(…continued) When the Peter and Paul movie was first televised several years ago, I was in the midst of a difficult and complicated time in the congregation I was serving. These difficulties and complications had nothing to do with the basic, important things that the early church was focused on, but on far less significant matters. These side issues became ongoing distractions from our real purpose as a church. I remember thinking (for a moment) how nice it must have been to live in simpler times. The early church wasn’t simpler in every way, of course, and I soon reminded myself that back then there were other troubles; such as worrying about being thrown to the lions, and not receiving any pay as a pastor. But the wonderful simplicity of that worship service in the forest was a reminder to me to do my best to stick to the basics and avoid distractions.
In my forty years of ministry I served both large and small congregations. I did like the additional resources, staff, and opportunities to be had in the larger churches, but I did not like the many additional complications that came with it. I could organize, I could delegate, and I could cover all the bases; but I would become frustrated with the lack of focus. So many things had to be done that were many steps removed from fundamental Christian ministry, and many weeks I had little time to prepare for and take care of the basics. The smaller congregations I served allowed more time for that. But no matter where I was, I had to be intentional about keeping it simple so I could do the most important tasks I was called to do.
The most basic of the basic fundamentals of church is to gather for worship (like those earliest Christians), to hear a bit of Scripture, pray together, listen to a message, sing some songs, and receive a blessing from God– and the pastor must take the time to be well prepared for that. There are many other things that go into being a congregation, even a small one, but most important of all is to not lose sight of the basics. If gathering for worship is not a priority for the members of a congregation, everything else will, in time, fall apart, and there will be no congregation– so the people must be there for that time of worship. The service itself might be far from perfect; but even if perfection were possible in this world, what is just perfect for one person might be perfectly boring for another. But the key to the life of any congregation, the key to the passing on of the faith to the next generation, the key to being faithful as an individual believer, and the key to obedience to God, is to remember and tend to this most basic of the basics. Despite all the differences, that much of the Christian life is just as true today as it was for those earliest Christians. Hebrews 10:25 says, “Let us not give up on the habit of meeting together.” Pastors must remember this in their time management, and church members must remember this as they participate in the life of their congregation. Each and every decision, by each and every person to be in church on any given Sunday morning, adds strength to the congregation. In the same way, each and every decision to be absent from church on any Sunday morning, weakens the congregation.
“Let us not give up on the habit of meeting together,” says the verse. Habit is the key word there. Once a habit is formed, it is hard to break. The habit of being in church every week makes one not want to miss it. I have heard many people who are in the habit of worshiping every week, say that Sunday doesn’t feel right if they don’t begin the day at church. However, habits work the other way too. Once one gets out of the habit, the need to attend can become less and less important. That loss of importance can lead to the loss of faith, and you don’t want that.
One time when I had a Sunday off, my wife and I were planning to be out of town. Our plans for that Sunday were going to make it difficult to get to church. It is a disciplined habit of mine to worship every week, no matter what, and so we went to a Wednesday evening service. Then, our weekend plans fell through, and we were home on Sunday morning with nothing to do. We had already been to worship, and so we decided to just stay home one Sunday morning and do nothing and see what that was like. And do you know what? I liked it. I liked it not only because I was a pastor and a Sunday morning with nothing to do was really different. I also liked having a free morning, with no place to go, nothing to do, and a book by my chair that I wanted to finish reading. I thought to myself, “I can see why people like this. I can see how it can be tempting to get into this habit.”
But of course, what we like to do is not always what it best. What is best is to live as God wants us to live. The Bible has a lot to say about that. There are the ten commandments covering such things as don’t steal, don’t kill, don’t commit adultery, honor your parents; those basic sort of things that we expect of each other anyway, Christian or not. But there are also those basic, and specifically spiritual requirements, of the ten commandments: to keep God first, to use his name properly, and to remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy. We fulfill those basic requirements in many ways, but the most basic is by weekly worship.
For countless generations, worship has provided the opportunity for people to keep in touch with God. Even Jesus went to worship on every Sabbath “as was his custom” (Luke 4:16). Therefore, as it says in the rest of that Hebrews 10 passage that I read earlier: “Let us with confidence draw near to God with a sincere heart, in the full assurance of faith, holding to the hope we profess, for he who has promised us is faithful. And let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another as we see the Day approaching.”
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Most gracious Father,
we pray to you for your holy Church.
Fill it with all truth; in all truth with all peace.
Where it is corrupt, purge it.
Where it is in error, direct it.
Where anything is amiss, reform it.
Where it is right, strengthen and defend it.
Where it is in want, provide for it.
Where it is divided, heal it and reunite it in your love;
for the sake of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ.
–William Laud, English bishop (1573-1645)
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A BIT MORE:
Revelation 3:2-3: Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is on the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent.
What to do with a dying church? Jesus did not instruct Smyrna to go to a church growth conference in Philippi. He did tell them to remember what they had seen and heard. What they had heard was the basic message of the apostles. Jesus called them back to the basics.
When Vince Lombardi tried to wake up his sleeping Green Bay Packers football team he called them back to the basics. He knew they needed to focus on the football basics of blocking and tackling. He took it to an extreme, held up a football and said: Gentlemen this is a football.
Church researcher George Barna profiled thirty churches that were about to die and made a turnaround. What he found in his study was that those churches that succeeded in turning around, got back to the basics. The return to basic theology and simple ministry was refreshing for most people, even those who had been Christian for decades. The people could agree on the crux of their faith. They were returning to what is eternally significant, practical and encouraging. –Brad Beaman
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