Going to Church

 Recently, I've been listening to a lot of podcasts and reading many articles about the local church, and that helped me get inspired to write the below poem. The Holy Spirit gets all the credit, especially because I haven't written anything like this in years. God's heart is for His church and I believe this poem conveys how much I love God's church and His people.

Going To Church

“Why do you go to church?” You may ask

For me, answering that question is a simple task

You inquire, “Why do you get up early when you could sleep in?

You could even prepare to watch your favorite team win

Why are you and your family so invested in this?

People might think you’re crazy, that something’s amiss

Sometimes you’re there up to four times a week,

Like you’re gunning for some kind of holy winning streak

What is the point? Why does it matter so much?

The way you’re living life makes you seem out of touch

You can still be a Christian and not go to church.”

To even say such a thing does God’s name besmirch

I will respond to your questions, oh and how

And in turn I will pose my own questions to you now

How could I ever turn my back on God’s bride?

The one for whom Jesus Christ suffered and died

How could I forsake the weekly gathering of the saints?

Those sweet times of encouragement and relief from the world’s taints

How could I neglect to hear my pastor preach with conviction?

Proclaiming the things of God and calling out worldly contradiction

How could I neglect and abandon my community?

When the world twists truth and lies with impunity

How could I have survived when the world was shut down?

When everywhere you looked was like a lifeless ghost town

How can I serve in the body if I’m not there?

Because apart from the church, I don’t truly belong anywhere

You ask me why I go to church, I’ll tell you

It’s not about a what or a why, but a Who

I go to church because I love my God

Who saved me from wrath and punishment with the rod

I go to church because it’s by Scripture’s commands

To forsake the world system and all of its demands

I go to church because I love God’s saints

Where we worship Jesus together without worldly restraints

I go to church to help advance the Good News

Reaching out to people by putting my feet in their shoes

I go to church because I need to be reminded of His truth

Seeing that life is no longer “an eye for an eye” or “a tooth for a tooth”

I go to church because I need to grow in holiness

No longer satisfied by the world’s version of happiness

I go to church to look more like Jesus every day

Because He is the truth, the life, and the only way

I go to church to see my kids be saved

The church body together helping ensure a path be paved

I go to church to see people’s souls rise from death to life

To leave a life of futility, death, and strife

I go to church to see marriages renewed

With grace and life are these precious relationships imbued

I go to church to help disciple new believers

To help them discern truth-tellers from wicked deceivers

I go to church to do life together

Knowing that our bonds will truly last forever

I go to church to continue putting to death my sin

Knowing that, in the end, we already have the win

I go to church to welcome the sinner

Knowing that everyone starts as a beginner

I go to church to help build up my wife

So that together we can bring order, beauty, and life

I go to church because it means everything to me

This is so important, why can’t you see?

I go to church to worship the Lord in song

In moments that I wish would last all day long

I go to church because it’s a foretaste of heaven on earth

So valuable and precious and of incalculable worth

Why would I give up the best for the inferior?

Even when I still struggle against corruption in my interior

You asked me why I go to church, and I told you

Having heard what I said, what will you do?

Will you see yourself rightly, knowing you’re steeped in sin?

Recognizing against God you cannot hope to win

Will you trust in Jesus and repent of your deeds?

Or will you continue to sow fruitless seeds?

Put your faith in Jesus and He will save you

And it won’t be based on anything you do

It’s the free gift of God for a guilty criminal

This is clear as crystal, not something subliminal

If you turn to Jesus, He is faithful to forgive

If you turn to Jesus, for the first time you will truly live

This is the Gospel, plain and true

So I’ll ask you again, what will you do?

You asked me why I go to church, and I gave the answer the question was due

But perhaps a better question is, “Why don’t you?”