Get into church

There’s almost a hip little thing going around right now: yeah, I don’t go to church anymore. I used to, but I don’t need it anymore. You will never outgrow the church. Many times people that think they are so deep in Christ they don’t need the church. That is completely unbiblical. It’s time to grow up. We have all been hurt by the church. It’s completely unbiblical to avoid church. Yes, you can walk with God and not go to church. But God says that if you are going to walk with him, you need to be in church. 

Being in church does two things: it makes sure you are still growing and it helps others grow. The church is the body of Christ. “For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. (Romans 12:3-8) “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ.” (1 Corinthians 12:12) “And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; or if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually. And God has appointed these in the church: first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, administrations, varieties of tongues.” (1 Corinthians 12:26-28) 

We are the body. We need each other. We need each other’s gifts and callings. If we are to thrive in this life, we need the relationships that God has put us into.