The Church: Who Needs It?

“Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.”

– 1 Corinthians 12:27

Perhaps when you were a child, church attendance wasn’t optional in your family. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t dare ask my parents, “Could I just stay home today?” I was taught from a very young age that Sunday is “the Lord’s Day” (the Christian equivalent of the Jewish Sabbath Day). So, when we skip church, we are disobeying the Fourth Commandment: “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.”

Well, that perspective seems long gone. Gone are the days when the overwhelming majority of Americans were convinced that Christianity and weekly church attendance are inseparable; you can’t have one without the other. In today’s busy world, most Christians view church attendance as optional, and far too often other weekend options (i.e., sports, parties, overtime and rest) take precedence. We are now at a point when some atheists have much better church attendance than Christians. 

In recent years, thousands of atheists across America have discovered something that many Christians have forgotten: attending church is vitally important and even…fun. Over the past five years, atheist churches (usually called “gatherings”) have popped up all over Great Britain and the U.S. And these gatherings are filled with inspirational teaching, singing and loving fellowship.  Sound familiar? It’s quite a paradox: Atheist communities love the church but don’t like God or Jesus. Conversely, many Christians love God and Jesus but don’t like the church.

Could it be that atheists have discovered something that many Christians have long forgotten? I think so. They have discovered that their own stripped-down version of the church is far superior to isolation. Even without Christ, their gatherings meet a need for fellowship and give them a sense of belonging. How much more so is this the case when Christians meet? Without Christ, atheistic churches bring some value to their members. But with Christ, Christian churches bring infinite value to their members.

There are three key metaphors used for Christ’s Church in the New Testament—metaphors that help us grasp how very important the church is. First, the Church is the Body of Christ. In both Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 12, the Apostle Paul likens the church to a human body. Just as a body is made up of many parts that each serve a specific purpose, so too the Church has many members—each having an important role to fill. The truth is: The Church can exist without you, but it will be the less for it. And you can exist without the Church, but you will be the less for it. Just as an index finger or big toe is severely handicapped on its own, so too is a Christian spiritually handicapped when he isolates himself from the Body of Christ.

Second, the Church is the Family of God. In 1 Peter 2:17, we are instructed to “love the brotherhood of believers.” Christians call each other “brothers and sisters” because, at the point of conversion, each of us is adopted into God’s family. God becomes our true Father, and we become a cherished member of His household. But as in any family, there is occasional sibling rivalry in the Church. These times of quarreling may be uncomfortable and a bit unnerving, but they should never lead us to abandon our brothers and sisters. Many Christians turn on a dime to lock arms with their blood relatives in times of need. How much more should we be quick to lock arms with our Christian brothers and sisters whose adoptions have been secured by the precious blood of Christ?

Third, the Church is the Bride of Christ. In Revelation 21, the Church is called Christ’s bride. Although this statement is true: “Jesus died on the cross for my sins,” it is more accurate to say, “Jesus died on the cross for the Church’s sins.” He spilled his blood so that his bride (all Christians together) could be washed clean and become the pure, undefiled bride of Christ. This powerful metaphor emphasizes Christ’s great love for the Church. To put it simply: Jesus adores his Church…warts, scars, body odor and all. No one knows the Church’s hang-ups and shortcomings better than Jesus. If anyone ever had a legitimate reason for abandoning the Church it would be Jesus. But he never has and never will leave the Church. Why not? Because he loves it as his bride. He is committed to it for better and for worse, for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health. In the same way, he calls every Christian to love and stay committed to His Church till death do us part.

Time will tell how long atheistic assemblies will survive. Regardless, the Church of Jesus Christ is the hope of the world, because the Church of Jesus Christ has the most important building block of any life-changing church: Christ himself. Every church has problems. No church is perfect. (If you find a perfect church, please don’t join it, because then it won’t be perfect anymore.) The Church is the glorious Body of Christ, the Family of God and the Bride of Christ. The Church needs you, and you need the Church. Even atheists are realizing this fact.  

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.fccvv.com  and join us for worship Sundays at 10 am.

The Problem of Suffering

“The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

– Job 1:21

I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard someone ask, “If God is all-powerful and He is just, then why do good people suffer?” Over the centuries atheists and agnostics have asked this question. Most Jews and Christians have—at some point or another—asked it as well. And honestly, most answers to this question have been dead wrong.

Many skeptics have used the problem of suffering as an opportunity to cast aspersions on God’s character: “Perhaps good people suffer because God is not as powerful or as just as we once thought Him to be. Maybe God wants to squelch suffering, but He’s powerless to do so. Or perhaps He’s powerful enough to do so, but He chooses not to because He doesn’t care.” When faced with this question of human suffering, skeptics have responded by saying, “Good people suffer because God is NOT all-powerful, and He is NOT just.” To the average agnostic, it’s as simple as that.

Yet to the Jews in both Old and New Testament times, this answer was completely unacceptable. It flew in the face of everything they believed about God. You see, they believed with all their hearts that Yahweh is the all-powerful Creator of heaven and earth. And they believed the Old Testament Scriptures that testify to God’s goodness and justice time after time. Therefore, the Jews came to the conclusion that every person’s suffering is a direct consequence of his/her guilt before our holy God. In other words, if I sin a lot, I will suffer a lot. But if I sin a little, I will only suffer a little. To most Jews, it was as simple as that.

Do you recall what Jesus’ disciples asked him in John 9:2 when they saw a man who had been blind since birth? They asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” It seemed so obvious to the disciples: The ONLY reason this man was blind was because someone had sinned. Otherwise, our all-powerful, all-just God wouldn’t have allowed him to be born blind. So, when faced with the question of why good people suffer, the Jews’ typical response would have gone something like this: “God IS all powerful. And God IS perfectly good and just. Therefore, good people don’t suffer.”

Well, the truth is: The answers offered by both the skeptics and the Israelites were wrong. And to them and to all others who hold false views of God’s character and/or human suffering, God gave the Book of Job.

Perhaps you’re familiar with the story: Job was a man who lived to the East of Israel around the same time as Abraham. We are told in chapter 1 that he was “blameless and upright” and “he feared God and shunned evil.” You might call Job “God’s pride and joy.” Job was a very dedicated follower of God, and he was also the richest man in his neck of the woods. But with God’s permission, Satan unleashed his fury on Job—stripping him of all his wealth and even murdering his ten children in one fell swoop. By the time we reach the end of chapter 1, Job is a broken man, lying on the ground grief-stricken and baffled by his misfortune. Yet in the midst of his unimaginable suffering, he cries out to God saying, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”

Over the next thirty-six chapters, Job struggles to find meaning behind his suffering. He begs God to answer the “why” question. Yet surprisingly, God never gives Job a satisfactory answer. The LORD never reveals to Job that he was the apple of His eye. The LORD never informs Job that Satan was the instigator and perpetuator of his intense suffering. And He never reveals to Job that his very faithfulness to God in the midst of his suffering both shamed Satan and brought much glory to the LORD.

So, the Book of Job does not give Job or us a satisfactory answer to the question of why good people suffer. [This “why” question is answered later in Scripture: in Luke 18:19, James 1:2-4, 1 Peter 1:6-9, Hebrews 12:4-13 and John 9:3.] But the book does answer two similar and equally important questions about suffering. To the question: “Is there such a thing as innocent suffering?”, the Book of Job answers with a resounding “Yes!” The Book of Job clearly demonstrates that God IS all-powerful and just. But even still, sometimes—through no fault of their own—the innocent suffer.

And to the second question: “How should I respond to my suffering?”, Job gives us a marvelous answer: “The Lord gave and the LORD has taken away. May the name of the LORD be praised.” In other words, when suffering rushes in—even through no fault of our own—we as Christ’s followers are called to ride out the storm in humble worship and praise. Like Job, we may never know why we suffer, but we can and should trust, obey and worship our great God in the midst of our pain. Ultimately, He will see us through.

Dane Davis is the Lead Pastor of First Christian Church in Victorville. For more information,

visit www.fccvv.com  and join us for worship tomorrow at 10 a.m.