Witness WHY GO TO CHURCH?
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised); and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Heb. 10:23, 24.
What is the worst reason you can think of for going to church? What is the best reason you can think of? As I have pondered why people go to church, and why I go to church, I think that the worst reason I as a preacher could possibly have for going is because it's my job. But here from the Bible are three good reasons for going.
The first is because God tells us to. Hebrews 10:25: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
The second reason is because the church is a body, and there is no complete body without all of the members together. This truth is found in 1 Corinthians 12:27: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." Paul goes on to give a parable of how the physical body teaches us important truths about the body of Christ, His church. The body needs every member, even the ones who are considered insignificant. It takes all the different parts to make the whole, and a body is only a body if it hangs together.
The third reason for going to church is because Jesus went to church. It was His custom. But if anyone ever had an excuse for not going to church, it was Jesus. Have you ever attended church and had the other members become so upset with you that they took you out afterward and tired to push you off a cliff? Jesus did. But He didn't stop going to church.
Sometimes people come to me and say, "I don't need to go to church. I get more of a blessing just being out in nature." Notice the emphasis: "I get." And when someone tells me that, I remind them on the basis of case history and on the basis of God's Word, that they are going to die. It is a fact. If you cut off your foot and send it out for a walk in the woods, it isn't going to live very long. They tell me that you can cut off a lizard's tail, and it keeps wiggling for a little bit. But not for long. And although a lizard can grow a new tail, a tail can't grow a new lizard. No member of the body can live for long without the rest of the body. Union with the body is essential for life, for growth, and for usefulness.
Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised); and let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works. Heb. 10:23, 24.
What is the worst reason you can think of for going to church? What is the best reason you can think of? As I have pondered why people go to church, and why I go to church, I think that the worst reason I as a preacher could possibly have for going is because it's my job. But here from the Bible are three good reasons for going.
The first is because God tells us to. Hebrews 10:25: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching."
The second reason is because the church is a body, and there is no complete body without all of the members together. This truth is found in 1 Corinthians 12:27: "Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular." Paul goes on to give a parable of how the physical body teaches us important truths about the body of Christ, His church. The body needs every member, even the ones who are considered insignificant. It takes all the different parts to make the whole, and a body is only a body if it hangs together.
The third reason for going to church is because Jesus went to church. It was His custom. But if anyone ever had an excuse for not going to church, it was Jesus. Have you ever attended church and had the other members become so upset with you that they took you out afterward and tired to push you off a cliff? Jesus did. But He didn't stop going to church.
Sometimes people come to me and say, "I don't need to go to church. I get more of a blessing just being out in nature." Notice the emphasis: "I get." And when someone tells me that, I remind them on the basis of case history and on the basis of God's Word, that they are going to die. It is a fact. If you cut off your foot and send it out for a walk in the woods, it isn't going to live very long. They tell me that you can cut off a lizard's tail, and it keeps wiggling for a little bit. But not for long. And although a lizard can grow a new tail, a tail can't grow a new lizard. No member of the body can live for long without the rest of the body. Union with the body is essential for life, for growth, and for usefulness.
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