Activities done in
the early assemblies as recorded in God’s Word:
Each of these
activities falls within one of the three categories of the work of the
Lord’s church as a whole, i.e. Benevolence (Galatians 6:10),
evangelizing (Matthew 28:18-20), edification (Ephesians 4:12-16, 1
Corinthians 14:26).
1.
Reading
God’s Word aloud to the church/ekklesia: [edification]
Colossians 4:16 “And
when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the
church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from
Laodicea.”
2.
Singing:
Hebrews 2:12, “Saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the church
[ekklesia] will I sing praise unto thee.” Singing in the midst
of the church/ekklesia requires them to be assembled.
Colossians 3:16, “Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (teaching and
admonishing one another requires an assembly, group activity, group
worship)
3.
Praying:
Acts 2:42, “And
they continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine and fellowship, and
in breaking of bread, and in prayers.” Christians praying as a
group.
Acts 12:12, “And
when he had considered the thing, he came to the house of Mary the
mother of John, whose surname was Mark; where many were gathered
together praying.” This is an example of group prayer.
4.
Praising God:
Luke 24:52-53, “And
they worshipped him, and returned to Jerusalem with great joy: 53 And
were continually in the temple, praising and blessing God. Amen.”
5.
Giving:
1 Corinthians 16:1-2,
“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the
churches of Galatia, so do you also. 2 On the first day of every week
each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no
collections be made when I come.” (NASU)
Romans 15:25-26, “But
now I go unto Jerusalem to minister unto the saints. For it hath
pleased them of Macedonia and Achaia to make a certain contribution for
the poor saints which are at Jerusalem.”
2 Corinthians 8:1-5,
“Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on
the churches of Macedonia; 2 How that in a great trial of affliction the
abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches
of their liberality. 3 For to their power, I bear record, yea, and
beyond their power they were willing of themselves; 4 Praying us with
much intreaty that we would receive the gift, and take upon us the
fellowship of the ministering to the saints. 5 And this they did, not as
we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by
the will of God.”
6.
Lord’s
Supper:
Acts 20:7, “And
upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to
break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and
continued his speech until midnight.”
Luke 24:33-35, “And
they got up that very hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found gathered
together the eleven and those who were with them, 34 saying, "The Lord
has really risen and has appeared to Simon." 35 They began to relate
their experiences on the road and how He was recognized by them in the
breaking of the bread.” (NASU)
Acts 2:42, “They
were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to
fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.” (NASU)
1 Corinthians
10:16-18, “Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the
blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body
of Christ? 17 Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body;
for we all partake of the one bread.” (NASU)
1 Corinthians
11:20-22, “Therefore when you meet together, it is not to eat the
Lord's Supper, 21 for in your eating each one takes his own supper
first; and one is hungry and another is drunk. 22 What! Do you not have
houses in which to eat and drink?” (NASU) (Partaking The Lord’s
Supper is what they should have been doing. Chastized for not doing
what they should have been doing.)
7.
Preaching/Teaching:
Acts 20:7, “And
upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to
break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and
continued his speech until midnight.”
1 Corinthians 4:17, “For
this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and
faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways
which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church.”
All the above activities during assemblies of the Saints are forms of
worship to God. Therefore the assembly was done for the primary purpose
of worshipping God. These assemblies where God was praised, songs were
sung, preaching was heard, contributions and prayers were offered and
the Lord’s death remembered and honored are by logical necessity a
worship service.
Instructions
within God’s Word for the Christian assemblies:
Instructions for
conduct during assemblies implies an assembly.
1 Corinthians
14:23-26, “Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all
speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not
say that you are mad? 24 But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an
ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by
all; 25 the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on
his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you. 26
What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one
has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an
interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.” (NASU)
James 2:1-4, “My
brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of
glory, with respect of persons. 2 For if there come unto your assembly a
man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor
man in vile raiment; 3 And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay
clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to
the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: 4 Are ye not
then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?”
Ephesians 5:19-20, “Speaking
to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and
making melody in your heart to the Lord; 20 Giving thanks always for all
things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”.
Colossians 3:16, “Let
the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and
admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing
with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
They have to be
assembled together to speak to one another. They also have to be
assembled to partake of the Lord’s supper together:
1 Corinthians
11:20-29, “When ye come together therefore into one place, this is
not to eat the Lord's supper. 21 For in eating every one taketh before
other his own supper: and one is hungry, and another is drunken. 22
What? have ye not houses to eat and to drink in? or despise ye the
church of God, and shame them that have not? What shall I say to you?
shall I praise you in this? I praise you not. 23 For I have received of
the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus the
same night in which he was betrayed took bread: 24 And when he had given
thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is
broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. 25 After the same manner
also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new
testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance
of me. 26 For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do
shew the Lord's death till he come. 27 Wherefore whosoever shall eat
this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord, unworthily, shall be guilty
of the body and blood of the Lord. 28 But let a man examine himself, and
so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. 29 For he that
eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation to
himself, not discerning the Lord's body.” (KJV)
Instructions for how
to partake of the Lord’s supper implies an assembly. Christians must
assemble to do this. Notice Verse 20, “When ye come together”.
This is absolutely an action performed within an assembly of
Christians.
References /
Instruction within God’s word Addressed to Christian Assemblies:
Instructions directed
to assemblies implies an assembly.
Hebrews 12:23, “To
the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in
heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made
perfect…”
Forsaking the
assembling of the saints carried the consequence of losing the benefit
of the sacrifice of Christ:
Hebrews 10:24-26, “And
let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25
Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of
some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the
day approaching. 26 For if we sin wilfully after that we have received
the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.”
The command to not forsake the assembling of Christians together
carries the necessary implication that assemblies are mandatory. The
sacrifice for sin here can be none other than Christ’s blood. God’s
word here pronounces the consequence of the loss of the saving power of
Christ’s blood for failure to assemble with other Christians. There can
be no doubt this assembly just be the Lord’s Day worship assembly where
the shedding of Christ’s blood on the cross is remembered and
commemorated each Lord’s Day through the observance of the Lord’s
Supper. Opponents of this reasoning are thus forced to produce another
regular assembling of Christians for which the consequences for
forsaking mentioned in God’s word are appropriate. In other words, what
other regular, expected assembling of Christians could this be referring
to? If it is not the regular Lord’s day assembly, what then is it?
It’s important because deliberately and habitually forsaking it forfeits
the saving benefit of Christ’s blood in their life.
The phrase “worship assembly” may not appear in that form in God’s word,
but what does appear in God’s word are mandatory assemblies of
Christians who”
1.
Worshipped/praised God
2.
Gave of
their means to God
3.
Praised
God in Song
4.
Offered
Prayer to God
5.
Were
edified (preaching & teaching) by the Word of God
6.
Commemorated/Remembered the death of Jesus (Lord’s Supper)
It makes sense that since mandatory assemblies were something required
in God’s word, this logically applies universally to all the
churches/congregations, therefore a record of when these assemblies
occurred in any church/assembly would be binding to them all:
The Frequency of the
assemblies of Christians:
The Christians in
Troas assembled on the first day of the week to break bread.
“Acts 20:7, “On the
first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread…” (NASU)
The Christians in
Corinth were commanded to give of their means to a central assembly on
the first day of every week:
1 Corinthians 16:1-2,
“Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the
churches of Galatia, so do you also. 2 On the first day of every week
each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no
collections be made when I come” (NASU)
Assembling was mandatory per God’s word in Hebrews 10:24-26. The Lord’s
Supper, Giving, Praying, Singing, Preaching, Praising God were all done
during assemblies of Christians in God’s Word. Regular assemblies
happening on the first day of every week are recorded in God’s word. It
therefore follows that the church/assemblies gathered every first day of
the week to engage in worship to God.
Conclusion:
God’s inspired Word directly references assemblies of
Christians/Believers. God’s word references activities engaged in
during assemblies of Christians/Believers. God’s Word contains
instructions for activities in the assemblies of Christians/Believers.
God’s Word directly addresses assemblies of Christians / Believers.
God’s Word directly and conclusively condemns willful failure to
assemble with Christians/Believers.
Given the overwhelming evidence of the presence of assemblies of
Christians/Believers with directions to them, it is a logical necessity
that Christians/Believers assembled regularly on the first day of every
week to participate in Worship to God.
References: God’s
Word
Prepared by David
Hersey
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