Department of Church Efficiency?
In recent months, President Trump has spoken about the newly created advisory board for the new administration. This organization is known as the Department of Government Efficiency (D.O.G.E). This group has made some waves by suggesting how our federal government could become more efficient. I would guess that most intellectually honest partisans would agree that our government in many ways is inefficient. This prompted the thought in my head: What if there was a Department of Church Efficiency? What sorts of things would be corrected and what attitudes and practices need removal in many congregations of the Lord's church? This week I will address the lack of attendance by some erring brethren and the need for their repentance.
Get Back to Worship
One of the top and surprising controversial suggestions of D.O.G.E. is their intent to bring federal employees back to the office on a full-time basis. As a result of the pandemic of 2020, many workers were sent to work at home, and many never returned to their offices. Why is this a problem? Lack of oversight, lack of work, lack of commonality? All of those things are true!
While the advent of technology has been great for our spread of the Gospel to many people throughout the world, it has allowed some to decide to stay at home and order in their “worship experience.”
We have got to get back to worship. God saw it fit to draw His people together in the first century on the first day of the week. Acts 20:7 reads, "And upon the first day of the week, when we were gathered together to break bread, Paul discoursed with them, intending to depart on the morrow; and prolonged his speech until midnight." This word gathered is important for us to look at in the original Koine Greek. The inspired Luke wrote in the word, "gathered" in the perfect tense, passive voice. The passive voice indicates that the disciples were gathered together, it was the choice of God to bring them together. The perfect tense in Greek is used to describe a completed action that produced results that are still in effect up to the present day. It started with God drawing them together, and they continued in their obedience.
No Valid Excuse
I am bewildered that many Christians think watching a live stream is an appropriate thing to do if they are not ill. The live-stream is for the ill, the shut-in, and even the curious lost individual. The livestream is not for the able-bodied Christian. One congregation in my area once had on their sign, “Visitors Welcome! Members Expected!”
Why else is this a problem? God has commanded how we ought to worship him in song. "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God (Col. 3:16). It is also written, "speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord" (Eph 5:19). How is it possible that one merely watching the assembly can teach or admonish their brethren who are assembled together? How is it possible for the one watching to speak to their brethren in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, etc if they are not assembled together in one place?
A Lesson from the Federal Government
Luke Rosiak of The Daily Wire reported about the problem of empty worksites for our federal government.
Government office buildings have an occupancy rate of only 12%, yet the government spends $16 billion a year to operate them. Even the head of the General Services Administration, which manages federal real estate, works from home in Missouri. Office buildings are so empty that the water supply at the office of the Environmental Protection Agency — which is tasked with ensuring clean drinking water — was left stagnant for so long that it developed dangerous bacteria, according to the audit. But unions have demanded that full individual workstations for each employee be maintained for the rare occasions they are used, in addition to demanding that members be allowed to work from home.
Can you see how this is a huge problem for the federal government? What might we learn? Some of our brethren will use this opportunity to suggest I am saying the church is the building. However, that is not what I am implying. The reality is that on the first day of the week, we are to assemble as the saints (cf. Acts 20:7; 1 Cor 14:26; 16:1-2). Is there any justification for healthy able-bodied members of the Lord's church to "watch" worship and be right in God's eyes?
It’s Past Time to Move On
Brethren, worship is one of the most basic principles of New Testament Christianity. We have said for many years that one cannot forsake the assembly and "worship" through the action of fishing on their boat. We have said that one cannot go rogue and be an unaffiliated Christian long-term without responsibility in a faithful congregation. So why five years later are we treating some of the unfaithful as if they get a couch pass? Rosiak quoted Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, the chair of the Senate's DOGE Caucus as saying, "Washington is still operating as if it's March 2020." should members of the Lord's church be doing so?
Grace and Peace,
R.D. Beavers
