Stop Going to Church!
WHAT?! I cant believe a preacher just told me that! What kind of heretic is he?! I've been going to church all my life! Been carryin' this big ol' black leather King James-only Version Bible every Sunday! I have been going to Sunday school since I was an embryo in my mothers womb and I have the pins to prove it! I have been sanctified, edified, holified, baptized, immortalized, crucified, dignified, and mortified in this here church house! My granddaddy was a deacon. My momma was the church clerk. My great uncle was the treasurer. My daddy was the song leader and I have been riding this here pine pew since before you were born! So don't tell me to stop going to church, mister!
Yep. That's right. I said it, but hear me out: STOP GOING TO CHURCH .START BEING THE CHURCH! Christians spend too much time going to church and not enough time being the church. Think about that and let it sink in for a few minutes. If you are an active church member, how often do you go to church? Now, I am in NO WAY advocating that you stop attending church. God expects us to meet with other believers to engage in corporate worship (Hebrews 10:25). After the resurrection of Christ, the disciples began meeting on the first day of the week; however, a believer should attend church any time his/her church decides to meet. Allow me to begin by defining the term, church, because I am afraid many people have the wrong idea of what church means as we use the word very loosely. We go to church (meaning a worship service); we sit in a church (meaning a building); and, we are part of a church family (meaning a local group of Christians). In the Bible we find the word church with two different meanings. It can mean all believers in the world united as one or the more common biblical definition: a local body of believers, such as the church at Antioch, the church at Ephesus, the church at Corinth, etc. Either way, God has given believers a special responsibility that is to be carried out only by the church. In Matthew 28:19, Jesus says, Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you, and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age (New King James Version). That's it plain and simple -MAKE DISCIPLES. Now the challenge: How can we make disciples if we just go to church? Let me ask you a question: When was the last time an unbeliever wandered into one of your worship services, sat down, and became a disciple? It doesn't happen that way. The reality today is the same as it was 2000 years ago. Unbelievers don't come to church, therefore we must GO to them. We must realize that God isn't lost, people are lost. Stop going to church, and start being the church. The problem here is that most of us think that because we get out of bed on Sunday morning, get ready, and sit through an hour-long grueling sermon, then God owes us something. God doesn't owe us anything, because he has given us everything! We meet with other believers to worship and serve Him. We attend worship on Sunday morning to get our spiritual tanks full so we can BE the church during the week. Get involved in Gods work! Volunteer at the Mission House, help build a Habitat for Humanity house, help a neighbor in need, go visit a lonely widow, offer a listening ear for someone going through a tragedy, teach a Bible study at the jail, or whatever God tells you to do! BE THE CHURCH! If you will do these things while sharing Gods love, people will begin to thirst for God and you will have to opportunity share Gods saving grace. For too long we have sit in our pews whining about declining church attendance and the wickedness of the world. Stop complaining and start doing. Get out of your comfort zone and do something for God! Together, we can change the world one disciple at a time. STOP GOING TO CHURCH! BE THE CHURCH!
