Why go to church?

[Johnniespy]

I have had many of my friends ask me this. Sometimes when friends spend the night they ask if we have to go. the problem is some of my friends don't know why we go to church. One reason is because no one person can know everything that the Bible tells us. Even if someone has read the Bible eight times they may know the bible from thier perspective. When we go to church we can understand things from more peoples perspectives. Then you can learn more each time we read the Bible. That is how i think about it.

 

[laterunner]

You could say that Christians ( Christ's life followers) don't go to church they are The Church of whom Christ is the head.:shade:
We come together because ------>
1) this is promoted in the bible
2) that pleases God the creater who made us for His purpose.
3) humans are social beings who grow in maturity in the company of others who please us & help rub of the rough edges we have.

How you put this in simple terms for them I none too sure.:embarasse
We can only do good for those who come to us or with us.

 

[jiggyfly]

I have had many of my friends ask me this. Sometimes when friends spend the night they ask if we have to go. the problem is some of my friends don't know why we go to church. One reason is because no one person can know everything that the Bible tells us. Even if someone has read the Bible eight times they may know the bible from thier perspective. When we go to church we can understand things from more peoples perspectives. Then you can learn more each time we read the Bible. That is how i think about it.

The truth is we are the Church and the reality is when your friends ( if they aren't born-again) spend the night, they just came to the Church.
Jesus did not intend for us to go to Church, but rather the Church to GO.

 

[Theophilus]

Because the bible commands you to,

how is "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." Hebrews 10:25

the next question is what is church but that took me 11 pages last time I had a shot at it and that was a really limited answer

 

[Theophilus]

querry

) spend the night, they just came to the Church.
Jesus did not intend for us to go to Church, but rather the Church to GO.

jiggyfly if you are refering to the Mathew 28:18 for your justification of this statement it is a little weak, the greek is better rendered AS YOU GO, mission is not an event it is a lifestyle.

 

[jiggyfly]

jiggyfly if you are refering to the Mathew 28:18 for your justification of this statement it is a little weak, the greek is better rendered AS YOU GO, mission is not an event it is a lifestyle.

I base it on the whole New Testament, we are God's house.

1Peter 2:4-6
4*Come to Christ, who is the living cornerstone of God’s temple. He was rejected by the people, but he is precious to God who chose him.
5*And now God is building you, as living stones, into his spiritual temple. What’s more, you are God’s holy priests, who offer the spiritual sacrifices that please him because of Jesus Christ. 6*As the Scriptures express it,
“I am placing a stone in Jerusalem,*
a chosen cornerstone,
and anyone who believes in him
will never be disappointed.* ”

Acts 7:48-50
48*However, the Most High doesn’t live in temples made by human hands. As the prophet says,
49* ‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.
Could you ever build me a temple as good as that?’
asks the Lord.
‘Could you build a dwelling place for me?
50* Didn’t I make everything in heaven and earth?’*

Acts 17:24&25
24*“He is the God who made the world and everything in it. Since he is Lord of heaven and earth, he doesn’t live in man-made temples, 25*and human hands can’t serve his needs—for he has no needs.

1Corinthians 3:16&17
16*Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in* you? 17*God will bring ruin upon anyone who ruins this temple. For God’s temple is holy, and you Christians are that temple.

1Corinthians 6:19
*Or don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God?

2Corinthians 6:16
*And what union can there be between God’s temple and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God said:
“I will live in them
and walk among them.
I will be their God,
and they will be my people.*

 

[sunshine307]

Amen jiggyfly, the church is not a building, the church is the body of Christ - us.

 

[fightngwrmwood]

Hi Johnniespy,

I liked what you wrote about learning other people's perspectives. Good topic!

Last Sunday - and this ties into what Nigh brough up on Mike's wonderful blessing post - my pastor was asking us if we ever came to church looking for what we were going to get out of it. Was the sermon going to be good? Were we going to like the music? etc - maybe in line with what your friends are asking. What do you get out of it for going?

He encouraged us to ask what we could give on a Sunday. I really liked that. Church is an awesome opportunity to find not just fellow believers to connect with and to be challenged ourselves, but to find people open to God and wanting Him to work in their lives. I find lots of opportunities to pray for people and contribute, even if I don't have a commitment connected ot the service. Greeters don't just have the bulletins!

Amen Jiggyfly and Sunshine- we are His body!

fww

 

[sunshine307]

On the subject of going to church - do you know that if you don't go to church one Sunday, maybe you just can't be bothered, that someone else might be missing out on a blessing? How do you know what God wants you to do, or say something to another member, that maybe just is what they need to hear at that minute in time?

 

[Theophilus]

Jiggyfly - I agree whole heartedly that the church is the people not any religious rock pile. What I was trying to get at is the "send them forth" mentality that alot of Christians get into when it comes to the ministry of reconciliation that we all have.

Certainly there are biblical examples of sending, that by the elders of the Church at Antioch of the Apostle Paul and Barnabas to Cyprus (acts 13).

However there is also a general emphases on proclaiming the kingdom of God in your day to day life James puts it "I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18b).

That is all I was getting at, sorry if it wasn't clear or seemed abrupt

 

[jiggyfly]

Jiggyfly - I agree whole heartedly that the church is the people not any religious rock pile. What I was trying to get at is the "send them forth" mentality that alot of Christians get into when it comes to the ministry of reconciliation that we all have.
Certainly there are biblical examples of sending, that by the elders of the Church at Antioch of the Apostle Paul and Barnabas to Cyprus (acts 13).
However there is also a general emphases on proclaiming the kingdom of God in your day to day life James puts it "I will show you my faith by my works" (James 2:18b).
That is all I was getting at, sorry if it wasn't clear or seemed abrupt

I totally agree with you Theophilus, what I meant by go was when we go to the grocery store, the laundry, to work and so on. I am big on loving my neighbor first and then go to other neighborhoods.

 

[Coconut]

What I want to know is how "what is church" took up 11 pages?

Just teasing Theophilus, excellent thread..carry on

 

[Chad]

You could say that Christians ( Christ's life followers) don't go to church they are The Church of whom Christ is the head.:shade:
We come together because ------>
1) this is promoted in the bible
2) that pleases God the creater who made us for His purpose.
3) humans are social beings who grow in maturity in the company of others who please us & help rub of the rough edges we have.

How you put this in simple terms for them I none too sure.:embarasse
We can only do good for those who come to us or with us.

Very nice brother. As others put it, we are the Church and the Church must (as a united body in Christ) GO and preach to the lost while maintaining awesome edification to each other with the Lord Jesus Christ.

May the Holy Spirit guide us all

 

[Theophilus]

What I want to know is how "what is church" took up 11

the problem is I tend to quote the major slabs of Scripture I am thinking about when I write (keeps some focus on God and not on my ideas). You ever gone and picked out the slabs of text on the meeting of the church and the role of the church in the NT. 5 pages at least just quoting the word.

It was a very cool place to come out of to write but it took hours.

 

[Johnniespy]

The Church

We are the church, the church of Christ. The dictionary puts it two ways:1.) a building in which christians follow 2.) a political or social force. The second one is more true, biblically speaking.

 

[SpiritLedEd]

I "go to church" for the group worship experience. There seems to be more Holy Spirit power loosed during group worship than we experience worshipping God alone. I think of the places in Scripture that speak of worship in the heavenlies. Its always multitudes of angels worshipping. And God deserves group worship, the best group worship we can give. Its not for us, its for Him.

SLE