What is the church? Why we gather.
Let’s do a little catch up for the last couple of weeks, and look back at the sermon from July 17 on “What is the Church? Why we gather.” The Bottom Line from that message was “There is power in the spiritual realm that affects the physical realm that can only be experienced as the gathered church, exalting Jesus together. Let’s make it a priority.” That addresses one of the central issues being focused on in our “what is the church?” series, which is the question, “What am I prioritizing in my life?” Most people will want to say they are prioritizing their spiritual walk and discipleship, but if their daily lives and their weekly rhythms don’t bear that out then they have to obviously come to terms with that in an honest way.
A challenge Nick gave us to think through was to think, “What am I making more important, that God says is optional, and what am I saying is optional that God says is important?” That can be a lot of things in our lives, but for our series, where we all can struggle is the church gathering. If we’re honest we all have been quick to put different activities or even our personal tiredness or stresses over the church gatherings, and opted to stay home or go to another activity instead of gathering with the church family.
We can be tempted to view the church family gatherings as optional, merely supplemental to our spiritual walk, but the Bible holds it out as much more. Paul even calls us “members one of another” or “members of one body” in Ephesians 4:25. As a follower of Christ you become part of the family of God, or the Church, and your discipleship is inherently tethered to the gathering of the saints. Hebrews 10:19-25 further ties the gathering to the Gospel, that our hope is affirmed in the fact that we can gather with the saints in God’s presence, because our Great High Priest made a way for us by purifying our hearts with His blood.
Hebrews 10:19–25 (NLT)
19 And so, dear brothers and sisters, we can boldly enter heaven’s Most Holy Place because of the blood of Jesus. 20 By his death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way through the curtain into the Most Holy Place. 21 And since we have a great High Priest who rules over God’s house, 22 let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean, and our bodies have been washed with pure water.
23 Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise. 24 Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. 25 And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
There are a few big encouragements shown in this passage, in particular we see the call to faith (v22), hope (v23), and love (v24), followed up by the call to do so in community (v25). One commentary put it this way “God lavished his grace on his people for many wonderful purposes. Here the Lord assures us of our acceptance through Christ that leads us to know and worship God; to persevere in believing the gospel, even in difficult times; and to show practical care for one another” [GTB]. Again, this is because the gathering of the Body of Christ is a Gospel centered distinctive of the church. We are called to be witnesses to who Jesus is and what He’s done, and that activity is often described as being ambassadors for the Kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20). As an ambassador, our embassy is the Church, where all Kingdom citizens are welcome, and outsiders are lovingly brought in and taught the Good News and shown the ways of the Kingdom. So let’s make it a priority to not neglect meeting together.