The "Church" is for God - not us!

It amuses me to see the number of people who "go to church." It amuses me more to see how many people think that they are supposed to "get something out of going to church." There are so many things wrong with this.
"The Church" is not a building. It is not a meeting. It is not a gathering. Not some service that happens at 11am on Sunday mornings. The "Church" is the people. Each Christian makes up a member of the Church. We don't "go to church." We ARE the Church.

How dare us think that this body of Christ called The Church serves a purpose to benefit us. Do we meet together on Sunday mornings to feel better about ourselves? To become refreshed or renewed? These are by no means the purpose of The Church! Yes, they may be a by-product of gathering together as the body of Christ - but it should not be our motivation for gathering. It should not be our expectation when we meet with other Christians.

The purpose of these meetings on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, Wednesday evenings, or any other time we meet together as The Church is to WORSHIP GOD!
Let's think about this.
Why do we have life? God gave it to us.
Why do we continue to live? God created our bodies to function in that manner.
Why do we know love? Because God loved us first.
Why do we have people in our lives that we love and they love us? God.
God is the reason for our being. He is the author of our lives. Everything we are or have we owe to Him. Because of Him, I know I can live each day not wondering what will happen to me when I die. There are so many things around us that we should realize that God is the one to whom we need to thank and praise.
We worship God on a daily basis simply by living according to His calling.
However, it is appropriate and necessary for us as "The Church" to gather to formally praise God together. When we meet together in this manner, we are communally declaring that God has been great to us, He deserves our praise, and we want to join together to show Him how much we appreciate Him.

Think about it this way. Someone you know is (having a birthday, graduating, getting married, having a baby, getting a promotion, retiring, [fill in the blank with whatever you might through a party for!]) You gather with people who all know and love this person to throw a party for this person to let them know you are celebrating them and their achievements etc. You can tell them individually that you are happy they are alive, congratulations, you love them, etc; but it just doesn't have the same impact as when everyone joins together and celebrates them!
Put a twist on this: YOU are the one having a birthday and everyone you know and love come together to throw you a party. The whole party is revolved around you. The point of the birthday party is to celebrate YOU! After all, isn't that why we celebrate birthdays? We celebrate the day each person entered the world. Celebrating that day indicates that we are happy they are alive!

In this same way, yes it is important for us to individually praise God for his existence. But it is so much more meaningful when we gather with others who feel the same way!

Now let's put a bigger twist on all of this!
Have you ever had a birthday party where someone shows up and somehow makes the party about them?! It's no longer all about you - as it should be - but it becomes about someone else.
That is how God feels when we show up for Worship hoping to get something out of it. We turn God's party to all about us!

When we go to someone else's party and are genuinely happy for them and spend the time showing them your love for them, you will genuinely have more satisfaction and enjoy yourself a lot more than if you showed up hoping to make the party about yourself. The same as with worship. When we "go to church" for us - we will not be as fulfilled as when we gather as The Church to praise God! When we praise God ... His love overflows in such a way that we become consumed in it in an almost physical way!

So next time you grudgingly put on your Sunday best, climb in the car, and head out on Sunday morning when you'd rather be in bed ....... remember that you have so many reasons to praise God that you should be itching to get to your destination just so that you can share in your excitement over the awesome things God has done in your life with others who feel the same way!