Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / NewStats: 3,195,082 members, 7,957,046 topics. Date: Tuesday, 24 September 2024 at 05:51 AM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Religion / Five Spiritual Dangers Of Skipping Church (407 Views)
The Physical And Spiritual Dangers Of Fornication And Adultery (Photo/Video) / Is There Any Spiritual Dangers Of Porn? / Dangers Of Sleeping With A Married Woman (2) (3) (4)
(1) (Reply)
Five Spiritual Dangers Of Skipping Church by Austema(m): 12:01am On Jun 02, 2019 |
“Five Spiritual Dangers of Skipping Church
( Nathan Rose)
I read recently that my denomination, the Southern
Baptist Convention, has a total of 16 million
members, but on a typical Sunday only 6 million of
those members attend their local church’s
corporate worship gathering.
Considering the importance and necessity of
corporate worship for the Christian, this is a very
discouraging statistic.
Not only is it disheartening, it is also spiritually
dangerous for those who profess Christ, but
regularly miss worship with their church family.
Below, I want to list some reasons and explain why
skipping church is a really bad idea. [1]
1. You will miss out on God’s primary design for
your spiritual growth and well-being.
The central aspect of corporate worship is the
preaching of God’s Word. The proclamation of
Scriptures is God’s primary means for a disciple of
Jesus to grow in spiritual maturity. When a
professing Christian misses church they are
missing God’s prescribed process for spiritual
growth.
2. You disobey God.
Corporate worship is not optional for the Christian,
according to the Bible. Hebrews 10:24-25 makes
this clear:
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to
love and good works, not neglecting to meet
together, as is the habit of some...”
Author and pastor, Greg Gilbert comments on this
passage, “At the very least, therefore, we have to
say that, for every Christian, attendance at church
gatherings is not optional. The author of Hebrews
—and therefore the Holy Spirit himself—commands
Christians to be present when the believers to
whom he or she belongs gather.”
At my church, we reflect this biblical command in
our church covenant, which states:
“We commit, therefore, by the aid of the Holy Spirit
to...continue meeting together regularly [and] work
together for the continuance of a faithful
evangelical ministry in this church, as we sustain
its worship, ordinances, discipline, and doctrines”
God’s people ought to strive to keep God’s
commands. One of his commands is meeting
together regularly for corporate worship.
3. You make a statement to the world that God is
not worthy of worship.
What we spend our time on shows what we truly
value. If you miss church in order to sleep in or to
attend a sporting activity, what does this say about
the worth you ascribe to God? Replacing your
church’s regularly scheduled worship time with
some other activity demonstrates that God is not
actually worthy of our worship; something else is.
Unfortunately, this is the attitude and conduct of
unbelievers, not God’s people.
4. You can’t minister to anyone.
Too often people think that corporate worship is
only about getting their own spiritual needs met.
And therefore if they don’t have any spiritual needs
at that time then there is no reason for them to
attend. The problem with this view of worship is
that it’s too individualistic and self-centered. As
Christians, our lives are to be spent serving,
helping, and encouraging others.
Missing church robs you of an opportunity to serve
someone other than yourself. If you are gone on
Sunday morning you can’t offer a word of
encouragement to someone who needs it; you can’t
welcome an unbeliever who doesn’t usually come
to church; you can’t pray with a fellow member who
is suffering; you can’t encourage the other
members with your voice during times of corporate
singing; you can’t encourage your pastor with your
presence while he preaches the sermon he has
labored over all week. These are just a few ways
you can’t serve if you are absent on Sunday
morning.
5. You skip out on a foretaste of heaven.
God created us to worship him. That’s the primary
reason you exist. This is why the church was
redeemed and this is what God’s people will do
when Jesus returns and restores our fallen world.
Revelation 22:3 gives a picture of this:
“No longer will there be anything accursed, but the
throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his
servants will worship him.”
In 1988, three whales became trapped under a
sheet of ice near the city of Point Barrow, Alaska.
In an attempt to save the whales, rescuers dug a
series of breathing holes in the ice leading back to
the ocean. Two of the three whales were rescued
because they were able to get the oxygen they
needed and were guided in the correct direction.
Similarly, Sunday morning worship is a like string
of breathing holes the Lord provides for his people
guiding and sustaining them until they make it to
their true home in heaven.
[1] These reasons do not pertain to people who
are providentially hindered. I believe there are
circumstances in which it is appropriate and even
necessary to miss corporate worship with your
church family. Sickness, physical disablement,
being out of town to take care of one’s elderly
parents are just a few examples.
Nathan Rose” |
(1) (Reply)
Church Members Carry Pastor Around On A Chair While He Preaches (video) / Download: OGA By Lawrence And Decovenant / COZA: ‘Stand By Your Pastor’ – Prophet Abiara Advises Church Members
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 21 |