Why Go to Church
Friday, August 8th, 2008Why Go To Church
This question is often asked by a skeptical society that does not see any benefit to church attendance. Let’s see why they have come up to this conclusion:
They have lack of knowledge about what the Bible says about worship and church attendance. Hebrews 10:25 gives this clear command to the Christian: “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”.
In all my years of ministry I have never met a Christian who was faithfully serving the Lord but was “hit or miss” with church attendance. Church attendance is a time to corporately worship the Lord. The Greek word for worship is proskyneō. This is the word for worship most often used in the New Testament and it means to “fall down prostrate” or “kiss the king’s feet”. In other words the “Church Worship Service” is a very serious time of reflection of an individual’s spiritual condition and conviction from the Holy Spirit on areas of sin. The problem is that people have never been taught what a corporate worship service is supposed to be. It is not a time to entertain or make you feel good! The purpose of a worship service is to open or enhance our relationship with the Lord by the preaching of God’s Word and Holy Spirit intervention. The church service is God’s way of accomplishing His plans for the individual by confronting him/her with truth in a corporate setting.
I know some may say this can happen during a devotion setting or during private quite time, but God does something in a Holy Spirit guided church service that can not be mimicked or duplicated. This principal is mentioned by Paul in 1 Cor 1:18-25 where he stresses the importance of preaching and having a discerning spirit.
The church service or worship service that is based upon the above scriptures can only be for the saved! How can non-believer worship the Lord whom they do not accept? They problem is that the modern evangelical movement has designed the Worship Service around the unsaved, thus there is no Holy Spirit guidance or conviction; the service is primarily guided by the flesh. Thus the conclusion is “take it or leave it”