The devil is after the Lord's churches. Paul knew it, and he warned the Corinthians that the same serpent who deceived Eve was working to corrupt their minds. He warned the Ephesian elders that wolves would come in among them after his departure, not sparing the flock. Satan is not after the building. He may take a building from a church one day to try to discourage it, but the building is not the church. Look around on a Sunday morning at the people gathered for worship. That is the church.

So when Satan wants to weaken a church, he goes after the people. One of his most effective tactics is the one nobody seems to notice. He gets church members to stop showing up.

The Body Cannot Function With Absent Parts

Paul compares the church to a human body, and the comparison is not accidental.

For also the body is not one member, but many. If the foot says, "Because I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. And if the ear says, "Because I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," it is not for this reason any the less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be? But now God has appointed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired. And if they were all one member, where would the body be? But now there are many members, but one body. 1 Corinthians 12:14–20 (LSB)

The body is a local, visible thing. Nobody pictures a body as universal or invisible. Yet some otherwise smart men get into God's Word and try to make the church into some pie in the sky concept. Beloved, these things ought not to be. There is a reason the Holy Spirit uses pictures like a body, a bride, and a house to describe the church. All of them are local. Every husband is thankful to have a local visible wife. A universal invisible wife is unheard of. So is a universal invisible church.

Some Baptists, though, seem to think there is such a thing as an invisible church member. How do you know? Because you hardly see them. Their names sit on the roll, but they are missing from the services week after week.

Think about how that fits Paul's body picture. How much trouble would it have been for you to get to church this morning if your feet decided to be somewhere else? If your eyes decided they were not coming? That is exactly what happens in churches across this country, and sadly even in our own.

Christ Is Present Every Service

I have heard it said that the pastor spends a lot of his time begging and calling on people who miss church. I do not find that pattern in Scripture. What I do find is that when a person is saved, they ought to want to please the Lord in all things, and that includes their membership and their attendance at the local church.

Poor church attendance is a show of disrespect to the Head of the church, who is Jesus Christ.

Imagine I told you next week that Jesus was coming and He would be in our service personally. The pews would be packed. Every effort would be made to be there. Well, beloved, here is what folks forget.

For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst." Matthew 18:20 (LSB)
Jesus is here every service. Whether you show up or not.

Revelation chapter 1 shows John seeing the risen Christ walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, which are the seven churches. He has not stopped walking among them. He is there when His people gather in His name. Skipping the service does not just mean skipping the preacher or the pews or your fellow members. It means missing an appointment with the living Christ.

Remember Thomas. The disciples had gathered, and Thomas was not with them when Jesus came.

But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. So the other disciples were saying to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." John 20:24–25 (LSB)

We remember him as doubting Thomas. He missed the meeting and missed the Lord. I wonder if there is a lesson there. Whenever I have sat down with a person whose faith feels weak, and I have asked about their Bible reading, their prayer life, and their attendance at the Lord's house, every single time the same three things were missing. It is no coincidence.

What This Article Is Not About

There are real reasons a person cannot be in the service. I am not talking about those.

Sickness. Some weeks you are sick and you cannot come. That is understandable. Maybe you do not feel good. Maybe you are contagious. We like to share at SGBC, but no one wants to share the flu.

Travel. A person cannot be here if they are out of town.

Distance. Some of our members live a good distance away. For one reason or another, they have chosen to keep their membership here. The most common reason is that they have no faithful church to join where they live. Scripture gives examples of this, and we love these members.

None of those scenarios are what this article is about.

What Hebrews 10:25 Actually Says

Here is the verse we have been working toward.

not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. Hebrews 10:25 (LSB)

The Hebrews are warned not to forsake the public assembly. Even in those early days, some had already begun to do so. The writer says by meeting together they will encourage one another, and they need to do it with increased diligence as the day draws nearer.

Look at the word he uses. Forsaking. This is the language of abandonment.

Hebrews 10:25 is not only warning against the sin of sloth, laziness, apathy, or indifference. It is warning against the danger that sloth leads to. Full blown apostasy. Watch how it works, beloved. You miss one service, and you feel bad. You miss two, and the bad feeling fades. After a while you miss without feeling anything at all. The writer even tells us this is the pattern. "As is the habit of some." That word habit means custom. It is the same as saying it has become their way of life.

You know the ones we are talking about. Their name is on the roll and they never show up. They live close enough to come. Recently we received a note from a member who said she was through with the church and wanted to leave. I respect that. I reached out to see if anything could have been done differently, and she said it was personal. We voted to remove her from the roll. That was honest, and it was respectable.

What is not respectable is when people simply wander. My family and I moved here in March of 2021. If a name has been on the roll all that time, and the person has not darkened a Sunday service once, and has not supported the church in any way, is there really any question about where they stand? Actions speak loud.

Where Forsaking Leads

That word forsaking shows up in other places, and it is worth seeing the company it keeps.

It is the same idea Christ used from the cross when He cried out, "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?" It is what Paul wrote about Demas.

for Demas, having loved this present age, has deserted me and gone to Thessalonica; Crescens has gone to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. 2 Timothy 4:10 (LSB)

Demas had labored alongside the apostle Paul. He had been close enough to the work to be named in earlier letters. Then he loved this present age, and he was gone. That is what the slide ends in if it is not stopped.

Christ Himself watched a crowd of disciples walk away when His preaching pressed on them.

As a result of this many of His disciples went away and were not walking with Him anymore. John 6:66 (LSB)

John would later explain what those departures actually revealed.

They went out from us, but they were not really of us; for if they were of us, they would have remained with us; but they went out, so that it would be manifested that they all are not of us. 1 John 2:19 (LSB)

The warning of Hebrews 10:25 is not aimed at the ones who are already gone. It is aimed at the ones in danger of going. Where are you?

If we are to follow Christ, and follow Him rightly, should we not follow Him in His church? Paul ends his great prayer in Ephesians 3 with this:

to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:21 (LSB)

The glory is given to God in the church. There are people who claim to love the Lord and read the Bible, but who want nothing to do with His churches. That is not a custom you and I want.

The Positive Side

Hebrews 10:25 does not stop at the warning. The verse turns positive at the end. "But encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near."

In these last days, in the time before the coming of our Lord, the people of God need to encourage one another. That happens in the assembly. You cannot encourage the brethren from your couch. You cannot stir up a brother to love and good works through a Sunday morning text message. You have to be there.

And you will miss it if you are not there.

This article is based on a sermon originally preached for Sovereign Grace Baptist Church. You can listen to the full message on SermonAudio:

▶ Listen: "Church Attendance" — Pastor David Green

If you do not have a church home, we would love to have you visit us at Sovereign Grace Baptist Church in Brunswick, Georgia. You can find our service times and location at sgbcbrunswick.com/services, or contact us with any questions.