Vol. XXXIX March 2, 2007 No 3
WHEN YOU ARE AWAY
by Tom McLemore
When you are away from home, and the Lord’s Day comes around, what will you be doing? Will you be honoring Jesus Christ on his Day and worshiping God through Christ in the Holy Spirit in his revealed way? Or will the Lord’s Day come and go without your being assembled with God’s people? Of course, you may be out of town caring for a sick relative that requires constant attention, etc., and you are thus unable to assemble with God’s people. But then you may be on a pleasure trip, and nothing hinders you from engaging in worship with God’s people on the Lord’s Day. But you are otherwise occupied nonetheless.
Is it true that one’s real character consists of one’s behavior when one thinks no one will ever know? Many Christians behave differently when they are away from home than they do when they are at home. After all, no one from home will ever know. One city in our nation prides itself upon the reputation that what happens there stays there. Some of God’s children have been known to frequent such places when they are away, and they think it is all right because they do not frequent such places while they are at home. And, of course, God always knows even if only God knows. One may refrain from engaging in immorality and still have a very low level of spirituality. It is conceivable that some would never dream of engaging in immoral behavior just because they are out of town, and yet the same folks would give little or no thought to engaging in worship on the Lord’s Day when they are away from home.
Some Christians, when they will be away from home, plan ahead to worship with God’s people wherever they might be. Somehow, they would find out about a church with whom they could worship on their trip. They might inquire about churches near their destination before leaving home. These days, there are many directories, both in printed form and via the World Wide Web, which provide abundant information about churches throughout the world. Or, when they would arrive at their destination, they would consult the yellow pages to find a listing of churches of Christ in the area. They might check the local newspaper on Saturday or call the church building in order to determine the time of the services. In some cases, they might ask their local preacher if he knows about a church near their destination. Or they might ask him if he is familiar with a particular church they are considering in order to make sure they will not be surprised by what they experience while visiting there.
Other Christians, however, may give thought to the fact that they will be away on the Lord’s Day and make plans to conduct worship for themselves and their family. They take their Bibles with them, along with some fruit of the vine and unleavened bread. On the Lord’s Day, they engage in singing, prayer, and Bible study, and partake of the Lord’s Supper. These are memorable and valuable times for families and groups of friends in Christ, because they are able to experience worship as a family, as friends, and as children of God. And they may worship in settings that enable them to experience the glories of God’s creation while they praise him and thank him. Such occasions can remind Christians that worship is not about a building, or about a crowd, but about hearts in fellowship with God through Christ in the Spirit in worship.
In the case of either of these two groups, or both, some may leave their offering with someone in the church (say, the church treasurer or one of the elders or deacons, etc.) or make up their offering when they return. In some cases, they may make an additional offering to the congregation with whom they are visiting, and in some cases they do not, remembering that they will give or have given their offering in their home congregation.
On the other hand, some Christians take off for their destinations with no thoughts that they will be away on the Lord’s Day, much less having made any efforts to plan for being in worship. They make their trip and return not having gathered with the Lord’s people on the Lord’s Day. They may or may not think to make up their offering the following Sunday when they return. It may be that when they are in town, there are influences that lead them to be present. These influences are not along with them when they are out of town. They may feel very comfortable in their home congregation, but they would feel uncomfortable meeting strangers, even if they are fellow Christians.
Now it is entirely possible that those who engage in worship on the Lord’s Day when they are out of town do so because they view engaging in worship as a duty, an obligation, a responsibility, and a requirement. They may have been conditioned to feel very guilty if they did not engage in worship on the Lord’s Day wherever they are. And they may fear the embarrassment that they would feel when the folks back home asked them upon their return where they worshiped while they were on their trip. Sadly, the diagnosis of Jesus is all too applicable in such cases: “He said to them, ‘Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, “This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me”...’” (Mark 7:6).
And when some Christians are away, they attend services in denominational churches and thus engage in unscriptural activities in fellowship with those who are in rebellion to Christ. In many such services, the Lord’s Supper is not observed. And even if unleavened bread is eaten and the fruit of the vine is drunk, those with whom one eats and drinks are not in fellowship with the Lord. The Lord is not present at such a table, and no true disciple of his should be, either. Notwithstanding the facts that the singing offered is accompanied by instruments which have no authority from God’s word and that prayers are led by those who are in rebellion to the will of the Father (Matthew 7:21, 22), some Christians will engage in such activities when they are away from home. What do these actions of Christians when they are away indicate about their beliefs and consecration to the Lord and his truth when they are at home? At which place are they playing the hypocrite, when they are at home or when they are away from home? Cf. Mark 7:6.
On the other hand, it is also possible those who engage in worship on the Lord’s Day when they are out of town do so because they love the Lord and his people, and on the Lord’s Day, not engaging in worship with other Christians is unthinkable! It just wouldn’t occur to them to think that engaging in worship on the Lord’s Day is something they could just as easily leave off since they are out of town. Sure, they will feel a little discomfort meeting with people they have never seen before, but after all, these are brothers and sisters in Christ. They will be expressing and experiencing in worship a “like precious faith” (2 Peter 1:1) with these new acquaintances. Sure, it would be less convenient to interrupt the events of the out of town trip in order to engage in worship, but they love the Lord, and after all, it is his Day. How wonderful that wherever they might be, the Lord’s Day is the Lord’s Day, and they may rejoice over all the great blessings which are associated with the Lord whose Day it is! They recognize the truth of Romans 14:8: whether they are at home or away, they are the Lord’s. So whether they are at home or away, they make it their aim to please him (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:9).
There is always the possibility that some who are most meticulous about attending worship on the Lord’s Day, whether at home or away, are present, not out of devotion to Jesus Christ or the love of God, but for the praise of men or to provide themselves with a basis for self-righteousness. It is entirely possible that those who never miss an assembly whether in town or out of town may be worse off spiritually than those who fail to assemble when they are out of town. If people assemble with their home congregation for worship with the sincere desire to honor Jesus Christ on his day and to praise God in his revealed way, that desire is present with them on the Lord’s Day even when they are away. Yet, if these sentiments are absent, it is not surprising that they give no thought to Lord’s Day worship when they are out of town. And the worst thing is that the real value and meaningfulness of their assembling when they are in town is called into question. If you do not desire to engage in worship on the Lord’s Day when you are out of town, when you engage in worship on the Lord’s Day when you are in town, is it because you desire to do so?
What view of the Lord’s Day is reflected in each of these cases? In each of these scenarios, how does one view the purpose of participating in the ordained worship activities? What does the behavior indicate in general? What does it say with regard to what motivates people to be present in worship when they are at home? If it is genuine desire to worship God that brings them to assemble with his people on the Lord’s Day, surely they would have that same desire wherever they might be. If it is a genuine devotion to the Lord Jesus that leads them to devote themselves to honoring him on his Day, would they not have that same devotion wherever they might find themselves? Would they forget the Lord on his Day just because they were not home?
It may be that many have never given thought to these matters, and if they have, they have not thought them through deeply and sufficiently. They have not evaluated their behavior on the basis of fundamental biblical principles, and they have not considered the implications of their ways. Some may not have had the advantage of having been brought up in a home where godly parents led their families to remember the Lord on his Day wherever they were. How many attend assemblies purely out of habit or tradition without ever having searched the scriptures or their hearts to examine the spiritual basis upon which they ought to do so? How many have been attending worship assemblies without having made a personal decision to do so on the basis of scriptural principles they have examined and accepted? How many attend worship assemblies week after week without giving any consideration to scriptural teaching about how worship is connected to the Christian’s relationship with God? How many are present week after week, not because they desire to be there out of any awareness of the meaning of the activities, but because they have been conditioned to feel extremely guilty if they do not show up? Is it any wonder, then, that when they are away from home there is no thought about honoring the Lord Jesus on his Day in his appointed way?
It behooves every Christian to be affected deeply and fundamentally by the truths that the Lord is the Lord and the Lord’s Day is the Lord’s Day. The Lord is the Lord wherever the Christian may be, and the Lord’s Day is the Lord’s Day wherever the Christian may be. When these things are understood, devotion to the Lord leads the Christian to engage in worship that honors the Lord on his Day whether one is at home or away. The whole matter turns on devotion to the Lord. Devotion to the Lord does not have to be constrained by a sense of duty, but it issues in worship out of a sense of delight. It sings “O the pure delight of a single hour that before Thy throne I spend” (Fanny J. Crosby). Such devotion realizes that awareness of the nature of God, the church, and worship dictates that attending the assembly must result from love of God, recognition of the bond we have in Christ, and a willing offering of ourselves to God through Christ in the Holy Spirit. Whether at home or away, with the psalmist such devotion will say, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the LORD!’” (Psalm 122:1).
Designed and maintained by Houston Park Church of Christ Copyright © 2000 by Houston Park Church of Christ 2 Crescent Hill Drive Selma, Alabama 36701 334-874-7941. All rights reserved. Revised: 20 Aug 2007.