Assembling together with God's people is a means of exhorting one another as we see the day of Christ approaching. We build on the foundation of the faith—build up one another by being present. I am thankful to God for the technology that we have today. As I stand on the pulpit and preach each Lord's Day, I can envision in my own mind, dear members of [our] congregation who are not present because they are unable to. They are confined to their homes. But by way of the streaming video technology, they are with us and they are singing the hymns and the Psalms with us...
And indeed, it may be very easy now that streaming a video is an alternative, to get up on a Sunday morning and say,
John McKnightI do not feel like getting dressed-up and going out; I will just stay home and watch the livestream...But there is one thing that this cannot accomplish, and that is the assembling of yourselves together...If you can be present in body, that very presence is an exhortation to all of the others present. Not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching...We build up one another in the faith as we get together for the purpose of the kingdom of God.1
16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.