Vision: Gather
Notes
Transcript
Intro
Hitting a baseball in yard. Broke mom’s window. Hid for a while. Thought of every lie I could possibly think of. Finally confessed. Actions of children expose the hearts of adults.
Need: We don’t want our sin exposed. Like Adam, we run. We run from God. We also run from the church.
Main Idea: Restoration to God unites the church which sanctifies us in Christ
Hebrews 10:19-27
Truth #1: Christ unites man to God (19-23)
Exp. Hebrews - explaining the symbolism of OT. We’ve covered that Jesus is the better temple, high priest, and now the sacrifice. This text explains what that means. Verse 19. Now we can enter the holy place. Not high priest because we are all now priests. Blood is the symbol. The only way is through Jesus. Verse 20. New and living = leads us to life. As the curtain was torn, so was he. Our access isn’t through a veil, it’s through his body. Verse 21-22. We can now draw near. Proximity to God that we didn’t have before. We hoped someone would mediate for us. Now, we have access.
App. Community starts with communion with God. Be reconciled back to the Father. Draw Near. How?
With a true heart. In Christ, you have been transformed. It’s what your meant for.
Full assurance of faith. Not because of works, but because of Christ.
Hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience. Sprinkled = purify. Conscience = self awareness. Debased thinking.
Bodies washed with pure water. Cleaning old wounds.
Ill. Video of girl with the tongue piercing. This is the imagery. Old wounds that won’t heal. Every wound leads to a broken relationship to the Father.
Arg. Eph. 2 speaks to being dead in trespasses and sins. Those verses turn at the work of Christ. Without Christ, we are still dead.
Christ - He is the atonement for sins. We get to the father through him. The way, truth, and life. Door of the sheep. Abide only in Christ. HS dwells in us. Can’t live morally without him. Our relationship with God impacts the church.
Truth #2: Christ gathers the church (24-25)
Exp. Author uses “let us” language. We as the church. Verse 23. We draw near, and hold fast. Confession = profession. Do not waver. Because God doesn’t waver. When we do that, we get verse 24-25. Consider = observe. Pay attention. Stir up = irritate or provoke. The end is love and good works. This is fellowship. Not peace and harmony. Those are good. Requires provoking each other to love and good works. Not neglecting. The church cannot observe how to stir each other up if we don’t meet. There’s no accountability.
Ill. Super bowl. What if I became the coach but never met with the team? I wouldn’t be a good coach. Team wouldn’t be good either. One of my greatest fears is that I would know the players on a field I’ve never met more than the people in this building.
Arg. Gathering is at the heart of what God wants for his people. Ezekiel 36:24. New age thought we only need Jesus. To say, “I can do this alone,” is to defy the very command of Scripture. The opposite of neglecting to meet is encouraging each other. To neglect meeting is an affront to the gospel. Why?
Christ - Jesus’ body was broken so the church body could be restored. 1 Corinthians 12:12-13
12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
App. The gathering is a necessary task of the Body of Christ. What do we do?
Gather. Be together. Worship. D-Groups.
Stir up others. Do not be afraid to stir up others to love and good deeds. You may not think you’re worthy. None of us are. But we are commanded.
Be willing to be stirred. Be challenged. Not offended. Grow.
Author gives a stern warning.
Warning #1: Deliberate sin rejects God and neglects the church (26-27)
Exp. Let us draw near, hold fast, and consider to stir not neglecting to meet. This is what Christ died for. The problem is that isolation gives a false sense of freedom from church and no accountability. It feels good to us. Inevitably leads to deeper sin. No one in history became holier by neglecting the church. “Walking away from church” is not a brag. As a pastor, I see it all the time. Rejecting God’s plan of gathering as the church leads to Verse 26-27. Deliberately = willfully. Not omission. He’s speaking to believers.
Arg. Why? Like in the old covenant, after you atoned for sin, if you sinned again, that sacrifice was null in void. It was as if a sacrifice was never made. So it is here. Examples:
1 What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Exp. Deliberate sin rejects God because it rejects the atoning work of Christ. It says, I don’t need it.
Ill. Smoking a pork shoulder for 10 hours only to have my 7-year old say he don’t want it. Continuing in sin is nothing less than saying we don’t want Jesus’ atoning work.
Exp. Deliberate sin also neglects the church. You can’t live in sin and have fellowship with the church. The church’s job is to call it out.
Christ - Continuing in sin ignores Jesus’ sacrifice and brings judgment on you.
App. To continue in sin is to reject the sacrifice of Christ. Repent.
Commit to a church body. Stop church shopping. Starting Point next week.
Conclusion
We gather because it’s the call of church and let us not stop gathering.
