After one of the first performances of Handel's Messiah, one nobleman complimented the composer on the entertainment that he had given the town. My lord, said Handel, I should be sorry if I only entertained them. I wish to make them better. So let it be here this morning.
I find the field of etymology interesting. Etymology is the study of words – their origins, their meanings, and how they've evolved to the way they're currently used. For instance, the Old English word that became SILLY meant “blessed.” Because those who are blessed are innocent, through time innocence became the connotation of the word. About 1400, we find sentences such as, “Cely art thou, hooli virgyne marie.” Innocence implies that one is deserving of compassion, and this was the next connotation of the word. If one is deserving of compassion, there is an implication that they are weak and before long the meaning of SILLY became “weak”. In 1633 we find someone has written, “Thou only art the mightie God, but I a sillie worm.” From there, it is a short step to “simple” or “ignorant”, and finally silly came to mean “foolish” - having begun meaning “sanctified by God.”
I once did a personal study on the word OBEY. The Hebrew word for OBEY is sh'ma as in sh'ma O' Israel, “Hear O' Israel”. The Greek word for OBEY is hupakouo - "to listen under.” I'd always lived my Christian life trying to be obedient, trying to DO rightly. But, my study of the Hebrew and Greek words for OBEY showed me that the emphasis is on HEARING rightly. That was an epiphany for me. If I hear rightly, I'll do rightly and, in order to hear rightly, I have to be in right relationship with whoever is speaking. When the Israelites were told that their sacrifices stank, YWHW was saying they were doing rightly, but they weren't hearing rightly because they weren't in right relationship. We can see in his interactions with the religious leaders of his time, that Christ essentially told them the same thing. They didn't hear him rightly and the result was their complicity in his death. I wonder how many people are in churches this morning who are scrupulous in doing what is approved or not doing what is not approved because they've heard the commandments of scripture or of their culture, but they've not heard from God, who loves and approves of them in Christ.
Another word that we Christians tend to use in a way that departs from the original meaning is WORSHIP. We call our services on Sunday morning “Worship Services” and, by that, we confine our worship to the Sunday morning hour when we sing and pray. Throughout the scriptures, WORSHIP is a life-style experience. It is something we do with our whole lives, with all of our being. There would be no “worship wars” over music if we practiced real worship. Paul writes in Romans 12:1, “I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.” Worship in spirit and truth is the daily and continual dedication and surrender of our lives to God.
A man visited a church service. It was his first time there. It was one of those mornings when the soloist, a tenor, must not have gotten out of bed on the right side.
As the newcomer listened to the faltering voice, he looked around. People were pulling out hymnals to locate the hymn being sung by the soloist.
By the second verse, the congregation had joined the soloist in the hymn. And by the third verse, the tenor was beginning to find the range.
And by the fourth verse, it was beautiful. And on the fifth verse the congregation was absolutely silent, and the tenor sang the most beautiful solo of his life. That is life in the body of Christ, enabling one another to sing the tune Christ has given us.
CHURCH is another word we misuse easily. We say “We go to church at....” or we call this building the church. Ekklesia is the Greek word translated CHURCH and it means a gathering of people. The church is the gathering, not the gathering place. We don't go to a church, we ARE the church. Two words ought to be added on every church sign - “Gathers Here” as in First Baptist Church Gathers Here.
Have you ever stopped to ask yourself why you gather here on Sunday morning? More importantly, have you ever searched the Scriptures for the answer to that question. Not only do many good Christians have fuzzy thinking about words that are central to their lives as Christians, words like OBEY, WORSHIP and CHURCH – they have fuzzy thinking about why they gather together. They assume that the reason we gather together is to worship, evangelize or to listen to a sermon. But are any of those the purposes given in Scripture for our assembling together?
It is true that God required the Jews to assemble three times a year at the temple to offer sacrifices and worship before him. Jewish worship was confined to particular places and times. Jesus inaugurated a new covenant in which there are no holy places or holy times for worship. Instead, God's people are to worship all day, every day, in every place, by willing sacrifice of their lives to Him.
Don't misunderstand me to be saying that the church should not worship God through song when we assemble. The Scriptures declare that one important aspect of our gatherings should be “speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with our hearts to the Lord”. However, the New Testament never identifies the main goal of our gatherings as worship.
The Scriptures do present the possibility that on occasion an unbeliever might attend a church gathering and be convicted of his/her sins and be converted as the believers minister to one another (I Cor. 14:24-25). However, in the New Testament, evangelism took place, not in the gathering of believers, but where unbelievers go naturally, including:
city streets
the temple grounds
a desert road
the synagogues of non-Christian Jews
the home of an unbeliever
a riverside
prisons
the market place
a hill dedicated to a pagan god
military barracks
the governor's official residence
Once, while on a visit to Texas, we passed a church building that had a banner on their door that said, God's love is real. Come inside and see.” I thought that was great. Then, I started to think, why does a person have to come inside that church building to see that God's love is real. Shouldn't they be experiencing God's love through the church as it is scattered throughout the community?
One of the infamous points on the grueling course that is called the Boston Marathon is "Heartbreak Hill." Thousands of cheering spectators gather there to watch the racers because they know “Heartbreak Hill” will make or break a marathoner.
During the race a few years ago a young man was very near total collapse; no one thought he would make it up ol' Heartbreak. About half way up an older man, in better shape, came alongside the younger man, put his arm around him, and spoke quietly to him. Together, step by step, they painstakingly made their way up the hill.
Life is like that hill. Many who are not here with us this morning are weary and worn by this life. Will you be the one who puts your arm around them, encourages them and walks with them?
When evangelism did take place in their meetings, it was the exception rather than the rule. Jesus commanded that the gospel be preached to all creation. Evangelism is the goal of every Christian, but it was never the goal of the gathered church in the New Testament.
We often pick the religious communities we'll become a part of like we pick restaurants – which one will best serve me what I want for the least cost. Personally, I like a good buffet like Golden Corral or HomeTown Buffet. I'll settle for the salad bar at Sizzler. Salad bar Christianity is our tendency to think of ministries as if they were items on a buffet from which we pick and choose. Like items on a salad bar, ministries are designed to please us, to “meet our needs.” This is religion enslaved to good ol' American consumerism. Ministries become so focused on creating religious products for Christian consumption that we lose sight of the nature of the church. Churches aren't products we judge. Churches are communities to which we belong and give ourselves in love.
Churches aren't like buffets, they're like pot lucks. In fact, the early church didn't meet in buildings built to be pleasing and conducive to the consumption of religious buffets. The early church met in homes and they shared a meal together which came to be called the Agape Meal or the Lord's Supper. That meal was their communion and it was nothing like the communion we observe today. It was a potluck, usually the evening meal, and it wasn't just for sharing food. Just like everyone brought some food to share, Paul tells the church in Corinth that, “When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”
The Scriptures tell us in I Cor. 12:7 that each one of us is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. I Cor. 14:12 urges, “So also you, since you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek to abound for the edification of the church.”
Romans 14:19 says, “So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another.” Romans 15:2 tells us that “Each of us is to please his neighbor for his good, to his edification.” Ephesians 4:11-12 states, that apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers are given for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ. In verse 16, we are told that the proper working of each individual part of the body, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. In I Thessalonians 5:11 we are urged to encourage one another and build up one another.
Without denying the importance of sound doctrinal instruction when the church gathers, we must beware of equating that instruction with the traditional sermon where one man does all the talking while the congregation passively listens and leaves without fulfilling their God-given responsibility to edify one another. Yes, biblical sermons can be a powerful tool in edifying the body, but they should not be allowed to crowd out the ministry of the rest of the church. The New Testament does not present the preaching of sermons as the primary purpose for church meetings, and neither should we. Hebrews 10:24-25 tells us, “ let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” The purpose of church meetings is the strengthening of the body through mutual exhortation so that it will be stimulated to love and good deeds.
At the Festival of Peace in Florianopolis, South Brazil, the journalist and philosopher Lia Diskin related the story of a tribe in Africa in which she explained how an anthropologist had been studying the habits and customs of this tribe. When he finished his work, he had to wait for transportation to the airport so he could return home. To help pass the time before he left, he proposed a game for the children who had always surrounded him. He put candy and fruit in a basket and placed it under a solitary tree. He drew a solitary line on the ground and lined up all the children behind the line. He told them that when he said “Go” they should rush over to the basket and the first one to get there would win all the candy and fruit. When he said “Go” all the children unexpectedly held each others' hands and ran off towards the basket as a group. Once they reached it, they shared the prize with each other and happily ate it. The anthropologist was very surprised. He asked them why they had all gone together, especially since the first one to arrive at the tree could have won everything. A young girl replied: “How can one of us be happy if all the others are sad?” I Corinthians says, “God has so composed the body, giving more abundant honor to that member which lacked, so that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it.”
I've been involved as an adult leader in Boy Scouts since 1971. One of the leadership skills we teach Scouts is to evaluate with START-STOP-CONTINUE. We ask them what do we need to start doing to make our meetings/activities be what we want them to be? What do we need to stop doing because it's getting in the way of our meetings/activities being what we want them to be?
What do we need to continue doing because it's making our meetings/activities be what we want them to be?
My prayer is that we all start to hear rightly because we are all in right relationship with God and one another.
My prayer is that we all stop doing those things that prevent us from a daily and continual dedication and surrender of our lives to God.
My prayer is that we all continue to build each other up, stimulating one another to love and good deeds.
May you be cely as you go out from here and encounter those who are weary and worn out by life, put your arm around them, encourage them, and walk with them. AMEN
