Why Are You Here?

What am I here for?

Ecclesiastics 5:1-7

This is my eighth Easter as pastor at this church. Easter is kind of like the Super bowl Sunday for the churches. It is considered the biggest Sunday of the year. It is usually a time where you have the biggest attendance, the biggest offerings, the biggest everything. In years past I would spends hours planing and preparing the service. I will work on my sermon for hours trying to come up with some inspiring sermon based on the beautiful morning when the Lord arose. I knew that we always have a lot of visitors who come to church on that day, and I only have one chance to impress them. Eight years, same routine, same results. If I were to ask for a show of hands of those whose first time they visited here was an Easter Sunday and are still coming now? We would have a moment of silence as they say. I guess my sermons wasn’t as inspiring as I thought. People come and go, and it’s not just on Easter. So the question I want us to answer this morning shares the title of my sermon. What am I here for?

Now growing up I was on drugs. I was drug to church every time the doors were open. I was 16, I think, before I saw the Wizard of Oz. It was always showing on TV on a Sunday night. If some one were to ask me then why I was at church, I would have replied, “My parents make me come”. Now I am grateful that they did. Most of my biggest mistakes that I have made in life was when I got out of church.

There are no perfect churches, never have been, never will. Some people leave the church because of problems within the church. I heard about a guy who had been shipwrecked and lived most of his adult life on a deserted island with no one else around. After many years of isolation, a ship came his way with a rescue party sent ashore. He welcomed them and then proceeded to show them the living conditions he had survived in. He showed them his hut and bragged that he had made it all by himself. One of the rescuers then asked him about another hut a few yards away from them. He said that was his church where he went to worship. Then he was asked about another hut that was on the the opposite side. He went on to explain, “That was his old church, but there was a split and he left.

If you are here this morning and you are looking for a perfect church, good luck. The church is not going to be perfect because it is full of imperfect people. That’s not a reason not to go to church. They say that most Americans will go to church at least a few times in their life time. They say many people will come to church to get baptized, to get married, and they have their funeral service. The first time they throw water on you, the second it’s rice and the third time it is dirt.

I want to encourage you if you are here this morning and you do not attend church on a regular basis then you need to find a church and get involved in that church. Now going to church does not save you. Just like me going to my garage doesn’t make me a car. But this morning I want to share with you the seriousness of your relationship with God and coming to His church. Why you should go, so hopefully we can see you here or some other church that God leads you. Turn with me if you would to Ecclesiastics chapter 5.

Before we read our text, let me give you a little background on the book of Ecclesiastics. The author of this book is thought to be David’s son, Solomon, also called the wisest man in the world. There was a time in Solomons life that God was first. God was everything. But then, some where, some way, some how Solomon stopped taking his relationship with the Lord seriously. He got off tract. Solomon is nearing the end of his life, and after his repentance he give us a strong warning about taking God seriously.

You see God is a jealous God. And He doesn’t want custody just on the weekends or special occasions. His desire is that He is to be # 1 in our hearts and lives. Exodus 20:3 "You shall have no other gods before Me. He does not want to be just someone who is thought of a few times a year. He is not just someone who just wants to spend time with us on Sundays. He wants to be with us everyday and every way. So the theme of these twelve chapters in Ecclesiastes is that everything is nothing without God. Which leads me to my first point.