A New Invitation
Why doesn’t everybody go to church?
I remember one Sunday morning a few years ago, we got up, got everybody dressed and ready for church. We headed out to get in the car. And we pull out of our driveway to come to church. And they notice… we’re the only ones in the neighborhood leaving for church. All the other cars are still in the driveway. All the other people around us are still inside.
“Dad, why doesn’t everyone go to church?”
This is the question my kids have asked me more than once.
Why go?
It’s a good question and my guess is you’ve wondered the same thing.
You’ve probably wondered the same thing when you drive to work on Monday morning and the traffic is so thick it takes you twice as long as it should to get to work but then, on Sunday, you can make it to church in no time. Because there’s no traffic. In fact, the roads are virtually empty.
For some people, the question may be WHY? Why bother? Why come in the first place?
The truth is you can watch a message on Facebook Live or OnDemand whenever you want. Every year thousands of people watch our church online or listen to our podcast. Many of you do that. In fact, you can listen to just about any preacher from almost any church online for FREE on any of your devices from just about anywhere.
Not only that, but you can listen to your favorite worship music any time you want on any device you want whenever you want.
So why come to church?
Where would I go?
For some, the question may be WHERE?
They believe in God, they want to be in church or they want their kids to be in church, but they don’t know where to go. They don’t want to walk into a church where they don’t know anyone. They’ve looked at church websites. They’ve read reviews. They’ve researched which churches are close to where they live. But they don’t know anyone at those churches. So week by week, Sunday comes and goes, but they don’t go anywhere because they don’t know where to go.
Would I be welcome?
For some, the question may not be why or where. The truth is they’ll never come because they don’t feel WELCOME.
And we haven’t done anything, at least not directly, to make them feel unwelcome. But that is their perception. That they couldn’t come to church because of who they are, what they’ve done, or the choices they’ve made.
They have a perception of church and church people that says you have to look a certain way, dress a certain way, talk a certain way, you have to know the Bible stories and you have to have it all together. So before they even set foot inside the door, they feel unwelcome. They have a perception of us, that we would never accept them, and that perception is their reality.
Why go? Where would I go? Would I even be Welcome if I go?
These questions, and many others, paralyze people and keep them from knowing and experiencing what you and I know and experience every week.
Drawn to Jesus.
We could talk about the decline in church attendance in America and there’s certainly room for concern there. But what I think is more interesting is this question…
When Jesus came and walked the planet all kinds of people were drawn to him.
What is it about Jesus that was so attractive, and why is it that today so many people are turned off by the church?
In the gospel of Luke, I think we have part of the answer to that question.
In Luke 5 we have this incredible story of a man no one would have expected Jesus to talk to, and you’re probably not going to believe what Jesus does, but I want us to read this story together and I want you, as best you can, to try to imagine yourself in this story.
Luke 5.27-32
Later, as Jesus left the town, he saw a tax collector named Levi sitting at his tax collector’s booth.
“Follow me and be my disciple,” Jesus said to him.
So Levi got up, left everything, and followed him.
Later, Levi held a banquet in his home with Jesus as the guest of honor. Many of Levi’s fellow tax collectors and other guests also ate with them.
But the Pharisees and their teachers of religious law complained bitterly to Jesus’ disciples, “Why do you eat and drink with such scum?”
Jesus answered them, “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners and need to repent.”
Jesus came for who?
So Jesus didn’t come to invite the already invited. This is a NEW invitation. A new kind of invitation. And it’s open to an entirely new group of people. He came to invite those who, for whatever reason felt unwelcome or uninvited.
Jesus came for people like Levi who were called names like traitor and scum.
Jesus came for people who didn’t know that God loved them or wanted to be near them.
Jesus came for people who knew they had done things that they were ashamed of and knew they were separated from God.
Jesus came for people who realize the life the world offers doesn’t work and they’re ready for a new life.
Jesus came for people for whom religion didn’t work but still needed to know God.
Jesus came for you.
An invitation is a powerful thing.
An invitation is a powerful thing. And we are called to be inviters.
Jesus himself was an inviter. His invitation to Levi was, “Come, Follow me.”
So what would happen if you started the spiritual practice of invitation?
There are so many people in our community, in your neighborhood, in your life who believe in God, who would come to church, they just need an invitation.
They want to go to a church where they know someone. The hardest thing in the world may be to walk into a church on a Sunday where you don’t know anyone.
But if you were to invite them, meet them in the foyer, sit with them and go to lunch then you’ve just removed the biggest barrier most people have when it comes to going to church for the first time or the first time in a long time. You’ve removed their fear. And you’ve made them feel welcome.
Because chances are, they feel a lot more like Levi than you may realize.
They’re not sure they would fit in here. And they’re not sure they would be welcome here. They don’t know if they would belong here. They’re not even sure you would want them here. Your invitation would mean the world to them.
Invitation + Transformation
But remember, it’s not your invitation, it’s really the invitation of Jesus. We just get to extend his invitation to others.
It’s the same invitation Jesus extended to us. And just like Levi, when we realize that we are recipients of the invitation of Jesus to come and follow him, that despite our past wrongs and mistakes, despite what we’ve done or haven’t done, Jesus invites us into his family… when we realize who we are, who Jesus is, and that we’ve been invited, then I believe that like Levi we’ll invite others too! We’ll throw a party! We’ll say, “You’ve got to come and see this Jesus who changed my life.”
Because experiencing the invitation of Jesus inspires us to extend His invitation to others.
When you experience the sheer grace of the invitation of Jesus you’ll invite others to come and experience that same grace.
This is true because…
Invitation leads to transformation.
And transformation leads to invitation.
Why doesn’t everybody go to church?
My guess is people haven’t received the same invitation from church that Levi received from Jesus.
Why doesn’t everybody go to church?
Maybe it’s because “everybody” is waiting for an invitation from us.
By the way, church attendance is NOT the goal. Seeing people’s lives changed by the grace of Jesus Christ, that’s the goal.
Many of us are where we are today because we have already accepted his invitation. The question is, will we extend the invitation of Jesus to others?
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