Why Church??

"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.” (Hebrews 10:23-25 ESV)

  I was awakened early in the morning thinking about the church and this verse was set upon my heart.  I have seen the trend in America concerning the church.  I have attended churches that turn all the lights down low and make the room very dark.  The music is loud and when the pastor speaks the only light in the room is focused on him.  What this does is focus everything on the individual sitting watching and for a moment, everything is all about them.  Understand me when I say this, I am not knocking those pastors or churches.  These churches are just giving the people what they want.  The pastors know it and are trying to reach people for Christ, using the culture.  It’s reflective of our narcissistic society.

But what if I told you it’s not Biblical?  What if I told you church service had nothing to do about you directly, but it was about Christ and the person sitting in the seat next to you?  One of the things I absolutely love about scripture it how relative it is to us today.  Something written thousands of years ago can still apply to us in 2013.  The reason this is true is because the human heart hasn’t changed, we still act the same way regardless of our setting. The human on the stage never changes, just the settings around him changes from scene to scene.  

The writer of Hebrews was faced with a problem, members of churches were falling away from the faith and he reminds them “why church” is important.  He reminds us to “hold fast” to the confession of our hope, that is Christ.  Christ is the living hope and we are to hang onto Him as if our lives depended on it.  Think about a ship on the sea and you are on the deck, and the ship is being tossed about by the waves.  In the middle of the deck is a large mast.  As the waves increase and you are being tossed around, you grab hold of the mast and you hang on for dear life, because if you don’t you will perish over the side.  We want to hold fast to Christ as the waves around us grow in fury, because we know God is faithful.    

Next the writer says, “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.”  Here is the thought here, we are to gather together regularly, we are to hold fast to Christ and encourage others around us to do the same.  The way we hold fast is by focusing ourselves on Christ and loving one another and loving others.  In fact the writer uses the phrase “to stir up” and the reality is—we are moved by the love of others.  We are motivated by the encouragement of others going through the same thing we are.  

I recently attended a band concert at the local middle school.  It seemed like most of the town was packed into the gym that night.  My family and I had to stand off to the side.  This was my youngest son’s first concert and he plays the trumpet.  Joe has gotten up early for months to practice before school and his band teacher Mr. Achilles has also sacrificed to teach him.  It would have been a great disservice to my son Joe and Mr. Achilles not to attend, why?  Because as a father I want to encourage my son to continue working at learning an instrument, because I know how this will benefit him for the rest of his life.  Secondly, I want to encourage Mr. Achilles and to thank him for his dedication and service to our community.  I can do both simply by attending, being their physically to show my support.  Having the large crowd stirred my son and he was excited to play in front of so many people.  Not because he is a glory hound, but because he had worked hard and wanted to share with others what he had learned.  By attending we stirred Joe up to continue to get up early and to practice…to continue to discipline himself to get better.

As we attend church or gather together for fellowship with one another we encourage each other, we stir up each other to love.  From the time we arrive to the time we leave it’s about encouraging each other to hold fast.  This love displayed carries us and fills our hearts.  We take it with us and it spills over onto everyone around us.  The fact is we cannot live out our faith without the love and encouragement of others.  We can try for a time, but eventually we will fade away and be tossed over the side.  This is especially true when the waves of life grow more violent.  

I have seen so many people struggle in the faith and when this struggle begins the person begins to “unplug”.  They stopped reading the bible, their prayer life dries up and they stop attending church.  Once this happens it’s just a matter of time before they are tossed off the ship and will need to be rescued if they can be found.  The way we avoid being lost in the sea of discouragement and sin, is we hold fast to Christ and encourage others to do the same.  This can simply be done by just showing up.  By you being there, the person next to you or across the room will see you and be encouraged by your presence.  From here things start to happen, you will encourage and start to love each other.  You will miss seeing someone and you will call them and pray for them when they are not there.  You will stir up the hearts around you and when the storms of life hit, to will cling to the mast of Christ and you will hang on together.  

Church is not about you it’s about the person next to you.  With that thought in your mind, remember there is a person next to you who is there for you, you are not alone.  By giving of yourself for others, you receive much more in return.  Let’s commit to church and fellowship in 2013!       

~Pastor Steve