Tag Archives: church attendance

“I Don’t Need Church”

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Judges 18

You hear people say all the time that you don’t need to go to church in order to be a Christian. Of course, church attendance isn’t salvation. But there are some very important reasons why a true Christian ought to want to worship, fellowship, and serve with other believers on a regular basis.

In Judges 18 the Danites were looking for a place to live. So, of course, they wanted to find the best land, and land occupied with people who could be easily defeated in battle. They found Laish. Here’s what they found:

  1. the people were living in safety
  2. they were unsuspecting and secure
  3. the land lacked nothing
  4. the people were prosperous
  5. they lived far from other people “and had no relationship with anyone else.”

I think that describes many people who call themselves Christians but don’t go to church. They feel secure in their relationship with God. They claim they are fine the way they are. Why would they need a church?

When the Danites attacked, the people in Laish had no one to help them, no one had their backs, and they were soundly defeated.

I don’t think I need to paint a clearer picture. You and I are under attack. I choose to go to war against the enemy shoulder to shoulder with people I know who are committed to Jesus like I am. I know they have my back. And I have their’s.

The added blessing of standing with these people is the joy of simply knowing and loving them. A church can be a family you choose. We laugh at my church. We cry. We struggle. We encourage each other. We hold each other accountable. We even just hang out on occasion. And we always pray for one another. We are brothers and sisters in Christ.

Plus, and not the least of the reasons to go to church is the privilege of corporate worship, hearts in unison with love toward and in awe of our Lord and Savior, the act of like minds focused on our Heavenly Father. It’s a mini-heavenly gathering every week.

If you are one who says they don’t need church, I would say you are wrong about that. When you isolate yourself and deny yourself the relationships with people who love the Lord, you leave yourself wide open for Satan’s arrows.

And, my friend, you are neglecting your responsibility to care for them, too. It’s not all about you. You are needed as much as you need them.

Don’t say you don’t need to go to church in order to be a Christian. The truth of the matter is you need church very much in order to be the Christian God wants you to be.

You Can’t Make Him Drink

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2 Chronicles 34; 2 Kings 23

There was a rocking Passover; thousands of sacrifices over a seven day period. A Passover like this hadn’t been celebrated since the days of Samuel. Josiah was all in where God was concerned, and as king of Judah he wanted God’s people to be all in, too.

That’s how it often is when someone comes face to face with God, and accepts God’s saving grace. We feel the emotion and want everyone we love to experience what we have. We should want that.

But Scripture tells us Josiah, in his zeal for the Lord, seems to have thought he could make people want what he had found in God.

And Josiah took away all the abomination from the territory that belonged to the people of Israel and made all who were present in Israel serve the Lord their God. All his days they did not turn away from following the Lord, the God of their fathers. (2 Chronicles 34:33)

The writer of 2 Kings says in verse three, the people joined in the covenant Josiah made to the Lord. But I wonder; was it their covenant with God or were they just honoring Josiah’s covenant with Him? I think it’s the latter because the minute Josiah was dead, they were right back worshiping their old idols.

Here’s the thing, Christian parents: you can make your kids go to church with you, you can have them repeat a prayer of confession, arrange for them to be baptized, even send them to Christian schools. But unless they internalize it and meet Jesus at the cross themselves they are simply honoring your faith. The moment they are on their own, they will do what’s in their own hearts.

You can take a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.

I hope you do make your kids attend church with you. I hope you send them to good Christian schools. I hope you pray with them and take them to youth group activities.

But I also hope you are talking to them about what and why you believe Jesus is the Way, Truth, and Life. I hope you talk to them about sin and their need of a Savior. I hope you share your own walk with the Lord, including your struggles and victories as they are mature enough to understand. I hope one day you will have the privilege of being present as they choose Jesus for themselves.

But whether or not they choose Jesus is a decision you can’t make for them. You can’t make them be a Christian. You can’t make them drink the water. You can, however, keep bringing them to the water until they recognize their thirst and want to drink it for themselves!

I’m praying for you today.

October 3; Hometown

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John 4:27-46; Mark 1:14-15, 21-45; Matthew 4:12-17, 8:1-4, 14-17; Luke 4:14-15, 30-44, 5:12-16

Many of us Baby-Boomers grew up going to church, Sunday School, Bible Schools, and often Wednesday night prayer meetings and youth groups. We were raised with at least a knowledge of God in a country that honored God in many ways. Even the shops were closed on Sundays.

For many of us, our association with all things Christian became more than church attendance. We made it personal when we repented of our sin, and invited Jesus into our hearts and lives.

Fast forward fifty years. Things have changed, haven’t they?

We didn’t give our children the same Biblical foundation. We encouraged them to find truth for themselves. We sacrificed Sunday worship for baseball and soccer games. We stopped meeting on Sunday nights and Wednesday evenings. We chipped away at the foundation that our own lives had been built on. Now our children are raising our grandchildren with no foundation at all.

I know that is a vast generalization. I hope you who are reading this are not described by it. But when I look at our country and our world, I think too many people are.

I got to thinking about this today as I read about Jesus’ ministry in His hometown. Scripture tells us He couldn’t do a lot of great things there among the people closest to Him,  people who had watched Him grow up.

Jesus reminded them that in Elijah’s day there were a lot of starving widows in Israel, but God had to go to Sidon to find a woman of faith. There were plenty of lepers in Israel in the time of the prophet Elisha. But it was Naaman the Syrian who had the faith to be healed.

I am reminded it’s not exposure to Jesus, not church attendance, or familiarity with creation, or a belief in a higher power that saves. Living in a house where believers live does not save. You can know everything there is to know about Jesus. But that knowledge won’t save you.

Please don’t assume your kids and grandkids will be saved because of your faith. They, like us, will have to decide to accept grace for themselves. Don’t assume your children know Jesus just because they know about Him. They will have to establish that relationship with the Savior themselves.

Our children can be living in Jesus’ hometown, so to speak, and never put their faith in Him. And God cannot do great things in their lives if that’s the case.

Are we giving our children and grandchildren a chance to build their faith on the Truth of Scripture the sure foundation of Jesus, the Holiness of God, and the only way to the Father? Or are we ok with them watching Christianity from the cheap seats?

People in Jesus day could say, “Yeah. I’m from Jesus’ home town. I grew up with Him.” In our day we can say, “Yeah. My Mom knows Jesus. I grew up in church.”

It’s just not enough.

April 29; Go Home And Bless Your Family

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2 Samuel 6:12-23; I Chronicles 15-16; Psalm 15

What is worship? That’s been a hot topic for the last 30+ years since the “contemporary” movement burst on the scene. If you’ve been with me very long, you know my take on that, and honestly, I’ve sat here for quite a while trying to look for something else to talk about today. But God isn’t letting this one go.

The example of worship here in 2 Samuel and I Chronicles is that of a rocking worship service. However, remember, so is I Chronicles 13 and 2 Samuel 6, and God was not pleased with that one. It’s an example of disobedient worship that looks an awfully lot like worship that God accepts. So what’s the difference?

First, I don’t believe it has anything to do with what songs were being sung. I say that because both accounts tell us they were celebrating with song, singing joyful songs. The truth is, as I see it, hymns can be as worshipful as praise songs.

Second, I don’t think it has anything to do with the musical instruments being played. Both examples tell us the worshipers played lyres and harps. I believe an organ can be as worshipful as a bass guitar.

The worship looked very much alike in these two accounts. So, again, what was the difference?

I think a huge difference between these worship services is obedience. It wasn’t the worship production. It was the heart of the people. It wasn’t how they looked while worshiping, it was their obedience to God that made the difference.

The other thing I see as a difference between the two examples of worship here in the Old Testament, and maybe the most important difference, is found in I Chronicles 16:43. After his time of worship, David went home to bless his family. He didn’t bask in the euphoria of a worship experience, then walk away unaffected. He took his experience and put it to work.

Dear one, if you are going to church on Sunday mornings for a worship experience, stay home. Go to a movie to be entertained. Worship does not end at the last “Amen.”

If you aren’t involved every day in some kind of ministry, in some kind of witnessing, and in living a Christ-like life on Monday, why are you worshiping? Do you think God needs your words, or is edified by your soaring emotions once a week?

The purpose of our church services is not to make us feel good, but to edify us, strengthen us, and equip us to go home and bless our families, our neighbors, our co-workers, the uttermost parts of the world.

I hope you worshiped God yesterday with a fellowship of believers. I hope your emotions were touched. But I pray that you learned something about God, that you were encouraged in your faith, that you were challenged and changed.

Now, get out there and bless someone.

Exodus 24-26; Where Worship Is

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I know people say you can worship God anywhere. I actually hope you do worship Him often throughout the day, every day. I’m sitting here in my enclosed porch watching a couple birds make their home in a birdhouse that was once my dad’s. A squirrel just ran along the top of my fence. And my azalea bush is at the end of its beautiful display. I worship the Creator in the magnificent work of His hand.

But does sitting here today mean I don’t need church? God’s instructions to Moses concerning the building of the tabernacle and the Ark of the Covenant include minute details. These were carefully instructed, ornate, expensive, purposeful places where God’s people would gather to worship.

As I read these chapters it occurs to me that if God was so interested in the physical places of corporate worship back then, He probably is still interested in us taking our places of worship seriously. In the building of these structures God was providing a place for the Jews to gather together to worship because corporate worship was important to Him.

Still is. Don’t neglect the gathering of saints just because you think you can worship God on a golf course. Oh, go ahead and worship Him on the golf course. Just don’t do it on Sunday morning when you have the unique opportunity to gather together with other believers and worship God as one.

I think God, by the example we read in these chapters, must think it’s pretty important.

May 2 – Brotherly Unity

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Psalm 133

This psalm goes perfectly with yesterday’s Scriptures. When we realize that we are brothers and sisters as God’s children through the blood of the Savior, we should be united in our love, our service, and obedience to Him. That unity, the psalmist says, is like precious oil on our heads, or like morning dew. It’s refreshing. It’s energizing. It’s healing. And we who know the Lord according to Scripture have received God’s blessing – life forever. United forever with each other around the Throne of God.

Is worshiping God in a church setting, with other believers important? What does the Bible say about that?