I don't have to go to church to be a good Christian

    "I don't have to go to church to be a good Christian."

This is something I hear quite a lot, sometimes even from members of my own church. And I suppose, at some level, it could be true. A man named Laurence Peter is famous for saying, "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than going to the garage makes you a car." I'm no expert in logic, but it seems that someone who is could knock a hole or two in that statement. Perhaps I could become famous for making a quote similar to the first one above, "I don't have to visit or call my father to be a good son." Or maybe not.

Let's play with the first statement above. What if it said, "If I am a good Christian, I don't have to go to church." It doesn't work for me, and that's not just because I'm a pastor. I grew up in a family where we went to church. Period. No one ever asked on Saturday night, "Do we have to go to church?" We just went. Anything else we thought we needed to get done that day could wait until after church. But when I went off to college, I fell out of the habit. There were many good excuses why I didn't go. But most simply, once I quit going, it became easier and easier just to stay away. When my mom asked if I was going to church, I'd lie and say that I did.

It's when I encountered Luther's Small Catechism that I began to look at it differently. In his explanation to the first article of the Apostle's Creed, after having enumerated all the things that our heavenly Father has done, and continues to do for us, and that He does all this out of Fatherly goodness and mercy, Luther wraps it up by saying, "For all this, it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him."

Let's play with that statement one more time. "If I am a good Christian, why would I not want to go to church?" Being a good Christian is about coming to an understanding of what God has done for us, what God is doing for us, and what God promises to for us in this life and the life to come. And when we fully realize how much God has done, is doing, and will do for us, our desire to worship him should come as naturally as exhaling follows inhaling. In other words, we worship God not in order to be a Christian, but as a response to God's goodness.

And before you begin to think that you can do that all by yourself, listen to the author of Hebrews "Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:24-25) We come together for that worship for the mutual encouragement of our fellow Christians.