Scripture

“As a memorial… it is a reminder of the relationship both of us have with the Lord”

Observation

Reuben, Gad, and the half tribe of Manasseh, was allotted land on the East side of the Jordan river. This was too far away from the original altar at Shiloh where the rest of the tribes of Israel lived. However, they had such a strong commitment and need of easy access to a place of worship that these outlying tribes decided to build a new altar at Geliloth.

Application

How important is the habit of meeting for worship together, really? Is it required, or just an extracurricular?

It’s a good question and I wrote all about it here–>> Is it a sin not to go to church?

There are some who believe that since God is everywhere, and the individual’s salvation is based on a personal relationship with God, church must be secondary, or even unnecessary. They think, If I have direct access to God, why even bother with church people? 

And it’s true – God is everywhere, but let’s not forget the founder of the Church universal Himself. While we don’t get “good points” for sitting in a room with other believers once a week,  we have been deliberately created to need each other for growth, support, and encouragement. We were not meant to live alone.

And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:2-25

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

Ephesians 2:19-22

For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:12

 

 

When we look further into scripture, God makes it abundantly clear that to follow Jesus is to also be part of his church. Each and every one of us are necessary for mutual edification of the Body.

Prayer

Lord, thank you for the example of these faithful men and women. May we be convicted to attend church, not to “earn” favor with you (which is impossible) but to take up our position as part of the body of Christ and be functioning and active members of it.