“Why are We Here, Church? – September 7, 2008
Summer is over. School is on once again. The hot weather is slowly leaving us. Autumn is around the corner. Many of us are just kind of finding our feet again back into normal routines. Life continues…church life continues.
Now, something that always helps me get back into the groove is remembering… remembering why I do certain things. Actually, it’s not being clear on why we do certain things that can make it tough to do them. Remembering why is important.
Of course, remembering has always been an important activity of the people of God. The word ‘remember’ occurs 166 times in the Bible. ‘Remember the covenant’, ‘remember the Sabbath’, ‘remember when you were slaves in Egypt’.
So, consistent with that, I thought it would be good to start off September by remembering something very basic. That very basic thing is summed up in the question: “Why are we, church, here? [PPT – “Why Are We Here?”]
There are a whole variety of reasons people come to church, why they get involved in a community of faith. Good reasons, but it’s important for us to understand the best reasons, the Biblical reasons for church.
Good reasons include: church is a good place to meet people; church is a healthy component to a healthy and balanced life; church is a good place to remember we are not alone; church is a good place to be rooted in order to find support; church is a good place for people to come together for causes of justice; church is a way for the community to just come together; church is a good place to get saved. Those are, like I said, good reasons.
But I’ve got to tell you, they are pieces of a larger picture. Elements of a tapestry that God does intend for us. But any one of those reasons, or all of those reasons together is, perhaps oddly, insufficient; a pale and diluted reflection of what God intends church to be. That might surprise you…especially that last point.
So what are the best reasons for belonging to a church family? What are the biblical reasons?
1 OF 3: To Be Found, Together, In Jesus Christ; to Love One Another
Reader reads 1 John 3:11-26
Now that we’ve heard this passage in full, I want to highlight sections of the passage
1 John 3:11 This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother’s were righteous.
At first glace this is a little weird. Here and later on it contrasts love with killing, as though love and murder were exact opposites.
Usually we think perhaps of love and hate being opposites. But of course, hate can lead to killing. And love leads to more love. Hating leads to death. Loving gives life.
It’s also a little weird because we’re talking here about ‘loving one another’, which can be a little bit motherhood-and-apple pie.
Of course we should love one another. Let’s say we do and get on with more important stuff.
But of course, there is nothing more important or closer to the heart of God than love…not as a sentiment, not as a Hallmark card, but love that is lived out. So, for a study in contrast in this passage we see hate being lived out. And it leads to the world’s first murder.
One brother choosing to kill another, over envy, over spite…over jealousy perhaps, because Able’s offering was received by God for its care and worshipfulness and Cain’s wasn’t because it was not given with thoughtfulness or care or worship.
If you’ve been here for long you know we usually introduce the weekly offering by saying that it is an act of worship, meant to be given cheerfully to God.
The attitude we bring in our worship matters to God far more than our actions. That’s why the poor widow who gave two mites gave ‘more’ than the rich who gave, materially, more, but whose motive was less worship and more show. Interesting.
14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. 16 This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
The phrase ‘passing from death to life’ really refers to salvation.
It means that a critical way we can be sure of our relationship with God and our salvation is that our relationship with God is enacted in our relationships with one another.
Love, like faith, must always be enacted. Acted upon. That’s why the book of James says that ‘faith without deeds (or actions) is dead’ (Jas 2:26)
Verse 16 hits us with a hard truth. Love gives and gives everything. My son Jared and I have recently been watching the mini-series “Band of Brothers”, where it shows the history of the 101 Airbourne Division Easy Company and its incredible WWII war-time experiences and trials
One of the most startling and inspiring things about those soldiers was how completely dedicated they were to each other. How they would risk their lives for each other, often being wounded and sometimes being killed in the process.
That can be inspiring, but also kind of depressing. We often just don’t feel that dedicated to each other. Our love for one another perhaps pales in comparison.
We’d like to love that much. We’d love to be loved that much, but it just seems so far out of reach. But you see, those soldiers were absolutely united in purpose.
As a result of being united in purpose, they were together a lot. They learned to watch each other’s backs. They worked together.
They fought together. They depended on each other and they proved their dependability over and over again. And they mourned together those who didn’t make it.
If we feel we don’t love enough, perhaps it’s because we’re not united enough in our purpose. You see, that’s why Jesus’ prayed this stunningly beautiful prayer”
John 17:21 : “I pray…for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23 I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me”.
“May they be brought to complete unity”. Why? For the sake of unity alone? No. “May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me”.
When you and I have the same purpose, and when our passion is linked to our purpose, when our purpose is to glorify God, to exalt His son Jesus Christ, when we are unified we bear a single banner, a single purpose.
Now this leads us to the second reason we’re here, continuing the train of thought that I hope we’ve all boarded. And that reason is bound up in our next Bible reading. I’m going to ask _____________ to read from Ephesians 4:11-13:
11 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12 to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
# 2: To Be Equipped
This is another critical verse for the church as a whole, and for our congregation in particular.
You’ve heard today and in recent weeks about the rather large number of opportunities to learn and grow and be stretched that exists at Church at the Mission.
The reason we have our four programs and this year 34 courses in a huge variety of areas and subjects and practical skills development is simply this: We, the church, the church leadership and your pastors…Ronda, Jan and myself…we take YOU very, very seriously as a follower of Jesus. And as a Christ-follower, we know that you, like us, are part of a priesthood. [Pause]
1 Peter 2:9“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light”.
And as part of a priesthood, that means, and I know this is a little freaky to think of in these terms but it is absolutely true and faithful to the Word of God…that means that you are, as a believer in Christ Jesus, a priest of God. You are an agent of the Kingdom of God.
You are here to serve as a priest. To behave as a priest (in all the best ways), to live out the high and noble calling of a priest.
And the highest and noblest calling is to “let the world know that (God the Father) sent (His Son Jesus into the world) and that God the Father loves every person with the same love that he has for His own dear Son.
And because the Bible teaches this, we take it seriously. And part of the reason that we provide all the training and teaching that we do is so that each of us can slowly come to grasp the massive implications for our lives of this profound reality.
It might feel uncomfortable for you to hear this. You might think this preacher is sprouting petunias in his geranium pot (as my brother use to say), or that his waffles have popped (as we say in our household).
But I encourage you to read the Scriptures yourself and wrestle with the implications for your life of a God who wants to use your life to bring glory to our Father in Heaven and to bring blessing upon blessing to a needy world; to truly make a difference.
So we have Foundations that helps us grow deep roots in the way we live and practice our faith. And we have our Journey through the Bible Program, so that we really learn what it is that this amazing book, the very Word of God, is trying to communicate to humanity.
And we have our Lay-ministry Training Program so that once we start to grasp the implications of this call you and I and all believers share, we can continue to go deeper and become more and more enriched, so we can experience greater healing and freedom.
And that’s why this year especially, we’ve got a huge number of courses in the Sacred Arts, so we can learn and grow and acquire confidence in the areas of the arts that God has gifted us in
And so that we can bring to our Sunday Celebration offerings of dance and drama and painting and sketching and creative writing and mime and…you name it.
By the way, and this is a heads up, you should expect to see a lot of new things in our Sunday Celebration. Everything that I just mentioned and more will become much more a part of our gathering than it has in the past.
You will see, in our service, opportunities to sketch and paint as an expression of worship. You will see more dance and drama. Why? Well, why would we not use everything in our power and every gift given by God to exalt, and glorify, to honour and worship our Creator and Redeemer. That’s the better question.
So…Ronda and Jan and I are here to “prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up “v13 Until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ”.
So we’re here “to be found, together, in Jesus Christ; to love one another”. We’re here to be equipped to serve the living God. And there’s one last BIG reason that we’re here. And in a sense the first two things that we’ve talked about are about laying the groundwork for this final thing.
# 3: To Connect with the Community: Part A, Part B
There are two primary ways the church is to connect with the community, and both fulfill our purpose of glorifying God and lifting up Jesus Christ. I’m going to have ___________ read a passage about the first way we connect.
Mt 25:31 "When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. 34 "Then the King will say to those on his right, ’Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. 35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’37 "Then the righteous will answer him, ’Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’ 40 "The King will reply, ’I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’
The first way we connect with the community around us is by loving people unconditionally. Rick Tobias, who many of you know, is the President and CEO of Yonge Street Mission.
He was interviewed recently in a Salvation Army magazine and he said that because of scandals in the church and perceptions of hypocrisy in the church, the only way the church can meaningfully connect with non-churched people is through compassion.
Caring for others…giving a cup of water to the thirsty, feeding the one who is hungry, welcoming the stranger, providing clothing, caring for people in their illness and infirmity. Visiting those in prison.
All this of course means focusing a lot less on our own needs and a lot more on the needs of those around us.
The mystery of course is that when we focus on bettering our own lot in life and get all consumed in how well things are going for us, we will always get more and more miserable.
Unspoken PPT: “Luke 9:24 For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will save it.
We will never find, by pursuing first of all our own happiness, that which we seek. Happiness and fulfillment can never come to us that way.
We can only find that illusive state of well-being by looking to improve the well-being of others. We make friends by being friendly. We discover love when we give our love away to others in practical ways.
That’s why in this passage ‘caring’ is not writing poems about caring. And in this passage loving is not an emotion or a feeling, but a do-ing.
The moto of our Foundations program is “From Christian Beginnings to Ministry Activation”. You know why that is? Because the goal, the purpose of being a Christian is not ‘going to heaven’.
Yes…every believer will go to heaven based on the merits of our perfect Saviour Jesus Christ. And that’s worth a lot of pen and paper and celebration and, yes, it is a huge source of peace and hope for all of us who name the name of Jesus Christ as Lord.
But becoming a Christian, getting saved, becoming a Christ-follower…however you want to describe it…that is a beginning. We massively miss the point if we think that’s all that it’s about.
That us and our own salvation are the sole reason of why Jesus came to die for our sins. God save us from ever being so self-centred that we believe that.
What IS it about? It’s…like I said earlier…it’s about living for God and living for others. Living to bless and honour the King of kings and Lord and lords, Jesus Christ; and living to bless others.
To improve the well-being of others. Feeding, visiting, welcoming, caring. In other words, demonstrating true compassion for others.
That is how we find the joy we seek, and THAT is how we bear witness to Jesus Christ.
You see, the church as a whole and you and me and every other believer here have this huge mandate from Jesus. I’m going to ask ____________ to read about this huge mandate.
Matthew 28:16 Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. 17 When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. 18 Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.".
This is part B of connecting with the community, but as we’ve seen, this is directly tied in to part A. When we show that we truly care in practical ways, in ways that may cost us, we as the church earn the possibility of sharing our faith in Christ.
Without that caring, without that investment, that time spent listening and caring, we simply won’t, 99 times out of a hundred, get to share about Jesus.
And this is…and here’s the rub. We may never get to share about Jesus anyway, directly. That privilege may fall to someone we’ve never heard of, to later come alongside those we’ve cared for and, perhaps because the unsaved person begins to detect a pattern of Christians loving and caring, they will then find their hearts open to receiving Christ.
That’s one reason that the passage in Matthew 25 doesn’t mention what happens to those who are loved and cared for in practical ways by followers of Jesus.
The focus of that passage is the ones doing the loving and caring. In this Scripture the lens in on us…you and me…doing the loving and caring. Counting ourselves among the poor and broken so that we can be close enough to understand the lives and needs of hurting people…people just like us…people who need a Saviour. People who need Jesus.
Nevertheless, we see here in this huge mandate that __________just read that the core purpose and duty and joy of the church is to make disciples, students, follower of Jesus.
So…why are we here? We’re here to be found, together, in Jesus Christ; to love one another, to experience the deep healing that can only come through Jesus Christ and that best happens within the Body of Christ, the church. We’re here to become equipped for works of service, are we are here to connect with and minister Jesus Christ to our community.
That’s about it from where I stand. How about from where you stand? Of course we all need to work these things out for ourselves, guided by God’s Word, guided by the Holy Spirit of God who calls us into the family of God.
But may each of us today see our purpose and our calling, and our reason for being a part of this church, a little more clearly, a little more energetically. And may we grow together in our understanding, in our sense of purpose and commitment, and in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Let’s pray. Lord Jesus, you are the Head of the church, you are the beginning and the end of all things. You are here, and you dwell by Your Spirit in each of your people here.
May we say ‘yes!’ to Your grace in each and every way that You express it. Father God, May we be found together in Christ, loving one another, growing and learning together, and together serving You as we love this community to Jesus.
May your compassion flow through us. This we pray as your people, in Jesus’ mighty and majestic name. Amen.
