Why You Need The Church

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Introduction

If someone asks you, why should I go to church, what would you say?

Main Text

Hebrews 10:19–25 ESV

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.

Context - Jesus’s one time sacrifice on the cross as our great high priest has made it possible for us to have relationship with God.

Therefore… - Everything that follows from 19 on is application from his three chapter sermon. From here to quit sinning at the end of this chapter to chapter 11 admonishing us to walk by faith, like the men of old, to not growing weary fighting against your sin in chapter 12, to showing hospitality and obeying your leaders in Chapter 13. It’s all because of what Jesus has done that we should do these things!

Verse 19 is a summary of what the author thinks is the most important point he’s made over the previous three chapters, which is this…by the blood of Jesus, because of his priesthood and his new covenant, we can draw near to God with clean consciences, that are not stained by sin or guilt.

He gives us three clear instructions on what we should do because of this. Basically, he’s preached a sermon, he’s exposited the word and now he is giving you your application points. How do we apply this? And notice I said we. It’s clear he’s talking to the body of believers here, the church. He uses the plural “Let US” not YOU, but US. These instructions are for God’s Church, not just us as individuals.

Threefold Instructions To God’s Church

1. Let Us Draw Near To God

We talked about this last week, but it bears repeating. Jesus has been enthroned as king and is now seated at the right hand of the majesty on high and because of what he did, we can now draw near to God and make our requests known to him.

We can pray. We can worship. We can ask him for anything. Why? Because we are now back in right relationship with Him.

2. Let Us Hold Fast Our Confession

Let Us Hold Fast - This means to firmly grip it. It means to build your foundation on it. It’s life or death important. If you let go of this, you have let go of everything important in Life.

Our Confession Of Hope - This is the second time he has used this language in this book. The first was way back in Hebrews 4:14 “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.” Same language. Same idea.

OUR Confession - Notice first that this isn’t an individual confession. The Bible doesn’t speak much to an individual’s faith, but to a group’s faith. We are as strong in the faith as our church community is as strong in the faith. Your confession of hope, is not yours alone, but those around you.

Confession of HOPE - This last word might be the most important. A confession of hope is a forward looking thing. It’s not pessimistic, it’s optimistic. It’s believing that good things are to come because of what Christ has done.

3. Let Us Consider How To Stir Up One Another

Consider - The author wants us to think about this. This isn’t something to gloss over. We need to consider. Come up with a list. Find ways to. Really ponder. Consider he says.

HOW To Stir Up - Consider how…this is an open application point. This means this might look different for each one of you. The way Steve does it will like different than the way Tony does it. But the onus is on both of them to do it and to consider how they should do it.

Stir Up. This may be the most important word in this passage. And we need to keep this in mind as we move into the next section of this passage, but this word is an intense word in the Greek. Stir up sounds tame compared to what this means. It means to spur, to provoke to the point of irritation and action. This same word is sometimes translated as an argument. You need to argue or provoke each other to the point of irritation into loving one another and doing good works essentially.

One Another - This passage points us back to the fact that we are a body. It’s not you versus the world. You have a church body that you are a part of (or at least you should be a part of) and you need to love the people in that body. You need to stir them up to love each other. You need to stir them up to serve one another and so on. The one another part is essential. We don’t just draw near to Jesus for ourselves, we draw near to him through his blood and his priesthood for the benefit of one another.

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This passage is one of the most famous passages in the Scripture that preachers have used for a long time to promote church attendance. The key idea is found in verse 15, not neglecting to meet together.

Let me define this.

The Church is not a building, but it may meet in one.

The Church is not the music, but it most certainly will worship.

The Church is the people. The church is the gathering of God’s people. You can’t be the church by yourself. You must be in community.

It’s also not optional. If you are in Christ, you are in his body and you should most certainly be attending a church (in person whenever possible) and worshipping and learning and growing in your faith. I would say that its impossible to truly grow in your faith apart from being connected to the body. In fact, the people that I have known or met over the years that are not really connected to the church are usually stagnant in their faith. They can usually talk a good talk, but they are stagnant.

Today we have a large group of people who will say things like, “you don’t need to go to church to be a Christian.” You can just love Jesus on your own, pray from time to time and you are good. That is a lie. And Christians fall for this everyday. There’s nothing else like this…

You cannot be a baseball player, if you don’t go to the games.

You cannot be a ballet dancer, if you don’t go to the recitals.

You cannot be a school teacher, if you don’t show up to class. Or a student for that matter.

You cannot be a Dallas Cowboys fan, if you don’t believe that this year is going to be different! Ok, that last one was a joke, but you get the point.

If you are getting irritated at me right now, GOOD! I want to stir you up to not only attend church be to purposely integrate yourself into the body in such a way that you will do something about it. You will get connected to a church. You will attend service, not just on Christmas and Easter, but all year long.

If you are a Christian, you will go to the place where Christ assembles his body. We are described as a body. How many ears do you know that are operating apart from being attached to a head? How many arms are just out there living on their own? It’s foolishness.

You were created for community. We are the church and the author of Hebrews gives us four things we should do as the church.

Four Reasons Why You Need The Church

1. The Church Is A Place To Love And Beloved

“Let us consider how to stir up one another to love…”

The Church is a place where you can both give love and receive love.

Illustration - Imagine if you showed up at church and you noticed that someone was struggling in the parking lot. They showed up to church and they are walking in, but they are wearing their depression on their face. You go up to that person and you ask what is wrong? And after a couple of more questions they finally open up and tell you that they lost a loved one recently and it’s just really bothering them today. So you grab them by the hand and you give them a big hug and you then you pray for them.

Now who wouldn’t want to go to a church like this??

Or how about receiving love. Wouldn’t you feel loved if you were the person that was down? Wouldn’t you feel loved when they hugged you and prayed for you? This is how God intends for church to operate.

You Will Know They Are My Disciples By Their Love - Jesus knew this and the author of Hebrews says we need to encourage love in our congregations.

Love Is The Point. Why do we go to church? To love and to be loved. We are first to love God and alongside that we are to love our neighbors. My job is to stir you up to love God and love each other. Your job is to stir us up to love God and love each other. This sermon is designed to stir you up to Love God and love one another. Our worship is intended to stir you up to love God and love one another. This is the point!

2. The Church Is A Place To Serve Others

“Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works…”

Good Works Are Service - When we serve others, when we put them first, we are doing the good works that the Bible talks about. The church is a place where you can serve people. Even if its just once a week, when we humble ourselves and serve someone else, God does a special work in us.

Good Works & Grace - Often when people hear the goodness of God and his grace towards us and they hear that we are no longer under the law, they falsely assumed that we don’t need to “do anything” for Jesus anymore. I’m saved, I’m good, now I’ll just do what I want. That is simply not true! The Bible teaches us that while we were slaves to sin, we are now slaves to Christ! That means we do what he wants!

To be clear, good works do not add to our salvation, they are not things you “have to do”, but things that you “get to do” because of what Jesus has done for you!

Good works are not the root of faith, but they are its fruit. - Charles Spurgeon

Where Do We Have Opportunities To Serve?

Men’s ministry, Women’s ministry, Food Ministry, Tech Ministry, Outreach Ministry, Kids Ministry, Youth Ministry. We have needs all over the place. Let me know where you want to serve and I’ll help get you serving.

And if you think of this from another point of view. You have likely been served by someone since you got here! Josh was busy making coffee, the tech team was changing the slides and working the cameras, the worship team was leading you in song, I am teaching from the Word. Everyone here has the opportunity to serve and to be served.

If you have been served, that should encourage you to serve someone else.

In our apprenticeship of Jesus, serving is huge!

3. The Church Is The Place Where People Meet Together!

“Not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some…”

Context - Many Hebrews Because Of Persecution Had Stopped Assembling Together. Think about this, the author of Hebrews is writing to them as they are in a season of intense persecution. In some cases, people are being martyred for their faith. In others, they are being tortured for their faith. He’s telling them in the midst of this intense persecution, don’t neglect getting together!

Now, how about us? Well, I was tired, so I didn’t go to church. I had a big day on Saturday, so I didn’t show up today. The golfing was just too good to pass up. I signed my kids up for travel ball. Could you imagine telling one of the Hebrews your reasons for missing church??

We Need Each Other - Right now in our country, feelings of loneliness and isolation are rising astronomically. Now, most people are bringing this on themselves. Even Christians choose to stay home at an alarming rate. Let me just give you some physical reasons as to why this is a bad idea. In his 2023 Report calling Loneliness and Isolation and epidemic, Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy, said this…

“Loneliness is far more than just a bad feeling—it harms both individual and societal health. It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death. The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, productivity, and engagement are diminished.” - Surgeon General Dr. Murthy

Church Offers Community - One of the things that church offers that is so hard to get anywhere else is true community. There’s a reason why people around 75% of those surveyed listed wanting to find community as a reason why they went to church.

We tend to think of this as just Sunday morning, but church is much more than our Sunday service. We have small groups, which facilitate community. It’s a place to get to know people and to be known. We have groups that meet on the weekend and on a weeknight. As I said earlier, we are launching a group this fall for married couples. We also have the Bible College that meets here on Monday nights. And if you serve, you get to see people even more if you want. There’s just so many connection points here at our church, if you want to partake in those and you should! It’s good for your health! Mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.

When we meet together, our spirits are encouraged!

4. The Church Is A Place To Be Encouraged

“but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”

We Meet Together To Encourage One Another - Did you know that most of us get depressed from time to time? And did you know that one of the best ways to get out of that depression is not…crawling under your sheets and hiding. Depression is lifted in community.

There’s been a study that looked at how regular church attendance made a huge difference in depression among participants. The threshold of the most effect happened when people went to weekly church attendance. Those that attend monthly did not see as huge of an impact. Now, I want to be clear Church is not a cure for depression. I was depressed just a few weeks ago and told you about it. So it’s not a cure, it helps lessen it.

From what I read, studies show that individuals who attend religious services weekly have roughly a 27% to 30% lower risk or odds of subsequent depression compared to those who never attend.

Why do you think that is? Because the church is an encouraging place! I have come in here many times feeling down and many of you have encouraged me! Same thing with homegroup, some nights I’m tired and feeling blah, I put on my big boy pants and go anyway and guess what? I feel so much better at the end of the night.

What that means, if you are here, you have a mission…encourage someone. Put courage into them. The world is trying to beat it out of them. Your job is to put the courage back into them!

The Church Is Other’s Focused - Notice that for the most part, the author of Hebrews is talking about what we do for others, love, good works, encouragment. These are all things aimed at other people.

Too many people come to church looking to get something out of it, rather than what they can do for others. But this is saying the opposite. Don’t neglect assembly together is tied to the idea that we need to stir each other up to love, do good works and encourage others. These things are connected.

It is interesting to note that the emphasis here is not on what a believer gets from the assembly, but rather on what he can contribute to the assembly. Faithfulness in church attendance encourages others and provokes them to love and good works.

Warren W. Wiersbe

God Is Asking You To Contribute. Your presence is needed. You are part of this body.

And All The More…

The Most Overlooked Words - “And all the more…” may be the most overlooked words in this passage. Many of you may have heard about the importance of church attendance and many have likely heard this verse quoted before, but these words as so important.

All the more…

As The Day Approaches

Application

Dave is going to play, I want you to take some time and encourage/pray for at least two people. Find someone, say thank you, say something nice, but encourage them and pray for them.