According to a recent Gallup poll thirty-eight percent of Americans attend a place of worship. “This is the lowest figure in the last 50 years.” Gospel Advocate , Feb. 1998, P. 9).
     Have sixty-two percent of Americans accepted the doctrine that supposedly puts the “emphasis on Christ instead of the church?” Have people begun to really believe the old denominational dogma that separates salvation and the church? “One supposedly gets saved and then joins the church; he/she may even join the church of his/her choice.” Has the church become as unimportant to people as it is non-essential to their salvation?
     People who know the truth understand that in the process of salvation the Lord adds people to His church (Acts 2:47). People are reconciled to God “in one body” (Ephesians 2:16). The body is the church (Ephesians 1:22-23). The means of reconciliation is the cross of Christ (Ephesians 2:16). If the cross of Christ is necessary then the church of Christ is essential. The cross of Christ gives significance to the church of Christ. In fact, Jesus died for the church (Ephesians 5:25). It is true that Jesus “tasted death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9). However, only those in His church have taken advantage of the blessings of the Savior’s death.
     The Lord’s church may be as unimportant to a skeptical world as it is non-essential to a denominational world, but faithful members of the church of Christ know the importance of the church to Christ and the value of the church to people so they assemble regularly and faithfully for worship in the church. Why?
     When Jesus instituted a memorial to Himself, the Lord’s Supper, then they assembled, “came together” (1 Corinthians 11:33). Furthermore, the Lord admonished His people not to forsake the assembly (Hebrews 10:25). They assembled to eat the Lord’s Supper on the “first day of the week” (Acts 20:7).
     Because Christians have been saved from sin and reconciled to God by the blood of His Son, they gladly assemble to keep a memorial to God’s Son. A compelling gratitude for the sacrifice of the Son of God brings them to His table with faithful regularity.
     God wants His children to assemble to “provoke one another to love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24). Since the saved comprise the “body of Christ” (Colossians 1:12-18), it is important  for the members of that body to edify or
build one another into a likeness of their Lord (Ephesians 4:13-16).
     Those who embrace the “give me” mentality of the world may have trouble understanding that God’s children come together to help one another worship God “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24), and they assemble to stimulate one another to be more dedicated in the Lord’s work and active in His service.
     People who think in terms of coming to a worship service to get an emotional “high” may have difficulty appreciating that God’s true children come together to give: glory to God in songs of praise and prayer, to give honor to Christ in keeping His memorial and to give strength to others by proclaiming in the Lord’s Supper that Jesus shall indeed come again, and through singing and preaching to urge Christians to be active in the Lord’s work (1 Corinthians 15:58). They assemble to give to the Lord (1 Corinthians 16:1-2), and thereby express their gratitude to God (2 Corinthians 9:6-11).
     Those who do not deeply love the Lord may find a ball game, a car race, shopping, fishing, or golfing more fulfilling than taking the time and putting forth the effort to assemble with those “of like precious faith” to worship God; but those in whose hearts the love of God dwells find great joy and fulfillment in truth worship to God.
     Those who really know God as their Father and who really know and love the Lord as their Savior delight in regular and faithful worship. Their attitude is expressed in the beautiful hymn, “Welcome, delightful morn, thou day of sacred rest, I hail thy kind return, Lord make these moments blessed...from the low train of mortal toys, I soar to reach immortal joys.”
     The strength of faithfulness and the virtue of regularity come together to give purpose and meaning to worship assemblies for God’s true children.—PO Box 611, Brentwood, TN 37024-0611