What's This Church Thing All About Anyway

“What’s this Church thing all about Anyway”

By

Bishop M.L. Maughmer, Jr.

WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT?

Some people come to church Sunday after Sunday, you sit here and listen to me preach sermon after sermon. You hear me stress how important it is to come to Bible Class and Sunday school, the Bible says in Hebrews 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some [is]; but exhorting [one another]: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching”. This scripture stresses the importance of assembling ourselves together, which is interpreted as in church today, especially as we see the day approaching. All you have to do is look at the news and see what is going on in our society and you know that these are perilous times that we are living in; therefore, we should come to church and bring as many as we can to church with us.

Yet people wonder what church is all about? Why do we go to church? No doubt you may have heard this - Is church relevant in this day & age? We have husbands that will not go with their wives, parents that will not go with their children, and the young will not go with the older ones.

There is confusion about what the church is in this generation. People want to “up-grade” the church, to make her more culturally acceptable, seeker friendly, more in tune with what is acceptable in society today, more “up- to-date, more worldly and less holy thus we have just about everything going on in the church.

But I am not here to talk about things going on in the church that is another sermon, but I want to deal with the subject what’s this church thing all about anyway.

Stay with me for a little while and allow me to examine what church is and what church is not the church. Understand I am not answering this question as it pertains to what man thinks, but what God says. The church didn’t originate in the mind of man, but in the mind of God, according to His eternal purpose. The church is not an institution. While it is an institution in the sense that it was divinely instituted, it is not some corporate entity like a business. The church is a relationship, a relationship between God and His blood washed born again people.

The church is not a country club. It is a spiritual entity, not a physical one. It never was God’s intention to make the church an organization to provide for the social needs of men. It has no assignments that pertain to meeting men’s aesthetic propensities—like providing musical entertainment or parties for the enjoyment of its members – like having holy hip hop parties. Now that is not to say that music has no role in the church, for it is an important part of according to God the worship He deserves.

The church is a preaching, teaching, worshiping organization—built to honor God, to propagate the gospel message, for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ. The church of Christ is meant to bring glory to God, and to bring many sons and daughters into glory.

Sometime ago a USA Today poll was taken and it "asked people why they went to church. The number one answer given by 45% of the respondents said they went "because it was good for them." This lead to the top 10 reason for people going to church are: WATCH THIS - To seek for a spouse, to enjoy the Music, to display their attires and see what others are wearing, to honour an invitation, to honour their parents (go on Mother’s Day or Easter), to avoid stigmatization, to seek for help, to socialize, to represent the devil. The amazing thing is that of all the answers given, WORSHIP didn’t even make the survey.

Worship is so crucially important that God made the first four of the Ten Commandments deal exclusively with worship. Within our worship we should have a spirit of appreciation and adoration and “Enter into His gates with Thanksgiving and into His courts with praise”. I read where one preacher said Thanksgiving is the password into the gates of heaven and praise the energy that charges the battery of worship. We should have a spirit of acclamation and "Be thankful to Him, and bless His name" – WHY- simply because the Lord is Good and His mercy endureth forever Psalm 100.