I believe each week we have the opportunity to take our temperature as we come together in worship.
Our United Methodist membership pledge includes our commitment to presence at church . . . This is not presence only on the Sunday you joined . . . but presence each Sunday. The intent of the Methodist Church membership pledge is that you would be in church unless you were ill. If you traveled, you were in a Methodist church in the community you were in (that is the connection at work). Yet, church attendance in the U.S. is less than 50% of membership. When did going to church become an option?
I am going to guess that at some point you have asked yourself. “Why bother?” In other words, why bother getting up and getting dressed and going to church? After all, if the Methodists, Christians, Church of Christ, Pentecostals, Lutherans, Catholics, Baptists, Presbyterians, and everyone else can’t agree, how am I to know where I should go? I am sure you worked hard all week and today was the only day you had to rest and sleep in. Plus with all the overtime you put in at work, God will understand. After all even He rested on the 7th day.
For those that need one, here are a few of my favorite excuses:
- It’s boring
- I don’t have time.
- The sermon is too long
- I’m okay – I don’t need that church stuff
- They always ask for money
- God made football
- I went last year or at Christmas or Easter. Do I have to go again?
- I’m allergic
Why bother going to church? When you probably won’t understand everything and it will seem a waste of time.
Why bother going to church? When you probably won’t enjoy all of the music or the service.
Why bother going to church? When there never seems to be people there that are your age and they always seem to be asking for money.
Why bother going to church? When after all, you have lots of time left in your life. You can go to church when you are older and you have less fun things to do that keep you out late on Saturday night.
I want to encourage you in your commitment to making church a part of your routine. I want you to be able to find reasons for being at church in your moments of frustration with the church. I want you to have something to say in those moments when you invite to come to church with you and they say,” what should I bother going to church?
Here are a few reasons to bother about coming to church:
# 1 Church attendance is designed for fellowship with God and other believers
Psalm 26:6-12
I will wash my hands in innocence; So I will go about Your altar, O LORD, That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, And tell of all Your wondrous works. LORD, I have loved the habitation of Your house, And the place where Your glory dwells. Do not gather my soul with sinners, Nor my life with bloodthirsty men, In whose hands is a sinister scheme, And whose right hand is full of bribes. But as for me, I will walk in my integrity; Redeem me and be merciful to me. My foot stands in an even place; In the congregations I will bless the LORD.
God wants us to be together and to be with us. God knows that we will gain from being encouraged by others and we will be accountable to one another as well. It is in the congregation, the church gathered together, that we will bless the Lord with our presence. We come together as a gift to God. Our attendance at church is one of our gifts to God.
# 2 Church attendance is a way to praise God
Psalm 100 (New International Version)
Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you lands! Serve the LORD with gladness; Come before His presence with singing. Know that the LORD, He is God; It is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name. For the LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to all generations.
Church is designed to bring believers together to praise God in one combined voice raised to heaven as one. God finds it pleasing to hear our praise and we are comforted and encouraged by doing so together. It is when we gather together that as one voice we become a 1000 tongues joined together to sing God’s praises. You see worship at church is really not about you and I – it is about God. It’s not music for you, it’s not designed for you, it’s our gift to God – how selfish to only give gifts you like!
# 3 Attending church will help you find solutions and meaning for your problems and difficulties
Psalm 73:1-28 (Contemporary English Version)
God is truly good to Israel, especially to everyone with a pure heart. But I almost stumbled and fell, because it made me jealous to see proud and evil people and to watch them prosper. They never have to suffer, they stay healthy, and they don't have troubles like everyone else. Their pride is like a necklace, and they commit sin more often than they dress themselves. Their eyes poke out with fat, and their minds are flooded with foolish thoughts. They sneer and say cruel things, and because of their pride, they make violent threats. They dare to speak against God and to order others around. God will bring his people back, and they will drink the water he so freely gives. Only evil people would say, "God Most High cannot know everything!" Yet all goes well for them, and they live in peace. What good did it do me to keep my thoughts pure and refuse to do wrong? I am sick all day, and I am punished each morning. If I had said evil things, I would not have been loyal to your people. It was hard for me to understand all this!
Then I went to your temple, and there I understood what will happen to my enemies. You will make them stumble, never to get up again. They will be terrified, suddenly swept away and no longer there. They will disappear, Lord, despised like a bad dream the morning after. Once I was bitter and brokenhearted. I was stupid and ignorant, and I treated you as a wild animal would. But I never really left you, and you hold my right hand. Your advice has been my guide, and later you will welcome me in glory. In heaven I have only you, and on this earth you are all I want. My body and mind may fail, but you are my strength and my choice forever. Powerful LORD God, all who stay far from you will be lost, and you will destroy those who are unfaithful. It is good for me to be near you. I choose you as my protector, and I will tell about your wonderful deeds.
Together we are able to solve so many of our problems when we take them to God and allow the church to work together. It is in God’s presence and through God’s word that we are able to understand. It was after encountering God in church that we are able to understand what will happen to our enemies. Church gives us an eternal perspective on life. We need an eternal perspective on life. Especially considering how the world keeps us focused on the here and then - and that message can wear you out.
# 4 Church is designed to refresh and strengthen you
Psalm 84:1-11 (New Living Translation)
How lovely is your dwelling place, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies. I long, yes, I faint with longing to enter the courts of the LORD. With my whole being, body and soul, I will shout joyfully to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow builds her nest and raises her young at a place near your altar, O LORD of Heaven’s Armies, my King and my God! What joy for those who can live in your house, always singing your praises. (Interlude)
What joy for those whose strength comes from the LORD, who have set their minds on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. When they walk through the Valley of Weeping, it will become a place of refreshing springs. The autumn rains will clothe it with blessings. They will continue to grow stronger, and each of them will appear before God in Jerusalem. O LORD God of Heaven’s Armies, hear my prayer. Listen, O God of Jacob. (Interlude)
O God, look with favor upon the king, our shield! Show favor to the one you have anointed. A single day in your courts is better than a thousand anywhere else! I would rather be a gatekeeper in the house of my God than live the good life in the homes of the wicked. For the LORD God is our sun and our shield. He gives us grace and glory. The LORD will withhold no good thing from those who do what is right.
Have you ever considered that it is NOT an amazing coincidence that your week and day go better after going to church. We fill our time with so many thing and activities, all hoping that they will refresh us, re-energize, strengthen us, or revive us. And yet, fellowship with God and others through church was designed by God to refresh and strengthen you. Time spent in church is designed to be a refuge and as a result will be better than countless other places we go to find refuge and strength.
# 5 Church attendance is part of your personal testimony
Psalm 116:12-14 (New International Version)
How can I repay the LORD for all his goodness to me? I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the LORD. I will fulfill my vows to the LORD in the presence of all his people
Part of your testimony to others about God is what you do. A church parking lot filled with cars sends a message to the community that God is at Work. Your neighbors that watch you faithfully attend church week after week, see the testimony of your faithfulness.
Hebrews 10:23-25 (New International Version)
Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
If you are a believer, if you want to praise God, if you want to be encouraged by other believers, if you seek answers to life’s difficulties, if you need refreshed, if you want to strengthen your testimony and witness to others, if you want to find and encounter a living God, then make church a regular part of your life.
Commit to improving your spiritual health in this coming year by committing to making attendance at church a regular part of your life.
See you next Sunday?
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