Church
Sometimes I wonder why I go to church. Is it simply for the social interaction? Is it to learn about God? Or do I go to worship God? I wish I could say that most Sundays I go to church in order to worship God. But I'm afraid the truth is that I usually go for the social interaction with hopes of learning something more about God and being able to worship Him. Often I walk away with little more than saying hello to a friend or two. Yet I desire to be there and long for more.
I felt a bit convicted while reading the other day. "God does not exist for the sake of the church; rather, the church exists for the praise and glory of God... This point will fundamentally change the way we think about church. We will think of the worship service, for example, less and less in terms of what it does for us, and more and more as an opportunity for us to glorify, praise, and worship God. We will consider the ministries of the church less and less as a means of meeting our needs, and more and more as opportunities to serve others as disciples and servants of Jesus Christ." (Michael. W. Holmes, The NIV App. Commentary: 1 & 2 Thes.)
How often I forget that church isn't about me. It's about God. It's about worshipping. Its taking the time to draw near to God. Its loving God by serving others. And during that attempt to worship God in our clumsy fallen way we find that God draws near to us as well and fills us with his love.
I felt a bit convicted while reading the other day. "God does not exist for the sake of the church; rather, the church exists for the praise and glory of God... This point will fundamentally change the way we think about church. We will think of the worship service, for example, less and less in terms of what it does for us, and more and more as an opportunity for us to glorify, praise, and worship God. We will consider the ministries of the church less and less as a means of meeting our needs, and more and more as opportunities to serve others as disciples and servants of Jesus Christ." (Michael. W. Holmes, The NIV App. Commentary: 1 & 2 Thes.)
How often I forget that church isn't about me. It's about God. It's about worshipping. Its taking the time to draw near to God. Its loving God by serving others. And during that attempt to worship God in our clumsy fallen way we find that God draws near to us as well and fills us with his love.
posted by emily at 3:26 PM
1 Comments:
I think this is realization that will bring some authentic life back into the contemporary church. Of course the church has multiple functions, just as the body has multiple parts. But we forget who the center, the focus, of our being there is...which is Christ.
So, we get busy making new worship programs with new music, which is good! But its not the starting point. We get busy with new tasks, missions, and obligations. But those are not the starting point either. We need to recall who it is that brings us all together in this way, and who gives us purpose, and who gives all those other things meaning.
If we don't put Christ as the center of our existence, then we have missed the point.
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