Why Are We Here?

Do you ever find yourself wondering about your purpose? As a church we should be continually considering that thought. Why are we here? I would like for us to consider this question today. This is a vitally important question.

Sometimes churches misunderstand their task. Someone wrote a list of the “Top Ten Indicators That Your Worship Service Is Headed In The Wrong Direction.”

10. The choir wears bath robes and bunny slippers!

9. Every prayer ends with "Yeah, God, You be the Man!"

8. The church just replaced their old pew bibles with the ABV Authorized Barney Version)!

7. The last time the word "sin" was heard in the sanctuary, it

was in reference to the hardness of the pews!

6. The most conservative member of the congregation is the Youth Minister!

5. The Preacher refuses to preach without his pipe and slippers!

4. The last time an Altar Call was made, the congregation was encouraged to use their cell phones!

3. The baptistry was replaced with a Jacuzzi!

2. 60% of the mission budget was funneled into purchasing reclining pews! And the number one indication that your worship service may be a bit too relaxed is:

1. No one in the congregation has ever heard these words of Jesus, "Pick up your cross and follow me!"

(Contributed to Sermon Central by Chip Monck)

For scriptural guidance I want us to read Mt. 28:16-20. “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen. This scripture records a transition. Jesus had died on the cross. He had risen from the grave and was about to return to Heaven. He was going to leave His disciples on earth with a job to do. They needed to know their task. They needed to know why they were here. What is that task?

I. We are here to honor God. In verse 16 we find it recorded that Jesus disciples “went away into Galilee.” They went to Galilee because Jesus had commanded them to meet Him there. When they arrived “they worshiped Him.” Their task was to honor Jesus as Lord.

That is the overarching purpose of any church and any Christian. Our purpose in life is to bring glory to God and honor Him. The apostle Paul stated it well in I Cor. 10:31. “whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” We have recently been reviewing and revising our vision, values, purpose, and mission statements. Our purpose statement states “The purpose of Faith Baptist Church is to glorify God.”

Our purpose, as a church, should be to seek to glorify God in everything we do. We are to glorify God in our conversation. We are to glorify God by our conduct.

Illustration: One of America’s well-known Colonial leaders began his career as a school teacher, using the Bible as his most valued textbook. Noah Webster was born in Connecticut and came of age during the American Revolution. He was educated at Yale University, and when he lacked the funds for further studies, he became a teacher. His early impressions of Colonial classrooms were disparaging--they were crowded, disorganized and poorly equipped. But he continued to teach because he believed that the children of our new nation should be taught to honor God’s Word and to learn the moral laws in the Scriptures. He also believed that Americans should have American books from which to learn spelling and grammar. His “blue-backed speller” (so nicknamed for its colorful cover) became the standard for school children for over 100 years. He later developed our country’s first dictionary because he believed that all Americans should speak distinctly American English, not British English. Though Noah Webster is best known for his groundbreaking work with our language, The Presidential Prayer Team acknowledges him for his passion to teach godly values to the school children of our country. He said, “In my view, the Christian religion is the most important and one of the first things in which all children, under a free government ought to be instructed. . . . No truth is more evident to my mind than that the Christian religion must be the basis of any government intended to secure the rights and privileges of a free people.” http://www.presidentialprayerteam.org/index_text.htm August 22, 2002

(Contributed to Sermon Central by SermonCentral )