Me and My Church

Introduction: There is the Church Universal

And then there is the Local Church.

Question: What is the Local Church. Place of gathering; The Location (could be at the beach), the structure or the building or the facility where one gathers for:

•        Worship and teaching:

A place to regularly gather for worship, prayer, and hearing the word of God preached.

•        Fellowship and community:

Fostering relationships and providing support among believers through shared experiences.

•        Spiritual growth:

Equipping individuals with tools to mature in their faith through discipleship and teaching.

•        Accountability and encouragement:

A space to hold each other accountable and provide encouragement in spiritual life.

•        Serving others:

A platform to serve the community through acts of love and compassion.

Question: Why is the local church so important?

• Scripture is clear that Jesus died for the church (Acts 20:28; Ephesians 5:25)
• and that the church is His body (Romans 12:5; 1 Corinthians 10:17; 12:12-27; Ephesians 1:23; 4:12; 5:30; Colossians 1:18, 24; Hebrews 13:3).
• Participation in a church is essential to the spiritual health of individual Christians.

Question? Who and What did the early Church look like?

1. The early church was multi-racial and experienced a unity across ethnic boundaries that was startling.

See the description of the leadership of the Antioch church as just one example (Acts 13). Throughout the book of Acts we see a remarkable unity between people of different races. Ephesians 2 is testimony to the importance of racial reconciliation as a fruit of the gospel among Christians.

2. The early church was a community of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Christians were often excluded and criticized, but they were also actively persecuted, imprisoned, attacked, and killed.

Nevertheless, Christians taught forgiveness and withheld retaliation against opponents. In a shame-and-honor culture in which vengeance was expected, this was unheard of.

Christians didn’t ridicule or taunt their opponents, let alone repay them with violence.

3. The early church was famous for its hospitality to the poor and the suffering.

While it was expected to care for the poor of one’s family or tribe, Christians’ “promiscuous” help given to all poor—even of other races and religions, as taught in Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25–37)—was unprecedented. (See Gary Ferngren’s essay “The Incarnation and Early Christian Philanthropy.”) During the urban plagues, Christians characteristically didn’t flee the cities but stayed and cared for the sick and dying of all groups, often at the cost of their own lives.

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/5-features-early-church-unique

Question: Why Should Christians Attend Church? Why is Corporate Worship Important?

1. A Biblical Mandate

So, why should Christians attend church? First of all, attendance at corporate gatherings is a biblical mandate. Hebrews 10:24-25.

The Christian life was never meant to be solitary. All of the biblical metaphors for a church indicate a plurality, never a singularity: we are a body, a flock, a building, and a holy nation.

There are no “lone wolves” in biblical Christianity.

Transition: The Mandate.

2. A second reason for church attendance is the array of spiritual blessings it bestows.

For example, church attendance promotes fellowship and encouragement. In the book of Acts, we’re told that those who came to faith in the early days “continued steadfastly in . . . fellowship” (Acts 2:42). The Hebrews passage mentioned above reveals that one of the purposes of gathering together is to “encourage one another.” We all need encouragement. Corporate worship provides that for us.

Confession: Let me confess something to you! Encouragement and Discouragement connected to attendance and participation.

• Church attendance also helps prevent fervency of convictions and a ‘loosening’ of all things important!
• In extreme cases backsliding and apostasy.

‘Without regular participation in corporate worship, one tends to drift spiritually’.

Transition:

3. The Public Statement it makes.

• Worshiping with others conveys benefits that are unavailable to us individually.
  • When we attend corporate worship, we hear the public preaching of the Word of God.

• Substituting a media ministry (like radio or television or an internet streamed service) not only removes the immediacy of public preaching, but can foster a sense of isolation, effectively privatizing Christianity.

• Church attendance also enables us to partake of the Lord’s Supper, the public proclamation of the body and blood of the Lord Jesus (1 Corinthians 11:26).

https://www.gotquestions.org/corporate-worship.html

Conclusion:

My Call to Us Includes:

• A Return to Biblical Values.
  
• An Intention to Share / Invite Others (The Un-saved & Un Churched) to a place of relationship with Jesus.
  
• Inviting others to participate in the Life-Giving Virtues of the Local Church.
  
• More Regular and Consistent role of Fellowship and Service to one another and the Local Church.

Every one of Us Should:

1. Worship (Corporately).
   
   
2. Be committed to something bigger / grander than themselves (Kingdom of God).
   
   
3. Bear and Share one another’s victories and burdens.