“By Invitation Only?”

Tuesday, February 09, 2016

Does God care why someone goes to church?  My son was told that he could not go to church because he was going for the wrong reasons... he was attending and met a girl who also attends that church.

Sincerely,
Pew-Sitter

Dear Pew-Sitter,

Yes, God cares why someone attends services, but that doesn’t mean we should ban someone from coming just because they are attending with less than perfect motives.

Ultimately, God wants us to attend services, so we might praise Him with a broken and contrite heart (Ps 51:16-17).  He also wants us to attend services, so we might provoke others to love and good works (Heb 10:24-25).  In a perfect world, everyone would have God and others on their minds when they got together with the church… but we don’t live in a perfect world.

Many people have ulterior motives for going to church, but that doesn’t mean they aren’t welcome.  Paul even recognized that unbelievers will often attend church right alongside christians (1 Cor 14:16).  This is a positive thing.  Regardless of why someone goes to services, they are hearing the gospel and have an opportunity to learn from it.  No one should be denied the opportunity to see God’s Word in action.

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