Why Go to the House of God (Episode 124)

These days, less people attend local churches. Of course, you don’t have to attend church to be saved. And you don’t have to be saved to attend church. So why should one go to the house of God? That is the focus of this podcast episode.

It is not unthinkable that someone who does not currently attend church will ask you why he or she should start attending a local church. What would be your reply?

In Psalm 73, the psalmist highlights an important benefit of going to the house of God. He writes of a time in his life when he lost focus and became spiritually unstable. “As for me, my feet were almost gone; my steps had well nigh slipped,” he writes (Psalm 73:2, KJV). “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked” (verse 3).

The psalmist is not alone in that area of struggle. Some Christians today believe that since they serve the Lord, they should have more than those who don’t. Accordingly, they have trouble coming to terms with the prosperity of the wicked. The Bible does not denounce having material wealth. In fact, God promises to bless us when we walk with Him. But nowhere in the Bible are we promised that if we serve Him, we will have more materially than everyone who doesn’t serve God. 

In the psalm, the psalmist expands on the prosperity of the wicked that caused him to be envious. He even questioned the value of living a life committed to God. He writes, “Surely in vain I have kept my heart pure. And I have washed my hands in innocence” (verse 13, NASB)!

A Trip to the House of God

So, how did the psalmist regain his footing? “Until I went to the sanctuary of God, then I understood their end,” he says (verse 17, KJV). At the house of God his eyes became open to see things in proper context. There, he understood what the end of the wicked would be.

Through the psalmist’s experience, we can see a priceless benefit in faithful church attendance. Like him, we need a place we can attend to help us become or remain properly focused. Also, in this episode, Evangelist King shares three facts about every genuine believer. He said because these things are true about us, they are three more reasons it behooves us to faithfully go to the house of God.

It’s important to note that the person the psalmist is talking about in this psalm is himself. Think about that. God used him to write a portion of the Bible, and he had a moment in which he failed to see the benefit of living for God. The good news is that God uses fallible people to do extraordinary things.

Finally, the writer of the book of Hebrews calls on believers to be faithful in church attendance during these last days:

"Not forsaking our own assembling together but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near" (Hebrews 10:25, NASB).

An important takeaway in this verse is that in these last days, the ministry of exhortation will become increasingly more important at the house of God. This should be understandable given the increasingly intensive spiritual opposition that the people of God will encounter in these last days.