Lies we believe about the church

“I have to get right with God before I can come to church.”

“Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness? But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness. I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.” (Romans 6:16-19, CSB)

Let’s talk about the lies that are surrounding the church. You know the ones I mean: all Christians are judgmental. I don’t have to go to church to be a Christian. And then, my personal favorite, I have to get myself right before I come to church.

My grandmother got remarried a long while back to your typical “good ole boy” out in the boondocks. (Don’t take this as me knocking the boondocks, I’m just more of a “always have access to wifi” kind of girl). He used to say this to me all of the time: “Mel, I can’t go to church until I get myself right. I have to stop cussin’ and drinkin’, and THEN I can start going to church.”

Well, buddy, I have some bad news, and I have some good news for you!

Bad news is simple, if you’re waiting until you’re doing things right, you’re never going to make it through the church doors. Paul mentions in Philippians 2:13, that it’s God working in us to will and work according to His good purpose. It’s God that helps us do the good stuff, not ourselves. We are horrible, no good sinners who can only do good because we lean into His goodness. Our instinct is to do the opposite, so it stands that we aren’t able to get right on our own.

But, this isn’t a depressing post. This is a post about the hope we can have in Jesus’ sacrifice for us. God created us to have a relationship with Him, and the entire Bible points us back to how hard He has worked for that to be possible. Through Jesus’ sacrifice, we are able to be made new, and be more like God.

That stuff that’s holding us back from going to church? Those habits and shameful things we do? They aren’t more powerful than God. Jesus’ love and sacrifice covers it all, if we let it.

We aren’t going to be perfect until the very end. We will struggle each and every day, and I have a spoiler alert for you guys, everyone struggles with doing the right thing. It has something to do with Adam and Eve having ONE RULE and still managing to mess it all up, that allowed sin into humanity. 

Church is full of sinners who are looking to do right by God. What better place to submerge ourselves than with other like minded people?

Let’s look at Romans 6 to see what Paul says about “getting right.”

“Don’t you know that if you offer yourselves to someone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of that one you obey—either of sin leading to death or of obedience leading to righteousness?” Romans 6:16 CSV

We’re going to take a step back. Sin is how we get to this point, right? We’ve accepted Christ and we are SO EXCITED, right?

But then, life happens.

I got to go on my first cruise the other day, and I booked it way back in March. I had PLENTY of time to lose some weight, right? But, a cheat meal here, a cheat coke there, and a lazy day of not working out became every other day, which became every day. Soon enough, this “I can do this!” turned into “I’m too busy to get back on track.” It started with small choices, but it was catastrophic for my plans. 

Obviously, this is a silly tie in, but it’s the same thing. “I don’t have the time to read my Bible today,” turns into months without reading. “I forgot to pray today,” easily turns into not communicating with God for long stretches of time. If we don’t have a steady relationship with God through His Word and through prayer, how can we expect to make the right decisions when sin comes knocking on our door?

Without the Holy Spirit guiding us, it’s easy to get off track. Without our minds and hearts steady on God, we won’t be able to feel the Holy Spirit guiding us.

Paul is very clear in this verse: there’s only two paths. One to death and one to righteousness.

Jesus is also crystal clear when He said “Enter through the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life, and few find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14, CSB)

It is so much easier to be on the path to death, but as genuine disciples, this isn’t what we want.

“But thank God that, although you used to be slaves of sin, you obeyed from the heart that pattern of teaching to which you were handed over, and having been set free from sin, you became enslaved to righteousness.” Romans 6:17-18 CSB

So how do we get on the right path?

I love that Paul says “although you used to be slaves of sin.” Like, yes! I am not a slave of sin anymore! We are genuine disciples and by this, we are enslaved to righteousness, not sin. We still falter, as we all experience, but our desire has shifted from lawlessness to righteousness.

This is something we actually have to do on our end. It isn’t like grace which is given to us without us having to do anything, but instead it’s a jumping off point for us. 

We have heard the Truth, we have accepted Christ into our hearts, and NOW we have to hear the teaching of His Word and obey it not just in action but in our hearts.

This isn’t something we can do on our own. We can read His Word with the Holy Spirit’s guidance, but we also need the fellowship and accountability that comes from being with like minded Christians.

It is a blatant lie to think that we can fix ourselves. It is a blatant lie to think that we have any power in this without God. But, it’s also a blatant lie to believe that we, as individuals who are created for relationships, can do it without people walking alongside us.

When God made the world, there is only one thing that He said wasn’t good, and that was Adam without Eve. He knew from the get-go that we needed others to help us.

“I am using a human analogy because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you offered the parts of yourselves as slaves to impurity, and to greater and greater lawlessness, so now offer them as slaves to righteousness, which results in sanctification.” Romans 6:19 CSB.

As genuine disciples, our goal is sanctification. We are pursuing righteousness, and godliness, because we know that this is the path God has called us. 

In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus talks about us being the salt and the light. We are MEANT to stand differently than the rest of the world. We are CALLED to a different path than lawlessness.

We know how to do it, and we know the results if we don’t.

So, let’s apply this to our lie. “I have to get right with God before I can go to church.” 

How about, “To get right with God, I need to go to church.” 

If we want to get on the path that results in sanctification instead of death, we have to dedicate ourselves to it. It isn’t a hard choice to make, but Jesus does warn us that it is difficult and few will walk this path. We, as Christians, need to be held accountable, otherwise we make decision after decision that leads to us blindly running to the wide gate, the path to death. Accountability is so easy to find in your local church.

Do it. Don’t be scared, and don’t talk yourself out of it. Jump into your Bible, run back to God in prayer, and PLEASE go to church. You can’t be a Christian and not see the need for being with a local body of believers.