“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:24-25).
The passage above is often used to show the importance of assembling with the local church. It also warns of the trouble that comes when Christians fail to make the assembly a priority and, as a result, neglect it.
In this article, we will consider what this passage teaches. What does it mean to forsake the assembly? What are the dangers of choosing to miss it? And how is the assembly beneficial for us? We will use the Scriptures to answer these questions.
What Is the Assembly?
Before we discuss forsaking the assembly, we first need to understand what it is we are told not to forsake. What is the assembly?
The assembly is the gathering that takes place when we “come together as a church” (1 Corinthians 11:18). This implies a deliberate action. The assembly is not just any random group of Christians. Instead, it is the gathering that occurs at the time and place where the local church decides to assemble. It is also something that is scheduled so people know when to be there. This was how the church in Corinth could “wait for one another” (1 Corinthians 11:33) when they assembled. The only way they could do this was because the congregation had a regularly scheduled time to meet, so the brethren could plan to attend and expect one another to be present as well.
The assembly is also the place in which we engage in collective activities. We may immediately think of worship, and we certainly read of churches coming together to engage in various collective acts of worship – singing, praying, preaching/teaching, giving, and the Lord’s Supper.* However, the New Testament also speaks of other things that happened when churches came together, including encouraging one another (Hebrews 10:25), receiving reports on the work the church is helping to support (Acts 14:26-27), and carrying out church discipline (1 Corinthians 5:4-5).
When we talk about the assembly, we are referring to the occasions when the local church comes together in order to engage in worship and do the other collective acts that are mentioned in the New Testament.
What Does It Mean to Forsake the Assembly?
The word translated “forsaking” in our opening text means that one has abandoned or left behind assembling with their brethren. In other words, they have separated themselves from the church and no longer consider themselves to be a part of it. However, when we talk about “forsaking” the assembly, the discussion often centers around those who are sporadic in their attendance. They attend occasionally, maybe even most of the time, but they regularly allow other things to take precedence, causing them to willfully miss at times when they could otherwise attend.
Missing one service here and there may not fit the definition of “forsaking” in this passage, but that does not mean it is acceptable or wise to do so. The Hebrew writer warned of this becoming a “habit.” Habits are developed. Therefore, the “habit” of “forsaking” the assembly begins by failing to make attendance a priority and, as a result, missing on occasion.
One may ask the question, How often should we assemble with the church? Many churches of men consider someone an “active” member if they attend just twice a month.** Yet as a member of a local congregation, we should be of the “habit” of assembling whenever the congregation comes “together as a church” (1 Corinthians 11:18). At the minimum, this will mean attending on the Lord’s day because a congregation would need to assemble once on Sunday in order to fulfill the requirements found in the New Testament. However, if a congregation determines to conduct additional assemblies (a second worship service on Sunday, a mid-week Bible study, annual Gospel Meetings, etc.), then the members of that congregation should be in the “habit” of attending all of the assemblies they are able since they made a commitment to do so when they placed membership with that local church.***
What Are the Benefits of Assembling?
The New Testament instruction to assemble was not a pointless command given by the Holy Spirit just to see if we would follow it. Instead, assembling with our brethren is for our good. There are several ways in which this is beneficial for us.
- It is an opportunity to worship God – When Jesus spoke with the Samaritan woman, He said, “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24). What an amazing privilege to assemble to worship the Creator of the universe, knowing that He desires us to come before Him in this way.
- It is an opportunity to learn more about God’s will – As preaching and teaching are done in the assembly (Acts 20:7; 1 Corinthians 14:26), we can grow in our understanding of God’s will when we are in attendance.
- It is an opportunity to receive encouragement – As we noticed in our opening text, we encourage one another when we assemble. Even the apostle Paul looked forward to the time when he could meet with the saints in Rome and “be encouraged” by them (Romans 1:12). If he benefited from these times of encouragement, each one of us will benefit from them as well.
- It is an opportunity to encourage others – We have a responsibility to “encourage one another day after day” (Hebrews 3:13). Paul told the brethren in Thessalonica to “encourage one another and build up one another” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). The assembly is one place in which we can do this.
What Are the Dangers of Choosing to Miss the Assembly?
I was intentional with how I worded that question. Some miss the assembly not because they choose to miss but because they are unable to attend (due to sickness, travel, etc.). There are challenges that exist for brethren who miss for legitimate reasons, especially if this is done over a period of time. However, we are focusing on what happens when we choose not to assemble even though we are able to do so. What happens when we do this?
- We fail to worship God as He desires us to worship – Remember what we saw in Jesus’ statement to the Samaritan woman. God is seeking worshippers (John 4:23). The Lord is “worthy…to receive glory and honor and power” (Revelation 4:11). Yet when we choose not to assemble, we choose not to honor God as He deserves.
- We miss out on the encouragement of our brethren – This makes us more susceptible to sin. The reason why we are to “encourage one another day after day” is “so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13). Yet when we fail to assemble, we miss out on this encouragement that could have helped us through the trials and temptations of life.
- We actively discourage our brethren – If assembling together is an encouragement to our brethren (Hebrews 10:25), then choosing not to assemble is a discouragement to them. There is a principle contained in a proverb that can apply to this: “He also who is slack in his work is brother to him who destroys” (Proverbs 18:9). When we fail to maintain the things God has blessed us with, they deteriorate and eventually become useless. In other words, doing nothing eventually produces the same outcome as being actively destructive, even if the results are much slower to be manifested. In the same way, when we fail to encourage others, they can become worn down by the challenges they face in the world and eventually fall away.
- It makes it easier to miss the next assembly – Again, the Hebrew writer warned of those who made it a “habit” to miss the assembly (Hebrews 10:25). Habits start with a single action. A “habit” of forsaking the assembly starts with the decision to miss one assembly when we could have been there. Likewise, the more we assemble, the more it becomes automatic. We should reach the point where we no longer have to decide each Sunday morning whether we will get up and go to the worship services of the church because we had already made that decision long before that morning.****
Conclusion
It is a great privilege to assemble with our brothers and sisters in Christ to worship God and to encourage one another. Let us never take these opportunities for granted. Instead, let us recognize the privilege of coming before God to worship Him, the benefits we gain from these times together, and the danger of choosing to miss the assembly when we could otherwise be there.
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* For more on this point, see the article, Why We Do What We Do in Worship.
** Thom Rainer, in an article on the Church Answers Blog, provided this figure for who is considered an “active” church member.
*** For more on the responsibilities we have as members of a local church, see the article, Church Membership.
**** For more on this point, see the point on Assembling in the article, Spiritual Disciplines.
