Donald Miller (who has spoken twice at our church) recently wrote a now famous/infamous piece titled "Why I Don't Go to Church Much." Don is a good guy whom I like, and I assure you is privately authentic to what he teaches, in his life and relationships. I pretty much agree with every complaint and reason he has for not going to church. But I completely disagree with his action of not going to church (much). Rather than arguing with Don...
Let me tell you Why I Go to Church. I could give so many reasons (we have in our current sermon series "5 Reasons to Quit Church," and others more eloquent than I have given biblical, historical and sacramental reasons why Don's post was so surprisingly, for him, shallow), but I will give just one today. Because I follow Jesus and want to be like Jesus in both his worldview AND his way of life.
Because Jesus saw fit to worship weekly with other people, in the synagogue, 'as was his custom.' Even though he of all people was aware of the jacked-up-ness of the group and the individuals and the 'system.' I want to be like Jesus. So I don't over spiritualize or metaphoricalize the biblical teaching of Sabbath rest, God-centered community and worship to the point of it being meaningless and actionless (for the Bible scholars out there, that would be called gnostic or docetic-leaning Christianity, which surprised me in this instance to be so uncritically embraced by the Don).
It was a concrete creational and salvation-history rhythm revealed by God at the beginning, delivered to Israel for the good of humankind and glory of God, and normative for Jesus - six days work and stuff, on the seventh day worship. Gathered with a concrete communty of others (i.e. not three friends who happen to be hanging out at a firepit or bar and mention Jesus). Repeat the rest of your life.
In this sense, Jesus was actually religious in a good way. "As was his custom, Jesus went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day." -Luke 4:16. For all his radical rebooting of the worship of God, he humbly sumbitted himself to spiritual formation by worshipping in a specific place with an organized group of people who had imperfect leaders and a congregation full of people who disagreed with one another on many political, moral, and relational issues. To honor God in song and prayer, to hear from God's eternal Word in the scriptures. Every week. And thus it has remained the custom of followers of Jesus since the birth of the church. Initially they continued weekly worship in synagogues, then when they were kicked out they immediately held their own weekly worship gatherings.
Like Jesus, they didn't all attend just because they kept 'getting something out of it every week' - which is in essence Don's primary reason for not going to church much, a disappointingly shallow reason that is not worth arguing with - the commenters on his blog have said more than enough.
This is the primary reason I go to weekly worship - because Jesus did. NOT because I'm a pastor. I became a pastor BECAUSE in studying the New Testament I fell in love with the church as the locus of God's mission, God's affection, and God's people in this world. I repented of my low view of 'the church' up until the age of 27, and have loved every single local church I've been part of since, with its beauties and its disappointments.
The scriptures pretty much only know of 'the church' as a locally identified concrete group of people, for whom the center of their committed life together in Christ is a weekly gathering 'on the Lord's day.' Whether small or large, in a house or a big honking building.
One more note. In my sermon last week I spent a bit of time on the way the book of Acts equates 'disciples' plural with one or more 'churches,' most clearly in Acts 14. This is to correct some today who say following Jesus is only about organically making disciples, not about forming churches - the Apostles showed those tasks are one and the same. I will close todays post with that passage (friends I am going on vacation next week - when I return my next post will be on homosexuality).
“They preached the gospel in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.” Acts 14:21-23
