Five Reasons to Come to Church Sunday

April 4, 2013

TODAY'S BIBLE READING:

It is biblical. “Not neglecting to meet together” (Hebrews 10:25); “day by day” (Acts 2:46); gathered “on the first day of every week” (1 Corinthians 16:2). A Christian not in church is like a fish out of water. Church is not Starbucks and my two friends. It is the gathering of God’s people around God’s gospel. That is more than a campus group, or parachurch organization, healthy and helpful as they can be. It is the local church of which – if you are a Christian – you are a member (1 Corinthians 12:27).

It encourages other Christians. Seeing people coming together around the worship of God says “we believe this together, we’re in this together, we support each other.” Just being there is a message of encouragement to other people. If you are old, it encourages the young. If you are young, it encourages the old.

It witnesses to non-Christians. When the parking lot is full, the driveway packed, and people stream into and out of church buildings on Sunday, it answers atheist propaganda that people don’t believe in God anymore. In fact, 33% of the world’s population say they are Christian.[1] Coming to church is like a public civil rights rally in favor of Jesus. Just going, just turning up, speaks volumes. I know people who have come back to church simply because they noticed happy, smiling faces coming out of church on Sunday morning.

It stops you from going AWOL. Going to church is not like making sure you get to the gym each week; going to church is like making sure you eat each week. Without it you are going to get hungry; when you are hungry you will get weak; and when you are weak, you’ll end up doing or saying things you don’t really want to do or say.

It honors God. The church is the body for which God gave his blood (Acts 20:28). To be a regular, serving, contributing, giving, involved part of the church honors Jesus. It says to everyone and everything – the spiritual realm and the human – that Christ is higher, greater, better, more wonderful than absolutely all that there is. When you come to church, and gather around the proclamation of the gospel through his Word, you are partaking in the “heavenly Jerusalem” and are telling everyone how much Jesus is worth (Hebrews 12:22).

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Josh Moody (Ph.D., University of Cambridge) is the senior pastor of College Church in Wheaton, IL., president and founder of God Centered Life Ministries, and author of several books including How the Bible Can Change Your Life and John 1-12 For You.

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Five Reasons to Come to Church Sunday