CHURCH WHY BOTHER
Bob Marcaurelle
Copyright 2010 by Bob Marcaurelle
“We must not give up assembling together as some people are in the habit of doing. We should encourage one another, especially since we see the day (of Christ’s coming) drawing near.” (Hebrews 10: 25)
Even in New Testament times, some believers had given up on the church. Like many today they felt they did not need it to live a good Christian life. It is easy to understand why.
My mother would not go to church because of the cruelty and dishonesty of “Christians” who worked with her. When I led her to Christ she joined my church.
When I was called to another state, she joined the First Baptist Church, right across from where she lived. Not one person from that church had ever visited her.
When I went home, I asked her if she liked it, and she said she would never go back. I asked why and she told me a story almost impossible to believe.
When she joined she was given a box of envelopes and a financial pledge card. I forget the figures but lets’ say in today’s world, she made $250 dollars a week and her pledge was $5.00.
She received a letter saying that the low amount of her pledge was no doubt an error, so they were sending her another card. I didn’t believe her, so she showed me the letter. Can you blame her for never going back?
A. Reasons Not To Go
1. Culture Influences Us (1 Corinthians 11-14)
Church people in Corinth were acting so wild in their services that Paul said a visitor would think they were drunk (1 Corinthians 14). They were patterning their behavior on the party like worship of Dianna.
The church reflects its culture. If you had been born in Mexico you would be a Roman Catholic, wearing beads and listening to sermons in Latin. That does not appeal to me, just like Baptists in the South do not appeal to a Roman Catholic.
A lot of people just don’t like the way people around them worship and get nothing out of it.
The church in America is far more cultural than spiritual. It is just a part of being an American. A national report in the 1970’s published in Moody Monthly, and a recent national survey by George Barna both affirmed that regular attendance at church makes almost no difference morally and ethically in those people lives.
They are just as likely to cheat on their spouses, steal from their employers, look down on people of other races, etc, as those who do not darken the doors of a church. Jesus called this hypocrisy – acting – playing a part. Watching us go to church, the world sings,
“They go to church on Sunday
In fine clothes attired
They’ll be back with us on Monday
It’s just a little habit they’ve acquired.”
2. Christian Culture Influences Us (Hebrews 10:25)
People as far back as New Testament times felt a person could be a good Christian without going to church. It has never been easier to believe that than now. England, in the 1800’s, had full churches every Sunday. People got tickets to Spurgeon’s church so they could find a seat.
Today less than 2% go to church on a regular basis. They are not irreligious. They talk about God and prayer and living right, but church is as outdated to them as riding in a horse drawn carriage.
This is happening in America, even though we are now frantically trying to attract people with loud music, praise and worship and the promise of a “good time” to all who come.
3. Cruelty in the Churches
The church is cruel to its members. The Jewish church not only had Jesus killed, the leaders went to Calvary to join in on the fun of mocking Him while He died (Matthew 27). Paul told the Christians in Galatia, “You bite and devour one another.” (Galatians 5). Paul himself was slandered by fellow Christian preachers all his life.
When he was in prison, awaiting possible death he wrote,
“(Some) preach Christ out of selfish ambition / supposing they can stir up trouble for me while I am in chains / What does it matter? / Christ is preached and so I rejoice.” (Philippians 1:17-18).
The church is cruel to outsiders. It is often a closed community with a kind of country club atmosphere that know how to make people feel un-welcomed.
James talked of churches ushering wealthy people to their pews with a lot of fanfare and telling others, “Go sit over there.” (2:1-4).
The church knows how to keep undesirables at arm’s length. Author Tennessee Williams and his sisters visited a little church and the kids made fun of their clothes. Never again, he said, was he even tempted to go to church.
This spills over into our visitation. Baptists talk about “loving souls” but they forget that “souls” means “people”. We don’t have souls like we have gall-bladders.
We are living souls (Genesis 1-2). Instead of investing time and effort into loving people, finding out what makes them tick, and meeting their needs; we shoot the “plan of salvation” at them a couple of times.
When they don’t respond we write them off as unreachable. Look at the programs and the budgets of churches and you will see they are almost all selfish and self centered.
They assist the helping agencies, but when do you ever see a church building buildings; and paying staff members to minister to low income areas where 95% of the children never go to church and know nothing about the Lord.
The rich man in Jesus’ parable did not kick the beggar at his door, but neither did he help him find health, a job, etc. He threw him a few scraps in passing. That is the mission work of most churches today. It lasts from Thanksgiving to Christmas.
Churches are cruel in their teachings. Roman Catholics say un-baptized babies go to the “fringe” (limbus) of hell. Puritans like Cotton Mather pictured babies crawling through the fires of hell.
A president of the Southern Baptist Convention said publicly, “God will not answer the prayers of a Jew.” Hyper Calvinists teach that God chooses who will and will not be saved before they are born. Pat Robertson said recently the earthquake hit Haiti, killing thousands, because the country made a pact with the devil decades ago.
4. Conflict in the Churches
Church people fight like cats and dogs. Peeking through the window of the First Baptist Church of Corinth, Paul said he was afraid that if he came to them he would find, “quarreling, jealousy, hot tempers, selfishness, insults, gossip, pride, and disorder.” (2 Corinthians 12:20 TEV)
People already have enough conflicts and problems; why should they go where they will only find more? Someone said, “The church is like Noah’s ark. If it weren’t for the storm on the outside, we couldn’t put up with the stink on the inside”.
5. Cash is Prioritized
Watching TV and sitting in a pew, people are bombarded about money; and far more than we realize, we give the impression that our real interest in people is what they can do for us financially. We hear a lot about some “World Church” being formed before Jesus comes. I don’t know about that, but the Bible says a worldly church will be formed. It says:
“There will be terrible times in the last days. People will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money / lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God- (and the New Living Translation translates verse 5) They will act like they are religious but they will reject the power that could make them godly.” (2 Timothy 3:1-5)
B. Why Go?
1. Hope For The Future
If half of this is true, why go? One reason is hope. Every institution of our society has been created to meet vital needs. And every one of them is rotten on the inside, including the church. Satan is the “prince”; the “god”; and the “ruler” of this world” (John 12:31 / 2 Corinthians 4:4 / Ephesians 6:12).
He has his filthy fingers and foul spirit in every institution in the world that seeks to do good and this is especially true of the church. If you were the devil where would you aim your best efforts and put your best people?
Education is growing worse with each passing year but we still send our children to school and join the PTA. About 545 people are slowly taking our country down the road to financial ruin.
Every two or four years representatives and senators, go into office promising to lower taxes; improve education; protect our borders; and keep violent offenders off the streets.
They get in office and raise taxes; ignore education; open our borders more; and put more violent offenders on the street. Yet we still go to the polls. We go to church in the hopes that we can make life better for our children and grandchildren.
2. We Don’t Have A Choice
The creation of local congregations of believers all over the Roman world who ministered to the people in their area, was not a “good idea” thought up by the Apostles. Jesus told His disciples, “I will build my church.” (Matthew 16:18).
Failure to support it, is failure to follow Him. Hebrews 10:25 is not a suggestion, it is a command. When people tell me they are Christians but don’t go to church; my answer is, “I didn’t know we had a choice.” We cannot pick and choose the commands we like and will obey and call ourselves followers of Jesus Christ.
That is like calling yourself a soldier and not putting on the uniform or joining any branch of the military. The question we face every day as Christians is, “Will Jesus rule my life today?” That is why He said we take up His cross “daily”(Luke 9:23).
To take church out of our lives because we don’t like it, is high treason against the One who died for us. A lady who lost her hearing and her eyesight kept going to church and when asked why, said, “I want people to know which side I am on.”
3. We Can’t Truly Serve Chris in the Right Way Alone
Jesus told a small band of ordinary people to go to the entire world and preach the gospel, baptize converts and then teach them Christian faith and life (Matthew 28:18-20).
I’m sure they had rather not. Going to Gentiles would cost them their families, friends and their lives (Acts 7-8). If they had all gone to their respective homes to love their neighbors, worship God out in their garden, and watch Charles Stanley on TV the church would have died with them and the whole world today would still be in darkness.
People selfishly say they don’t like “organized religion”. A “Lone Ranger” Christian may live a good life, but he cannot do alone, what God wants done.
We cannot provide medical care for our loved ones and neighbors without “organized” hospitals; or law and order without “organized” government; or education without “organized” schools. Neither can we provide Christianity to our world without “organized” Christianity.
4. We Need Others To Grow Spiritually
In the only New Testament verse that specifically tells the people of God to go to church, the author of Hebrews says to do it to “encourage each other” (10:25). In the church you find some of the meanest people in the world, as we saw earlier.
But thank God you also find the best. As human beings we all need a “third place”. It can be a bowling league, a pub, coaching little league ball, a book club, etc.
The Africans have a saying, “It takes a whole village to raise a child.” That is true, and for me and my children and my grandchildren to learn and be motivated to practice Christian values, I need the good people of God to help me.
I was fortunate enough to go back and Pastor in the town where I attended High School. One of my oldest friends and a fellow football player was active in that church as a deacon and the director of church training. He and I had both accepted Christ after High School.
He spent the final years of his life in a bed with multiple sclerosis. The last time I visited him I asked him if I could pray with him. He said yes, and I asked him what he wanted me to pray. He said, “Just tell God how thankful I am for all He has done for me.” Folks, I need people in my life like that. My children and grandchildren need people like that.
Last year a madman went into a little Mennonite schoolhouse and said he was going to start killing the children. A thirteen year old girl stepped out and said, “Please shoot me first.”
She was hoping this would give people time to come in and save the others. When it was over and some children were saved, the families of all the dead said they forgave the man and the Mennonite community ministered in love to his family.
Folks, I need people in my life like that to keep me faithful. My children and my grandchildren need people like that. More than that, I need to be a person like that, and there is no way in this earth that I can even come close, other than spending time in the house of God with the people of God.
5. Christianity Is True
I do not want to go to a Cancer doctor and have him put me on chemotherapy; but if I have cancer, I will go.
Like it or not, believe it or not, Jesus is God; He rose from the dead; we will all survive death; we will stand before God in Judgment; and we will all end up eternally in either heaven or hell.
You can ignore this just like a man can ignore his cancer; but just as he will pay a price, so will you, only the price will be far greater. In church we learn about Jesus and Jesus is the only answer to our sin problem.
This message is available in print and on audio CD at:
www.homeorchurchbiblestudy.com bob marcaurelle
