Is Going to Church Enough?

I believe that being a part of a local church is very important. Obviously some have physical reasons for not being able to attend in person, but there are people who can go that choose not to. There are wonderful benefits to being part of a church body that some miss out on, saying that they do not have to go to church to go to heaven.

The Bible tells us not to neglect meeting together (Hebrews 10:25), so we should make it a priority. On the other extreme are those who think they are going to heaven simply because they go to church. Often I ask people about their relationship with the Lord, and they tell me they go to church. Those are two completely different questions. It is possible to go to heaven without going to church, and it is possible to go to church and not go to heaven. I would not recommend either of those options!

I want to address those that might think their church attendance will get them into heaven someday. Please allow me to point out two occasions in which Jesus spoke to those who regularly attended church. In Luke 4 Jesus spoke in His hometown synagogue, and if I may paraphrase the message, Jesus basically compared Himself to the prophets Elijah and Elisha, two men who specifically helped Gentiles (a poor widow and a general with leprosy); He was sent by God to help people who were in need. By implication, He was comparing the people in the synagogue to those desperate Gentiles. The point was that just being religious Jews was not enough to put them in good standing with God. They still needed to repent of their sins, recognize their need for a Savior, and put their trust in Jesus, not in what they were doing.

How did the people respond? “And they rose up and drove him out of the town and brought him to the brow of the hill on which their town was built, so that they could throw him down the cliff (v.29).” They wanted to murder Jesus because of His words, so they understood that He didn’t view their attendance as being enough to save them.

Another time Jesus spoke to a church was in Revelation 3 when delivering a message to the church at Laodicea. These church members were affluent because of the industry in their town, and they thought their prosperity was a sign that God was blessing them, so they must be all set spiritually. Jesus told them the opposite: “For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked (v.17).’”

Is it possible for you to go to church every Sunday and not be a Christian? Absolutely. Your attendance is great, but you must understand that is a good work, and good works do not save (Ephesians 2:8-9) because we can never do enough of them to counteract the sin we have already committed against a holy God. The only thing to do is follow the advice Jesus gave that church at Laodicea: “Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent (v.19).” Repent—that is, change your mind, realize you cannot save yourself by your good works, and recognize that Jesus already did all the work to save you. Put your trust in Him, and then you wont just be a church attender, you will be a real part of the Body of Christ.

To Save a Life

(Like my blog about the peace symbol, this blog was written as a default response to all the parents, students, and other people who are asking my opinion of To Save a Life.) By now you have probably heard of the movie To Save a Life, which opened nation-wide in theaters on January 22nd. The movie deals with so many issues that teens face today, like suicide, cutting, drinking, drugs, premarital sex, teen pregnancy, and abortion. At first glance this movie looks like an awesome resource that we should recommend for our teens, parents, youth pastors, and youth workers. But a closer look at the movie reveals a few disturbing things. For starters, according to pluggedin.com, there are 2 uses of the “A” word, 5 uses of hell (used as a curse word), and once the “D” word is used. There are other crude terms used to describe a girl, and crude terms for referring to sexual activity. There is also a bedroom scene that shows a girl removing a boy’s shirt, then afterwards the girl putting he...

Evangelism

“Preach the gospel at all times, and when necessary, use words.” St. Francis of Assisi is given credit for this famous quote (although that exact phrasing does not appear in any of his writings), and a lot of people would think that this is a great philosophy. His actual quote was that everyone should “preach by their deeds.” Preaching with our deeds is not just a strategy, it is a necessity. We are commanded all through the Scriptures to let our light shine and be a peculiar people. People should be able to look at our lives and see that we are Christians. They should see the love of Christ readily on display, and thus feel compelled to live their lives in the same way. The sermon that we should preach with our lives is a sermon of love, joy, peace, patience, self-control, forgiveness, conviction, etc. But this idea that has emerged that says we should ONLY preach with our deeds is a heresy straight from the devil himself. Think about it: who is the one that does not want you t...

All Things To All Men

One of our favorite verses to use in our evangelism methods is where Paul said that he “becomes all things to all men” so that he might “by all means save some (I Corinthians 9:22).” This is certainly a good idea if we keep it in its proper context and application. For example, I remember a time in high school where I knew a kid that loved skateboarding. Being the chicken that I am, I was never a skateboarder. All he would talk about was skating, and I knew none of his lingo. But to help develop a relationship with him (he was new to our church and didn’t know many people), I brushed up on my skating lingo so I could ask if he had done any sick ollies lately (impressed?). This would be like Paul saying “to the skateboarder, I became a skateboarder.” This is effective and necessary. But then there are the people that use this verse to justify doing sinful things in the name of evangelism. The first one that comes to mind is about drinking. Some people will go into the bars to evan...

Tommy Mann

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