Why should Christians go to church ? How important is it ?
Some people joke about the “ Bedside Baptists ” who attend the “ Chapel of the Tube ” on Sunday mornings . But it ’ s more than a joke . Many people refuse to get near a church unless their nephew is playing the role of a sheep in the Christmas pageant ! They claim they can get more out of a walk in the woods than from the typical sermon .
Can a Christian survive apart from a church ? Some Christians have no choice . They are trapped in a hospital bed , or working in an isolated area where no church exists . And God is certainly sufficient to care for their needs . You can still get to heaven if you can ’ t go to church .
But even though it ’ s technically possible to live the Christian life in isolation , it ’ s certainly not the norm .
When you become a Christian , you are called into a relationship with God ( 1 Corinthians 1:9 ). But I John 1:3 makes it clear that we enter a fellowship that goes two ways : with God and with other Christians .
The New Testament never divides Christians into the church members and the non-church members . All the way through , it assumes that everybody participates in their local assembly . It gives no samples of Christians who belong to the “ universal church ” but have no link with a local church . One scholar has said that “ any idea … of enjoying salvation or being a Christian in isolation is foreign to the New Testament writings ” ( Alan Stibbs , God ’ s Church , p . 92 ). Wherever Christians are within range of each other in the New Testament , they meet . Every time the apostle Paul comes to a town in the book of Acts where there are no Christians , he wins a few converts and immediately organizes them into a small group - a little church .
Acts 20:7 reveals the practice of the early church : “ And upon the first day of the week , when the disciples came together to break bread , Paul preached to them .” For Christians in every location , regular gathering was a part of life .
It ’ s illogical to say that you are merely part of the worldwide , universal church , yet refuse to gather with the segment of that universal church that exists in your geographical area . It would be like claiming you have a car , when the right fender is in Phoenix , the engine is in Tucson , and the wheels are in Paradise Valley ! You don ’ t have a car ; you have the beginning of the inventory for a junkyard . It just won ’ t function until the pieces are put together .
The church must be together to carry out many of its purposes .
Here are some irreplaceable pieces of the Christian that cannot happen when you live in isolation from the church :
12 December Edition