Wilderness To Wisdom: Gathering According To The Bible

Church, as most of us think of it, is not what Scripture describes. The word translated as church in our Bibles is the Greek word ekklesia, which means a called-out assembly of people. Not a building. Not an institution. The ekklesia is who we are.
In this episode, we look at how believers gathered in the New Testament, what happened when they came together, and why the intimacy Scripture describes cannot happen in the model most of us have called church. We also look at Hebrews 10:25 in its full context and compare what the verse actually describes to what has been enforced in its name.
Gathering was never meant to be mediated for us by an institution. It's already available with people we know, in the places we already are.

Transcript

Welcome back to Wilderness to Wisdom. In the last episode, I addressed the importance of separating from Christianity to truly follow Christ according to the Bible. Now we'll look at some of the most common practices in Christianity, Starting with gathering, It's the one defended most often, Usually with Hebrews 10. 25, Which tells us not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We're going to look at it directly in context. The word translated as church in our Bibles is the Greek word ekklesia. It means a called out assembly, A gathering of people called together for a purpose. It was not a religious word. Used for any assembly of citizens, And it never meant a building or an institution with a name, A tax status, And a mortgage. It referred to people. This matters because of how we use the word now. We say we're going to church, We found a good church, Or someone left the church. In every one of those, Church is a place or an organization. In scripture, Ecclesia is who we are. Paul greeted the Ekklesia in people's houses. Romans 16. 5 says, Someone will point out that Acts 2 46 also says they attended the temple together. The temple had large outer courts that were open public spaces. Attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, They received their food with glad and generous hearts. Two activities, Two places. Acts shows believers using the temple courts for public gatherings while their shared life happened in their homes. They didn't avoid the temple. It was there and they used it. But the letters written to believers outside Jerusalem described them meeting in homes. And when the temple was destroyed, The faith didn't collapse with it. The building was temporary. What carried the faith was the gathering itself. In the Old Testament, God's presence was tied to a place, The tabernacle, Then the temple. And it was pointing towards something. When Jesus came, He said in John 4, 21 through 24, That the hour was coming when true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and truth, Not on a mountain or in Jerusalem. Then the Holy Spirit came to live in us. Acts 7, 48 says, Acts 2 42 through 47 gives us the clearest picture Acts 4, 32-35 says they were of one heart and one soul, That they had things in common and that no one among them lacked. Look at what's in that. Teaching, Fellowship, Shared meals, Prayer, Needs met every day, And homes. Now look at what it isn't. No church building, No stage, No sound system, No sermon delivered by one person to a silent audience, No appeal for money, No program, And no membership. 1 Corinthians 14. 26 shows what happened when they came together. It says, What then, Brothers, When you come together, Each one has a hymn, A lesson, A revelation, A tongue, Or an interpretation? Let all things be done for building up. Picture what that actually looks like. Questions being asked. Real situations brought to the word. People contributing what they have rather than receiving from one person. Everyone brought something. The teaching didn't float in one direction from leader to everyone else. It moved among them. Ephesians 4 11-16 names apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Shepherds, And teachers. Teachers. Verse 12 says they were given to equip the saints for the work of ministry, Not to perform for them. And 1 Peter 2. 5 and 2. 9 calls us a spiritual house and a royal priesthood. All of us, Not a priesthood over a congregation, A priesthood that is the congregation. In Matthew 18 20, Jesus says, Jesus taught crowds, But Jesus was also the prophesied Messiah doing a work no one else would do. That was not a template for how every gathering should scale. Someone may point to Acts 2 and the 3, 000 added after Peter spoke. But read what happens next in the same chapter. They broke bread house to house. 3, 000 were added to the body. They were not gathered in one room week after week. The number describes growth, Not a venue. The pattern for believers is different. We grow and equip one another so that each one goes out to the people placed in their path. The reach happens through us going, Not through filling a building each week. Within the body. It is not about how many people one gathering should accumulate. 1 Corinthians 12 26 says, If one member suffers, All the members suffer together, And if one member is honored, All the members rejoice together. That only works at a scale where people actually know each other. In a church where members don't really know each other and have no real relationship with the pastor, The mutual suffering and rejoicing Paul describes has no way of happening. Scripture is describing an intimacy that the large-scale model cannot produce. Not because the people are unwilling, But because the setup doesn't allow it. Picture this in a home with a handful of people who know each other's lives. Picture it in a room with hundreds of people who don't. Only one of those matches what Paul described. Hebrews 10 24 through 25 says, Another, And in the middle of that, Not to forsake assembling. The assembling serves the rest. We gather so we can stir each other up and encourage one another. That goes both directions, And it requires actually knowing the people we gather with. Now compare that to what most of us have called obeying this verse. Driving to a building, Sitting in a row facing forward listening to one person speak, Standing when told to stand, Singing when told to sing, And giving when told to give, Then leaving without a single person having exhorted us or being exhorted by us. Some will say there's more to it than that. People talk in the lobby, Friendships form, Some gather outside of the service. That's true and it's good, But notice that none of it happens during the thing we're calling the assembling. It happens around it. The verse is not a command to attend an institution. It's a command not to isolate ourselves from other believers because we need each other. Hebrews 10. 25 is real and I am not dismissing it. We are not meant to walk this out alone. Isolation is not the goal, But we have to stop letting a verse about mutual encouragement be used to enforce attendance as something the verse never describes. There is supposed to be unity. Ephesians 4. 13 speaks of coming to the unity of the faith, Breaking into denominations, Is not what that looks like. So we have to be clear about what kind of unity. Believers being taught by the same spirit growing toward the same truth. It's not sameness manufactured by a central authority. There are organizations where everyone worldwide hears the same message on the same day and that gets called unity. But really it's uniformity produced by control and usually with a load of added doctrine attached to it. It's one more version of the same mechanism. Organization will take something true in scripture and then twist it into something that keeps people under them. Once you start seeing that pattern, You'll see it everywhere. And here's how denominations end up where they end up, Including the ones that call themselves non-denominational. Each one starts with something true, One or maybe a few right turns, Then a series of wrong turns gets built on top of it. This is why being based on the Bible was never enough. A journey that starts correctly and then turns wrong repeatedly still ends up far from where it was headed. Based on the Bible and arriving where the Bible leads are two different things. So what does this look like for us? Nothing has to be mediated for us by an institution. We can connect with other believers in person or across distance. Many of us assume gathering requires formal organization and a lot of time. Finding a group, Having someone qualified to lead it, Scripture doesn't require any of that. Two or three, A meal, The word, That is already available to most of us with people we already know. When distance is the reality, Technology can serve the gathering. Some of us don't have anyone nearby, And meeting online may be the only option for now. That is also a real gathering. What it can't include yet is the physical presence, So we keep walking toward that, Trusting the Holy Spirit to lead us. One side note about relying on technology. It's good to have hard copies of your Bible and everything that you're learning. Anything that lives on a screen can be changed by whoever controls it. That's not a reason for fear. It's a reason not to be wholly dependent on one system. And as you study the Word, It gets etched in your heart, And what's inside you can't be edited by anyone. The reality is that most of us are not in a position to gather daily right now. But this is a walk, And we move toward what Scripture shows rather than settling for what we inherited. As we seek God's kingdom and allow the course correction, He orders our lives differently than we would have. People show up. Circumstances change. What wasn't possible becomes possible. So here's what we've walked through. Homes daily, Sharing meals, Teaching, Praying, Meeting each other's needs. Everyone brought something when they came together. Jesus said that when two or three gather in his name, He is among them. The intimacy scripture describes requires knowing each other. It's what happens when people's lives are actually connected. Hebrews 10 25 tells us not to forsake assembling and it tells us why, So we can provoke one another toward love and good works and encourage one another. That verse doesn't defend what modern churches are doing. It's worth comparing what the verse describes to what we see happening in church services. As always, Don't take my word for any of it. Read Acts 2, 1 Corinthians 12 and 14, And the whole passage in Hebrews 10. And let the Holy Spirit show you what's there. And if what you find doesn't match what you've been doing, Follow where the Holy Spirit leads. Thank you for joining me for this episode of Wilderness to Wisdom.