I recognize the irony of that title in a time when nobody would want to go anywhere near a buffet line with looming concerns of COVID-19. However, I still think the illustration has something to teach us and how many Northern-American Christians approach the gatherings of the local church.

One of the number one things I hear from people who are trying to find a ‘church-home’ is “we just want to find a church that meets our families needs. Often, the heart behind that is good, but far too often still, that sentence means they are treating church gatherings like a buffet line; take what you want, leave the rest alone. Or maybe another good illustration to use is buying a home. When buying a home, we want to make sure it checks off all the boxes of things that are important to us and meets all of our dreams and desires for a house. This is a terrible approach to looking for a local church to plant yourself at.

Darrell B. Harrison once said, “The purpose of the Church isn’t to look more like you, the purpose of the Church is to make you look more like Jesus.”

We spend most of our time looking for the church with the music that we like, or the right atmosphere, or enough kids in the children’s ministry, or a thriving youth ministry, that we forgot that the purpose of biblical community is to exalt Jesus through His Word and equip the saints for the work of the ministry. We leave churches because they don’t have the right colored carpet long before we left because the pastor wasn’t preaching the Gospel. We are far more bothered by the lack of coffee in the lobby than we are the lack of prayer in the pews. At some point, we need to recognize all of our efforts to make our churches look good on the outside has caused us to become nose-blind to the stench of rotting bones from within.

I understand this is strong language and often the rebuttal is that “We are doing these things to remove barriers to reach lost people.” I appreciate the desire to reach lost people but I assure you that the ‘barrier’ for lost people to believe the Gospel isn’t your lack of a barista on Sunday mornings. The barrier is their sin, and the only way to break through that barrier is the power of the Gospel proclaimed. None of these things that I’ve mentioned are inherently evil (coffee, lights, music style, etc.), but we must ask ourselves if we truly believe the Gospel is enough to save souls or not.

At some point, we must realize that the gathering of the Church is meant to equip the saints to go into the world and make disciples. Jesus didn’t say “build it and they will come", He said, “lift me up, and men will be drawn” (John 12:32). In all of our efforts to find a church that meets our needs, we are starving ourselves spiritually because Jesus didn’t design his Church to be a buffet.

Please hear me: The Gospel is enough. His Word is enough. The Gospel is the only message that cures what it diagnoses. The Gospel reveals sin, and applies the blood of Christ for redemption. You can’t make the Gospel more ‘palatable,’ you can either proclaim it, or water it down. I’m not trying to come off as judgemental, but I do believe we are called to promote what accords with sound doctrine (Titus 2:1).

I’m not telling you that your church has to get rid of some of the comforts of modern life (I’d lose my mind if we had no A/C in Florida on Sunday Mornings), but I am suggesting that you check your heart and ask what you believe the purpose of the church gathering is. I am asking you to assess whether or not you have become a consumer of content, or are seeking to surrender yourself as a follower of Jesus in the context of a local body of other brothers and sisters doing the same. I am asking you to ask yourself if the Gospel is enough reason to make you desire to gather with other believers every single week in order to “exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).