Why Is Church So Important?
Text: Acts 2:42-47
Introduction
1. Illustration: A little old lady was amazed at how nice the young man was next door. Everyday he would help her gather things from her car or help her in her yard. One day the old lady finally ask the young man, "son, how did you become such a fine young man". The young man replied, "well, when I was a boy, I had a drug problem". The old lady was shocked, "I can’t believe that". The young man replied, "it’s true, my parents drug me to church on Sunday morning, drug me to church on Sunday night and drug me to church on Wednesday night"
2. There are many good reasons to make church a regular part of your life. However, the three most important are because we all have:
a. Spiritual Needs
b. Physical Needs
c. Social Needs
3. Read Acts 2:42-47
Proposition: God has placed within each of us some basic needs that are met when we make church a priority in our lives.
Transition: First, church is important...
I. Because We Have Spiritual Needs (42)
A. Devoted Themselves
1. If we want to understand the importance of attending church the best place to look is from the ones who started it all - the very first Christian church in Jerusalem.
2. The first thing we learn about them is "All the believers devoted themselves..."
a. The verb translated "devoted" (proskartereo) is a common one that connotes a steadfast and single-minded fidelity to a certain course of action.
b. The meaning is that they continued in faithful adherence to the newly formed community." The word is used often with the idea of "persisting obstinately in" something (Fernando, NIV Application Commentary, New Testament: Acts, 119).
c. The early church was completely sold out to these principles.
d. This was not a pastime, hobby, or something that they did when they had nothing better to do. Rather it was something that was priority in their lives.
3. So what did they devote themselves to? Luke tells us that "All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching..."
a. Considering that Jesus spent so much time teaching the crowds and his inner band of followers, it is not surprising that teaching had an important place in the early church (Fernando, 120).
b. Not only did they take a firm stand for Christ with the apostles, they also had a persistent desire for instruction.
c. It was not enough for them to merely have their foot in the door or to be a part of a community. They had a continual, insatiable hunger to learn more about their faith.
d. They knew what we often forget, that the rule and standard of faith begins and ends with the Word of God.
e. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NLT)
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.
17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
4. The next thing that Luke tells us they were devoted to was "to fellowship..."
a. Fellowship was experienced in the process of teaching.
b. Koinonia: an association involving close mutual relations and involvement -—Louw & Nida: NT Greek-English Lexicon
c. It also carried with it the idea of partnership.
d. Philippians 1:5 (NLT)
for you have been my partners in spreading the Good News about Christ from the time you first heard it until now.
e. But the nineteen occurrences of koinonia in the New Testament suggest that the church used this word for the unique sharing that Christians have with God and with other Christians (Fernando, 120).
f. It was more than getting together. It was a partnership in the purposes of the Church and a sharing in its message and work (Horton, Acts: A Logion Press Commentary).
5. Another thing that they were devoted to was "to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper)..."
a. You knew I’d get to the eating part eventually didn’t you?
b. This phrase literally means "the breaking of bread."
c. This phrase "was a technical expression for the Jewish custom of pronouncing the blessing and breaking and distributing the bread at the beginning of a meal (Fernando, 121).
d. The "breaking of bread" (Gk. tou artou, "of the bread") some writers take to mean only the Lord’s Supper, but it also includes table fellowship.
e. Believers could not observe the Lord’s Supper in the temple, so this was done in their homes, at first in connection with a meal (since Jesus instituted it at the close of the Passover meal) (Horton, Acts: A Logion Press Commentary).
6. The last thing that Luke tells us they were devoted is the most important. He says they devoted themselves "to prayer."
a. The emphasis is on collective prayer.
b. In the early church, prayer was clearly a high priority and an important part of their life together.
c. Prayer was an integral part of their daily life. It kept them connected with the Lord of the Church and was necessary to the work He had for them (Horton, Acts: A Logion Press Commentary).
d. This refers not only to individual prayer, but their corporate prayer as a community (Bruce, 73).
e. In Acts, where there is much prayer, there is much activity of the Holy Spirit; and where there is much activity of the Holy Spirit there is much prayer (SPLSB, 1670).
7. All successful church place a high priority on prayer, and a prime example of that is perhaps the most successful church on the planet, Yoido Full Gospel Church of the Assemblies of God in South Korea, whose membership in in excess of 830,000 members.
a. The Senior pastor’s name is David Yongi Cho.
b. In May 1958, Cho held his first worship service in the home of a friend. Only Choi and her three children attended the service, but the church grew rapidly and soon reached fifty members.
c. The created a place called Prayer Mountain, a sanctuary where individuals can lock themselves away in small cubicles for prayer and fasting.
d. Expanded in 1982 to accommodate ten thousand people, Prayer Mountain is now visited by more than a million people each year, including some ten thousand foreign pilgrims.
e. The church continued to grow exponentially; its membership reached 400,000 in 1984, and 700,000 in 1992.
B. Spiritual Needs
1. Illustration: Mr. Jones called his pastor from the hospital one day and frantically said, "Oh, pastor come quickly, my son, John was just bitten by a rattle snake and is at the point of death." Of course the pastor hurried to the side of the worried father. "Pastor, pray for my son!", cried the father, " I have promised the Lord that if my son recovers, I will come back to church and bring my family and will again start living for the Lord." Of course the pastor prayed. He said, "Dear Lord, we come to you now in behalf of Mr. Jones’ son. We pray that he might recover from this snake bite. We want to praise your name for sending this rattle snake to bite John! This one rattle snake has done what I or the church has been unable to do in the life of Mr. Jones now for over 5 years. During all this time, he has not been interested in his spiritual well-being or the spiritual well-being of his family and this one rattle snake has turned his mind back to you. Lord, could it be, what we may need in the lives of many of our other church members are bigger and better rattle snakes?"
2. We all have spiritual needs.
a. God has created us with a need for Him (just like care makers make cars that are impossible for anyone but the dealer to work on).
b. He has placed within each one of us a need that only He can fill.
c. He also caused these spiritual needs to be filled within the context of community.
3. People like to say, "Well I can pray and read my Bible at home!"
a. Unfortunately, most don’t do these things at home, and we have spiritual needs like the need to be prayed for, encouraged, and cared for that can only happen in the context of a community of believers.
b. Hebrews 10:24-25 (NLT)
24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.
25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
4. Choosing to stay away from church is like telling God, "I can do this on my own."
a. He has created a means by which you most important needs can be met, and to ignore that is the same as telling God I don’t want your help.
b. It is like being really sick and refusing to go see the doctor.
c. It is like being on empty but passing the last gas station for a hundred miles.
d. It is like dying of thirst and refusing a drink of water.
Transition: Life is tough enough without ignoring the spiritual help that God offers.
II. Because We Have Physical Needs (43-45)
A. Shared Everything
1. Another important need that everyone has that church can help with is physical needs.
2. We have physical needs caused by sickness. While doctors and hospitals can help with much of that, they cannot take care of everything. There are something’s that only God can fix.
3. Luke tells us about the early church "A deep sense of awe came over them all, and the apostles performed many miraculous signs and wonders."
a. Miracles were an important aspect of the presence and power of the Holy Spirit among believers.
b. The Greek here seems to indicate a secondary agency, in other words, they done by the Holy Spirit through the apostles.
c. Later God gave miracles through many others, including ordinary disciples who were not apostles.
d. Signs and wonders should still be normative wherever the gospel is being spread.
e. Here at New Life we believe that God still is in the miracle business.
f. James 5:14-15 (NLT)
14 Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord.
15 Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
g. Notice that the criteria for being healed is for you coming to the elders of the church and ask for prayer. The ball is in your court!
4. Other aspects of our physical needs involve food and clothing. Luke tells us that "all the believers met together in one place and shared everything they had."
a. together - lit. "upon the same" was a technical term for "community in church fellowship" (Larkin, Cornerstone Biblical Commentary: Acts, 397).
b. Their willingness to "share everything they had" showed the extent of their unity and fellowship. They were family!
c. Holding everything in common was not socialism or communism because it was voluntary.
d. Also their goods were not evenly distributed but were given to meet needs as they arose (Bible Knowledge Commentary).
e. This is the love of Christ at work - simply walking the talk.
5. The early church was so much like family that "They sold their property and possessions and shared the money with those in need."
a. Many sold pieces of land they owned and personal property as well. The money was distributed to those in need.
b. "Anyone as he had need" is a key statement: They did not sell property until there was a need (Horton, Acts: A Logion Press Commentary).
c. Believers were so near the cross and the resurrection and so filled with the Spirit, that for a while selfishness was swallowed up in love. It was thus easy to sell possessions and think of the good of all. - (New International Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM).
B. Everyone Needs Help
1. Illustration: "I believe God is made sad at the sight of so many of us trying to work things out for ourselves. He longs to help us, but we wont let Him; we wont ask Him."
2. Church is about family.
a. 1 Corinthians 12:26-27 (NLT)
26 If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.
27 All of you together are Christ’s body, and each of you is a part of it.
b. When one hurts we all hurt.
c. When one is sick we all are sick
d. When one lacks we all lack.
3. Church is about sharing.
a. Sharing with those in need.
b. Sharing with those who don’t know where to turn.
c. Sharing with those who need a hand up.
4. Church is about caring.
a. Caring for one another when we are down.
b. Caring for one another when we sick.
c. Caring for one another when we have lost hope.
d. But it’s hard for us to care when you are not here!
Transition: Church is also important...
III. Because We Have Social Needs (46-47)
A. Worshiped Together
1. Just as important as spiritual and physical needs are our need to be accepted and loved by others.
2. Luke says that the early church "worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homes for the Lord’s Supper, and shared their meals with great joy and generosity."
a. The concept of worshiping together means, "to associate closely and continuously with - ’to stay close to, to associate closely with (Louw and Nidda, Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Symantic Domains).
b. This kind of blows the whole argument of I can worship God at home by myself out of the water.
c. The worship of God was meant to be done in community.
d. Revelation 5:8-13 (NLT)
8 And when he took the scroll, the four living beings and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp, and they held gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people. 9 And they sang a new song with these words: “You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation. 10 And you have caused them to become a Kingdom of priests for our God. And they will reign on the earth.” 11 Then I looked again, and I heard the voices of thousands and millions of angels around the throne and of the living beings and the elders. 12 And they sang in a mighty chorus: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slaughtered— to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.” 13 And then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea. They sang: “Blessing and honor and glory and power belong to the one sitting on the throne and to the Lamb forever and ever.”
e. Now does that sound to you like you’re going to be worshiping alone in heaven?
f. Genesis 2:18 (NLT)
18 Then the Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is just right for him.”
g. God created us to have fellowship with him and one another.
3. Furthermore, they didn’t just worship together, once again, they ate together - "...and shared their meals with great joy and generosity."
a. Its just as important for us to meet together outside of the worship service as it is for us to gather together in worship.
b. Notice that they enjoyed each others company - with great joy!
c. The joy came from the heart, because people were not trying to impress anyone. They had developed an attitude toward each other that enabled them to truly enjoy each other (Fernando, 123).
4. Look what happens when we do these things. Luke says, "all the while praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those who were being saved."
a. When God’s people come together and enjoy fellowship, "praising God" is the natural result .
b. True fellowship focuses on God and helps people to remember the good things he has done, which, in turn, causes praise.
c. Such fresh and powerful community life would win the admiration of people outside the church.
d. Others saw their unity, their devotion to God, their daily worship in the temple, and their love for one another (Horton, Acts: A Logion Press Commentary).
e. People naturally want to be a part of something that is so enriching and life changing.
B. Needing Others
1. Illustration: “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all turned to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshipers [meeting] together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be, were they to become ‘unity’ conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship” (A.W. Tozer in "The Pursuit of God").
2. Just as we need God, we also need each other.
a. We were created with a need for human contact.
b. We were created with a natural dependency for one another.
c. We all need a place where we can get away from the pressures of life and find real meaning in our lives.
3. Being with others is good for us.
a. It helps us spiritually.
b. It helps us psychologically
c. It helps us physically
4. We need a place where we feel accepted.
a. "Sometimes you want to go
Where everybody knows your name,
and they’re always glad you came.
You wanna be where you can see,
our troubles are all the same
You wanna be where everybody knows
Your name."
b. Church is that place.
c. We are all the same here - sinners saved by grace.
d. We are all in this together.
e. We are all just as important as everybody else.
Transition: The bottom line, church is good for you and Sunday is the best day of the week.
Conclusion
1. Why is church so important?
a. Spiritual Needs
b. Physical Needs
c. Social Needs
2. Do you want to go where everybody knows your name?
3. Are you ready to join our family?
4. Don’t worry, we’ll leave the light on!
