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Which Assembly? Tim Smelser The psalmist of old wrote, I was glad when they said to me, Let us go unto the house of Jehovah" (Psalm 122:1) In Psalm 95:1-6 David invites, "O come let us sing unto Jehovah; Let us come before His presence with thanksgiving; O come, let us worship and bow down, Let us kneel before Jehovah our maker." Aside from assembling together to worship God, we are also encouraged to study His word and to meditate thereon. "Oh how I love thy law! It is my mediation all the day!" (Psalm 119:97). In Acts 4 we find Christians assembled together for times of prayer and study. These saints lifted up their voices to God with one accord (v.24) and they prayed together (v.31). Peter came to the house of Mary in Acts 12:12 and he found many gathered together who were praying. What I find interesting about these examples is that these Christians were not assembled together on the first day of the week to partake of the Lord's Supper. Many times Christians today feel they are "required" to attend the worship service on Sunday morning because partaking of the Lord's Supper is commanded (Luke 22:14-23; Acts 20:7). However, their interest does not go beyond the assembling to break bread. The Sunday morning Bible classes, the Sunday evening worship services and the Wednesday night Bible classes are not important in their minds because they are not "required". Consider the attitude of the brethern at Berea when Luke wrote that they "searched the scriptures daily" (Acts 17:11-12). Not only was David glad to go to the house of the Lord, he invited others to go with him. Paul told Timothy, "Till I come, give heed to reading, to exhortation, to teaching" (I Timothy 4:13). Surely our "other" assemblies give us the opportunity to fulfill this instruction. We share a common bond with all the people referred to above. That common bond should be our love for God and for His word. We need to follow their examples and take advantage of every opportunity to assemble together and study from God's holy word. Time has been set aside (apart from the Sunday morning worship period) for us to assemble with fellow Christians to study, sing and pray; all done to the glory of God! Let's get involved and
take part in these times of study so we can "present ourselves
unto God, workmen that need not be ashamed, handling aright the word of
truth" (2 Timothy 2:15). |
