Corporate Worship
As You Go • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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The FOCUS of this next 4 week phase is: Discipleship in Community
The thesis statement/main idea of this next 4 week phase is:
We are invited into the family of God to multiply His grace and replicate His love.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
On a frigid night in January 2020, Cathy Boone—a homeless woman from Astoria, Oregon—died in a warming center. For years, Cathy had struggled with mental health and drug issues. She died homeless and with nothing. However, unbeknownst to her, four years prior, her mother had passed away and had bequeathed close to $1 million to Cathy. The problem was that no one was able to locate Cathy. Her father said, “It just didn’t make any sense to me, that money just sitting there – and she needed help in the worst way.”
https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/poverty/556898-woman-dies-homeless-unaware-of-884k-inheritance/
As we continue looking at what it means to be a disciple of Jesus, this morning, we need to see what great inheritance we have been given, what free and complete access we have been given to it, and how, sadly, many Christians neglect one of the primary ways God has given us to receive it.
CORPORATE WORSHIP IS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF DISCIPLESHIP. MAYBE YOU HAVEN’T REALLY GIVEN MUCH THOUGHT TO THE FACT THAT WHAT WE DO IN THIS ROOM ON SUNDAYS IS DISCIPLESHIP—MAYBE YOU JUST ASSOCIATE DISCIPLESHIP WITH LIFE GROUPS—BUT THAT’S WHAT WE’RE DOING IN HERE.
In the New Testament, we see the regular gathering of the disciples of Jesus for the purpose of worshipping together.
We are invited into the family of God to multiply His grace and replicate His love.
10 plural pronouns (including “you”)
“brothers/sisters,” “together,” “one another”
Two “since” statements/truths followed by three “let us” exhortations/commands…
1st “since” (vs. 19-20)
Walk Through
Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh,
We have complete, free, and unrestricted access to God by the death and resurrection of Jesus.
2nd “since” (vs. 21)
We have been called together as the household of God under the authority of Jesus.
So…We have complete, free, and unrestricted access to God by the death and resurrection of Jesus and we have been called together as the household of God under the authority of Jesus.
So, therefore, let US (individually & corporately) do these 3 things…draw near, hold fast, stir up.
Why wouldn’t you take advantage of this privilege?
First, have you received this access to God by faith?
In corporate worship, as we come together as the people of God, we are…
1) Sharing in the gospel (vs. 22-23).
We are members—TOGETHER—of the blood bought/baptized household of God under the rule/authority of Jesus. So, how do we share in the gospel as we gather for corporate worship and how is it discipleship?
3 specific ways:
A) Ordinances (RETELL the story of the gospel)
We are proclaiming the gospel/sharing in the gospel as we:
Lord’s Supper
Body (flesh) & Blood — what gives us access
SHARING—one cup/one bread
RETELLING—Paul says that we are declaring Jesus’s resurrection until the day that he returns.
Baptism
hearts sprinkled clean and bodies washed.
Whenever someone gets baptized, I tell them that it’s the most powerful sermon that will be preached that day.
B) Confession (REMIND ourselves of the gospel)
We have a common confession.
“Hold the word fast” // Holding to the gospel—our confession that Jesus is Lord—crucified, buried, and raised.
Early church confessions
Everything we do on Sunday mornings is rooted in doctrine/truth/the Word.
The cross/resurrection at the center.
C) Participation (in worship) (REHEARSE the gospel)
You are not an audience. We are not performers. We are participating together. That’s why your singing out loud matters.
That’s why you reading the scripture aloud together matters. That’s why we invite you to pray together during our time of Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving and Supplication.
addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,
The early church—and many denominations today—confessions & creeds…we are saying these things/declaring these things together.
We are participating together.
CORPORATE WORSHIP IS ESSENTIAL TO THE LIFE OF THE DISCIPLE BECAUSE WE ARE SHARING IN THE GOSPEL.
2) Shaped by the gospel.
A) Our hearts
Again, “holding fast the confession of our hope.”
Stirring up one another to love and to good works…encouraging one another.
The writer ties this directly to the corporate gathering.
It’s impossible to stir one another up to love and good works—living out the life of Jesus—in isolation…apart from the gathering together with other disciples.
Discipleship—Christ formed in you
Our hearts are prone, throughout the week, to be pulled toward the world and the things of the world. We need this gathering. What are we talking about while we’re here, though?
How are we sharing our struggles and our sins together? How are we praying for one another? Encouraging one another? Holding one another accountable?
B) The Church
The pulpit shapes the Church
CORPORATE WORSHIP IS ESSENTIAL TO THE LIFE OF THE DISCIPLE BECAUSE WE ARE SHARING IN THE GOSPEL, WE ARE SHAPED BY THE GOSPEL, AND...
3) Submitting to the gospel.
Did you realize that your being here today, your participation in worship as a follower of Jesus, is an act of submission?
A) To the authority of Jesus
“do not neglect to meet together”
Why would you want to miss out on this? This shared bond we have of the household of God in the blood of Jesus? This sharing of the grace and love of God. This confession of hope. This rehearsal of the gospel.
I don’t have to be part of a church to be a Christian.
Yeah…I don’t have to be home and spend time with my family to be a husband and a father, either.
Notice this—as the Day approaches, our relationship with the body of Christ should be stronger. Unfortunately, the opposite is true in America, today.
Families—dads, especially—make this a priority. We’ve made involvement in the body of Christ and Sunday morning worship attendance just as optional (and even less) than things we deem as important or more important. Let me tell you lovingly that there isn’t anything MORE important in the life of the disciple than gathering with the saints.
B) To the authority of the Word
you are submitting to the authority of the Word of God right now.
C) To the authority of Spiritual Leadership
Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.
CONCLUSION
1) Have you received access to God through the blood of Jesus? The greatest need in your life is forgiveness of sin and salvation and relationship with God. The bible says that it’s only through the shedding of blood that we have forgiveness. Only the blood of God, Himself, in the person of Jesus is sufficient to cleanse us and forgive us and make us right with God.
Jesus said “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Don’t leave this room today until you know without any doubt that you’ve been forgiven of your sin and have received eternal life.
2) If you’re a believer, how do you view worship? Maybe your thinking/attitude needs to come back into alignment with God’s purpose for this time.
3) Maybe you’ve neglected it. Maybe you’ve allowed other things to crowd out/take priority.