Church Lessons

What is Christianity all about? As you study scripture, you are inevitably going to begin to examine the state of the church and what it means to walk in the way of Christ. Somewhere we (as a generalized group called the Church) have gotten a lot wrong. I didn’t grow up in church so I never had the “Church Life” and didn’t know all of the things to say, so I was eager to search for answers. What I concluded in my spiritual walk is that we (as a generalized body) have become like the Judaizers in Paul’s time. Here are a few things that I want to point out to you so that you won’t be confused. I adamantly encourage you to study for yourselves, these are just items that I have learned, and I pray that you will learn from my “discoveries”.



1. It doesn’t matter (to an extent) what you wear to church. What I mean is that you will find some who will wear 3 piece suits to church and some that wear cutoff shorts. Like God told Samuel (in reference to David) that He doesn’t look on the outside of a person. With that in mind, you don’t want to be a stumbling block to the believers, so don’t wear a Hooter’s T-shirt there to rock the boat. I recall the book of Matthew where Jesus refers to the scribes and Pharisees as whitewashed tombs who on the outside looked beautiful, but on the inside were full of dead men’s bones. I’m not saying that if you wear a suit to church you are spiritually dead, just don’t let that be a gauge for the spiritual well being of the person or you.


2. It doesn’t matter what translation bible you use (to an extent) as long as you USE it. There are several translations that are true to the original context and texts from which they are deriven. Do not be fooled to think that the ESV, KJV, or NIV or whatever is the only true version of the word of God. That is absurd since the scripture that we have is written in mostly Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic. I have only seen one of those translations and I don’t hear a lot of people quoting scripture from it. I do believe that God gives us what we need, when we need it. To receive this blessing, you MUST be diligent to study the Word of God… however you can understand best. On the flip-side, there are several translations that are almost blasphemous in their rendering of the word of God. Think if Saturday Night Live was to translate the NIV and you get my drift. I would encourage you to study with your heart and mind a translation that adheres to the original languages.


3. Church DOES matter. Attendance is not optional. If Christ died for it, why should we stop meeting together?


4. Church is NOT a building, but the body of Christ. If you attend a worship service at a building, and fail to come together with your brothers and sisters in Christ, than you have not fulfilled Paul’s statements regarding meeting in the name of the Lord. Old/young, black/white, Hispanic/Caucasian, we are all ONE in the body. God made MAN/WOMAN in His image, therefore we can glean much from the entire body.


5. There are too many divisions in the body. Look at “Baptists” (to which I hold high regards as they tend to have the same spiritual concepts and the Word in my opinion). You have Primitive Baptist, Southern Baptists, Conservative Baptists, etc. We focus on what separates us, instead of what unites us. If the Church of Christ doesn’t believe in musical instruments due to their interpretation of scripture, that is fine… as long as we agree on the central themes of Christianity. We are all sinners due to our birthright through Adam, God’s mercy came to us in the form of his son Jesus. He died for the sins of all who would accept him, he was buried and raised on the third day, and he awaits to come again to redeem his people. If we don’t agree on other stuff, that is ok. It isn’t paramount because we are all part of ONE body.


6. It doesn’t matter what type of music you use to worship, as long as it is praising God or what He has done through Christ. If that is just with vocals, or with 1,000 electric guitars. God desires our praise, because he is worthy of it! That is what we are here to do. Romans 12:1 says that our lives should be a sacrifice of praise. So our worship comes from our outpouring of our desire to love him more.


7. So many people leave the church because of hypocrisy. I was one of them. But it took God convicting me of my own hypocrisy to realize that no church is perfect because we are all sinners and morally corrupt. The church won’t be perfect until Jesus returns and sets it up himself. “If you ever find a perfect church, don’t join… because you’ll ruin it.” That was a quote that I had heard early in my Christian life. It is absolutely true, because if you are focused on other’s transgressions, you are overlooking your own filth. Remember, none of us have brought anything worthy to eat at the table of Christ.


So that is a brief summary of some issues that may present themselves in a “church” setting. Don’t be fooled by what some refer to as a church. A building is just a few walls, but the church is made up of the people who go the building to offer up their combined hearts for the worship of the risen savior.


So now let’s talk about what is right with the church.


1. Christ died for the church. That means if it is worth his sacrifice to save us, it should be worth our sacrifice to praise him for it and to treat it with the respect it deserves. We are all different (thank God) so therefore we are on different paths for the same goal.


2. We are a representation of the relationship of God to man. We are the bride of Christ. I don’t pretend to understand the depth of that statement, but it is a huge responsibility.


3. That is all that you should ever need.


I don’t pretend to have all the answers, nor should I. I have just learned a few things over the course of my life because I had to partake in all of the wrong decisions to finally make the right one. But maybe you can gain some insight from my journey. That you may walk further in your relationship with Christ than I have. To grow closer by not being enticed by the same snares that entangled me.