We’re not a business, or club, or friend group per se – we are the body of Christ and family of God in the world. Healthy local bodies have six common characteristics, and today we’re going to talk about the first one.
Healthy churches gather regularly for worship.
But why do we gather? First, we gather because it’s commanded. Because I said so is not the greatest reason to give your child, I don’t think. It’s not always a bad reason, but it may not always be the best. There is a fundamental reality at the heart of the Christian life, though. I am not my own. I belong to Jesus. Jesus calls the shots. This is what it means to confess him as Lord. If he calls us to do something, we do it. It takes precedent in our lives.
Let us draw near to God through Jesus…
23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 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 o-ne another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.
Hebrews 10:23-25
Don’t neglect to meet together. I love that this is like some of the earliest Christians & they already have people skipping out on church. There is a paradigm shift that has to happen in our consumeristic, experience-addicted, emotionally driven, self-centered spiritual climate: Going to church is not just about you.
Healthy church is inconvenient. Gathering demands we start our week not with ourselves, our families, our jobs, our hobbies; it confronts us with the story of God each week and calls us to live in that story.
Second, we gather to worship God in spirit and truth. We gather every Sunday to exalt him! Have you ever wondered why we gather on Sundays? Early Christians, knowing they needed to gather for worship, chose to gather on the first day of the week–on Sundays–because that’s the day Jesus walked up out of the grave. In this sense, every Sunday is like a little Easter.
From beginning to end, the service itself rehearses the gospel story – from our call to worship, through song, confession, preaching, and sacrament – the service itself is designed to make much of our God who makes all things new.
We gather to spur one another on love and good deeds. Progress and growth in the Christian life are not inevitable. We must encourage each other and equip each other to live it well. Everything that happens when God’s people gather, 1 Corinthians 14 says, should be done in order and to build up the body.
