Why Church Matters
As far as I can remember, I grew up in a small
rural Lutheran Church in India. As a child, I was baptized by sprinkling water
and later confirmed. At age eighteen, I got saved in the same Church and was
baptized as an adult at a Pentecostal Church convention. I was very active as a
youth in that Church, acted in Christmas dramas, led a Youth Group, and, on one
Good Friday, preached my first sermon. Looking back, I have fond memories of
that small Lutheran Church.
As a missionary with Youth With A Mission, I
became a member of the Assemblies of God Church. I served and ministered in
that Church. We got all three of our daughters dedicated there. We stayed with
that Church for 20 years until we moved to the USA in 2005. After completing my
theological studies, I have been pastoring two churches for over 16 years.
I love being part of a local church, not only
because I am a pastor, but also because I am a sheep who needs to belong to a
flock and be cared for by a kind shepherd. In India, when it comes to
practicing religion, Hindus go to Temples, Muslims go to Mosques, Sikhs go to
Gurdwaras, and Christians go to Churches weekly if not more. In the USA, many
christians don't go to Church and deconstruct their faith. Some churches are
neither christian nor a church. In this pluralistic country, does the Church
really matter? How about a local Church, however small or big it may be? Today,
we will look at Why Church Matters, what secular people say about
the Church, and why we need to be committed to a local Church. Hebrews 10:19-25.
What is the Church?
Many people today have a
wrong notion of the Church as a building and programs. The English word Church
is a translation of the Greek word ekklesia, which is defined as "an
assembly of called-out ones who gather for Worshipping God and fellowshipping
with other believers. It is not necessarily a building. Biblically, we can
regard the Church in two ways:
The Global and the Local
Church. The Global Church refers to every believer in Christ who has
ever lived. Every follower of Christ everywhere, regardless of denominational
label, whether in a church building, a tent, or a little hut, is part of the
Universal or Global Church.
The other way "church"
is used is to refer to a local group or a specific place. Like the Church at
Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, or the Church that met in Lydia's home, the Church is
used locally. It's used only four times in the Bible to refer to a general,
universal sense. Almost every time you see the word "church," it
refers to a specific group of believers in a specific locality.
Hope Church, First Baptist Church, Our Lady
of Sorrows, etc., are not the Church in the sense of the Global Church. Rather,
they are local churches, local bodies of believers.
The moment you give
your life to Jesus, you are automatically a part of God's Global Church. But
you don't become a part of a local church until you make that choice. Being part of a local Church
is being part of a family. Every Christian needs a church family. Let us
explore why the Church matters and why we really need the local Church.
I. The Church is a Meeting Place where the
Living God is Worshipped.
What
are Mosques, Temples, Synagogues, Gurudwaras, and Churches called by the
Government? Houses of Worship. Worshipping God dates back to Cain and Abel. (Gen
4:1-5). By looking at how they worshipped, we can see that God accepts only
certain ways of worship.
and rejects others. In the OT, people
worshipped God by offering sacrifices on the altars and in the Tabernacle, or
the Tent of Meeting, a portable sanctuary, later on in the Temple.
Here is God's view of the Tent of Meeting: It
was a place of regular offerings. A place where God met with Moses and the Israelites
and spoke with them. He consecrated the altar, the tent of meeting, and the
Levites and their sons. He dwelt among the Israelites and became their God.
Exodus 29: 42-46. Local Church is a poor imitation of the Tabernacle or the
Temple.
What happened in the Tabernacle, in the OT, I
hope, also happens in a small way whenever God's people gather to worship God
in a local Church. We offer our bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing
to God, which is our true and proper worship. (Rom 12:1). David A. Currie
notes, "Historically, the drama of Worship has followed a four-act model: 1.
God gathers Us to himself. 2. God speaks to us through His Word. 3. God moves
us to respond. 4. God sends us out to serve. God is the main actor in these
four movements since Worship is God's Idea."[1]
When we gather for worship on Sunday
mornings, I hope that we see these four acts of God. God consecrates and dwells
in the hearts of people. We will sense God's presence among us. God will speak
to us through His anointed servants and will send us out to be His witnesses.
II. When Everything Else Is Destroyed, God's
Church Will Endure Forever.
There is only one thing that Jesus Christ is
actively building is His Church. Matt 16:18, "And I tell you, you are
Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it." Jesus has laid a foundation for a worldwide,
indestructible Church on Himself. It is not a structural building in a certain
location, but the Kingdom of God's people.
According to Paul, "Consequently, you
are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God's people
and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and
prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole
building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And
in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives
by his Spirit."
Over the centuries, many have tried to
destroy God's Church, and even today, many are trying to destroy it, but they
have never succeeded. All believers together belong to that indestructible
Global Church, but they gather locally to worship God and grow in their faith.
III. Why We Really Need The Local Church
Though
we belong to God's universal Church, we really need the local Church. "A
local church is a visible, tangible, and real-world expression of the body of
Christ," says Joshua Harris, in Why Church Matters.[2] To become emotionally and mentally healthy,
we need to be committed to a local Church. That is what even secular people are
realizing these days.
Let's suppose you suffer from chronic
physical or mental illness and are looking for one magic pill to fix it. What
if a Harvard School of Public Health Professor says, "A pill of that sort
exists, and prescribes it for you? Tyler VanderWeele notes, "The good news
is that this miracle drug religion, and more specifically regular Church
attendance, is in reach of most of us."
You might not have expected a Harvard
professor to write you this prescription: "Church. Take once a week (or
more) for better effects." Data has shown that people who attend religious
services once a week or more are happier, healthier, and longer lived than
those who don't."[3]
I encourage you to attend Church every week and see how it improves your mental
and physical health. For more on this, read this book "How Church Could
(Literally Save Your Life)."
IV. Attending Local Church Regularly protects
us from heresy in the Last Days.
We
are living in a world where there are so many conspiracy theories, including in
the Churches. How can you
combat these heretical teachings if you never attend the Church, hear wholesome
teaching, and read God's Word? For that reason, as the Apostle Paul warned us,
let us make it a habit to attend Church regularly, as the Day of the Lord fast approaches. Hebrews 10:24-25. In closing, the Church
really matters because it is the meeting place where we worship God. When
Everything else fails, God's Church endures forever. Attending a local Church
protects us from heresy and promotes our emotional and mental health. Amen!
