Stop Going to Church

NOTE:

This is a manuscript, and not a transcript of this message. The actual presentation of the message differed from the manuscript through the leading of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is possible, and even likely that there is material in this manuscript that was not included in the live presentation and that there was additional material in the live presentation that is not included in this manuscript.

Engagement

How many of you here this morning would like to flourish in your lives? I’m pretty sure all of us here would like to do that, right? We all want to flourish physically, financially, emotionally, and spiritually. This morning, I’m going to share with you what the Bible has to teach us about to flourish in our lives and I’m pretty sure it’s not what you think:

Tension

I know that it’s kind of ironic that I encouraged all of you to be here this morning to tell you to stop going to church. But hopefully when we’re finished with this message you’ll understand why I’m encouraging you to follow that advice.

I planned a while back to take a one week break from our current sermon series - Rhythms of Grace - in order to use this message to set the stage for our “Be the Church” Sunday on March 29. This will be the third year that we have set aside a Sunday to leave the church building and worship by serving our community in the name of Jesus. And in looking back to the last two years, I realize that I haven’t done a very good job of communicating why we’re doing this and why it’s so important that all of us participate.

But at the time I planned to share this message I really didn’t anticipate how much it was going to reinforce so much of what we learned about the rhythm of community last week and the rhythm of service two weeks ago.

I want to begin by sharing something that happened to me about a week and a half ago that really confirmed to me why this message is so important. A week ago on Friday, Mary and I were on our way to watch the women’s basketball game at the U of A. We drove by a church which had a sign that read “Ashes to Go”. I knew that Ash Wednesday had just occurred just two days earlier, but I was so intrigued by the sign that I just had to do some more research. I was able to find the website for that particular church and here is the information I found there:

If you are unable to attend a regular Ash Wednesday service, stop by [Name of Church] for Ashes-to-Go. Pull into the driveway in front of our sanctuary, along Campbell Av. You will receive imposition of ashes, a blessing and a prayer, and a handout about observing Lent. Ashes will be available: 7-9am, 12-1pm, and 4-6pm.

I think what this church did was a pretty good indication of what most of our culture, and even many who would consider themselves to be Christians, have in mind when they think about going to church.

Most people think that church is a place to go. Even receiving the “ashes to go” still required making a trip to a specific location. It’s pretty clear that most people still think of a building or a physical location when they hear the word “church”. So in their minds,“going to church” requires actually traveling to a certain location. That is certainly changing due to technology and I suppose that many people now think they can “go to church” by listening to a podcast by their favorite preacher or by watching the live stream of a church service. And I suppose it won’t be long until you won’t even have to go get your ashes because Amazon will have them available for same day delivery.

Many people think of going to church as a way to satisfy some kind of religious obligation that makes them right with God. The fact that people find it important to observe rituals like Ash Wednesday or Lent that aren’t prescribed in the Bible is certainly evidence of that. And even prescribed ordinances, like baptism and the Lord’s Supper, can easily be seen as reasons to go to church in order to engage in some religious ritual that makes a person right with God. In fact, even singing songs or listening to a sermon can become an obligation or a ritual if we don’t approach those practices with the right mindset.

Many people think of going to church as an imposition that should be made as convenient and easy as possible. The idea of “Ashes to go” is only the latest in a number of efforts by churches to satisfy this desire for convenience.

Truth

You might not expect that a message about church would be found in the Old Testament, but that’s exactly where we’re going today. So go ahead and turn with me to Psalm 92. Although I’m going to focus on the last 4 verses of this Psalm, I’ll read the entire Psalm so that we have the proper context.

[Read Psalm 92]

The superscription of this Psalm does not identify the author, but it does tell us the purpose of the Psalm. It is a “song for the Sabbath”. Interestingly this is the only Psalm that is specifically identified in that way. So we know immediately that it has to do with worship.

The Psalm begins with a description of the kind of corporate worship that was to be carried out on the Sabbath, and it’s not all that different than what we’ve already done this morning. We have gathered to give thanks and to declare the greatness of God and sing praises to Him accompanied by the playing of a variety of musical instruments. My guess is that this is what many of us picture when we talk about “coming to church”.

Then in verses 4-5, the Psalmist reveals the motivation behind corporate worship - the great works of the Lord. Then beginning in verse 6, the Psalmist contrasts the way of the “evildoers” and the way of the righteous. Remember earlier I asked you if you want to flourish? Well, in this Psalm we see that both the evildoers and the righteous flourish, but in completely different ways. The evildoer often flourishes here on earth, but his blessings are like the grass that soon fades away. And his final end is eternal destruction.

The righteous, on the other hand, flourish in a much different way and in verses 12-15, the Psalmist describes what it is that allows them to flourish like that. As we often do, let’s begin with our big idea and then develop that further:

Church is not a place I go; It is a people where I am planted

We already saw this last week when we talked about community, Hopefully you’ll remember how Jesus defined the church, but this is so important, let’s review it again briefly. When Jesus and the New Testament authors wrote or spoke about the church, they used the Greek word ekklesia:

“church” =

Greek ekklesia =

“called out” =

“assembly”

The church is not a building; it’s not even an organization that you belong to like a country club or AAA or AARP. Those kinds of organizations exist for the benefit of their members. The church, on the other hand, does not exist primarily for the benefit of its members, although we obviously are blessed by begin a part of it. The church is an assembly of those who have been called out by God to be conformed to the image of Jesus, and which exists primarily for the benefit of those who are not yet a part of it.

So it’s really not even possible to “come to church”. What we need to do instead is to “be the church”. And that is not something we can do for just an hour or two on Sunday mornings. So what is the difference between going to church and being the church? We find the answer to that question in verse 13:

The difference between “coming to church” and “being the church” is being planted.

According to the Psalmist, the righteous flourish because they are “planted in the house of the Lord”. But what exactly does that mean?

While the phrase “house of the Lord” is most frequently used to refer to the tabernacle or the temple, it is also used, especially in the Psalms, to refer to the people of God. The underlying Hebrew word used there can actually mean a family or a household and that appears to be the sense in which it is used here. The Psalmist is not teaching that a person flourishes merely by being planted physically in the temple, but rather by being planted among the people of God. That is certainly consistent with the New Testament definition of “church” that we talked about earlier.

In this passage, we find two simple tests that will help us determine whether we are in fact planted among God’s people.

TWO EVIDENCES THAT I AM PLANTED:

Spiritual growth

The Psalmist gives two illustrations to describe how a person who is planted in the church grows spiritually:

First, he says that they will flourish like a palm tree. I have three palm trees in my backyard and they have flourished in all kinds of conditions. They have survived dry 115 degree days in the summer and snow and freezing conditions in the winter. And most of us have probably seen the pictures of palm trees in a hurricane where they bend nearly to the ground without breaking and end up being even stronger after the storm. They can do that because of the deep roots they put down.

Disciples of Jesus who are planted in the church are able to flourish during all season of life - both good and bad - because of the deep roots that they put down. Perhaps that’s why in the Bible the branch of the palm tree is often symbolic of victory and triumph, like Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem on what we now call Palm Sunday.

Second, we see that those who are planted, grow like a cedar in Lebanon. A cedar tree in Lebanon can grow up to 130 feet tall, but it takes over 100 years for it to reach that size. Cedar trees were known for their pleasing look and aroma, but even more importantly, for their durability.

The illustration of the cedar tree reminds us that spiritual growth takes time. That is why a person who merely comes to church is unlikely to grow. They often don’t stay enough to get planted and even if they do stay in one church and attend regularly, they never really get planted by being actively involved in the life of the body. But someone who does make the effort to be planted will mature spiritually in a way that cause their life to be durable so that they can withstand the storms of life.

Of course there are some exceptions, but the general principle we see here is that if you’re not growing spiritually, it is likely that is because you are just coming to church rather than being planted among a body of disciples. Most of the time when people in a church complain they are not being fed, the problem isn’t that the spiritual food isn’t there for the taking, it’s that they aren’t planting themselves in the body by partaking of the food that is being offered.

If you’re not more mature in you walk with Jesus today than you were a year ago or five years ago, then you need to honestly ask yourself if you are in fact really planted here or if you’ve just been coming to church.

Spiritual fruit

We see this in verse 14. Those who are planted bear fruit and that fruit bearing continues even into their old age. We should not be surprised at this since Jesus talked about the importance of bearing fruit on the night before He went to the cross:

John 15:16 ESV

16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.

If you are a disciple of Jesus, then you have been appointed by Him to go and bear fruit. In fact, earlier in that same conversation with His disciples, Jesus revealed that bearing fruit is proof that we are genuine disciples:

John 15:8 ESV

8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples.

So what does it mean to bear fruit? That’s obviously a topic we could spend a lot more time on, but let me share a couple important aspects of bearing fruit.

First bearing fruit is personal. It is letting God develop those things which Paul calls the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

If you are genuinely planted in the church, then you will be growing in these areas. If you’re just coming to church, you probably don’t see this kind of fruit in your life any more than when you first became a Christian.

Bearing fruit is also outward. It means that I will employ the fruit of the Spirit in my relationships, particularly with those outside the church, in a way that I will love them with the love of Jesus. And the reason I am to do that is to bear fruit by producing new disciples of Jesus. If I am planted in the church, that kind of fruit will occur naturally. If I’m only coming to church, I will never see that kind of fruit.

So how do I get planted so that I make sure that I’m growing spiritually and bearing fruit?

Application

HOW TO GET PLANTED

I’m going to keep this really simple. I’m going to give you just two principles - one “don’t” and one “do”.

Don’t be a “spiritual consumer”

One of the things we all know about a seed is that it won’t grow unless it’s planted. And the same thing is true with a disciple of Jesus. Unfortunately, we have a whole generation of Christians who have largely failed to get planted because they view the church, just like they view their favorite TV show or restaurant or store. We have so many options in our culture that if we get tired of some TV show or if it gets cancelled, we just find another one. If we have a bad experience at one restaurant, we just find another one. If we have a bad experience at one store, there are plenty of others we can go to.

So when those who merely “come to church” begin to feel like one particular church no longer meets their needs, they can easily find another one that they can try out. Or even worse, they just give up on church altogether and try to function as a “Lone Ranger” Christian. Unfortunately, because the problem wasn’t the church, but the fact that they were merely coming to church instead of being planted, these people end up just hopping from one church to another over and over again.

I’m not saying that there aren’t sometimes legitimate reasons to leave a church, especially over false doctrine or teaching. But my experience has been that those occasions are very few and far between. Not always, but most of the time, the people that have left our church are the ones who “come to church”, often on a regular basis, but who have never been planted.

On the other hand those who are not just coming to church to get their needs met, but who are instead really planted in their church, seem to rarely leave. Maybe that is because they are so busy helping feed others that they don’t even consider that they are getting fed themselves.

Do take the next step

Our Discipleship Path is a tool that we have developed to help people get planted right here at Thornydale Church. We know that those who get planted here are much more like to grow spiritually and produce fruit than those who just come to church.

While we share this path on occasion from time to time, we really haven’t taken time to go into it in much detail for a while and this morning seems like an appropriate time to do so. Before we do that I want to point out that in the seat backs are some tan cards that say “My Next Step”. This morning, if God leads you to take one of these next steps I’m going to talk about, we want to encourage you to fill out one of those cards and share that next step with us so that we can help you get planted here at TFC.

I want to point out again that we’ve chosen to depict this path as a circle to remind us that our journey of spiritual growth never ends. We never “graduate” or get our degree. That’s just as true for me as it is for all of you. The circle also reminds us of our responsibility to make new disciples who can join us on this path.

Let’s briefly talk about each step on this path and see how it might help you to take an appropriate next step today.

COME

The fact that you are here this morning confirms that you’ve already take this first step, so I don’t really need to spend any more time here.

COMMIT

There are a number of commitments that are important for us to make in order to get planted, but there are three in particular that we believe are crucial:

Become a disciple of Jesus by putting your faith in Him alone. Since, by definition, the church only consists of those who have committed their live to Jesus as Lord and Savior, you can come to church with making that decision, but you can never be planted until you do. If you have never made that decision, aren’t sure you have, or even if you just want to talk about it some more, let us know by completing the “My Next Step” card.

Be baptized. While baptism is not required for salvation, it is an important step of obedience and also a public testimony of your faith in Jesus. We believe that the Bible teaches that baptism is to be by immersion subsequent to placing one’s faith in Jesus. No other method or timing, such as infant baptism or being sprinkled, is taught in the Bible, nor does it adequately picture our new life in Jesus.

Become a member of TFC. While you are certainly welcome to attend here whether you are a member or not, becoming a church member is an important commitment that shows you are serious about wanting to be planted here. Let us know if you’re interested in becoming a member and we’ll get you started on that process.

GROW

There are almost an unlimited number of ways you can grow, so I’ll mention just a few that you might want to consider:

The most obvious one in light of our current sermon series is to incorporate the “rhythms of grace” that we’ve been learning about into your life. We’ve been providing you with some practical ways to do that each week.

Find a small group that you can participate in. Stay for the Bible Roundtable on Sunday mornings. Attend the Men’s Bible study on Mondays at 6:30 a.m. or the Women’s study on Wednesdays at 5:00 p.m. or the Brown Bag Bible Study on Wednesdays at noon.

Be a good steward and give your time, talent and treasures.

SERVE

Since Ryan did such a good job of addressing this a couple weeks ago, I won’t spend a lot of time here. All of us need to find a place of service here at TFC as well as serve others in our daily lives.

But I do want to emphasize that our “Be the Church” Sunday on March 29 is an important opportunity for us to gather together as a body and serve our community in the name of Jesus. I know that in the past that some have used that Sunday as an opportunity to take a day off or even attend another church, but we’re really shooting for as close to 100% participation as possible this year. I’ll be sharing some more details about this day at the end of our gathering this morning.

SHARE

This is an important next step both for us as individuals and as a body. Obviously, as individuals we all have the responsibility to be praying for those we know who are not yet disciples of Jesus and then verbally sharing our testimony with them as God provides opportunities.

As a body, one of the main reasons that we engage in activities like “Be the Church” Sunday and in other forms of service in our community is to provide a tangible way to testify about how the grace of Jesus has changed our lives and helped us to love others the way He loves us.

Action

Even though I don’t have a homework assignment for you this week, that doesn’t mean that we don’t all need to apply what we’ve learned today. And many of us will need to take our “next step” in order to be planted here like God desires. So as we have an opportunity to respond to God in just a moment, will you prayerfully consider your next step and then let us know how we can help you take that step by filling out the response card and returning it in the offering plate or returning it to the information center.

Inspiration

Church is not a place I go; It is a people where I am planted

I am grateful for so many of you here this morning who don’t just come to church, but who are firmly planted here. But at the same time, I also know that we could be a lot more effective in bearing fruit if every single person here this morning would make that commitment.

Discussion questions for the Bible Roundtable

What are some ways - both intentional and unintentional - that we perpetuate the idea that the church is a building, place or organization?

What are some ways that our culture presents barriers to being “planted” in a church? How can we overcome some of those barriers?

What are some ways that being “planted” in a church facilitates my spiritual growth in ways that “coming to church” can’t?

When it comes to helping people get “planted” in the church, what are the church’s responsibilities? What are the individual’s responsibilities?