Why Should I Come to Church?

2 years ago, I heard Tony Evans share this illustration in regards to people asking if they need to come to church or not. “I hear people say, "I don't have to go to church to be a Christian," and they are absolutely right. Salvation is through faith alone in Christ alone. But you don't have to go home to be married, but stay away long enough & your relationship will be affected.” If I tell my wife, Lindsey, that I love her, but I don’t ever see her because I willingly choose to go and spend time with other people and do other things over and over, that will negatively impact our relationship and an outsider would understandably question if I really am devoted to her like I claim to be. Sure, I haven’t seen my wife in 6 months because I’ve been visiting with other people and having a lot of fun and working really hard, but believe me, I’m married! How ridiculous does that sound?!

Why do we often desire to find the bare minimum we can do in order to keep our Jesus ID card? See, that’s not what Jesus is interested in, church. He’s not interested in half-hearted followers. He’s not interested in being 2nd or 3rd place on our priority list. He’s not interested in us only coming to Him whenever we’re bored of everything else. That’s not the Jesus of Scripture. The Jesus of the Bible changes us. He flips our priority list upside down. He demands that we follow Him daily - this includes spending time with Him in prayer, reading Scripture, and, yes, gathering with our brothers and sisters in Christ corporately on a consistent basis. These are things that we “GET” to do - we shouldn’t look at them as a drag that we “have” to do - because of Jesus, we get to worship God and be encouraged by our fellow Christians regularly. This is something that we must remind ourselves of often whenever this question is brought up or comes up into our brains after a busy week. Why Should I Come to Church? Because Jesus saved me into His church and He desires for me to encourage others and grow alongside others. Because coming to church glorifies Jesus and helps us out in every aspect of our lives.

We’re in the home stretch in our study of Hebrews as we’re entering the third and final section of this 13 chapter sermon. We’ve seen the superiority of Jesus Christ in the first 4 chapters, then we studied the significance of the cross and priestly work of Jesus Christ in chapters 5-10, now, in Hebrews 10:19 to the end of the book, we’ll look at why these first 2 items matter for believers. We will be given instructions based on the finished work of Jesus Christ and this morning, the first exhortation we receive is that we are called to gather with one another in corporate worship. I’m not sure about you, but I love gathering with each one of you on a regular basis for church and worshiping Jesus together. This is commanded in Scripture for a reason: it encourages our souls and is genuinely good for us in a messed up and confused world. Let’s study what God’s Word says about the importance and benefits of coming to church today.

Hebrews 10:19–25 CSB

19 Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus— 20 he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh)— 21 and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. 23 Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider one another in order to provoke love and good works, 25 not neglecting to gather together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging each other, and all the more as you see the day approaching.

We see 3 things that we do each time we gather, including today: We draw near to God. We stay anchored in God’s Word. We encourage one another and love on one another. Let’s pray and continue doing these things together!

We Gather to Walk Toward Jesus Together (19-20)

This morning, we’re going to look at 5 reasons why we gather - first, we gather to walk towards Jesus together. Does this mean that we can’t walk towards Jesus on our own? Absolutely not. As a Christian, you have been given the Holy Spirit and you are able to grow in your walk with Christ daily as you seek Him and spend time in His Word. Absolutely, this is something that we are supposed to do individually, but it is also something that we have to do together. Why is that the case? Consider the opening verse here: Therefore, brothers and sisters… What is therefore there for? It’s highlighting the entire second chapter of Hebrews that is summarized in Hebrews 10:1-18, because of the finished work and sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross… Therefore we have boldness to enter the heavenly sanctuary. Who is able to have this boldness, though? Brothers and Sisters - those who have been saved by grace, through faith, in Christ!

God created us as humans for community. We see this reality as we look at ourselves - sure, it’s nice to have some alone time, but our brains and bodies reveal that we need other people as well. The word for church in the New Testament is the word Ekklesia and it refers to the gathering or the fellowshipping of those who trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior - those who have been born again or those who have been called out, literally. Usually we don’t think of being called out as a good thing, but this type of called out is a tremendous blessing as we were dead in our sins but raised to life because of Jesus Christ. As we gather, as fellow Christians, we gather to walk towards our God and look more and more like Him. How is this possible? In our world people who want to change often think they have to work really really hard. If you want to lose weight, you have to work hard to watch your diet and work out more. If you want to change a habit, you have to work really hard to replace that thing with something new. You have to do the action and effort. Is this how our salvation works? Do we walk towards God by our own power? The Bible tells us that this isn’t the case. Hebrews 10:19 tells us that the blood of Jesus gives us boldness to come before our God.

Hebrews 4:14–16 CSB

14 Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens—Jesus the Son of God—let us hold fast to our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every way as we are, yet without sin. 16 Therefore, let us approach the throne of grace with boldness, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.

How can we walk to our God? Because of the new and living way that Jesus has created by shedding His blood on our behalf. Whenever we gather for church, we remember our sin and our need for Salvation. We remember what Jesus has done for us by dying in our place. We resolve to walk towards Jesus and to look more and more like Him. This will require us to look different than those around us who do not know Jesus and who do not gather to worship Him. In the Bible Belt, everyone and their dog knows the name of Jesus. 75+ % of people will claim to be a Christian. But if you get down to it and ask people how they are saved, most will say because they are a good person. In fact, over 40% of evangelical Christians, Baptists, Assembly of God, Church of Christ, etc… believe that most people are pretty good and can have confidence before God in their works. This is false. We cannot come to God through our works and actions and goodness… It’s only because of Jesus! We have to remind ourselves about the truth of the Gospel - it’s not works based, it’s based on the finished work of Jesus. Tim Keller, pastor and author who influenced millions of people over his 72 years on this planet, passed away on Friday and he once shared, “The Gospel is this: We are more sinful and flawed than we ever dared believe, yet at the same time, we are more loved and accepted in Jesus than we ever dared hope.” We don’t earn our own way or our own salvation. We don’t learn about it and gain knowledge. We receive this salvation from Christ and we gain access to God through this salvation!

Think about what happened after Jesus died on the cross in Matthew 27:51

Matthew 27:51 CSB

51 Suddenly, the curtain of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom, the earth quaked, and the rocks were split.

The veil in the curtain separated people from the presence of God. Because of their sin, they can’t go in - with the exception of the high priest 1x per year. Yet, whenever Jesus died, that curtain tore. It wasn’t because of how great we are. God, not man, tore the veil, and He welcomes us into His presence through the blood of His Son! We have that access all the time as believers, and whenever we gather corporately we give thanks to God for that access and we walk together in this new and living way that Jesus made.

We Gather to Worship Jesus Together (21-22)

As we give thanks to Jesus, we worship Him because of what He has done. Hebrews talks a lot about how Jesus is our great high priest and we’ve talked about how He obtained that position through His sacrifice and His work as our mediator in heaven. There are 3 “Let Us” statements in this passage and we see the first one here in verse 22. Let us draw near to God. How do we draw near? We don’t have to get in a heavenly elevator. We don’t have to purchase a handkerchief from Benny Hinn that’s $100 so that God will hear us. We do this through the blood of Jesus. As Christians, we draw near to God whenever and wherever we are through Jesus. Who can do this? Believers! Those who have been cleansed of their sins and washed clean by the blood of the lamb.

As we think about worship, many people think that at church we have 2 parts of our service: Worship (singing songs) and then the preaching of the Word. The Bible teaches that this is not true - prayer, singing songs, the sermon, fellowship, baptism and the Lord’s Supper are all aspects of worship that we participate in. We see this in Acts and in the early church - worship is so much more than simply singing songs, although singing is one part of worship. Some people also have a misconception about worship as they think that singing is only something that the “professionals” on the platform do and not something that I as a congregant need to participate in. For years I played bass guitar in the orchestra at FBC Ozark (David, don’t get any ideas about asking me to do that here - I’m sure we have other people who can do that) and I watched so many kids look to their parents to see what they should do. If mom and dad were singing, they would sing. If mom and dad were standing with their mouths shut, the kids stood with their mouths shut. To the person who says that the only people singing should be on stage, you’re wrong because the Bible commands all believers to make a joyful noise - even if it’s not an in tune noise. See, David doesn’t lead a 30 person choir, he leads a 300 person choir and we have to get that right in our brains. We join together as a congregation to worship. It’s not professionals on a stage and consumers in the seat - we’re all participants in every aspect of worship. Even if there’s a solo, we sing along. Even in the sermon, we study God’s Word and we praise God for His Word. Even if we don’t feel like worshiping, we can always worship Jesus and draw near to God as we worship Him, regardless of how we feel, we can always worship Jesus for what He has done and what He is doing in and around us! Why is this the case? Because of what Jesus has done!

Exalting Jesus in Hebrews Entering through the Blood

There is a fountain filled with blood

drawn from Immanuel’s veins,

and sinners plunged beneath that flood

lose all their guilty stains.

What is our response to the cross? To worship from our heart. To worship in Spirit and in Truth. To worship alongside other blood-bought believers. To worship God the way that He demands to be worshipped. The blood of Jesus demands the worship of God’s saints, and worship is so much more than just singing songs. Worship is fellowship. Worship is prayer. Worship is studying Scripture. Worship is looking to Jesus in the middle of the storms of this life. We gather with our church family to worship Jesus together because whenever we are together, we encourage one another and we help one another remember what Jesus has done.

We Gather to Witness for Jesus Together (23)

Part of worshiping Jesus means that we witness for Jesus. Witnessing for Jesus and sharing the Gospel with others is hard work. Often, it can feel like we’ve worked extremely hard for absolutely no gain at all. We plant seed, we water seed, but whenever we don’t see the increase, it can feel like our work was in vain. This is when it’s important to remember the core essentials of our faith. We are commanded to be witnesses for Christ in Acts 1:8 as we go throughout our lives, wherever God calls us to go. This includes our jobs, our homes, our schools, our sports, our vacations, our grocery stores, and the list goes on! What happens, though, whenever we experience failure after failure and rejection after rejection? We can be tempted to throw in the towel because we’re running on fumes. After a week of war, we all need help and hope from one another. This is what happens whenever we gather. We help one another remember what Scripture teaches and we declare to a watching world that we belong to Jesus Christ and we’re not alone… we have other brothers and sisters with us!

Our world is a world of change and in this ever changing world, we need stability and this is what God offers His people and this is what we should bring to one another as well. We have a mission to glorify Jesus and make Him known to our neighbors and the nations and we need one another to help us in this process! This gathering is important.

You witness to others whenever you commit to come to church. You also witness to others whenever you refuse to gather with your church. Whenever we gather for church, we tell others that we are here because Jesus is worthy of our worship, our time, our talent, our treasure, and our devotion and this sends a loud message to others inside and outside the walls of this church. This gathering matters!

We Gather to Work for Jesus Together (24-25)

I need help in this Christian life! On Wednesday I was getting ready to take Gabriel in the car to get some gas for the car and to pick up some Chinese food but before we could do that, Gabriel had to run around outside for a minute or two because it was a really nice day. As he’s running toward the grass by the Senior Adult parking lot, he stopped once he got to the curb and he decided that he was going to walk up and down the curb of the parking lot. That requires quite a bit of balance and coordination and he started off doing really good because he kept his eyes down at on the curb and he moved one foot in front of the other and he was doing great… but then a dog barked and what does Gabriel do? He turns and tries to find the dog. When he stopped looking at the curb, his balance was thrown off and he nearly fell down. He starts to walk some more and he’s doing good, but then a car goes by and he looks up and watches the car drive… and he nearly fell down. At this point, I grab his hand and help him walk and we’re doing good and almost to the end of the curb and he see’s a squirrel. He decides to keep on walking but his eyes are looking the other direction at this squirrel. But I’m holding onto his hand and helping to keep him balanced and he doesn’t stumble or fall.

Friends, whenever we keep our eyes on Jesus as Hebrews 12:1-2 tells us to do, we usually do ok because our focus is on the right thing. But in this life we have distractions - some good, but often bad. Those distractions can get us to take our eyes off of Jesus and onto something else. What do we need in those seasons of life? God’s purpose for the local church is to exalt the Savior, encourage the saint, and evangelize the sinner - we need help staying on the right track! The New Testament talks about the local church being a body, a bride, and a building. We gather as a body - the body of Christ - and we have specific roles to play and if your spiritual gift is encouragement like Barnabas in the book of Acts, the rest of the body misses out on that encouragement whenever you are not here. The New Testament was written to churches - not individuals. As I look to my left and my right, I see people who are committed to walk this journey with me. People who are ready to get into the trenches together and point people to Jesus and serve His Kingdom well. As a pastor, I look around and I see the people that I will be held responsible for before the Lord. I will not be held responsible for a person who is on a membership role who has not darkened this church in 40 years but happily skips down the aisles of Walmart, but I will be held responsible for each of you as Hebrews 13:7 and James 3 tells us. But inside the walls of this church, we look around and as we gather, we see whose on our team - not our team, but God’s team! We gather to get ready for work and we get to do this together!

So many people believe that they can do the Christian life all by their lonesome self - but this picture is never painted in Scripture, the picture in Scripture is that Christians do life together in community and they gather with one another to worship Jesus, not isolated but as a body! Michael Kruger shares, “Faith is one of those things that you cannot do alone. Many try. Maybe they have had bad experiences in church or perhaps they don’t see why that commitment is necessary. But we do need each other to stir up one another to love and good works.” We cannot provoke love and good works by ourselves being isolated inside our own silo. Encouragement cannot take place in isolation!

We need to stoke the fire inside one another and help us stay on the right track - we need to be on a team with teammates who will help encourage, push, rebuke, and love us and whom we can encourage, push, rebuke, and love as well!

Proverbs 27:17 CSB

17 Iron sharpens iron, and one person sharpens another.

How do we sharpen one another? What happens whenever we work together for God’s Kingdom as a church body?

We strengthen our faith in the Lord

The summer before my Senior year of high school, I had a friend who was riding his bike after work one night who was hit by a car and was tragically killed. This took place a week or two before our youth mission trip to Louisville, Kentucky and I had a whole range of emotions because of this event. Whenever I stepped foot on the campus where we were going to be serving and worshipping, I was immediately encouraged and strengthened not by my own power but because of the people around me, some of whom I had never met before, as we worshipped Jesus together. We sharpen one another simply by being present and pointing others to Jesus

We bear one another’s burdens

Gal 6:2 commands this! We need people to check on us and to assist us whenever we are struggling and in need of a friend. We need community and Christ-centered community is found in Christ-centered churches.

We encourage one another to do good works

Verse 24 shares the importance of this - we encourage one another to keep our eyes on Jesus in the midst of our storms and to remember that God has a purpose for us even in difficult days. Whenever someone is struggling, they need a body that is there to support and encourage them! Ephesians 2:10 tells us that the reason that Jesus saved us was to do the good works that God has prepared ahead of time for us to do. We must encourage one another to do this good work!

We pray for one another

Billy Graham once said this about his need for the Lord and other Christians, “The Christian life is not a constant high. I have my moments of deep discouragement. I have to go to God in prayer with tears in my eyes, and say, 'O God, forgive me,' or 'Help me.'" One of the ways that God does help us is through the prayers of our church

The question isn’t a legalistic percentage of checkmark, the question is in our hearts: Are we engaged in worship? Are we gathering consistently? Do we desire to encourage others with your presence? Are we using our spiritual gifts? If there is something taking us away from this and doing it over and over, if we aren’t able to provoke love and good works to others because we aren’t around others, then we need to ask God to convict our hearts and change us to desire to worship with our church family as He desires.

We Gather as a Church to Obey Jesus

As you think of this gathering, some of you are watching online or from the hospital and you genuinely aren’t able to get here and you’re wondering if you’re in trouble with Hebrews 10:25 because of your health. Friend, that’s a different situation then what Hebrews 10:25 is referencing. Hebrews 10:25 is referencing this situation: 2,000 years ago in Rome the gladiator games were about to have an epic fight between 2 undefeated champions on the Lord’s Day and Christians willingly choose to go and watch the gladiators battle instead of worship with their church family. That’s neglecting to gather together once. Hebrews 10:25 says, “As some are in the habit of doing.” What does a habit mean? It means with frequency. Meaning this: Not only did some of these Christians go to watch the gladiators once or twice, they bought season tickets and were gone every Sunday from May through August to watch the biggest athletic event in the city. Are we getting close to conviction here?

The temptation is this: Many churchgoers prioritize church when it’s convenient. But when Father’s Day arrives we stay up late and go to the lake - gathering with Christ’s people at church? We have better things to do than that. There is a temptation to place the corporate gathering of God’s people on the back burner and look for any other thing that looks more appealing or interesting and whenever we find anything like that, we ditch the church gathering for that other activity or event and we do it over and over and over… and it becomes a habit. The Bible shares for this person that there is a danger

Hebrews 10:26–27 CSB

26 For if we deliberately go on sinning after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, 27 but a terrifying expectation of judgment and the fury of a fire about to consume the adversaries.

This is deliberately living in sin and for that person there “no longer remains a sacrifice for sins.” That’s not opinion, that’s Bible. What is the conclusion? Christians gather corporately to worship Jesus, to obey His Word, and to glorify God. That’s why we were created. God deserves so much more than 2 hours a week, but He instructs that this gathering is special. It’s not special because of our man-made traditions. Church would still be sacred without many of those. It’s not special because we sing “Specials.” Church would still be sacred without specials. It’s not special because we have our family with us. Church would still be sacred without family. Church is sacred because it has been instituted by God to be the means through which we grow spiritually, encourage one another, and hold one another accountable to Scripture.

In Bible times, people put their lives on the line just to go to worship - today, many spend their entire lives trying to avoid worship. May we have our low view of church obliterated by the sword of God’s Word and instead pick up the high view of church that is proclaimed in Scripture. May we gather not to check boxes and find false assurance, but instead gather to obey our Holy God and be witnesses for His Kingdom.

What do we do at FBC Salem in light of Hebrews 10:19-25?

We Draw Near to God through Jesus Christ

Radical - only made possible through what we celebrate every Easter as Jesus died, rose, and ascended and gives us access to the Father

We Devote Ourselves to God’s Word

We don’t devote ourselves to our feelings or ideas - we devote ourselves as a church body to the Word of God and we build our lives on that solid foundation because that is the only foundation that will not be shaken

We Determine to Encourage One Another

In a world that is divided and loves to stir the pot, we (as Christians) must determine in our hearts to stand out. We decide not to tear one another down, instead we determine to encourage one another through our presence, our prayers, and our proclamation of the Gospel. I am encouraged each time I gather to worship here and I pray that you are as well.

Some of you are here and you think that you don’t serve and you don’t sing and you don’t have a specific thing that you do on Sundays and you think that you’re not missed when you’re not here. Because of this, you might think that there’s no reason to come to church. Can I be honest with you? Your church family knows when you’re not here. Yes, there are aspects of ministry: Singing, Preaching, Prayer, Scripture Reading… but there is also the Ministry of the Pew as there is an army facing the pulpit each week and you, friend, matter vitally to the ministry of FBC Salem! Why Should We Come to Church?

Coming to Church Glorifies Jesus

Coming to Church Encourages Others

Coming to Church Changes Us

Whenever you are here, you encourage others. Whenever you are not here, or whenever you sneak in the back and leave early, that encouragement doesn’t take place. You coming to church impacts our whole church! You matter. You have been saved by God to serve and to worship with God’s people!

We are not a perfect body, although I love this body. This body does not have a perfect pastor, you will find better preachers out there… but you will never find a preacher who preaches a better Savior. We worship a perfect Savior at FBC Salem and we exist to keep our eyes on Him and glorify Him with all that we do. This is our calling and it’s a high one - may we not take it for granted! May we live as though Jesus died yesterday, rose today, and is coming back tomorrow. We have a job to do today - friends, let’s get to work! You are welcome in this body and if you don’t know Jesus as Lord and Savior, friend, I want nothing more than to share with you that Jesus changes everything!

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