This Is Church!

This Sunday, September 12th has been designated National Back To Church Sunday.  It is an attempt to get people who have wandered away from regular church attendance to reconsider church for all of its benefits to them and to their family.  Some of the major reasons that people stop attending church are disillusionment with church leaders, conflicts with or disappointment in other Christians, or just a shift in priorities that has left little time for public worship.  There are many misconceptions out there about what church ought to be, and there is a certain level of misunderstanding about the motivation behind what the church does. Today, I'd like to encourage people to take another look by defining what church is and is not.
First of all, the church is not a museum for displaying how righteous and spiritual Christians can become.  A personal relationship with Jesus Christ will change you from the inside out and there are people in church at every stage of that change, encouraging and helping each other move from the place where Jesus found them to the place of spiritual maturity and fruitfulness.  It's not a fashion show or a mutual admiration society.  It is a place for spiritual growth and development.
The church is not a social club designed to prop up a person's standing in the community.  It is, however, a wonderful place for genuine fellowship where people learn to live in community with each other and how to depend upon God and each other.  It is a body of believers who, working together become the hands and feet of Jesus Christ to the world around them.
The church is also not entertainment.  God did not intend for worship to be a stage performance, but an act of congregate adoration of the God being worshipped.  He didn't call for pre-packaged mini-messages based on man's opinions without the authority of Scripture.  He gave us His Word and it is profitable and relevant in every situation, "for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness." 
The church is not a political forum.  Although, in a democratic society, Christians have a responsibility to vote based upon their convictions and do their best to use the freedoms that God has granted them to make a difference, political activism is not the solution for the moral problems of our society.  The only real answer to the problems that we face in our nation is a genuine Holy Spirit filled revival.  And the only way for that to happen is for the church to get back to being the church.
Finally, and this may sound strange, but the church is not a charity. I know that this is a radical statement, but think with me just for a moment.  Many people only think of the church as a place to go when they need gas, or their electric bill paid, or some groceries on the table.  God has called us to give unselfishly to meet people's needs, but if we meet those needs without addressing their deepest need, a personal relationship with Christ, we have done little more than rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic.  When people come into a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ, they begin to take on His character.  Compassion, love, a giving spirit, and a willingness to sacrifice to meet people's needs are the natural result.  So the focus of the church is not how can we alleviate hunger or poverty in our community, but how can we more effectively communicate the love of Christ to people who need Him.  When we accomplish that purpose, we will naturally become a loving, giving body of believers.
So I've spent most of my time this morning talking about what the church is not.  Let me use one analogy to show you what the church is.  I once lived in San Antonio, close to the army post Fort Sam Houston.  That facility is the closest thing that I have ever seen to a perfect picture of a church. It had an Induction Center that was focused on recruiting people into the Army and giving them the basic tools that they would need to become soldiers.  They had an extensive Training Facility where those recruits would learn how to fight and how to survive the rigors of the battle.  They had a Family Support Unit that provided housing and schools for the family of the soldiers.  There was a Commissary where all of their food and household needs were supplied.  There was an Armory where they were equipped and armed for the battle.  There was a War Room where the plans and strategies for victory were developed, and there was a Parade Ground, where the trained and fully equipped soldiers were sent out to the fight with great ceremony. 
The church is a place where people are brought face to face with their need for a Savior.  When they accept Christ, they become a part of something far greater than themselves and they enter the battle of the ages.  Our main task is to draw them to the awareness of their need for Christ, just like that recruiter seeks to draw them into military service.  Once saved, the new believer must be trained, fed, equipped, supported, and sent out into the battlefield with the confidence of victory in Christ.  It is the church that is tasked with this important mission.
Many people have become disillusioned with life, because they have lost sight of their purpose.  Back to Church Sunday is an opportunity to reconnect with a reason for living and a cause worth dying for. Join us this Sunday and invite your friends and family to do the same.