NORTHSHORE CHURCH OF CHRIST

God said in the beginning: “It is not good for man to be alone.” He made a woman to be man’s helper, a fully compatible partner who completed him. In creating marriage, God taught all men and women that we are not to be lone wolves or isolationists.

Now, God was not saying that all men and women must marry—marriage is not a mandate. But God created marriage as the norm, and we should raise our children to understand that marriage is good, right, and holy.

There’s more to learn, though, in the words, “It is not good for man to be alone.”

When Satan tore Job’s world down, three of his friends gathered around and sat with him in silence for seven days and seven nights to help him bear his misery. Men and women of the ancient world thrived and survived in communities, small towns, and cities, travelling with their tribes.

Abraham had a household of several hundred. When King Chedorlaomer and three other kings took Abraham’s nephew Lot captive, Abraham rallied the trained men of war who had been born in his household—318 men—to retrieve what had been stolen (Gen. 14).

Jesus surrounded himself with men, and when he sent them out, he sent them in pairs (Luke 10.1)—no loners. In Acts, when Antioch sent men on missionary journeys, they always sent at least two together (Paul with Barnabas, Paul with Silas), and at points we find Paul travelling with a larger retinue (Acts 20.4).

God has always spoken of his faithful ones as a covenant people. Yes, God saves individually, but individuals are never saved in isolation. God’s assembly supports, encourages, lifts up, heals, helps, prays for, teaches, admonishes, rebukes, forgives, loves—each other. Paul needed to be with the brethren whether he was in Ephesus, Philippi, or Corinth because they fed him just as he fed them. God’s mercy and comfort is not meant to be accepted from him and then kept for ourselves—God “comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Cor. 1.4).

God designed us to be team players.

We live in an isolationist world. Ironically, we hold the illusion that we are super-connected and have hundreds of friends, yet how many real friends do we have? Do our online communities fulfill us the way God intended, the way he designed us? When we post our latest success on Faceplant or Instapotty and our digital network throws thumbs and hearts at us, is this healthy human interaction God’s way? A sizeable percentage of our eight billion brothers and sisters now seem to accept this online fiction as reality.

And they are so lonely.

Because it’s not real.

God created us to be together, to talk face-to-face, to literally be there for one another.

Anyone need some help with some chores around the house? Let me know

Some “attend services” in order to be entertained by heart-tugging music and finely-tuned presentations. Some “go to church” for the social aspect of seeing friends and catching up on the latest news. Some “go to worship” to fill that important checkmark for the week.

Since God created the assembly for a special purpose, what does God want us to accomplish when we gather with the saints? I find two major objectives specifically given in God’s word.

WORSHIP

Our churches are a continuation of the assemblies of God’s people throughout the Old Testament.

The Jews met together weekly and yearly for holy convocations:

• They remembered God’s work of creation every Sabbath, as God had rested from His work on the seventh day (Lev. 23.1-3).
• They remembered how God delivered them from Egypt in the Passover feast (Lev. 23.4-8).
• They offered the Lord of the firstfruits of their harvest in the Feast of Firstfruits (Lev. 23.9-14).
• They sacrificed to the Lord of their year’s bounty at harvest time during the Fest of Weeks (Lev. 23.15-22).
• They praised God with trumpets and food offering in the Feast of Trumpets (Lev. 23.23-25).
• They afflicted themselves on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23.26-32).
• They presented food offerings for seven days and then observed an extra-special Sabbath on the eighth day during the Feast of Booths (Lev. 23.33-36).

Our assemblies today mirror those Jewish assemblies; we meet to remember God and worship Him as our great deliverer and savior, rock and redeemer.

We have little to go on, as far as specifics for how New Testament Christian assemblies looked, but we have some data. For instance, we know they...

…devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. …And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. (Acts 2.42-47)

Some aspects of their gatherings were devoted to one another, and other aspects were specifically directed to the worship and praise of God. All, in fact, was to the praise of God, even the sharing with one another in fellowship and eating, whether it was the Lord’s Supper or their daily meals.

EDIFICATION

Paul encouraged the Corinthian brethren to earnestly desire the gift of prophecy over the gift of tongue speaking. “So with yourselves, since you are eager for manifestations of the Spirit, strive to excel in building up the church” (1 Cor. 14.12). That whole chapter 14 is focused on building up the brethren—edification—which is accomplished through sharing God’s word in the assembly, when the whole church had come together. Paul wrote, “Tongues are a sign not for believers but for unbelievers, while prophecy is a sign not for unbelievers but for believers” (1 Cor. 14.22). What can you infer by his encouragement to desire the gift of prophecy? The assembly’s main purpose is not for unbelievers but for believers! We still hope an unbeliever in our assembly will hear God’s word shared among us in such a powerful way that “he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you” (1 Cor. 14.24-25). Paul hopes our assemblies will drive even the unbeliever to worship God.

God’s purpose for our assemblies, though, is for the good of the Christians. In Ephesians 4.11-16, to the church God “gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood…” God wants spiritually mature children to be serving, and our assemblies are for teaching us to grow up in Christ.

Brethren, when we come together, let us come together to worship God and to edify one another! This is why God created our assemblies. They are not entertainment sessions, but times of joint praise and thanksgiving offered to God. We pray with, sing to, and edify one another with God’s holy word. Paul told Timothy to devote himself to the public reading of Scripture (1 Tim. 4.13). Our aim is to build up one another in Christ, strengthen the feeble, clarify our spiritual direction, praise our God with one voice, repent of our sins, confess our faith in Jesus our Lord.

As we submit to God’s plan for our gatherings, we will see less of ourselves and more of God. Praise Him, praise Him, Jesus our blessed redeemer!