Why go to Church?

[Times]

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this .. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

[Spunky]

Awesome comeback for him!

God bless!

[Kabowd]

Why Go To Church?

A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this .. They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" When you are DOWN to nothing.... God is UP to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical AND our spiritual nourishment!

While that is certainly a clever comeback, it doesn't speak to the heart of the issue really. Because obviously, had the 3,000 sermons this guy had heard been effective in equipping him, he would see the fruit of it. The sad truth is that this guy (in the original letter) represents many believers in our present culture. According to a poll done by ABC News in 2002, 80% of Americans claimed Christianity as it's religious affiliation. More recently, in November of last year, the Barna Group did a study and found that out that 80% who claim to be "Christian" at least 1/4 of them believe there are alternative ways to obtain salvation (other than through Christ). Source. Besides that, in spite of the fact that our generation has seen the birth of "mega-churches", we've also seen our culture deteriorate almost as rapidly as names like Rick Warren and Joel Osteen became household names. In other words, despite the fact that people are becoming "religious", and even religiously attending church, they are becoming more and more spiritually ignorant. Pastors (in most cases) are apparently not teaching and preaching the truth of the gospel, but instead have made the message less "offensive" and more "inclusive". People attend church to get "filled-up" (even as the second letter eluded to), rather than seeing church attendance as a crucial element of trainng for the life of faith and spiritual warfare that we are in. People, unfortunately, view attending church as something passive....instead of seeing it like spiritual boot camp. We've forgotten that we are in a battle. A battle for the souls, hearts and minds of the human race. And instead of Pastors and Elders of churches training and equipping it's community for battle, we're feeding them junk food, fattening them up, but not teaching them how to exercise their faith and put it to work. The fault doesn't soley lie with Pastors. While they will be largely held responsible for their failure to equip the saints, believers who do not take responsibity for their own spiritual growth are at fault also. We're a nation of spiritually lazy people. We sit on a pew once a week and sing a few "worship" songs and consider this our spiritual act of service to the Lord. But Romans 12 tells us that we must be living sacrifices (i.e. LIVE out our faith in our deeds), that this is what God considers worship.

It's a sad day when a person can attend church for 30 years and not be able to see the value in it. Even more pathetic is the fact that more than likely the church this person attended probably grew in numbers over that 30 year span of time. This means there's an entire body of believers whose minds were not engaged or stretched to embrace the truth of the gospel, and whose hearts were not convicted to live out the call to make disciples and redeem our culture. And we wonder why the world is in moral decay? Don't brush your teeth for 30 years and see what happens to your dental health.

[tah]

This was in the Humor section a while back..

I did notice that the letter was from a church goer and not a Christian...

I do not think I have ever gone to Church that I did not hear God speaking to His people..

This person needs a personal relationship with Jesus....

I guess I also wonder why he went to church twice a week for all those years for what he calls nothing.. there are Christians who do not go to Church that often..??

[Kabowd]

I did notice that the letter was from a church goer and not a Christian...

But this begs the question: how could a person attend church regularly for 30 years and remain unsaved? Unchanged? Where was the body of believers who would challenge him, sharpen him, confront him?

I do not think I have ever gone to Church that I did not hear God speaking to His people..

God can speak through a donkey God can take anything and use it for His good, this doesn't mean that churches are operating in their full potential. When Christ spoke of His Bride, He referred to it as something "the gates of hell could not prevail against". This is a very powerful description, somewhat militant. It describes a body that is wearing armor and ready to do battle (see Ephesians 6). He never described the church as a group of people sitting passively week after week listening to a good message. Likewise, the real evidence that people have truly heard the truth is in changed lives. People who are feeding the poor and hungry, clothing the naked, taking care of the orphans and widows, doing the works that Jesus did...these are the people who have been changed by the power of the message.

This person needs a personal relationship with Jesus....

I guess I also wonder why he went to church twice a week for all those years for what he calls nothing.. there are Christians who do not go to Church that often..??

I hear what you're saying, and to some extent I agree. However, do you not see fault in the system? Sure this guy has the responsibility to respond to the truth....but this is all assuming he's actually heard the truth. As Paul said in Romans 10, how can they believe if they haven't heard, and how can they hear if someone doesn't tell them? Like I said, I do agree that the individual certainly bears a great deal of responsibility, but I think we're fooling ourselves if we don't recognize that American churches in general are failing to preach the gospel, equip the saints, and prepare believers to do battle against the enemy. We see churches more as hospitals where people go to get bandaged up and nourished to health, instead of like military training where we strengthen and train them to actively engage the enemy. In all reality, the church should be both of these things. A person should never be allowed to attend church for years and never grow. It just shouldn't happen. There should be accountability and discipline among believers, this is laid out in Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 5. Fact is, most people don't really know what the Body of Christ should look like or how it should function. The image is so distorted, that we've forgotten our destiny. Instead of picturing the church as a quiet Bride, dressed in white and walking gently through a field of flowers...the more accurate description is a Bride, in her white gown, but wearing combat boots, carrying weapons and tromping across a battlefield..lol.

[Ovedya]

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than living in a garage makes you a car.

[Smalcald]

But lets back up a little, why do we go to worship services? I think it is a good basic question. The letter writer seemed to think worship was there for him, for his benefit, for him to feel good or to learn, and he was upset that HE didn

[mike2]

Going to church doesn't make you a Christian anymore than living in a garage makes you a car.

I'm going to remeber that one!

[tah]

Tess...yes I am sure the "system" has faults but I played the "the church is at fault" card with the Lord and He made it clear to me that I cannot blame a preacher for my not knowing the truth...

I stand accountable to the Lord for my decisions and no one else is to blame for me...

This man (believer or no)cannot blame the Church for his lack of desire to know God...

no matter what church he attends...

I have complete faith in the Lord to keep me in the truth...

Is this not true with all who call upon Him for truth???

Is it foolish of me to believe God is able to meet everyone who calls upon Him for truth??

Yes absolutely the church is both or should be and if it is not I need to find another church that is....

And yes I believe God will have something to say to those who are responsible to the sheep whether or not they were good shepherds...

Mar 9:42 And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.

[mike2]

But lets back up a little, why do we go to worship services? I think it is a good basic question. The letter writer seemed to think worship was there for him, for his benefit, for him to feel good or to learn, and he was upset that HE didn