Church Lovers
January 28, 2009 • By Ed Wrather
01.28.09
And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist. And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence. - Colossians 1:17-18.
And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. - Hebrews 10:24-25.
These things I write to you, though I hope to come to you shortly; but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. - 1 Timothy 3:14-15.
Last Sunday, one 23-year-old ended up unexpectedly going to church in Limbach-Oberfrohna in eastern Germany. The driver missed a curve going through a guardrail and then up an embankment where the car was launched into the air for over a hundred feet before crashing through and lodging in the roof a church. The driver was rescued from the vehicle and taken to the hospital but the current condition is unknown. What a ride that must have been!
Early last Saturday morning in St. Clair Shores, Michigan, Robert Schumake (43-years-old) was driving while intoxicated and crashed into the Bethel Lutheran Church destroying a $10,000 stained glass window. Last year, Roman Zeferino (48-years-old) was teaching himself how to drive in Covington, Louisiana when he lost control of the Ford Explorer and crashed into the Iglesia de Dios Ebenezer Church. Earlier this month in Avoca, Pennsylvania a driver crashed into the United Methodist Church. The driver fled the scene and may face charges.
Have you ever heard the old saying, "You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink?" You can lead a person to church, but you can’t make him attend either. Even though I once had a vision of a church and a few hours later my car broke down in front of that church it was still several years later before I began attending church faithfully. It was not because I didn’t know I should be in church, I just did not go.
Now just to be clear the church building is not the church. Believers are the church; however, a place where believers regularly attend is a special place because of the presence and prayers of believers. Prayers are often said for those entering into a church building and for those passing by a church building.
Why should anyone want to attend church, assemble with other believers? The first and really only reason that matters is that God says that we ought to. It is not a suggestion in the Book of Hebrews but a command that we attend church. Whose idea was it to have church? It was God’s idea. The church is "…the pillar and ground of the truth." Jesus Christ is the "…head of the body, the church…."
While God will not force you to attend church, He will try to obtain your attention about your need to attend. You may not crash through a guardrail and fly through the air to land inside of church, but He may speak to you about it in His still, small voice. God may not give you a vision, but He may send a friend who will ask you to come to church with them. Is it God’s will for you to attend church? The answer for every believer is "Yes!" Have no doubt about that and when you fail to attend church you are outside of God’s will for your life, unless there is some unforeseen event or some condition that prevents your doing so.
My only regret about church attendance is of the years that I did not attend. How much more quickly I would have grown in the Lord and would have much sooner found God’s will for my life if I had only been in church during those years. Are you seeking God’s will for your life? Then, make sure that you obey those things that you know are His will like attending church. You will find His will for other things in your life much sooner if you are in church. Make a commitment to be obedient in church attendance, and I promise you will never regret it. Every believer ought to be a lover of the church.
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