Articles
Why You Should Be Here
A constant problem among many churches is the fact that a good portion of the members come only on Sunday morning and are not seen again until the next Sunday morning. They do not come to the morning Bible class study, they do not come to the Sunday evening Bible study, they do not come for the Sunday evening worship assembly, and they do not come to the Wednesday evening Bible study. If there is a gospel meeting, they will likely not show up for any of the weeknight assemblies, either. And, if someone should ask why this is so, the likely answer is often, "Where does it say I have to go on Sunday night and Wednesday night?" And, I must say, that is troubling to hear. You see, the problem is not just that they are not here, but that the interest in spiritual matters seems to be lacking. In their own minds, they can see no compelling reason why they should be here more than one time per week.
What is most evident is that something is lacking — and its not attendance numbers. What is lacking is that which would — should — compel every disciple to be here every opportunity he or she has! Can you not see that one who asks why they need to be here has a different mind set than the one who asks "When can I be here?" The difference is in desire. The fact that I am even talking about the need to be here demonstrates that some simply do not have the desire to be here, but I want to give you some reminders about why you need to be here at every opportunity you get. Some of these things you already know, but may have forgotten; some of these things you may have never considered; but if you are thinking about gathering with brethren only on Sunday morning, I want you to listen to what God's word says about it.
Because You Know God Wants You to Be Here. Jesus teaches us that God “is seeking” the true worshipers who “will worship the Father in spirit and truth” (John 4:23) and “those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (v. 24). God is seeking spiritual worshipers, and you are one of them. As a disciple — a beneficiary of the grace and mercy of God who understands well the great spiritual blessings you have received — you seek to show your love to God for what He has done and you want to do so in the way God seeks. You do not ask where it says you 'have' to worship God; you want to worship God because you love God and you do it because you mean it.
You need to be here at every opportunity because your heart tells you you need to be here. You do not want to even appear as the Pharisees and religious leaders of the first century whom God said, “honors Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me; in vain do they worship Me” (Matt. 15:8, 9). You need to be here because you want to do more than the minimum for the one who gave His all for you, and one hour out of 168 in the week is not enough.
You do this because you are glad to worship Him. You know He wants you to be here tonight and every other opportunity you have and so you are, like the psalmist, “glad when they said to [you], “Let us go to the house of the Lord!” (Psa. 122:1), and not as those who would later say of their service, “What a weariness this is” (Mal. 1:13), or wonder, as did some, when the day would be over so you could get back to business (cf. Amos 8:5).
Because It Demonstrates Your Diligence. As a faithful disciple, you know that He will be pleased with nothing less than diligent service and you seek to please Him in all things. You take every opportunity to know more about Him because you know that you cannot please Him without faith, or without diligence in seeking Him (Heb. 11:6). You are not satisfied to know Him simply as Creator, but you want to know about His power and the will to create; you are not satisfied to know Him only as God the Father; you want to know Him as your heavenly Father. And you are not satisfied to know that He loved the world and gave His Son that the world could be saved; you want to try and understand why He sent His Son to die for you (cf. Gal. 2:20b).
Part of your diligence is motivated by your desire to be approved of Him (2 Tim. 2:15). You want to not just be a disciple, but a servant and a worker “who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth,” so you give diligence to be found as such by Him. You also know that the only way you may know whether or not you are pleasing to God is through a diligent study of His word, where His will is revealed to us (cf. 1 Cor. 2:11b-13). Because you are diligent, you know that you can never assume that what you are doing is pleasing, but you strive to know His word well enough that you know that what you do is pleasing to Him, and you also know that the Bible classes and Bible lessons that are offered at this place are ways to help you know what pleases Him.
Because It Is Evidence Of Your Love For God. You remember well the words of Jesus, when asked about the greatest commandment, for He then said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment” (Matt. 22:37, 38). You took those words seriously and you constantly strive to demonstrate that your love is more than just mere words, so you seek to give evidence to all witnesses that you love Him more than all.
Your love for God is such that you have relegated yourself to second place and all you do is for Him, so you need to be here to demonstrate that is not just words. You believed it necessary [as God said] to “present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God” (Rom. 12:1) and you did so. Having given yourself to His service, you can see no reason, no one, and no thing that should stand in your way of worshipping Him and studying His word with your fellow believers. If anything, you know that, as His disciple, you are setting an example for others to follow and you would not want them to give less than their all, either. You believe that if Jesus was willing to give Himself for us out of love (Eph. 5:2), the least you could do is to give yourself for a few hours a week because you love Him!
Because It Is Evidence You Resisted The Devil. You resisted the Devil's lie that "He doesn't care," but you know you need to be here tonight — and every time — because you know that though the devil may be defeated once, he will return to try again later, just as he did with Jesus (Luke 4:13). You know that if you miss even once he will take that as a sign of weakness and he will be watching you closely to see what else may lead you away from the Lord! You need to be here because you understand he is constantly seeking someone to devour (1 Pet. 5:8) and that could be you if you are alone, without others to help you be strong or to help resist him. You know the devil only leaves for a little while, to return again for another try at some point later, when he sees an opportunity. You know that you cannot give him that opportunity (Eph. 4:27).
The things we have covered today are things you know — or should know — about why you need to be here tonight and every time you have the opportunity. God wants you to be here, but He also wants you to want to be here. If you know all these things, then you know 'where it says you should be here,' right? See you tonight! —— Steven Harper
