What do you do when you don’t feel good? Reach for a couple of aspirin? Open up a bottle of antacids? Drink some ginger ale (which was my favorite childhood “elixir” when I felt ill)? When we don’t feel good, we usually try to do something that will help us feel better. We have watched many a western that told of traveling salesman that had all kinds of remedies for all kinds of ailments. They promised that their product would cure just about anything. What they were offered was a panacea. What they sold was nothing but empty promises.
For all you “churchgoers” out there, I have a simple question: why do you go to church in the first place? Is it to make you feel better when you check off that box (or boxes, if you attend more than once a week) until the following week? Do you view your attendance as simply a meaningless obligation or a joyful commitment? Has your participation at church become a spiritual panacea, promising to make you feel better without any real changes?
You might say, “Well, at least I GO! I know people who don’t even darken the doorway of their local place of worship!” You might also be tempted to point to those in society who don’t even believe in God. The real question is not whether you go to church each week. The real question is, do you merely acknowledge God’s existence or do you submit to His authority?
In the book of Exodus, we read that while Moses was up on the mountain, the LORD gave him various instructions, from societal laws to intricate design details and instructions for the tabernacle. In the 29th chapter, God gives him instructions on consecrating and setting aside the priests for their godly duties: “Then you shall take part of the blood that is on the altar, and of the anointing oil, and sprinkle it on Aaron and his garments, and on his sons and his sons’ garments with him. He and his garments shall be holy, and his sons and his sons’ garment with him.” (verse 21, ESV)
The priests were to wear incredibly beautiful and expensively adorned garments. Artisans crafted these garments from fine linen and precious gems. But God instructed that, through the process of the ritual sacrifice, these garments were to be purposely splattered with the blood of the sacrifice. To our modern sensibilities, that just doesn’t seem to make any sense! But, these beautifully crafted garments were to be stained with the reminder that sin is not atoned for and one is not made holy by outward adornment and ritual but rather through the blood of sacrifice.
So, back to the original question: why go to church? Salvation and forgiveness are not brought about by the fashion show of religion, with all its pomp and rituals. Salvation is only made possible through the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross. If we merely go through the motions without consciously submitting to Jesus and His authority in our life, then we are simply filling up space and nothing more. When we go to church, we have the opportunity to give God the honor and glory that are due Him.
We can put on all the airs and adornment of “religion” but we can only be forgiven through the blood of Jesus Christ! When we truly submit and commit our life to Jesus, then our attendance at church shifts from a spiritual panacea to spiritual empowerment. We begin living the abundant life Jesus promised!
