to return to your place in the text.To read endnotes, click on the the note number, then click on the
His friend replied, "Naw, I don't feel guilty. My wife
wasn't feeling well this morning, so I wouldn't have been able to
go to church anyway."
Another story. A young lad was late getting to worship.
After the service the pastor greeted him and inquired as to why
he had been late. With little hesitation the boy said that he
was going to go fishing until his dad told him no. Although
disappointed that the boy would even consider going fishing
instead of coming to church, the minister affirmed the father's
wise choice. Then he asked, "Where's dad?"
The lad answered quickly, "He said there wasn't enough bait
for both of us to go fishing so he went alone."
Fishing on Sunday morning...or golf...or the beach or the
mountains. Happens all the time. If absence makes the heart
grow fonder, some people must dearly LOVE their church.
"And what denomination are you?"
"I'm a Seventh Day ABSENTIST!"
What is the big deal about coming from week to week anyway?
It was not all that long ago that no less a leading light than
Minnesota's Governor Jesse Ventura declared in a Playboy
interview, "Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people who need strength in numbers."(1) Why bother with
church? A good question as this congregation wonders about a new
pastor. There are lots of reasons to stay away. Church is not
very entertaining: preachers can be pretty boring; the music is
not exactly Hit Parade; it takes time out of one of the few
chances during the week when folks can just sit back and relax;
there is every likelihood that you will be asked to take on some
chore if you show up; and worst of all, they figure you should
actually pay money for the privilege. The NERVE of an outfit
like that!
A mother wrote in Readers' Digest that she once asked her
young son what was the highest number he had ever counted to. He
replied, "537."
She asked, "Why did you stop there?"
He replied, "Church was over." Hmmm.
Some people do not bother with church because they think
they are too good for it. They look at the folks who DO come
from week to week and see petty, back-biting gossips; they see
business people who worship every Sunday but whose ethics on
Monday are no different from those who never darken the door;
they read and hear of the excesses of the televangelists. They
put all this together and then claim that the church is just a
bunch of hypocrites - and they do not want to be accused of being
the same thing by joining in with them - Thank you!
At the other end of the spectrum are those who think they
are not good ENOUGH for the church. They have gotten the message
that unless they meet a certain social standard, unless they wear
certain kinds of clothes, unless they drive certain kinds of
cars, unless they live in a certain kind of home, unless they
make a certain amount of money, we do not want them. If they
have ever had any kind of marital difficulties or problems with
the law, we would prefer they stay away. And for that matter, if
they are ALREADY a member of the fellowship and some problem
comes to light, we would just as soon throw them out. It has
been said, "The church is the only organization in history that
shoots its wounded." Churches sometimes can be exceedingly cold,
and that is sad.
Jesse Ventura's challenge comes thundering once more:
"Organized religion is a sham and a crutch for weak-minded people
who need strength in numbers." Why SHOULD someone bother with
church? I will grant the church is NOT all that it ought to be.
But, apologies to the Governor, it is tremendously MORE than any
other organization has ever been.
Millions of lives have been changed by the message preached
and taught in the church through the years. People have been
challenged to reach new heights in their relationships to both
God and neighbor. Christian missionaries have gone to the far
reaches of the globe sharing the gospel as they healed the sick,
taught people how to read and write, brought new and better tools
for the improvement of life.
In our own nation, how many great institutions of learning
were founded by the church? How many hospitals bear names like
"Good Samaritan," "Baptist," "Methodist," "Presbyterian?" How
many day care centers, soup kitchens and retirement homes are
operated by churches? How many millions have been raised for
disaster relief? How many hours of private counseling have been
sought? To whom do people finally come when they realize the
bankruptcy of their lives before a holy and righteous God? There
is no question that more could have been and can be done, that
there have been occasional horrible aberrations, but no other
organization anywhere at anytime has done NEARLY as much as the
church!
A Gallup poll sometime back found four things concerning
people who are highly committed to a church:
Add to all that the fact that hundreds of studies published
in mainstream medical journals show that people who attend
religious services, who pray and read scriptures:
Church is quite literally good for you!(2)
But there is an even MORE important reason to bother with
church: God's Word tells us to. Listen to what we heard in our
lesson again:
To those who complain about the hypocrites in the church, we
say IT IS TRUE! There ARE hypocrites...along with all sorts of
other miserable sinners. But then, that IS why we are here -
because we KNOW we need help. We need to be spurred on. Jesus
said, "I came NOT to call the righteous, but sinners."(4) The
church is not a collection of saints. Saints-in-the-making,
perhaps, but not yet. We need the spurs.
We are not to "neglect to meet together, as is the habit of
some." True Christian worship is the gathering of the faithful
to re-enact and call to mind the great truths of the gospel; it
is a hearing again of what God has done for us in Jesus Christ;
it is an opportunity for affirming our commitment to him PUBLICLY
with all that we have and all that we are. It shows the world
whose side we are on! THAT is worship.
Regardless of what some might claim, worship does not happen
in a fishing boat or on a golf course. No question that the
beauty of creation lends itself to reverie...but, as a practical
matter, fishermen are not praising God when the big one gets
away; golfers are not offering any hallelujahs when they take
triple bogey on a hole. To say that any real worship goes on out
there is just not true. Believe me, I know...and I could quote
you the language to prove it...but I won't.
Scripture says we can use our weekly gathering together for
"encouraging one another." Life can be tough. There are times
when we feel like giving up. We NEED the fellowship of caring
people to get us through difficult moments. What Jesse says
about "strength in numbers" is true.
In years past, people turned to the church for that
fellowship, but today, less and less are doing so. Despite the
fact that polls consistently show that Americans are exceedingly
religious (some 95% claiming a belief in God), recent statistics
on the number of unchurched people in this nation make us the
fifth largest mission field in the world. Folks still need help,
but they are not looking for it in the church.
This is no trivial matter. Listen to this. In my files I
have a survey of 1,093 high school seniors taken ten years ago by
an international public relations corporation which concerned how
far these youngsters would stretch ethical standards to get ahead
in the business world.
That was ten years ago. What do you think the results would
be today? If the mainline church, the church that provided the
moral compass for this nation during our first 200 years,
continues to decline as it has over the past generation, who will
shape our nation's values as we move into the 21st century?
Jesse Ventura? I shudder to think. "Do not neglect to meet
together, as is the habit of some..."
Finally, come together...bother with church...because "the
Day [is] approaching." For almost 2,000 years the church has
been waiting for the Lord's return. In every generation since
his ascension, many have been convinced that the last days are
either here now or just around the corner, and ours is no
exception. But, when you think about it, whether the second
coming is near or not, our meeting with Christ IS. Our faith is
firm that when a Christian dies, we go to be with our Lord. That
means the time is short under any circumstance. And that means
we need preparation...the preparation we get in meeting together
from week to week.
Two little boys were walking down the street and turned in
the driveway toward one lad's home. On the porch was the boy's
grandmother - it was a nice day, and she was sitting in a rocking
chair reading the Bible. The one lad asked the other, "What's
your grandmother doing?"
The boy responded, "I think she's cramming for finals."
I realize that I have been preaching to the converted this
morning; after all, YOU ARE HERE. But it will be you and you and
you and you who will help to get friends and family to worship
from week to week - people come to church because they are
INVITED and because they feel WELCOME! That will be up to you.
Perhaps, as an added incentive, we can do what one church is
purported to have done and offer a "No Excuse Sunday." On "No
Excuse Sunday,"
History offers no parallel to the church. There is no
question that what goes on in parliaments and legislatures, in
Congress halls and Senate chambers, is always of importance to
humanity. But when the world is out of joint, when people's
minds are disordered and their hearts are failing them for fear,
then the thing of supreme importance is the living church, with
all of her sanctuaries of worship and her avenues of service,
where men and women come to have their faith strengthened, their
thoughts clarified, their ideas uplifted, their convictions born,
and their characters created. You see the church has introduced
the world to a vision of perfection. The church has introduced
the world to Jesus Christ.
Over 170 years ago, the French sociologist Alexis de
Tocqueville came to these shores to study this fledgling
democracy. He studied the cities and towns, factories and farms,
rivers and harbors. He wrote, "I sought for the greatness and
genius of America in [all these places, but] it was not there.
Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her
pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of
her genius and power."(6)
Why bother with church? There are lots of reasons to stay
away. But they pale in comparison to the reasons we have to
come. It is the LORD'S church, the Lord's WORK, it is the Lord's
WORD that calls us to fellowship. Our future...as individuals,
as a nation, as a world...depends on it. And where will you be
next Sunday? In church!
Amen!
1. November, 1999 2. Phyllis McIntosh, "Why Doctors Say Faith is Powerful Medicine ... not just for the mind,
for the body," Remedy, November/December 1997 3. Stanley Hauerwas and William Willimon, Resident Aliens: Life in the Christian Colony,
(Nashville: Abingdon, 1989), p. 102 4. Matthew 9:13, Mark 2:17, Luke 5:32 5. Newsweek, 10/30/89, p. 10 6. Pastor's Professional Research Service
Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and
good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the
habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the
more as you see the Day approaching.
I wish the translators had chosen some other word than
"provoke" - there is already enough of the wrong kind of
provocation in churches. A better choice might be "to spur one
another on...to love and good deeds." We gather together to
remind each other what God has done for us in Christ; we can have
our attention called to the things that need doing in our world,
things in which we can make a difference; we can challenge
ourselves to make the improvements in our own lives that we know
would be pleasing to God. "There is no substitute for living
around other Christians. [The] primary way of learning to be
disciples is by being in contact with others who are disciples."(3)
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