Sacred Assembly: The Church

  • Sam Ford
  • Jan 31, 2010
  • Series: Sacred Assembly

Sacred Assembly – week 1: Church

January 31, 2010

Sam Ford

 

Why talk about the church

In Matthew 16.18, Jesus said “…I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  For the next five weeks we’ll be in a study called SACRED ASSEMBLY.  This study is about the people of God, the family of the Father, the body and bride of Jesus Christ, the church.  Throughout the years, this misunderstood, misrepresented, and at times misused thing that Jesus said he was going to build has developed quite the reputation.  The writer’s market has never been more flooded with fix-the-church books.  Everyone it seems wants to talk about what is wrong with the church BUT few want to discuss what is right with it.  There are books attacking new and old church models, books that give strategic plans to grow (because all churches are shrinking), and books to help those stuffy Christians reach the culture.  Complaints abound, most you have probably heard from someone…maybe even yourself:

  • Church is boring = we need fun
  • Church is outdated = we need better music
  • Church is too big = we need to meet in homes
  • Church is abusive = we need no leadership
  • Church is fake = we need “real” people

 

Obviously, there are many others and for every complaint, there is usually some silver-bullet solution that proposes you meet in a house, burn incense, be creative, have spiritual conversations, allow no one to actually lead, and don’t judge anything.  You will often hear the proponents arguing for such things crying:  “We need to stop going to church and start being the church”—all of which sounds real spiritual but they aren’t sure what that means beyond rejecting all organized gatherings, formal leadership, and rituals they deem meaningless. Not all of their criticisms are bad, and many are listening.  My fear is that we will design the church, not according to the architect and foundation (Jesus), but following our own set of directions that seem to work.  Sadly, a lot churches are working hard to fix whatever the loudest voices say is broken—scared that they won’t be relevant, real, or whatever.  There are local churches whose slogans are, ‘come redefine the church experience with us.’  Even this week I read of a new church plant gathering people in our city.  They held meetings to ask the community, “What is the church of our dreams”, in an effort to find ways to make church “fun, friendly, and meaningful.”  I’m not sure our dreams is where we should be starting.

 

All of us are guilty of talking about what we don’t like about the church, we don’t often talk about what the church is.  The first definition in the dictionary describes the church as “a building for Christian worship”.  We might wonder how anyone might come to this conclusion reading the New Testament description of churches without buildings—that is because they didn’t.  Sometimes the question “What is the church” is never asked because we assume we know what it is though we really don’t.   AND even if an answer is offered, it’s often colored by our traumatic Sunday school experiences, mean people, weird people,  cliquey people, juvenile legalisms, cheesy music, deathly boring sermons, terrible leaders, and/or meaningless traditions—more of a diatribe than a definition.

 

The church wherever

Though many don’t know exactly what they church is, they know that “Going to church doesn’t make you a Christian”.  Just like our personal relationship with God, attending church becomes a personal experience measured by what it gives me.  Sadly, an increasing number of disgruntled, disillusioned, and the disconnected believers are hopping from church to church OR leaving the local church all together, all searching for a new version of “church” that they hope will provide a more fulfilling spiritual experience.  Many have launched their own “spiritual communities” in all shapes and sizes with some level of organization—they’re called cults.  Others reject all sense of organization, believing that “where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them” (Matthew 18.20).  If the presence of God is with me, then me and a few spiritual friends can gather at Starbucks, the golf course, or any number of locations and call it a church.  And because their search starts with man and not Jesus, their pursuit ends in participating or building all kinds of “new” communities that are the furthest thing from church, most of which are unbiblical and emotionally charged, where everything becomes redefined by their desires, even Scripture itself. 

 

Jesus and the Church

This series is hugely important. This series is important because many believe that the church has lost its way, that the proverbial sky is falling, and that the church is dead or dying.   In essence, they believe that Jesus was wrong—that his building plan failed.  MANY “claim” to love Jesus and, in the same breath, say they do not love His church.  My contention is that it is impossible to love Jesus and not his bride—they are inseparable.  Ephesians 5.25-27 25 Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.  Jesus loves his church.  Jesus loves the church like a sinless husband loves his bride. Jesus died and rose again to reconcile sinners to God and to gather them together as the church.  Jesus didn’t die for the world, he died for the church.  Jesus cares for the church; builds the church; he is the foundation of the church; he cares for his church; and he rules the church as its protector and King. If Jesus loves the church, how should we feel about it?

 

Sacred

We don’t naturally feel this way, partially out of ignorance.  Most of us don’t know what we’re doing here. We titled the series SACRED ASSEMBLY because we want to recapture the SACREDNESS of church.  There are very few things that are sacred anymore—what we wear, what we watch, what we say.  When I say recapturing the sacred, I am not talking about wearing our Sunday best or not using profanity.  I’m talking about behaviors at all, but heart attitudes. THERE HAS TO BE SOMETHING SPECIAL ABOUT ALL THIS.  In it is no secret that our culture has lost a sense of reverence for a great many things and that attitude has bled into the church.  Typically, what churches DO is measured by our consumeristic standards of enjoyment, comfort, and entertainment.   For many, going to church is a burden, THE first thing that gets jettisoned if something “better” comes along—vacations, football, or sleep.  Some of you come out of duty, some out of routine, some out of guilt, some don’t know why you come.  Instead of being the experience we look forward to, the day we devote to celebrating, the place to rest with our family and here Dad’s words, the hour we remember who we are…it’s just church.  Sadly, I find that very few enter our gathering ENTER prepared to meet with God…it’s just church.  If our assembly becomes duty, the thing you dread and find excuses to avoid—then you haven’t a clue what is happening here. 

 

CHURCH AS THE PEOPLE OF GOD

In order to recapture that sacredness, we need to focus not what we DO for people or what I GET from an experience---but recognizing WHO we ARE in this gathering. In order to recapture that perspective, we have to go back to the beginning. The church is not some parenthesis to God’s plan.  Our story as God’s people doesn’t begin with Jesus and the garden of Gethsemane, it begins with Jesus and the garden of Eden.  After the fall of man, God promises that the Son of the Woman would crush the head of Satan.  And as we watch the story unfold, we see God choosing and gathering his people.  God’s chooses a man named Noah to save from his wrath.  God chooses a man named Abraham, to whom he makes a promise to make a great nation and bless all of the families of the earth.  And he does through his Son Issac, and his Son Jacob, later named Israel.

 

Gathers

The term Greek word for church, “ekklesia”. Is the Greek Old Testament translation of the Hebrew Word “qahal” (kaw-hal), and it describes an assembly of called out people.  God calls the Sons of Abraham,  out of slavery the he ASSEMBLES.  The Exodus redemption from Egypt culminates at a special assembly at the base of Mt. Sinai where God gives his Law and seals the agreement in blood.  In Deuteronomy 4.10 Moses reminds them that experience, “how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children to do so.”  At Mt. Sinai, God claimed his people, not because they were special,  not because they were extra spiritual, but because according to Deuteronomy 6.6-8—GOD set his LOVE on them.  Out of all peoples, they were God’s chosen, they were God’s possession, they were God’s treasure.  The church, God’s assembly, is defined by BELONGING TO GOD because God has shown undeserved mercy and grace.

 

To Dwell

And we see that not only does he choose them, not only does he meet them on Mt. Sinai, he chooses to DWELL with them uniquely. God has them construct a temple and build and ark where his glory would reside. They are God’s assembly BECAUSE they assembled where the presence of God is.  This does not mean that his presence does not exist elsewhere, rather, that his presence dwells in a special and powerful way with Israel.  And they physically gathered regularly to make sacrifices, to worship, to feast, to pray, ALL intended to remind them WHO THEY WERE!  But it is clear, in the O.T., that they forgot…often.  And God raised up priests, and prophets, and kings to call them back into relationship, but they were always imperfect.  But the choosing, the redeeming, and the dwelling always had a future and complete restoration in view—a future savior who would set all things right. The people would not always be insulated from the GLORY and God’s people would include others: Through the prophet Isaiah, God says:  “I will gather yet others…besides those already gathered.”

 

CHURCH AS DISCIPLES of JESUS

And then Jesus comes, not only as the promised Messiah, as the Savior and King, but as Immanuel- God with us.  He comes and lives a sinless life, perfectly glorifying God in all ways as a Jewish man.   John 1.14  14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.  The glory of the Father that Moses had asked to see at the top of Mt. Sinai, the glory of the Father that had filled the temple, the glory of the Father that Jesus’ disciple Philip asked to see…is met with Jesus response, if you seen me you’ve seen the Father. 

 

A New Flock

Though many denied him, his own people rejected him, he began to build his assembly.  He gathered his disciples and reminded them, just as the prophet Isaiah had, that there were others, 16 And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. (John 10.16).  Jesus declares himself to be that ONE shepherd, gathering HIS one flock that He will redeem among ALL the SHEEP in the world. He says: “My sheep hear my voice and I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.” (John 10.29). 

 

The Cross

And in Matthew 16, Jesus tells Peter I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH.  And Jesus he tells them, that he is going to die for the sheep, not because they are special, or clean, or even obedient, but because he loves them—they are his.  And Jesus does die and Jesus does rise again to reconcile sinners to God and to gather them together as the church.  It is through the cross, that God has brought his people together into one, unity in our shared identity that is JESUS: Ephesians 2.11-19 11 Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— 12 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. 14 For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility 15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, 16 and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. 17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,

 

CHURCH AS FELLOWSHIP THE HOLY SPIRIT

Jesus wasn’t some anti-religious, anti-doctrine, anti-organization, anti-(enter anything about the church that others you.)  The Bible says that Jesus loved the world, but it says he loved the church particularly. That was because, most of all, he loved God.  And Jesus spent his life, and his death, calling people to confess and repent—to put their faith in Him. He CALLED THEM OUT of the world and INTO the church. 

 

The Spirit Comes

And 40 days after His resurrection he said, I’m leaving.  But he told them he would send the Spirit.  In fact, he said: Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. (John 16.7).  On the day of Pentecost, recorded in Acts 2, the same Holy Spirit that anointed Jesus anointed the disciples for the same mission that Jesus done. The Holy Spirit wasn’t given to the world, but to Jesus disciples.  His dwelling in the hearts of His disciples sealed their adoption into God’s family.  Now God dwells in the temple of our hearts in the same way he dwelt with Israel. Today, many will argue that since we have the Holy Spirit in our hearts, why go to church?  Many want to argue today against the VISIBLE church and in favor of the INVISIBLE church.  In essence, they want to reject the sacredness and authority of the institution and place that sacredness and authority in the control of the individual.  Both are sacred, those who only want to talk about the Invisible Church usually end up having a faith that is INVISIBLE.

 

The Church witnesses together

I’m not an invisible Christian.  My, your faith is not intended to be individual, independent, or private.  And though I believe that there is an invisible church, a church as God sees it, we also have a visible church.  We worship together.  We serve together. We love together.  We learn together. We participate in and witness to the cross together..  Corinthians 12.12-14;18b-19- 12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. 14 For the body does not consist of one member but of many…God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. 19 If all were a single member, where would the body be?  And through our togetherness, made possible by the Spirit, we declare the gospel in what we say and how we love one another.  The unity of the church is part of the gospel.  It is not to say that any group that call themselves “Christian” or a “Spiritual Community” is biblical, we’ll talk about those marks next week.  But it is to say that the VISIBLE unity, the gathering of the church is a witness to the world of God’s glory. Ephesians 3.10 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.  …1Peter 2.9  9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

 

The Church Grows together

But most of us still believe that our attendance on Sunday is our witness.  Your faith is stil personal though you pretend to be part of community.  The Bible says that through the church, through the fellowship of the Spirit, the church, we grow.  In the church, through the Spirit, we receive life.  In the church, through the Spirit, we understand truth.  In the church, through the Spirit, we worship God in all of our unworthiness. And we do this, not as individuals, but together.  Ephesians 2.20-21 in speaking of the church says,  20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit

 

CONCLUSION

We need to recapture the sacredness of our gathering.  This is why the writer of Hebrews encourages us

Hebrews 10.24 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.  There is no such thing as Churchless Christianity, you cannot love Jesus and not love his church. 

 

  1. I love to gather as the church.  Not because I am the pastor, but because I know my brothers and sisters will be here.  I know am gathering with my many members of my family who trust in the same things I do.  I feels good to know you’re not alone. I need that.

 

  1. I love coming to church because it is a place where I can sing to God.  And even I don’t know the songs, and I hate it when the leader hits a note that I’ll never reach, I’ll still scream for Jesus because I don’t get to any other time in my week.  Yes, I can worship God as a lifestyle and pray without ceasing, but its different here.  I need that.

 

  1. I love coming to church, especially in the Northwest, because its unusual and countercultural.  There’s a beauty in being called to be different. And you can’t get much more different in the Puget Sound than being a bible thumping Christian who goes to church on Sunday.  It assures me that I really believe.  I need that.

 

  1. I love coming to church, because I enjoy encouraging and being encouraged. I get to see and hear of people trusting in something more than their circumstances.  I need that.

 

  1. I love coming to church to hear God’s Word and get challenged.  I tend to read it in ways that suit me when I’m alone. And though I get to hear my own preaching, every so often I get see God use a 7ft dutch guy, a 6ft frat boy, or a 40 year old ex-cultist kick the spiritual crap out of me. I need that.

 

  1. 6.      I love coming to church, because I can be me.  My identity is in Christ, not what I wear, say, do, or have done.  Jesus doesn’t reject me and the church is supposed to be a place where sinners gather.  Sure, there are a lot of fake people in the church, but I’m not one.  I believe the gospel.  That’s not an excuse to be a jerk, but permission to be myself.  I need that. 

 

  1. I love coming to church, because I sin.  Sometimes I do things that cause me to be angry with myself.  Sometimes I do things that cause me to be prideful.  Church, and especially communion, helps me to remember it’s’ about Jesus work, not mine.  I need that.

 

 

Church is not perfect because the people of God aren’t.  But Jesus is, and by the power of the Holy Spirit, I’ll start to look more like him until the day I see him face to face.

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