The Idolization of Church!

The picture above tells a thousand stories.  It is so true in today's culture that church has become an event meant to charm you, to emotionalize you, to pull you in.  I love Christian music, I truly do.  I have been blessed by some of the best music around.  I have also been blessed to be around some very good biblical teachers.  I sit comfortably in my soft chair and I "partake" in the worship service.  I feel good when I go home.  I have done my "duty" by being in church.  I have done God a great service by having my "presence" be in church!  I can dance with the best of them, I can jump up and down with the best of them and I can cry with the best of them.  I can pay my tithes at numbers that would put most people to shame.  I am the church!

Now for the reality check!

Read what Scripture tells us.
"Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and shall kill you: and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name’s sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one another, and shall hate one another."
Matthew 24:9-10, KJV

"But before all these, they shall lay their hands on you, and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues, and into prisons, being brought before kings and rulers for my name's sake. And it shall turn to you for a testimony. Settle it therefore in your hearts, not to meditate before what ye shall answer: For I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries shall not be able to gainsay nor resist. And ye shall be betrayed both by parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends; and some of you shall they cause to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. But there shall not an hair of your head perish. In your patience possess ye your souls."
Luke 21:12-19, KJV

"If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also. But all these things will they do unto you for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me."
John 15:18-21, KJV

"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:"
2 Timothy 2:12, KJV

"Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution."
2 Timothy 3:12, KJV

2 Timothy 4:1-4  King James Version (KJV)

4 I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;

² Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
³ For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
⁴ And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.

There is an attitude amongst many pastors and church members that goes contrary to the Word of God.  Seemingly very biblical churches and its people can fall into this trap of thinking the building is the all in all.  It is "the" place to be and if you are not in it EVERY time the doors are open, then you must not be saved.  Not a biblical stance at all.  Don't get me wrong.  I do believe we should be in church, gathered together to worship God, to be edified by God's Word and to sing psalms together.  I believe in this 100%.  But many church pastors have come up with a new doctrine, and it is one that says if you are not in church EVERY time the doors are open, then you are not saved.  The church members fall for it hook, line and sinker.  This is where idolatry comes in.

The building is worshipped more than God.
Let me give you an example.
Sunday morning sunday school.
Sunday morning worship service.
Sunday evening worship service.
Monday night prayer night.
Tuesday night bible study.
Wednesday night awana and worship service.

And the list can go on and on.
It is possible to spend all of your spare time in church.  Would you really want someone telling you that you are not saved because you did not sit in church more than once per week?

James 1:22

But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

With the above scenario, at what point does a person have an opportunity to be a doer of the word?  Seriously, we have to consider that some of the things we do and expect from our church members can hinder them from truly serving God. 

Pastor's...
are you encouraging your members to GO OUT INTO the world spreading the gospel to everyone they see.  Or are you telling them that they are not saved if they do not stay "inside" "your" church?

Church Members...
Have you locked your faith "inside" the church?  You have been fed God's Word.  Now go out into the streets and reach the lost for Jesus Christ.  It is what "you" are called by God to do.