Not Just Needed, But Necessary

I sometimes hear people say something like this – “I’m a Christian & I know I’m going to heaven.  So I don’t need to go to church.  It’s just not necessary.  I can just watch something on TV.”

Well, let’s take into consideration a few passages from the Bible that seems to dispute that idea:

“Some people have given up the habit of meeting for worship, but we must not do that. We should keep on encouraging each other, especially since you know that the day of the Lord’s coming is getting closer.”  (Hebrews 10:25 CEV)

“As iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens [and influences] another [through discussion].”  (Proverbs 27:17 AMP) 

“And so encourage one another and help one another, just as you are now doing.  We beg you, our friends, to pay proper respect to those who work among you, who guide and instruct you in the Christian life. Treat them with the greatest respect and love because of the work they do. Be at peace among yourselves.”  (1 Thessalonians 5:11-13 GNT)

“We should live in the light, where God is. If we live in the light, we have fellowship with each other, and the blood sacrifice of Jesus, God’s Son, washes away every sin and makes us clean.”  (1 John 1:7 ERV)

“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”  (Acts 2:42 NLT)

Those verses express that (1) we just should not give up meeting together for worship; (2) we can help and influence one another through meeting & discussion; (3) we need to pay attention to & respect those that guide & instruct us as we meet together; (4) to help us live in the light of God we should fellowship together; (5) we have the great example of Jesus’ own followers – they devoted themselves to teaching & fellowship.  So as Christians, do we want to follow the instructions God gave us or rationalize & ignore them?

Okay, let’s say that somehow you decide that you can disregard & ignore those directives.  There are some other thoughts to take into consideration:

(1) As Christians – we are the body of Christ.  We each have something we need to accomplish & we need each other – we help to complete one another. 

“We are no longer Jews or Greeks or slaves or free men or even merely men or women, but we are all the same—we are Christians; we are one in Christ Jesus.”  (Galatians 3:28 TLB)

“Just as there are many parts to our bodies, so it is with Christ’s body. We are all parts of it, and it takes every one of us to make it complete, for we each have different work to do. So we belong to each other, and each needs all the others.”  (Romans 12:4-5 TLB)

(2) Just because we are Christians doesn’t mean we no longer have a free will to make our own decisions about our life.  But, we need to be cautious about using our freedom to do only what pleases us without taking into consideration how others will be affected.  We are to help & serve others.

“It is absolutely clear that God has called you to a free life. Just make sure that you don’t use this freedom as an excuse to do whatever you want to do and destroy your freedom. Rather, use your freedom to serve one another in love; that’s how freedom grows. For everything we know about God’s Word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That’s an act of true freedom.”  (Galatians 5:13-14 MSG)

(3) At the time we are saved into the Christian life by accepting Jesus as our Savior, we receive spiritual gifts from God.  I believe that because we are all very unique individuals, the spiritual gifts we receive will be just as unique.  What does that mean?  In a particular body of believers, you may be the only person capable of saying or doing some particular thing that will help another believer – or group of believers.  That means someone could be missing out on a teaching, a blessing or some direction they truly need if you’ve chosen not to be in fellowship with other Christians, not using your unique gift.  “Now God gives us many kinds of special abilities, but it is the same Holy Spirit who is the source of them all. There are different kinds of service to God, but it is the same Lord we are serving. There are many ways in which God works in our lives, but it is the same God who does the work in and through all of us who are his. The Holy Spirit displays God’s power through each of us as a means of helping the entire church.”  (1 Corinthians 12:4-7 TLB)

Consequently, taking all of these things into consideration, if you have chosen to believe that attendance at church is not necessary – you’re quite possibly robbing someone.  It also means that you’re likely robbing yourself as well, because if there should be some need arise in your life, you could easily be missing out on a solution that could be offered from someone else as a result of their unique spiritual gift.

What if everyone decided that they didn’t need to go to church except those people with the spiritual gift of teaching; or, the gift of leadership?  Would those situations not cause a tremendous amount of turmoil?  (Too many chiefs & no indians!)  It would be like having a body that was nothing more than one big eye or an ear.  A body only functions at its best when all the individual parts execute what they were gifted to do.  So you need a church full of people using all of their unique spiritual gifts helping & blessing one another.   

“Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.  Now if the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’ And the head cannot say to the feet, ‘I don’t need you!’  On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.”   (1 Corinthians 12:12-26 NIV)

So, if you happen to be a part of the mind-set that you don’t need to belong to a church – for any reason – I would encourage you to rethink that idea.  You are not just needed, but you are necessary!

Written by Karran Martin – August 23, 2024

[All emphasis is mine]