Why Should We Go to Church?

The church our family has been attending just finished a sermon series called, First Things First, named after that famous quote by the renowned author C.S. Lewis.

The woman who makes a dog the centre of her life loses, in the end, not only her human usefulness and dignity but even the proper pleasure of dog-keeping. The man who makes alcohol his chief good loses not only his job but his palate and all power of enjoying the earlier (and only pleasurable) levels of intoxication. It is a glorious thing to feel for a moment or two that the whole meaning of the universe is summed up in one woman — glorious so long as other duties and pleasures keep tearing you away from her. But clear the decks and so arrange your life (it is sometimes feasible) that you will have nothing to do but contemplate her, and what happens? Of course this law has been discovered before, but it will stand re-discovery. It may be stated as follows: every preference of a small good to a great, or partial good to a total good, involves the loss of the small or partial good for which the sacrifice is made.

Apparently the world is made that way… You can’t get second things by putting them first; you can get second things only by putting first things first.

—C.S. Lewis, “First and Second Things,” God in the Dock

One of the main applications from this short, month long series has been to remind those gathered and those visiting that God calls his people to come to church for his glory and our good. This is an important truth, but it’s also important to understand the why behind this truth.

Have you ever wondered why it is that Christians feel the need to wake up early most Sunday mornings to go to church? Or maybe they don’t need to wake up super early because there is a later service to go to, but they still carve out an hour or two weekly to go to church.

Why do Christians do that?

Why make this sacrifice, giving up time and attention to meet with some invisible diety?

People like to say, “The church is a people, not a place.” But it’s more biblical to say, “The church is a people who gather together in a place.” That place could be in a building, but it could also be in a home or down by the river. Christians throughout history have gathered in all sorts of places—from synagogues to strip malls—but the key thing here is that the church gathers.

Defining The Church

The translation for church used in the Bible is “assembly.” Christians assemble together, or gather together regularly and when they do they are a church. Now, this is where the popular phrase, “The church is a people, not a place,” sounds like it’s right at first because when church is over and people leave the church still exists, it’s not like it appears and then disappears until the next Sunday. So assuming this, someone might say I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian any more than going to Taco Bell makes me a taco (I think it was Justin Bieber who said that once).

To that I would say the church doesn’t stop being a church any more than the Avengers stopped being the Avengers after they fought and defeated Loki in the battle of New York. The Avengers assembled, and they were forever known as the Avengers who protect and save the world. When fat Thor sat on the couch eating chicken wings and drinking beer, he was still an Avenger. Once he gathered together again with the others, he proved he was an Avenger.

Christians go to church regularly because that’s what Christians are called by Jesus to do (Mt 18:20; Acts 2:42-47, 20:7; 1 Cor 14:26; Col 3:16; Heb 10:25). When we gather together, we grow together and we encourage one another.

But church is more than just being with other Christians. It’s encouraging to be around others who can pray for you and who are interested in coming alongside you to help you, but that’s not enough to get me out of bed in the morning on a Sunday.

The Best Part About Going to Church

When Jesus founded his church, he made it all about gathering together in his name to hear from him, pray to him, sing to him, eat a meal together remembering him, and yes, love one another too.

Going to church regularly matters because the church is the only place on this earth where we receive something that we don’t get anywhere else. I go to a coffee shop to get energized, I workout at CrossFit for health reasons, I see my psychiatrist to get prescription medication, I go to the gas station to fill up my empty tank (ouch, that hurts these days), and I go to the movies or stream Netflix to be entertained. All of these places are good for general health, wellness, and they meet different needs and wants that I have, but the only place I can go to hear that my sins have been forgiven by Christ’s life and death for me is by going to church. The church shares a message that is unique and different from everything else.

The world expects me to perform. My parents certainly did growing up. Teachers had expectations too. Fraternity life was also by merit—if you do the work and serve the time you get in. Then you grow up and you’re expected to get a job and work hard. What you put in is what you get out. And then I go to church and I hear a message from the Bible that tells me Jesus performed for me so I don’t have to perform anymore. God accepts me and loves me because Jesus was perfect for me.

I hear this news, and for the first time and second time and thousandth time I’m reminded of grace.

Grace is what makes going to church different from going to Taco Bell, or whatever else. Yeah sure, food is great but you generally have to always pay for it. You don’t pay for grace. Grace is given, it’s not earned.

A Glimpse of Going to Church

When you go to church, the church is God’s embassy of grace. It’s the place where we hear the King address his people offering faith, hope, and love. He clothes us with his good works and he feeds us with his banquet meal (delicious bread and fine wine). It’s a place where people embrace one another as equals, as sinners in need of the same Savior who offers forgiveness in his name. It’s a place where children, women, and men are valued and appreciated for who God has created them to be. As we gather in his presence, we are changed from the inside out.

Now, no church on this earth is perfect. Sometimes we go to church and we hear an insensitive comment. Sometimes we go to church and someone ends up backstabbing us and that really hurts and sucks. We get sinned against, and we sin against others even though we are Christians in this embassy of grace. But this gathering, this assembly, the church is a signpost of the future kingdom that is coming. There are moments when the church is pretty glorious and most of all, when other Christians or when the pastor points us to Jesus—the One who gave up everything for us—church is pretty awesome. Jesus always treats us with respect, love, and he never lets us down.

Some Thoughts on the PCA’s 47th General Assembly

Many at my own church have asked me what was notable about our recent meeting (called “General Assembly”). I figured I’d share my quick thoughts with more than just those who asked, in case others are interested. I’m on vacation this week so I’ll keep these brief.

Texas is hot.

I feel like our denomination has one rule: we must meet in the most humid climates imaginable. It was hot outside. And freezing inside. Why do we willfully do this when there are better climates available?

Like San Diego, for example.

Just saying.

The Nashville Statement discussion and decision was completely unnecessary.

This year, the Assembly accepted the recommendation to answer Overture 4, “Declare the Council on Biblical Manhood & Womanhood’s ‘Nashville Statement’ on Biblical Sexuality as a Biblically Faithful Declaration,” in the affirmative. The vote was 803-541.

I was one of the 541 who voiced a “no” to this. Why?

We already have stated our views on marriage and sexuality in both our confessional and constitutional documents (WCF 24.1-6; BCO 59-3). To affirm a document written by a parachurch council still doesn’t make sense to me, especially if we have the means to create our own church document. (Btw, one TE said on the floor that the Westminster Assembly was a parachurch organization, and it got some laughter. But that’s not true. It was a council of divines tasked with restructuring the church, not with stating a biblical position on ethics. The Nashville Statement is a parachurch Christian statement, and as such it’s categorically different from the Westminster Standards in both nature and substance. Okay, done with my nerd rant. That really bothered me.)

Thankfully, we will be creating our own statement in the years to come since this GA has elected to “Establish [a] Study Committee on Sexuality.” That’s a very good thing and I trust we will produce something of great biblical fidelity and compassionate beauty.

So my position on this is that we didn’t need to say it all over again with affirmations and denials. We have our views clearly stated in the Westminster Standards and Book of Church Order. To restate them by declaring something like the Nashville Statement as “biblically true” only proves to ourselves that we’re awesome. It doesn’t persuade others that we’re awesome. And what I’ve found lacking in the Nashville Statement isn’t truth, it’s beauty. Where is the compelling language that clearly leads others—especially outsiders—into the truth, goodness, and beauty of the gospel? Where is the pastoral language that might lead someone who is struggling with their sexuality toward the biblical position? We simply don’t find it in the Nashville Statement. So I grieve our declaration of this statement for that reason. We can and must do better.

We have a study committee on sexual assault and domestic abuse!!!

The 47th General Assembly will form an "Ad Interim Committee to Address Matters Related to Domestic Abuse, Domestic Oppression, and Sexual Assault.” I am very excited about this. Our church co-hosted the Valued Conference this past March of 2019, so it goes without saying that I’d be a big fan of this one. We need to be as proactive and preventive as we can and this takes a necessary step forward in the right direction, BEFORE any sort of crisis emerges within our denomination.

I’m thankful that we saw the need and are responding sooner rather than later. We can never be too careful and have much work to do on responding better to sexual abuse. There are far too many survivors who need us. I hope this study committee will prove useful for the PCA and for the church catholic.

Did I say Texas is hot?

Seriously, how do people live in that?

Every year is pretty much the same.

We build up the hype, get all hot and bothered over the next General Assembly meeting—thinking that the sky is falling. Two years ago it was racial reconciliation, this year it was Revoice. Blogs sound the alarm the month leading up to our annual meeting. And then we meet to find out everything is pretty okay, and we don’t hate each other as much as we thought we did.

Of course, tensions remain. There was applauding on “both sides” of the aisle during the great debates this assembly, and I’m sure that tension will be there next year just as it was last year. But our denomination isn’t sliding into liberal oblivion, you can bet your britches on that. The Presbyterian Church in America is a confessionally Reformed denomination. That much hasn’t changed.