It probably didn’t happen overnight. It’s doubtful you saw it coming. A decade ago, you’d have sworn it could never happen to you. But it did, perhaps. Some life changes can creep up on us, and we hardly notice, at first, the subtle change. After all, it’s not like people wake up one Sunday and randomly say to themselves, “Awe heck, let’s skip church today and for the rest of our lives.”
I get it, once you are out of the habit of worshiping with a congregation on a weekly basis, it’s hard, really hard to get back into it. Maybe for you, you dropped out of church after you went off to college. Perhaps you had a child or started a new job, or maybe you moved. Maybe a hypocrite jaded your perspective of church. Who knows, but after a lifetime of being active in church, you found yourself drifting further away, until, you simply quit.
I run into people (usually it’s at the store) who feel like they owe me some sort of an explanation on why they are too busy for church. “Sunday is my only day off” “I’m really busy with....” “I’m too busy” “I really want to, but” and I simply smile and respond in love, “Sounds like you’re busy going to hell...” NO, that’s not what I say OR think.
I do smile, and I do respond lovingly, “You don’t have explain it to me, I hope when you get a chance, we’ll see you some Sunday.” Then, I continue to talk with them, maybe about about family, mine and theirs, work, and whatever else we have in common. Why? Because I do genuinely care. I could try to make them feel bad, but a harsh response or a critical answer isn’t going to help anyone. I see no reason to pressure, guilt, judge, or shame people who have disconnected from a local church.
I know many people who discontinue their relationship with a local church rationalize their behavior, thinking they are “okay with the Big Man upstairs” because they do a lot of good in their community, serving in various civic clubs, volunteering at the local schools or food banks, or because they help out certain members of their family. There’s a term for that....
The term I have in mind is usually reserved for Religious fanatics. It’s called a “Works-driven salvation.” Bible Thumpers & Pharisees are accused of a works-driven salvation because they think God owes them something for all the good they do. But thinking you’ll end up in heaven because you are good person and you do a lot of good for others, well that’s nothing short of thinking you are working your way into heaven.
Going into a fast-food restaurant won’t make you a cheeseburger, standing in a garage won’t make you a car, and sitting on a pew won’t make you a Christian. Conversely, I don’t think any of us will grow spiritually on our own. I think life is exponentially more difficult, it’s much harder, when we tough the storms of life alone. We need people to encourage us when we face struggles as well as to encourage us to strive towards deeper heights, and we need people surrounding us who will help us walk the walk. That’s simply the way God made us.
I know a lot of people tell themselves that they will go to church again, once they get their life straightened back out. That’s kind of like saying, I’ll go to the Emergency Room once the bleeding stops or the broken bone heals. Some people think they won’t be welcome in a church because of their past. If a heinous/offensive past disqualifies someone from congregating with the gathered saints on Sunday, I’m the first person that needs to go...
These ideas of inadequacy or disqualification miss the point of faith in Jesus. Love covers a multitude of sins, love gets messy, and love changes everything. The Cross cancels out our past, even when we stumble along the path. Consider I JN 1:7-10, “7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”
We can’t work our way to heaven, but neither can we ever drift so far away in this life to the point that God won’t accept us. Is “going to church” a requirement for getting into heaven? That’s probably a moot point, because the church isn't a building, we don’t “go” to church. We, the people, we are the church, a weekly gathering of weak, broken, fallible, vulnerable people who are striving to grow closer to the risen Savior, together.
Come home this Sunday. Someone special might cry when they see you, but I promise the ceiling won’t cave in and collapse.
