Why Do We Come to Church
Notes
Transcript
Object Lesson
Object Lesson
Ripping pieces of paper.
Introduction
Introduction
Illustration: I am the parent of a 3 year old. My life is full of “why’s.” A lot of the time to things that are hard to explain, a lot of the time to things so simple you have a hard time explaining them because you never thought that they would need to be explained.
This summer I have decided to channel my inner 3 year old and start asking some “why” questions. So this summer series is going to just be called “Why?” Toddlers go through this developmental phase for a reason. It’s an important part of learning cause and effect and logic and other important things a thinking human being needs to learn. I think it’s important for all of us to take time to ask some why questions every now and then. Especially when it comes to church.
You see the Church has been around for coming up on 2000 years. Over those 2000 years there have been some things that we have always done, some things that we’ve been doing for most of this time, and somethings which we’ve only done for the last few decades, and sometimes we don’t think very much about why we do them. It’s healthy to ask questions about why we do what we do and if there’s any way we can do it better. To ask if what we do is biblical, if it’s what best equips us to be disciples of Jesus and to make new disciples of Jesus.
So with that in mind, let’s ask our first “Why?” question, probably the most foundational of them all:
Why Do We Come to Church?
Now for this question specifically a little bit of clarification is needed. When we talk about “church” we can some times get a little bit confused, because in recent history the word church has come to refer to the building that meet in. Originally the word church, like the Greek word ekklesia that it translates in the Bible meant gathering. It didn’t refer to the place we gathered, but the people who gathered. That’s why the Greek translation of the Old Testament often uses it to refer to the nation of Israel when they gathered for festivals and worship. This can be sometimes confusing if you read an old commentary and don’t realize this and they start refering to Israel as the church. In any case, when the bible says church it means the disciples of Jesus not a building they meet in. In fact until Constantine made Christianity the state religion most churches met in people’s homes.
So when we ask the question, “why do we come to church,” we really mean “why does the church come together?”
To answer that question, let’s take a look at the very beginning of the New Testament Church in the book of Acts, and ask ourselves what the primary purpose of Sunday morning worship is and how we can accomplish that together. First, for a little context we’ll read the beginning of Acts Chapter 2, after Jesus ascends and tells His disciples to wait for the Holy Spirit. So we read in Acts 2:1-13
When the day of Pentecost had arrived, they were all together in one place. Suddenly a sound like that of a violent rushing wind came from heaven, and it filled the whole house where they were staying. They saw tongues like flames of fire that separated and rested on each one of them. Then they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in different tongues, as the Spirit enabled them.
Now there were Jews staying in Jerusalem, devout people from every nation under heaven. When this sound occurred, a crowd came together and was confused because each one heard them speaking in his own language. They were astounded and amazed, saying, “Look, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans? How is it that each of us can hear them in our own native language? Parthians, Medes, Elamites; those who live in Mesopotamia, in Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene; visitors from Rome (both Jews and converts), Cretans and Arabs—we hear them declaring the magnificent acts of God in our own tongues.” They were all astounded and perplexed, saying to one another, “What does this mean?” But some sneered and said, “They’re drunk on new wine.”
After this Peter gives an excellent and compelling sermon calling everyone present to repentance. We will jump past this sermon and focus instead on the results afterwards, where we see the birth of the first church of Jesus Christ. This passage will be our main focus for this morning:
So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
How’s that for a church service? Three thousand baptisms sounds like quite a spectacle. I’ve always gone back to this passage as a beautiful picture of the church at her best. The way that the church was meant to be and still is in our best moments. We ask why we come to church not out of curiosity but out of a desire to return to a picture like this one. To be inspired to become the church we ought to be.
So what does this passage give as reasons why the church gathered? They give four things that this first church devoted themselves to that endure until today as our top priorities:
The Apostles’ Teaching
The Fellowship
The Breaking of Bread
Prayer
So let’s look at these each in turn and what they mean for us in the modern church of Jesus.
The Apostles’ Teaching
The Apostles’ Teaching
Illustration: There was a major difference in my attitude towards my studies when I was in High School versus University because I cared about the subject matter more.
Notice that in our passage today it doesn’t say that they “listened” to the apostles teaching, or even “studied” the apostles teaching. It says that they devoted themselves to the apostles teaching. That’s a strong word, in the english and in the greek. It implies that learning what the apostles had to teach them along with the other four things in this list became their number one priority as a group. Why? Not because the apostles were special, although Jesus did choose them to do important work in the early church. It’s about what the apostles were teaching them.
The apostles were passing onto the new disciples what Jesus had taught them. So it wasn’t the message of the apostles that they devoted themselves to really, but the words of Jesus. And Jesus is God, so the words of God Himself. They were also poring over the Old Testament with their newfound revelation from Jesus to see what it said about Him and to read those words from God in an exciting new light.
You see being a disciple of Jesus involves a great deal of learning. In fact that’s even included in the great comission found in Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus came near and said to them, “All authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Teaching them to observe everything He commanded is a tall order. John goes so far in his gospel as to say that if everything Jesus taught or did was written down the world couldn’t hold all the writings.
This priority of the early church has persisted in churches everywhere even until this day. Of course there’s one major difference. None of the Apostles are still living, so we don’t have them here to teach us directly. What we have instead is the New Testament, which preserves the teachings of the Apostles for us, as well as the Old Testament. Collectively known as the Bible or the Scriptures. We place a high priority today on studying and knowing the Bible well because it is our present equivalent to devoting ourselves to the teachings of the apostles. It is absolutely worth devoting ourselves to because in the words of 2 Timothy 3:16-17
All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.
In our modern era it is now very easy for everyone to get their own copy of the Bible, by the way if you don’t own a Bible let me know and we’ll fix that, so we now devote time on our own to study the words of God through Scripture, yet we still in our weekly gatherings examine it together as we’re doing right now as our regular reminder of the importance of God’s word for the disciple of Jesus. Plus it’s good to have someone extra dedicated to the study of God’s word so I can worry about things like what the Greek says and what theologians say on your behalf.
So that means that the first of the four reasons why we gather as a church today is so that we can devote ourselves to the apostles teaching, meaning now that we read and study Scripture better to become better disciples.
The Fellowship
The Fellowship
Illustration: I’m an introvert, I need alone time, but I found my limit during the pandemic.
From the very beginning of mankind it has not been good for man to be alone as God said, and yet often we are. Many of us have probably experienced the feeling of being “alone in a crowded room.” This has never been God’s will for us. God doesn’t just want us to have fellowship with Him, but also with each other. Yet since the fall in the garden of Eden there has been something broken in the way that people relate to one another. We didn’t just lose our relationship with God, but also our perfect relationship with one another.
Just as Jesus made a way for us to be restored to relationship with God, He also gave us access to a deeper level of relationship with each other, what the Bible refers to as fellowship. This is the second of the four things that the first church devoted itself to when it began and like the others remains a priority until now.
In my most recent Sermon series on John’s Epistles this was a strong theme throughout. That walking in the light together gave us fellowship, and in fact fellowship with one another was in part the goal. We see this in 1 John 1:3
what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
John declares the gospel to them in order that they would share not only in the fellowship with Jesus, but in fellowship with John and the other brothers and sisters. And again in 1 John 1:7 John reassures us that by walking in the light, in other words living obedient to God’s word, we can have fellowship with one another.
If we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.
And the Biblical concept of Christian Fellowship is not the same as friendship. There’s a deeper level of connection and a more important shared cause. We are all children of God, and we are more than family, more than friends. We have fellowship. This was the hardest part for me when churches had to shut down. You can still hear a sermon, you can still pray for one another, but fellowship is one of the most important parts of being the church.
This is why it’s so vital for us to take time when we gather together Sunday mornings to intentionally build relationship together. We need to aim to have this picture of fellowship that Paul gives us in Ephesians 4:1-6
Therefore I, the prisoner in the Lord, urge you to walk worthy of the calling you have received, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to one hope at your calling—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
The Breaking of Bread
The Breaking of Bread
Illustration: There’s something about eating food together. It’s how relationships are built.
Obviously as the one who created us God knows this. So it’s probably no coincidence that He frequently commands His people to share food together. Consider the fact that hadn’t occured to me for a long time as a student of the Bible, that in the Old Testament when the Israelites sacrificed an animal to worship God, they ate that animal. Not in every case, but most sacrifices to God were shared as a meal. In fact only the aptly named “whole burnt offering” was completely burned instead of eaten. So the first God-inspired worship of God ended in a meal.
On top of this God also commanded the Israelites to observe certain festivals throughout the year, the primary activity in each of these festivals? Sharing meals together. Like the Feast of Unleavened Bread and the Feast of Tabernacles, both of which were celebrated by feasting for an entire week. Imagine if this Christmas we all got together every day for seven days of feasting. And of course who can forget Passover. We’ll take a second to focus on that one in particular, a special meal to help Israel remember how our God Yahweh delivered them from slavery.
The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “This is the statute of the Passover: no foreigner may eat it. But any slave a man has purchased may eat it, after you have circumcised him. A temporary resident or hired worker may not eat the Passover. It is to be eaten in one house. You may not take any of the meat outside the house, and you may not break any of its bones. The whole community of Israel must celebrate it. If an alien resides among you and wants to observe the Lord’s Passover, every male in his household must be circumcised, and then he may participate; he will become like a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person may eat it. The same law will apply to both the native and the alien who resides among you.”
God was particularly fond of commanding meals meant to symbolize what God had done for Israel. The reason we focus on this particular one, Passover, is because of the new meaning that Jesus gave this meal when He shared it for the last time with His disciples. Matthew 26:26-30
As they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take and eat it; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks, he gave it to them and said, “Drink from it, all of you. For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. But I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.” After singing a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
So when we return to our passage in Acts chapter 2 when the new disciples “break bread” together, it isn’t just any ordinary meal. They are sharing the meal that reminds them of the price Jesus paid to win our salvation. They are commemorating what makes us saints, or holy ones. Though it was at least at first a whole meal and not a small symbolic sample, the purpose was not eating alone but actively remembering, something God commanded so that we would never lose sight of what is most important. We’ll talk more about that in a future sermon in this series on why we take communion.
Prayer
Prayer
Illustration:
Prayer is of course essential to living as disciples of Jesus. I talk a lot from this pulpit about how important it is to pray, because prayer is communication with God. It’s how we thank Him for what He has done, How we build our relationship with Him and how we seek Help from Him to supply our needs. Yet most of the time when I talk about prayer I’m talking about individual prayer. While individual prayer is important we should not neglect praying together, which is the fourth thing the early church does together in Acts.
While Jesus spoke about the importance of praying alone between us and the Father, when asked how they should pray Jesus gives the disciples what we call “The Lord’s Prayer.” Have you ever noticed that all the pronouns in the prayer are plural? It begins “Our Father” not “my Father.” Give us today our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.
Plus Jesus also talks about the power of praying together when He says in Matthew 18:19
Again, truly I tell you, if two of you on earth agree about any matter that you pray for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.
Why is it important that we pray together? Well to be honest this is one of those things that I feel is mostly answered with “because the Bible tells us so.” I can think of no practical reason why a prayer alone would be any more or less effective than prayer together. Perhaps God intends our prayers together to be a symbol, a moment where we are intentionally in fellowship with God and each other at the same time, when most of the time we are choosing one or the other as our main focus.
So the application to this point then is to share in prayer together and not just alone.
Conclusion
Conclusion
So just a reminder before we close, the question we are asking today is “Why do we Come to Church?” What is the answer to that question? We come to church so that we can devote ourselves to learning God’s will for us through His written word, the Bible. We come to Church so that we can share in a deep and meaningful fellowship with one another beyond the ordinary friendship we experience day to day. We come to Church so that we can share the bread and the wine as a continual memorial to the death of Jesus that saves us from our sins. We come to Church so that we can agree together in prayer and so connect with God as a body of believers.
So with all of my sermons I try to keep things practical and give some advice on what we should be doing diffferently because of what we’ve looked at in Scripture together. Today’s application is a very simple one for most of you, come to church on Sunday. The bigger application applies to leadership in our church mainly, but everyone has a voice in the direction of the church and we should all strive to make first things first when it comes to these gatherings. We should strive to be like that first church and dedicate ourselves to those things which God has called us to.
Let’s end this sermon by returning to the beautiful picture of God’s church in Acts 2:41-47
So those who accepted his message were baptized, and that day about three thousand people were added to them. They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.
Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and signs were being performed through the apostles. Now all the believers were together and held all things in common. They sold their possessions and property and distributed the proceeds to all, as any had need. Every day they devoted themselves to meeting together in the temple, and broke bread from house to house. They ate their food with joyful and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Every day the Lord added to their number those who were being saved.
Let us pray.
