Sermon Text:
Hebrews 10:23-25
The church is called to meet together and warned about neglecting to do so. Gathering together helps the community of believers to be encouraged, grow in our faith, and take care of one another as we strive towards the mission God has called us to.
Sermon Transcript:
(transcribed with AI)
Well, good morning. It's a pleasure to be with you here today. My name is Tyler Schultz. I'm one of the elders at Central. I have been for the past 4 years and now I am transitioning over to become one of the elders at Promontory Community Church as well, as we launch into what God has for us in this next season. Now, being a long weekend, it's been mentioned, we have a family service today and actually I'm kind of glad that we do. Because I'm hoping that I can help address one of the issues that I faced when I was a kid. See, with a little luck, this might come with a little more weight coming from someone other than a parent.
So, you see, when I was a kid, there was this TV show that came on Sunday mornings. And yes, we had to wait until designated times for shows to come on, and no, we couldn't pause them, we couldn't rewind them, we had to watch it as it was happening. And many Sundays in our house were the same. The rule was that if we all got ready to go, and we're all ready to leave for church, we were allowed to turn on the TV and watch the show. Until it was time to leave. And I seem to recall that being pretty good motivation in our house to get us going in the morning, but inevitably, if we're gonna be on time for church, we would have to leave before that show ended.
And I'm not sure if anyone else remembers it, but this was called Switch Back. It was a variety show with all sorts of different segments on it every week, but there was one in particular that we loved, and it would come on towards the end of the show, and it was where the host would pick a random phone number out of a phone book and call it. And if you answered your phone by saying, make it quick, I'm watching Switch back, you would win a prize. Now you don't understand just how certain we were every single week that it was gonna be the Schultz household out of all the houses in BC that was gonna get that call and be selected. We were ready and waiting. Some of us in the room where the TV was and one of the siblings had to be in the other room where the phone was plugged into the wall because that's how it was.
But the problem was that the segment didn't always come on at the same time. And sometimes we had to leave before make it quick came on. And whenever we had to leave before that was happening, the level of groaning and complaining I'm sure was just unbelievable like what if this was our week? Why can't we just stay and watch? Why do we have to go? How could church possibly be more important than winning this prize? As Pastor Jonathan said a couple weeks ago, when it comes to church, why should we even care?
Well, this morning, for both parents and children, I want to get into that a little bit. As we're going through this transition from being a campus of Central to being promontory community church, we're working through a summer series called The Church Is. And this morning we're going to explore why and how the church is gathered. So if you have your Bibles with you, please turn with me to Hebrews 10:23 to 25. And it's our tradition here to stand at Central. So if you're able, please rise and join me.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful, 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.
As for the reading of God's word you may be seated.
So through the first two weeks of our series we've been working through how those of us in the church who call ourselves believers have been first of all called by God and secondly how we've been filled with the Holy Spirit. These are both characteristics of a very personal nature. These are things that define the people who make up the church. We are called as individuals to faith. We are given individually spiritual gifts to use for God's glory. These are the aspects of the individuals within the church, and the first part of this passage this morning addresses that it's this individual component and how it leads us to come together as a group.
The writer of Hebrew says, let us referring to each one of us individually, hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. And the hope that we profess is the hope that we have in Jesus. Being an elder in Central, part of the role includes meeting with people who want to get baptized and become ministry partners in the church. We mentioned it earlier, but there's going to be baptisms taking place at Harrison Lake later this month, and I've recently had the privilege of speaking with a couple of teenagers who are getting baptized, including my daughter.
And part of the discussion that we have with kids, especially the ones who grew up in Christian homes, includes asking, when did you take your parents' faith and make it your own? Because it does have to be a personal choice that each person makes, and it's nice to hear them talk about, you know, the influence their parents had on them as they were growing up, but I also love hearing about Sunday school and things they learned there and youth group and Bible camp and the things that they learn and experience in group settings outside of the home or outside of the Sunday mornings. For many, it's many different things that lead them to the gospel message, which is the recognition of their need for Jesus in their lives and this confession of hope.
And we can hold fast to this confession, the writer says, because he who promised it is faithful. Throughout the book of Hebrews, we can read some of these promises that God is going to be faithful in.
In chapter 10 verse 14, it says:
for by a single offering, that is Jesus, he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.
And in chapter 10 verse 17, it says:
I will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more
meaning because of what Jesus did for us, the things we do in our lives that should separate us from God will be erased. And finally, chapter 13 verse 5, we read these words of God where he says:
I will never leave you or forsake you.
What amazing promises that were given here that we have to put our hope in.
But what then does that mean for us as a gathering? A few years ago, you might remember, the world went through a bit of a phase, the result of which had us spending more time doing church at home, watching it on TV. It wasn't quite like watching switch back, but I for one would prefer not to have to do that again. I don't know what it felt like for everyone else, but it just didn't feel like church to me somehow. Though it was the same songs, the same message, the same prayers, and you might think it should have even been better because we got to do it from the comfort of our own home. Without having to get up, without having to rush, without having to get out the door, but somehow the worship wasn't impactful or as impactful in leading me into God's presence. As we had this morning. Or perhaps it was just because I could hear more of myself.
And the messages which were still good and would have been exactly the same as if they were delivered in this setting, didn't hit quite as hard because they lacked the engagement. Or you easily get distracted by things around your house and don't even fully pay attention. And to be honest, if someone on a TV asks you to bow your head and close your eyes, do you need to do it? Pastor won't know if you did or not. But that was it, first season. If we all recall watching church through a TV screen. It just wasn't the same as attending church. It's almost like we were meant to be here together with others.
So let's look a little further at this shift in focus away from individual in our series and now to the collective and the church as being a gathered together community of believers. In verses 24 and 25 in our passage this morning, it says:
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 what a great reason that is, those couple of verses to plan to meet to get together each week. Just reading those could essentially be the entire message this morning, but I couldn't get away with that. Gathering together puts the emphasis on the active role that we're to play in one another's lives, not just simply having our own faith and holding on to dear life for it. And while this passage also includes this warning about ignoring meeting together, it's largely a calling to make the most of the time we have when we do get together.
In the book of James, chapter 2 verse 18, it says:
but someone will say to you, you have faith and I have works. Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
Our actions need to be a reflection of our faith, and if that's the case, this will in turn then lead to the stirring up of one another in love and good works and encouraging each other. The hope that we profess has to become expressive in some way, and these verses point us in that direction. And really, this is why we get together, because it's really hard to do these things. If you aren't with other people. It's really hard to do if you're alone at home each week.
And last week Rich talked in his sermon about the spiritual gifts that God has given us as well. He's given each of us something through the Holy Spirit, and many of these gifts also, we are called to bring together for the greater glory of God and His kingdom. In the verses following the text that Rich preached on last week, there's an analogy of the church as a body. And in 1 Corinthians 12:14, it reads:
For the body does not consist of one member, but of many.
And then later in verse 26, it says:
if one member suffers, all suffer together. If one member is honored, all rejoice together.
But it's really hard to know if someone's suffering or rejoicing, if we're not here with them, to learn about it.
So that's a bit about why we gather, but now let's look also at how we gather and how we've even come to structure our services this way. Acts chapter 2 verse 42 to 47 provides us with a glimpse into what the gatherings of the early church looked like. Says:
and they, that is the believers who were gathering, devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers, and awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing to the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Now, before we look deeper into what this passage does say, let's look a little bit at what it doesn't. It doesn't say that we must meet on Sunday mornings at 10:45. It doesn't say that our services need to be 2.5 worship songs and then dismiss the kids and then finish that third song. It doesn't say the sermon needs to be exactly 30 minutes or oh man, someone's gonna hear about it. It doesn't say that the host has to pray, the worship leader has to pray, and the preacher has to pray. And it doesn't say that when you walk in and greet someone with a how are you doing, that the response has to be just fine or good. These are traditions that we've developed and in some cases, our habits.
But what we're trying to do at Central and at promontory. Take this model from the early church and translate it into our gatherings on Sunday morning and practices here. So what the early church was doing? They were devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching, to learning. They came together to examine the scriptures and learn from the apostles how Jesus was actually the fulfillment of all of the prophecies that they were reading in the scriptures.
You see this description we have of the early church, that we read about here in Acts, they didn't have the Bible as we have it today. Back then they only had what we would call the Old Testament. That was their scriptures. They had the law and the prophets and the promise of a coming savior. So after Jesus had spent his time on earth here and completed his ministry, the apostles who had walked alongside him. During his earthly ministry, were called to show how he was the fulfillment of those Old Testament promises.
And then after that, God inspired some of the apostles to write the gospel accounts of Jesus's life, and to write letters of encouragement to others, to churches, and to their friends, and Luke was inspired by God to painstakingly write research Jesus's life and document it all. And following that, he was then with the Paul as he went through his missionary journeys, and he documented how the actions of the early church even began. They didn't have what we would call the New Testament. They were still in the process of living it and writing it. What we are able to study today is what the apostles were actually teaching and proving during the days of the early church.
But this studying that we learn about this, this devotion to learning, it still remains so important today, both for adults and for children, and it forms a big part of what we do here on Sunday mornings. In the service each week, we want to explore and learn more about what the Bible teaches us. What it tells us about who God is, how it points people to Jesus, and how we can apply this in our everyday lives. And the same is true of children's ministry as well. And for those of you who teach in children's ministry, thank you and bless you. It's obviously on a different level, but we want our kids also to be learning about Jesus every week.
We want our children when they reach the point in their lives where they have that encounter with God. To be able to recognize it and take the next steps in making their faith their own. This is also one of the reasons why we value child dedication in our church. Not only do we want parents to be dedicating their children to God and committing them, committing to raising them in a godly manner. But we also want to commit as a church community to come around those parents and help and support them.
The next thing the early church devoted themselves to was fellowship, which is the gathering of people. This is talking about time spent together, learning about what's going on in each other's lives. It's also about accountability and a time to promote obedience or correct disobedience when necessary. But it's also about being in a relationship where you've earned the right to do that. Because ultimately we're all gonna make mistakes, we're all gonna fall short. And one of the key realizations in knowing you're ready to accept the gospel message is accepting that you're not perfect and never will be. But trying to walk alone through the challenges of life is a lot harder than having a community to come around you and support you.
And fellowship also means being together and caring for one another. Our passage from Hebrews this morning talks of stirring each other up in love and good works and encouraging one another. Now I don't often feel like I'm stirring people up in love or being all that encouraging, but hopefully when we get together, we can have an interaction that positively impacts each other's lives in some way.
Last week I had walked up to someone that I hadn't seen in a little while and I said the usual, good morning, how are you doing? And I was fully expecting a line of fine, how are you? to which I could then lightly respond, good, not so bad, and move on with my day. But to my surprise, and it turns out to my delight, he said, Oh, did you hear about my trip? And well, no, I hadn't heard about this trip, but as soon as he says a response like that, you can be sure that I wanted to. And so we end up chatting for just a few minutes in the back. We both share a little bit and move on. We didn't move on just feeling like we passed the obligatory how are you test, but it was actually a true moment of fellowship and joy, at least that's what I felt, though, to be honest, perhaps both of us felt a little discouraged at how we're both falling apart physically as we get older, but. Such as life.
Next, the early church devoted themselves to the breaking of bread. And last week, if you were here with us, we did communion together. The act of this act of remembrance in gatherings started shortly after Jesus's time on earth, and which we continue now. Again, the apostles were with Jesus at the Last Supper when he first took the bread and the cup and shared it with them. They recognized the importance of that night and passed that along to the early church. And we continue that tradition today, not because we may show up to church hungry on the last Sunday of each month, but because it's a reminder to all of us of what Jesus has done for us.
When we take communion, we read Paul's words from 1 Corinthians 11. Says after both passing around the bread and the cup of wine, Jesus said:
Do this in remembrance of me. For as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
It's not all that different from how the writer of Hebrews finishes the passages that we're looking at this morning. The final line in verse 25, after we're told to stir each other up and encourage one another is, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. That day being a reference to Jesus's second coming here on Earth. So while it may seem like ritual to do something like communion and sometimes it doesn't maybe feel all that important, us taking communion is actually following a direct command from Jesus that's been passed down through the centuries. We do this faithfully in remembrance of him again being blessed to be able to see that example set by the early church.
And the early church also was devoted to prayers both individually and corporately. Throughout the book of Acts, prayer is presented as a central activity of the group of believers. They prayed when they got together, they prayed when people were locked in prison, and they prayed for boldness in proclaiming the gospel. And just as it was then, prayer is a discipline of our faith now. So, when multiple people pray from up on stage on a Sunday morning, it's not that we're concerned that God might not be here and needs to be invited. But it's like all the other spiritual disciplines. It's a way to ensure that our hearts are in the right place as we come before him in worship.
And we, and as Colleen had mentioned after the service, we also have a prayer team available. And they'll meet with you and pray with you individually if you want. God has given us prayers as a way to lift up our burdens and our requests, and even our praises to him. And he's given us a whole room full of people who could share those things with each other, and many who would love to have the chance to pray with you.
Following that, looking at Acts 2:44 and 45, they talk about having all things in common and selling possessions and belongings for the good of all. The members of the early church held their possessions lightly, ready to use them at a moment's notice to the benefit of someone else, or for the church as a whole, as needs arose. Nothing was forced, everything was free to everyone was free to contribute as much or as little as they felt, as they were called to furthering the kingdom of God and helping those around them.
And every week as well here, our host is going to mention that giving is a part of our worship, and absolutely it is. When we give to the church, we are doing it for God's glory, not for our own. And as an elder in the church, we are charged with stewarding those finances, and it's a task that we do not take lightly. We want to ensure that every financial gift each person makes is going towards furthering God's kingdom. And once a month we also take a benevolent offering. It's a special collection recognizing. That there are some needs in our church and in our community, and some people whose day to day needs are not being met. And what better way that we can be a blessing to them than by helping them financially.
Next, we read that the early church was devoted to meeting regularly, both in the temple together and in each other's homes. These meetings wouldn't have started out as a church like we think of it today. But when we read through the book of Acts and many of the letters written by Paul, we learned that he would regularly go to the temple first to talk to people about Jesus. As I mentioned earlier, the apostles, including Paul, were testifying to the things that they had seen and heard as they walked with Jesus, and they were using the scriptures to point out how he actually fulfilled them. So if you're trying to show people how the fulfillment of scriptures was met by one person, what better place to start than in the temples where they were actively learning about it.
Today, our large group gatherings are what normally get referred to as church and we regularly meet here on Sundays. But we also recognize the idea of breaking of bread in homes is how it's described here, which leads us to this idea of care groups. Sunday mornings are important, but there's quite a few people here on a Sunday each week, too many to have a close, meaningful relationship with each one. So we encourage people as part of church family to get connected into small groups. It can be an instrumental part of faith growing and connecting with people outside of Sunday mornings, and Pastor Jonathan is actually going to expand on that in a couple of weeks in another sermon.
And finally we read. That they got together and spent time praising God. We spend time each week worshiping through song up front here. There are many different ways in which we can worship, but, but most people would generally first think about singing when when the word worship is mentioned. And for me personally and hopefully for you as well, singing worship songs has just a wonderful effect. It calms me when I'm incredibly nervous right before preaching. We often pray that the service in the service that that the worship leader can also lead us into God's presence. And that's truly our hope. We read in the book of Revelation that we're given this picture of heaven and the angels are gathered around the throne singing praises to God. My hope is that we are able to catch just a small glimpse of that each week when we gather together.
Now, if you're new with us today, or new to faith, or even still exploring faith. A lot of what I've been talking about this morning seems to be addressed to those who already believe. So where do you fit in? As I mentioned earlier, we're exploring in our series this summer of what the church is, it's often referring to the gathering of believers. But it's more than that. It's a gathering of people with a common mission. And in Acts 2:47, as we get the final line of this description of the early church, we read:
and the Lord added to their number day by day, those who are being saved.
For those of us who already believe, we gathered together with a common belief and a hope in God, to be taught, to be reminded, to be encouraged, but also to be challenged to take that hope outside of these walls. But ultimately it is God who adds to these numbers. We are called to make sure people are given the opportunity to hear about the saving work of Jesus and see the gospel message brought to our community and beyond, and next week we're gonna look further at that and how the church is not just called to be gathered but also called to be sent out. But ultimately it's God who changes people's hearts. And if you're here this morning and still exploring, I pray that you're feeling God moving in this place.
There's a saying that I learned a few years ago, it says, if you wanna go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. 2000 years ago, the first believers committed themselves to meeting together regularly and set an example for all of us to follow, and here we are today, still holding fast to many of the traditions that they started then.
So after all that, here are a few things I'd like to take away from today. First, Can we commit to not just making church a Sunday morning activity that we're trying to check off a box for? Let's not just try to get in and out of here as quickly as possible to say that we did. Let's make this place a place of true fellowship where we greet each other and care about each other and care what's going on in each other's lives. And I don't mean to be, I'm really bad with names. And I know some of you are too. And I don't want to have to resort to name tags, so please don't feel like it's too awkward to just remind me of what your name is if it looks like I'm a little bit lost.
And secondly, if you wake up Sunday mornings and you're feeling discouraged or disconnected, please don't use that as an excuse not to come. But rather, in situations like that, let's make church a place that you do want to be, where you can come and find someone to talk with and find someone to pray with. And the flip side of that as well is, if you wake up Sunday morning feeling excited and encouraged, and you're thrilled with what's going on in life, come to church, find someone that you can share that with, praise God together, or find someone else that could use some of that encouragement and be that for them.
And thirdly, let's remember that the church, this gathering. Is the body of Christ here on Earth. And let's commit ourselves to walking together to grow deeper in our faith, both in the knowledge of God and in our personal relationships with him. So children, though you may have other things you may want to be doing or watching right now, if you find yourself asking your parents why we come and do this together on Sunday mornings. We've been given an example to follow. It was established by the same people who were walking on this earth with Jesus all those years ago, and we want to be faithful to the calling that God put on them and on us today.
Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for calling your church into being. And for inviting us to gather together for your glory. We thank you for the gifts that you give to each one here, that allow us to demonstrate the goodness of who you are through our faith and actions. And we thank you for the role that we are able to play in each other's lives, to provide a listening ear or an encouraging word when necessary. And the opportunity to go out and make your name known and lead others to the good news of who you are. Jesus' name I pray. Amen.