Why Do We Go To Church? Series

Why do we go to church?

Texts:

Joh 4:13-14 Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again; but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life."

Joh 4:20 "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain, and you people say that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship."

Joh 4:23 "But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

Joh 4:25 CEV The woman said, "I know that the Messiah will come. He is the one we call Christ. When he comes, he will explain everything to us."

Joh 4:26 CEV "I am that one," Jesus told her, "and I am speaking to you now."

Rick: John tells about the time Jesus met the “woman at the well”. She asked Jesus a question that is important for us here today. But before I explain let me tell you a little of the circumstances…

This event stands out for a variety of reasons. One of which was that it was not the social custom for a man to speak to a woman in a public place in that day.

Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman at the community source of water would be a lot like a stranger talking to a woman dressed in a Burka in Afganistan during the days of the Taliban. It just wasn’t done.

Jesus began the conversation by asking for water

When she was curious about why she would talk to her in a public place Jesus said that she’d like to tell her about some spiritual water – refreshment for a dry and thirst spirit – that would never need replenishment.

She immediately began to back pedal. This guy was over the line. He was beyond odd and right at the edge of pushy. She asked a very important question about worship of God. She asked, “Why do you Jews worship on one mountain and the Samaritans worship on another mountain? Which mountain are we supposed to worship on?

If the woman at the well were here today her question would be the same but different, “Why do you Christians worship Jesus while Hindu’s worship Vishnu, Buddists worship Budda, Moslems worship Allah, and Jews worship Jehovah? Which God should you follow?”

Jesus’ answer to the woman at the well is very important because it cut to the very heart of why and how we are all to worship God. His answer worked then and it still works today.

Jesus answer, “Worship God in spirit and truth”

Worship in spirit and truth is a community experience

Steve is going to talk with you about how the worship is a community experience. How the horizontal relationships of people to people works when it comes to worship and church. Why we come to church. Steve…

Steve: One reason we go to church is the spiritual community and relationships that take place in church activity and life….the question is what does that look like. It’s a lot like the human body.

As many of you know I’ve been really struggling with a sinus/ear infection the last couple of weeks that I believe was given to me by Satan himself. I’m feeling a lot better now, but I was really surprised at how a sinus/ear infection completely zapped my energy and my ability to function even in day to day activities.

Because my body was physically weakened I couldn’t play flag football last week, I get grumpy when I’m sick so I was short and kind of curt with people….not a very good attribute for a minister, and then just going into the office every day was even a chore. I ended up going to the doctors a second time and I asked her why I had these overwhelming feelings of fatigue. She told me that when you get sick or have some kind of infection your entire body will attack that infection to try to beat it. That’s why you feel so tired when you get sick….everything is working together to beat this infection.

The church is an interconnected community of people who help each other. Believe it or not, but that story actually illustrates one of the reasons that I go to church. The Bible spends a lot of time talking about how the church is a lot like the human body. The more I think about that the more I believe it’s true. Like the body, the church is completely interconnected. It’s interconnected with the relationships of the people.

Here’s what I love about the church: when a person in the church or one part of the body gets sick or goes through a difficult time, every other part of the body rallies around to help.