Love Church

Americans are known for our rugged individualism.

We make our path, we chart our own course.

We would echo the words of the British poet William Ernest Henley,

“I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul.” (“Invictus,” William Ernest Henley)

Those of us who follow Christ recognize that we aren’t really the captain of our soul or the master of our fate, so we surrender to Christ, allowing him to lead and guide us.

However, we still can’t shake that individualistic side. We have a tendency to think that salvation is about me and Jesus getting right, so that’s the end of it.

Maybe it is a family thing, but we can worship God as well while we’re at the lake on a Sunday as we could here, right?

There is certainly truth in that you must be right with God as an individual; you cannot have a relationship with God based off your family background.

However, the Bible is clear that you were not saved from your sin to live an isolated life.

In fact, it is quite the opposite. When God saves you, he equips you with unique gifts that are to be used to serve others, and he established a context for those gifts: the church.

To discover that, we are going to look at Hebrews 10:23-25 this morning.

The New Testament is clear that God places you in a church family, and as we will see this morning, there are some very unique ways we get to love each other in that family.

If you catch nothing else from this passage, I want you to see that you have a responsibility to others in the church.

We could spend a lot of time talking about what the church is and isn’t, and what it means to be a member of a church, but we are just going to focus on this one passage today.

In it, we see three main responsibilities we have to loving those in our church.

Let’s figure out what is going on in the text we are looking at this morning.

This section comes at the end of an incredible passage that explains how Jesus once and for all fulfilled all the sacrificial system in the Old Testament. It is really a cool passage, and the writer sums up the implications of it starting in verse 19.

In verse 22, he talks about how we should relate to God in light of what Jesus has done.

That leads us to where we pick up today in verse 23-25.

In verse 23, the writer tells us to individually stay strong and hold fast to what Jesus has done and the faith we have placed in Him.

Here we connect the ideas that I need to be right with God on my own and in right relationship with other Christians.

Did you notice that the words used here are plural?

Listen to the words he uses: “let us…one another…to gather together…encouraging each other.”

All of those words imply that we live in relationship to other believers, doesn’t it?

Well, of course you are supposed to. You are a pastor, so it is part of your job to love other people in the church.

You know what is interesting about the letter to the Hebrews? There is nothing in it that makes it seem like the writer is writing specifically to pastors or church leaders.

It is just generally addressed to a group of Christians.

That means this is a command for all of us, not just me as the pastor or the leadership team or deacons or Sunday School teachers.

Loving others in my church family, then, means I am going to carry out at least three responsiblities.

First...

1) Watch Out. (24)

Looking back at verse 24, we see that we are clearly called to watch out for our brothers and sisters in Christ.

That makes sense, doesn’t it? Hopefully, you would do that for your little brother or sister, watching out for them at school or on the bus.

You could pick on them, but nobody else was allowed to. You had their back.

But look at it again…is that what is in view here?

When we are watching out for each other, what are we trying to do? Look at the last half of the verse: “to provoke love and good works”.

The goal of watching out for each other is a different kind of protection—protecting each other from getting off track.

Think about it this way: When do you say, “Watch out!”?

You don’t say, “Hey, watch out! Everything is going great and you are doing awesome,” do you?

No; we tell people to watch out when we are warning them of some danger.

If we are watching out for each other, that will require us being there to warn someone when they are getting off track.

Part of life as a Christian is having the humility to allow others to help you see where you are off track, and being willing to show that same humility when you see something that doesn’t line up with God’s best.

Don’t misunderstand: God isn’t calling you to be the church’s lifeguard, where your sole job is to sit up above everyone else and watch out for something to go wrong.

However, as you develop relationships with others in the church, you will notice when those you know and love aren’t living in a way that is God honoring.

Out of a humble heart that loves the other person and wants God’s best for them, you have a responsibility to watch out for them and warn them.

If you’re looking for a good way to this, try something like this: “Hey there. I noticed <this> in your life, and it doesn’t look to me like what God tells us to do/be/think. Can you help me understand what’s going on?”

Remember that your goal isn’t to zap them or make them feel bad. We are watching out for each other, warning one another when we get off track, so that we can love God and others better and do good things that honor him.

That isn’t all the writer of Hebrews means by this command, though.

Verses 25-26 flesh out the picture of what it means to watch out for each other, provoking one another to love and good works.

He first addresses a challenge that you have probably had in church some time.

Have you ever had someone or heard of someone who calls someone out for something they think they are doing wrong, when reality, the accuser has no idea of what is really taking place?

When that happens, it is often because we have ignored the rest of this passage.

If we are going to love our church family, then we also need to...

2) Hang Out. (25a)

If you want to genuinely help someone stay on track and grow to love God and others better, then you have to develop relationships with them.

You can’t correct well from a distance.

Think about it this way: imagine, for a moment, that I had a splinter that I couldn’t get out myself, and I asked for your help. What tools would you need? Tweezers, maybe a needle or something, things that would require you to get close to me to get it out.

What if you said, “Hey Sean, I can get that splinter out!” Then, you ran behind a wall and lobbed a grenade over it.

Sure, it might get the splinter out, but it would cause a lot more damage, wouldn’t it?

When we try to correct without a relationship, it can be like tossing a grenade at a splinter. You may be right about the issue, but you are going to cause a lot of harm in the process.

That’s not loving your church family! To love your church family, you have to be close to those in the church.

How do you get close to someone?

You spend time with them!

Loving your church family cannot happen from a distance.

Remember, when we first talked about loving others, we said that it requires an investment of time.

At the very least, that means making attending church services a priority.

Why is that important?

Because on Sundays, we get together to pray, worship, and learn together.

We come into this room on Sundays having faced all the challenges and struggles the world can throw at us through the week, so we come to acknowledge together that God is still in charge and that we trust Him.

As we do that together, it recharges us spiritually as we see other believers doing the same thing.

There is something God does when his people get together and honor him that can’t be reproduced anywhere else in the world.

You know what we call this room? We call it a “sanctuary”.

Listen: there is nothing magical or mystical about this building or this room. It is simply the place God has allowed us to come and worship.

Others call their main room a worship center or multipurpose room or any number of things, and there is nothing wrong with that.

We call it a sanctuary, though, which originally implied a holy place, but it now carries with it the definition, “a place of refuge or safety” (Google: “define sanctuary”)

That’s what it should be: this should be a holy, safe place for you to bring all your problems and questions and lay them at the feet of Jesus with others doing the same thing.

At the end of a long week where everything fell apart around you, this should be the place you come to find hope.

When you are drifting into sin, which always hurts and destroys, what happens in this room should direct you back into the safety of a right relationship with God.

You should be able to find answers to your deepest questions and still be loved when they don’t seem to be answered.

In this room this morning, you have people dealing with all kinds of things. Some have had the greatest weeks of their lives, and some have had their worst.

Yet, as we get together, we join together to declare that Jesus is Lord and in charge of it all.

To grow in Christ, you need to be here for that as often as you can.

Don’t you want to be? If you are growing in your love for your church family, won’t you desire to get together with them and honor the God who saved each of us?

Can I suggest something, though?

You need to be with other believers more than simply on Sundays in church.

That is why we offer small groups and Sunday School classes: so you can get to know God and each other better.

I believe this encouragement goes beyond formal times like this, though.

Do you ever eat lunch? Why not try to have breakfast or lunch or coffee with someone else from church?

Invite them to your house, go to see a baseball game together, do something!

Why? Because we are all responsible to encourage each other, and we can’t do that if we never get together.

Listen to the example of the early church: (not on screen)

Acts 2:42–47 CSB

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.

The early church ate together daily. They were in each other’s houses, they knew their kids, they did life together.

Yes, they went to the temple together, but they also came home and hung out together.

Loving your church family means more than simply seeing them on Sundays; we need to develop ongoing relationships throughout the week.

That’s how we will nurture the Christ-centered relationships we must develop within our church family.

Remember, Jesus said that our love for each other was one of the key ways we demonstrate that we love Him:

John 13:35 CSB

By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

We can’t say we love our church family if we never see them or talk to them.

You don’t know how to pray, how to help, how to come alongside, or how God is working because you don’t know anyone!

We will be launching new small groups in the Fall, but our Sunday School classes meet all the time, so you can jump in one next Sunday!

We regularly hear from our guests that we are a very welcoming and friendly church, and that is something we need to continue.

What about after that first visit, or the first month? Are we taking people to lunch? Are we getting to know them? Are we getting together regularly with them so we can know what is up in their lives and pray for them?

If we are going to love our church, then we need to spend time together so we can provoke one another to love and good works.

When we get together, though, remember that there is a purpose to it.

Our third responsibility in loving our church from this passage is:

3) Build Up. (25b)

This rounds out the picture of what it means to watch out for one another.

As we spend time with each other, we need to encourage each other.

The idea behind encouraging each other is to build one another up.

Have you ever been around people who are better than you at something? You worked on a group project with people smarter than you in that subject or played on a team with people who were better at that sport or sang with people whose voices were stronger than you?

What did that do to you? In your best moments, it made you want to be better, right?

When I was in high school, I had the privilege of being a part of the VMEA Honors Choir. That was a pretty big deal for me as a high school choir guy. I barely made it with a score that was only 3 points above the cutoff. In the very first rehearsal, I was seated next to the guy from the VA Governor’s School who had a perfect score on his audition. He was light years better than me, and being around him made me want to try harder and sing better and remember ever technique I had ever learned.

His ability to sing provoked and encouraged me to do better.

In a similar way, as we walk together as a church, we are inspired to walk more closely with the Lord as we see what He is doing in and through others.

This isn’t about jealousy. Instead, it is creating a hunger for more of Christ in each other, pushing each other to love him and others more fully and do things that honor Jesus.

I could list names for you of men and women I have had the privilege of serving alongside in churches, and their faith has challenged me to walk more closely with Jesus.

Although Jesus was speaking primarily to the way we live in the world around us, I think his challenge to us applies within the church as well:

Matthew 5:16 CSB

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

Loving your church means we are going to challenge each other to glorify God better.

This is more important than ever. Listen to that last phrase of verse 25.

What is “the day”? The day Jesus will return.

Listen, no one on earth knows the exact date or time when Jesus will come back. However, we know that we must be closer than they were when this was written!

When Jesus comes back, is he going to find you isolated and trying to live your Christian life on your own, or is he going to find you in close relationship with other Christians, challenging each other to love him better each day, and living life on mission for him.

Remember, his love is the foundation for how we love each other.

Doesn’t he love us like this?

Didn’t he come to warn us of how far we have fallen from God’s design? Didn’t he come and walk with us and live with us, identifying with us in life and in death?

Doesn’t he offer us his life and his strength, encouraging us to honor God more fully every day?

Next to our families, our church family is one of the most important human relationships we have.

What steps do you need to take? Perhaps during our invitation, you need to stop and ask God whose life He wants you to invest in.

As we grow in love for God and others in this church family, it will form a strong base for us to take that love out into the community, where we are surrounded by people who don’t believe like we do. That’s what we will talk about next week.