taking church for granted

So, how many different churches have we all been to? How often do we sit and hear a message and think, "I've heard that before." How easy is it for us to say "I'll just skip this week/service." Do we forget that there are people who walk miles to get to church? I think we do. I think we take it for granted that we can always go to church. Church will always be there. If I miss a service, that isn't a big deal.

(There are the people who only go once, twice, or three times a week. And they are happy with that. They feel no need to go to that fourth service. Church isn't that important to them. (Even as I type my thought process is interrupted thinking "Christ died for the church!!! Of course it is important.") So, where is the level of church importance?)

But there is the other group...today's group, the group I fall into on too many occasions -- those who go to church and are willing to skip, don't get anything from the sermon, and hope the power goes out, and that half the people say they are sick, take the overtime, etc etc etc.

What is church? If it is the building, and the social club, then, yeah, miss church. If it is the nice songs, and the proper place to be, then yeah, missing one out of four isn't a big deal. But let's just say for a minute something else. Let's pretend that church is where we go to worship almighty God. This is the Christ that when he said "I am he," His would-be captors stepped back and fell down. If Christ died for this, where should we be when the doors are open? Are churches full of hypocrites and wolves? Yes. Does that change the fact that Christ died for it, and we are there to worship Him, as commanded and taught? no.

What else is church? Preaching. So the pastor has a style you don't like. . .is it God's Word being preached? So the pastor does dumb things (and yes, some pastors do dumb things), is that a reasonable excuse? Let me ask, if the church never sings your favorite songs, and the pastor always makes stupid jokes, is it then ok to skip?

When I was at MBBC, sometime within the first or second month of my first year, I read this morning/evening by Spurgeon where he spoke of always being ready to attend God's house. That no matter what the preacher spoke on, the believer should ALWAYS come away with something, because it was the Words of God. But I think Christians are lazy.

We leave it up to the pastor to try to come up with something that applies to us. So, take a very small church...like ours. With 13 people (give or take some kids) who will 99% of the time be at every service. Now tell Pastor he has to come up with something that will speak to all of them. And for any other church that task becomes exponentially harder. So, we are lazy. We don't come into the house of God ready to worship, and glean, and think. We come in to be spoon fed. And then we say, I had that last week.

Every message where the Word of God is opened and faithfully (key word here) proclaimed
has truth for EVERY believer. It might not be that special word of encouragement that you needed in your dire hour, but there IS something there for you. The question is, do you get something every time? And if not, who's fault is it? The preachers? Not if God's Word was opened. Is it the Holy Spirits? He just didn't apply it to you this week. Obviously not. If you get nothing out of a message it is because you were not prepared to be in God's house.

Unfortunately for us it is that simple. We can't blame the pastor. We can't blame God. So, yeah. . .yeah, it is a struggle sometimes. Yes, it can be for weeks in a row, but that doesn't ever give anyone the right to be lazy. That's all it is. . .everything takes work. You can be the hardest worker at your job and still be lazy. Hard work applies to everything, not just a job.

Lesson number 2.

Look not every man on his own things, but everyman also on the things of others.

The things of others. How different life would be if we practiced this! Would it not? Not on our own things. . . . . . .Tomorrow at lunch sit back and think about what has absorbed your day thus far. What have you thought about? What have you done? Has it been on your things? Or the things of others? That is a convicting verse.