Why go to church?

A churchgoer wrote 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 preachers are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.”

This started a real controversy in the “Letters to the Editor” column.  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!”

I don’t recall where the above piece came from, but it certainly is thought-provoking.  Do we look at “going to church” as just an exercise to be done each week to “stay right” with God?  Or, do we attend to worship our God and to feed on His Word?

Actually, “going to church” is a meaningless phrase, because the church is made up of believers who have been saved by the blood of Christ.  We don’t “go to church;” we attend worship with the church; that is, with brothers and sisters in Christ.  Our gathering should include worship to God (or of God) and the receiving of encouragement and wisdom from God through the reading of inspired Scripture and the exposition of His Word.  In other words, worship should be two-way street between us, the body of Christ, and God.  Do we come together to worship God, or just to “get right” with God?

Don