by Eugene Higgins
Absence … and a fonder heart
In an era when some are challenging almost everything God has expressed as His will for His people, it should come as no surprise that the Breaking of Bread (or at least the assemblies’ manner of observing it) has had its share of censure. Critics have insisted that “there is no command in the New Testament to observe it every Lord’s Day.” To some people, it seems to count for nothing that every record in the New Testament of its observance, (post-Pentecost), was on a Lord’s Day, and that the description of every Lord’s Day, (which gives us any details), includes its observance. It is true that there is no “Thou shalt break bread every Lord’s Day at 10 AM” command. There is also no command in the New Testament that you have to kiss your wife or husband every day; but it would seem to indicate a problem in relationships if you were looking for a loophole, searching for a way to kiss her or him less. (If so, I would recommend a re-reading of my brother’s excellent book, Marriage and the Family.) Similarly, why would anyone want to insist that the Lord’s Supper should be kept less frequently than doing so in agreement with the Biblical examples, as “often” as we can? Let us leave all such quibbling and caviling to those with more time on their hands…
If, before this, we never valued the great privilege of gathering every Lord’s Day to break bread, then surely the absence of that privilege during these few weeks has deepened our appreciation. I read once of a new believer, recently brought into fellowship. He was not from a Christian home (he was one of those “outsiders”) and much about the assembly was new to him. At the end of his first breaking of bread, as others rose from their seats, he sat there in tears, quite overwhelmed by what he had just shared for the first time in his life. When one believer approached him, he asked, “Do you get used to this after a while?”
If we were ever “used to it,” the last few weeks should have cured us of that malady. Can you imagine what it is going to be like, hopefully very soon, to be back together again around the Lord Jesus, with the emblems in view? Do you think you will have any trouble focusing on Him or expressing, either audibly or in the quiet temple of your heart, your renewed appreciation for the Savior, for the Cross, and for the privilege of remembering Him? One dear sister in Pennsauken wrote recently, “I think when we are able to meet again as believers our appreciation for each other will be greater than ever.” Yes; and I think our appreciation for the Lord and for the assembly will be greater than ever.
Someone has said, “Nothing is wonderful when you get used to it.” If that is so, then I am glad that this forced absence has increased our appreciation for God’s things. The late Frank Pearcey told of a woman who was highly critical of everything about the denominational “church” service she attended – whinging about the speaker’s diction, his accent, his clothes, his message. Her young son noticed that when the collection plate came around she put in a quarter ($.025). On the way home she continued her rant about the service. The little boy piped up and said to her, “Well what do you expect for a quarter?”
It makes me question how much I have really been “putting in” to the things of God. How wonderful if the present circumstances will lead us to a deeper appreciation of God and His assembly and to spiritual renewal! We could all use:
- A renewal of loyalty and devotion as in 1 Samuel 11:14, “Then said Samuel to the people, ‘Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.’”
- A renewal of worship as in 2 Chr 15:8, “And when Asa heard these words, and the prophecy of Oded the prophet, he took courage, and put away the abominable idols out of all the land of Judah and Benjamin, and out of the cities which he had taken from mount Ephraim, and renewed the altar of the LORD, that was before the porch of the LORD.”
- A renewal of strength, as in Psalm 103:5, “Who satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”
- A renewal of spirit, as in 2 Corinthians 4:16, “For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.”
- A renewal of mind, as in Rom 12:2, “Be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”
Years ago, one old preacher from the deep south (of the US) said, “It’s time for us to wake up and sing up, preach up and pray up and never give up or let up or back up or shut up, until the church is filled up or we go up.”
Amen.