Local Churches: Do We Need Them?
July 3rd, 2008
(By John MacArthur)
The New Testament repeatedly emphasizes the importance of local assemblies. In fact, it was the pattern of Paul’s ministry to establish local congregations in the cities where he preached the gospel. Hebrews 10:24-25 commands every believer to be a part of such a local body and reveals why this is necessary.
“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).
It is only in the local body to which one is committed that there can be the level of intimacy that is required for carefully stimulating fellow-believers “to love and good deeds.” And it is only in this setting that we can encourage one another.
The New Testament also teaches that every believer is to be under the protection and nurture of the leadership of the local church. These godly men can shepherd the believer by encouraging, admonishing, and teaching. Hebrews 13:7 and 17 help us to understand that God has graciously granted accountability to us through godly leadership.
Furthermore, when Paul gave Timothy special instructions about the public meetings, he said “Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching” (1 Timothy 4:13). Part of the emphasis in public worship includes these three things: hearing the Word, being called to obedience and action through exhortation, and teaching. It is only in the context of the local assembly that these things can most effectively take place.
Acts 2:42 shows us what the early church did when they met together: “They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” They learned God’s Word and the implications of it in their lives; they joined to carry out acts of love and service to one another; they commemorated the Lord’s death and resurrection through the breaking of bread; and they prayed. Of course, we can do these things individually, but God has called us into His body-the church is the local representation of that worldwide-body-and we should gladly minister and be ministered to among God’s people.
Active local church membership is imperative to living a life without compromise. It is only through the ministry of the local church that a believer can receive the kind of teaching, accountability, and encouragement that is necessary for him to stand firm in his convictions. God has ordained that the church provide the kind of environment where an uncompromising life can thrive.
Christians,
Take a few moments this 4th of July to witness to someone and give them the words of life. Maybe, through your obedience to God, someone will have the shackles of sin loosed and they will be freed from their captivity.
Give someone a chance this day to gain the ultimate independence!
First Timothy 4:13 Until I come, give attention to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation and teaching.
Am I right that Paul wrote this to Timothy, as a pastor, to read the word of God in public, and not just at “church” gatherings? With “exhortation and teaching”, does it mean to read the word aloud, and not just to yourself? I have not seen a man read the word of God aloud on the sidewalk since 1977! A minimum of three men “worked” a shift in the same area of benches each day at their appointed times on the campus of Indiana University. It was awesome! They began in Genesis One, so it did not seem like they had a specific denomination to push on people. Leviticus grew quite a crowd, with many groups asking questions off to the side. People who just walked on by would be so animated when we got to class to ask questions of us Christians. It was incredible to see God work through His word, just as He promises to do! The verbal blasters of the readers were considered rude and hideous to the rest of the people. Would it be that way now or would rudeness be over-abundant? Is so, is that any reason to not obey this command? Some students would ask questions right then of one of the guys while one just kept on reading. Some teams had tracts. The Gideons handed-out scriptures once. The foreign students grabbed the Bibles up like crazy! Today-I don’t know? I was always so blessed to go through that area, and went the long way around to go through as much as I could. MANY did that! It was the best place to meet and see people, and a great way to see the true colors of classmates. Small talk in the restrooms and all around campus ALWAYS revolved around something the pastor read as someone walked by. It was a huge blessing to us all!
As a child, I loved to hear the pastors read the scriptures aloud downtown and at the mall. (I really liked hearing the ones who had the word memorized, and could make loving eye contact to people. My grandfather absolutely hated it, I believe, out of shame he did not do it.) Sometimes they stood by themselves reading to the wind, and it seemed sad. Other times, one read aloud to another man with a booming voice that appeared too prideful to me. But when one read loud enough to be heard by those going past, yet not in a demanding-attention way, I always hoped for a red light to hold us on the corner so I could hear more of the love! The men would greet those they knew by name. Friends would call out, “Preach it, Brother Mike!”, “Keep the word going out, Bob!”. “Thanks for the word, Brother!” It was sooooo wonderful to know they were Christians by their love for one another and their love for the God who wrote His word. No one dared to distract the men from their task in order to talk business or chat small talk. Obviously, it left a huge impression on me.
Yeah, it is freaky to have one or more men reading aloud the word of God in a public place. Yeah, the perishing hate it. Yes, scoffers claim that freaky acts damage the message of God. Tell that to the *freak* John the Baptist, Jeremiah or Elijah! God says do it, and we don’t. It is a sin. It is falling away. Lord, have our men repent of this neglect of Your word, and put Your word in their voices publically.
Now what if the Muslims start reading their book in public? And the New Agers start doing it? Then we’ll be like, “Hey! We can do that too!” And once again, the lame Christian is seen climbing on a false idol. Men of God need to commit to do this! Yes, this takes huge trust for God to care for you in this boldness! I believe He will do it!!! With pastors reading and preaching whatever they choose instead of the word of truth, the true church of believers must obey all the word. Any takers?! Don’t be a stumbling block and temptation to the women to do it all!!
One guy reading aloud to another at the coffee shop? Or guys reading aloud and taking turns around the lunch table?
Bible reading at the county fair? The mall? The auto parts shop? The barbershop? In the cafeteria at work? In the courthouse? At the fireworks stand? At the neighborhood bus stop for the kids in your area? Please, men, put the word out there! This privilege may soon be taken from us!
Comment: There’s no problem with reading Scripture in public outside the church, but the context of 1 Timothy is the local church (3:15), and the exhortation and teaching part is obviously directed at believers, equipping them to do the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11, 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
Observation: On our local radio program (airing preaching daily) whenever I have an extra moment on Fridays I exhort listeners (“Christian” stations only) to be with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s day in their local church, because that is an essential part of practicing Christianity, which cannot properly be done apart from the local church. That comment produces more hostile response than anything else we do! We are indeed living in a world of apostasy, one manifestation of which is a “brand” of Christianity which ignores the one thing we know for sure Jesus is doing on earth–building His church.
Dear Lisa,
While this post from Dr. MacArthur is in the context of the necessity for the local congregation and the absolute need for Christians to be in faithful attendance and accountability to a local congregation and it’s leadership, you are right to call men to preach & read the Scripture in the streets.
I simply write to let you know that there are many faithful men & women who are boldly procaliming the Gospel of Christ in the streets, on college campuses, public beaches, even to those in line at the DMV… Yes, there needs to be many more unashamed evangelists confronting the skewed world view of the general public, but know that there are faithful souls out there every day.
Public response ranges from anger to apathy, but there is most always someone who comes up to encourage the faithful servant.
There are still many who meet in coffee shops and restaurants to read the Word, pray and study together. Certainly there are not as many as were readily seen even just 10 years ago, but that makes it even more of a statement when God’s people are seen publicly living out the Scripture’s commands.
As Dr. MacArthur has said when speaking of the passion for the lost & the fiery evangelists like Whitefield, Wesley & MacCheyene… “Where are men like this today?”
May God raise up many more men to boldly & unashamedly proclaim His Truth to a dying world.
Thank you, Shepherd, for that drink of cool water in the desert! What if everytime we ate out, we just read a chapter of scripture aloud together? With our electronic gadgets keeping the word with us at all times, it is so simple without looking *out of place*. The truth is heard, and God blesses it. God bless you!
Since the last few articles are on the importance of being in a church and choosing a church, I will interject my own misgivings about the common mis-interpretation of Hebrews 10:25. Not because the doctrinal belief that it important and necessary for a Christian to be in fellowship on a routine basis with other Christians is incorrect, but because this doctrine can stand by itself through exegetical study of other passages.
The issue being addressed in Hebrews 10:25 is extremely important to get a better understanding of because this habit leads those in this habit to a place where there “no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a terrifying expectation of judgment.”
How can one be in the habit of not doing something. Not doing something is not a habit. It is a negligence. Not meeting with other Christians is a negligence which needs to be correctly but it is not a habit. The habit being addressed in Hebrews 10:25 is the forsaking of a singular in time assembly or gathering. This is a gathering of people to judgment. This particular assembly in Hebrews 10:25 is not a weekly type meeting being addresses, but instead it is a mindset of neglecting the seriousness that we will all be assembled before God to give an account. This particular assembly is the same being spoken of in 2 Thes 2:1 – “Now we request you, brethren, with regard to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him.”
This habit is a weekly habit many churches are in of not taking seriously the approaching day when we will be assembled before God. It is a corporate haphazard lazy attitude of many churches. This sinful attitude is the same attitude the author of Hebrews was addressing in this book because, amongst other things, they should have been teachers by now but they still needed milk. It is a habitual mockery of the seriousness of the sacrifice that has been paid by Christ for our sins that many churches do weekly.
Bravo! the reading,preaching of the whole Word of God in heathen public terroritory is evangelism.But we still need the Church where supposedly we are all worshiping God and basicly on the same family and side with the order,and leadership,nuturing and sheperding of the Flock of God that the pastoral epistles give for the benefit of the Church.
Also the Spiritual Gifts are given to the church for the building up of the church to result in the ability to go into the World and evangelise. the great commission.
Ryan,
Respectfully, I need to point out that you seem to have made Hebrews 10:24-25 say something it does not say. The exhortation to assembling together is prior to the day of judgment (“as you see the day drawing near”). The passage has nothing to do with commenting on the spiritual health (or lack thereof) of any particular local church.
As for the use of the word “habit,” you’ll have to take that up with the Holy Spirit and the human author of Hebrews. It is what the text says!
Indeed there are local churches which fail to take seriously the Scriptures about our gathering to be with the Lord, but that isn’t what the Hebrews text is about. It’s part of one of the “invitation” passages in Hebrews, calling people who have expressed faith in Christ to live it out, both personally and in the corporate life of the body of Christ.
if i cant do it @mt local church i cannot do it out there local church is were we get the foundation and basics and help ..the small gathering and bible study is the most impotrtant thing ….thats why Christianity has survid=ved all those years without being watered down
and they met daily in small groups/ sharing the scriptures and their number was added day after day
Local Church Is very very vital
Jim,
From reading Hebrews 10:25 in many tranlations I understand the points you are making. I don’t yet clearly agree with your points from considering the original Greek.
Here are some exegetical points for consideration from the original Greek.
ἐπισυναγωγὴν – is the Greek word in Hebrews 10:25 often changed by translations, for reasons beyond my comprehension from a noun to a verb. Hence most translations render this assembling [a verb], but this is a noun in Greek. Furthermore, it is singular not plural. If this verse were referring to the weekly (or regular in any repeated manner) meetings of believers wouldn’t it need to be plural? Since it is not plural this verse is referring to a singular gathering (or assembly).
ἐγκαταλείποντες – is the Greek word often translated forsake, leave. As it is clear that the author of Hebrews was familiar with the Septuagint it seems likely that a Biblical conclusion would be that the author is referring the the same forsaking as Proverbs 2:13 and Isaiah 1:28 as the same exact word is used in these verses in the Septuagint translation. Neither Proverbs 2:13 or Isaiah 1:28 are describing people who aren’t meeting together regularly. Furthermore in Proverbs 2:13 this is an extremely pivotal verse in describing those to forsake the path.
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)
1 Cor 14:26 (NKJV) says: How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.
I completely agree that we should assemble together as believers (the body of Christ), but what is the primary purpose of the meeting? To build up and to edify the body? Isn’t that what it is saying? How can each person contribute/edify as Paul is saying in Corinthians if only one primary person is allowed to speak?