To Give Glory

Introduction: “The Church is full of hypocrites! All that the church is is a bunch of people who think they’re better than everyone else! I was hurt by the church so I don’t do that religion thing. I don’t have to go to church to worship God, I can worship Him wherever I am. I can watch whatever preacher I want to on the internet or listen on the radio, so there is no need for my presence at a church building.” These are excuses that I have heard many times as to why people don’t come to church.

There are many other things that we could be doing. For some, Sunday is the only day they get off of work so, they want to spend it at home. For others it finally a day to sleep in. But, why is church so important? Today we begin the new year with a series that I am calling, “Why Church?” as we try to understand why worshiping together is so vital to our faith. We will be looking at church not as they building, but as the people of God. We are looking at church as an action not necessarily a place. We have to understand that whether the building exists or not, the church always will.

Pray

This morning we will be giving our first answer to Why Church? It is to give glory! What is glory? Glory is associated with the presence of God. When we give glory to God, we give attention to His inexpressible beauty and majesty. So, let’s look this morning at how the early church brought glory to Jesus.

Read: Acts 4:32-33

We see that the early church met together with joy. There did not seem to be any evidence of the church meeting reluctantly or resentfully. They met with great anticipation and joy. There is something there to learn isn’t there? I want to look at a couple of things that we can learn from the early church from this passage. We need to...

Meet With Love

This reminds me of Mark 12:30-31

Mark 12:30–31 ESV

And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Love! This commandment was lived out within the early church. Not just be gathering together but by being of one heart and one soul. There was unity! In his book Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Do not waste your time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor, act as if you did. As soon as we do this, we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him. If you injure someone you dislike, you will find yourself disliking him more. If you do him a good turn, you will find yourself disliking him less.”- C.S. Lewis

When God’s people find it a priority to meet with each other on a regular basis you begin to move towards oneness. Then when the church becomes one the greatest commandment becomes priority.

Meeting together regularly with a unified heart and soul brings God glory. It shows the world that we have a God that is amazing and powerful! It tells Satan that even in our disagreements, we are still united with one heart and soul on the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

In order to have the unity that brings God glory, it requires His people to make meeting a priority. Is weekly worship here at Rosebud a priority to you? Yes, you can worship God anywhere but, it is commanded that we meet as a corporate body. When the early church started they met daily and every Lord’s Day. Life was lived in the midst of fellow brothers and sisters in Christ.

We have to make church a priority in our lives! Our whole life should bring glory to Jesus and meeting together unified in our worship is one way of bringing that Glory!

Meet With Mission In Mind

What is mission? It’s the Great Commission. Individual churches should have a mission that reflects the Great Commission. The early church understood that meeting together was essential to accomplishing the Great Commission.

It was John Wesley that once said, “I want the whole Christ for my Savior, the whole Bible for my book, the whole Church for my fellowship, and the whole world for my mission field.”- John Wesley. Having a mission that everybody is united under is essential to the health of the body. That is one reason we are commanded to meet.

Consider what Hebrews 10:24-25 says,

Hebrews 10:24–25 ESV

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.

In our weekly meeting, in our Bible study, in our fellowship activities, in our Sunday schools, we need to be encouraging one another. Helping each person as we move towards love and mission. This is done with our daily walk with Jesus.

When we meet regularly under love and mission we are encouraging one another to live our lives bringing glory to Jesus and accomplishing our mission.

Conclusion:

Several years ago my family and I were in Boise, Idaho spending the day shopping and hanging out when we decided to go on a nature hike at one of the city parks. During our hike we came across a big board with owls on it but the faces were cut out of it so you could put your own face in it for a picture. Some of these are pretty funny! Many of us have had our pictures taken this way, and the photos are humorous because the head doesn’t fit the body. Think with me for a moment. The Bible says that Christ is the head of the church or the body. Now, picture Christ as the head of our local body of believers right here at Rosebud. Now think about this question. Would the world laugh at the picture because it doesn’t fit? Or would they stand in awe of a human body so closely related to a divine head?

Why Church? Because it brings Glory to God! Christ died for the church. He sacrificed for us! He rose again, alive, for us! I challenge you this morning, make church a priority. When this COVID stuff is all said and done, we need to make it a priority to meet right back here with one another. Come as believers who are one in heart and soul. United in love and mission. Then we will give God Glory, and those in the world will stand in awe of His majesty!

Pray