[The first of three parts]

So, who needs the church anyway?  Does the church still have a place in this world?  Does the church have anything relevant to say to our society, to our culture, to our people?  Oh, sure, WE like it here.  It’s comfortable to be around people you know and like, and have something in common with.  But can’t you find that in any number of clubs and organizations and such?  Then again, we certainly feel a sort of obligation to be here when the church is gathering.  We feel bad, guilty to some degree, when we’re not here.   But shouldn’t there be something more than that?  Some of us come because we’re involved in leadership roles, or in areas of service, and it gives us a good feeling to think that we’re giving up our time and effort and money to the work of God.  But once again, you can join the Rotary Club, or the Lions, or the Junior Chamber, or Women’s auxiliary, or any number of other service organizations, and find that same sense of fulfillment and helpfulness

So who needs the church?  Well, actually, there are several different kinds of people who need the church, and what she has to offer.  For instance:

HUSBANDS AND WIVES NEED THE CHURCH

“We walked alone together, My precious wife and I . . .”

The world is full of such marriages, wives and husbands walking together physically, yet so alone spiritually and emotionally, so far apart from each other.   In fact, some of you, this very morning, find yourselves in just that situation.  If not you, then you know someone, probably more than one someone.  You may be a husband who silently resented every word his wife said to him this morning.  You may be a wife who feels empty, used up and thrown away, left behind and neglected, even as her husband proclaims words of love for her.

The church has so much to offer your marriage.  There are couples in the church who have so much wisdom, and instruction, and are such an example of true, mutual love and respect for each other.  Couples who learned long ago that if their marriage was going to work, if their marriage was going to be what it COULD be, that they must each first be married to their God, and that only in loving HIM ABOVE ALL could they hope to offer the love He meant for them to share with each other.  These couples are in the church, and are waiting to help you find that godly approach to marriage and love, if you will only ask them.  If you will only be honest and open enough to say, “I need to, I want to find that love that Adam and Eve knew in the garden.”

Husbands and wives need the church.

(continued tomorrow)