I Used to Go Church, Why Don’t I Enjoy It Anymore

I Used to Go Church, Why Don’t I Enjoy It Anymore

     This a very interesting and intriguing question. What should a person do who no longer wishes, or has no desire, to attend church anymore? The answer to the question is not simple because the cause could be as varied as the people asking it.

     So, let me begin with the primary purpose. We attend church to worship God and to study his Word in order to learn more about Him and our relationship with Him. Our modern-day church is a product of the Old Testament Jewish temple worship. The Jews gathered to offer sacrifices to God in order to place them in right relationship with Him. They also met to study the Word of God (Luke 2:42-50) and to learn of Him. We meet to worship God “because” the sacrifice has been made which placed us in right relationship with God. And we meet to study His Word and to learn more about Him. And God has given the Church the tools to do these things (I Corinthians 12:7ff). If we are to stay in right relationship with God and mature as believers we must gather together for worship and study.

     Every born-again believer has been given a gift from God when they were saved. We are to use our gifts to help exhort and encourage each other. So, not only do we attend church to worship we also attend in order to serve. We attend church so that we can use our gifts to help others. When one stays away from the fellowship of believers his gift is absent as well. If I draw encouragement from you, then when you are absent I am not encouraged as I ought to be. If your gift is teaching, the fellowship will miss your words of wisdom when you are absent. Every believer adds to the body. We do not come to church simply to take from it. We come also to contribute to the worship and fellowship. If your gift is helping, think of how many things may not get done as they ought to have been simply because you stayed home. Every believer is essential to the Body of Christ. And as the day of his appearing nears, our fellowship together is of greater importance.

     And God has also commanded that we do so. The Church is not only encouraged to fellowship, the Church is commanded to fellowship together. Paul wrote in Hebrew 10:24-25 “And let us consider one another to provoke to love and to good works, (v.25) not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” We are to use the gifts God has given to each of us as tools to establish and to strengthen the Church. And Paul adds that this is especially important today as we see the day of Christ’s return approaching. One has not to look far before seeing the weakness of the modern church in society. We must “provoke to love and good works” each and every member of the Body of Christ.

     Also, God expects His children to be obedient. If God says to attend church then we must obey, “And Samuel said, Does Jehovah delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of Jehovah? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice! To listen is better than the fat of rams!” I Samuel 15:22. When we accepted Christ as Savior we should have become his servants as well. But, who we serve in life is an on-going choice, “Do you not know that to whom you yield yourselves as slaves for obedience, you are slaves to him whom you obey; whether it is of sin to death, or of obedience to righteousness” Romans 6:16. Should Church attendance be enjoyable? Yes. However, as we find in so many areas of life, we must do the right thing whether it seems enjoyable or not. In time, we find that obedience brings joy. Disobedience brings discipline (Hebrew 12:5-12) and discipline is never enjoyable, “Now chastening for the present does not seem to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who are exercised by it” (Hebrews 12:11). However, the disciplining hand of God eventually brings “the peaceful fruit” but not until it brings us back to obedience.

     And best of all, if we may call one reason better than another, when we meet together we have a greater sense of the presence of Christ than we could ever have when we are alone, Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there I am in their midst.” The very presence of Jesus Christ himself becomes even more evident when we are worshipping God together. There is something special about the fellowship of believers filled with the Holy Spirit of God lifting up the name of God in praise and worship.

     When a person no longer enjoys church attendance the reasons could be myriad. However, I find most often that we have become disobedient in other areas as well, and that we have begun to worship for the wrong reasons. If we attend church in obedience to God and in order to worship God, to learn more about him, to fellowship with likeminded believers, to experience the presence of Jesus Christ, and to use the gifts which God has bestowed upon us in order to build and encourage other believers, we will undoubtedly enjoy attending church.