I remember passing this sign as a college student in Alabama. It was on a piece of property right next to I-65, just north of Prattville. It was certainly easy to laugh at and dismiss, with the red devil complete with pitch fork and tail. Of course, nothing in the Bible depicts him in such a way, and with good reason.
Evil is much too smart to present itself in such an obvious way. And Evil is happy when we laugh at the very things meant for our destruction.
The idea that ignoring church will send you to hell is an obvious oversimplification. In fact, no good work you could perform, including church attendance, earns you heaven. And how many of us have met people in church whose hatefulness was more fit for hell?
So we laugh at the cartoonish devil, and also at the notion that an Almighty God would care whether we attend church…
…except that He does care. Very much so. He specifically warned us not to ignore it.
“not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:25
“Go to church or the Devil will get you?” Don’t laugh so soon. If you haven’t been going, there’s a good chance he’s already got you right where he wants you (even without the use of a pitchfork).
As a pastor, I’ve heard all the excuses about missing church. There’s always the ones who tell you their worship is to be alone with God in nature and not in some stuffy church building.
Seriously, you worship in the woods? Anyone can worship alone in the woods. But you really have to love God to put up with the broken, wandering people who show up to worship with you on a Sunday. That’s why God never said it was enough just to worship Him alone. That’s the definition of selfishness, since only you get the benefit of it.
Worship is supposed to be about you showing love to God and serving others. It never was meant to be about what you get out of it. So get over yourself.
Of course, those who’ve been abused in a previous church have very real, significant hurdles to overcome. However, the overwhelming majority of people who say they love God but don’t make any effort to attend are not at all dealing with abuse, they’re just “virtue signaling”. These want to be seen as “spiritual” yet do not truly care for spiritual things. And watching a service on the web is not a true communal gathering, as any senior adult wishing to go to church but trapped in a nursing home will tell you.
Hopefully now I’ve got you convinced that you should go. But there’s still one problem…
I can guarantee you one thing for sure if you attend a church this Sunday: you’ll be disappointed.
You see, I can’t guarantee that you’ll like the sermon. That will depend on both the skill of the preacher and the relevance of the sermon topic to your life at this moment. So odds are 50/50.
The music? Gather a bunch of amateur musicians and self-anointed “singers” together to try and duplicate worship songs performed and recorded by professionals. Stir together with a sound man whose hearing has been fading since the 90s and you can imagine what that will be like.
How about a small group to build community? Well, good luck finding one that doesn’t waste time talking about yesterday’s college football game, or devolves into a discussion of current events and politics.
Try as we might, pastors have the deck stacked against us when it comes to competing with a day out on your boat or even just going to the park with your kids. Throw in the temptation to just catch up on your sleep and grab a late brunch, and there’s little chance we’ll be seeing you at church this Sunday.
That is, unless you really love God. That changes everything.
Everyone makes time for what they truly love. If you love baseball, you can’t wait to attend the next game. If you only like it, catching it on tv will do. Same with the theatre, which can never be truly appreciated until experienced live.
Likewise, people who really love God go to church. It’s that simple. But the ones who merely like Him catch it when they can, or merely give lip service to its importance.
So if you really love God, whatever day of the week you are reading this you need to start making plans right now to attend church this Sunday.
Go where they love people. If you go someplace where they don’t, leave and go to another. Good churches are out there, you may just have to find one by trial and error.
Go where the pastors take a personal interest in you, and not where some celebrity rushes in and off a stage.
Go where they actually teach the Bible – ALL OF IT. Not just the cherry-picked self-help verses, but where they point out things God calls sin. Because if everything’s always positive, they’re leaving some important stuff out.
Heads up – there will be a test on it when class is over.
Go where they care about the community. Not just writing checks and well-timed photo ops, but real hands-on, boots on the ground, getting in the trenches and helping people.
Go where the leaders are accountable to the congregation. Where pastors don’t touch the money and financial transparency is practiced. If you don’t know what that looks like, then your church probably isn’t doing it right.
Finally, go to a church where they aren’t ashamed to lead people to Jesus. Do they have a time in their services where people can commit their lives to Christ? Why in the world not? Because after all the songs are sung and sermons delivered, He is the one that will be going home with you. So your church better be giving Him to people and making it easy to get to know Him.
In a world that’s coming unraveled at the seems, church matters more than ever. Heaven matters, eternity matters. So stop screwing around and take church seriously, while your church is still there and while you still have time.
Just go.
