Have you ever heard someone argue that they don’t need to go to church to be a Christian? Maybe you say that… and technically they’re right. You don’t. Faith in Christ and asking him to be your Savior makes you a Christian. But what are the real repercussions of this mentality?
We humans keep looking for a religion that will give us access to God without having to bother with people. We want to go to God for comfort and inspiration when we’re fed up with the men and women and children around us. We want God to give us an edge in the dog-eat-dog competition of life.
This determination to get ourselves a religion that gives us an inside track with God, but leaves us free to deal with people however we like, is age-old. It is the sort of religion that has been promoted and marketed with both zeal and skill throughout human history. Business is always booming.
It is also the sort of religion that the Biblical prophets are determined to root out. They are dead set against it.
Because the root of the solid spiritual life is embedded in a relationship between people and God, it is easy to develop the misunderstanding that my spiritual life is something personal between God and me – a private thing to be nurtured by prayers and singing, spiritual readings that comfort and inspire, and worship with like-minded friends. If we think this way for very long, we will assume that the way we treat the people we don’t like or who don’t like us has nothing to do with God.
That’s when the prophets step in and interrupt us, insisting, “Everything you do or think or feel has to do with God. Every person you meet has to do with God.” We live in a vast world of interconnections, and the connections have consequences, either in things or in people – and all the consequences come together in God.
-Taken from “The Message / Remix: Pause”
Jesus Christ was community. God’s very nature is to be in community. The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… 3 in 1. Different, yet in unity. We are designed in a way that is incomplete without that community. Our goal is to be Christ-like and to embody the nature of God on this earth. That would involve being in community.
Sure, you can attend the iCampus for CedarCreek, from your couch, and spend time worshipping God with your iPod, and do your daily devotions from www.livingitout.tv all by yourself… but if you are not serving others, building into others, helping others, loving others… what good are you for the Kingdom? You’re a spiritual whiz and a physical bump on a log. Satan is not afraid of you. You are ineffective for Christ.
What good is a car with all the bells and whistles, a full tank of gas, and a nice coat of wax… if it is never taken out of the garage?
A strong local church body knows that you weren’t called to the team to put on the uniform and sit the bench. Step out of your comfort zone and be effective for Christ. Go serve, either through your church or some other ministry… share your faith… flex those spiritual muscles you’ve so finely tuned on your own, and GET IN THE GAME!