What is so great about church?

This post actually started completely different from what you are reading now. Not that the first draft was bad, I mean I was on a role, but I started thinking about what I was trying to communicate and I realized something. There are probably a million other blogs saying the same thing. They probably say it better than I would, so why go that route. Instead lets talk about something else. Lets talk about what is so great about church!

I really like church. I really like coming to church. No it is not because I get paid, it is because I genuinely love it! I don’t mean love like “I love french fries” either. I mean something a little deeper. Why do I love it you might ask…well let me count the ways.

I love church because God established it! Think about this, we were made for relationships. It what we crave, its what we long for, to connect intimately with others. We were created to have a relationship with a loving, caring, just, righteous God. We long for Him, we crave Him. It is our suppression of the truth that keeps us from Him. Look at what he did. He established a means for us to connect with others and Himself! Unbelievable! I can go to church and connect in a real way with people, and I can connect with God with those people. Now, I can and should connect with God every day on my own, but there truly is something incredible about connecting in Worship of a great God with others! Nothing else like it.

I love church because it carries the Truth! I was talking with a new friend today about this. People are looking for the truth! They are looking for something that will deeply impact their lives. They are looking for something that will help, will change, will complete them. Sex, drugs, and rock-n-roll are simply ways to try to fill an emptiness. The church carries the Truth! It carries the only message that can change the human heart! Creation is cool, but the power to change the human heart is amazing! To me, that is the greatest measure of God’s power. The church carries this! It raises this banner every Sunday as a beacon of hope for those who are lost. The Truth has power, the Truth impacts lives!

I love the church because it has history. The church has been through the ringer. It has been persecuted, killed, tortured, and maimed in the name of Christ. It isn’t a fad, the latest greatest, a flash in the pan. It endures, it protects, it pushes forward, it throws down the very Gates of Hell. The church has celebrated great victories and mourned sad loses, but it has never been defeated, it has never been disbanded, it remains! The church has a rich history.

I love the church because it points to something more than ourselves. The church isn’t about the church. It is pointing to something greater, bigger, more important. It is pointing to God, more accurately a relationship with God! The church not only bears the Truth, it points to it! It directs, urges, admonishes, and encourages people to the Truth! If the church didn’t do this it would be an institution. Simply created by man for man, but it is so much more because the church is not focused on the church. The church is focused on God!

What is so great about church? A whole lot and I love it!