A couple great articles here from Allendale Baptist Church and Earl Blackburn:
1) Go to church regularly because God tells you to“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.” (Hebrews 10:25a)
2) Go to church so you won’t be hardened by sin“Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:12-13)
3) Go to church because you need the encouragement and you need to encourage others“But encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25b)
4) Go to church to hear God’s powerful Word preached
“For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
5) Go to church to be sharpened and to sharpen others
“Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” (Proverbs 27:17)
6) Go to church to exercise your spiritual gifts
“Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them.” (Romans 12:6a)
7) Go to church because you want to be used by God for good
“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” (1 Corinthians 12:7)
8) Go to church because you are a part of the body of Christ
“So we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.” (Romans 12:5)
9) Go to church to partner in the gospel
“Because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now.” (Philippians 1:5)
10) Go to church to mentor others and be mentored“Older men are to be sober-minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled.” (Titus 2:2-6)
11) Go to church to train up your child
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
12) Go to church to love one another
“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith” (Galatians 6:10)
13) Go to church to show the world the love of Jesus
“By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” (John 13:35)
14) Go to church to bear one another’s burdens
“Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” (Galatians 6:2)
15) Go to church to stir up one another to love and good works
“And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24)
16) Go to church to celebrate baptism and fulfill the great commission
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)
17) Go to church to celebrate the Lord’s supper
“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, 'Take, eat; this is my body.' And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, 'Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.'” (Matthew 26:26-28)
18) Go to church to care for one another
“That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.” (1 Corinthians 12:25)
19) Go to church to suffer together
“If one member suffers, all suffer together.” (1 Corinthians 12:16a)
20) Go to church to rejoice together
“If one member is honored, all rejoice together.” (1 Corinthians 12:16b)
21) Go to church because the body needs you in order to grow
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:15-16)
22) Go to church because every part of the body is indispensable
“The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable.” (1 Corinthians 12:21-22)
23) Go to church to remind one another of what we were created for
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:10)
24) Go to church to live out the reality of who you are
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation.” (1 Peter 2:9a)
25) Go to church because we proclaim his excellencies better together
“A people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” 1 Peter 2:9
26) Go to church to remember who you belong to
“Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people.” (1 Peter 2:10a)
27) Go to church to get equipped
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12)
28) Go to church because we are going to live in glorious unity with God and each other for all eternity
“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.'” (Revelation 21:3)
29) Go to church to pray, sing, and worship the LORD with God's people
“I desire then that in every place the men should pray, lifting holy hands without anger or quarreling” (1 Timothy 2:8)
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16)
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29)
30) Go to church to be reminded of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which is of first importance
“Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you - unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:1-6)
31) Go to church to delight yourself in the LORD Jesus Christ and declare that He is all in all
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” (Psalm 37:4 )
“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ” (Philippians 3:7-8)
“Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all, and in all.” (Colossians 3:11)
By Earl Blackburn
Being faithful and consistent in attending a true church of Jesus Christ and worshipping God is extremely important; more important than you may realize. Irregularity and unfaithfulness in attending church conveys a certain message and produces definite short term and far-reaching effects. Failure to assemble yourself with the Lord’s people at all stated meetings for worship, unless you are sick or legitimately hindered:
1. Reveals a cold heart and lack of fervent love to Christ who instituted local churches (Revelation 2:4 & 3:20).
2. It shows disregard for the apostolic example and command of God’s Holy Word (Acts 2:41 ff.; Hebrews 10:25).
3. It robs you of blessing and help for the days ahead.
4. It cheats the brethren of blessings and help they would receive from your mutual ministry to them (see 1 Thessalonians 5:14; Hebrews 10:24, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good works.” NIV).
5. It grieves the Holy Spirit who dwells in each believer individually, and in the church as a whole.
6. It grieves the Elders who oversee you and minister the Word of God to you (Hebrews 13:7 & 17; cf. I Thessalonians 5:12, 13).
7. It can influence others, by your poor example, to become unfaithful, lazy, indifferent and selfish. (Many young Christians have said, “Brother or Sister So-and-So do not come regularly, why should I?’’). You are a letter known and read by all men (2 Corinthians 3:2,3a).
8. It discourages brethren in the body with whom you are joined.
9. It is a poor testimony to unbelievers who see your inconsistency (see John 13:35; cf. 1 John3:13, 14).
10. It demonstrates your lack of vision for the future of that particular church of Jesus Christ in which you are a member (see Jeremiah 29:10,11).
11. It makes you a covenant-breaker in your commitment to God and to the church where you are a member.
12. It is a dreadful and empty step toward backsliding and apostasy (study Hebrews 10:25 in its context of verses 19-39).
13. It shows disrespect for the best and the brightest day of the week, Sunday-the Lord’s Day, the day on which the Lord Jesus rose from the dead.
A Christian is saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone and this saving grace causes one to love Christ’s churches, (see Psalms 27:4, 84:1,2 & 10, 87:1-3). If there is no love for Christ’s churches or no concern to be identified with a local church, then one’s faith is suspect. True and saving faith creates a love for the things Christ loves. He “loved the church and gave Himself for it;” (Ephesians 5:25). John Owen puts it well when he says:
It is the duty of everyone who professes faith in Jesus Christ, and takes due care of his own eternal salvation, voluntarily and by his own choice to join himself to some particular congregation of Christ’s institution . . . no particular person is to be esteemed a legal, true subject that does not appear in these His courts with a solemn homage to Him. (Works, Vol. 15, ‘Duty of Believers to Join Themselves In Church Order,’ pp. 319-327).
May each of us say from his heart, as David said of old, “I was Glad when they said to me, Let us go into the house of the LORD” (Psalm 122:1).
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