I was watching the snowfall, and my mind was slowly wandering over to an old conversation I once had. A guy I knew, who was an assistant pastor at a 3000-member mega-church, related to me a conversation he had with his senior pastor. The senior pastor was looking over the church he was running and lamented to the guy that they were 3000 inches wide and only an inch deep.
Then, my mind wandered off to an online conversation I was having on X with a leader who caught flack from other pastors in his area for not planting a “normal church.” One of those “pastors” literally told him, “I guess any jackass can lead a group once in a while.” Wow, what a great example of Christian leadership and compassion that was.
The reality is the old models are falling apart, and those who are waking up are leaving the corporate system in droves.
Rules, structures, and systems were never meant to replace what the Lord died to bring. The old guard simply can not comprehend the new. The same words you and I use are redefined differently in their minds to fit into the box they have created for ministry.
Worship.
There are many “tools” the system uses to enforce attendance and obedience to the system. These tools are often misapplied scripture underpinned with innuendo and human reasoning. Case in point, let's take Hebrews 10:25, which says, “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.” This scripture is often underpinned by the implied concept that failing to attend is a sin.
This is NOT what this chapter is saying. This chapter is another argument concerning the Law and Grace. Chapter ten makes it clear that we have the grace to enter into the Holy Place, and it is only after this point that sin is mentioned. This Sin is mentioned in relation to the Law (Tora). Sin is not mentioned in this context for failing to attend a congregational meeting. In fact, the writer makes it clear that the purpose of our meeting is encouragement for everyone. This is a part of what I would call the Lord’s “…his good, pleasing and perfect will…” Romans 12:2, and it affects worship.
Let me be blunt: if our congregational meetings were structured more biblically towards the encouragement and building up of the body. And far less toward entertainment and manipulation so that the system can pay the bills, I would think you would not have as many issues with attendance as the modern church now has, and worship just might be more pure.
There is a reality that we all know about worship that is in conflict with the implied conditioning that the system whispers in our ears. We all know, or at least I should hope we all know, that worship can happen anywhere and does not require a location. The system, however, implies a subtle message that to have true worship, it must be in an official building at the leading of the “anointed person” on the stage.
Questions
There is an implied idea that you can not worship if you are in “sin,” and some people feel you are in sin for failing to gather with other people. Well, let's take a look at some historical examples and a few scriptures.
#1 So here is a question for pondering: John the Baptist spent years in the desert alone. Was he wrong to be isolated? After all, he was the forerunner of Christ to make the way. Was his worship in the desert invalid or somehow weak because he was alone?
#2 Was Paul out of line for spending fourteen years in the desert receiving revelation with no one to test it on?
#3 Was the Prophet Jeremiah in sin for living in a cave away from the world while worshipping and receiving revelation?
Consider Jesus' words to the woman at the well. “Be believing me, woman, there comes an hour when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” (John 4:21 WET). In other words, it is not about a physical location, it is about higher things.
Because, in the end, the only thing that really matters will be; “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks.” John 4:23.
That means the guilt of social conditioning so many feel about not gathering in an official location is just a pointless trick on our minds. Your bathroom is just as valid as your car or beside the crib as you rock for your child.
For the Body of the Messiah to grow and flourish in the garden, we need real truth, and we need to divorce ourselves from the strongholds of bad teaching, lies, cultural programming, and more. Truth is dangerous, especially to anything built on the wrong foundation.
There is a funny thing about truth; you just can’t hear it, you have to know it for it to set you free. I know that may sound obvious, but so many times in talking with people, I realize they do not know what they should know. This is why a head knowledge of Jesus won’t save you. It is the truth living within you, and that can only happen through the doorway of the blood of Jesus.
To know the truth requires comprehension, the sound ability to take hold and not let go. This is a hard thing if your mind is being tossed back and forth, as scripture says, making you double-minded. You see, the heart has the ability to comprehend and grasp what the mind can not. But through the blood of the lamb, the Holy Spirit can help your heart interpret the information for your mind. Pray for greater comprehension.
Just because you hear does not mean you comprehend. True comprehension takes place as thoughts take root, grow, and then produce action.
Unfortunately, many cultural Christians who have never come to the Blood of Jesus are forced into a game of mental gymnastics in an effort to understand true Christian ways. And because they don’t understand, they turn it all into a law, just as Hebrews 10 argued against.
You have the freedom to attend or not, you have the freedom to worship or not. Yes, it would be better in a perfect world if we all did. However, sometimes the “church” is not a safe place, and it would be far wiser not to walk through the door. The Father is not expecting you to submit to your daily dose of condemnation, witchcraft, and high-pressure manipulation. He is expecting you to submit to his Son, and sometimes, the Son is far away from the little kingdoms of men.
