THE WHO, WHAT, AND WHY’S OF GOING TO CHURCH
“WHY”GO TO CHURCH
OCTOBER 21, 2001
2 TIMOTHY 2:20-21
1. The Master’s Program.
The Master’s program is a great feast. It says here that in our Master’s house there are many different types of vessels/ utensils. He is preparing a feast. The feast that our Master has prepared for us is salvation. God wants all people to come to Him and live with Him in eternity. He wants all to come to His table and eat the meal that He has prepared.
Long ago, God gave His one and only Son to pay the price for all mankind. He lived and died for you and I that we may live with Him in eternity. When we accept Jesus as our Savior, we join our Master at the table for the feast.
The problem is that many of us accept the invitation to the feast and we come and begin the feast, but we leave before the main course is served. What do I mean? I mean that many of us accept salvation, we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, and then we leave the table. We don’t learn all that we can. We don’t become all that we can be in Christ. We turn and go back to the world. We don’t let God, our Master, feed us the good food that He has for us. We settle for junk food.
When you eat right what happens? You stay healthy. If you constantly eat food that is good for you, you feel better, you stay well, and it keeps you in good shape. What happens when all you eat is junk food? It makes you unhealthy. You get sick easier, you don’t feel good, it causes cavities, it is not good for your insides.
This is what we do spiritually. We substitute in the junk food for health food. We take what the world has to offer us instead of sticking with what has been freely given to us.
God’s program is not just that we begin the feast, but that we stay and eat the food that He has prepared for us. The food that the world and Satan prepare will do nothing but make us ill. God’s feast will keep us healthy. Jesus said that man does not live by bread alone, but by every Word of God. The Word is the meat that Christians eat. It is what keeps us going and helps us to stay healthy in our day to day lives.
Some of us are satisfied with just bread. We are satisfied with salvation and want nothing more. We are spiritually ill. If we would eat everything that has been prepared for us, the entire feast, then we would be healthy.
II. The Master’s Preference.
When you serve dinner do you use clean or dirty dishes? That sounds like a stupid question. No one in their right mind serves dinner using dirty utensils. If you go and prepare a meal, you are not going to fix it with a crusty pan and serve it on a plate that has caked on food, or is greasy from the last meal. First of all, no one would eat the meal no matter how good it looked if the utensils were dirty. Secondly, we would hate for someone to think bad of us for serving a meal like that. Yet, that is what we expect God to do.
God’s preference is to use a clean utensil. He wants to serve this fantastic meal on His fine china. We want Him to use us to tell others about Him, but we are filthy from the world. We have merely taken the bread, and left the main course. If we are purged of our sins we are clean. If we are feasting and allowing God to clean us up, then He will want to use us to serve His feast.
When God wants to tell someone about His gift, He wants to use a clean vessel. He is not going to use something that is filthy and full of sin to tell someone about Him. They will reject the meal. Just as your guest would reject the meal that you would serve to him on a dirty plate. God will only use the cleanest and finest to serve His meal on. He wants to serve His meal on a fine dish. It is a reflection of His character. It is a reflection of who He is and a reflection of His wisdom.
If you were to invite over guests and serve them a fantastic meal on dirty dishes- the meal is worthless, rejected, and it shows the type of person that you are. It reflects your character. It is the same with God’s feast of salvation. If He serves it on a dirty dish it is a reflection of His character and the meal is rejected. If the dish is clean the meal will more likely be accepted. There is nothing wrong with the meal itself. It is in how the meal is served. The problem is not with salvation, it is with how we serve it.
God’s preference is to use someone that is continually eating of the food that He provides. To use someone who is continually being washed clean from sin. This is why we come to church. To learn, and feast on the Word of God, and to see the areas of our lives that need to be run through the dishwasher to be cleaned up so that we will be ready for use.
III. The Master’s Promise (v.21).
Verse 21 says that if anyone will cleanse himself that he will be a vessel, or utensil, of honor. Something that is useful, and brings honor to the Master. God’s promise is that if we will cleanse ourselves, that He will use us for His purposes.
If we will get rid of all the junk and the crud that is on our plate, then He will use us for His feast. That means we need to get rid of the sin that clutters our lives. If we will allow Him to restore the hand that has been withered. To make whole the broken things and the sin in our lives, then God promises to use us.
We are the utensils. Some bring honor, some dishonor. We bring dishonor when we are in sin. When we don’t follow God, when we don’t eat the entire meal- only the bread. We are still vessels in the Master’s house, but not ones that bring honor. Get rid of the things that make you of no use in the Master’s house. Clean yourself up.
I John 1:9 says “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
That is all that we have to do. To begin to be a vessel that brings honor to God, all we have to do is confess our sin to Him and allow Him to clean us up. Then we take our place back at the table and feast on the Word of God. Dessert is still to come. Dessert is when we meet Him in the sky and He takes us to heaven. It is the best yet to come.
I can just see it now. When we get to heaven, there will be this great big china cabinet. That china cabinet will display all of God’s vessels from the beginning of time until the end of time. When you look for your plate, what will it look like? Will it be one of the pieces of fine china, or will it be a piece that is broken and worn and dirty?
Why do people go to church?
We go to eat of the feast of God.
We go to learn about the Master’s plan for His vessels.
We go to become apart of His program and promise.
We go to be cleaned and be apart of what He has for us.
Why do you come to church? What type of vessel are you? Is God using you to serve His meal? Are you clean or dirty? Are you apart of the feast?
The invitation is there will you accept it?
