Why communial worship?

Introduction

Welcome

Dismiss children

Continuing our series on being an apprentice of Jesus

Character- A follower of Jesus without a community

I don’t know about you but I’m excited football seson is sback up.

Have you ever seen a game or maybe you’ve been this person, your thee only one cheeering for your team and everyone else is against you?

Or you’ve seen on the screen there is one person in the away team jersey and are surrounded by the home team fans.

When the home team scores they are all cheering, throwing stuff at the other guy, and he can begin to get down.

And when his team sccores he may not be able to ccheer as loud or celebrate becuase no one else around him is going to celebreate with him.

Seems like a silly little illustration but can I tell you something, As followers of Jesus, we are the away team in this world. We are wearing the wrong colors when we are around people that are in opposition to Christ.

And when we spend so much time around the home team, we can become impacted mentally and spiritually.

It’s why not only Sunday gatherings but Life Groups, serving opportunities, and just getting together with other believers is important. It’s whyy community and relationships are important becuase you have a common bond with those who gather to worship Jesus.

I’m afriad we are segmenting worship to this portion of the service where we sing. While that is worship, it’s not the only form of worship. If it’s the only form of worship yu have in your life, your missing out on the blessings of worshipping God.

That communial worship of God cna uplift spirits, strengthen you, motivate you, and keep you going through the trials of life.

Problem- Neglecting communal worship

The problem of neglecting communal worship is to common in Christianity though.

We mentioned a few weeks ago the reccent statistic of people ttending church less frequently. Not peeople that don’t belive in Jesus but people that do believe in Jesus not making much of the gathering together of believers.

Some of this ccomes from a misconcception of why we should gather. It’s is not just an American culture thing. It is not just good to do because Pastor or mom or dad said so. It’s something God has been having his people do since they left Egypt.

The temple and the synagogues, or jewish meeting places, that came about when the jews were dispersed away from Israel, were meant to be placces of community. They weree the central hub of Jewish life.

Why? Because the Jews were travelers in a strange land. The nation of ISrael was the one nation with a monothesitic religion in a region of polytheism.

They had the unseen God becuase thee other cultures worshipped idols and had imagees of theeir gods.

They weree the away team. but whe they gathered at the temple or synagogue and made that a central hub of their life they were able to find encouragement, strength, and support from their fellow Jews.

And why wouldn’t they make much of theeir communal worship time? God had told them it was important and should be done. They knew who their God was and becuase of tht gathered to worship Him and edify one another.

Agitated- neglected community leads to lonilness, fear, uncertainity

What happens if you continually neglect gathering with other believers to worship?

Have you ever met a follower of Jesus that doesn’t go to church who is grounded in their faith, thriving in their reelationship with Jesus, and loving what God is doing in and through theeir life?

I haven’t. I’ve met people who say they follow Jesus and dont’ go to church for some reason but when yyou startt talking about Jesus more yyou find that the Jesus they believe isn’t the Jesus of the Bible.

And I’m not saying that to call them ignorant or dumb. They may very well be misinformed. Many of yyou grew up in a system of religion that taught you about a god but it wasn’t the God of the Bible. They may have used a Bible to teeaach you but it was out of context due to tradition, religion, or some other reason.

I believe when wee don’t know the God of the BIble, His Son Jesus, who is also God and thee Holyy Spirit, who is God too, wee find ourselves without a community that leads to lonliness, fear, uncertainity, and a number of other issues that will impact no only our mental and emotional health but our spirit as well.

Solution- Making the community of Believers Jesus has called you to important

The only solution that we have as believers is to make the faith community that God had given us important in our lives.

I believe we underestimate the value of not just what we know as church but our faith community. If we put the value on it that God did in the Old testament, Jesus did in the Gospels, and the Apostle’s did follow Jesus’ resurrection it wouldn’t be a question of whether or not we are going to be around othere believers.

Have any of you been to vegas wince they built the new Allegiant Stadium?

I’ve driven by it but I hven’t been inside of it. It’s going to be the site of the superbowl in 2024.

Do you know how much it cost to get into Allegiant stadium?

You can pay $85 and get a tour of thee facility. You cna walk on the field, in the locker room, and all around for jut $85.

Do you know how much it will ccost yyou to get into allegiant stadium for the superbowl? Between $5500 and $11k.

Same location, different value. Why?

Because people don’t value the tour as much as they do the the superebowl. the location is the same…o sure maybe it’s decorated a little different but it’s the same stadium.

the difference is the percievedd value of being present while what is taking place on the inside.

You come here in the middle of the week and things aree pretty boring. We work in our offices, we walk around talking about things that neeed to be done. tuesday afternoons are our staff meeting and they aren’t really exilerating.

But on Sunday…on Sunday…this si our superbowl.

This is your superbowl.

Not becuase of what is taking plcec on the platform. But beecuase of the reason you came. The question is, did you come just for a tour or do you see yourself coming for more?

Are you coming to worship God? Are yyou coming to build up the people around you? Are you coming to engage in tthe faaith commnunity God has placced you in?

If your only coming for a tour…it’s easy to miss it. But when you see the value of making communial worship apart of your life you’ll see how God can use it in your transformation.

Where does the value come from though?

Guide- Jesus and The Church

When the disciples began following Jesus they did not forsake the Jewish customs God has established for them. Jesus himself made trips to synagogue often.

On one of the first recorded trips we have in scripture we see Him establishing the reason why we should make much of it as well. Him.

What you think about Jesus will deteermine what you think about church and your faith comunity.

If you don’t make much of Jesus then you won’t make much of communial worship. Not just singing at the beginning of a church service. coming together with other belivers for the purposes outlined in Hebrews

Hebrews 10:24-5 “24 And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: 25 Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”

beucase when we come to church it’s not about what we can get out of it, that is sure to happen. It’s wha we can put into it.

We choose to invest into our faith community based on the value we place on it. If we are apprentices of Jesus, seeking to no just know about Him but to become like Him then that means we value our faith community in the same way that He did.

How much did He value it?

Eph 5:25 “25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;”

Journey- Jesus made much of the local faith community, The disciples made much of the local faith community, and when we make much of the local faith community our faith is constantly strengthened

In the early days of Jesus’ ministry and really throughout his life that we have reccorded He ensured He spent time around people. He did this in synagogues , homes, hillsides…He proved more than anyone that worship, fellowship, and Bible study don’t have to take place inside the walls of a “church.” In fact, I wonder if this building went away…woudld you still be part of a church?

either way, He valued the faith community enough to die for it. We can find ourselves not valueing it enough to change our schedules for it.

What should cause us to value it though? Great question.

In Luke 4 Jesus went into the synagogue and He gave the reason communial worship and gathering together with other people who believe in Him is importtant.

Luke 4:16-17 “16 And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. 17 And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias. And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written,”

OK, He went into his hometown church and was going to teach that day. Not uncommon for a man to do this. Synagogue meetings would have different people teach and speak.

He didn’t grab…the scroll of Isaiah, it was given to Him. Love the soverignty of God discplayed here.

Then He reads…now remember there werent chapters and verses. This waas just a scroll of the writings of the prophet.

He unrolls it and stands there to read: Luke 4:18-20 “18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, 19 To preach the acceptable year of the Lord. 20 And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.”

After reading the scroll, he gave it bacck and sat down. In Synagogue, the teacher would stand to read and sit to teach.

He is sitting there after reading this prophecy about the Messiah.

Check this out:

The Messiah would have the Spirit of the Lord upon Him:

Matthew 3:16-17 “16 And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: 17 And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

Jesus had that fulfilled.

He heals the broken herted. We need to disccuss a little Hebrew to best understand this. The word for Broken hearted is best represented by the cracks that come in a claay pot when it is shattered. We can understand that easy enough. We can feel that for various reasons.

The main brokenness that we all suffer is sin. Sin causes brokeneness and ultimately leads to destruction and death.

The word for Heal is rapha. Aand doesn’t represent glueing the pot back together with the cracks still visible.

It is word that repreents a complete and total renewal. It is like dipping the broken pieces of the clay pot into a mythical pool and it coming back completely put together and better than before.

That is what Jesus does for us thorugh His death and resurrction.

He preached deliverancec to the Jews tha were held captive by the Law jus as He did in this passage.

Then in

John 9:1-11 “1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him. 4 I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. 6 When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, 7 And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, (which is by interpretation, Sent.) He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. 8 The neighbours therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged? 9 Some said, This is he: others said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. 10 Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened? 11 He answered and said, A man that is called Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight.”

Jesus healed the blind man.

I can keep going but do we see what’s going on here.

Jesus is that prophesied one. And is not just a prophet but is God in the flesh.

In John, when Jesus was having a conversation with the pharisees and they asked him about his age and how could have seen Abraham…then Jesus responded

John 8:58 “58 Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”

Why is that significant? Becuase His declartion of I am is the same decleration God gave Moses from the burning bush

Exodus 3:14 “14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

Jesus did not just claim to be a prophet, priest, king…He said He was The God of the Old Testament. Yawey, Elohiem, Adonai, Jesus is God.

The God of the Universe beccame flesh and gave His life so that you could have a personal, intimate, and eternal relationship with Him.

and not just to exist in heaven in the afterlife. But to enjoy that relationship now. Aand not alone. Apart of a faith community that is focused on Worshipping Him in spirit and in truth.

I know a pretty good one...

The key to living that life is deciding the value the faith community has in your life.

How much value do you place on your faith community? Do you only ccome around it because the music is good? The preaching is ok? Nothing else to do so you make time for it?

Or do you com around because the God who loved you enough, that you trust with your everlasting soul, put a huge value on it and said for you to do the same? Not because of what you can get out of it…but because of what you can put into it.

Resolution- Jesus came to build a faith community. Choosing to be apart of that is choosing to be apart of what Jesus did and is doing in this World

Jesus said

Matthew 16:17-18 “17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-jona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. 18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

He will build his church…not his kirche…not his system of worship…His ekklesia…his called out assembly…His faith community made up of people not things…not buildings…not processes…people.

Choosing to be apart of what Jesus caame to build and gave his life for is choosing to be aprt of what Jesus is doing in this World through the individual lives od people and the corporate work o the church.

Becuase worship isn’t just about the songs we sing on Sunday, it’s about the lives we live everyday. We live to worship Jesus. We live to Worship together!

Impact- An often strengthened faith, family, and future

When we choose to come together and worship, on Sunday, in life groups, for coffee, for dinner, or anytime where we are with believers strenghtening and building them up, we will find our own faith, family, and future strengthened as well.

As a follower of Jesus you can try to do it alone. Some of you may have tried that. I’ve never met someoen that was living in their fullest potential with Christ apart of being involved with a local faith community. When you are detached from your fellow believers you are detached from the people God hasa placed in your life to live for Him. However when you choose to make much of the faith community that Jesus mde much of becuase of who he is and what he has done rrather than wht you think you cana get out of it....you will find life transformation comes. Not becuase of how great you are but becuase of How great He is. The Holy Spirit works from the inside out and but He doesn’t force you.

You have to choose faithful obedience to God and His Word. And God’s Word and Jesus life we find great value placed on communial worship of HIm and the gathering of believers.

If you don’t know Jesus...