We seem to live in a culture that has decided that the individual is free to redefine certain words and concepts to their own meaning. We have determined that things can have different meanings to different people. One example I see is using the song Every Breath You Take by the Police at a wedding. Here is a song about broken vows and fake smiles. It is a song written by a man in the midst of divorce saying I have no trust in you anymore. You are a cheat and I need to watch you like the NSA watches a terrorist. But I have heard people say to them it’s a love song.
The church is not immune. I have been in church meetings ending with what’s called the mizpah from Genesis 38. They ended the gathering with, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. That is a nice sentiment, but what does the entire verse say? “Therefore he named it Galeed, and Mizpah, for he said, “The Lord watch between you and me, when we are out of one another’s sight. If you oppress my daughters, or if you take wives besides my daughters, although no one is with us, see, God is witness between you and me.”
In other words, since we have no trust for one another God will be my surveillance team to keep you in line.
What does this have to do with disposable churches? Religious people and even the non-religious have redefined much of what the Bible teaches. Ask a person on the street to define a Christian and the way of salvation. You will probably come away thinking a Christian is a nice American and the way of salvation is to be kind (or at least kinder than someone else.) What is missing is the Bible’s definition of Christianity and salvation. I will save the definition of Christianity and salvation for a later post. But is should be obvious there are many differing definitions and they can’t all be correct.
Ask someone to define marriage and sexuality and you get many differing responses. Everyone has a definition and they can’t all be right. The heart of our problem is this. When the Bible’s definition of something differs from ours we tend to jettison the Bible for our own definition.
This is true of defining a church. Let me lay my cards on the table here to explain why I am addressing this. By redefining church it makes it easier to dispose of church when something else comes along. Family is coming Sunday so I can blow off church today. Soccer practice is Sunday…birthday party is Sunday…weather is supposed to be nice…weather is supposed to be bad… After all I can worship God on the beach, golf course, mall or soccer field. I can worship God alone in my own way. What worth noting is God has never defined Church and worship this way. The Bible never prescribes church and worship this way. I truly believe we have developed these ideas to make it easier to rationalize disposing of church for something else.
I am not talking about those who are physically unable to attend the corporate gathering. I am not minimizing the act of personal worship. It is a valuable discipline. I am not advocating being in church every time the doors are open. That can be unhealthy. I am saying we should really evaluate why it is so easy to set aside corporate worship for what seems to be a more appealing or at least a more pressing appointment. But what could be more pressing than the invitation to gather before our great and awesome King and His court when He has invited us.
Before I make my case for the need to regularly participate in the gathered church let me address one more misused verse.
Matthew 18:19-20 says Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” There it is. As long as there are at least 2 Christians together, Jesus is there and we are having church. Again that verse is misused and abused.
In context Jesus has just spoken of the need for the church to confront sin in a believer. He has said if you see someone in sin confront them. If they refuse to listen bring witnesses to confront them with the goal of restoration. If they still refuse bring them to the church and excommunicate them. Jesus here is not supporting a definition of a church gathering but a biblical reason for removing the unrepentant from the church.
Three Anomalies
The New Testament gives word pictures of the church gathering. For this post I will describe three. A family, a body, a bride.
As a family we call God Father. In Matthew 6 Jesus teaches us to pray Our Father. Those are family words. We are meant to gather together (our) as family before our Father. Here is the first anomaly. Telling your Father you really want to spend time together you just not with the rest of His children around. The church gathers as a family with Father, brothers, and sisters. It is not 10, 20 or 200 individuals but 1 family. You may not always agree with your family. You may have your disagreements even differences in how you sit at the table, what food is served etc. but in the end the Father has invited His children together. Jesus paid with His life to secure our adoption. Who are we to say I want the Father to myself and not the others. I can squeeze Him in between putts, goals, cash registers or after dessert when everyone leaves. The Father has requested His family to come together Sunday. And yes Scripture does describe the church as gathering on Sunday not just whenever it’s convenient.
The next picture is a bride. Jesus is the bridegroom and he Has gone to great lengths to purchase and purify His bride. It is the object of His love. Here is a second anomaly. To say I love Jesus but not the church is to say to a man I love you but I can’t stand your wife. Let’s get together but don’t bring your bride. How much will a husband tolerate that kind of treatment of His wife? As His bride it makes sense to want to be with the groom
Finally, the church is described as a body in I Corinthians 12 with Jesus as the head. It sounds grotesque but what is a head without a functioning body? And can it really be a body without various parts working together and attached to a head? That is the third anomaly, a body separated from its head or a head with just one body part. We can’t really say I am a leg and I am attached to the head and I can function fine without the other parts.
Most of the new Testament letters were written to established churches with Pastors, Elders and leaders in place gathering on a regular basis. All along it has been God’s pattern for local congregations to gather as the church to worship and serve together.
In Acts 2 the church is described as participating in the apostles teaching, prayer, breaking bread and fellowship, which you can’t do alone.
I have spent time with believers on a golf course and we did not preach to each other and the closest thing to prayer was asking the golf ball to go in the hole or not in the water. The closest thing to worship was shouts of you the man. I have been with believers in a mall and the closest thing to amazement was a great deal on a pair of shoes, thank God. We broke bread in a food court with hundreds of others totally oblivious to our presence. I have been at a Phillies game on a Sunday and while I appreciated the nice weather and good seats there was no discernable worship taking place just some sports figure idolatry.
The Father is calling His children together. The bridegroom wants to gather with his bride. The functioning head is operating through His body. The church is a unique, God given gift for all these to take place. God has set the first day of the week for us to gather together, worship our God, serve each other and prepare for the week ahead. This is the day that God has said is time for all your personal worship and devotion to flow together with the rest of the gathered believers.
Sunday is a gift of God’s grace. It is the opportunity to start the week with our Father, His family and His Bride. While golf, and malls, and birthday parties are fun and enjoyable, what greater gift is there after our salvation to gather with our eternal family and the host of heaven and praise this great God and Savior in the way He has prescribed.
Thinking About Theology 
Considering that the early church were house churches that met in each others’ homes, the idea of everybody going to a church building or cathedral seems to be an ancient ‘redefinition’ of church.
When I was a kid, once a week the whole extended family would gather at grandpa’s and grandma’s for a meal. Not once did he ever lose his temper when an aunt or uncle or cousin didn’t show up. If we were all there, great. If a few weren’t there, then he would be that much happier to see them next time they showed up. If God is half as understanding as my grandpa, then why would he be upset that his children would delight in something he made for them – like baseball on Sunday?
Generally speaking, husbands and wives endure some level of separation, they’re never together 24/7. Even in churches there’s a tendency to segregate men (husbands) from women (wives) in small group studies and even at prayer times.
The body of believers metaphor really doesn’t help keep things operating. Nobody really knows what part they belong to or how to get anything done. What does it mean to be a ‘leg’ what do ‘legs’ do? In most churches, I see a lot of authority based teachings that make pastors, elders, deacons, the head of the church, and husbands the head of the family unit, but that’s what we have – a confusing teaching that causes us to loose sight of the body because of it’s parts, or the forest because of it’s trees.
I think that we have to recognize that what we understand of as Christianity and Church are drastically different concepts from their earlier incarnations. They’ve evolved over two thousand years, allied itself with the state (middle ages, particularly), and are losing power in it’s current form. Odds are it’ll change into something new, as it has done in the past, but we have to be willing to let a lot of things that weren’t part of the original make-up go if we’re to reclaim a true church.
Thank you for your comments. I did want to clarify a few items. Hopefully I did not come across as saying if you miss church God is angry and you’re going to hell. My intent was to remind believers that we have the privilege of gathering with family and the Father and it should be a priority. As you stated a married couple are not together 24/7 but when they so easily skip time together for other pursuits is that a healthy relationship? The same would be for the grandfather. If the kids always find reasons to skip family gatherings what is going on? Do texts and emails really substitute for face to face time? I want to encourage Biblical Christians to not so easily abandon worship but prioritize it. What better pursuit is there to come before the Father to encourage and serve one and another as well as be encouraged and served?
I also agree that the church has adapted in some cultural ways. Music has changed. And music in an church in the United States sound very different than an Asian of Middle Eastern church. This is right. It has also adopted many unhealthy practices and constantly needs reforming and course correction. But at the same time God has revealed eternal truth and those areas are not open for change. Wisdom discerns the non negotiables (Scriptural authority, means of salvation, person of work of Christ etc.) and non negotiables such as guitars, organs and Bible translations.
While church gathering locations are flexible. There are cathedrals and house churches. Our congregation meets in a school gym. In the US a church of 12 is small but in Turkey or China that’s a big congregation. What is clear in the New Testament is a prioritized time and place to meet with an established leadership structure. Scripture describes that structure as men appointed as servant leaders teaching Gods word and modelling godliness. Deacons serving the physical needs of the congregation. Then the rest of the body exercises its Spirit given gifts for the benefit of the congregation. (1 Cor 12:4-6)
It looks like my reply is turning into another post. In the end God has called us to gather together as church. A church filled with sinners in the process of growing and as such is always in need of reforming. Thankfully God has not left us alone to figure it out but has revealed to us in His word what His people the church looks like. And he has left us His Spirit to help us take His eternal truth and flesh it out in our current context as well as a few thousand years of godly men and women to learn from
Sometimes I find that the things that we consider ‘non-negotiable’ are the very things that God will say: “choose one – the non-negotiable or me – you can’t have both.” Perhaps that’s how we arrived at so many denominations with so many schools of thought.
All healthy relationships are framed with boundaries, responsibilities of party a and responsibilities of party b – we see this with God’s and Jesus’ relationship, there are some things that only the father could do and some things that only the son could do. If God didn’t respect the boundaries, he could have easily said: “sorry son, can’t put you through this, I’ll be the one on the cross” but he didn’t. Sure, going to church is to meet up with other believers regularly is a good thing – but God (and my grandpa) understands that it’s humanly impossible to be with him 24/7 all the way. Half the time I’m at church physically, I’m thinking about being anywhere and everywhere else – so to me it’s no different than being physically somewhere else and thinking about church.