Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

So I noticed a few weeks ago that the “New Smyers” closed down—it’s kind of the end of an era in Sykesville.

Not only was it the go-to place to get milk and bread and lunchmeat when we lived on Main Street, but it was also the linchpin of the Nupp Family Reunion every year.

Smyers was the site of the famous “Popsicle Run” that Jodee’s cousin-in-law would always sponsor for all the kids.

We have several years’ worth of pictures of our kids and all the cousins standing outside Smyers on the sidewalk eating whatever treat Greg bought for them—if we ever have another reunion, we’re going to be scrambling to find something to replace the picture at Smyers’ Popsicle Run!

If you’ve ever been to reunions for your family, you know that one of the most important parts of the event is the group photo, isn’t it?

Aside from the Popsicle Run one of the most beloved parts of the Nupp reunions was looking through the photo scrapbooks that Jodee would always bring.

People loved looking at the pictures, remembering and reminiscing about the times when the whole extended family would travel from far and near for a special day of being together and enjoying those family bonds of love and affection that would be renewed by that occasion.

It’s what a family does, isn’t it?

A family gets together.

And that family photo is a visible representation of the love and delight and joy and commitment that the members of the family have for one another.

It’s a powerful and precious thing when families gather with each other.

Last week we began a series on what the Bible teaches us about our worship as a church.

In order to understand what worship must look like, we must understand what the church is.

And what we saw from all the depictions of the church in the New Testament—a colony of the kingdom, a holy temple, the Body of Christ—is that all of them came down to the truth that a church is primarily a gathering of God’s people.

And the better we understand the significance of the church’s gathering, the sweeter and deeper our gathered worship will be.

And so what I want to show you from the Scriptures this morning is that

A Christian TREASURES the GATHERING of God’s FAMILY in worship

If we want our corporate worship here at Bethel to be meaningful and deep and (most importantly) Biblical, then we must come to understand how massively significant it is that we gather here every week.

The passage that we read together earlier from Romans 12 contains one of the best-known statements about Christian worship:

Romans 12:1 (ESV)

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

We are called to present ourselves to God for worship—and certainly part of what that means is that you get your actual body gathered with other believers for worship!

I say this because the New Testament is as clear as can be that gathering isn’t just what a church does--

I.

A church gathers by its VERY NATURE (Romans 12:1)

The Greek word for “church”, ekklesia, literally means “gathering”, or “assembly”.

A church doesn’t just gather, a church is a gathering!

One way to think about this is to say

A church exists by GATHERING the way a FIRE exists by BURNING

A fire that is not burning is not a fire.

A church that does not gather simply cannot be a church!

There is a common aphorism that Christians often quote that says that “We don’t go to church; we are the church.”

And that’s true as far as it goes, but you have to take the next step—you are the church when you are gathered as a church.

There is simply no other way to read what the Bible says about the nature of a church but to understand that it is meant to be a gathering of believers.

The Apostle Paul simply assumes that a church will gather regularly—he uses phrases like “when you come together as a church” and “the whole church comes together” (1 Corinthians 11:18; 14:23).

Also, the New Testament is full of commands for what the church is expected to do as a church—and all of those activities require gathering together:

Colossians 3:16 (ESV)

16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.

--TEACHING and ADMONISHING one another (Colossians 3:16)

can only take place when you are gathered together.

1 Timothy 4:13 (ESV)

13 Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.

--READING SCRIPTURE to one another (1 Timothy 4:13)

Not just privately in your own home or your own devotions—you are commanded to gather together to hear the Scriptures read publicly.

Hebrews 10:24–25 (ESV)

24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 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.

The word there for “stir one another up” actually has the connotation of

--INCITING one another (Hebrews 10:24-25)

It’s the Greek word where we get the word “paroxysm”—a strong or even violent reaction of passion.

You can’t stir one another up to love and good works unless you gather with one another.

Jesus instructs us that when someone refuses to listen to warnings about sin that is taking over their life that gathering together to deal with them is our way of

--PROTECTING one another (Matthew 18:17, 20)

17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church.

And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.

Matthew 18:20 (ESV)

20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.”

Church discipline (as we will see later on in our series) is a church body’s immune system that keeps the sickness of sin from spreading through the body and destroying it.

And that immune system only works when the church is gathered together as a church.

None of these things that God instructs a church to do can be done apart from one another—a church exists by gathering the way a fire exists by burning.

If you want to say “We don’t ‘go to church’, we are the church”, then finish that statement Biblically: “And we are the church when we gather as the church!”

A church gathers by its very nature—and there are two profound consequences that arise whenever a church gathers.

The first is that this weekly gathering

Makes the church visible to ITSELF

Like the big family photograph at the end of the family reunion, gathering together allows a church body to see itself in action—you are presented with the spectacle of God’s people loving one another, encouraging and supporting one another, developing and strengthening those bonds of love for one another and for Jesus.

As we saw last week, the church is the Body of Christ, and that means that this is the way Jesus ministers to His people.

Jesus loves and embraces and supports a dad and his young daughter when they lose their wife and mom through the love and support of the church body; He loves and accepts and nurtures a misfit kid from a broken home through the hands and feet and hearts of the youth group leaders and members; He uses the loving friendships in this congregation to reveal Himself in the Gospel to a broken and bewildered family, flooding them with restoration and healing and joy and peace; through His people here He stoops down and speaks loving and friendly words to a little boy who can’t speak on his own; He comforts and sustains and strengthens folks confronted with grave medical diagnoses through the members of His body that pray for them and walk with them—all of the ways that Jesus ministers to His people is put on display for us to see and treasure when we gather together for worship!

Not only does our gathering make the church visible to itself, but it also

Makes the church visible to the UNIVERSE (Ephesians 3:10)

The Apostle Paul writes in Ephesians that it is through this gathering that God revealed His great plan of redemption; not only to the physical world, but to the heavenly hosts--

Ephesians 3:10 (ESV)

10 so that through the church the manifold wisdom of God might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places.

The great mystery that God revealed through the church was that He was going to reconcile the world to Himself through Jesus Christ—turning us from His enemies to His friends by Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection.

And the way that the church demonstrates that wisdom when it gathers is in the way that we are able to be reconciled to each other!

We’ve said it before, and it’s worth repeating because it goes to the very heart of why a church exists as a gathering—this gathering together in love and unity and common purpose is something that this world says can never happen!

The world around us is defined by division, and the kind of unity that is on display every week here at Bethel simply makes no sense to the world.

Once again—look around this room and ask yourself: How many of these people would you have ever even met—let alone become dear and treasured friends with—if it had not been for the Gospel of Jesus Christ that saved you both?

The world says that you people shouldn’t be friends—shop managers should not be friends with the guys who work on the floor, twentysomething women don’t go shopping at Hobby Lobby with retirees; folks with tattoos and piercings would never hold hands with “church people” and sing “Blest Be The Tie that Binds” together; convicted felons shouldn’t expect to be embraced and celebrated like long lost brothers coming home when they return to us; business-owner Chamber of Commerce types aren’t supposed to choose to spend their Sunday mornings with truck drivers and farmers, and on and on it goes!

The unity and love and belonging and commitment here at Bethel could never take place apart from the Gospel doing its work in our lives!

Only the wisdom and power of God Himself could pull this off--especially here in this time when everyone in this country is at each others’ throats!!

In His wisdom and power and grace and kindness He has fashioned us together as one family from all manner and walks of life—and He has set us as an example to all the hosts of Heaven of just how wise and powerful He is!

The gathering of the church is a massively, eternally significant event—Christian, treasure the gathering of this family to worship!

A church exists by gathering as a fire exists by burning—it gathers by its very nature.

And even more importantly, the Scriptures tell us that

II.

A church is gathered by GOD HIMSELF (Romans 12:1)

If you look back again at the beginning of Romans 12:1—the verse we read earlier that describes how we are to give our whole selves to God in worship—we find that we carry out that giving of ourselves by God’s mercy!

Romans 12:1 (ESV)

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.

In other words, it is only because God was at work in you first that you are now able to carry out the work of worship to Him!

This is another vital truth about the nature of our gathered worship on Sunday mornings:

Worship is GOD’S work first, before it is OURS

Think of it this way—many years ago when the boys were just little, Jodee and I had taken them to the DuBois Mall to go Christmas shopping.

I took Caleb one direction to shop for Mommy, and Jodee took Levi to shop for Daddy.

We met a while later, and Levi was so excited about the present they got me, he blurted out, “Daddy!

We got you fishy slippers!”

(Pretty sure I still have them somewhere…)

Now, the fact that we bought those slippers for our four-year-old son to give me on Christmas Day did not lessen either my gladness in receiving them or his sincerity in offering them, did it?

In the same way, the fact that we present ourselves for worship as a result of God mercifully bringing us to salvation does not lessen either the sincerity of our worship or God’s gladness in receiving it.

The gathered worship that we offer every week here at Bethel is a gift we receive from God and give back to God.