Why Are We Here?

 

Today is our first ever Faith Festival.  The ACE committee has been working hard to provide us with an opportunity to be more involved in the ministries of our congregation.  And I say our, intentionally.  I guess technically it is Jesus' congregation, but he has given us the stewardship of it.  If we want a great church then we must step up and make it great.  Anyway, the Committee has commissioned me to motivate us to step up and get involved.  So, this morning, we are taking a break from apologetics next week we get back to Reason #2 of why I believe in God.  But now, I am going to ask a different sort of question.

 

The question I want to explore this morning is, why are we here this morning?  According to some recent stats only 10% of people in Los Alamos have chosen to get up this morning and go to church.  All the rest have chosen to sleep in, read the paper, go mountain biking, go shopping, and I suppose there are some who have to work this morning.  So, of all the choices of things and places and people you could have chosen to do this morning, you chose to be here with me and the rest of our gang; why?

 

"Well, I'm a Christian and that's what Christians do."  That is a great answer.  I immensely appreciate that answer.  I have gone to church all my life and it is what I do.  And besides, I wouldn't have a job if you weren't here and generously supported the church.  So, let me say thank you for being here.  The last thing I want to do is talk you out of being at church on Sunday mornings… by reminding you that you could have slept in.  But it may do us some good to ask why is it the thing that Christians do?  Why has God, in his infinite wisdom and awesomeness, called you to be here this morning? 

 

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As we begin to think about this question let's ask it in a different way perhaps, backwards.  Could you do all the things we do, when we are together, by yourself?  Could you have accomplished all we have accomplished this morning all by your lonesome; by being the Lone Ranger? 

 

What have we done so far together?

 

- Most of us went to Bible class and learned something about God and his word.  Many of us have taught classes and taught kids.  You could have stayed at the house and read your Bible or a good book or got on the internet and researched some meaningful topic.  You could have stayed home and taught some kids the Bible, if you have kids.  Perhaps you could have learned and taught more than you did.  You could have picked the topic and found the answer that you wanted.  Note the little bit of sarcasm there in the, you.  It is a clue.

 

-We ate this morning.  We had our fellowship snacks.  Certainly, you could have done that somewhere else.  You could have gone to Starbucks and the coffee would have been at least as good and more expensive.  You could have gone to McDonalds and had their bonanza breakfast, or whatever they are calling it now, and it would have been almost as delicious.  But would it have been served with the same love as it is here.  Another clue?

 

- We sang this morning.  Well, some of us could sing at home, while others would have had to put a mp3 on and listened to music.  The music in your ear buds may have been better than Jimmy leading singing.  I'm not saying, but it might have been.  But could you have seen… the faces of…

 

We shared prayer requests.  You could have stayed home and come up with your own list.  Perhaps it would have been a better list than what we mentioned.  But would you have known to pray for … Or heard _______ pray for…

 

-We have prayed at least twice.  Certainly, you could have prayed at home.  But not heard…

 

-We read Scripture.  Could you have heard…

 

- We Lord Suppered this morning.  You could have done that by yourself.  Although, I have never heard of anyone doing by themselves, I suppose you could have found a pretty place in the mountains or overlooking the city or at Overlook Park as the sun rose and spent an hour instead of 10 minutes.  But would it have been communion?  Which means community with the body of Christ?  I don't know.

 

- We did contribution this morning. Most of us use direct deposit anyway, so contribution is irrelevant.  But could you have given your money to a kid and watched as they joyfully put it in the box?  I don't know about you but that is good enough reason for me to be here.

 

- And now you have listened to 4 minutes of a goofy preacher asking an obvious question.  Maybe you don't even need a goofy question on a Sunday morning.  But there are preachers all over your big screen LCD TVs. 

 

You could have done most of the stuff we do here on Sunday morning at home, by your Lone Rangerness and  without the rest of us and probably been more efficient.  So, why did you join the gang this morning?

 

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In order to dig a little deeper, we need to ask, "What is this thing we call church, anyway?"  Let me lecture for a minute or two on what is the purpose of the church.  What is the church supposed to do?  Then we can, perhaps, answer why we are here.

 

There are a lot of ways you could describe what the church is supposed to do

-Bring Glory to God!  - Amen

-Seek and Save the Lost - Amen

-Serve Jesus - Right on

-Make disciples - Exactly right.

 

There are many good answers.  I want to look at it practically.  The way my brain organizes things I see that the church is supposed to do three things.

 

1) Salvation

The church needs to be in the salvation business.  We are to model our Lord who did come to seek and save the lost.  The first ever church service ended with…

 

Acts 2:36-39   "Therefore let all Israel be assured of this: God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."  When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"  Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off-- for all whom the Lord our God will call."

 

We who are a far off are still called to be in the salvation business.  We are to be the place where people can learn about Jesus.  We are to be the place where people can come and learn about sin, and forgiveness; about lost and found; slavery and freedom; about spending eternity with our loving Lord.  We must never lose sight of the death of Jesus on the cross, given there as a sacrifice for our sins. 

 

The church is about salvation!  We are supposed to do salvation stuff at church.  Can the Lone Ranger do that by himself?   Hey… I can talk to others about Jesus.

 

2) Worship

 

The church should also be a place of worship. 

 

1 Timothy 2:8  I want men everywhere to lift up holy hands.

 

Ephesians 5:19-20   Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

 

Colossians 3:16-17  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 

The church is about worship.  Could you have done that by your Lone Rangerness? 

3) Sanctification

 

The church is more than about salvation; getting the lost saved.  It is more about worship.  The church is about sanctification.  It is about purifying.  It is about becoming holy.  It is about helping each other to be more like Christ!  We learned last year about the sanctifying power of community.  It is in community that we learn to be holy. 

 

Galatians 5:13-26  You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love.  The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself."  If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.  So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature.  For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.  Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.  Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

 

It is in the atmosphere of love and peace and gentleness with each other that we instill sanctification.  It is in this sanctifying community that we learn to serve and to be holy and to be more like Christ as we interact and connect to each other.  The next couple of verses in Galatians are…

 

Galatians 6:10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers.

 

Part of becoming Christ-like is in being a part of a sanctifying community.  You might work on getting better by yourself but it is hard without a community.  The church is about serving/sanctification.

 

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So, what have we figured out from this lecture?   Why church?  We can be about salvation and worship and a little bit about sanctification by ourselves but it is all hard as the Lone Ranger.  Here is why it is hard.

 

1 Corinthians 3:16-17 Don't you (pl) know that you (pl) yourselves (pl) are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you (pl)?  If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him; for God's temple is sacred, and you (pl) are that temple.

 

Throughout the ages there has always been places of worship.  Now, it is not the stone-upon-stone building that it used to be in the Old Temple.  Now the place of worship is a heart-upon-heart place.  Within this Temple there is some special.  I call it Spirit-empowered synergism.

 

Here is the bottom line of this sermon: Something synergistic, something mysterious, something Spirit-empowered happens when we come together.

 

Hebrews 10:19-25  Therefore, brothers, 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 with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.  Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.  Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another--

 

We are here this morning to create this synergistic community of people who share salvation and join in worship and mold toward sanctification. And, here is the part that the ACE committee commissioned me to say.

 

None of this happens, none of this happens, unless each and every one of us obeys 1 Peter 4.

 

1 Peter 4:8-11 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.  If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. (words of salvation) If anyone serves, (sanctifying serving) he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ.(in worship) To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

 

When each of us signs up to be plugged into the ministries of this church, we plug into the power of Spirit-empowered synergism and we give him glory!  That is why we are here this morning.

 

Los Alamos Church of Christ

August 29, 2010