LOVE YOUR CHURCH (2)

Pray.

Today we begin something I hope will shape our whole year together.

Loving our church.

Not the building — which is lucky, as we don't even own one.

Not the institution, not the machinery of rotas and meetings.

But the people of God, gathered around the Word of God.

We're calling it "Love Your Church."

Now, in our reading today’s there are 3 exhortations, instructions: He writes ‘Let us…’ 3 times.

So this sermon could tell us to Love our church by saying:

right, everyone — try harder. Come earlier. Sing louder. Serve more. Sit still. Host better

And we’ll get there,

And over the months ahead we will, gently, talk about some of those things.

But if that's where we begin, we've got the whole of the Christian faith precisely backwards.

No,

"We love," says 1 John, "because he, God, first loved us."

So today I don't want to start with 'us' at all.

I want to start with Jesus.

In fact I want to ask one question

— the question the whole letter to the Hebrews has been asking,

at the top of its voice,

for ten chapters before our reading today:

Do you know who Jesus is?

Our reading began with the word? "Therefore."

A "therefore" is a door hinge; it swings on what came before it.

If you Walk in on a conversation and hear "therefore",

you know you've missed the important part.

So before we can feel the force of the 3 ‘let us’ statements in this passage

we have to hear what this writer has spent ten chapters saying about Jesus.

So,

1 — Do you know who Jesus is?

Hebrews 1:1–3 NIVUK

In the past God spoke to our ancestors through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom also he made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word. After he had provided purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.

Jesus is not just a good teacher. Or a good man.

Jesus is God's final, complete word to the human race:

God the Son, holding the galaxies up by speaking.

And watch where that opening sentence lands:

"after making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty."

In one line, the writer has told us who Jesus is:

a priest who deals with sin,

and a king who sits down.

That line is the seed of the whole letter —

Because that is the writer's great claim: Jesus is our great high priest.

Now, a high priest, in Israel, was the go-between

— the one man appointed to stand between a holy God and a sinful people,

to carry blood into God's presence and deal with their sin on their behalf.

And Hebrews says:

Jesus is that, truly and finally.

And the writer of Hebrews shows us how perfectly he is fitted for it.

First, Jesus is one of us.

He didn't stand off at a safe distance;

"he shared in flesh and blood" (ch. 2),

so that he could stand in our place and deal with our sin as one of us

— a merciful and faithful high priest who has been where you are:

tired, tempted, let down, afraid.

There is no room in your life so dark that he has to stand outside it.

And so, chapter 4: "we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God,"

tempted as we are yet without sin — therefore

(4:14–16). “let us… draw near God's throne of grace with confidence"

Hear that word: draw near. Or approach God’s throne.

He says it again in our reading.

That has been the destination all along.

God wants us to draw near to Him.

So, Jesus the High Preist is one of us,

Second, Jesus never stops.

The old priests inherited the job by bloodline, then they died, and the next man took over

— a long line of dying priests.

But Jesus is a priest (7:16)

"in the order of Melchizedek… on the basis of the power of an indestructible life" .

Melchizedek is a mysterious figure in the OT, but the point is made that he was greater than the human lone of priests.

He doesn't die and hand over - he’s seperate from that line of priests.

So Jesus is a preist forever.

So, 7v25

"he is able to save completely those who come to God through him,

because he always lives to intercede for them"

Right now, today, there is a man in the presence of God praying for you — and he will never, ever stop, because he cannot die again.

Third — Jesus made the one sacrifice that actually works.

The old priests were always working: the same sacrifices, day after day,

blood that could never really takes sin away.

Chapter 1 told us in a line that JEsus "made purification for sins"

— now the writer shows us how.

9v12

Jesus "did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, so obtaining eternal redemption"

He didn't bring a sacrifice. He was the sacrifice.

10v12

"When Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God"

Jesus sat down. No priest ever sat down as if finished;

there was always more blood to bring.

But Jesus finished it, and sat:

10v14

‘by one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy" (10:14).

And

10v18 - "where these have been forgiven, sacrifice for sin is no longer necessary" (10:18).

It is done. It is finished. There is nothing left to pay.

So — do you know who Jesus is?

Our great high priest:

one of us, ever-living, and the once-for-all sacrifice — now seated.

That is who the "therefore" rests on. So hear it:

Hebrews 10:19–21 NIVUK

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God…

So in short, Jesus is

2 — The open door (verses 19–21)

In the OT temple, God's presence lived in the innermost room — the Most Holy Place —

and across the front of it hung a huge, heavy curtain.

Not decoration: a barrier.

Today it would be a locked door with a sign: keep out.

God is holy, and you cannot simply come in.

Ordinary people never went through it — not once in their lives.

Even the ‘high priest’ only went in one day a year, carrying blood,

with his heart in his mouth

— such was the right fear of God in their hearts,

and the right sense of their own sin.

And then Jesus died.

And at that moment,

Matthew tells us, the temple curtain was torn in two, top to bottom

— from the heavens to the earth,

God tore it open.

He swung open his own front door and said: all may now come in — through Jesus.

That's what Hebrews 10 20 means: Jesus opened "a new and living way… through the curtain, that is, his body"

— or, more literally, his flesh.

His body, torn on the cross, is the torn curtain.

The barrier that kept us out has been ripped open by his death.

Jesus not only opened the door as God; he is the door, as High Priest and Man.

The way into God's presence — shut to us our whole lives, shut since Eden

— is now standing wide open, and it was his own torn body that opened it.

This is the love that makes all our love of each other possible.

Eph 5:25 says Jesus,

"loved the church and gave himself up for her"

So when we talk about really loving our church,

— we are not talking about begrudgingly making some effort for each other.

We are talking about understanding and responding to the love of Jesus for us,

his people, his church.

All the Old Testament pointed forward to a priest who would gather a once-for-all people

— a final and eternal dwelling of God among us — with the door at last wide open.

Jesus died to create the church.

So as we gather in local churches across the world,

we are the local evidence of his love

— pointing to a torn curtain,

an open door,

a Saviour who bled to bring us in.

There are no ‘lone-ranger Christian’ in the Bible.

Jesus did not die to save individuals to stay individuals.

He died, in love, to gather a people to our Heavenly Father, his children, a family. Together.

I'm trying a plan that gets you to read every NT book 30 times and the OT 15 times over 7 years.

I started 1 John, 15 days ago and I've read it 16 times — what can I say, I'm an over-achiever.

Talk to me later if you want to join me!

But what is clear in 1 John, is that loving your brothers and sister in Christ,

is a chief evidence of your faith.

You cannot say you love God if you do not love your brother.

Why, becasue this is what Jeuss died for! A gathered forgiven family.

Look around — this is Jesus' plan for you.

This family, warts and all.

He died so we could love one another as we dwell with, and testify to, God.

So — our third and most practical point.

3 — Three ways to love your church (verses 22–25)

Having flung the door open,

the writer turns to us and says three things — three times,

"let us."

Not a to-do list;

they are what people do when they finally realise they're welcome to God, through Christ.

And every one fo these 3, is something we do ‘together’.

First: let us draw near (v.22).

Hebrews 10:22 NIVUK

let us draw near to God with a sincere heart and with the full assurance that faith brings, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Come in. Right in.

Not creep to the doorway and peer through — come in, wholeheartedly, sure of your welcome;

because it doesn't depend on your week,

and it doesn't even depend on how well you're greeted at the gate

(though now we see why we should put such effort into that).

It depends on Jesus' blood.

So our services are not a performance you watch;

they are a family gathering to celebrate our Father together.

And he wants us to draw near to him,

So attend, listen, ponder, engage like we mean it

— going through the motions is not drawing near with a sincere heart.

Remember our full assurance in Christ:

your sins cleansed,

your guilt removed,

your body washed.

Listen to the Word read and preached as if your life depends on it — because it does;

it is God himself speaking to us together.

Bring your whole self through the door;

don't leave half of you in the car park.

Come on time — no, come early — ready to draw near.

And parents, this is the great thing we get to do for our children:

help them draw near —

teach them, that coming to God as his gathered church is the best thing they'll do all week.

Teach them to listen;

teach them to behave in a way that lets them participate,

and know the welcome of God into his family.

Second: let us hold fast (v.23).

Hebrews 10:23 NIVUK

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.

There are and will be seasons,

when the holding-on to Jesus,

and especially to his church, the people, is hard.

When faith feels weak;

when you're tired, grieving, doubting;

when others haven't met your expectations, or even their own.

When coming through that door on a Sunday takes more than you've got.

But Hear this: your grip on him is not what keeps you.

His grip on you is what keeps you. "He who promised is faithful."

So we hold fast — and we hold fast together,

because on the mornings when your hands are too weak to hold on,

the whole point of a church is that, as we gather,

we testify that he is holding on for you.

Don't abandon church when things are tough

— that's the opposite of what will help.

As hard as it is, drag yourself along.

It won't necessarily be a quick fix,

but gathering is far more likely to renew our confidence in the hope we profess,

than staying away would.

If that's you this morning — weary, wavering — you don't have to hold on alone.

That is what we are all here for.

It’s why the corporate confession ought to be so encouraging for us,

for it reminds ourselves and it encourages those here with us.

Whatever we have done, and however we feel - He will hold us fast.

And

Third: let us consider one another (vv.24–25).

Hebrews 10:24–25 NIVUK

And let us consider how we may spur one another on towards love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

I trust many here are encouraged as I am when we see and feel others here in our church family living out this verse.

Christ's love, already spilling out of this family.

the stewards — first in, last out, every single week.

the rotas — full: coffee made, chairs stacked, tech running.

Musicians, practiced, prayed, arrived early.

men and women who give up hours they haven't really got to prepare,

week by week, to teach our children and our youth

— so the next generation knows this same Jesus.

That is not machinery.

That is blood-bought love, worn as ordinary faithfulness.

Don’t underestimate it,

don’t take others for granted

Rather - spur one another on to do more love and good deeds.

Our culture infiltrates our minds to say everything is ultimately about and for ourselves.

But the church Gathering is not for you alone; it's for one another.

Pause

That warning about "neglecting to meet together"

is first about people giving up on church altogether.

But I don't think we twist it to take a step further

— into how we gather.

Because you cannot "spur one another on,"

you cannot "encourage one another," from a distance — physical or mental distance.

You can't encourage the person you never speak to,

or spur on the brother you arrive too late to see and leave too quickly to find.

So loving our church, most practically, starts with something as ordinary as being here, in good time, ready

— because there are people in this room whose week will be different because you turned up and looked them in the eye.

Because you sat with them in their sadness.

Because you arrived early and talked.

Because you sang with conviction instead of sipping your coffee and studying the ceiling.

Your voice is not only for you:

the person beside you needs to hear the faith in the room,

and your voice is part of how they're carried back to God’s Truth.

That's why we should try not to drift about to get drinks of go to the toilet, during the service.

— not out of stuffiness, but because we are here for the people around us.

And notice the reason he gives — "all the more as you see the Day approaching."

Jesus is coming back, and that changes what a Sunday is.

Church is not one more thing competing with the fixture list and the family calendar;

it is the people of the coming King,

rehearsing for the day we see him.

That's why it matters more than anything else in your week.

Pause

So — do you know who Jesus is?

He is the Son who upholds the universe,

and the priest who bled to open the door,

and he stands at the door of his house,

and it is open.

We draw near,

and we hold fast,

and we consider one another

— not to earn our way in,

but because the way is already open and the great priest is already ours.

To love this church — this ordinary, imperfect, precious people

— is simply to love what cost Christ his own blood to gather.

He loved the church and gave himself up for her.

This year, by his grace, we will enjoy doing the same all the more.

Let's pray.