The Importance of Attendance Part 3

Introduction

Well, good morning and welcome to all who are with us this morning and especially uh to our visitors. Uh we welcome you and hope that you find everything we do to be scriptural, and we welcome any questions you might have. You might say you disagree with one or two things that you might hear. I hope you don’t. Uh I wouldn’t think that you will, but if you do, in the case that you do, I’d be happy to talk to you about those questions in a spirit of love and gentleness and to work out God’s word together together. We’re going to continue and finish the three-part series that I’ve been doing on the importance of attendance. I’ve been wanting to do this at the 11 o’clock hour, uh, so I have the largest number that I can speak to.

Uh I I think that this is a very welcoming, warm, loving, sincere, genuine group of people. I’m honored to be part of your presence, uh, in your presence, part of this number. And I would not judge your heart. But uh really the main reason I wanted to do this series, quite honestly, is uh the disparity in numbers that we have in the nine o’clock and in the eleven o’clock hours. That’s a concern of mine, uh, though I don’t know everybody’s situation. You know your situation. And uh it concerns me that habits are formed so that some people intentionally are not here at the earlier hour. Maybe you intend to be. But I think I wonder if sometimes that is just a habit that is made because we continually have a much greater number, almost twice the number at the 1055 hour than we do at the nine hour.

I’m also concerned, and I say this in a spirit of love, about people talking so much in the four-year. Um it’s not just about being here, uh, but I believe it’s about what we’re doing when we’re here. Are we engaged? Do we go to the restroom before services so that we don’t have to get up right in the middle of things? Is this what we’re engulfed in while we’re here? And I also have a concern, and thank you for allowing me to say these things, about people kind of dragging in kind of late, trickling in kind of habitually. Sometimes that seems to have gotten worse. And I think it says a lot to uh in a negative way, I think, to visitors who come at the nine hour and uh for the numbers to just slowly trickle and get bigger.

Again, I say this in love, and you know your situation and you know your heart, and I’m not standing in judgment of that. But I have a concern, and I have a concern because I care and because I love you, and that’s all. That’s all. I hope you know that. Do you apply the same standard of faithfulness to your Christian activities, like attending services, that you expect from other areas of your life? If your car starts once every three tries, is it reliable? If your paper boy skips delivery every Monday and Thursday, is he trustworthy? If you don’t go to work once or twice a month, are you a loyal employee? If your water heater provides an icy cold shower every now and then, is it dependable?

If you miss a couple of loan payments every year, does the bank say, uh, 10 out of 12 isn’t bad? If you fail to worship God one or two Sundays a month, or even one or two services a month. Would you say that God would consider you a faithful Christian? We expect faithfulness and we expect loyalty from things and from people in other areas of life. Doesn’t God expect the same from us as Christians? I think one of the issues might be that we consider ourselves as volunteers. When truly what we are is we are bondservants who are duty bound. Volunteers can come and go as they please, but not bondservants. They have expectations. And I believe that we have expectations. I also believe that attendance is one of the primary indicators of whether a person is really putting God first.

Again, barring situations beyond control. We’re not talking about somebody who has continual health problems or whose age is such that they want to be out and they can’t. We’re not talking about somebody who wants to be out and can’t. We’re talking about somebody who can be out but doesn’t want to. And only you really know that in your heart. So, in lesson one, we talked about Hebrews 10, 24 and 25, not forsaking our own assembling together. And what is the opposite of forsaking our own assembling? It is absolute commitment to our own assembling together. And the emphasis also in those two verses is heavily upon the fact that your brethren need you. And so it can be selfish to forsake our own assembling together. Your brethren need you to be here to stir them up to love and good deeds and to encourage them.

1. Benefit Number Four: Instruction

Well, then in lesson two, we looked at the flip side of that coin at the fact that you need your brethren. You need the church and the benefits that are provided by involvement in the church and by surrounding yourself with devout Christians. And namely we looked at three of these benefits. Number one, support. Number two, relationships. And number three, worship. So we’re going to pick right up where we left off and look at three more benefits to wrap up this series. And so, benefit number four is instruction. Attending services and Bible classes regularly is a very practical way to consistently receive instruction of God’s word. God wants us to grow in knowledge. Let’s turn to Hebrews chapter 5, if you will. Hebrews, the fifth chapter. The writer of Hebrews is trying to explain the high priesthood of Christ by making a comparison of Christ with Melchizedek.

And if you don’t have a good knowledge of the Old Testament and that you might say, somewhat obscure story of Melchizedek, then you might not know really what he’s saying. And so then the writer says this beginning of verse 11 concerning him that is Melchizedek, we have much to say, and it is hard to explain, since you have become dull of hearing. For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. But solid food is for the mature, who, because of practice, have their senses trained to discern good and evil.

And there are many Christians that ought to have much greater knowledge than they have. Maybe there are Christians in this congregation that way. I don’t know. But perhaps there are, who maybe by now you ought to have enough knowledge to be able to even teach, but you’re still feeding on the milk of the word instead of the meat. Now, I believe that the primary way that we attain this growth in knowledge that God wants us to do is by our own personal daily Bible study. But let us not forget that some things simply cannot be understood without a teacher. If you’ll be turning over to Acts, the eighth chapter, do you recall the evangelist Philip? Philip was told by the Holy Spirit to go and go on a certain road where there was going to be this chariot.

And we read there in verse 30, Philip ran up and heard him that is this Ethiopian who is in this chariot that was returning to Ethiopia from Jerusalem where he’d been worshiping. He heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, Do you understand what you’re reading? And he said, Well, how could I unless someone guides me? And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. So Philip had much greater knowledge than this eunuch. He had knowledge about Jesus Christ. And the eunuch wasn’t able to come to that conclusion that Jesus was the fulfillment of this prophecy that he was reading. In fact, uh in verse 34, it says the eunuch answered Philip and said, Please tell me of whom does the prophet say this, of himself or someone else.

And so we have Philip explaining these matters to him that the eunuch couldn’t figure out on his own. Someone might say, Well, you know, I don’t need church. I don’t need a Bible class or some preacher to stand up there and tell me what the Bible says. I can read it, I can understand it on my own. And of course, this is true to a degree, but only to a degree. Because experienced teachers can point out things to you that you didn’t know because they have a wider Bible knowledge than you have. They can answer questions that you might have that maybe you couldn’t have figured out on your own or may have taken you a very long time to.

Well, here we have two service hours right on either side of the Bible class. I really feel that those people are missing out. You’re missing out on something that is not just good, but it’s it’s needful and even necessary. Because you need to be taught and to involve yourself in a Bible class. We should be constantly taught, constantly be learning together. In Acts chapter 2, after the 3,000 Jews were baptized on the day of Pentecost, we read there in verse 42, they were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Now, if they were constantly devoted to this doctrine or the apostles’ teaching, I think that infers that the apostles were continuing to teach them, that they were coming together as disciples, and they were studying these doctrines, how they might implement implement them and further know them.

Is that our attitude? Our attitude being one of that we are constantly devoted to doctrine, to learning. Is our attitude that we want to be here every time the doors are open because there’s always something you can learn to be here for the Bible classes. To be here for the gospel meeting. We have one starting in three weeks. Are you making plans to be here? If you’re making plans to be at Disney, you probably would make it happen. You know what? If you make it a priority, I bet you can make it happen and be here. If your heart is one of, I am devoted to learning. That’s the idea of doctrine. It’s the idea of teaching. Then I’m going to be, at every opportunity I can, I’m going to be at a place where I can be learning.

Like a like a gospel meeting. Even gospel meetings in other areas. Now, returning to this idea of Bible classes, Bible classes help to make us more consistent in our Bible study. Let me give you an illustration. I don’t know how many people in here might exercise frequently. I’m not going to ask for a show of hands. Okay, but your hand might not go up. One of the reasons why a lot of individuals don’t exercise consistently is it’s hard to motivate themselves. They feel that they’re imposing this upon themselves. I’m going to run a mile a day, and they’re the only ones that are telling themselves to do this. Nobody else is making them do it. But when they become a part of a fitness class, then all of a sudden it’s easier to be consistent because you have accountability.

You have structure. And the same thing is true with a Bible class. There’s accountability there. You’re expected to do your lesson. You’re expected to study and be prepared. Especially if you’re in my class, I’ll get on to you. And so you got to do that. And uh, and there’s structure there. So you’re not just sort of willy-nilly here and there, but you’re really delving into a book or a topic in a way that gets you deep, and you learn every aspect of this in a way that maybe you couldn’t have just doing it all on your own. So I want to encourage you again to think about and be a part. I tell you, this church has a tremendous curriculum. The elders have done an outstanding job of putting together, I think, a very good curriculum, and it’s comprehensive over a number of years so that in their plan, you have a wide and a deep knowledge of the Word of God.

2. Benefit Number Five: Correction

And your kids will learn a lot. My kids have learned, I think, more here in this church than in any church we’ve ever been. It’s a fantastic curriculum and fantastic Bible study setup that we have here. So I want to encourage you to be a part of that if you haven’t been in the past. So there’s a benefit of instruction provided by the church. Now, hand in hand with this benefit of instruction is the next benefit, which is correction. Correction. We all need to be corrected once in a while. Now, it might be that you just need a mild critique, but sometimes it might be that you need a sharp rebuke, even. But regular association with brethren who care about you is a primary means of providing that correction into your life.

In Proverbs chapter 27, you might turn over to Proverbs. We’re going to be in Proverbs for just a minute or two or three or four. I’m not sure exactly how many minutes. I didn’t time it. But turn over to Proverbs chapter 27, please. Now, first I want to look at a verse that’s not actually on the outline, verse 17. Iron sharpens iron. So one man sharpens another. So you see the benefit of not just kind of going it alone. You need your brethren to be sharpening you in many different ways, correction being one of them. But now focus on verse 6. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but deceitful are the kisses of an enemy. Now, which one did you rather receive? Kisses or a wound?

I think, you know, you might say, you know, it depends on who’s kissing me, I guess. But I think we would all say I’d rather have the good treatment, not the bad treatment. But when an enemy kisses you in this context, it’s the idea he’s not really seeking your good. It’s really not doing you good. It may be just flattery or something like that. But a friend who wounds you means he is telling you what you need to hear. Why? Because he cares enough to give you that, what did your mom always say? Tough love, right? Or maybe your grandmother or your grandfather. Tough love, that’s what is needed. And that’s what is given by people who truly care. Even if it hurts your feelings a little bit.

If people truly care about you, they’re going to tell you what you really need to hear for your own good. When you forsake our own assembling together, you have nobody really to tell you what you need to hear from the Word of God. You’ve cut yourself off from the people of God. And it really requires humility, doesn’t it? To open yourself up this way. And maybe that’s why more people aren’t here. Correction is for your own good. It’s wise to accept correction. I want to look at a couple of verses that are not actually on your outline. Look at Proverbs 13. Proverbs 13 and verse 18. Poverty and shame will come to him who neglects discipline, but he who regards reproof will be honored. Verse 1, a wise son accepts his father’s discipline, but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

Chapter 15 and verse 5, a fool rejects his father’s discipline, but he who regards reproof is sensible. I hope that’s our attitude. I hope we all see the value in rebuke from someone who cares. And in fact, I think not only should we value it, I think that we should seek it out, that we should desire that correction. Turn, if you will, to the 147th Psalm. Psalm 147. I meant to say 141. Sorry about that. Psalm 141, beginning in verse 1, O Lord, I call upon you. Hasten to me. Give ear to my voice when I call to you. May my prayer be counted as incense before you, the lifting up of my hands as the evening offering. Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth.

Keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not incline my heart to any evil thing, to practice deeds of wickedness with men who do iniquity, and do not let me eat their delicacies. Now, thus far, let’s just pause for a second. What is the attitude here? What is the approach that we see here? Well, David is basically saying, God, I want to be pure. I want to be pure in your sight, and I want to be riddled from evil. And verse 5, let the righteous smite me in kindness and reprove me. It is oil upon the head. Do not let my head refuse it, for still my prayer is against their wicked deeds, talking about the wicked. So why would David say this? Why would he desire the righteous to smite him in kindness?

Because it provides a benefit. It will help him to stay on that straight and narrow path that he was, the things that he was talking about in the prior verses. You remember what happened after David committed adultery with Bathsheba, murdered her husband, his child dies, and sometime later, Nathan the prophet was sent by God to approach King David. And Nathan, in short, rebukes David. And after he says, You are the man, David repents immediately. He confesses and he repents. Did it take guts for Nathan to do that? Did he do it out of spite? He did it because he loved David, because he cared about David. And this is kind of a side point that I want to really make. We need to realize that when someone approaches us in the church and they have a concern about us, maybe a rebuke for us, we need to realize that it took a lot of guts for them to do that, first of all, because it’s a lot easier to say nothing.

And secondly, we need to realize that they did it because they love us and they care about us. And even if we disagree with what they say, we can tell them, thank you for caring enough about me to approach me. And for having the guts to do it. I appreciate that. And value what they have to say. Don’t turn a cold shoulder with a stubborn attitude of I don’t need that. That is not humility. But anyway, that’s kind of a side point. I want us to see that, brethren, we need Nathans in our life. You need Nathans who are willing to come to you and out of love say, This is a change you need to make. And you might not objectively see that because you are you, and we’re not so good at critiquing ourselves sometimes.

We need somebody to come and point it out. And that’s one of the benefits of having a group of friends here who are willing to wound you for your own good and not kiss you to your own destruction. James says at the very end of his letter, brethren, if anyone among you wonders from the truth and someone turns him back, let them know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins. Let’s say that you’re in a boat and there’s a storm raging and you’re out deep and you fall out of the boat, but you are the only one in the boat. Situation is not good for you. But if you are in the boat with your friends and you fall off the edge, then one of them is going to be willing, or many of them, to jump in that water, to throw you a lifesaver, do whatever they have to do to help to save you.

And brethren, what a blessing it is that here in this congregation, there are friends who are loving you and watching out for you and ready to jump in and save you in the case that you’ve wandered from the faith. Suppose you wandered from the truth, but you didn’t have a local congregation because you didn’t think it was important, or you’re only half committed, so they hardly knew you anyway. Then who would you have to draw you back and save you? You’d have nobody. And so what a blessing it is to have that opportunity for people to reach out. It could be the difference between your salvation and your damnation eternally. This benefit is only at half strength, however, when a Christian does not attend every service in every class.

3. Our Sixth and Final Point: Motivation

It’s only at half strength when a Christian doesn’t reach out to get to know his brethren. Well, people don’t reach out to me. Well, you know what? You’ve got to reach out to others. We’ve got to do that. We’ve got to try to get to know one another. Because if you’ve got some problem going on and your brethren don’t know you and you’re not communicating anything, how are they going to know you have a problem? And how are they going to have any basis to reach out to you? So we need to get to know one another for that very practical reason. Well, as helpful as instruction and correction are, they may do no good if we are not receiving ample motivation. And so this is our sixth and final point that we want to emphasize.

Motivation is vitally important to serving God. It’s the difference between simply knowing what to do and actually doing it. And it’s not always easy to be motivated, especially when you’re on your own. Your brethren’s job is to stimulate you to love and good deeds. This brings us back full circle to our starting passage in the series. So let’s turn there. And it’s worth looking at again and emphasizing over and over because the mother of learning is repetition. And I hope that you know this passage, by the way. Hebrews 10, 24, and 25. I at least hope that you know what the passage is basically about. But I want to start actually in verse 23 here. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering.

For he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

When you’ve got brethren who are considering how to stimulate you to love and good deeds. And you’ve got numerous brethren here that are very willing and able to do that. They’re trying to encourage you and lift you up. If you don’t have much involvement with the local church, you don’t have that benefit. And this encouragement very practically keeps us from being hardened by the deceitfulness of sin, as we see in Hebrews 3. And I want to read verses 12 and 13. Take care, brethren, that there be not in any of you an evil unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God. But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.

If you’re left out on your own, it’s so easy to become hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. You need your brethren who are constantly there cheering you on and watching out for you to keep you going on that straight and narrow path. This motivation is provided in many different ways. First of all, it’s provided simply by being around devout, caring Christians. I have seen so many outstanding examples in this congregation of just absolute devotion of the Lord. That example alone is motivating. It is powerfully motivating. I can remember a time I was at a brother’s house who was struggling with his health, and he was telling me of a day that he had recently that he thought he was literally going to die. He was that sick.

And so he was deep in prayer. What was he praying about while he was suffering? He was praying a prayer of thanksgiving for his blessings. And he was praying for his brethren who were in need. He didn’t pray for himself. That kind of thing jumps out at me as you know what? I want to be better. And these brethren are helping me to be better. And we experience that when we really know each other, when we’re really around each other, when we really have relationships. It’s motivating. Also, motivating is simply the uplifting worship services. I think we would all agree that here at South Bumby, as a general rule across the board, our services are uplifting. It’s a shot in the arm. It’s a recharging of our batteries.

I always always feel better when I leave than I did when I came. I think we would all agree with that. As part of our worship service, we have the Lord’s Supper every Sunday, which I believe is dictated by Scripture in Acts 20 and verse 7. That alone is motivating, as I talked about in the last lesson. Because it’s a commemoration of the death of Jesus, and it’s a reminder of what we need to do, which is we need to be willing to die to be crucified with Christ. It’s motivating. Practical sermons from God’s word are motivating. Bible classes, where God’s word just does its own work is motivating. Take full advantage of every one of these powerful means of motivation that God has placed before you for your taking.

You will be better for it. You will be more motivated for it, and you will be stronger for it. I guarantee it. Not only, however, is a lack of attendance a sign of weakness, it also leads to greater weakness. Even in the case of those who have legitimate reasons for not being here, I’m still concerned about them. They want to be here, but they can’t. I still worry about them. I pray for them. Because they’re going to be weaker not being around the brethren. It’s just the way it is. And so we need to reach out to those who can’t be among us. And thus the need for ourselves being present every time the doors are open. I’m going to begin now my conclusion, but don’t close your Bibles.

Conclusion

This is going to be sort of an extended conclusion because I’m summing up all three of these lessons right now. We’ve seen a total of six benefits of regular attendance. Six benefits of being truly involved in the local church. Six benefits of really being engaged with your brethren. And these are support, relationships, worship. And then today we looked at instruction, correction, and motivation. We could look at more reasons. But it’s up to you as to what degree you’re going to avail yourselves of these blessings and benefits that have been placed before you. How can we get you more involved?

That question is powerful. Mr. Bob Waldron is one of my mentors. And he approached a young man, and I’m not talking about myself. He was approaching a young man who was just not engaged, but had so much potential. And he simply asked him, What can I do to get you more involved? And that led to studies, which led to this man having a huge impact and even doing quite a bit of preaching. And I know of another preacher who told me the same kind of basic story that a preacher simply approached him and said, basically, what can we do to get you more involved? What can we do to get you more involved? What can you do to get more involved? I tell you what, there’s a lot of work to be done in this place.

There’s a lot of need. There’s much more work than can be done. And we need as many people who are willing to do it as possible. And it will benefit you to get more involved. I encourage you to do that. But remember, we’re not just volunteers. We’re bond servants who are duty bound to not forsake our own assembling together, which means be absolutely committed.

I believe this writer is clearly Solomon. Beginning in verse 9. Two are better than one because they have a good return from their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. Furthermore, if two lie down together, they keep warm. But how can one be warm alone? And if one can overpower him who is alone, two can resist him. A cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart. If two are better than one, then two hundred are certainly much better than one. As a result of these very practical benefits, and of the fact that we long to bow before our Maker in worship to him.

We ought to long for our own assembling together. We ought to be excited about it. We ought to wake up on Sunday morning, and that is something that thrills our soul, that today we get to worship God with our brethren. On Wednesday, when Wednesday evening Bible study is coming, we ought to be excited. That we have this opportunity in the middle of our week to be uplifted and encouraged and stimulated to love and good deeds.

My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the Lord. My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God.

As for the saints who are in the earth, they are the majestic ones in whom is all my delight. Is that your attitude? Is that my attitude this morning? That we would rather be here with these majestic ones in whom is all our delight. Worshiping before God than to be anywhere on planet earth. I believe it is your attitude. And I hope that we can all see and fully realize the importance of attendance. Would you bow your head with me in a word of prayer? Our Father, our God, our Maker, our Creator, our Savior, and our friend. We’re sorry, Father, if we have put you second or third and place an idol before you. May we put you first in our lives. May we realize that we are bond servants who are duty bound.

But may we not simply see it as something that we have to do, but something we want to do to serve you in every capacity, including being involved in this local church, and to strive to be here every time we bodily possibly can. And help us when we’re here to be fully engaged and not to be distracted with cell phones or chit chat, but to be engulfed in worshiping you and your Son Jesus Christ. It is through him that we pray. Amen. Thank you for your kind attention, as always.

And If you’re not a Christian, you need to become one by believing in the Lord. By repenting of your sins. Confessing the name of Christ and being baptized to wash away your sins. And let the power of God save you. It’s a free gift. What a wonderful blessing that is. And serve him and give him your whole life and remain faithful to him until death. And don’t fall away. If you want to become a Christian, or if you need the prayers of this congregation in any way, we’d be thankful. We’d be humbled. We’d be encouraged. If you’d come and let us assist you now as we stand and sing the song of invitation.