There are those in many, if not all, of our churches who do not seem to see the importance or rationale for attending the worship services regularly. During the morning services, the pews are often full. Things sometimes look thinner in the second service. Sometimes there are legitimate reasons why people can only attend once. We’re not concerned about that here. Rather, we’re concerned about those who are perfectly healthy, who have no little children or others dependent on them, who have no “works of necessity” to perform, and yet they make a conscious choice to only go to church once. They could be going twice, but yet they make a deliberate decision to do so only once.

In some cases, this may be done simply out of innocent ignorance. No one has told the person in question that they belong in church twice. Somehow I suspect that such people are a rare breed, if they exist at all. In most cases, I think the persons involved simply have not been convinced that this is a biblical practice and they feel they have the freedom to decide what they want to do with their Sundays. In other cases, the people involved just don’t care.

In this article, I want to appeal to those who are not convinced that this is a biblical practice. There’s nothing I can do about those who don’t care – I suspect that they would never read this anyway.

But perhaps there are some readers who fit into the first category and I want to make an effort to convince them that regular attendance at both services should be a priority for all Reformed believers. So, I’ll give five reasons here why we should make it a priority to worship as often as we’re able.

Five Reasons⤒🔗

First, when we make a choice to only attend once, this is self-destructive. The preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments are means of grace in the lives of believers. The Spirit works through these God-appointed means to bring about transformation and sanctification in our lives. We’re also missing out on opportunities to encourage and be encouraged by our brothers and sisters before, during, and after the worship services. Don’t we believe and confess that the sixth commandment includes that “I am not to harm or recklessly endanger myself” (HC, Q/A 105)? So, why would we want to harm ourselves spiritually by staying away from the preaching of the gospel and the administration of the sacraments? Such a choice is self-destructive.

Not only are we hurting ourselves by attending only once, we also do harm to our families. That is the second reason. What is the message we’re sending to our children and grandchildren? Perhaps we’re saying that we’ve arrived. We’ve already heard it all; we already know it all. We don’t need to be reminded of anything (though 2 Peter 1:12 says different!). We don’t need the Holy Spirit to work on us through the preaching. We don’t need to be strengthened through the sacraments. We don’t need our brothers and sisters in the church to encourage us and they don’t need us to encourage them. So, perhaps we’re teaching pride to our children and grandchildren. We’re telling them that you can decide for yourself the way you want to worship God and you can forget everybody else. You make up your mind for yourself when you want to go to church, regardless of what the consistory says. This way of thinking will ultimately not only destroy your children spiritually, it will also destroy the church. Though our culture says otherwise, pride is never healthy for anybody. Over and over again the Bible warns about the dangers of pride (e.g. 1 Peter 5:5).

The third reason: when we make a conscious habit of attending only once, we are doing damage to the church and its unity. We confess that we are the body of Christ. So, why is this particular part of the body going off and doing his or her own thing when the rest are assembled for worship?

The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ and the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you.’1 Corinthians 12:21

If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.1 Corinthians 12:26

And by extension we could say, “If one part is worshipping, every part should be worshipping with it.” Since we are the body of Christ, we do things together and that includes gathering for corporate public worship.

The fourth reason has to do with the fifth commandment. We confess in Lord’s Day 39 that we are to show “all honour, love, and faithfulness” to all those in authority over us. We are to submit ourselves with due obedience to their good instruction and discipline. It is God’s will to govern us by their hand. When we do public profession of faith we promise that we believe all this. Among those in authority over us are the office bearers of the church. The consistory calls the congregation to worship twice each Sunday. It is not optional. Of course, as I mentioned earlier, there can be legitimate reasons why you cannot come. But if a person makes a willful choice to do something else, to be somewhere else, when they’re called to be in church, that’s a sin against the fifth commandment. Now somebody might say that the Bible doesn’t directly tell us to worship twice, so we don’t have to listen to what the consistory says about this. But let me ask: does this requirement go against what Scripture teaches? Is the consistory forcing you to disobey Scripture by calling us to worship twice?

Let me parse this out further with an analogy. The Bible tells us to obey the government. Say the local government puts a speed limit of 60 km/h on some street. Well, we could reason, the Bible doesn’t tell us that we should drive 60 km/h on that street, so we don’t have to listen to the government. Try and tell that to the police office who’s going to give you a ticket! No, we still have to obey, so long as we’re not commanded to do anything contrary to what Scripture teaches (Romans 13:1-7; Acts 5:29). In this case, there are very good scriptural reasons why the consistory calls us to worship twice. It’s for your well-being and for the well-being of your children – but most importantly of all, it is a big part of our giving glory to God with our lives.

Finally, the last reason has to do with your pastor. I remember once talking to an older pastor who became very frustrated. He was very conscientious and spent a lot of time preparing his sermons. You should know that the average minister spends up to fifteen or even twenty hours on a sermon. During the week, this minister would encounter situations in the congregation. He knew what needed to be addressed in the preaching. But Sunday afternoon would come around and he’d get up on the pulpit and the very people who needed to hear the message he was going to bring weren’t there. They were at the lake, at home, or at the football game, or wherever else. He’d spent all that time carefully studying and crafting that sermon … and then this. For a pastor, that’s frustrating.

We should remember what the Word says in 1 Thessalonians 5:12:13,

Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord, and who admonish you.Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.

When we make a conscious choice to be a “onecer,” are we really respecting the pastors who devote much of their time each week to prepare for the preaching of the Word?

Conclusion←⤒🔗

When we ignore or avoid the worship services, we are ignoring or avoiding the preaching of the Word, one of the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Of course, that preaching of the Word cuts two ways, whether you hear it or decide to avoid it. For some people, it will give them life and more abundantly. For others, it will be death. 1 Corinthians 1:18 is an appropriate verse with which to conclude:

For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing,
but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.