…and is it a “serious sin to miss church attendance”? Is it even “a breaking of the Great Commandment to love God and neighbor”?
That was a conversation I found myself in recently as a friend invited me to share my comments on the subject. This friend had gone to church services recently and heard the conservative pastor utter such words from the pulpit. By the time I responded, I saw MANY other good and bad comments on the subject. I think most felt the pastor was being overly legalistic and misinterpreting the grace we have in Jesus.
After reading and getting a feel for the direction of the conversation, I decided to pitch in with what many who know me may consider to be a surprising response! 
Ha-Ha!
What do you think I would say to such a question in the Light of the Jesus, Whom I believe has included everyone and everything in the Relationship He shares with His Father in the Spirit?!
Well – no more need to guess! Here is what I responded with and how I personally reason out the subject in the Light of the Jesus Who has truly adopted all of us into the Life of the Trinity in His own HUMAN BODY! (Remember, I am just personally blogging here about MY thoughts, NOT trying to give you yours! I am open to learning and talking out things in community!) Edited for clarity!
“In Jesus’ grace I, too, have been getting clarity on Church/Worship over the past few years. I can relate with preaching about these things in ways not always faithful to Who Jesus really is! The most valuable thing I have learned lately about Church/Worship is that they are things that begin with Jesus, literally, in His Person! The bible helps us see that HE, Jesus, must and does mediate his relationship between God and man in His own human body! Worship and attending to God, in the first instance, is ONLY something that Jesus does!
Knowing this helps us see that whenever we are worshiping as the Church, we are only sharing in the Son’s worship and attending to His Father. It is not something we muster up because we have seen and known God for ourselves or out of self-selected tradition! Nor is it something we avoid because we are “free”. Because Jesus DOES worship and attend to His Father as a human, there is a sense in which we are obligated to participate in his life of Worship!
This helps us see that to REALLY be “free” means to share in the life of Jesus AS HE IS! Often times, our discussions about freedom are really discussions only about liberties. We are at liberty to hide in a cave and live like a hermit, but we are not free to do that and experience positive consequences in relationships! So how did, and does, Jesus Worship His Father? In the entirety of His human life, as xxx pointed out, including Church attendance!
The bible takes seriously that there is a BODY of Christ on earth as distinct from other bodies. We do not have to miss the point that Jesus has a unique and distinct role for the Church that includes an obligation to attend and relate with each other, regularly! Historically, the Church gathers on Sunday, but we are obviously at liberty, and free, to meet on other days and occasions! However, gather we must! This gathering of the Church is HIS idea and is a necessary part of His making Himself known in the world!
We don’t measure this participation by anything we can come up with from within our fallen human reasoning! We reason in line with Who Jesus is Revealed to be, in the Spirit, in His Church (the community who embraces the Jesus Who is in Relationship with His Father and all of Creation in the Spirit.) As for sin, it would be a sin not to worship God or gather in His name – if it weren’t for Jesus! Jesus, however, does Worship His Father (for us and in our stead!) as a human! Jesus does ATTEND to His Father’s Will (for us and in our stead as a human) even when we don’t! This is why he is the Vicarious Man! He does to and for us what our sinful nature resists from within our human being!
God is worthy of a proper human response, including obligatory worship and attendance – and Jesus, thankfully and graciously, is responding in that obligatory way for each of us – and Jesus refuses to be Who He is without us! This obligation flows from the same heart, of the same God, of the same covenant (in both its old and new parts!). The God of the Old part of the Covenant is the same God of the New part!
The difference is that Jesus is meeting those obligations for us AS A HUMAN BEING because we never could or would apart from him! These obligations do not get or keep us saved or in God’s favor!! Yikes! These obligations are really opportunities to relate with God as He REALLY is – a Relational Being Who never does things truly alone!
Yes, we who are called to the Church should participate in Jesus’ human Worship with the Church, regularly, (not living unto ourselves), AND, Yes, Jesus is standing in for us when we don’t, so we don’t panic – we repent (rethink), take up our cross and follow Jesus, as he supplies us grace! Rightly understood and explained, I have to go with the pastor on this one!”
Finally, I added:
To clarify, this does not mean keeping the literal Holy Days, and Sabbath’s of the Old part of His Covenant, but it does mean keeping the New things (Communion = common union!, Baptism! Church = his idea, not ours). There is not one of these New things that doesn’t speak to fellowship and community, but it is to be remembered that Jesus did each of these things for us and on our behalf so that even when we rebel and don’t do them, he stands in for us, being ever faithful as a man to God on our behalf! He will forever embrace us and stand in for us regardless, but obedience and sharing in his life even if we suffer for it is good, and not doing so is bad!
Jesus IS everywhere working in His Church and in the world, and because He is in all of those places we can honestly and genuinely pin Him down in all those places!! The reason for my sweeping statements about Jesus standing in for us is that all of our activity (in going to church, and NOT going to church), is FILLED WITH SIN, therefore we need him to stand in for us in every place of our rebellion in a vicarious way!! Karl Barth liked the word “Community” better than “church”, and so do I!
What is it about “obligatory” and “demand” that we don’t like, knowing that it comes from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ?! This isn’t obligation and demand from the oppression of the evil one, but from He Who has given the World His one and only Son at great sacrifice and cost to Himself! He Who has embraced us in His Son and grasped us so tightly that he will never let us go! Those words have the best and most positive kind of meaning in the light of Jesus!
We must not let the misuse of words (and wrong intentions of sinful men in using them) keep us from a right understanding and use of them in the GRACIOUS LOVE AND UNCONDITIONAL MERCY of the Father, Son and Spirit! To be FREE in Christ is to be God’s SLAVE!!! What’s wrong with that? He is only the best Master one could ever have!! Ha-Ha!!
Well said Pastor Tim. When you ask us what we thought your response would be to the question, I stopped reading and thought about it, made my determination as to what your thinking might be and concluded correctly. See, you are not so complex that a “grandfather” cannot grasp your thought processes. Ha-Ha!
I, though, a much simpler “old” man, would ask this question: “Why would anyone who embraces the love relationship with Jesus NOT want to gather with THE family and worship together the Father of us all?” Jesus has included us all, calling us friends; children of God. Now, who among us wants to leave the family table and eat by himself?
Hello Grandfather Byron! I consider it a privilege to think in the same family line (The Father’s Children!) as you! All that you have said is fantastic and you put the exclamation point on it all when you wrote: “Jesus has included us all, calling us friends; children of God. Now, who among us wants to leave the family table and eat by himself?” Yes!! That’s what I’m talkin’ bout!
John – Ha-Ha! What a complex response about a complex problem! I could identify with most of your thoughts. I think that when you wrote “I believe the body of Jesus Christ are those who know they have not arrived, yet they have in Jesus, and are wonderfully changed from faith to faith in the here and now and beyond through community and communion with Father through the Spirit in the Jesus”, you were right on with what I was trying to say! Thanks for commenting.
Kimberly – thanks for that heartfelt response! Glad to be of encouragement to you! As you have noted, we often run into trouble trying to relate with others when they find out what we believe about Who Jesus is! Usually they don’t want us around. Boy do I know that feeling all too well over the last 6 years! Many of the early Church fathers (and mothers) can identify with this treatment, too. But like you, their longing (and mine) was for the church, the community that did believe! I am glad that you have found your in home Church family to associate with and be encouraged by, as you remained convicted by the truth “that nothing can exclude us from our inclusion as children of God in Jesus!!” AMEN!!
Hi Tim Great topic
This is also an ongoing discussion for me!
Remember God loves every human being and all humanity are in the process of learning to live loved. You cannot do this as a lone ranger!
I believe wherever you are at in your walk of incremental freedom with God, this will include other people or a community of people, however the deeper the walk away from law, the less people you find! Let me explain! When I was living under high order of legalistic law I enjoyed and looked forward to going to church, there was a sea of us. As a matter of fact you can be obscure under law; it is a group effort as opposed to an individual unique relationship with God. We had so many things of appearance in common with each other. When this changed and grace overrode law I enjoyed my new community and spent less time with those whom I had walked with before. It was more of a personal relationship with Jesus!
Today my mind has been further renovated and accepts all humanity as saved in the being of Jesus, so do they want to be saved in this saving grace? This crosses the line for many churches or communities of certain order of dual or separated existential believe systems. Does God demand or expect me to attend any of these communities. I would have to say, it’s up to me! I am free to do whatever I like, however some are not beneficial.
I can say that my heart longs for a community of people with the same mind. This is not under obligation or command, yet I find a great HEART desire to participate and encourage and be encouraged within this group. These thoughts, purposes and actions are in all of us (Philippians 2:13) and we yearn for communion. God works things out!
I meet with a small group every other week and we enjoy the simplicity of the Good News! Do I miss the past with its beliefs in the other communities that I attended at the time? Once you walk through a door by His faith, you cannot and do not want to go back. This renewal of my mind will be never ending; there is no end to the mind of God. So my communion is with those who like me are on a never ending journey learning to live loved, which includes all humanity! I believe the body of Jesus Christ are those who know they have not arrived, yet they have in Jesus, and are wonderfully changed from faith to faith in the here and now and beyond through community and communion with Father through the Spirit in the Jesus. Just a few thoughts! jg
Thank you so much for your thoughts on church attendance. This has been on my mind for some months. I could really relate to what JG expressed also. Our family had been attending a congregation where we assumed we were all coming into the light of our inclusion; however, as the Holy Spirit continued to teach us more and more how much the Father loved us and showed us who Jesus really is, we were so excited and happy about it. However, it seemed the distance and misunderstandings in all areas begin to escalate to the point that we were no longer welcomed amongst our brothers & sisters in that congregation. It has been a somewhat ambivalent, shameful and guilt-ridden experience of mis “be” havior. We, due to transportation and financial issues, could not travel anywhere else. So to go from freely attending and serving to nothing was traumatic and very, very humbling. As a result we have been given the freedom to just “be” and the freedom to read many articles, blogs and listen to much audio from the Adopted Life site. On January 4 we resumed an in home bible study like people recovering in rehab, slow but steady. We are convicted that nothing can exclude us from our inclusion as children of God in Jesus!
Hi Tim
Woke up this morning and the subject was still on my mind. I guess it is a heart matter.
I introduce the topic of judging because it seems to be a central theme of most Christian communities. We have it right you have it wrong! What tree does that come from? Personally I can write about this because I used to be a judge of the highest order (still find myself playing around with it sometimes). So, don’t throw any stones yet! I think Jesus asked who would throw the first stone at the adulterous women, well guess what? They all left because like them we all commit spiritual adultery, yet wonderfully we are all forgiven in the “vicarious” Jesus. (“”Torrance) What Good News!
Jesus said I have come to save the world and not condemn it. Wow! He does not condemn the world, but has saved it. In this saving grace we have the blindness to condemn others by using scripture references. Where is the relationship? I think we need to learn to rest in Galatians 2:20 for Jesus is about His ministry.
I look for people and community where people have grown tired of condemning others (all humanity). All judgment has been given to Jesus and the Holy Spirit is in the process of convincing the world about sin (that they have been forgiven), righteousness (that they are in right standing), and judgment (we do not need to judge others anymore). As I said before I am learning to live loved, which will take an eternity, and that reconciliation which is revelation which includes everyone is found in Jesus. So looking at my own track record I am glad He was there in my darkness and continues to shine light into it.
Off topic, perhaps, but if there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, and we all are, then we are all on a journey within this mind boggling grace. We have liberty in the Spirit. jg
Hey John! Amen – there is never a need for condemnation, but, unfortunately, the wrong thinking that says we should feel condemned often accompanies disobedience. If one is called to the Church by the Father, but refuses to participate, there is nothing but a negative consequence that can result (even if it is a wrong interpretation of the negative consequence). I think you are on topic still
Jerome – RIGHT ON! You captured what I was trying to say in your own words! Jesus has a bride and she will be his bride and he will be her groom even though she is often blind, in darkness, and naked! How gracious is he to remain faithful to her and see her into her destiny, regardless!
Boyd – I understand where you are coming from as we have learned about a religion laced with legalistic poison. The other side is that many things Christ has to say to us do indeed come through the pulpit. The one thing we hold to regarding Christ is that those things that actually line up with and are analagous to his human life and experience, do indeed originate with him!! Through clay vessels of course, but through them sure enough!
Thanks for commenting!
Thanks, Pastor Tim and all, for the gracious-from-the-heart comments. It IS exciting and FREEING to understand that our worship is a PARTICIPATION in the ongoing worship that Jesus is living out- we don’t save ourselves, and we don’t worship by ourselves – it is participation in what the Eternal Son is participating in! And as far as who we gather with to participate in Jesus’ worship, I have been reminded several times over the last months that we are called upon to “bear with one another.” Jesus bears with us, and asks us to bear with one another. Hey! if there weren’t any problems, any relational issues, any disagreements over form and content, there wouldn’t be anything to “bear with,” would there? “Three things will last forever-faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.”
Thanks Jerome
I appreciate your comments, something for me to think about. jg
It is great to remind ourselves of our “obligation” to Christ, for without Him, we are not.
But we also make that mistake of feeling the pressure from our peers to attend every church service, whether it be one day a week or twice on Sunday and once or twice during the middle of the week, not to mention every church activity and function they put out. It’s as if, “If it came from the pulpit, it came from Christ himself!”
We need to find that balance with our understand of who we are in Christ, so we won’t allow peer pressure of our church to rule over us. But we cannot rest on our backside pretending we do not have to “assemble ourselves together”.
A balance that can only be made by Jesus.
Boyd
“The other side is that many things Christ has to say to us do indeed come through the pulpit”
Sorry, I didn’t mean it sound that way.