: 2 Chronicles 29: 6

Hezekiah came to the throne as a young man and sought to reverse a situation of national spiritual decline. It is surely noteworthy that the turning away from God went hand in hand with turning away from the ‘church’: They turned their faces away from the LORD’s dwelling place and turned their backs on him (6) Our ancestors went wrong and lived badly before GOD – they discarded him, turned away from this house where we meet with GOD, and walked off. They boarded up the doors, turned out the lights, and cancelled all the acts of worship of the GOD of Israel in the holy Temple. The Message. I strongly believe that (what I see as) an ever decreasing desire in many professing Christians, to be habitually part of regular fellowship with other believers, is a symptom of a serious and potentially terminal illness. There is something profoundly unhealthy going on. Now let me stress that I don’t consider you can measure spirituality by the number of church meetings attended. That’s not my concern. But through my lifetime I have observed a marked change of attitude towards worship gatherings. I was brought up in an era where we went to meetings three times on a Sunday. I’m not saying there was anything inherently virtuous about this, but it was the reality of our childhood years. There would also be at least one midweek meeting to attend as well. (It seems to me that many Christians of my father’s generation had a sense of ‘churchmanship’ that is not so common today.) About 20/25 years ago, I began to notice a shift in church culture: a significant number of Christians were starting to attend church once a week only. (This was so much the case that when a young couple joined our church in Boston Spa, and turned out twice on a Sunday and again in the week, we spoke of them as having a kind of ‘old-fashioned’ commitment to the life of the church. Needless to say, this was not a disparaging remark. We were delighted with them and their involvement, which was somewhat out of sync with where things were heading in the church generally.) We are a now in a situation where many believers will show up at a meeting once a fortnight, possibly every three weeks, and even monthly.  Although there can be legitimate reasons for this, it seems to me, as a pastor, and as an observer of these trends over a number of years, that domestic and social commitments often take precedence over commitment to the local church.  I repeat that we can’t measure the true health of a person’s spiritual life by the number of meetings they attend. I accept that totally. But commitment to Christ cannot be expressed apart from commitment to His body, the church. I believe many pastors would say that Sunday by Sunday their local expression of ‘the body’ seems like a multiple amputee case! So many ‘body parts’ are missing!! How can you say you are committed to Christ when you are not playing your full part in His church? This is not a healthy trend.  It feels like an attitude of, ‘How little can I get away with?’ in terms of commitment to the church services. Are we gradually heading towards boarding up the doors and turning out the lights and cancelling the acts of worship? Perhaps not. But who would have thought that such change as we have seen could have come about in one generation?

I will return to this tomorrow, but in (10) Hezekiah says: Now I intend… (I have decided…The Message). On this New Year’s Day, I would like to see every Christian re-evaluate their relationship with Christ’s church. Maybe 2014 requires some intentionality towards change?  Perhaps we need to make decisions that will enable us to be like the first Pentecostal church: They devoted themselves…to the fellowship… (Acts 2:42). Such devotion is sadly lacking in large sectors of the church.

Prayer: Lord you tell us not to forsake our gathering together as your people. Forgive us, please, our increasing apathy and lethargy about such meeting, and help us to obey you.