Why Go to Church?
Ancient Advice from the Didascalia
Sundays are a busy day in the Bird household.
I get up early, do some translation of the New Testament (right now the Gospel of John), then begin a day of churching.
My wife and youngest son go to the morning service, while I take my youngest daughter and eldest son to the evening service. Sometimes the kids go out with friends for after-church dinner. So I spend more of that day in the car than in the pews! Something which I’m sure many of you can relate to!
There are days when I feel like I need a sabbath from my sabbath!
And yet, a Sunday without church, without worship, without seeing my church family would feel odd, even empty.
This reminds me that there is a famous passage in Hebrews that encourages the saints to continue to gather together, to encourage each other to do good deeds, and to continue in the faith:
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 (Heb 10:24-25).
Raymond Brown (no, not the Catholic one, the British evangelical one) commented on this passage:
It is claimed that the community meets an immediate human need, the longing for fellowship, clearly recognized by the writer of Hebrews at this point in the letter.
Such thinking must surely challenge the contemporary church which can be just as materialistic and selfishly preoccupied as secular society. It is because some people have not found within our churches the warmth, care and concern for which they hoped that they have turned away from the organized or institutional churches to religious communities and house churches, some of them, vibrant with a more intimate commitment to fellowship and caring. Despite the danger of authoritarian leadership tendencies, and the insularity and lack of evangelistic outreach in some of these groups, their supportive compassion surely challenges the churches to a radical re-examination of their priorities and a willingness to change any activity if it fails to encourage the life of God’s people as a loving, caring and serving fellowship.
There is a great exhortation in the Didascalia to do the same. The Didascalia is a third-century church-order document from the Syriac-speaking church. In one section, it calls for the church to meet often, especially on the Lord’s Day, to worship and hear the Word.
‘Admonish, then, O bishop, thy people, and bid them come to the church day and night, and never absent themselves from it, that the congregation therein be not diminished, for they are members of Christ. And we say this not concerning the priests alone, but concerning all the people, that each one may understand the word of the Lord. For our Lord saith, “But he that is not with me is mine adversary, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth.” Be not slothful, then, for ye are members of Christ; separate not yourselves from His Body and His Blood; nor choose the cares of this world before the commandments of God. Gather yourselves together in the church in the evening and in the morning; glorify God, and sing, and read the psalms of David, the sixty-second, and the hundred and fortieth as well. And especially on the Christian Sabbath which is (the day of) His holy resurrection, offer praise and thanksgiving and honour to God who created all things by His son Jesus Christ, whom He sent unto us; who was well pleased to suffer according to His will, and was buried in the earth, and rose again from the dead. But if ye come not to the church, what excuse, or what answer will ye make to God? For on this day, the Christian Sabbath we ought to hear the preaching of His holy resurrection, and remember His sufferings, and make remembrance of Him, and read the Scriptures of the prophets, and the gospel; and (celebrate) the eucharist, the sacrifice, and oblation, (our) spiritual food’ (ii. 59).
For those of you who spend your Sundays at church, between church and home, running an uber service for teenagers, I hope that is an encouragement.
A truthful and warm reminder from the astounding Word of God. Thanks for putting this piece together Michael.
This is a very encouraging word for all of us. Thank you. Michael!