What's this "Church" thing about?

What's this church thing all about? For those of you that haven't been raised in a religious home or used to going church, you may be wonder, why do people go to church? Why don't they just spend their time sleeping in or doing something fun by themselves or with their family with their time off on Sunday morning? Why go to church?

Maybe you thought to yourself, well, maybe they're going because of the music. Maybe they want to experience a concert. Or maybe they're going for a motivational speaker and they want to be entertained. And that's the reason they go. I'm not denying that those can be the reasons maybe some people go to church. But the real reason why Christians do go to church is different.

God in his Word commands us to take time for him and for his Word. In the Third Commandment God instructs us You shall keep the day of rest holy. He tells us to set aside time every week to worship him and to hear his Word. But ultimately, the reason why Christians go to church isn't simply because you better or else or God's going to get mad at you. But it's especially because they know what they receive there: comfort.

You know, Christians do go to church to praise and thank God for everything that he's done for them in their lives. They go there to offer prayers to him for help as well. They especially go for that comfort to be comforted by God. I think of in our own Lutheran church, our service begins every Sunday with a confession of sins. And during that point in the service, we invite members in the church really to think upon their own lives and things that they have done for the last week or last few weeks. And they confess those sins to God. Afterward, the pastor announces God's forgiveness his absolution for them and assures them that their guilt and sin is completely taken away.

Then as we go on through the readings and the sermon, the pastor does something similar as he preaches on a different text for each week. He addresses sin. He doesn't just point out all the sin and bad things going on outside of the church in the world, but especially talks about the sin that the members of the church themselves have engaged in, the bad things that they have done to show them what they've done wrong, but especially to give an opportunity then to comfort them. To comfort them that they have a Savior from sin, Jesus Christ. And because of Him, God has removed their guilt. God has forgiven them and to reassure them where they are going when they die, that they're going to go to be with God forever in heaven.

So if I had to summarize why Christians go to church, perhaps maybe one word that we could use is this: comfort. Christians go to hear God's Word and to be comforted by it, to be comforted by what God has done for them in Jesus. I'd like to leave you today with two verses from Matthew Chapter 11, beginning at verse 28. Jesus said, These words

> Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29)

See, Jesus invites people to come to him, especially at church, to come to him to find rest for their souls. And that's exactly what God gives you through his Word and through a sacrament in church. Amen.