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[3514.36 --> 3524.78] and look at what it is that we do and why we do what it is that we do. For us at Emanuel, that is |
[3524.78 --> 3535.08] summarized really quickly with three words, gather, grow, and go. And so for the next three Sundays, |
[3535.54 --> 3538.90] we're going to look at each one of those words and what it means for us and how it shapes |
[3538.90 --> 3546.14] what we do together as a church. And this morning, starting with in that, we're looking at the word |
[3546.14 --> 3560.48] gather. Why do we gather here? Why do we come together on Sunday or in different days of the week, |
[3560.48 --> 3565.92] different ministries and different opportunities and different chances to serve? What is it about |
[3565.92 --> 3577.56] gathering that is important for us? Or maybe you're more likely to wonder, is it important for us? |
[3579.20 --> 3587.60] I was reflecting on that this morning and realizing that particularly if you are a parent or have |
[3587.60 --> 3594.88] ever parented young children, right, you might be familiar with the question, why do we have to go |
[3594.88 --> 3602.22] to church? Now, when I was a kid, it was, why do we have to go to church twice? Some of you remember |
[3602.22 --> 3609.36] that. Some of you still have trauma recovering from that experience. Why do we have to go to church? |
[3609.36 --> 3617.04] Do we have to go to church? What's the point of all of that? And to be honest, asking this question |
[3617.04 --> 3623.98] at a time like this is actually really prescient because as you look around the church in North |
[3623.98 --> 3631.30] America, a lot of people are saying, I don't have to. It's not that important. It's not a big deal. |
[3631.30 --> 3640.32] Now, let's be really clear. That is true here in North America. Globally, praise the Lord, that's not |
[3640.32 --> 3646.26] the case. Globally, the Christian church is still growing at a pace that is incredible to behold. |
[3647.24 --> 3655.46] But why for us does it continue to matter? And so my prayer this morning, my hope this morning |
[3655.46 --> 3664.96] is to hold out to you maybe a little bit of a vision for why we must gather. That it's actually |
[3664.96 --> 3673.30] about something more than just coming to an event. But there's something more going on here. |
[3674.16 --> 3680.78] And so I want to share with you really quickly, because I am mindful of the time, seven reasons |
[3680.78 --> 3687.74] why we must gather. And to do that, we're going to do things a little bit differently this morning. |
[3687.86 --> 3692.42] I'm not going to start with one text and then work our way through that text. I'm going to share with |
[3692.42 --> 3698.62] you a bunch of texts, and they will be on the screen behind me as we go through together. |
[3699.38 --> 3705.38] But to make sense of this and to start answering this question, why must we gather, it's actually |
[3705.38 --> 3710.46] fitting, I think, for us to start at the beginning. And so we're going to start with |
[3710.46 --> 3723.50] creation, right? In Genesis 1, on the sixth day of creation, God says in Genesis 1 verse 26, |
[3723.94 --> 3729.80] let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea, |
[3729.90 --> 3735.38] and the birds in the sky, over the livestock, and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures |
[3735.38 --> 3742.44] that move along the ground. So God created mankind in his own image. In the image of God, |
[3742.52 --> 3749.14] he created them. Male and female, he created them. What I want you to hear in there, right, |
[3749.18 --> 3759.48] is that we are created in the image of God. And so if you're in your Bible, if you flip over a page at the |
[3759.48 --> 3767.86] end of the first creation story, in Genesis 2 verse 1, we read, thus the heavens and the earth were |
[3767.86 --> 3774.00] completed in all their vast array, and by the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing. |
[3774.36 --> 3781.40] So on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, |
[3781.40 --> 3791.52] because on it he rested from all the work of creation. And this becomes a pattern, a pattern |
[3791.52 --> 3799.08] that God calls us to live into as those who are created in his image, right? If you are created in |
[3799.08 --> 3805.90] the image and likeness of God and he rests on the seventh day, maybe there's a reason, a creationally |
[3805.90 --> 3816.06] normative reason for you to rest regularly as well. And in fact, as this works out, this will be |
[3816.06 --> 3822.54] presented to the people of Israel in the Ten Commandments. And so when the people are rediscovering |
[3822.54 --> 3828.70] their relationship to God, one of the things that they do is receive from him a law. And in the fourth |
[3828.70 --> 3838.24] commandment in Exodus 20 verse 8, we read, remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you |
[3838.24 --> 3843.30] shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you |
[3843.30 --> 3849.02] shall not do any work, neither you nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your |
[3849.02 --> 3855.30] animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, |
[3855.30 --> 3860.90] the sea and all that is in them. But he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the |
[3860.90 --> 3869.94] Sabbath day and made it holy. But the first reason I want you to see that we are called to gather, |
[3870.04 --> 3880.86] why we must gather, is that you were made for this. You were made to rest in the Lord. In fact, |
[3880.86 --> 3887.40] Jesus will affirm this in Mark. He says the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. And so |
[3887.40 --> 3894.90] part of what's going on here is that God has given you the Sabbath as a way of resting in him. And so |
[3894.90 --> 3902.10] let me be again clear, it's less about a day and what day, it's more about a practice. It's more about a |
[3902.10 --> 3910.38] rhythm, right? And very on in the early church in the New Testament, the practice of gathering changed |
[3910.38 --> 3916.72] from the Sabbath, which is the Saturday, to the Lord's Day. The early church gathers together on |
[3916.72 --> 3922.34] what's called the Lord's Day because that's Resurrection Sunday. The day that Jesus was |
[3922.34 --> 3929.18] raised from the dead, the first day of the week, is the day we now gather to worship our God. You were |
[3929.18 --> 3938.96] made for this rhythm of communal being together. And not only that, right, were you made for this |
[3938.96 --> 3949.16] from the beginning, it's also your end. It's your telos. It's part of our purpose together. In Revelation 7, |
[3949.52 --> 3950.46] it says, |
[3950.46 --> 3958.74] After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every |
[3958.74 --> 3964.76] nation, tribe, and people, and language. Standing before the throne and before the Lamb, they were |
[3964.76 --> 3970.00] wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried out in a loud voice, |
[3970.52 --> 3975.94] Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb. |
[3975.94 --> 3983.36] And not only were you created for this regular rhythm of gathering together with God's people, |
[3983.46 --> 3993.06] but that is our end, our goal, to worship God and to glorify Him, to stand in His presence with all |
[3993.06 --> 4000.26] those Christians from around the world throughout time and space and history, and to worship the Lamb. |
[4000.26 --> 4013.76] You were made for this. And we continue. For the second reason, we're going to look at Ephesians 4. |
[4015.64 --> 4020.90] Ephesians 4, 15 and 16. We read, |
[4021.32 --> 4028.22] Speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of Him who is the head |
[4028.22 --> 4034.54] that is Christ. From Him, the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, |
[4034.66 --> 4043.98] grows and builds itself up in love as each part does its work. Now, next week, when Kevin is up here |
[4043.98 --> 4050.50] preaching, he's going to look at the word grow and how that is part of our purpose and our being |
[4050.50 --> 4057.16] together. From this text, what I want us to see is that the church is not an event, it is a body. |
[4058.22 --> 4063.96] And so, even this regular rhythm of gathering together isn't about the event, it's about being |
[4063.96 --> 4071.76] part of the body. The church is the body of Christ and He is their head. And this isn't just a metaphor, |
[4072.12 --> 4078.66] this isn't just a word picture, this is actually a spiritual reality for us. Right, over and over and |
[4078.66 --> 4083.92] over again in the New Testament, this is affirmed, right, that we are the body of Christ by grace |
[4083.92 --> 4091.76] through faith and that He is our head. Part of what it means to be Christian is to be becoming like |
[4091.76 --> 4099.12] Jesus. Because what it means to be Christian is to be united to Jesus in His life and in His death and |
[4099.12 --> 4105.30] in His resurrection. And our individual participation in the divine nature, to use the language of 2 Peter, |
[4105.30 --> 4114.26] that is becoming as Christ, that happens in the body, right, that's being worked out in the body as a |
[4114.26 --> 4124.94] whole united to her head. The individual believer's union with Christ makes for a necessary and |
[4124.94 --> 4134.32] consequent union with others in the body. There ought to be no such thing as an individualistic |
[4134.32 --> 4143.28] Christian. Because the truth is, right, if the church is Jesus' body, if you want the whole of |
[4143.28 --> 4152.78] Jesus, you need the church. To be connected to Jesus as your head is simultaneously to be connected |
[4152.78 --> 4163.48] to others as His body. The church is intended to be a lived example of this spiritual reality. |
[4164.32 --> 4169.88] The gathered church helps us make sense of the head and who the head is. |
[4171.68 --> 4178.56] I was thinking about a way to illustrate this and I was reminded of a story when my kids were really |
[4178.56 --> 4184.86] young. We were walking as a family into Old Navy and I don't know if you have seen this before, but |
[4184.86 --> 4190.10] oftentimes when you walk into Old Navy or other clothing stores, there's mannequins at the front, |
[4190.10 --> 4196.58] right, that have the wares on them. Well, I don't know when this happened, but mannequins today don't |
[4196.58 --> 4204.12] have heads. And so we walked into Old Navy and one of my kids, really young, they looked up and they said, |
[4204.20 --> 4212.24] what is that? Because it wasn't recognizable as a person because it didn't have a head, right? |
[4212.24 --> 4222.96] In the same way, the church is made recognizable as the church because of our head, because of who Jesus is, |
[4222.96 --> 4233.34] right? And likewise, Jesus is made recognizable and embodied by the church, by having a body. |
[4233.34 --> 4249.60] The reason we gather is because the church isn't an event. What we do here isn't just another thing |
[4249.60 --> 4257.96] or box to check in your week. This is the work and the being and the gathering of the body. |
[4257.96 --> 4270.48] Next, I want us to look at Hebrews 10. Hebrews 10 verse 24 and 25 says, |
[4270.48 --> 4281.72] let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together as |
[4281.72 --> 4287.94] is the habit of some, but encouraging one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. |
[4287.96 --> 4295.68] As we read this text and as you see it behind me there, let us consider how to stir up one another |
[4295.68 --> 4300.90] to love and good works, not neglecting meeting together as some are in the habit of doing. |
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