Marsha posted an article link on Facebook this week. It is an interesting read. Published by Fox News, it takes much of its information from Pew Research, which is one of the leading church research groups, along with The Barna Group, in the country. The article is called “When is it OK to Quit Your Church? Five Reasons to Leave.”

          Seems a little odd for the pastor to be directing people to a page that tells them they can leave the church. But I have always encouraged people to follow God’s lead, even to the point of telling them it is OK to leave. People who stay in a church when they feel God is moving them along are not helping the church where they are staying and they are hurting the church they are refusing to go too. Many will go to the church they have grown up in or where their parents have gone, but where we go to church should be a matter of God’s will. I hope I would never try and use guilt on someone to keep them in the church I serve.

          There are reasons to leave a church. But, the reasons most give for leaving have very little to do with proper reasons for leaving a church. The four most common reasons for leaving a church, according to Pew Research, are;

1.)            Sermon quality.

2.)            Welcoming environment/people.

3.)            Style of worship.

4.)            Location.

These may seem valid, but are they? Let’s look……

          Sermon quality. I have been told my messages are to long, to short, to intense, not strong enough, poorly thought out, not thought out enough, to Spiritual, not Spiritual enough. It goes on. I even had a deacon once, in all seriousness, ask me for a dozen or so sermon tapes to help him fall asleep at night because nothing snoozed him off like one of my sermons. In the late 1970s, early 1980s I was an associate pastor at a church in Hialeah, Florida. One of the older ladies in the church (late 50s, which to me at the time was ancient) told me that she could not stand the senior pastor’s messages. “Dry as toast.” A week or so later, in conversation with her husband, (a lovely and Spiritual man) he told me how much he appreciated Pastor Wilkes and what a wonderful preacher he was for our people. I have found that sermon quality is in the heart of the beholder. If it is from the Bible, how can it be bad? That may be too simplistic, but for me it is true. I quit trying to please folks from the pulpit a long time ago and I am not going to start stroking someone’s feelings now. Nor should I. I have never considered myself ‘the preacher.’ I am the pastor, and that is a different thing.

          Welcoming environment/people. I haven’t seen the poll, but I am going to assume that people leave because there is not a welcoming environment or people. But, in thinking about it, I have known people who go to a big, mega type church, because they don’t want to interact with others. So, I suppose it could be that on occasion someone would leave a church because people are too friendly. However, that would not be enough people to warrant being second on the list. In all likelihood, people leave because others are not friendly enough. Remember the old saying? “To have a friend you need to be a friend.” I have seen people come in to church over the years, accept the handshakes of others, but with their body language, make it clear they do not want to interact. Or, they come in, sit down and expect others to come to them. Or, they want attention and care, but do not have any desire to reciprocate. Humans are humans and if they sense someone does not want to be bothered, most of us will comply. It is not that the church is unfeeling. Crystal Latimer. Someone Marsha knew from work. She visited our church at the invitation of Marsha. Within three weeks she was treated like an old time member. People loved her. Another lady came in at the same time. Lasted three weeks then left because we were cold. Crystal thought our folks were the friendliest ever. The other lady actually refused to be greeted or shake hands.

          Style of worship. This one I get, to a point. If you are not comfortable with the worship, it might be hard to worship. Not everyone enjoys traditional music or contemporary praise music. Not everyone enjoys Power-Point messages. Not everyone enjoys a more charismatic service. Styles of worship can change. But, consider this; is your worship of God dependent on your comfort zone? If it is, are you actually worshipping or are you seeing to your personal traditions or desires? In the New Testament, Paul was preaching. He preached for so long, around three hours, that a man who was sitting in the window (presumably because of the crowd) fell asleep and fell to the street below. I cannot imagine that sitting in that window was comfortable, but he was going to worship regardless. I always figured he fell asleep because he had worked all day. If we held onto worship styles we would be worshipping like they did in the New Testament. Three hour sermons, meeting in homes, worshipping every night and doing communion each time. Would we like that? Of course not, mostly because it would conflict with our comfort zone. Before you condemn the style of worship, ask yourself if that worship is anti-Biblical or just anti-comfort. Because of my hearing, music is an assault to my ears. I would be much happier in a music free church. But God called me here.

          Location. Some people move away. They have to drive 30 or 40 miles to get to church. They drop out. But then, do they go anywhere else to church? Usually not. Few people agree with me on this, but I feel that if you drive past one or two like minded congregations on the way to the old church, pray about changing churches. It becomes to easy to not go on a snowy or rainy day. Then it is a habit to not go.

          Which brings me to this thought; if people drop out of church for any of these reasons, do they go elsewhere? The answer, mostly, is no. It is not the lousy sermons, it is not the people in the church, it is not the style of worship and it is rarely the location. It is the heart of the person who quits.

          This article does give five reasons to quit, though. Let’s look……

1.)  It’s OK to leave if God calls us to leave.

2.)  It’s OK to leave for family and marriage.

3.)  It’s OK to leave a church if you have moved too far away to conveniently drive to your church.

4.)  It’s OK to leave if you cannot follow the church’s leadership.

5.)  It’s OK to leave if heresy is being preached.

We should be in the church God has called us to be in. That is not just for the pastor. It is for each person. Churches have needs. Maybe that need is you. Nothing wrong with that.

When two Christians get married, but they have always gone to different churches, they need to go to the same church, together. Maybe it is his or hers or a different congregation altogether, but it should be a church that they decide on after much prayer together.

You should go to a church easy to get to, unless you feel the leading of God to continue at the old church.

If the church’s leadership is out of step with the Scripture, you can either stay and work to bring it back to the Bible or you can leave, depending on God’s leading.

If the Word is not coming from the pulpit, you can either stay and work to bring it back to the Bible or you can leave, depending on God’s leading.

We are about to enter a new phase in our church’s existence. Some may not be happy with it. But consider your actions. Most people leave church because it no longer suits them. Remember, though. It doesn’t matter if it suits you. It only matters that it suits God.

          In the opening chapters of Genesis, people tended to live a very long time. From the moment that sin entered into the world mankind began to devolve rather than evolve. We are still devolving. Mankind possesses more knowledge now than ever before, but that is because the knowledge has accumulated generation by generation. Wisdom, however, is in short supply. We can see the lack of wisdom in the corruption that now plagues humanity. Those who mock the Scripture are mocking the wisdom of the ages.

               But, back to longevity. By the time of Moses, mankind had slipped back in lifespan to roughly what we experience now with modern medical procedures. Some would, occasionally, live longer, but the average of a man was around 80 years old. Women tended to not live as long due to the stresses of childbirth. However, Moses was an exception. His life went in 40 year increments. Until he was 40, he lived as Pharaoh’s grandson. At 40, he had to flee Egypt. For the next 40 years he tended his father-in-law’s sheep. At 80 he was called into service by the Lord through the burning bush. For the next 40 years he led the Jews through the Wilderness, dealing with all their problems while also boldly following the lead of the Lord. Then, at 120 years of age, he turned it all over to Joshua and then died. A complete life, by any standard. Along the way, Moses wrote a body of law that is, despite the desire of modern thinkers to make us think otherwise, the basis of our own legal system. Within his final address to the people, Moses gave them encouragement and direction. He also gave this verse. Deuteronomy 31:6---Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you."

               We know this verse. We have heard it, studied it, maybe memorized it. But does this verse reside in our hearts and make a difference?

          First time I ever put this verse to use. Fall of 1974. I had graduated from high school in June. I was going to go to Bible college in January 1975. I knew the Lord was calling me to be a pastor. I needed the six months to get enough money together to start school. As I worked at a factory to put together that money I also envisioned myself pastoring a great mega-church somewhere in the future. I was going to be awesome. Then the pastor decided I needed to be on the preaching rotation for our children’s church. Doesn’t sound like a big deal, does it? Our church ran buses. We brought in around 600 kids every Sunday. They were divided into two age groups. Kindergarten to third grade, fourth grade to sixth grade. So, my first preaching effort was in front of 300 fourth, fifth and sixth graders. I was terrified. I had big plans, but those plans didn’t include little kids. How was I supposed to talk to them? How could I relate to them? I would find out in later years that well established and experienced pastors find it harder to preach to children than they do adults. I didn’t know that at the time; I just knew I was scared to death. I knew nothing about ordering my thoughts to bring a message. I knew nothing about any of it. I did, however, come to the conclusion that I had made a major mistake. Obviously, God did not want me to preach. Eventually I came across Deuteronomy 31:6. I told God that I would be strong and courageous and I promised Him that I would never preach again after this one time. Just please get me through it.

          And He did. When it was over I had to think it all out. Wasn’t so bad. They were just kids. They listened, sort of. The important thing was, I had done this with the Lord.

          We cane be strong in the Lord for He is with us. Sometimes in our arrogance we take off without the Lord, leaving Him behind. But He is still there, waiting to pick us up when we fall. And we will fall. We can be courageous in the Lord because He has already won the battle for us. When we boldly do what we think is right, rather than what God knows is right, we begin to battle on our own. And we will lose. We don’t need to fear enemies or circumstances, because He already has a plan. We make plans and expect the Lord to agree to those plans. But our plans should be made in Him. Finally, we are told He will not leave us or forsake us. But, we do leave Him sometimes, don’t we? We do the things we think are right and proper. We do forsake Him, as well. King David certainly did in his sin with Bathsheba. He thought he was king so it would be alright. It wasn’t alright, though, and he lost all his strength and courage and Spiritual covering.

          Is your life strong in the Lord or is it strong in you? The good impact you make when you are strong and courageous in Him is everlasting.

          In 2008 a pastor from a church several towns over from where we lived called me up and wanted to take me out to lunch. He pastored a large church that was growing dramatically. He told me to pick the restaurant and he was going to pay. I picked my favorite place and we met there. I love Subway. Over lunch he thanked me. I was confused a little. “For what? You paid.” He told me that I was a huge influence on his life. He was a little boy in church that day of my first ever sermon. He came to Christ. Over the years we had gone back maybe three times to preach to the adults, and this pastor could remember every message, every point. “So, I just want you to know how grateful I am for your faithfulness.” I told him how terrified I had been that first time. “But you did the right thing.”

          We are not just living our own lives. We are molding other lives as we go along. Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.

          I got up early this morning, as is my custom, and turned on the computer. It is easier for me to do my time with the Scripture on the computer because I can make the print large enough so that I don’t have to strain to see the words. I really like leafing through my Bible, but if I do that in the morning I wind up with a headache and I cannot read as much. So, I spent some time on the computer, spent some time in prayer, checked my blood sugar (75) and began to consider my day. My back has been hurting for a couple of weeks now, so I decided a half hour in my recliner was in order. We bought this recliner the week before my heart surgery. I figured that with my heart surgery I would be needing to be in my recliner a lot and I felt a lift chair would help. My old chair was worn out and was a struggle to get out of, so we went to Sam’s Club and bought this one. As it happens, I have used the lift part two times. But, it also has a heated seat and back, which is something I use all the time. So cool! Back hurts? Just sit down, push a button and it reclines, push another and the seat heats for thirty minutes. Really nice. I figured this morning I could afford the thirty minutes of bliss. It won’t recline manually. You recline and adjust it with the controller. I got it just right, got the heater fired up and settled back for a little therapy.

          Then the power went out. Fans went out. Lights shut off. Everything went quiet. Well, shoot, I thought. Better go down and see if the main breaker has gone out. I got the remote and pushed the button to sit the chair up. But, the power was out. It has a battery back-up, but whoever puts batteries in? So, there I sat, needing to get up but unable. My back was pretty sore, so how could I climb out without more pain? Two choices; accept the pain and struggle out or lay there and sweat because there were no fans. I struggled out of the chair, put my shoes on and opened the basement door. I reached around and flipped the light switch. Of course, the power was out. I knew that, but the reality hadn’t sunk in. I went and got a flashlight and went down stairs. Breakers were all good, so it wasn’t just us. Nothing else to do, so I set about getting ready. No shower. The water pump was out. We only had pressure in the lines until it ran out and I felt toilet flushes should come first. I had planned to recharge my phone, but that wasn’t going to happen. Breakfast was not going to be warm. The day was looking pretty grim.

          I figured I could still go to the church and finish my week’s preparations. My laptop has a battery. But, I wasn’t going to be able to send out the blog. (I had another one ready to go. You will get that next week.) I was ready to leave the house when the lights came on, the fans started spinning, the refrigerator started to hum. Whoo hoo! We are in business! The best part of a power outage is when it comes back on.

          Such a relief. I wasn’t looking forward to roasting at the church. I could get the blog out. The rest I had to do could be handled. We depend so much on the power. When we no longer have it, we are lost for a bit while our minds adjust. Life becomes less easy.

          It made me think of Spiritual things. We have a great power in our lives. We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. It is an amazing thing. Yet, there are moments when we don’t feel that power. Times when we feel powerless and lost. We call out to the Lord and feel nothing in return. No power. We check our Spiritual breaker box and find that all the breakers are set and ready. We fumble around in the dark and finally find a flashlight that can give a little relief, but it is only temporary. We walk into things, we strain to see our way, we struggle as we stumble. Why has the Spiritual power left us? Is God forsaking us? How long can we make our way using our own power and efforts.

          King David felt this when his baby son was sick and dying. Psalm 13:1---How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? ² How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me? ³ Consider and answer me, O Lord my God; light up my eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, ⁴ lest my enemy say, “I have prevailed over him,” lest my foes rejoice because I am shaken.

⁵ But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation. ⁶ I will sing to the Lord, because he has dealt bountifully with me.

          You can see the despair. He is praying, but the Lord isn’t there! (vs 1) He was trying to figure it out for himself, but nothing. (vs 2) He was desperate enough to grow a little angry with the Lord, even to the point to where he says the enemy (Satan) will defeat him. But then, he takes a moment and reconsiders. Verses 5 and 6 finds this man of God remembering how the Lord has always been there for him in the past. Even in the depths of grief and loss, he can see the Lord. He knows the Lord will be there for him.

          David had been away from the Lord. The ill child was the product of his sin with Bathsheba. He had literally turned off the power switch by his actions. The child died. We are told that he turned back to the Lord. Psalm 30 is the result of that turning back. If you read it carefully you will see it answers all the points of despair in Psalm 13. Psalm 30:1---I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up and have not let my foes rejoice over me. ² O Lord my God, I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. ³ O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.

⁴ Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints, and give thanks to his holy name.
⁵ For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning. ⁶ As for me, I said in my prosperity, “I shall never be moved.” ⁷ By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed. ⁸ To you, O Lord, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: ⁹ “What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? ¹⁰ Hear, O Lord, and be merciful to me! O Lord, be my helper!”

¹¹ You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, ¹² that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!

          David was a man after God’s own heart, yet the moment came when he willingly turned off the Power. He paid a horrible price, but he came back to the Lord.

          Does it seem as though the power is gone from your life? Do you feel you are just going through the Spiritual motions? Are you wondering where He is? It is not that God has forsaken you. You have forsaken Him. You have done something you reckoned was right or justified but was not right or justified in His eyes. We cannot come into His presence with willful sin in our lives. It is true that Christ died for all our sin, but that doesn’t give us a license to continue to sin. When we do sin, we must turn back to Him.

          Do not do the struggle alone.

          Blessings.