It gives us the opportunity to worship with other believers, hear God’s Word taught, pray together, encourage one another, and grow in our faith. Scripture even tells believers not to neglect meeting together.
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together…” Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV
But there is something very important we must understand:
Going to church cannot save us.
A person can sit in a church pew every Sunday for fifty years and still never personally trust Jesus Christ as Savior.
We can know when to stand.
We can know when to sing.
We can know the familiar Bible stories.
We can know Christian words and phrases.
We can serve on committees, give offerings, teach classes, sing in the choir, or volunteer whenever help is needed.
Those may all be good things.
But none of them can take away our sin.
Religion is not the same as salvation.
Consider Nicodemus.
Nicodemus was not someone who had rejected God or lived without religion. He was a Pharisee and a respected religious leader. He knew the Scriptures. He practiced his religion faithfully. If church attendance and religious knowledge could save someone, Nicodemus would seem to have been an excellent candidate.
Yet Jesus told him:
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3 ESV
Nicodemus needed more than religion.
He needed new life.
He needed Jesus.
The same is true for us.
Church membership cannot give us that new life.
Serving cannot give us that new life.
Giving money cannot give us that new life.
Knowing Scripture cannot give us that new life.
Only Jesus Christ can save.
Why isn’t going to church enough?
Because our problem is not that we have failed to attend enough services.
Our problem is sin.
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” Romans 3:23 ESV
Every one of us has sinned against a holy God. No amount of church attendance can erase that record.
Imagine someone saying, “I know I have broken the law, but I have spent hundreds of hours sitting inside a courthouse.”
Being inside the building would not erase the offense.
In the same way, sitting inside a church building cannot remove our sin.
We need forgiveness.
And God provided the way.
Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself when He died on the cross. He paid the price we could never pay, and He rose again.
Salvation is God’s gift.
“For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8 ESV
Notice what that verse does not say.
It does not say:
By church attendance you have been saved.
By religious activity you have been saved.
By being a church member you have been saved.
By doing enough good things you have been saved.
It says we are saved by grace through faith.
There is a tremendous difference between attending church and belonging to Christ.
A person can be surrounded by Christians and still not be a Christian.
A person can hear the Gospel hundreds of times and never personally receive Christ.
A person can know about Jesus without knowing Jesus.
That is why the question is not simply:
“Do you go to church?”
The more important question is:
“Have you trusted Jesus Christ to save you?”
There is another danger we should consider.
Sometimes people have attended church for so long that Christianity becomes familiar. We know the songs. We recognize the verses. We know what Christians are supposed to say.
And familiarity can sometimes cause us to stop examining what we personally believe.
We may think:
“I’ve always been a Christian.”
But none of us are born Christians.
We must be born again.
Our family cannot make that decision for us.
Our pastor cannot make it for us.
Our church cannot make it for us.
There must come a point when we recognize our sin and place our trust in Jesus Christ.
When the Philippian jailer asked Paul and Silas:
“What must I do to be saved?”
They did not tell him to begin attending church.
They answered:
“Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved…” Acts 16:31 ESV
After we are saved, church becomes an important part of the Christian life.
We gather because we belong to Christ — not so that we can earn the right to belong to Him.
We worship because we are saved.
We serve because we are saved.
We give because we are saved.
We grow in God’s Word because we are saved.
Those things should flow from our relationship with Christ. They are not the price of admission into Heaven.
So perhaps the question for this week is a very simple one:
Why do you go to church?
If your answer is, “Because I believe it helps make me right with God,” I encourage you to look again at what Scripture says about salvation.
Church is a wonderful gift.
But the church cannot save you.
Your pastor cannot save you.
Your denomination cannot save you.
Your religious history cannot save you.
Jesus can.
A Question for You
If someone asked you, “What is the difference between going to church and actually being a Christian?” how would you answer?
If you have questions about salvation, you are welcome to leave them in the comments below.
Next Sunday: Baptism and Good Works Cannot Save You
I think this follows Week 1 very naturally. Week 1 asked, “Why do you think you’re going to Heaven?” and now Week 2 begins examining one of the answers people often give: “I go to church.”
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