VALUE THE CHURCH

 by Pastor Gary Short

The writer of Hebrews exhorted those people to 'not forsake the gathering of themselves together', and he warned this will become more critical as the day of the Lord approaches.  What was the reason for this strong statement?

The church is the only God-ordained organization which is intended to stimulate personal growth, worship and fulfill the great Commission.  In spite of any of the failures or abuses you may be able to recount about the church, your Christian life will never be what God intended it to be without committed involvement in the church.  Paul said that the church is the 'foundation and support of the truth'.  Every believer needs to be committed to a local church, and to make attending that church and doing ministry in and through that church a high priority in their lives.  If you are not in church regularly, every Sunday—you may be missing more than you think!

 Let me give you some reasons to be in church every Sunday:

• When you are slack about church attendance you are teaching your children that God, His Word and His people are of secondary importance.  Don't be shocked if your children grow up to not serve God or to be non-committed people.
  
  
• The church is called the Body of Christ.  This means that each of us is a part of this body and that we are interdependent on one-another.  If we don't attend church and are not involved, we are severing ourselves from the body.  When this happens we put ourselves in the position to neither receive what God has given others for us, nor to use the gifts He has given us to minister to others in His body.

• Christianity is all about relationships.  First of all, relationship with God, but also relationships with other people in the local church are very important.  When you miss church on a regular basis or you go from church to church it is impossible to develop the kinds of committed relationships that cause us to grow.  We need the people who annoy and rub us the wrong way as much as those we call friends.  We need the people who aren't exactly the ones we would pick for friends if it was all left up to us—get the idea? This is how we truly learn to give and receive love and it only happens in the church.

• The Church is the "foundation and support of the truth"—God has ordained the church to be the place where we connect with and grow in the truth of God.

• If your church attendance is sporadic or non-existent you open yourself to deception and you don't have a passionate love for God’s Word or His truth.

The reason people don't attend church every Sunday is they have misguided priorities.  People who aren't in church are putting their job or family before God, or they are nursing some past wound, or they are controlled by the flesh and put pleasure and sleep before God. Others don't make a priority simply because they are not hungry for God.  Some of these people are jaded, because at one time they were pursuing God and something disappointed them.  If this is you, it is time to get out of the past and look at the opportunity that is in front of us. You can say, the church is hypocritical, the church is dead, the church is irrelevant, the church is this or that.  Get revival in your own heart and the church will become what it is supposed to be because—you are the church.  Make a new commitment to be there and be involved.  Just do it—every Sunday.

I know that many people have been terribly wounded in the church.  If you are so wounded that you can't seem to re-engage let me urge you to get the help you need, there is no shame in seeking out godly council.

God's presence is so fulfilling, there is nothing like it!  Thankfully we are in a time when God is pouring His fresh presence out on His church.   This is one of those ground floor opportunities.  There is a new move happening—be there.