The church of Jesus Christ is where believers gather to worship God, fellowship with other Christians, and become equipped to go forth into the world and evangelize the lost. As Christians we should get excited every time we go to church because it’s the “in place” to be where we can meet with the Creator of the universe, learn of Him, pray to Him, and fall more in love with Him.
Paul David Tripp gives us one of the best definitions of the church: “The church is not a theological classroom. It is a conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness and sanctification center, where flawed people place their faith in Christ, gather to know and love him better, and learn to love others as he designed.”1
To this John Stott added this thought about the church: “The church has a double responsibility in relation to the world around us. On the one hand we are to live, serve and witness in the world. On the other hand we are to avoid becoming contaminated by the world. So we are neither to seek to preserve our holiness by escaping from the world nor to sacrifice our holiness by conforming to the world.”2
One final comment by Rick Warren helps us understand why God created the church: “He created the church to meet your five deepest needs: a purpose to live for, people to live with, principles to live by, a profession to live out, and power to live on. There is no other place on earth where you can find all five of these benefits in one place.”3
The Church is where we come together to worship Jesus Christ, to spend time hearing from God’s Holy Word, the Bible, pray for the many needs around us, enjoy the fellowship of the saints, and get equipped to go out and share the gospel with family, friends, and a world in desperate need of the good news of Jesus. My friends, going to church for the Christian should be the highlight of their week since it’s in the house of the Lord where we gather as a church family to participate in the greatest joy and most wonderful privilege in all of life – worshipping, praising, and glorifying our Lord and Savior – Jesus Christ! So the next time you go to church realize you are entering a sacred place where we get to experience the true joy of corporate worship and the very presence of Jesus – and what can be better than this!
1 Paul David Tripp – The church is not a theological classroom. It is…
The “In Place” That Fixes You (Whether You Feel Like It or Not)…from the Desk of the Auditor
Curt’s point is embarrassingly simple: church is not a weekly “religious content drop.” It’s where Christians gather to worship, belong, and get outfitted to go back into the world useful, not just informed.
By the numbers we go:
1. Church is a repair shop, not a lecture hall.
Curt leans on Tripp’s idea that church is a lived center of conversion, confession, repentance, reconciliation, forgiveness, and sanctification. In Auditor terms: the church is where God keeps reconciling your accounts, because your “self-led ledger” is always off. (Ya gotta tic n tie, baby)
2. Church trains you to live in the world without letting the world write your policies.
Stott’s “double responsibility” is the adult version of spiritual maturity: witness and serve, but don’t get contaminated, meaning you don’t adopt the world’s appetites and call it “wisdom.”
(1 Peter 1:15–16; Romans 12:2.)
3. Church meets needs that you can’t realistically outsource to podcasts and “personal spirituality.”
Warren’s five-part bundle shows why church endures: purpose, people, principles, a lived calling, and power. Curt’s conclusion is basically: stop acting like you can get “corporate worship and Christ’s presence” via spiritual curbside pickup.
(Hebrews 10:24–25; Ephesians 4:11–12.)
If church is just “nice,” you’ll treat it like a hobby. But church is where God forms a people, not a fan club, and where your private faith gets audited in public: are you confessing, reconciling, forgiving, being equipped, and then actually going?
Don’t treat it like cosplay.
The church is the weekly reminder that Christianity is not solitary excellence, it’s shared obedience under a real King, with real saints, in a real world that really wants you spiritually sedated.
When church becomes optional, Jesus becomes theoretical, and your “faith” quietly turns into a mirage with good music.
Thanks Mr. Blattman