Courtney Gilmore Why do we need to go to a building every Sunday when we can worship, pray, and learn at our own houses every day of the week? Especially in this day and age, when we can watch any church service at any time, why is it important to attend a particular church? Isn’t there more benefit to more services? Going to church doesn’t make us any more of a Christian. There are tons of people at church that might look good because they go, but they don’t live like Christians when they leave there. It doesn’t change anything for them. So, we can have our own personal relationships with God without going to church, right?
When God first set up the nation of Israel, He commanded that the people gather at the Tabernacle several times a year. But obviously, times were different back then because they didn’t have Jesus or the Holy Spirit. They had to go to the Tabernacle and later the Temple to offer animal sacrifices for their sins. They also needed a qualified priest to present them to God. Since His Presence hovered over the ark of the covenant, they could not offer sacrifices anywhere else because God was not there.
No Animal Sacrifices or Priests
But we don’t have to attend church to offer sacrifices, see a priest, or be in God’s Presence. Jesus was both our Sacrifice and our Priest in that He offered His life to God on our behalf.
Such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens. Who does not need daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people’s. For this, He did once for all when He offered up Himself.
Hebrews 7:26-27
Then, He sent the Holy Spirit to dwell in the heart of every believer, making us the house for His Spirit. The Tabernacle, and later the Temple, housed God’s Spirit before Jesus came. Then, His body housed God’s Spirit, and now it dwells within every believer.
Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
1 Corinthians 3:16
So, we do not have to go to church to offer sacrifices, and we don’t need a mediator, like the priests were to the Israelites. Jesus tore down the wall of separation between us and the Father, and now we can approach Him freely.
When one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
2 Corinthians 3:16
So, unlike the Israelites, we can offer the sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving to God anywhere because His presence is within us, not in a building. We can also pray to Him at any time and place, and we need no priest to mediate because Jesus is our Mediator.
There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.
1 Timothy 2:5
Fellowship
But those are not the only reasons to go to church. Even when the Israelites met together and offered sacrifices, they ate together. This was one way for them to commune with the Lord and fellowship with one another. God commanded corporate worship from the very beginning. The priests and scholars taught in the synagogues, and they all gathered at the Temple a few times a year. Then, after Jesus died, they set up churches and told believers to get together to teach, learn, pray, and sing.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
Acts 2:42
So, we still need to go to church and worship with other believers, lifting our voices together as one to Him in prayer and praise.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
Colossians 3:16
The church is where we gather with other like-minded people to receive encouragement, instruction, and understanding. It is a refuge from the distractions, temptations, and worries of this world.
May the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus. That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Romans 15:5-6
If you think about God’s Spirit dwelling in every believer, He is with you when you worship alone at home, but how much more can we experience His presence when we gather with others who also possess His Spirit?
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
Matthew 18:20
We Need it All
So, we can’t just have our own private time with God or even just watch church services at our house. By watching it on TV or online, we can hear the sermon and maybe even participate in worship with other believers, but they can’t worship with us. Also, you cannot fellowship with other believers unless you physically go to church. You will not receive their encouragement or personal instruction, and you can’t give those things to others either. We need to be filled with His Spirit and with the encouragement and teaching of others to get through the week. It gives us strength to deal with the things of this world the rest of the week.
So, do not be fooled. We need personal and corporate worship, study, and prayer. Spending time with God only at home or only at church leaves your experience with Him incomplete. We need it all! Don’t go to church and think you got everything you need for the week, and don’t stay home thinking you can get everything you need without others. Take all that God has to offer you of Himself. Let others help you grow, and do the same for them.
Let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works. Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another.
Hebrews 10:24-25
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This is an excerpt from “Taking the Easy Way Instead of the Right Way” as taught on YouTube, Podcast, and written on Substack. Read the beginning of the lesson for free. Or read it in its entirety, along with over 35 previous lessons for $6/month or $60/year. Once subscribed, you’ll receive one lesson each week thereafter by email. Cancel anytime.
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