Why I Go to Church

Part 1

The pull to go it alone

Self-directed faith is not a modern invention. Israel’s darkest season in the book of Judges is summed up in one sentence.

In those days there was no king in Israel: every man did that which was right in his own eyes.

Judges 21:25

Nobody in Judges thought they were rebelling. Each person was simply following his own judgment. That is the danger. A faith with no one to answer to always feels right to the one holding it.

Through desire a man, having separated himself, seeketh and intermeddleth with all wisdom.

Proverbs 18:1

There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

Proverbs 14:12

Isolation is usually a desire before it is a decision. We want to be free of correction, free of other people’s opinions, free of the friction. But the friction is often the very thing God uses to shape us.

Part 2

God in nature, God in people

Many people say, “I feel closer to God at the lake, on a trail, or watching a sunset than I do in church.” Scripture agrees that God shows Himself in creation.

The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.

Psalm 19:1

For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse.

Romans 1:20

But notice what nature does: it declares and it leaves us without excuse. It tells us God is there. It cannot tell us His name, call us to repentance, baptize us, correct us, or hold up our hands when we are weary. A sunset is beautiful, but it has never once looked you in the eye and said, “Brother, that’s not right,” or “Sister, I’m praying for you.”

Nature is not what God came to change. Human nature is. From the very beginning God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone” (Genesis 2:18). He designed people to be shaped by people.

Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.

Proverbs 27:17

Iron is not sharpened by grass or water or sky. It is sharpened by iron, something of the same substance, rubbing against it, with friction and sparks. That is exactly what church feels like some days, and exactly why it works.

Look at how God reaches people in the book of Acts. The Ethiopian treasurer was reading Isaiah in his chariot, in the open desert, and God still sent a man.

And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest? And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me?

Acts 8:30–31

How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

Romans 10:14

Saul met Jesus in a blinding light on the Damascus road, and Jesus still sent him to a man named Ananias to be told what to do (Acts 9:6, 17). Cornelius saw an angel, and the angel told him to send for Peter (Acts 10:5–6). God can speak any way He chooses, but over and over He chooses to speak through people. Paul even called believers living letters, “written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3).

Part 3

Scripture tells the truth about leaders

If you are looking for a perfect preacher, the Bible will disappoint you. It goes out of its way to show the weaknesses of the people God used.

• Moses felt he couldn’t speak: “I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue” (Exodus 4:10). His temper cost him the Promised Land (Numbers 20:10–12).
• Elijah called down fire, then ran and asked to die (1 Kings 19:4). James says he “was a man subject to like passions as we are” (James 5:17).
• Peter denied Jesus three times (Luke 22:61–62), and later Paul had to confront him publicly (Galatians 2:11).
• Paul and Barnabas, two Spirit-filled missionaries, split over John Mark: “the contention was so sharp between them, that they departed asunder” (Acts 15:39).
• Paul himself carried a thorn he could not pray away (2 Corinthians 12:7–9).

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

2 Corinthians 4:7

For in many things we offend all.

James 3:2

God put clay pots in charge on purpose. When the power shows up through weak people, nobody can confuse the vessel with the treasure. Your pastor’s limits are not a reason to leave. They are a reminder of where the power actually comes from.

Part 4

God still chose to work through people

Knowing all of that, God did not abandon human leadership. He multiplied it. When Moses tried to carry everything himself, God sent his father-in-law with a warning.

The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone.

Exodus 18:17–18

Later, God Himself answered Moses’ exhaustion by putting His Spirit on seventy elders, “and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone” (Numbers 11:17). In the early church, when the apostles were stretched thin, the church chose seven men “full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom” to serve alongside them (Acts 6:3).

Notice the pattern. God’s solution to weak leaders is never “no leaders.” It is more people, sharing the load. The leader needs the people as much as the people need the leader.

Part 5

One body, many gifts

God did not give the church one kind of leader. He gave a variety, so that the strengths of one would cover the weaknesses of another.

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; 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.

Ephesians 4:11–13

The evangelist burns for the lost but may be impatient with slow growth. The pastor is patient with people but may avoid confrontation. The teacher loves the details; the prophet sees the big picture. None of them is enough alone. Together they build a complete church.

From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.

Ephesians 4:16

And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.

1 Corinthians 12:21

“Every joint supplieth.” That includes you. When you stay home, the body is missing a joint. See also Romans 12:4–8 and 1 Peter 4:10.

Part 6

When personalities and preferences clash

The first-century church fought over the same kinds of things we do. Corinth divided over favorite preachers.

Every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. Is Christ divided?

1 Corinthians 1:12–13

I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

1 Corinthians 3:6

Rome divided over food and holy days, matters of personal conviction. Paul’s answer was not “everyone leave and start your own church.” It was “receive ye one another, as Christ also received us” (Romans 15:7; see Romans 14:1–13).

Truth matters, and Scripture never asks us to bend doctrine for peace. But a music style, a speaking style or a way of running a meeting is not doctrine. When preference grows bigger than truth, we have made ourselves the king in our own eyes again.

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

Ephesians 4:2–3

And clashes can heal. The same John Mark that split Paul and Barnabas shows up years later in Paul’s own words: “Take Mark, and bring him with thee: for he is profitable to me for the ministry” (2 Timothy 4:11). Staying in the body gives God time to restore what friction tore.

Part 7

Strengthened by shared faith

On the day Israel fought Amalek, the battle depended on Moses keeping his hands raised. He could not do it alone.

But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

Exodus 17:12

Three men. One victory. The leader’s weakness was not hidden. It was held up. That is a threefold cord in action, and it is a picture of what the church is meant to be.

Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour. For if they fall, the one will lift up his fellow: but woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.

Ecclesiastes 4:9–10

Even the apostle Paul said he needed the faith of ordinary believers to strengthen his own.

That is, that I may be comforted together with you by the mutual faith both of you and me.

Romans 1:12

And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 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.

Hebrews 10:24–25

This is why I go to church. Not because the preacher is perfect, and not because the people never disappoint. I go because my faith was never meant to stand alone. I need your faith on the days mine is heavy, and you need mine on the days yours is. Bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2). Iron sharpens iron (Proverbs 27:17). In the multitude of counsellors there is safety (Proverbs 11:14).

Respond

This week

• Pray for your leaders by name, including their weak areas (1 Thessalonians 5:12–13; Hebrews 13:17).
• Hold up someone’s hands. Call, text or visit one person who has been missing or carrying a heavy load.
• Name a preference you have let grow too big, and lay it down before God.
• Find your joint. Ask where you can serve in the body, and say yes.

Prayer

Lord Jesus, forgive me for wanting to walk alone. Thank You for the leaders You have given me, flaws and all, and thank You for using a clay pot like me. Help me receive others as You received me. Make me a strand in a cord that will not be quickly broken. In Jesus’ name, amen.