Jesus' favorite ham.

We've all heard the story of the newly married woman whose husband asked why she cut the ends off of the ham she had baked for dinner. 

She said it's what her mom always did, but she wasn't sure why. She asked her mom and the reply from her mom was the same - "it's what my mom, your grandmother, always did, but I don't know why."

When they both went to ask the grandmother why she cut the ends off of ham before she baked it, she replied, "Well, to make it fit in the pan. I used a small pan and the ham we bought was usually too big to fit in it, so I'd cut the ends off of it."

There are a lot of things in life like that. We continue on doing and thinking things we receive from the people or groups that raised us. They are just passing on what the people before them showed them and so on.  It's not often that people think through, question, and asked "Why do we do that?"

"Going to church" is one of those things. I 100% believe that believers ought to get together and talk about and encourage each other in their shared belief and in their shared experience. 

It's lonely out there to be a person who trusts and depends on God. 

We need each other's encouragement and the insight and support that can only come from having people around.

The writer of Hebrews said in chapter 10...

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

And from that, a lot of people hear the words, "Go to church" and nothing else.

The writer had just talked about our amazing new position with God and the hope that we now have in the face of the temptation NOT to trust and depend on God and then they say, essentially, "Don't give up and don't go at this alone. Get together with others and build each other up."

Don't get me wrong, "church services" or "going to church" CAN do that. It's often the shotgun approach to "meet the needs" of a lot of different kinds of people with something general that can be applied to everyone.

But the writer says some very specific things.  Like "consider how we can spur one another on toward love and good deeds".  That's not just "go to church".

First, consider one another - that means I'm thinking about some people I know and I'm thinking about what I can do for them based on what they need to be encouraged to continue in a life of love and doing good things.

This isn't some kind of passive thing where I'm going once or twice a week to a nice, comfortable building filled with safe people in order to "get filled up" for the week by paid professionals who I can automatically assume know better about all things relating to God and me.

It's wherever and whenever needed and/or possible. And it's you and me thinking about each other, learning about and know what the other needs to be encouraged and "spurred on".

And second, it's about encouraging each other or spurring one another one toward love and good deeds. Living in trust and dependence on God can be tough. It's a lonely way of living, especially when you're around so many who don't know or care to know what that means.

When believers see each other, it's a "checking in" to see how each other is doing, not a checking off an item on our "to do list".  

Just like we'd check in with a friend who just lost a loved one or who is going through an illness or some other challenging time, we are to check in with each other and do whatever we can to encourage.

The writer actually says "spur on" one another. The idea comes from our idea of spurring a horse - you know those spikes on the back of spurs that cowboys wore - they'd jab the horse with their heels to motivate them get going.

That word spur actually goes back further in time to when it meant something closer to "incite to riot" or "stir up a crowd".  Meaning that when we leave one another, we have been stirred up and leave each other's presence, ready for action.

And third - what are we stirred up to do?  To love and to do good. I could rattle off a large list of things people are often encouraged to do while they are "at church", but in reality what the writer of Hebrews actually says is - love and good deeds.

It is probably the case that all the stuff that happens "at church" for a lot of people encourages them and "fills up their tank".  And yet at some level, it can miss so many people, especially when it comes to why people are "supposed to" get together. 

I believe that fellow believers should get to know one another and get together enough to encourage and spur one another on.  And that might fit neatly into "going to church" for a lot of people.  And some other kind of "getting together" might be a lot better for a lot of people.

In this rebuilding time for myself, I can see that there is or can be a lot of overlap between "going to church" and actually finding, getting to know, and encouraging other believers in our walking with God.  But that's it.  

There can be overlap between those things, but they aren't always the same thing.

I say, "can be" because I know way too many who just show up on a Sunday AM and they get none of the things the writer of Hebrews is referring to.  

And it's not because they have a poor attitude or have come for the wrong reasons.  Will unpack that more later with a hopeful "other side".

So, the verse that many, if not all, good church people use to say "ya need to go to church" is something different than "go to church".

"Go to church" is the ham with the ends cut off of it.