Why go to church?

By REV. DR KNOX HERNDON
Pastor

I received this e-mail from my good friend Gary Stewart. I print it in its entirety with a few comments of my own on the subject. Thanks, Gary.

A churchgoer wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. "I've gone for 30 years now," he wrote, "and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time and the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all."

This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column, much to the delight of the editor. It went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher:

"I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: they all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!"

When you are down to nothing, God is up to something! Faith sees the invisible, believes the incredible, and receives the impossible! Thank God for our physical and our spiritual nourishment!

"When Satan is knocking at your door, simply say, "Jesus, could you get that for me?"

Going to church is like tithing; it is "an attitude of the heart." How could someone sing the song "Oh How I love Jesus" and never want to be in His presence or around others who love His presence?

In the early church, God's Word says that "they met in upper rooms and sang hymns and prayed and took up collections for the work there and other places, and they up lifted one another's burdens." They often came to those early Churches with the good possibility of personal harm to them and their families. In other words, it was a joy to be there and a price to pay to be there.

If your church is boring you to death, you need to do one of three things: bring your own joy in there and see if it doesn't change things; pray for God's presence to be so manifested that things will change; or if you have tried the other two and have read God's Word and prayed your heart out and still no change, then it might be time to find a place where you are in His presence on a weekly basis. Your spiritual life is way too important to waste week after week, season after season, year after year unless you sincerely feel that God wants you to stay there.

Why do I go to church? It is not because I am the pastor. There were times when I was not the pastor. I do it because my soul and spirit needs it on a weekly basis. I do it because there is love and acceptance there. I do it mostly because I touch the hem of His garment there and I need His uplifting Spirit to sustain me week after week. I would truly miss the joy if I stayed home. There are many good Spirit-alive churches all around you. Get in one and serve until you hear the trumpet.

There was an old "youth camp retreat song" we used to sing, "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy, down in my heart (every one else would yell "where??"). The response was "down in my heart" then (where?) "down in my heart" over and over and over again. It might sound a little corny with today's "upbeat" music but the deep truth still rings in my soul and heart. Personally, I love going to Church week after week; I need it!

A great thought for a bumper sticker might be "Get On Down To Church - God Is Up To Something!"

The Rev. Dr. Knox Herndon is pastor of His House Community Church (SBC). The Rev. Greg Mausz is senior associate pastor. The Rev. Dr. Lydia Herndon is the Sunday School superintendent, Bible study coordinator and teacher. The church is just below Fayetteville, on Ga. Highway 85, a mile south of Ga. Highway 16, just below the fire station. Visitors welcome. Church office and prayer line 770-719-2365; e-mail KHERN2365@aol.com. The church's new Web site is www.hishousecommunitychurch.com.