Horizontal Christianity

D. Scott Meadows

Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. – Hebrews 10.25

Like the cross, biblical Christianity has a vertical and a horizontal aspect, and without either it is incomplete. The vertical aspect is our relationship to God. The horizontal aspect is our relationship with one another, especially with our fellow Christians, and especially in the activity of gathering as the church. This is the most important part of the crossbar, which we may call horizontal Christianity. Ordinarily, it is indispensable. Those who can participate are morally bound to do so, and this promotes our spiritual safety and progress. Such is the teaching of Hebrews 10.25 in its context. We ought to be faithfully attending members of a local church. For those who are truly hindered and unable to attend, God gives special grace, as for prisoners, the infirm, and individual believers geographically isolated from any church.

The epistle of Hebrews exhorts believers to persevere in faith and warns against apostasy. In a discussion of that very serious topic, this verse is found. By heeding its counsel, multitudes have been saved. By ignoring it, multitudes have perished, like ships crashing on rocks near a lighthouse. We desperately need to understand and embrace this verse’s teaching.

I. Beware of Neglecting Horizontal Christianity. Many professing Christians misunderstand true spirituality as if it consists of their personal and private relationship to God, the vertical part of the cross. As important as that is, the horizontal is also crucial.

A. What it involves. Horizontal Christianity involves “the assembling of ourselves together.” The key term is nearly the same as “synagogue” in the Greek, but in this context it is used of a Christian group of people gathering together habitually at some particular location for worship (BDAG), what we would call church meetings. The earliest churches bore a striking similarity to Jewish synagogues, as people gathered to hear the Scriptures, to sing psalms, and to offer prayers—the moral parts of worship that were to be perpetuated in contrast with the ceremonial parts observed at the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem to be abrogated with Christ’s first coming. Since the first Christians had been Jews and were generally persecuted by them after confessing Jesus as the Christ, they were usually driven from synagogues and then continued worship in distinctively Christian congregations as followers of Jesus. Discontinuing assemblies for public worship was not an ethical option. Nor is it today.

B. What we must not let ourselves do. We must not be “forsaking” church meetings. These early Christians were persecuted and paid a heavy price for their commitment to Christian gatherings. They were pressured to revert to attending nonChristian synagogues, if not to forsake public services altogether. Even today, setting apart Sunday as the Lord’s Day and making conscience of church attendance as a priority brings us into conflict with others. We must not even begin to retreat a little bit from a disciplined commitment to attending our church’s stated meetings unless we are providentially hindered. Occasional inexcusable absences are a prelude to abandoning these meetings altogether. Nip them in the bud.

C. What others are in the habit of doing. With specific bad examples in mind, the apostle warns the faithful. “The manner of some is” to forsake the assemblies: do not be like them. Sadly, apostasy from God made public by forsaking His people in our worship is not a mere theoretical possibility. It has been the actual ruin of many in every bgeneration (1 John 2.19). These who make shipwreck of the faith (1 Tim 1.19) are abysmal object lessons about unfaithfulness in church attendance. The deceitfulness of sin drags witless victims to ruin against their will. Beware!

II. Attend Dutifully to Horizontal Christianity. The reversal of language here from warning to exhortation implies the opposite and elaborates the righteous conduct expected of Christians.

A. Assemble habitually. Obedience to this text means more than stopping short of a complete “forsaking” of church meetings. It implies dutiful and dependable attendance, never missing even one meeting for frivolous reasons. John Owen warned of a “partial” forsaking through “spiritual sloth”: “Other things will offer themselves in competition with the diligent attendance unto these assemblies. If men stir not up themselves, and shake off the weight that lies upon them, they will fall under a woful neglect as unto this and all other important duties. . . . where this is frequent, and every trivial diversion is embraced unto a neglect of this duty, the heart is not upright before God,—the man draws back in the way unto perdition” (in loc.).

B. Fellowship edifyingly. We do not meet for meetings’ sake. We meet for spiritual purposes, all of which may be implicit in an important one stated here, “exhorting one another.” This may fairly describe the formal preaching by church elders or encompass as well informal lay exhortation, encouragement, and counsel, but, in any case, it is all founded upon the Word of God that is Holy Scripture. We must have the spirit of Cornelius and his household: “We are all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God” (Acts 10.33).

C. Excel solemnly. The last phrase combines ideas of spiritual increase with a solemn anticipation of impending judgment. “And so much the more [exhorting], as ye see the day approaching.” Whether this refers mainly to the overthrow of Jerusalem in a mid-first-century context or more broadly to Judgment Day, is debatable. What is clear, however, is that we should grow in our ministry of spiritually-edifying church meetings, especially considering that the day is coming which will expose apostates to God’s just wrath and publicly commend the faith and faithfulness of true Christians. Heed this counsel while you may. Ω