If We Ever Needed Each Other…
TCF Sermon
August 9, 2015
This morning, we’re going to talk about church, so I found a little church humor you might like:
Top 10 Ways You Know You’re In A Bad Church
10. The church bus has gun racks.
9 . The church staff consists of Senior Pastor, Associate Pastor and Socio-pastor.
8. The Bible they use is the "Dr. Seuss Version."
7. There’s an ATM in the lobby.
6. The choir wears leather robes.
5. Worship services are BYOS - "Bring your own snake."
4. No cover charge, but communion is a two-drink minimum.
3. Karaoke Worship Time
2. Ushers ask, "Smoking or non-smoking?"
1. The only song the organist knows is "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida."...
This announcement came in too late to get it into the bulletin, so I’ll read it to you now:
To make it possible for everyone to attend church next Sunday, we are going to have a special "No Excuse Sunday." Cots will be placed in the foyer for those who say, "Sunday is my only day to sleep in." Visine will be available for those with red, tired eyes... from watching television too late on Saturday night. We will have steel helmets for those who say, "The roof would cave in if I ever came to church." Blankets will be provided for those who think the church is too cold, and fans for those who think the church is too hot. We will have hearing aids for those who say, "The preacher speaks too softly," and cotton for those who say he preaches too loudly. Score cards will be available for those who wish to list the hypocrites present. Some relatives will be in attendance for those who like to go visiting on Sunday. There will be 100 T.V. dinners for those who cannot go to church and cook dinner also. One section will be devoted to trees and grass for those who like to seek God in nature. Finally, the auditorium will be decorated with both Christmas poinsettias and Easter lilies for those who have never seen the church without them.
As with all good humor, there must be an element of relatable truth to make it funny. This particular announcement represents some truths about people’s commitment to the Lord, and to each other, and how we do church.
So does this cartoon:
In a Peanuts cartoon, Lucy demands that Linus change TV channels and then threatens him with her fist if he doesn’t. "What makes you think you can walk right in here and take over?" asks Linus. "These five fingers," says Lucy. "Individually they are nothing, but when I curl them together like this into a single unit, they form a weapon that is terrible to behold." "What channel do you want?" asks Linus. Turning away, he looks at his fingers and says, "Why can’t you guys get organized like that?"
The truth is that there is power when we’re together. There is power to accomplish more than we can accomplish working on our own. There is power in our personal lives, power in our individual walks with God, that’s not possible when we’re isolated from one another.
There was a time in my life when I didn’t truly understand that there was strength in numbers. There is strength, available for me and for you, in commitment to a common purpose, in commitment to one another. In fact, even during the early years I was at TCF, I didn’t grasp this.
In my first six or seven years at TCF, I was a fairly regular attender, but I must admit, I could find a wide variety of reasons to miss church. Most of those reasons I would not personally consider adequate today. I typically slept later in those days than I do now, and loved to sleep in on Saturdays and Sundays. It’ll tell you how much I loved to sleep when you consider the fact that the service didn’t even begin until 10:30 in those days – and I could still use that excuse to miss church.
Sleep was only one of the reasons I missed church sometimes. We were involved in two different house churches in our first 3 or 4 years at TCF, both of which eventually disbanded for different reasons, and then I spent about four years away from fellowship in house churches, having quickly gotten out of the habit of attending and finding it hard to get back into that routine.
Now, another thing I remember about those early years that I attended TCF, is that there was a strong culture of devotion and commitment to being in church - to the point that it might have been a bit unhealthy, because of the amount of time you were expected to be here. I was definitely going against the grain.
I was asked in the early 1980s to consider taking the leadership training course that was then a prerequisite to being a house church leader. But when I saw the level of commitment that required ...weekly meetings for the leaders, often more than once a week, in addition to the house church meeting, I said, no thanks.
There was the unspoken idea that if you didn’t show up for everything there was to show up for, Sunday morning, Sunday night, house church, leaders’ meetings, bible studies, outreach opportunities, you name it - that somehow you weren’t worthy, somehow you weren’t living the Christian life adequately.
So, in some ways, TCF has come a long way. The pendulum has definitely swung, but, if you think of that analogy of a pendulum, what usually happens? The pendulum swings from one extreme to the other.
I’ve been wondering recently if we, as a fellowship, have perhaps swung to the other end of the commitment scale? From the one end of the pendulum’s swing, where the church expected you to be at everything every time, without excuse, to the other end of the pendulum’s swing, which can lead to the perception that it doesn’t really matter when or how often we show up at church. We come when it’s convenient for us.
Now, let me be quick to note two things. First, if the shoe doesn’t fit this morning, don’t wear it. That is, you know how much of this admonition today applies to you. If it doesn’t, then consider today’s message a call from the Lord to stay faithful, and a reminder when you’re tempted to slip from that faithfulness. Many of us are incredibly faithful, and no one could pick at how often you’re here, or how fully connected to the body you are.
Secondly, I don’t believe I ever want to return to that other end of the pendulum’s swing, that place I believe TCF was in about 30-35 years ago. I wasn’t in leadership then, so please recognize I’m not speaking for the elders here, and I’m not knocking the leadership that was in place when I came. I loved TCF then, and I love it today.
So I’m recalling my observations as one who sat in the seats each week, related to some people, and saw what was going on. But I believe where TCF was 30-35 years ago on some of these matters of commitment to church and attendance, bordered on being a mentality of works – what I had to do to live up to a standard, and in some ways it seemed to lack grace. I really don’t want to, or think we should, go back to that.
The leadership of this church wants you to hear from God for yourself what you’re to be involved in at TCF, and if you’re missing church sometimes, or even often, that’s between you and the Lord.
Clearly there are legitimate reasons to miss a Sunday service. Being in church is not about living up to a standard. Just like being a Christian is not about living up to a standard. Being a Christian is about responding to the free gift of God’s grace. Being in church is about the same thing. It’s about being the church. It’s about being a family. It’s about being this little corner of the body of Christ.
But the reality is, it hurts you and it hurts me when one of the family, part of the body, is not here. It hurts your ability to encourage me. It hurts your ability to stay fully engaged and connected to the body. It hurts your ability to serve where God would plant you. It hurts your ability to stay alive and well in Christ, and it hurts our ability as a fellowship to do all we’re meant to do in Christ.
When someone loses a body part in an accident, sometimes that part can be reattached. Let’s assume we’re talking about a hand. A hand cut off in an accident could possibly be re-attached. But it’s crucial that it be done quickly for two reasons:
1. that hand begins to die quickly without the life-sustaining flow of blood, which happens naturally when it’s part of the body.
2. though the body can survive without one hand, it’s not easy. It takes the development of other body parts to make up for what’s missing with that hand gone, to pick up the slack, and there may be some things that the body will never again be able to do, without that body part – in this case, that hand.
This analogy of the church as a body with parts, or as some Bible versions say, “members,” is one of the apostle Paul’s favorite word pictures of the church. We read it in 1 Cor 12...this is a long passage, but I think it’s worth reading here this morning:
1 Cor. 12:12-27 The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body--whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free--and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. 14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 16And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. 17If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body. 21The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!" 22On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, 23and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, 24while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, 25so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. 27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
What Paul is writing of here is a mutual dependence. No matter how great your giftings, you cannot function alone. That dismembered hand we talked about a few minutes ago? It’s ridiculous to think that the hand can do anything ithout being attached to the body.
We live in a culture that values independence. We see this more and more. People want independence from authority, they want independence from other people. No one can tell me what to do. It’s the idea that I can do it myself – even that I can decide for myself everything that’s right or wrong.
While independence is certainly an asset in some respects, it is not the highest level of personal maturity. There is another state of maturity – it’s not independence, and it’s not dependence. This third state relates to our body analogy this morning. It’s called, INTERDEPENDENCE.
The person who is interdependent is fully developed as an individual. He knows who he is and for what purpose God has created him. AND this person knows that he or she cannot, will not, reach the highest potential, until he connects himself with others, in ways that allow him to function at full capacity.
TCF, and indeed any local church, must be a place that encourages interdependence. We bring the gift that God invests in us, and merge it with others of differing gifts. Together we become much more than the sum of the parts.
A related sidebar here: This isn’t just about attending Sunday service. This isn’t just about attending a house church meeting. This is about involvement. This is also about service. When you see a notice in the bulletin that we have a volunteer need, when you get a call from the church office, or from one of the elders, because we have something we’d like you to consider doing, we trust that you’ll seriously consider it, and not take the attitude that this is not my responsibility. We need you here, but just as much, we need you involved.
Again, if this doesn’t apply to you, and if you’re already involved up to your ears,
thank you for your faithfulness and service. But if the shoe does fit here, please don’t go around barefooted.
The fact is: We need each other. I need you - You need me. I can’t do your job and you can’t do mine. If the hand doesn’t do its job, the rest of the body suffers. If the big toe doesn’t do its job, the rest of the body suffers.
I need the Easons and McWilliams, not the least reason being because I know they pray faithfully for me. I need Dave, because by his servant’s life, he challenges my pride and self-sufficiency.
I need Joel, and Jody, because they’re encouragers, and they’re amazingly positive, and I need encouragement. I need Jim Garrett and Jim Grinnell, because they keep me humble by using me as the object of their sermon jokes.
If I left you out of this list, it’s not because I don’t need you, it’s because I don’t want to preach for the next hour listing why I need all of you. I miss you when you’re not here. What’s more, I find great joy in seeing you when you are.
Another analogy I thought of, some years ago while enjoying the view on the deck of my in-laws’ lake house. I sat there watching the trees all around me swaying in the breeze. I thought, the church is like a tree (even as we as individuals are compared to trees in some places in scripture). We all draw our sustenance from the same soil, the moisture in the soil, but we need each other to get to it. I may be a branch, I may be the bark, I may be a leaf, but I’m not in a position to be that without the rest of the tree.
I need the bottom of the tree, the big trunk, and then, I need where the roots go into the ground and draw the moisture I need to thrive. The bottom of the tree is more well established and sturdy. Those are the believers in the church who have been growing in the Lord longer than I have. They sway less in the wind, and even though being at the bottom means they might see less sunshine, and the rain might not hit them directly like it hits the top of the tree, they are closer to the real source of supply, so I need them.
Now the top of the tree sees more sunshine and gets the rain first, but it also dries the fastest after the rain and sways more in the breeze...yet it’s still connected and still stays green.
Looking at the trees, I noticed that some branches had gotten disconnected. They were still clinging to the tree, but just barely, and they had turned brown and it was clear they were dying, and it was just a matter of time before they dropped off the tree. That’s because they weren’t connected to the source anymore.
The truth remains: we need each other.
Last week Jim Garrett quoted Thomas Paine, who said, “these are the times that try men’s souls.” He encouraged us to look to our source, remembering that though this life can try or test or challenge our souls, we were re-created in Christ for something better – we look forward to a better country – eternity with Jesus.
I’d like to connect that idea to this week’s theme. If these are the times that try men’s souls, and I believe they are, then we cannot do this alone. Clearly, the Lord walks with us and never leaves us or forsakes us. He is our source.
Yet, it’s just as clear that we are meant to be His instruments of peace and encouragement, bringing God’s grace and strength to one another.
In times like these, Jim said, we need to remember our eternal destiny in Christ. In times like these, I’d add, we need each other. If we ever needed each other, we need each other now – in this day and time. That’s why in the chapter previous to what Jim focused on last week, we see these verses:
Hebrews 10:24-25 (ESV) 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near
We see some key things here. It says let “us” consider – so that means all of us believers in Christ. It says we should stir one another to love and good works. There are a lot of ways we can do that – we can do that verbally, we can do that by examples such as the ones I mentioned a moment ago when I listed some of the people here I need.
But it also says in verse 25, “not neglecting to meet together.” And then it adds, “as is the habit of some.” So, it’s not a legalistic statement such as: NEVER MISS CHURCH! It’s a gentle admonition not to neglect meeting together, to not make it a habit.
If your habit is joining the fellowship of the saints, then good. If your habit becomes neglecting the meeting together, then here’s the Word of God speaking to you.
We meet together to stir one another to love and good deeds. We meet together to encourage one another. That happens in the preaching of the Word, in our prayers for one another, and in our one-on-one conversations before, during and after the service. We cannot do that apart from being with each other, often, regularly and faithfully. It is virtually impossible to be a Christian in isolation.
New international commentary says of this passage:
Christians are exhorted to consider how they can spur one another on toward love and good deeds. These things are the essences of Christianity. Since their maintenance is dependent upon the mutual interaction of Christian society, it is absolutely essential that one assemble himself with other Christians if he is to be assured of continued spiritual development. Any type of go-it-alone Christianity is unthinkable to the writer of Hebrews, who deplores the fact that, in the face of the impending Day, there are those who neglect to meet together.
And this verse in Hebrews also tells us that we need to be together and encourage one another even more as we see the Day approaching. Many commentators believe this is referring to the Day of the Lord – the second coming of Christ. In that sense, the underlying assumption is that, in times like these, we need each other “all the more.”
Again, folks, we’re a body. We need each other. Just as much as the fingers need the hand. Just as much as the hand needs the arm. Just as much as the arm needs the shoulder. Just as much as the big toe needs the littler toes.
We also see the word body used prior to the passage from 1 Cor 12:
1 Cor. 10:16-17 Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ? 17Because there is one loaf, we, who are many, are one body, for we all partake of the one loaf.
The church isn’t an institution – it’s a family. It’s a participation, a koinonia, in the body of Christ. Institutions are based upon, and held together by, status and rank. Soldiers in armies know exactly where they rank. In business, salary and title and other perks signify status.
I once worked for a guy who had a raised desk and soft chairs in front of it, so that when you sat talking to him in his office, you sank down, and knew you were below him, literally, physically. In an institution, status derives from performance.
In families, status works differently. A child is part of a family solely by virtue of birth or adoption. As believers in Christ, we are born into and adopted into His family.
Philip Yancey wrote: Family is the one human institution we have no choice about – we get in simply by being born, and as a result, we are involuntarily thrown together with a menagerie of strange and unlike people. Church calls for another step: to voluntarily choose to band together with a strange menagerie because of a common bond in Jesus Christ. Henri Nouwen once defined a community as “a place where the person you least want to live with always lives.”
Another story helps illustrate how important each one is:
In a certain mountain village in Europe several centuries ago, a nobleman wondered what legacy he should leave to his townspeople. Finally, he decided to build a church for a legacy. The complete plans for the church were kept secret. When the people gathered, they marveled at the church’s beauty and completeness. Following many comments of praise, one person asked, “But where are the lamps? How will the church be lighted?” Without answer, the nobleman pointed to some brackets in the wall; he then gave to each family a lamp to be carried to the worship service and hung on the wall. “Each time you are here, the area where you are seated will be lighted,” the nobleman explained. “Each time you are not here, that area will be dark. Whenever you fail to come to church some part of God’s house will be dark.
We need each other. When you’re not here, something is missing. Using the analogy of the story we just heard, it’s darker here, when you’re not here.
Why do we need to be here? Why is it important for us to be here regularly? Life is tough – anybody noticed that? Our emotional, physical and spiritual resources are drained by life’s challenges.
But God has made the means of grace for our strength to be renewed, and our love and good works to be stirred up in the midst of these things. So, His word tells us to not give up meeting together – to not neglect one of the means of grace He has given to sustain us emotionally and spiritually.
Let’s consider again the idea of the pendulum we spoke of earlier. While I do not want the pendulum, on TCF’s attitude toward being in church, to swing all the way back to where we were 30-35 years ago, I do think we need to see the pendulum swing back that general direction.
Ultimately, we want TCF people to hear from God for themselves about the priorities in their lives. The leaders of this church do not want to make the decisions about where you go and what you do. But we really want you to be hearing from God, and we hope hearing what the Word of God has to say about these things, helps you do just that.
We want you to hear from God, and not from your flesh, so you can sleep in. Not from our culture, which says Sundays are a day for sports or recreation. Now, let me be absolutely clear here:
- there’s nothing wrong with sleeping in
- there’s nothing wrong with sports and recreation
- there’s nothing wrong with taking the kids to see grandma.
And if you miss church to do these things, even though it might be better to do it on Saturday, it has absolutely no impact on your standing before God. And even though, for reasons we’ve already discussed, we miss you when you’re not here, it has no impact on your standing with these, your brothers and sisters in Christ at TCF.
But when you do those things often, or a host of other reasons for missing church we could mention, consider how this might reflect the priority you put on this admonition to not forsake meeting together, and it puts you at risk in your faith,
because you place yourself at risk of being like that dismembered hand – disconnected from the life flow of the blood from the body.
The passage in Hebrews 10 says some are in the “habit” of doing this. If you think about habits for a minute - how are they formed? Clearly, there are good habits and there are bad habits. But the formation of both is similar. You form good or bad habits by doing something again and again until it’s ingrained in you, almost second nature, and hard not to do.
I hate to exercise, but I’m in the habit of doing it. So I’ll do it six days just about every week. When I don’t, for whatever reason, I actually miss it. I have a hard time not going to exercise. Not because I particularly enjoy it – but because it’s a habit.
Let’s consider church attendance and involvement, and the snowball effect related to building good and bad habits. The more you miss church, the easier it is to miss, and the harder it is to go. The more you go to church, the easier it is to go, and the harder it is to miss.
I don’t want people coming to me and asking, gee, Bill, do you think such and such is a good enough reason to miss church. The particulars are not nearly as important as our heart’s attitude. What is our priority? Is meeting together with the saints at TCF vital to us? Is it important to you?
I believe the Word clearly teaches that being together with the saints is to be a top priority in our lives. Is it a priority for you? I want to close with this passage - let’s note how many times it talks of being together:
Ephesians 2:19-22 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
