Why do you go to church every Sunday? A direct answer will probably come to your mind. But before you give me this first answer, think about the question a little, and think about the first answer you thought of. In fact, think about the wording of the question. Is it even scripturally correct to say “go to church”?
What exactly is the church to you?
For Catholics, it is their grandiose and extravagant cathedrals, filled with candles and incense, statues, stained glass and clergymen in robes. They expect to feel God’s presence when they enter these lofty buildings, and feel a celestial aura which they do not feel outside, or so they claim.
For the Salvation Army, it is a charitable organization, whose raison d’etre is to help feed, clothe and alleviate the poor, sick, or war-stricken. For the United Church, it is a social club, where connections and deals are made and where social standing can be cemented. For the Church of England, it is an assembly for the royal family and members of the government, a group with great political clout. For TV evangelists, it is a profit generating machine, through attendance and appearance fees, sales of books and recordings.
For the Mormons and cult groups it is an organization of people who are to be extremely apart from the world and are not to be associated with others who do not belong to the church.
For unbelievers, it is an organization divided over itself, with a confusing and conflicting variety of doctrines, structures and names. For them it is filled with old- fashioned people, hypocrites, extremists, and madmen. Some see it as money orientated, some see it as an obsolete institution, unsuitable for the modern world.
We may scoff detachedly at these prevalent views, but upon closer inspection, we may hold some inkling of them. When we say “go to church”, it is understood that we are going to the building where we regularly assemble with the saints to worship. Yet, the more appropriate way of saying this would be “Going to the church('s) building”, “Going to assemble at the building”, "Going to worship at the regular meeting place” or “Going to worship with the saints/other members”. Using a building to meet regularly in is not contrary to scripture, but the church is not a physical building, in fact it is said that the early Christians had no permanent meeting place or structure.
If something, say a flood, were to render the building we use now unsuitable for assembly, any other place would still be acceptable, and we would still be “going to church”, so to speak. The Greek word ‘ekklesia’ which is translated as ‘church’ means ‘called out ones’. The church is actually its members (I Cor. 12:12-14)- a group separate and called to holy, apart from the carnal world. Do you personally view the church as a building or specific place?
Do you view the church as a social club? You may not think so explicitly, but examine your reasons for coming regularly. Do you come to church to meet friends and catch up over news? To fill up your Sunday mornings with some social interaction? It is not wrong to encourage each other and have fellowship when we meet, in fact it is scriptural (Heb. 10:24-25), but that should not be our primary reason. There are other occasions where we can meet up for leisure, but on Sunday mornings, our main reason is to worship God with the saints.
Do we come to church to get a ‘high’, from the singing, fellowship and sermon? Do we come to get a ‘buzz’ to live on for the week? Do we even come to feel good about ourselves, proud that we are doing something ‘holy’ or ‘religious’? It is good that we are encouraged and spiritually fed when we assemble, but our main reason should not be to selfishly enjoy any warm fuzz feel-goodness in our bodies, or to justify or merit ourselves, but rather to please and worship God.
Do we come to worship for social privileges? Do we brag to our friends that we are active church members? Do we show off that we belong to an elect group of people? Do we feel more privileged, more blessed than others? We may be, but that is no reason to get haughty. We should be thankful of our opportunity to worship, but we should not come to glorify ourselves.
We are to come to the assembly to worship and glorify God, first and foremost (I Cor. 14:26-27). We should come for that reason primarily, not for our own selfish purposes. We should avoid being distracted by things other than this when we sing, when we study or listen to the sermon, when we pray, when we partake the Lord’s Supper, or give our offerings. We should not be thinking about what we will do after the service, what happened the day before or what we will eat for lunch.
So before you instinctively answer my fist question with “To worship God”, think about your intentions and motives first. Remember we must worship in spirit and truth (Jn. 4:24) Are you coming for the right reasons at all?
What exactly is the church to you?
For Catholics, it is their grandiose and extravagant cathedrals, filled with candles and incense, statues, stained glass and clergymen in robes. They expect to feel God’s presence when they enter these lofty buildings, and feel a celestial aura which they do not feel outside, or so they claim.
For the Salvation Army, it is a charitable organization, whose raison d’etre is to help feed, clothe and alleviate the poor, sick, or war-stricken. For the United Church, it is a social club, where connections and deals are made and where social standing can be cemented. For the Church of England, it is an assembly for the royal family and members of the government, a group with great political clout. For TV evangelists, it is a profit generating machine, through attendance and appearance fees, sales of books and recordings.
For the Mormons and cult groups it is an organization of people who are to be extremely apart from the world and are not to be associated with others who do not belong to the church.
For unbelievers, it is an organization divided over itself, with a confusing and conflicting variety of doctrines, structures and names. For them it is filled with old- fashioned people, hypocrites, extremists, and madmen. Some see it as money orientated, some see it as an obsolete institution, unsuitable for the modern world.
We may scoff detachedly at these prevalent views, but upon closer inspection, we may hold some inkling of them. When we say “go to church”, it is understood that we are going to the building where we regularly assemble with the saints to worship. Yet, the more appropriate way of saying this would be “Going to the church('s) building”, “Going to assemble at the building”, "Going to worship at the regular meeting place” or “Going to worship with the saints/other members”. Using a building to meet regularly in is not contrary to scripture, but the church is not a physical building, in fact it is said that the early Christians had no permanent meeting place or structure.
If something, say a flood, were to render the building we use now unsuitable for assembly, any other place would still be acceptable, and we would still be “going to church”, so to speak. The Greek word ‘ekklesia’ which is translated as ‘church’ means ‘called out ones’. The church is actually its members (I Cor. 12:12-14)- a group separate and called to holy, apart from the carnal world. Do you personally view the church as a building or specific place?
Do you view the church as a social club? You may not think so explicitly, but examine your reasons for coming regularly. Do you come to church to meet friends and catch up over news? To fill up your Sunday mornings with some social interaction? It is not wrong to encourage each other and have fellowship when we meet, in fact it is scriptural (Heb. 10:24-25), but that should not be our primary reason. There are other occasions where we can meet up for leisure, but on Sunday mornings, our main reason is to worship God with the saints.
Do we come to church to get a ‘high’, from the singing, fellowship and sermon? Do we come to get a ‘buzz’ to live on for the week? Do we even come to feel good about ourselves, proud that we are doing something ‘holy’ or ‘religious’? It is good that we are encouraged and spiritually fed when we assemble, but our main reason should not be to selfishly enjoy any warm fuzz feel-goodness in our bodies, or to justify or merit ourselves, but rather to please and worship God.
Do we come to worship for social privileges? Do we brag to our friends that we are active church members? Do we show off that we belong to an elect group of people? Do we feel more privileged, more blessed than others? We may be, but that is no reason to get haughty. We should be thankful of our opportunity to worship, but we should not come to glorify ourselves.
We are to come to the assembly to worship and glorify God, first and foremost (I Cor. 14:26-27). We should come for that reason primarily, not for our own selfish purposes. We should avoid being distracted by things other than this when we sing, when we study or listen to the sermon, when we pray, when we partake the Lord’s Supper, or give our offerings. We should not be thinking about what we will do after the service, what happened the day before or what we will eat for lunch.
So before you instinctively answer my fist question with “To worship God”, think about your intentions and motives first. Remember we must worship in spirit and truth (Jn. 4:24) Are you coming for the right reasons at all?
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