“LET’S GO TO CHURCH!” Hebrews 10:24-25
FBCF – 10/4/20
Jon Daniels
INTRO – FB post: “The deepest level of worship is praising God through the pain, thanking God during the trials, trusting Him when we are tempted to lose hope, & loving Him even when He seems distant.”
Next tool in “My Spiritual Growth Toolbox” is the tool of worship, specifically corporate worship – what we do here each Sun. & Wed.
EXPLANATION – Open Bibles to Hebrews 10:24-25.
Let’s talk about JESUS!
- Hebrews 1:3 – He is “the radiance of God’s glory & the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful Word. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right of the Majesty in heaven” (NIV).
- Hebrews 3:6 – “But Christ, God’s faithful Son, is in complete charge of God’s house. And we Christians are God’s house—He lives in us!—if we keep up our courage firm to the end, & our joy & our trust in the Lord.” (TLB)
- Hebrews 4:14-15 – “So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. 15 This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.” (NLT)
- Hebrews 7:25 – “[Jesus] is able to save completely those who come to God through Him, b/c He always lives to intercede for them.” (NIV)
- Hebrews 9:27-28 – “Just as people are destined to die once & after that to face judgment, so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many; & He will appear a 2nd time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for Him.” (NIV)
- Hebrews 10:10 – “…we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” (NIV)
The reason I read all these verses about Jesus is b/c the book of Hebrews is all about Jesus. The unknown author of this book wrote it to encourage new believers who were about to give up. They were being tested, persecuted, & abused for their faith, & the writer wanted to exhort them to not give up. “The writer’s solution was to demonstrate that Jesus was the zenith of God’s redemptive plan” (David Jeremiah, The Jeremiah Study Bible, p. 1739).
If Jesus is the zenith – the culmination of God’s plan to save us – then He is certainly worthy of our worship!
- Our private worship – Time alone w/ God
- Our public worship – corporate worship w/ our church FAMILY
APPLICATION – Every Christ-follower should get connected & stay connected to a church FAMILY.
Friend’s child diagnosed w/ failure to thrive. It’s a condition that happens when a child is undernourished & their weight gain is significantly below other children their same age & gender. They’re just not gaining & growing like they should. Lots of reasons for it – some physical, some emotional, some social/behavioral. Whatever the reason, the child is at risk due to a lack of healthy nutrition that is so important for their development & growth.
To disconnect from your church FAMILY when it gathers for corporate worship will ALWAYS lead to a failure to thrive spiritually.
- Weakness
- Shrivel up
- Atrophy
- Sickness
- Lethargy & apathy
- No energy for the things of God
Always be those who say, “I don’t need to go to church to be Christian.” True that sitting in a church bldg doesn’t make you a Christian any more than sitting in a McDonald’s makes you a Big Mac. But the issue is not that you have to go to church to BE a Christian, but you want to go to church b/c you ARE a Christian.
- The issue is not that you’re going to hell if you don’t go to church, but that, if you know Christ & He has saved you from going to hell, then you’ll want to go to church to worship Him & express your gratitude to Him.
- The issue is not that the church is full of a bunch of hypocrites, but that, if you are saved, then not going to church is hypocritical b/c it shows that you truly don’t believe what you say you believe.
The issue is JESUS! Is He worthy of our worship? And the answer is a resounding YES!
- When you’re weak, He is your Strength.
- When you’re lost, He is your Way.
- When you’re confused, He is your Wisdom.
- When you’re in the dark, He is your Light.
- When you’re sad, He is your Comfort.
- When you’re afraid, He is your Courage.
- When you’re defeated, He is your Victory.
To use David Jeremiah’s word again, Jesus is the ZENITH of God’s awesome, amazing plan for the salvation of the world – the apex, the climax, the crown, the peak & pinnacle, the utmost of God’s redemption plan.
- And b/c He is, we who know Him should worship Him!
- And we should worship Him biblically & obediently!
- And we should worship Him consistently & faithfully!
- And we should worship Him intensely & passionately!
- And we should worship Him corporately!
That’s why we should do these 3 things:
STIR UP – We need to “stir up one another.”
- Strong word!
- Provoke each other; to get intense about it
- We don’t like to be provoked. Usually has a negative connotation.
o “He provoked me.” – Got up in your face
- Word actually used in Acts 15:39 when Paul & Barnabas went their separate ways. ESV translates it, “sharp disagreement.”
But that’s exactly what we are supposed to be doing. We need to be seriously & strongly provoking each other to stay connected to the Church to love God, love others, & do the good works that we are ALL supposed to be doing.
- We worry about hurting people’s feelings or embarrassing people when they’ve missed church for a long time, when we need to be intense about helping them get back into church so they can show their love for God & His people, & do the good works that EVERY Christ-follower should do.
STAY FAITHFUL – “not neglecting to meet together”
Drive through countryside. See old house out in middle of field. Windows gone – no door – roof caving in – trees & bushes growing up around it & even through it. What happened? At some point & for some reason, it got neglected – abandoned.
- When no one paid attention to it, it fell into disrepair – Lost its usefulness – Lost its beauty – Lost its purpose.
- Probably didn’t happen instantaneously, but was a slow, gradual, incremental process.
Same happens when you & I start neglecting meeting together.
- Lives begin to fall into disrepair.
- Lose our usefulness, the beauty of a close relationship w/ Jesus & w/ His Bride – the Church, not living out our purpose
- Usually doesn’t happen in a single moment, but happens over time – slow, gradual process of losing our fervor & our commitment.
o Log pulled out of a fire – Still provides warmth for a little bit, but slowly dies down until it’s completely cold.
Why does this not bother us when it happens? Why are we not bothered by the fact that we have 1200 members, but we have absolutely no expectation that we will ever see all of them?
- B/c we’ve made church optional
- We see our membership like a membership in a club.
o Pay our dues, & as long as club is doing what WE think it ought to be doing & it makes us feel good, we will participate.
o But if it begins doing something that WE don’t like, we pull out.
STRONGLY ENCOURAGE
If you & I really believe what we say that we believe, then I want to see your faith strengthened. You want to see my faith strengthened. B/c of that, we will come alongside each other & urge one another forward in our walk w/ Christ & stay connected to the Church.
- Running marathon – Total strangers – “Come on, man, you can do it…”
- You & I aren’t total strangers – brothers & sisters in Christ – All the more reason to strongly encourage one another.
