Why Do I Need To Go To Church? Series

S011202 Why do I need to go to church?

Ezra 8:21

A sermon by Scotty L Killingsworth

Preached to the Evergreen Church Springfield, Mo.

Second sermon in the series-Sermons I would bring a friend to hear.

Beginning

The Fellowship of the Ring tells the story of a Hobbit who has in his possession of a powerful ring. He has carried it in his pocket for many years and it has done him good. He has become wealthy, and has developed several outstanding abilities. But, there is a price that he is paying for the benefit the ring has provided. He has come to love it. He finds it nearly impossible to give away. He strokes it and calls it “My Precious”. He loves the ring more than anything else.

The most precious things in our lives can’t be bought or sold. The most precious things in my life are not things. They are people, family, church and friends.

Life is precious

Next Sunday is Sanctity of human life day in our denomination. This special day is designed to remind us of the immeasurable value God places on human life.

I want to publicly proclaim I believe in life. It is never God’s will to destroy a baby who has been created in the image of God. Every life has the potential to give praise to God. Every life is the fulfillment of a God-dream. Life is precious whether in extreme old age or in extreme infancy. Every moment of life is precious, and should be protected and cherished.

Friends and family are precious.

Swindoll says, “A family is a place where principles are hammered and honed on the anvil of everyday living.”

A teenager waits impatiently to grow up and become his own boss-then he gets married.

The church is precious.

Charles Colson said, “Biblically the church is an organism not an organization-a movement, not a monument. It is not a part of the community; it is a whole new community. It is not an orderly gathering; it is a new order with new values, often in sharp conflict with the values of the surrounding society.“

This Sunday we will deal with one of the questions you asked last September. The question asked was, “Why should I go to church?”

I have heard all these arguments for not attending church. " I could do without it if I chose. After all, I have the Bible to read. I can pray - I don’t need anybody else for that. I can read Christian books, and I can listen to Christian radio, and I can watch Robert Schuller on TV. And what about Tom Hanks, stranded on that island in the movie Castaway? He didn’t have a church. What about Robinson Crusoe? Are you trying to tell me that people stranded on desert islands can’t know God? Or what about missionaries who go and live in the jungle with remote tribes, where they are the only Christians? They get along all right without a church. So I can too."

Let me clear this up for you. You don’t have to go to church to be a Christian, but you have to go to church to be obedient to God. One day in seven has been God’s gold standard for His children to assemble together. One day in seven is God’s gift to mankind.

A sad commentary on our times is that just because the Bible says so, is not be a good enough reason for church attendance. Hebrews 10:25” Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” The Bible say we should attend church more and more as we approach His return.

Burden:

With this talk today I am going to make the case that church attendance is vital because everything you hold dear can be taken away from you. The church offers the best hope on earth of carrying your precious treasures through a dangerous land.

Ezra 8:21 There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.

Background to Ezra

After years of exile the Lord released the people through the new King. Not only have they been delivered, they have been given the challenge to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. They were also given the utensils of God that were taken in the captivity so that the worship of God could begin again in the land he had given unto Israel. We pick up the story just as Ezra and the first men to come back into Israel are about to pass through some dangerous territory.