Vol.V No.XII Pg.1
February 1969

Town-Fool Worship

Robert F. Turner

We have heard of a man who says he would attend church services Sunday morning, even if the town fool should preach. He thinks it disgraceful that some are "preacher-crazy" and attend or stay home, depending upon who occupies the pulpit. Before you commend the man, read the next line.

He is equally provoked when some one urges him to be present on Wednesday night for Bible Study, for he says the scriptures do not command the Wednesday night assembly.

Seems to me the poor fellow is wrong on both counts; i.e., he misses the point concerning assembling with the saints, Sunday or Wednesday. It is true, we should not be wed to the preacher; but it is equally true that we should not be wed to a certain "assembly". We must be wed to Christ (2CO.11:1-f). The "assembly" is not an end within itself — just "being there" or "doing five items" will accomplish little. One should not "go to church" because he wants to "go to church" but because he wants to study God's word, praise God in song, in prayer, and in every way in keeping with His will. He loves his brethren and is anxious to join with them in the worship and work of the Lord. He eagerly, joyfully, freely gives of his means — joining hands with his brethren — to further the Lord's work. The Lord's Supper, on the Lord's Day, is a memorial gratefully shared with all the saints. A person with such an attitude seeks more opportunities to continue what he truly wants to do. He does not measure out worship (?) grudgingly, watching the clock.

HEB.10:25 says, "not forsaking the assembling" — read it carefully. Not "the assembly" but the act of coming together. This passage does not urge all to be present at a certain convocation, but exhorts us to recognize the importance of assembling with the saints. This applies to Wednesday as well as to Sunday; whether "the day approaching" be the destruction of Jerusalem or Judgement Day. ACT.20:7 authorized the Lord's Supper upon the Lord's Day; no other day is so designated. But the "oncer" heeds something worse than the "town-fool preacher". He has fooled himself.