Should Church be Fun?

During morning devotions I read these verses and they hit me pretty hard. God is talking to the prophet Ezekiel about the people's response to his preaching. What God said to him had to hurt.

30 “Son of man, your people talk about you in their houses and whisper about you at the doors. They say to each other, ‘Come on, let’s go hear the prophet tell us what the Lord is saying!’ 31 So my people come pretending to be sincere and sit before you. They listen to your words, but they have no intention of doing what you say. Their mouths are full of lustful words, and their hearts seek only after money. 32 You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument. They hear what you say, but they don’t act on it! Ezekiel 33:30-32 (NLT)

Here is what this describes in my own words:

1. People who are happy to be in church. But truthfully they are there for the entertainment value.

2. People who have no intention of letting the church service change their lives.

3. People who see the church service more like a concert than a life shaping encounter with Christ.

4. People who rejoice in the hearing of God's Word, but not the doing.

I’m afraid this describes many in the "church." They don’t really go to church to be changed into the image of Christ, they go for entertainment, social interaction, out of habit, or other reasons. We've got to let the Word of God pierce our hearts! We cannot just nod our heads and say "good sermon."

Should church be fun? Yes! But if it is only fun and no life change is happening, then we are wasting time. My encouragement to you is to go to church every week, but let your goal be "God change me today!"