You Can't Worship God From Your Tree Stand

OK. You can! But if that got your attention with a negative response, maybe you should keep reading! And to be fair, we could replace “tree stand” with fishing boat, kids’ sports event, your comfy couch, and a hundred thousand others.

The real question isn’t “can you worship God from any of those places?” The real questions are, do you worship God from those places, and is that best?

But before we get there, let me address one of the biggest push backs to being pressed to gather together regularly with other believers - this is not legalism! In fact the call to gather together with other believers is couched by the writer of Hebrews in the gospel! The writer, in chapter 10 is actually contrasting the Law with the gospel and declaring the supremacy of the new covenant in Christ over the old covenant of the Law.

It is in that context, the gospel is greater than the Law, that the writer says, “22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 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.”
Because of the work of Jesus, let us draw near to God.
Because of the work of Jesus, let us hold fast to our confession of hope.
Because of the work of Jesus, let us consider how to stir one another up to love and good works, not neglecting meeting together, but meeting together to encourage one another.

So the call to come down from the deer stand, out from the boat, or up from the couch, the call to gather together regularly with other believers is not a matter of legalism. It is a joyful response to the gospel!

So let’s get back to our 2 questions - Do you and is that best?

Do you worship God in your deer stand, favorite fishing spot, on your couch, at the kids’ soccer game, etc.?
I can’t answer that on your behalf! I can answer for myself, though.
I love the outdoors! Put me in the mountains or next to water and I see the beauty and splendor of God in His creation! I am moved to thankfulness and awe, without a doubt.
And then I am not.
If I am there to DO something other than focus on and worship God, it does not take long, even on my best day, for whatever I came to do to supersede my worship. If it is mountain biking, I am soon ready to gear up and hit the trail after my moment of worship. If it is canoeing, I am loading the canoe and pushing off with barely a pause. Even in hiking, I am distracted from worship by the sights and sounds around me.

This is not the worship we were called to! This is not the awe, admiration, and focused praised that happens when the church gathers together. This is not time singing, reading, hearing and thinking on who who God, what He has done for us and how we should respond to Him. So while I can worship God in all of those places, truthfully my worship of Him is little.

But maybe you are different! Maybe for you all of those elements are present as you hunt, fish, couch, or do sports with the kids. That leads us to the second question:
Is it best to worship in those places rather than gathering with others?
This is an easy one. No!

In Hebrews 10, the writer says that we all need to be stirred (encouraged, pressed) to love and good works. We don’t get those things apart from gathering with our brothers and sisters! The truth is we get the opposite. Being away from our family of believers indefinitely demonstrates our lack of being stirred! We find greater value in being alone or being busy with our children than we do in gathering to stir others or to be stirred ourselves.

Apart from being regularly reminded that we are to love like Christ loves us, we will forget how much we are loved and how much we are loved as broken, needy sinners. Forgetting that will lead us to only love those closest to us and even then, only those who are worthy of our love. Apart from being pressed to love others we become divided and bitter. We need to be stirred to love. We also need to be present for others who need to be stirred. For both of these, we need to be together.

We also need to be stirred to good works. In Christ we are missionaries and servants called to expand the Kingdom of God and see others reconciled to the Father through Jesus. Apart from being reminded of this again and again we are easily drawn into a self-centered life filled with building our kingdoms satisfying our own earthly desires. We are all pulled away from His Kingdom and His mission. It is a fact of life and will be until Jesus returns. That means that not only do YOU need to be stirred to good works but so do others. They need you.

The writer also mentions, encouraging one another when we are together. Who doesn’t need encouragement!? We all need that. We need to be seen, heard, understood, and supported. None of those things happen as God designed them to when we are disconnected from the means he has put in place for that. We won’t be encouraged by our family if we are never with our family. And our family will miss encouragement that should be received from you because you are no where to be found.

The Bible is filled with other benefits that are ours but only received from gathering with others.
It is a beautiful thing that God knew our needs long before we did and He put in place a way for our needs to be met - gathering together.

Let me address one final push back.
Some will say, “Oh, they just care about numbers!” Or “They just want our money.”
This isn’t about either of those! It is a genuine concern for YOU and for the gift you are meant to be to your family. Whether you realize it of not, you are missing out on much that God has for you because you are away, and very likely you are drifting further and further in your relationship with Him as you stay away. We are also missing your gifts, talents and encouragement if you aren’t here.

Now I realize there are some who are still away for medical reasons. We miss you! Stay safe. And when you are able, come back! But this wasn’t really written about you.

For the rest of you, it is time.
Time to come down from your stand, out of your boats, off of your couch, and back from kids’ sports.
It is time to gather again with your church. And if that church or this one doesn’t work for you, find one that does, for your own good and the good of the body.