Why the Christian Church is important for society today.
Why Church? First, the origins of the church were birthed in the mind of the Godhead. Therefore, it must be good and intelligent to benefit people as all good things come from Him. Since it is Divine, it must benefit humanity through the principles of order to civilize a people, by changing their moral character. Also, the church should be the voice of reason by promoting absolutes; conveyed through compassion, mercy and anchored in the “Laws of Nature.’
Admittedly, some churches have become something different than what God had intended. Certainly, churches that are promoting the tenets of the faith to the best of their ability have problems as well. The mistake many churches and people have made throughout history is trying to be Christians or Christ-like without a personal relationship to Christ; and the result is a legalistic or religiously cold and indifferent people. I might add, no church in the purist sense is perfect. We are imperfect people that are changing through truth if we are following Christ. Be in the light as He is in the light. Light in the Bible is truth and darkness is ignorance.
Therefore, reasonable and intelligent people understand the value of the church. Intelligent people are convinced of this from the evidence of their transforming life by going to church and having a personal relationship with Christ. Now, if I am going to pursue truth or absolutes for my life so I can become a better person, doesn’t it make sense to attend and be part of His Church? Hah! I can already hear some objections from some well meaning, but misguided Christians why they don’t need to participate in church. In the following paragraphs, hopefully and respectively I will give some answers to this type of thinking, why do some who think church is not necessary to be false.
“Over the years I have met individuals that have expressed some comments on why they don’t need church for themselves, that I classify as myths or non-essential and unintelligent. Since God created the church, it stands to reason, for people who are intelligent, they see the need to attend church and be engaged in church to the degree they can, so as to better themselves and to help others.” ~ Bishop Ron Rhea
I accidently met a friend and a Viet Nam comrade some years after the war. He had gone on in life to become a well-known chemist. It was great to revive our friendship. Finally, our talk took the direction of him telling me he was an evolutionist and his hero was the famous evolutionist “Carl Sagan.” I in turn, let him know that I was a Christian and Jesus Christ was my God and hero. We had a delightful civil discourse on the origins of man from both points of view. However, he did admit it would be good for his trouble teenager daughter to go to church. His thought was it would ground her in moral teachings and it would help her later in life. However, he as an adult boasted he didn’t need church for he was already a moral person. Through theology and other philosophical persuasions I tried to convince him otherwise, but it was without success. After this encounter we didn’t see each other for several years.
He contacted me again and asked if we could go to lunch, of which, we met. When our meal arrived, to be well-mannered, I excused myself to him to give thanksgiving to God; I figured he being an evolutionist had no interest in expressing thanks to the Creator. To my surprise, he interjected sharply, “No! Let me pray.” After his beautiful prayer he began to tell me what happened in his life since our last meeting. He witnessed such a positive change in his rebellious teenage daughter after going to church he started going as well. He wanted to check things out on his own to know what they were doing that changed his daughter so dramatically.
He admitted to me at that time he had an anger problem for some years and was verbally abusive to his wife. (He didn’t want to reveal that to me at our first meeting because of pride.) After three weeks of attending church he submitted his life to Christ. And said, “My anger left me and my wife was so delighted of the change in me, some weeks later she gave her life to Christ as well.” For the first time they were a family that was not fragmented. He now promotes the church as an entity within society to civilize a nation. This notable chemist’s now will tell anyone you need church.
1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 New King James Version (NKJV)
9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep (physical not spiritual), we should live together with Him.
11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing – in the church. The underline words and parenthesis are mine.
Sadly, many believers in Christ have been lulled asleep as not seeing the value of church for themselves and their families. How do some become lulled asleep? To deceive yourself you must believe something that is untrue or that is unintelligent; and therefore – silly. I call it silly thinking. The result, is another common myth that I have heard over the years which is, ‘I can be a Christian without going to church.’ Let’s examined this a little. At the root of this type of thinking what is being said is, “I know what is better for me than God.” Anything that exalts itself above the words of the Trinity is false or unintelligent. Unfortunately, if you condition your mind to believe untruth or anything else that contradicts God’s word you will be deceived and think you are right. Therefore, right thinking comes from Natural Law which governs the universe, which fits the nature of moral agents, animate or inanimate systems.
Ephesians 5:13 New King James Version (NKJV)
But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. 14 Therefore He says:
“Awake, you who sleep (spiritual), Arise from the dead (spiritual death), And Christ will give you light.” Parenthesis are my words.
If you get to far from a personal relationship with Christ and become indifferent toward the Church your spirit will get out of tune. There was a story that I read sometime ago, as an analogy, sheds light on the previous sentence.
In the 1950’s there was an old man who lived on a ranch far from any town and seldom ventured out. He wrote a letter to a radio station requesting they play the note “A” at 8:00 am the same time for three days. He had a violin that was out of tune. And he didn’t have the instrument to tune it; so by way of radio he could tune it properly and make sweet music again. The radio station obliged him and hit the note “A” at the same time for three days. After the third day his cabin was filled with joyous music again.
The Church is where we get tuned-in spiritually. Every Sunday as we worship and hear testimonies and hear God’s words it keeps our families spiritually tuned into Christ. We need others and others need us.
Proverbs 27:17 New King James Version (NKJV)
As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.
Isaiah 58:13 New King James Version (NKJV)
“If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words
Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
In conclusion, God gave us the commandment: Keep the Sabbath Holy to express our gratitude to God for the church; because it fits our Godly nature. It is designed to be a benefit to us as we worship our creator.
