The short answer is yes in my opinion. Now for the long answer.
First, I can only base this on my experience, not that of hearsay or word of mouth. I refuse to sit in judgement of those that I know nothing about and I refuse to question the motivations and spiritual well being of anyone I don’t know. It is not my place to do so. God will have the final word when the time comes. (more…)
Do we have to go to church?
The age old question… Does the Bible command us to go to church?
The arguments for and against are many. I’ve heard things like:
* I don’t need church to worship God
* I worship God everyday, not just Sunday
* I’m tired of hearing preachers preach and not worshiping God
The list goes on and on.
In a recent Bible Study associated with my church, we were talking about something that I feel goes hand in hand with this. And there is no simple answer. The answer I use for me is:
Heb 10:25 - 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.
The entire concept of church as a function or building is biblically incorrect. “Church” is not a function or a building but an entity as I discussed here.
Opinion…
Taking the “church” as the Body of Christ, the Body of Believers, we all bring something to the table. We bring our weaknesses and our strengths. We bring the things that cause us to stumble and the things we can remain steadfast in.
By surrounding ourselves with other members of the Body of Christ, we allow ourselves to be held accountable by other members. If my weakness is adult drinks, then my expectation is that the other believers I am associating with will be there for me to help me resist the temptation. And if their weakness is pornography, their expectation should be that I will assist them when I can to fight that temptation.
This holds true at our family level as well. Your spouse should compliment and support you in your spiritual life in the same manner.
The more people in the “group”, be it a bible study, family, church organization or what, the more support, accountability for all. But this requires faith and trust in the people surrounding you.
James 5:16 tells us: Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.
Be careful here. We are dealing with human fallibility too. Make sure you can trust the people you confess your sins too. But do confess them. And pray about them. And be humble. And pray about them more. The power of prayer is limitless.
Lastly… Matthew 18:20 says it all for us. “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.”
In closing, if we surround ourselves with believers from the Body of Christ, we have accountability and the presence of Christ with us. What a win win situation!!!
In my opinion, going to “church” on Sunday morning isn’t “required”. Surrounding yourself with other members of the Body of Christ, frequently and as much as possible… is. Period. So go to your Sunday morning meeting, praise God, learn from the leaders God has provided for us, fellowship and hold each other accountable.
Have you ever wondered? Who “has it on right”? Who is “doing it right”? Is it the Assembly of God? Southern Baptist? Independent Fundamental Baptist? Free Will? Missionary? Pentecostal? Church of Christ? How many more options are there? Too many.
Factions.
The Apostle Paul specifically addressed this in several areas. Let’s look at
the first part.
Romans 14
The Weak and the Strong
1-Accept him whose faith is weak, without passing judgment on disputable matters. 2-One man’s faith allows him to eat everything, but another man, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. 3-The man who eats everything must not look down on him who does not, and the man who does not eat everything must not condemn the man who does, for God has accepted him. 4-Who are you to judge someone else’s servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.
He also addressed factionalism when addressing the church at Corinth…
1Co 4:5 Therefore judge nothing before the appointed time; wait till the Lord comes. He will bring to light what is hidden in darkness and will expose the motives of men’s hearts. At that time each will receive his praise from God.
1Co 4:6 Now, brothers, I have applied these things to myself and Apollos for your benefit, so that you may learn from us the meaning of the saying, “Do not go beyond what is written.” Then you will not take pride in one man over against another.
Paul admonishes the Corinthians against aligning behind men, himself, Peter and Apollos. He literally spends the first four chapters of the first letter to the church in Corinth talking about this.
Paul sets out the standards in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15:
10-By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. 11-For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12-If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, 13-his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work. 14-If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. 15-If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.
With these scriptures as our guide, it makes it rather simple to determine which church is right. Using the benchmark of the Bible… it defines “the church”.
The church is the body of Christ. We as believers are part of the body of Christ. We are the church. The church is not a building with a name, or a denomination with a title, and even less so, an organization with a man as a figure head.
The Bible teaches us this:
Mat 16:15-16 He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
Rom 10:9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
So regardless of the titles, or more accurately, in spite of the titles we give our churches, once we have met the criteria outlined above, we are adopted sons of God and members of the body of Christ, our church.
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