Why Go?

Hebrews 10: 25not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I think if I didn't participate in choir, my church attendance might suffer.  Why?  Because I'm lazy and some Sundays I just don't feel like going.  A very sad testimony about my love condition as I'm positive there was nothing in the cross except perfect hatred, abuse, abandonment, and of course a very painful death yet Jesus went out of devotion to me.  I've been guilty of using all sorts of lame excuses such as "I'm just not getting anything out of it" which is actually an indictment not of the preacher or the service, but of me.  It indicates that I'm there simply as a consumer not willing to invest and demanding something for nothing (something that for those that know me I absolutely RAGE against in terms of eating and living).  I have found, for instance, with previous preachers, that I had to resort to taking notes just to follow and try to figure out what the point of the sermon was for that day.  Note that once I invested the energy to do so, I found a message with significance and applicability to my life and often current situations, but I couldn't have done so without investing the extra energy to take notes.  I've also used excuses such as, "I teach Sunday School, so I've spent my time in The Word this week."  Lame.  Just lame. 
Sometimes we're not there for ourselves.  Sometimes our children, coworkers, and friends need to see absolute, sold-out, you-can't-keep-me-away kind of faith so that they know what a life of devotion looks like.  Consumerism says, well if I can get something out of it, I might consider it as long as I don't have something better to do.  Devotion says I'm here for You and others as much or more than for me.  In his book "Not a Fan," Kyle Idleman calls people who simply warm a pew on an occasional Sunday "Fans" because they're really not in the game.  I don't think anyone I know really thinks of themselves that way, but what is our fruit saying?  Are we producing a good crop or are we waiting to harvest something we didn't sow?
There are other reasons to attend church besides the service itself.  One Sunday, for instance, a person stopped me and asked me to pray about an effort she felt God calling her to start that was going to cost a lot of money.  After the service, I stopped by and requested Missions funds be made available to initiate the effort.  What if I had missed that Sunday? 
The point today is that sometimes we're there to serve more so than be served.  Sometimes we're there to make a statement of priorities to a world that wouldn't blame us if we took a day to go fishing.  Sometimes we're there because God needs to speak to us in ways we don't know we need.  Sometimes we need to be there just to shake the hand of someone who needs encouragement.  Sometimes we're there just to fill a pew because that person who isn't really healthy enough to be in church but won't miss it for the world couldn't go if all the "healthy" people didn't attend.   
So what's your lame excuse?  Why is your attendance spotty?  Why is there anything in this world more important than devotion to God?  Sure, you don't have to go to church to be devoted, but what is the message you're sending to the world with your absence?  It tells me you think you and your priorities are more important than God and His people which might be incorrect, but you're not there to correct me are you?
My outright intention here is to be confrontational.  Confrontational with myself about why I'm going to church.  Choir attendance is important, but if that's why I'm going, I'm sowing bad seed.  I need be attending because of my love for my Savior and His people (I've noticed, by the way, when I do attend with this attitude, I'm much less critical of the sermon, the music, etc).  Why is your attendance less than perfect?  Scripture says we're known by our fruits.  If your attendance is less than perfect, why?  What message do you think you're sending?  Do you think absence is an effective communication tool?  Perhaps some of you simply think attendance isn't that big a deal.  If so, why would scripture address it?
When I missed football, the coach yelled at me and made me run.  Football wasn't an eternal event in my life, yet I put up with a high degree of accountability.  Why do we treat the eternal things of God as any less accountable?  The stakes in this game are life and death and there is no room in the kingdom for fans.  Get rid of your lame excuses and get in the game or quit lying to a high and Holy God and His people.  I love God and you too much to stand by and let you warm the bench in this one. 
End of rant.