Rev. Aaron Long: What about the Church?

Column

Opinion

I have written on this before and I will probably write on this again because this is a topic that gets overlooked in modern Christianity much more than it should be.  If you are a Christian, you will be in the visible church.

I know that everybody has their excuses, but that’s just that, an excuse.  Unless you are disabled or in a country where there is no legal visible church to attend if you are saved you will be gathering with God’s people weekly, fewllowshiping, participating in the sacraments, studying the bible, growing in your faith.

The church is the body of Christ, the called-out assembly of saints.  We are supposed to be growing in holiness, in love for God and in love for neighbor.  That is only possible if we are gathered together as the body.  There are no lone ranger Christians, there are no I talk with God in the deer stand or at home by myself and that’s all I need Christians.  If you aren’t in the body and have the opportunity, then you are lying to yourself and others about being a Christian in the first place.

I can hear you now, but I don’t get fed at church.  If that is your attitude then you are going for the wrong reason, this falls under the same excuse I choose my church based on my musical preference. V If these are reasons you are giving you aren’t worshiping God at all; you are serving your own selfish desires.  We don’t go to worship for ourselves, we go for two reasons, to fulfill the fourth commandment and to worship God.  It isn’t about you, it isn’t about me, its about Jesus.  If you knew what Christianity truly was you would not be serving your own preferences and desires, you would be seeking to become more and more like Jesus every day and put Him and His will first and forget about yourself.

But you might say people in the church hurt me, they are a bunch of hypocrites, yay, you won the we are all people award.  Yes, that is true, it is also true about school and work, do you quit going to those things because you are a whiner?  No, so when you say that it’s just an excuse.  Add to tat how many people have you hurt over the years?  How many times have you been a hypocrite?  To quote Jesus pull the log out of your own eye before you start trying to pull the log out of other peoples.

Notice I have not made a denominational claim here.  We can go into that argument in another place at another time, right now what I am saying is you have absolutely no reason not to drag your lazy rear end out of bed on Sunday morning other than you are sorry and get it church.  We are supposed to be with God’s people.  We are supposed to hear the word, to celebrate the sacraments.  Get over yourself and do it or quit lying to yourself and others and calling yourself a Christian.

We aren’t saved by the church, we are saved by Jesus, but if we are saved we will be in the church.