What are the reasons that we should attend and become involved in a local church in our community?

Once a person commits their life to Jesus Christ, very often they begin attending a church near their home.  What are the real purposes for attending a church, and what should the focus of our heart be in becoming a part of a church?

When we first begin attending, hopefully it is because we have discovered how wonderful Jesus is and we just want to know Him better.  The way that we know Jesus better is through the Bible, the Word of God.  It is by a personal, daily reading and meditating upon the Bible that we find that the Lord speaks to us, guides us and increases our knowledge of who He is and How He works in our Life.

When the church began in the book of Acts chapter 2, there were just four things that the new Christians were doing together that caused the church to grow.

Acts 2:42
And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.

1.  Continuing in the Apostles Doctrine, which is teaching and studying the Word of God.
2.  Continuing in opportunities for Fellowship together.
3.  Continuing in remembering what Jesus has done through Communion.
4.  Continuing in Prayer together.

Hopefully, there is an opportunity for a time of worship before the teaching of the Word in your church. This is your opportunity to prepare your heart to receive what the Lord has for you on that particular day as you hear the word of God taught by your pastor.

Preparation of the heart is perhaps the most important thing that we can do even before we arrive at church.  

What we anticipate receiving from the Lord beforehand, will determine what we actually do receive once we arrive at the Church.

When Israel was about to go into battle, it was those who led worship that were placed in front of the army.

2 Chronicles 20:21-22
21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed those who should sing to the LORD, and who should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army and were saying:
    “Praise the LORD,
    For His mercy endures forever.”
22 Now when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushes against the people of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah; and they were defeated.

In your new life as a follower of Jesus, you are going to have many and frequent a battle. The way that the enemy is defeated is by first worshiping and praising the Lord.  As you forget about your problems and trials and just begin to worship the Lord, He will go before you and scatter and defeat every enemy that comes against you.

An important question to ask ourselves to test where our heart is truly at concerning our motivation for attending a church, is the following question:

"Are we going to church for what we can put into it, or for what we can get out of it?"

Certainly we hope that attending a church will be a blessing to us personally, and that we can have many of our spiritual needs met by attending church, but is this the main reason for attending, to have our own needs met?

Again in Acts chapter two, it describes the fact that those who first attended the New Church of Jesus Christ, were more focused on others than on themselves.

Acts 2:44-45
44 Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common,
45 and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.

It seems that one of our main desires in becoming a part of a local church should be "How can I be a blessing to those who attend?"

Remember that this is Jesus Church not your church, not the pastor's church, only Jesus can say "This is my church", the rest of us are just members of His church.

Matthew 16:18
And I also say to you ... I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

As we realize that this the Lord's church, and we are called to be members of His church, it changes our whole perspective.  No longer are we simply coming to get "our needs met".  We are attending to become a part of what Jesus is doing in and through His church.  

Jesus spoke often of Servanthood, and the role that His followers should play in their lives before other people, and as members of His church.

Matthew 20:25-28
25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them.
26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant.
27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—
28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Our place in Jesus church is to serve, to lay our lives down for each other.  We are not coming to have our own needs met as much as we are coming to meet the needs of others.  If you sincerely want to become a part of Jesus church, this is not an option, it is a requirement.

With this in mind, it changes our whole attitude about attending church.

If becoming a servant like Jesus in His church is your desire, then consider the following:

Try to arrive at least 30 minutes before the service begins so that you have an opportunity to spend some time in fellowship with other believers.  Getting to know people who also Love Jesus and are seeking a closer relationship with Him will help you in your own personal walk with the Lord.

Did you know that people arrive early in the morning before you, just to prepare the building, the service, the classrooms, the fellowship area and very often they cook food and brew fresh coffee for you?  Wouldn't it be nice if we all arrived about 30 minutes or more before the actual service begins just to enjoy some of the wonderful things that people worked so hard on that morning to bless you with?

Arriving early also is an opportunity to have the Lord show you where there are needs in the church on that particular day that you could become involve in and help with.

Perhaps there is someone who has arrived early who has had a really difficult week and is feeling discouraged.

Almost without exception, hurting people always come to church early, hoping to find some comfort.  You can tell how much of a need a person has very often, by their early arrival.

The Lord planted you in that church to be a help and encouragement to anyone there who needs help or encouragement.  You can pray with people, encourage them, or just share a verse of scripture with them that has encouraged you in the past.  Just being there early to be available is a tremendous blessing and ministry in itself.

Maybe the building has not been cleaned the past week, the carpets need vacuuming, the floors could use some mopping, the trash need to be emptied.

Jesus has made you a member if His church, it is your responsibility to help it become the very best it can be.

As the service begins with either a Worship team up front or even pre-recorded music with the lyrics to the songs displayed, this is such a wonderful opportunity to get your focus, your heart and your thoughts in the right place.

Most people have very busy and hectic lives during the week, and as such, when they come into the sanctuary on Sunday morning, they are severely distracted.

Particularly parents with children, they have been through allot on Sunday mornings, just to get the kids ready and get to church on time.

The playing of worship music is not "Fill time" so that you can get some refreshments out in the fellowship area, or exatra time for you so that you can arrive late, because after all,  "it's just the music playing anyway."

Arrive in plenty of time to get into the sanctuary on time and settle your heart in anticipation of the worship time that is about to begin.  Once the music starts, refrain from getting up to move around, or do anything that would distract others who are trying to worship the Lord.  When we move around or become a distraction, we take the focus off worship or the study of the Word and off Jesus, and place it on ourselves.

The enemy will often use these kinds of distractions to interrupt a service in process and rob Jesus of the Glory He is receiving in the service.  It also makes concentration difficult for all of the other people in the Sanctuary.

What are you expecting to receive?

If you came into the church anticipating recieving much from the Lord, then it really doesn't matter who is teaching on that particular day.  If you came to receive, you will receive and be blessed.

Just make sure that you came prepared to be a blessing to others also.

Think of coming to church as arriving at the best "All you can eat" buffet in the world.  All around you are delicious varieties of fruits, vegetables, meats, seafood and deserts. Would you take the smallest plate that you can find and begin to pile on your food? Most of us would look for the largest plate we could find, or better yet two plates, one in each hand!

The Prophet jeremiah wrote "Your words were found, and I ate them".

When we come into the Lord's house, we should be anticipating that He has prepared for us the very best meal we have ever tasted.  So we bring the biggest plate we can find and we say to the Lord, "Pile it on Lord, as high as you can, I want to receive everything that you want to give me this morning."

How much we actually do receive from the Lord will be in direct proportion to how much we actually anticipate receiving.  

Deuteronomy 4:29
But from there you will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.

One great reason for attending church is to receive from the Lord, everything that He has for us as we study His word together.

Reason number two as laid out above, is to be a blessing and source of encouragement to those who come on that particular day, that needed help.

Many people have the attitude that "I can worship God anywhere, at home, in the mountains, by a lake with a fishing pole, or walking through the mall shopping."

The problem with this kind of thinking is that those who believe such things, think that church is only for them and what they can get out of it.  

Jesus created His church so that we would forget about ourselves and focus on others.  Each one of us are a Minister of the Gospel, not just the one called "Pastor.  The pastors primary job, according to the Bible, is to teach the people all of the Word of God.

The needs of ministry in people's lives, according to the Bible,  should come from the individual members within the church. Each person in Jesus church has been given gifts by Him that enable them to comfort, encourage, show Grace and Mercy, bring healing and provide the practical needs of every member withing the Body of Christ.

When our attitude is to worship God on our own, or on our own terms, we have become dissobedient to the desire of the Holy Spirit for all believers in Jesus Christ to gather together corporately.

Hebrews 10:25
Do 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.

As we examine the Tabernacle or the Temple in the Old Testament, we see in the "Inner Court", the "Table of Showbread".

located on top of the table in the inner court were two stacks of six cakes of bread.  The meaning of these 12 cakes was that there was one cake for each of the 12 tribes in Israel.  This bread assembled together on this table meant "Fellowship".

Now if there was only 10 cakes on the table, then fellowship together could not happen because two were missing. The fact that the Holy Spirit called for all twelve cakes to be present there at once, meant that He intended that we all be together in the church at once, so true fellowship could occur.

You were planted in the church to be present with all the others who were planted there, so that there could be fellowship.  If you are not present, then the complete fellowship of the church cannot happen. Sometimes people are sick or have to work and attendance is not possible. Let's be honest though, most often when we don't go to church, it is because we don't want to go, we have something else that we want to do that is more important to us.

Jesus said that "Where your treasure is, there you heart will be also."  We can tell what we treasure most by where we spend our time, where we spend our money, where our thoughts are fixed upon.

Being a member of Jesus church and being a blessing to others in the church is so very important.  There is no greater joy or sense of fulfillment than coming into your church and becoming involved in, and becoming a help to the people who also attend with you.

More to come later....