Your Daily Devotional for May 29, 2006

May 29, 2006 

 

Be in Your Place
by Dr. Paul Chappell

“For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.”

I Corinthians 12:12-13

 

Often, I hear the most ridiculous excuses for not attending church. If you took the excuses people use for not going to church and applied them to other important areas of life, you'd realize how inconsistent we can be in our logic. For example, consider these ten reasons for not bathing:

 

10 Reasons Not to Wash

1. I was forced to as a child.

2. People who make soap are only after your money.

3. I wash on special occasions like Christmas and Easter.

4. People who wash are hypocrites—they think they are cleaner than everyone else.

5. There are so many different kinds of soap, I can't decide which one is best.

6. I used to wash. It got boring, though, so I stopped.

7. None of my friends wash.

8. The bathroom is never warm enough in the winter or cool enough in the summer.

9. I'll start washing when I get older and dirtier.

10. I can't spare the time.

How silly this sounds! God has told us in His Word and modeled in several places that believers should gather themselves with other believers in a local assembly. The Apostle Paul was the first missionary sent out to start other local churches.

 

The Greek word that is used for ‘church’ in the New Testament is ‘ekklesia’ which means “a called out assembly.” Of 117 usages of the word “church”, 100 are a reference to a local, visible body of believers. Acts 2:41 says, “Then they that gladly received His word were baptized, and the same day there were added unto them about 3,000 souls.” I Corinthians 1:2 says, “Unto the Church at Corinth…”, II Corinthians 1:1 says, “Unto the Church at Corinth…”, Galatians 1:2 says, “Unto the churches at Galatia…” and Revelation 1:4 says, “To the 7 churches at Asia Minor…”

 

God places great importance on the local church. In fact, most of the New Testament is written to local churches. The church is to be a called out assembly. First Peter 1:15-16 says, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” I Corinthians 1:2 says, “Unto the church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:”

 

We are to be a called out assembly and called to Jesus Christ to follow in His footsteps. First Peter 2:21 says, “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:” Christians in the book of Acts took this so seriously that they got together and started burning their books! Acts 19:18-19 says, “And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.”

 

According to Hebrews 10:25, if you know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Saviour, you need to be in church, “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.” I hope that you are in your place every time the church doors are open. If not, be in your place starting this Sunday!

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