|
About Jesus - Steve (Stephen) Sweetman More
Than A Meeting Hebrews 10:24 and 25 are
often quoted to support the importance of attending church meetings, but
these verses mean much more than that.
They read: "And let us
consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not
giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but
encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day
approaching." Note that we are to
actively spur (stimulate) one another on toward love (sacrificial love) and
good deeds. This admonition
presupposes that as Christians we are to be a community of believers who
exist in personal and supportive relationships as we function together to
accomplish God's will. This
cannot be done if we are all isolated islands unto ourselves.
It certainly cannot be done in a mere meeting, as I understand
Hebrews 10:24 and 25 to teach us.
The author of Hebrews
inserted the Hebrew word "episynagoge" into his Greek text that
has been translated into English as "not giving up meeting
together" in verse 25. This
Hebrew word finds its roots in Old Testament Judaism where it represented
a community of people living in right relationship with God and with each
other as they actively and corporately accomplished God's will.
If you were a Jew in Old
Testament times, and if you lived in community as God required, all that
was necessary for your spiritual and material well-being was to be found
in God's community of people. This
community would have been central to your life.
It would not have been a mere meeting you attended once a week.
It would not have been an extra-curricular activity you did at your
leisure. Living in harmonious
and functional relationships with each other and God would have been your
life's experience. Furthermore, our English
verbs "not giving up" and "encouraging" in this text
are present, active, Greek participles.
This emphasizes us being encouragers who would inherently not
forsake those Jesus has joined us to in His community of people, the
church. Paul wrote about this
joining in 1 Corinthians 12:5. "For we were all
baptized [immersed] by one Spirit into one
body — whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves
or free — and we were all given one Spirit to
drink." According to Paul, if
you are a real Christian, you have been baptized, or immersed, by the Holy
Spirit into the lives of those Jesus has placed you alongside in the Body
of Christ, the Community of God, the church.
It is these personal, supportive, and functional relationships that
Hebrews 10:24 and 25 tell us not to give up or forsake, something seldom
seen in our western-world, individualistic, it's all about me, church.
Yes, it is more than a meeting.
|