March 18, 2020
Church Attendance –
Providence and Privilege
One of the
consequences of the recent outbreak of the Corona Virus is that most churches
have been forced to suspend worship services.
Because of this, in
a recent message to his congregation, well-known pastor and Bible teacher, John
MacArthur, said:
“This is something unprecedented in my
51 years here; this has never happened before.
But it is in the Providence of God …” (https://www.gracechurch.org/community/posts/1903)
”It is in the
Providence of God.” That’s a true
statement.
Now, I’d like you to
keep that statement in your mind for a minute.
For many years, I
have been hearing pastors and other church leaders say that true Christianity
is not something for individuals to do in isolation from other believers. That’s true, and there is scriptural support
for that claim, for example, Hebrews 10:25 –
“… not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the
habit of some …”
And, for years, I
have been hearing pastors say that a true Christian will want to join
together with other Christians. That’s
also true, and again, there is scriptural support for that claim as well. For example, John 13:35 –
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples,
if you have love for one another.”
As I said, that
Christianity is not something for individuals to do alone in isolation, and
that Christians will want to come together with other Christians, are true and
biblically sound positions.
However, also for
years, I have heard pastors telling people that, if they do not attend
church, they, therefore, are not true Christians. And there are pastors who do
say that – lots of them. And they say it
often and regularly. I’ve documented it
myself several times. They say, “You are
not a true Christian if you do not attend church.”
That’s not
necessarily true. It might be
true, but not necessarily. It depends on
the reason why someone is not attending church.
We all recognize
that there are many invalid excuses that many people make for not attending
church, such as, “I want to go fishing,” or “I want to watch a TV show,” or “I
want to sleep in.” Some even say, “I
don’t go to church because I don’t believe in organized religion.” All of these excuses, and many more, are
invalid reasons for not attending church.
And, by the way, we
must not forget that there are also many invalid reasons that people give for
attending church. For example, someone
once said to me, “I decided to go to church because I want to find a
girlfriend.” Now, for whatever good
there might be for that person to find a girlfriend in church, it’s still not a
valid reason for attending church.
Another way of
looking at it is that, just as not attending church does not necessarily
mean a person is not a Christian, attending church does not necessarily
mean that he or she is a Christian.
Far too often,
pastors chastise people for not attending church, and when they do that, they
are forgetting that the reality is that there are Christians out there
in the world who, for whatever reason, are not attending church, even though
they would dearly love to.
You might be shocked
to hear me say this, but there are valid reasons why even Christians
themselves might not attend church. In
fact, I personally feel that today churches are in such a deplorable condition
spiritually and doctrinally, that there are many valid reasons for not
attending a lot of churches these days.
Don't misunderstand me: I still believe that there are still a lot of good churches in the world. But those churches are getting harder and harder to find.
Try looking at
churches through the eyes of unbelievers.
Every church claims to be Bible-based.
Yet one must look long and hard and, many times, travel great distances,
to find a church with worship services that are not, to a greater or lesser
extent, infused with some degree of non-biblical practices, problematic
teaching and lack of reverence.
I say again, try
looking at it through the eyes of an unbeliever or even a new Christian. What’s to keep a non-believer or a new
Christian from wondering, “If this church is wrong about such-and-such thing,
where else is it wrong?”
Sure, I’ve heard the
commonly-used saying: “There’s no such
thing as a perfect church.”
But – and believe
me, I very much regret to say this – that more and more these days I’m
wondering if there is even such a thing as a good church.
It seems that even
Christians themselves do not know what ‘church’ even is
anymore. Worst of all, how are
unbelievers to know? If you even are
able to get an unbeliever to want to find out more about Christianity, what
church will you refer them to? Anymore,
wise church selection is neither an easy decision nor a minor one.
I’ll not go into
more detail right now about reasons that people have for not attending church,
except to mention this one reason:
There are
times when people are not attending church because, through no fault of their
own, they are simply unable to attend church. And these people have not ceased to be
Christians just because they are not attending church.
One way I know that
is because, since 2018, I have found myself to be fairly homebound. It’s not that I cannot get out of my house at
all. But a couple of factors have made
it very difficult for me to get out. And
it has meant that I have not been able to attend church.
Yet I haven’t ceased
to be a Christian because of it.
The fact is that
there are who-knows-how-many other homebound Christians out there in the world,
just like me, people who would dearly love to attend church, but are just plain
unable to. It’s not that we don’t like
to be around other Christians – we most certainly do. Nor is it that we are opposed to organized
religion and think we’re OK to be “Lone Ranger” Christians – we most certainly
do not. We’re just unable to go – plain and
simple.
I have since come to
learn that there is a theological term to explain this sort of situation. It is called being “providentially hindered.”
Yes, I
wholeheartedly agree that it is one of the marks of a true Christian to not
only want to attend church, but to become a member of a local
congregation. But far too often, pastors
insist upon church attendance as a requirement of being a Christian, or at
least they strongly imply it.
When they do that,
they are forgetting something else:
Church attendance, in addition to being a mark of a true Christian, is
also a very great privilege.
A recent video
released by HeartCry Missionary Society documents the efforts of a Nepalese
Christian to reach locals with the Christian message, “Some of whom,” says the
narrator, Paul Washer, “walk 5 hours to attend church.” (9 min. 58 sec.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReeOXFUc5Wk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReeOXFUc5Wk
Why do they do
that? It’s not because they feel
obligated to do it so that they will be true Christians. No.
It’s because they see what a great privilege it is for them to
attend church.
Now, let me bring
your thoughts back to what I said at the beginning, and John MacArthur’s
statement that suspension of worship services due to do the Corona Virus falls
within the Providence of God.
What are we seeing
now?
We are seeing
multitudes of church members who are not attending church worship
services. Ask any of them
– “Does that mean that you are now not a Christian?” Of course not. They’d all say, “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Then ask them
this: “Wouldn’t you dearly love to be
able to return to church?”
“Definitely! Definitely!” they would all say. They would all unanimously agree that for
them to be able to go back to attending church would be a very great
privilege.
Look – I hope and
pray for the rapid eradication of the Corona Virus as much as anyone else. Some have suggested what might be a “silver
lining” to this current worldwide emergency.
Well-known evangelist, Ray Comfort, for example, has said that one of
the results of the outbreak of the virus is that, more than ever, people are
considering their own mortality.
I believe that’s true, and it would certainly help to point to the Providence of God as bringing about something positive from this calamity.
“Jesus said that
when these things come to pass, we’re not to fear, but to look up, because our
redemption is near. Here now is
something for which we can truly thank God about this tragic killer virus. It is reminding each of us of our mortality.”
Ray Comfort
I believe that’s true, and it would certainly help to point to the Providence of God as bringing about something positive from this calamity.
I hope there is
another positive effect:
I’m hoping that
because the Corona Virus has “providentially hindered” Christians from
attending church, that they will finally come to realize 4 things:
1. That church leaders finally come to realize that church
attendance is a privilege – a very great privilege.
2. That church leaders finally come to realize that it’s not
enough anymore to say to people that they should be attending church, because
there are more and more churches these days that should not be attended.
3. That churches finally come to realize, that just as they
have not ceased to be Christians just because they are not able to gather
together, that’s something that homebound believers have known for years, and
non-attendance does not necessarily mean that someone is not truly a Christian.
4. That churches will finally realize that homebound
believers are probably the most overlooked, forgotten and neglected segment of
the Christian population, and that churches need to do more to correct that
situation.
It would not
surprise me in the least if part of the reason for this particular Providence
of God, the outbreak of the Corona Virus, was for God to discipline His Church.
“First to the Jews
and then to the gentiles,” is what the Bible says (ex. Rom. 2:10). When the Jews
rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ, was God stymied? Not at all.
He next took it to the gentiles.
If The Church then
obliterates the Gospel, do you think God is stymied?
I wouldn’t count on
it.
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