As youngsters, our parents took us to church; there were no ifs and buts about it. Going to church wasn’t an option like chosing green or red Kool-Aid or playing inside the house or outside. Hooky from church was out of the question! Actually, we didn’t choose the Kool-Aid color and had to play outside.
Parental control, not guidance, eliminated the possibility of confusion, disobedience, and mayhem in rearing 11 children in one household. Arriving at church On Sunday mornings, we poured out of the station wagon like bees emptying a hive.
As a born-again Christian and an adult, I attend church not in obedience to my parental rearing but in obedience, reverence, and love of Jesus, who is faithful in all things.
The Sabbath Day is a day the Church attends church.
The Church and attending church are two intertwined elements of the Christian experience. Any reference to the church (lowercase c) or Church (Capital C) depends on whether you’re talking about the building or the believers of Jesus Christ, respectively.
In 1 Corinthians 1:2, Paul identifies the Church as those who are “Sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.” Paul reminds born-again Christians in chapter six of this book that our bodies are “The temple of the Holy Ghost.”
Sanctified believers whose bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit are the Church, not the building.
We attend church, a type of edifice or building dedicated to God that may be called a temple, sanctuary, house of God, synagogue, or other names.
Names for the family of Christ or the Church mentioned in the Bible include My Church, The Church, Church of God, Churches of Christ, Body of Christ, Church of the Living God, and Church of the First Born.
Jesus is the head of the Church and the Church’s example for all things: obedience, faith, love, and even church attendance.
Deuteronomy 12:5 says, “But you shall seek the Lord at the place which the Lord your God will choose from all your tribes, to establish His name there for His dwelling, and there you shall come.”
In other words, we shall gather in God’s chosen place and dwelling that he sanctified and established.
In 1 Kings 9:3, God says, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication, which you have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built by putting My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually.”
Church buildings and services sanctified for the assembling of those who seek Christ and His salvation are plentiful in America; they include denominational and non-denominational ministries.
The place of worship or church is an individual’s choice.
Remember when Jesus’ parents found Him, a teenager, talking and listening to the teachers in the temple?
When Jesus came of age, He was with the people daily in the temple. He often taught in the temple, healed the lame, blind, and cured infirmities and diseases.
In Matthew 21:13, Jesus said, “It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer.”
We attend the House of Prayer not only to pray but to praise and worship the God of our salvation. When we praise God, we often testify of His goodness to unbelievers who seek Him and others.
“Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.” states Psalm 66:16.
Jesus said He will acknowledge those before God who share and acknowledge Him among the brethren and strangers.
Many things can be said about the Church attending church.
“What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up,” says 1 Corinthians 14:26
We thank and praise God for His instructions and provisions for the Church.
A lot can be said about the Church going to church.
“I was glad when they said unto me, ‘Let us go into the house of the LORD.” Psalm 122.1
Be well.