Why Church?
Why Church week 1 • Sermon • Submitted
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· 4 viewsGod’s church is an essential and ongoing work put together by God to grow believers, all built on the foundation of Christ and his apostles and prophets. The gathering of believers is an essential and not optional part of the Christian life.
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Main Point: God’s church is an essential and ongoing work put together by God to grow believers, all built on the foundation of Christ and his apostles and prophets. The gathering of believers is an essential and not optional part of the Christian life.
A question to get minds focused on the topic to be discussed:
Q. Have you ever outgrown something? Example: Children outgrow clothes and toys.
Sadly, there are people who feel they have outgrown church.
Have a volunteer read Ephesians 2:19-22
19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
21 The whole building, being put together by Him, grows into a holy sanctuary in the Lord.
22 You also are being built together for God’s dwelling in the Spirit.
In chapter 2 of Ephesians, Paul speaks to the Ephesian church about Jews and Gentiles being made alive in Christ. They have been save by grace by faith and it is a good gift of God. But Paul makes one more claim about what happens to those in Christ. Christians become part of God’s household and are being built together with other saints into a dwelling of God in the Spirit with Christ as the cornerstone of the entire building that fits us together. We are not just saved from sin or serve God on our own. We are together, growing into a holy temple in the Lord.
Q1. How does this idea of outgrowing church contrast with what we just read in Eph 2:21-22?
Today we will look at three reasons why church is important.
Reason 1. Church is where we study the word together.
It is easy to read and study the Bible one our own, but that is not what God intended. The Bible is meant to be a group activity. Our foundation is built off Christ and his apostles and prophets as seen in Eph 2:20. The New Testament apostles and prophets were filled with the holy spirit and revealed the word of God in Christ in a unique way (Eph 3:5). We need to know about the foundation that was laid for us. One of the best ways is coming together to read and study God’s word.
Get a volunteer to read Acts 17:10-12.
10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas off to Berea. On arrival, they went into the synagogue of the Jews.
11 The people here were more open-minded than those in Thessalonica, since they welcomed the message with eagerness and examined the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.
12 Consequently, many of them believed, including a number of the prominent Greek women as well as men.
Q1. What were the Bereans’ attitude?
Q2. What do you think it means to examine the Scriptures together?
Q3. Why was coming together important?
Reason 2. Church is where we learn to live better lives.
God is concerned with how we live our daily lives and not just about getting us to heaven. We need to know what following Jesus looks like for us now. How does Jesus want me to live? How do we keep growing into a holy temple in the Lord from Eph 2:21?
Ask a volunteer to read 1 Tim 6:6-7. Not only does God make us alive through Christ, He is the source by which we are given all things. God cares about our daily life because He provides for us daily. Good has given us life, family, friends, and a relationship with Him to name a few things. Questions like, “How do I be a good steward of my time and money?” or “How do I become a better friend?” are figured out in biblical community. Together we work out questions and take what we learn to apply it to our lives. Jesus’ teaching can be simple. It is in community that we figure out things that we would not have on our own.
Ask:
Q1. Have you ever had trouble figuring out something and it took someone else’s help to help you understand it?
Reason 3. Church is where we learn to live together as God’s family.
Individualized/Customized faith that is perfect for us and requires no one else but Jesus is not the goal. Being a Christian means being a part of an imperfect community.
Two great insights to this truth from Eph 2:21-22 are here. The first insight is that there is a connection between growing together into a holy sanctuary or holy temple to the Old Testament that conveys a deep truth. The word being used to describe temple is not just the entire temple but only the inner shrine of the temple. This was the special meeting place between God and his people. It was the place on which the glory of God descended, the place of his presence. Through Christ that Old Testament idea of temple was made obsolete and we no longer have a temple made of hands among us. God now seeks as his dwelling place the lives of men and women who will allow him to enter by his Spirit.
The second insight is that the work is developing. The church is not complete until the final day of the Lord comes. The church is growing towards what it is intended to be for God’s purposes. A reason people grow tired of church community is they get tired of dealing with people who do not have it all together. It becomes easy to think why they are not like you. Dietrich Bonhoeffer puts it this way, “Church is not an ideal we strive for, it’s a reality we get to participate in.” We are not supposed to be creating or attending perfect churches full of perfect people. It should be considered a privilege to be part of church as it is right now.
Church is sometimes a messy and confusing to group of people who do not have everything figured out. However, when we see church as God intended and not as we think it should be we fit in with what God planned church to be. Church is a gathering of people for the purpose of worshipping God, learning his word, loving our relationship with him and learning to love each other.
Reflection
Q1. Do you ever feel you have outgrown church?
Q2. What do you think that means?
Q3. Why does church matter to you? Was there ever a time it did not matter much to you? What changed?
Share/Write the three reasons why church is important. (1. Church is where we study the word together. 2. Church is where we learn to live better lives. 3. Church is where we learn to live together as God’s family.)
Q4. Ask them to pick one of the three reasons as to why church is important and to share why it is important to them and their faith.
Q5. What is one thing you can do this week to both grow closer to God and make what is important to God important to you concerning the gathering of his people?