Excuses - "I Don't Need The Church."

I enjoy exercise. I enjoy going to the gym at our church, getting on the elliptical and listening to my Zeppelin or ZZ Top for 30-40 minutes. Sometimes, there are good people there – I encourage them and they encourage me. I always feel better after I exercise, and if I get in a regular schedule . . . I sleep a lot better. But, here’s the deal: I’m hot and cold when it comes to exercise. I get out of the routine, and then I stop going, and then I set deadlines like this: “Okay, after this holiday, I’ll start back.” But, I never do. Because the longer and longer I put off going back, the less likely I am to go back. I don’t go back . . . despite how good I know it makes me feel. I develop a casual attitude toward exercise and my health suffers.

I believe that all believers are drawn to one another. (1 Corinthians 12:13). There is only one Holy Spirit. He resides in each follower of Jesus. It is the Holy Spirit within us that draws us toward other believers. I believe there are a lot of believers who know they should be in the fellowship of other believers. I believe they even want to be in the fellowship of other believers, but, like me and the gym, they have been so long outside the fellowship that it’s awkward and uncomfortable to get back in the rhythm. And, outside the fellowship, I can assure you – there is Satan’s playground and it doesn’t take long for him to surround the believer with unbelievers, and the trap door waits to be sprung. Look at families in despair, and then look at how woven they are with other believers through a local church. More often than not, the further we get from the fellowship with other believers the more we ache inside.

My excuses for not going to the gym? I’m too busy, it’s been too long and people there will give me grief, and I can exercise at home. All excuses. (I’ve never worked out at home. I once got all ready, but then poured a glass of grape soda and watched Bonanza instead.) Believers who are not engaged with a fellowship of believers - a church – have all kinds of excuses. All of them are just excuses. Most believers get comfortable using them because Satan convinces believers that the excuses are legitimate and justified. They are not and never will be.

So, I’m going to take four weeks and look at the Top 4 excuses for not being with church. And, I’ll work in reverse order.

No. 4 : “God is everywhere. So, I can be anywhere and worship God. I don’t have to be in church.” I’m not taking away from the power of corporate worship, but how sad it is to have narrowed the church to a one-hour service on Sunday morning.

While corporate worship is absolutely essential to the believer’s faith journey, Acts 2:42-47 gives us the characteristics of the church: Teaching ministry; fellowship ministry; communion (the Lord’s Supper, but also the integrating of lives with one another); and, prayer. They met together all the time. They shared everything they had. They worshipped together, and they practiced hospitality. You see, the fellowship of believers is being arm-in-arm with one another all the time – not just Sunday morning. The believer’s walk with other believers has never been about a one-hour service on Sunday morning. We are the church even when we are not at our church’s property.

A few years ago, I met a friend for breakfast. Once, he and his family were very active in our church. He was involved in several ministries. Then, they got out of the rhythm and ultimately stopped going, and the spread of absences increased until it just became hard to come back. Our breakfast gave me opportunity tell him how much we missed them in Sunday School. He said, “Scott, I’m a believer. We’re just busy on the weekends with our children, and I feel we can worship God wherever we are.”

He was right. God is everywhere, and as worship is a complete focus on honoring and glorifying God, he could worship God anywhere and everywhere.

But, just as I never work out at my home, would he worship God all by himself? Not regularly. Very doubtful. Ultimately, his life has proven out that he can’t do it.
But, he and his family also missed all the other benefits of being with a fellowship of believers.

I certainly can’t encourage others who exercise by working out all alone in my home. And, no one can encourage me, either. My physical and emotional health improves when I am with other people, in public, while exercising.

It’s the same with our faith journey. To experience the fullness of God’s love, through Jesus, we must be involved with other believers. And, that extends from the individual to the family.

In the New Testament book of Hebrews, (10:24-25) it’s written, “And, let us (believers) consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 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.” These verses implore us to spur (incite – stir up) one another for love and service. God did not design believers to be completely independent of one another – He designed us to need one another for love and encouragement, and He caused us to love and encourage one another. To withdraw from corporate strength is like the soldier who lags behind in battle – he is at risk of danger, and he is outside the platoon’s reach of encouragement. But, even worse, he’s not there when needed to encourage and support the other soldiers. You see, we can’t be Christian consumers, only, because at some level that becomes sinful. If faith is all about what I receive then the focus becomes on self, and that’s the root of all sin. I can’t lag behind and be a consumer; I’ve got to be in the mix exercising my faith and allowing others to exercise their faith toward me.

I have started texting my college boys with this, “Who did you encourage today at church?” I am constantly telling them – “find a church where you can see God at work and where you can encourage others. There are lots of faith-based churches – find the one that fits your feet and begin the journey.”

The Hebrews 10:24-25 verses tell us something else: “let us encourage one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

If the Lord came back to Earth today, and He absolutely could, do you want Him to find you separated from the church that He established, that He loves and cherishes like a husband loves his bride? (Ephesians 5:22-23)

Paul writes in Romans 12:5 . . . “So, in Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others.”

When people say they “don’t need church,” here’s what you and I need to understand:

1. They may not know Jesus. They know about Jesus, they may call themselves Christian, but they may have never confessed Jesus as Savior. Scripture is clear – believers need one another. Believers, through the Holy Spirit in each of us, are drawn to one another. Move beyond the church discussion to the faith discussion.
2. They may know Jesus, but they are not following Jesus. They have slipped into a consumer mentality, and don’t understand how much the church needs them.
3.  If they are discussing church (even negatively), let that be your cue that church is on their mind, that the Holy Spirit may be calling them to be with other believers. Don’t’ shrug it off – build a relationship, let them see the value of church to you and your family, and welcome them in to the fellowship.