Church has many aspects to it and many reasons for its existence. It functions in a way that is very important for both Christians and sinners. In this day and age, there are many things that can and have become a substitute for church. Some people call themselves Christians yet never darken the door of a church. Many people sit in their living rooms and watch televangelists to "get their's" and some tune in to a live broadcast of the church that they claim to be a member in, and some people simply just do not "attend" a church service in any way. Now don't get me wrong, I understand the occasional absence for reasons such as sickness or travel(although vacation is not an acceptable excuse to miss church, but that is a topic all in itself). The point is that there are many things in our society that can pose as a reasonable and acceptable substitute for church. Is there a problem with NOT going to church? ABSOLUTELY!
I can remember as a child growing up with what some people might call a "drug problem". I was drug to church every chance my parents had to go. I can remember not having an option in whether i went to church or not. This has made me the man I am today. It instilled in me a deep rooted desire and need for church, but that is not the real reason why I go to church. That is not the reason anybody should go to church. I remember when there was revival, we went to church. I remember as my dad was the pastor of a church, my brothers and I had to attend every church function we had. I never understood why we had to go to church so much, at least not until I was older. As I began to grow up and see the purpose of going to church, it mad me realize why we had went to church so much and I developed my own desire to go to church. We do not go to church just to go. It isn't a place to be seen and it has never been intended to be a social gathering. I have never understood why people come into church and the first thing on their mind is telling the person across the aisle about what Jim Bob said about Susie Fay or about how awful Joey is dressed or how bad Jamie's breath stinks. We don't go to church to "get the scoop" on the latest gossip, and we sure don't go to church to please Momma and Daddy or Grandma and Grandpa. We go to church to be in the presence of the King of King's and the Lord of Lord's.
Church is supposed to be a refuge for the lost and a comfort to the hurting, but we can't see the church be those things if we do not ready ourselves to facilitate those things. When we come into the House of God, we should come with one thing in our mind(and that one thing definitely is not catching up on what we missed with our "bestie" since last service); pleasing God and obeying His Spirit. The preacher should never have to pump and prime you to get you to move, and it shouldn't be up to the song leader to get the Spirit moving. It is up to one else but YOU. When we come in to church, the first thing we should do is not check out someone's hair or outfit, but run to the altar and seek the face of God. If we do this, we are ready for what God wants to do before the service even starts. It shouldn't take 45 minutes of getting ready to have a 10 minute move of God. Our hearts and minds should be ready as soon as service opens up.
The church, as I stated before, is a refuge place. If we want to see souls saved, we have to create the atmosphere for the seeds to grow. If we want to see lives changed, we have to get past our preconceived ideas and let God have His way. This is what church is about. On the other hand, substituting the House of God for the things we mentioned before can never work the same for us as going to church would. We need church just as much as the lost need church. Going to church is like going to the dinner table. We have to have the Word of God in order to grow in life. The Bible tells us that the Word of God is our "daily bread" and that we cannot be saved without the Word. We also need fellowship with one another. We need to lift one another up and encourage each other. Church is one of the most important things in our lives. I would that we all revisit our idea of church and evaluate how we act about church. Ask yourself these two questions: What should church be? What is church to me? If the answer is not the same, adjust your view and actions to fit what church is supposed to be. I promise it will make a difference. God bless!
