ANSWERING THE TOUGH QUESTIONS OF SCRIPTURE
Why Do I Need To Go To Church Anyway?
Hebrews 10:25
OPENING ILLUSTRATION:
This story deals with a rather old fashioned lady, who was planning a couple of weeks vacation in Florida. She also was quite delicate and elegant with her language. She wrote a letter to a particular campground and asked for reservations. She wanted to make sure the campground was fully equipped but didn’t know quite how to ask about the “toilet” facilities. She just couldn’t bring herself to write the word “toilet” in her letter. After much deliberation, she finally came up with the old fashioned term “Bathroom Commode,” but when she wrote that down, she still thought she was being too forward. So she started all over again; rewrote the entire letter and referred to the “Bathroom Commode” simply as the “B.C.”. Does the campground have its own “B.C.?” is what she actually wrote.
Well, the campground owner wasn’t old fashioned at all, and when he got the letter, he couldn’t figure out what the lady was talking about. That “B.C.” really stumped him. After worrying about it for several days, he showed the letter to other campers, but they couldn’t figure out what the lady meant either. The campground owner finally came to the conclusion that the lady was and must be asking about the location of the local Baptist Church. So he sat down and wrote the following reply: “Dear Madam: I regret very much the delay in answering your letter, but I now take pleasure of informing in that the “B.C.” is located nine miles north of the camp site and is capable of seating 250 people at one time. I admit it is quite a distance away if you are in the habit of going regularly, but no doubt you will be pleased to know that a great number of people take their lunches along, and make a day of it..... They usually arrive early and stay late. The last time my wife and I went was six years ago, and it was so crowded we had to stand up the whole time we were there. It may interest you to know that right now, there is a supper planned to raise money to buy more seats.....They plan to hold the supper in the middle of the B.C., so everyone can watch and talk about this great event.....I would like to say it pains me very much, not to be able to go more regularly, but it is surely not for lack of desire on my part....As we grow older, it seems to be more and more of an effort, particularly in cold weather..... If you decide to come down to the campground, perhaps I could go with you the first time you go ... sit with you ... and introduce you to all the other folks. ... This is really a very friendly community.
INTRODUCTION: What makes this question difficult is the answer we often give when it is posed. The answer goes something like this, “Because”, or, “Because I said so.”, or “We just do.” Yet, Scripture gives some very compelling reasons why we should go to church anyway.
Reason #1 – Christ Established the Church
Matthew 16:18 And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.
1. The church was to be the future of Christ’s earthly ministry
§ The church is the bride he will come for
§ The church is the body He heads
§ Being a Christian and avoiding church is like trying to do God work your way!
QUICK FACT – ACCORDING TO BARNA RESEARCH GROUP:
85% considered themselves to be Christian
49% absolutely committed to Christ
42% attend a service in the past week
19% attended Sunday school
33% said the were unchurched
"Born again Christians" were defined in these surveys as people who said they have made a personal commitment to Jesus Christ that is still important in their life today and who also indicated they believe that when they die they will go to Heaven because they had confessed their sins and had accepted Jesus Christ as their savior. Respondents were not asked to describe themselves as "born again."
2. The Church was to be the EFFECTIVE method for Spiritual Victory in the World
§ Jews would understand “gates of Hades” to refer to physical death
§ Jesus was saying that though He was to die the work of the Church would never be defeated
REASON #2 – CHRIST PROMISED THE BIRTH OF THE CHURCH
Acts 1:8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."
Acts 2:1-4 When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. 2Suddenly a sound like the blowing of a violent wind came from heaven and filled the whole house where they were sitting. 3They saw what seemed to be tongues of fire that separated and came to rest on each of them. 4All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit enabled them.
Acts 2:47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
1. The Birth of the Church produced the POWER to affect the World
2. The Birth of the church produced the METHOD of Witness to the World
§ The first converts were added together
§ First concept associated with salvation is the church
§ The church IS the visible witness of Christ
§ How I align myself with the church is related to my witness for Christ
WE NEED TO BE CAREFUL IF WE CALL OURSELVES A CHRISTIAN AND NEGLECT THE CHURCH
ILLUSTRATION:
A man in the Army of Alexander the Great who was also named Alexander, was accused of cowardly actions. He was brought before Alexander, who asked what his name was.
He replied softly, “Alexander.”
“I can’t hear you,” the ruler stated.
The man again said, a little louder, “Alexander.”
The process was repeated one more time, after which Alexander the Great commented, “Either change your name or change your conduct.”
REASON #3 – THE INSTITUTION OF THE CHURCH IS HOW GOD CHOOSES TO FUNCTION MOST EFFECTIVELY
Ephes. 4:11-16 It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until 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.
14Then we will no longer be infants, tossed back and forth by the waves, and blown here and there by every wind of teaching and by the cunning and craftiness of men in their deceitful scheming. 15Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ. 16From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.
1. God designed our gifts to either be used in the church or to flow out of the church
§ It is the church that teaches us how to interact with our world BIBLICALLY
§ It is the church that teaches us what it means to serve.
§ It is the church where spiritual reproduction is accomplished
§ It is the church that provides the individual strength for each believer
2. God designed our growth to be nourished and protected by the church
§ Without the church we are infants – cannot care for ourselves
Have you ever noticed how people run to the church when there is a crisis. They look to the church to get them through, and then when it is over or past they are gone – until the next crisis. What they miss is that the church can prepare them for the crisis. The church then becomes not a place to run to – BUT a pillar of strength.
§ Infants get tossed like the waves – What happens when the waves toss you? You drown
§ Infants get blown like the wind – “a violent swinging that makes dizzy” What happens when you get dizzy? You can’t walk straight and EVERYTHING is “out of whack”
§ Infants get caught up in cunning – “dice playing” The only one who wins in a dice game, or any gambling game, is the casino.
REASON #4 – THE CHURCH IS THE SHELTER AGAINST THE FUTURE
Hebrews 10:25-26 Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--and all the more as you see the Day approaching. 26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left,
Hebrews 10:30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."
1. The Habit of Some was to Forsake the Church
§ When we start to forsaking the church we start drawing away from God – Heb 10:22
§ When we start to forsake the church we start losing hope – Heb 10:23
§ When we start to forsake the church we start to lose concern for others and only have time for ourselves Heb 10:24
Romans 7:21-25 So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; 23but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. 24What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God--through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself in my mind am a slave to God’s law, but in the sinful nature a slave to the law of sin.
2. Our Need for the Church Grows with the End of the Age
§ People will be enticed away
2 Tim. 4:3-4 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
When someone scratches your back – what do you say? “I’ll give you an hour to stop!” Why? Because it feels good
ILLUSTRATION:
I have a Shiatsu massage chair. This chair has a series of rollers in the back, which, when the chair is activated, will move up and down my back with three separate motions for a period of twenty minutes. The chair is so good, that I will fall asleep during the process. And once asleep, I don’t know what is happening!
3. Habitually Avoiding Church is Sin
§ We know we should be here
§ We chose NOT to be here
§ What we declare is that the “blood of Christ was no different than anybody else’s blood”
§ God had BELIEVERS in mind -- Hebrews 10:30 For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," and again, "The Lord will judge his people."
ILLUSTRATION:
Some people don’t need much of an excuse to stay home from church. If it even looks like it might rain, they don’t want to risk getting a little wet. The hymn writer Frances Havergal gave several reasons for attending church—especially on rainy days.
1. God has blessed the Lord’s Day, making no exceptions for stormy days.
2. I expect my minister to be there. I would be surprised if he stayed at home because of the weather.
3. I might lose out on the prayers and the sermon that would have done me great good.
4. For important business, rain doesn’t keep me home; and church is, in God’s sight, very important.
5. Bad weather...will prove how much I love Christ. True love rarely fails to keep an appointment.
6. Those who stay home from church because it’s rainy frequently miss on fair Sundays too. I must not take one step in that direction.
7. Christ said that “where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20).
8. I don’t know how many more Sundays God may give me. It would be poor preparation for my first Sunday in heaven to have slighted my last one on earth.
Enough said!
REASON 5 – CHRIST LOVES THE CHURCH
Ephes. 5:23-27 For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. 25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.
1. Christ loved the church enough to give Himself for it
2. Christ loved the church enough to set the church apart from the world
3. Christ loved the church enough to clean it ( and us) up
John Calvin wrote, “Yet membership in a confessing body is fundamental to the faithful Christian life. Failure to do so defies the explicit warning not to forsake “our assembling together.” His understanding of this prompted Martin Luther to say, “Apart from the church, salvation is impossible.” Not that the church provides salvation; God does. But because the “saved” one can’t fulfill what it means to be a Christian apart from the church, membership becomes the indispensable mark of salvation.”
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