Why go back to Church?

 

It is so easy to hit the snooze button on Sunday morning when the alarm sounds at seven o’clock, roll over and go back to sleep.  Maybe you had every intention of going to church, al least by fellowship time with the coffee and goodies and possible even Sunday School, too...even had your clothes laid out, but your sleepy side wins and you satisfy your conscience with the thought, “There’s always next Sunday.”

Then again, why do we even go to church?  You go to school to get an education so you can make a living.  You go to work to make money so you can pay the bills.  You go to the gym for exercise and better health and possible to loose weight.  You go to the mall to shop for clothes and the grocery store to buy food.  You go to the lake to fish and ski, the ball game to cheer on your favorite team, and golf course for fun.

But church?  Why go to there?  Why get up early on one of your few off-days?  Why go through the hassle of dressing up and the getting the kids ready?  Why go to the trouble of finding a parking space near the front and pew space near the back?  Why go to church?

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering about that little question, you’re not alone.  Surveys tell us that as many as 79% of Americans identify themselves as Christians, yet only 20% of Americans attend church regularly.  I guess some people look at going to church as a bother -- an unnecessary burden to be avoided whenever possible -- a perfectly good hour wasted in order to keep a wife or a preacher or a parent off their backs.  Others see it as sort of like punching a spiritual clock or earning brownie points with their Maker.

But to someone who understands church and what it’s really all about, going to church can be the most spiritually fulfilling, inspiring thing you do all week.

 

• The first thing that church brings into our lives is membership. 
   

• Secondly, church gives us an opportunity to praise the God who made us.  
   

• Third, church helps lead us to spiritual maturity and helps us find out who we are in God's perspective. 
   

• Fourth, going to church prepares you for ministry.  
   

• Finally, being a part of the church helps you to understand and carry out your life’s mission. 

 

We need, to truly commit ourselves to our Lord and his teachings and to one another as brothers and sisters in him if we are to be as alive as was the church in Jerusalem after the day of Pentecost.

 

As we do this, as we pray and break bread together, Christ our Lord will do the rest.  He will make sure our souls are restored; he will set a table before us in the presence of our enemies and ensure that we dwell in the house of God forever, He will do this, for he is the bread of life; and the good shepherd; the way and the door; the resurrection and the life, the one in whom God was pleased to fully dwell within, the one in whom God is even now fully revealed for those with eyes to see and ears to hear.