I recently watched a segment on Fox Business News which described the shrinking sales in the retail world and the main reason for it: online shopping! Apparently, normal brick and mortar stores are not making nearly as much money these days because more and more people are buying stuff on the internet. It makes sense. If you can sit in front of your computer and order from the comfort of your own home, with just a few clicks, and then have it delivered conveniently to your front step, why not? Malls are frustrating, gas is expensive, and shipping can be pretty cheap. Why not ditch the whole “shop till you drop” thing? It’s a no brainer to me!
And then I thought about church and this question popped into my head: Why go to church? We live in a day when we can get instant access to countless church services and sermons 24/7 from the comfort of our own homes through TV and the internet. We literally don’t have to go anywhere. Shoot, we don’t even need to roll out of bed. Just reach for the remote or the tablet!
So, why get involved in a church at all? Why invest the time and the money and endure the challenges of church life?
Well, there are many reasons that involvement in a church is a God-ordained and very good thing for all of us. But, for now I just want to highlight the main one. We just passed Christmas, so think “incarnation.”
Jesus came in flesh and blood to live amongst His people. He accomplished salvation up close. He lived with the people He was living for. He ministered to them shoulder to shoulder, face to face, and eye to eye. He walked with them and talked with them. He laughed with them; He cried with them. He corrected them when they needed correcting, and He encouraged them when they needed encouraging—and He did it all close by. Then, He went to the cross before their very eyes. That’s the point of the incarnation; that’s the significance of the name Immanuel, which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).
As Christians living in union with Jesus, we have been commissioned and sent into similar “up close and personal” relationships. We have been taught to love one another as He has loved us (John 13:34; 15:12), which means we too have been called to incarnational ministry with one another. Obviously, Jesus is not here physically now, so we become his mouthpiece and his hands and his feet. He lives in us; He lives through us. He is giving Himself to us through others and to others through us. That’s how His love is experienced.
And the church is where it all happens! I don’t mean the building, but the congregation—the people! We meet together, learn together, pray together, sing together, and eat together in the name of Jesus. God uses it all—the ups and the downs, the goods and the bads—to enrich our walk with Christ. By design, we fellowship most deeply with Him as we fellowship with one another. We learn of His love and experience His love most in the context of intimate, human connections.
So, don’t give up on the church quite yet!