Fruitful Living
10 reasons we should attend church
And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25.
INTRODUCTION
We have a hope in Christ Jesus our Lord, which has been given to us by God the Father and by whose death we are united in Him and called God’s children. In order to hold onto this hope we need to support one another by spurring one another onto love and good deeds. We can do this more and more as we meet together as a fellowship in church. That is why going to church is not merely a meeting of believers. It is a meeting of support among believers – the strengthening of one another by our gifts.
Therefore, church is not just a place to go to but rather a living body where God fully participates in our lives for our good and for His glory.
Let us, therefore, consider these 10 why it is critical to attend church.
1. To hear the Preaching of the Word.
If the word of God is quick, powerful, and sharper than a sword (Hebrews 4:12), then hearing the preaching of Scripture is vital to our spiritual well-being. Without living in close fellowship with people, one can never really experience the help and hope Christ offers through faithful involvement in a local church.
COVID-19 has made it clear that if we are physically unable to attend church, watching it on television or online is a wonderful resource. This allows us to stay in communion with our church family, learning what they are learning, and growing as they grow.
2. To participate in corporate worship.
Worshipping God alone is wonderful, but nothing can replace the beauty of coming together corporately to worship Him with others who also have His Spirit in them through the redeeming work of salvation. Jesus says those who worship must worship in Spirit and in Truth – John 4:24.
Knowing God and His character as revealed in Scripture will stir in His children a heart of thankfulness that is expressed in worship that brings Him glory, rather than a self-serving emotional experience. The Holy Spirit causes true worshippers to long to come together with other believers to honour Christ.
3. To sharpen one another
As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another. – Proverbs 27:17. When iron rubs against iron, not only does it become sharper, it causes sparks also! Meeting regularly with other believers is a source of encouragement and strength and a wonderful way to grow our love for God and for others. And it is also God’s way of showing us areas in our lives He wants to mature our walk with Christ. If we’ve stopped attending church because people hurt us, didn’t measure up to our expectations, or are hypocritical, know that the enemy has us right where he wants us. Satan’s tactic is to divide and conquer. Satan will use our lack of love for God’s people to quench our love for God.
4. To exercise our spiritual gifts
Everybody has a spiritual gift and in order for us to remain healthy as a living organism called church we all need to play our part. Can you imagine if our foot decides to go on strike, we will not even be able to walk to where our food is and as for our throat, if it decides to go on strike we won’t even be able to swallow anything. What if the heart decides not to work at all? So you see how important it is for us to be together because each of us is playing a different role but critical role to make the church alive and strong.
5. To encourage our pastor
Our pastors need encouragement because they are also saved by grace just like we are and need the daily presence and encouragement of God who is Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. Pastors also have needs: material, physical, and spiritual. They are in a privileged but difficult position of taking care of us because they are the under shepherds of our great Shepherd the Lord Jesus Christ. We need to encourage, love, pray and care for them. If they miss their target, instead of just criticising we need to go to them and share with them what we think they didn’t do well and how we think they could have done better. We must do it with love because that is exactly what God does for us on a daily basis.
6. To find Godly mentors.
In church we discover many people who have walked the road ahead of us. Their wisdom, insights, and even vulnerability to teach us from their mistakes is one way God provides to help us grow. Titus chapter 2 is a great place to learn how much God values mentorship. It is His plan for the older men and women to come alongside younger men and women to train them in godliness, and guide them toward building a life of no regrets. And not only is the church a wonderful place to find amazing mentors, it is the place God wants to use us to mentor someone else.
7. To teach our children to love the church.
If we want our children to learn to love God’s people, they have to observe us loving God’s people. Do our children see us reading the word of God? Do they see us praying? Do they see us being charitable? Do they see us living in love? Do they see us being temperate in our language towards them and towards others? Luke 6:40 says the student will become like his teacher. Notice that Jesus didn’t say the student will become as the teacher teaches him to be, rather he will be like his teacher.
8. To be a light to the community in which we live.
We need to be the light to the community in which we live by showcasing good values, Godly values, and the greatest value we need to show is the value of loving one another. When we commit to loving God and others, the light shining from our Christ honouring love is what the Holy Spirit will use to draw others to know Jesus.
You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.Matthew 5:14-16.
9. To bear each other’s burdens.
When we grow into maturity, we become Christ-centred not self-centred. We do not only think about ourselves and what is convenient for us but when we are Christ-centred, we bear each other’s burdens so that we will fulfil the law of Christ which is love. Galatians 6:2 – “carry each other’s burdens and in this way you would fulfil the law of Christ’’. When life is going great we need to affirm one another and when life throws us into a sharp curve we need to be supportive of one another.
10. To go to church because God says so
God wants us to regularly attend church because it is for our good. He wants us His people to exalt one another especially since the world we live in is getting darker. Hebrews 10:25 – not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.
Let’s go to church and let us help one another to be who God says we should be, let’s change our country because our light is shining brightly and our salt is making the country Ghana better by creating an environment of righteousness and love.
Stay blessed!
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By Dr. Joyce Aryee, the author
4. Correct the falsehood
If someone misrepresents Muhammad (pbuh), teach people who Muhammad (pbuh) really was.
Tell them about his mercy.
Tell them about his justice.
Tell them about his patience.
Tell them about his forgiveness.
5. Report genuine offences
Use lawful channels.
The Muslim does not become the police, prosecutor, judge and executioner.
6. Protect the innocent
If one Christian insults Islam, do not attack another Christian who knows nothing about it.
If one Muslim makes an offensive statement, do not blame all Muslims.
7. Restore peace
After the controversy, bring responsible Muslim and Christian leaders together.
Talk.
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Clarify.
Forgive where forgiveness is appropriate.
And rebuild trust.
Ghana must not become a battlefield of religious provocation
My dear brothers and sisters in Islam,
Let us look around Ghana.
Muslims and Christians have lived together for generations.
We have Muslim fathers with Christian in-laws.
Christian mothers with Muslim sons-in-law.
Muslim and Christian business partners.
Muslim and Christian neighbours.
Muslim and Christian classmates.
Muslims and Christians serving together in the military, police, public service, universities, hospitals, markets and businesses.
This is Ghana.
We must protect this peace.
Religious freedom is precious.
But religious freedom comes with religious responsibility.
A microphone is not a weapon.
A pulpit is not a battlefield.
A smartphone is not a licence to spread hatred.
A viral video is not a fatwa (religious decree).
And anger is not evidence.
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A word to Muslim scholars
To my fellow Imams and Islamic scholars:
Allah has placed a trust upon our shoulders. You are the best of generations selected for the guidance of mankind. Quran chapter 3:110.
When people are angry, we must calm them.
When people are confused, we must educate them.
When people want revenge, we must teach justice.
When people want violence, we must remind them of Allah.
Our microphone should extinguish fire—not pour petrol upon it.
The Prophet said:ِ
لَيْس َ الشَّدِيد ُ بِالصُّرَعَةِ، إِنَّمَا الشَّدِيد ُ الَّذِي يَمْلِك ُ نَفْسَه ُ عِنْد َ الْغَضَب
“The strong man is not the one who can overpower others; rather, the strong man is the one who controls himself when angry.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, 6114; Sahih Muslim, 2609)
This is strength.
Self-control is strength.
Restraint is strength.
Wisdom is strength.
Justice is strength.
A word to Christian preachers
And to our Christian brothers and sisters, especially those who preach:
We Muslims deeply revere Jesus (peace be upon him)
He is not an ordinary man in Islam.
He is ʿĪsā ibn Maryam عليه السالم, a mighty Messenger of Allah.
The author is the Chief Imam of Katamanso Municipal and Certified Counsellor and Governance Expert.
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When Paul tells us that our “attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus,” he had summarized in the previous two verses what such an attitude was: selflessness, humility, and service. “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others” – Philippians 2:3-4.
In other words, the attitude a Christian should reflect is one that focuses on the needs and interests of others. Without question, that does not come naturally to us. When Christ came into the world, He established a whole new attitude to relationships with others. One day when His disciples were arguing among themselves regarding who was to be greatest in His kingdom, Jesus said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you.
Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave – just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many” – Matthew 20:25-28. Jesus is teaching us that, when we become preoccupied with our own things, it can cause conflicts and other problems with people we know. Instead, God wants us to have an attitude of serious, caring involvement in the concerns of others.
Paul speaks more about this Christ-like attitude in his letter to the church in Ephesus: “that you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.– Ephesians 4:22-24. Many religions of today, including the New Age philosophies, promote the old lie that we are divine or that we can become gods. But the truth of the matter is that we will never become God, or even a god. Satan’s oldest lie was promising Adam and Eve that, if they followed his advice, “- and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Genesis 3:5, NKJV.
Each time we try to control our circumstances, our future, and the people around us, we’re only demonstrating that we want to be a god. But we must understand that, as creatures, we will never be the Creator. God doesn’t want us to try to become gods. Instead, He wants us to become like Him, taking on His values, His attitudes, and His character. We are meant to “be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” – Ephesians 4:23-24.
Finally, we must always keep in mind that God’s ultimate goal for His children is not our comfort, but the transformation of our minds into the attitude of godliness. He wants us to grow spiritually, to become like Christ. This doesn’t mean losing our personalities or becoming mindless clones. Christlikeness is all about transforming our minds. Again, Paul tells us, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will” – Romans 12:2.
It is God’s will that we develop the kind of mindset described in the Beatitudes of Jesus – Matthew 5:1-12, that we exhibit the fruit of the Spirit – Galatians 5:22-23, that we emulate the principles in Paul’s great chapter on love – 1 Corinthians 13, and that we strive to pattern our lives after Peter’s characteristics of an effective and productive life – 2 Peter 1:5-8.
Establishing our actions in righteousness
Every person is commanded to live up to divine standards.
a. In the words of Jesus
“ For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Be ye, therefore, perfect, even as your Father, who is in heaven, is perfect” – Mt. 5:20, 48.
Every person in the world is required to live up to that standard. You say, “You’ve got to be kidding!” No, I’m not. You are obligated to live up to that standard with a pure inside as well as a right outside. But you say, “I can’t!” You are absolutely right. That’s why we are given the solution…
b. In the words of Paul
As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one; But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference;– Rom. 3:10, 21-22a.
Though you can’t obtain on your own the righteous standard Christ set, you can receive His righteousness if you are one of those who believe. Isn’t that great? God set the holy standard. And when you acknowledge that you can’t live up to it, He says, “My Son is not only the Lawgiver, but He is the Redeemer as well, who makes it possible for you to live on that level.” Beloved, it’s a fantastic thing! The standard is so high we can’t obtain it. But Christ met that standard and imputes to us His righteousness. Oh, what a blessed thing!
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