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  Speaker 2: And then when Jesus rose from the dead on the
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  Speaker 2: first day of the week, in a sense, bringing into
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  Speaker 2: being the dawn of a new creation, new creatures in Christ,
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  Speaker 2: a new people, the Christians distinguished themselves from the synagogue
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  Speaker 2: by doing the same thing on the first day of
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  Speaker 2: the week instead of the last day of the week,
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  Speaker 2: the way the Jews had done it. So, for example,
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  Speaker 2: we read in Acts 20, verse 7, the first day
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  Speaker 2: of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread,
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  Speaker 2: Paul talked with them. Or 1 Corinthians 16, 2, it says,
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  Speaker 2: on the first day of the week, Each of you
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  Speaker 2: is to put aside something and store it up as
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  Speaker 2: you may prosper so that there may be no collecting
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  Speaker 2: when I come. And that first day of the week
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  Speaker 2: came to be called, quote, the Lord's Day, Revelation 1,
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  Speaker 2: verse 10. And now for 2,000 years, the church in
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  Speaker 2: all of its branches, with just a few tiny exceptions,
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  Speaker 2: have gathered for worship at least once a week. on
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  Speaker 2: the Lord's Day, Sunday, the first day of the week,
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  Speaker 2: and for much of that history, have met once, twice,
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  Speaker 2: three times a week. When the church is healthy and strong,
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  Speaker 2: Christians love to gather for corporate worship and for mutual encouragement.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, when the church is healthy and strong, Christians love
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  Speaker 1: to gather for corporate worship and for mutual encouragement. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: when the church is healthy. We are eager to be
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  Speaker 1: with the people of God because we are not meant
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  Speaker 1: to live isolated spiritual lives. We are called to gather
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  Speaker 1: regularly for mutual encouragement, for perseverance, for worship. Sunday is
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  Speaker 1: beautiful and Sunday is coming. It's worth getting out of
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  Speaker 1: bed for. But maybe you're still looking for a good church.
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  Speaker 1: How do you find a good local church? And when
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  Speaker 1: is the right time to leave a church for a
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  Speaker 1: better one? Those are just a couple of the important
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  Speaker 1: questions we've explored here on the podcast over the years.
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  Speaker 1: And I have a curated digest of those episodes that
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  Speaker 1: can be found in the Ask Pastor John book in
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  Speaker 1: the section that I titled On Joining, Leaving, and Finding
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  Speaker 1: a Church on pages 417 to 428 to help you
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  Speaker 1: along in that very important search. Okay, so the alarm
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  Speaker 1: sounds in the morning. We get out the door, off
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  Speaker 1: to church. What makes a great sermon? Or to flip
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  Speaker 1: it around, What are the six traits of a forgettable sermon?
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  Speaker 1: That's next time. I'm Tony Reinke. Set your alarm for
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  Speaker 1: Sunday church, and we'll see you back here on Monday.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening.