It’s Not About Me… When It Comes To:
CHURCH
Hebrews 10:24 - 35
Video Clip: “Me Church”
(KJV) 24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.
BARNA RESEARCH: Only 17% of adults said that "a person’s faith is meant to be developed mainly by involvement in a local church." Only (18%) firmly embraced the idea that spiritual maturity requires involvement in a community of faith.
In commenting on this data Barna writes: "These figures emphasize how soft people’s commitment to God is. Americans are willing to expend some energy in religious activities such as attending church and reading the Bible, and they are willing to throw some money in the offering basket. Because of such activities, they convince themselves that they are people of genuine faith. But when it comes time to truly establishing their priorities and making a tangible commitment to knowing and loving God, and to allowing Him to change their character and lifestyle, most people stop short. We want to be ‘spiritual’ and we want to have God’s favor, but we’re not sure we want Him taking control of our lives and messing with the image and outcomes we’ve worked so hard to produce."
HOUSE Churches: A new study, found that 9% of adult professing Christian attend a house church during a typical week. (For clarity, the survey distinguished between involvement in a house church and participation in a small group bible study that is associated with a conventional church.)That is remarkable growth in the past decade, shooting up from just 1% to near double-digit involvement. In total, one out of five adults attends a house church at least once a month. Over the course of a typical month, that number doubles to about 43 million adults. Many say they attend House churches because they tend to be less confrontational and focus more on their concerns.
What are the reasons for these statistics? I praise the Lord for our church’s growth and the ministries… but we must continually examine why it is that we come to church…
Quote: John MacCarther (in The Truth War) boldy states: “Much of the visible church nowadays seems to think Christians are supposed to be at play rather than at war. The idea for actually fighting for doctrinal truth is the furthest thing from most churchgoers thoughts. Contemperary Christians are determined to get the world to like them – and of course in the process they also want to have as much fun as possible. They are so obsessed with making the church seem “cool” to unbelievers that they can’t be bothered with questions about whether another person’s doctrine is sound or not. Christians have bought into the notion that almost nothing is more “uncool” in the world’s eyes than when someone shows a sincere concern about the danger of heresy. After all, the world simply doesn’t take spiritual truth that seriously, so they cannot fathom why anyone would.”
Listen, If we have the wrong foundation, we can’t build anything lasting… many Christians struggle because of this… their focus has shifted entirely to themselves, and in doing so, they have neglected God’s purposes for the church… Let’s look at those purposes together:
Look again at verse 24, as we see the first step in gaining the right perspective about church
24And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: (We are to motivate each other to acts of Love and Good Works) in short, church isn’t about me!
I. Don’t Forget to go to Church
The Greek word for “Forsake” means to leave something important behind has you go on a trip…
Illustr: XYZ trip to Nashville, I left all of our clothes behind… There are a lot of Christians walking around spiritually naked because they ran off in life and forgot to go to church…
This verse isn’t a Barna study result… this is a command… we often read it like “ A lot of people are failing to go to church” God isn’t giving us information, He is giving us a command… 25Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
A. together, God wants us come together (The FIST)
B. as the manner of some is; (Our culture does not like commands, they like suggestions… God doesn’t give suggestions… God understands something… He’s smarter than me… He knows what is best for my spiritual growth.
C. but exhorting one another: (Corporate worship flourishes out of individual worship… If you are not worshipping God through the week, you will arrive here spiritually anemic, which causes a whole host of problems… that’s why churches split, that’s why churches go down hill… a group of people are coming together on Sunday, who have not spent any time worshipping Christ and growing personally through the week… and all of a sudden It’s ALL ABOUT THEM!)
D. and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching. Paul understood it would get more difficult before it got easier… He knew people would become self-centered… not allowing the Holy Spirit to guide them, but their own selfish attitudes… Look again at verses 26-31
II. Don’t Forget to Focus On Jesus Christ
26For if we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, 27But a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the adversaries. 28He that despised Moses’ law died without mercy under two or three witnesses: 29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him that hath said, Vengeance belongeth unto me, I will recompense, saith the Lord. And again, The Lord shall judge his people. 31It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
The days of sinning and sacrificing animals to pay for those sins is over… OKAY, here’s the new order of things… Jesus died ONCE for ALL… no more sacrifices… if you want to continue sinning now, don’t go looking for a goat, you better go looking for a prayer closet… because the next step is God’s personal judgment on your rebellious attitude…. WHY? Some must of asked… because Paul tells us why:
29Of how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?
TWO THINGS Paul says:
1. You have disrespected the blood that Jesus shed to establish the local church.
2. You have disrespected the Holy Spirit that Jesus left when He returned to Heaven… which, by the way… was what God used to confirm the first local church in the book of Acts…
Acts 1:4 - 5 (KJV) 4And, being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me. 5For John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
God established the local church and intended for the focus of the it to be on His Son… not me, not you, not your good looks, not on your honed body, not your sharp intellect, or your quick wit, not even on your personal desires… the focus is to be on HIM… He purchased the church with His blood, He established the church with His Holy Spirit, and He maintains the church through His word!
III. Don’t Forget to Remember Your Commitment
32But call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated,
VINCE LOMBARDI: Individual commitment to a group effort -- that is what makes a team work, a company work, a society work, a civilization work.
Paul reminds these Christians of their early zeal…
A. ye endured a great fight of afflictions;
The Foxes Book of Martyrs reports that, of the eleven remaining Apostles (after Judas Iscariot had already killed himself), only one- John, the son of Zebedee, and the writer of the Book of Revelation- died of natural causes in exile. The other ten were reportedly martyred by various means including beheading, by sword and spear and, in the case of Saint Peter, crucifixion.
Yea, But that was then… the church doesn’t face persecution now…The United Nations reports that the militant Islamic government of central African Sudan has declared a systematic battle against Christians. Since 1982, 300,000 Sudanese Christians have been killed. Each year hundreds of Christian believers are sold into slavery and taken where they have to work as slaves or as concubines for their Muslim masters. - Religious Liberty Commission of World Evangelical Fellowship
The Nuba Mountains in Sudan "...which have had a Christian population since the 6th century, are littered with mass graves...Nuba women are systematically raped by Arab soldiers in order to produce non-Nuba offspring. There have been reports of crucifixions of Christians by the army." Muslim troops from northern Sudan have sold tens of thousands of Christian children and women from the south into slavery. Many have been branded or mutilated to prevent escape; many more have been tortured, brainwashed or starved until they converted to Islam. - Jeff Jacoby, "Christian Suffering is on the Rise," Boston Globe, 1996
Pakistan: "The Muslim population of Khan Jajja was incited in May 1994 by the local Muslim cleric to drive the 60 Christian families of the region from the ’land of the pure’ and to demolish their church. The Christian men were beaten and the women were stripped naked..., while three girls were kidnapped and raped. These Christians’ homes were raided and their possessions looted or destroyed." Pakistan’s 1986 blasphemy law makes it a capital crime to insult the Prophet Mohammed "by any imputation, innuendo or insinuation." The law has been used repeatedly to justify a reign of terror against Pakistani Christians. - Jeff Jacoby, "Christian Suffering is on the Rise," Boston Globe, 1996
Pakistan recently passed a blasphemy law that forbids speaking or acting against the prophet Mohammed. The punishment for violators is death. A 12- year-old Christian child was recently sentenced to death under this law and was freed from Pakistan only by international pressure. He is now hiding in a Western country with a bounty on his head. - Mona Charen, The Washington Times
When I hear something like this, my heart aches because American Christians don’t even know about it, don’t care. We’re to busy complaining about the air conditioning, or the choir’s special… instead of expressing moral outrage… and re-committing ourselves to Jesus Christ… to again re-devote ourselves to walk in unity with other believers, to support the work of the local church, to submit ourselves to God’s word and God’s leadership in EVERY AREA of our life… to stop living for Christ on Sunday and ourselves on Monday… to begin to reflect Christ-like attitudes instead of just running off at the mouth and causing people to reject our testimony… We’ve got to get back to the main thing… JESUS CHRIST and His impact on my life!!!
- Back in the day… these Christians…
o Didn’t care who stared and laughed
o They had compassion on others who were accused and suffering.
o They didn’t even care that their commitment caused them economic hardship (the spoiling of their goods) They couldn’t buy or sale…
WHY… Paul said because you knew that what was awaiting you in Heaven was so much better than what was spoiling here on earth… he called it an “enduring substance.”
Conclusion:
In verse 35… he encourages them as he writes:
35Cast not away therefore your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward.
There is nothing wrong with church… we just need to keep the focus on Jesus Christ and we have to dedicate ourselves to on another, not just on Sunday, but throughout the week… I have a responsibility to grow, so that I can be a blessing to you when you come here on Sunday and Wednesday and any other time we assemble ourselves together in His name!
PRAYER
