Transcript
we've been looking at spiritual disciplines that we can submit ourselves
to in order to keep our hearts from idols and to keep them squarely focused
on the Lord and as I've pointed out last week or the week before spiritual
disciplines do not earn us brownie points in heaven because we're saved by
grace through faith but they can provide the setting under which we can receive
the grace of God so that we can actually grow in our walk with him and so far
last week we've looked together at three spiritual disciplines that are critical
I believe biblically if we're going to be growing Christians quick review the
first one we looked at was solitude or the discipline of being alone and quiet
before God Psalm 46 10 be still and know that I am God second one that we looked
at was prayer or the discipline of being in conversation with Almighty God do not
be anxious about anything but in everything by prayer and petition with
Thanksgiving present your requests to God says the Apostle Paul and Philippians
four six and seven the third one or verse seven goes on to say in the peace
of God which transcends or passes all understanding will guard your hearts and
minds in Christ Jesus and the third one that we looked at was Bible reading the
discipline of being exposed to God's self-revelation it is inconceivable to
develop a biblical world and life view that can stand against a worldly world
and life view that comes at us every day without thoroughly knowing the scriptures
the psalmist put it this way someone 19 verse 11 I have hidden your word in my
heart that I might not sin against you and that brings us together this morning
then to still a fourth spiritual discipline active participation in
corporate worship corporate worship is the kind of thing that we do here on a
given Sunday morning or a Sunday night or during the week when we gather in
smaller groups like midweek or study groups corporate worship means the body
of Christ coming together and the body of Christ coming together is one of the
most powerful means of grace that God has established so that we can keep our
hearts from idols and we can keep our hearts centered on the Lord God Almighty
listen again to the words of our text Hebrews 1025 let us not give up meeting
together and some are in the habit of doing but let us encourage one another
and all the more as you see the day approaching and in the time that we have
this morning four phrases in that simple little verse that I want to zero in on
and talk about for just a bit and the first thing I want to point out in that
verse is that it is very easy for God's people to develop bad habits when it
comes to corporate worship let us not give up meeting together as some are in
the habit of doing as some are in the habit of doing now my habit as you know
is a particular custom typically acquired through frequent repetition
habits can be good habits can be bad in fact if you will look at your life you
will discover there are many aspects of your life that you do habitually for
example chances are most of us go to bed pretty much the same time most nights
there will be exceptions but we have our routines don't we we get up about the
same time and we have fairly similar routines every night when we go to bed
and fairly similar routines when we get up in the morning and you got your your
your way of doing things and woe betide the person who interferes with our
habitual way of doing things and and then you probably travel there are same
road to work and you probably stop pretty much in the same place for your
cup of coffee and you have your routines during the day isn't that true much of
life is lived habitually and sometimes we make fun of that but consider the
alternative if you don't live life habitually then you must reinvent what
you're going to do every time and that is hard work if you've ever you know
sort of expanded into a new area of work or a new area of ministry and you've had
to figure it all out those of you that are teachers when you start teaching a
new class on a new subject that is a tremendous amount of work isn't that but
once you get the pattern established the routine carries you so habits can be
good but you know just as well as I do it's not hard to develop a bad habit if
every time you have a meal you have to step out on the deck to smoke cigarette
as some of you do probably not a good habit at least that's what the medical
profession has been trying to tell us for years now if you bite your
fingernails to the bone habitually probably not a good idea if you overeat
regularly or over sex regularly or over work regularly or over do anything
regularly that is a bad habit and bad habits as most of us know are incredibly
hard to break have you ever noticed that once the habit gets established it's
like a car in a rut on a on a muddy road you try to get out of those ruts and
you're in the ditch before you know it well these believers here in Hebrews
chapter 10 have developed a bad habit and their habit is to habitually miss
out on corporate worship now the immediate verse doesn't tell us why they
have developed that bad habit but the rest of the chapter does because you
see they had initially been overwhelmed by the love of God when they came to
faith in Jesus Christ it was the best thing since sliced bread they were
excited to be believers they loved getting together with God's people but
you know what happens after a while when you begin to live life in the spirit you
get yourself into trouble and so they had begun to experience persecution
nobody had been killed yet but they had been dispossessed of their properties
wonder how many of us would be here on a given Sunday morning if coming here
cost us that dearly they were looked down upon by the larger population their
economic possibilities were decreased and some of them said this is hurting
too much and it is too costly let us back off in the words of Jesus having
put their hand to the plow they have begun looking behind them because the
road and the journey ahead was extremely difficult it is possible to lose your
first love at one of the first places that that will show up and that's been
my experience is that we become careless about corporate worship I've noticed
over the years as soon as people start missing church there is almost always
something happening underneath that if it is not stopped will lead them way out
into left field thinking that they're still doing perfectly fine but without
the corrective influence of the rest of God's people it is very easy to deceive
yourself did you know that so the first thing to notice you can develop very bad
habits very quickly second thing to notice is that God wants us to resist
developing that bad habit notice again how the verse begins let us not give up
meeting together as some are in the habit of doing let us not give up
meeting together as some are in the habit of doing now let's be clear once
and for all that there are legitimate reasons for for us to miss corporate
worship the kids are sick you don't want to pass the bug on to all the other kids
in the classroom so you keep the kid home and somebody's got to stay home
with the kid you're sick you don't want to hack your way through a worship
service be a distraction to everybody else worry about shaking hands with
anybody so better to stay home the car won't start the boss calls you into work
you can't say no mother or father in a distant place are in need of you and
you've got to make the pilgrimage legitimate reasons and all of us fall
into that with some measure of regularity some of us more than others
but you know just as well as I do that there's a very fine line between
legitimate reason and excuse the kids got a sniffle one of us maybe should
stay home but let's just all stay home because we'll have a happy family time
together we'll worship the Lord is a family isn't that wonderful doesn't
always happen I might add but the idea is noble or you know the car is covered
with snow and I don't really want to get my shoes dirty and wade through all that
snow again besides that car probably won't start so let's just stay home and
on and on the list goes you know how it goes once you start looking for excuses
it's not hard to come up with any number of them and I've always been surprised
at how easily skipping church can become a habit let me give you my own
experience in that regard for as long as I remember I have virtually always
attended church twice from a little kid to grown up through my teenage years
through my adult years of course the fact that you're a preacher sort of
contributes to the less number of options that you have I've sat through
great sermons and great services and I've sat through horrendous sermons and
horrendous services and I've done that not because I'm so terribly spiritual
but in part because that is simply a habit that I was raised with and when
it's a habit you just do it and some people will say well you know you
shouldn't go to church just that habit will talk about that in a moment because
a habit a good habit is better than no habit just for the record but you know
how over Christmas and sometimes when we have an extra special busy season we
drop some of our evening services right and then legitimately so and I've been
in favor of those kind of decisions when council or staff has made them but you
know what I discovered and so will you have that once you start staying home
and because a lot of you stay home Sunday nights you know about this real
well hint hint what I discovered is that once you get into that pattern it
doesn't take very long before you're sitting back in your easy chair and
saying I wish I didn't have to go to church tonight I like it here I like to
watch whatever is on TV or read my book how many of you here are honest enough
to say that's how you got to staying home on Sunday nights few honest souls
not very many but let's talk about that frankly it happens it happens I mean
hard as it is to break a bad habit it only takes a couple of repetitions to
form a bad habit isn't that true so what's the antidote to that well the
antidote to that of course is make regular church going a habit let us not
give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing see what a lot of us
do now let me be very frank with you about this is we wait till Saturday
night or Sunday morning before we decide whether or not we're going to go to
church tomorrow and if no other attractive option presents itself that
is sort of the thing that we slide into we're not all that way but some of us
are that way and I can guarantee you that when church going becomes your
default position nine times out of ten you will find a reason call it an excuse
to stay home is that not true and the antidote to that is to say God calls us
not to neglect the gathering together and so going to church being part of
corporate worship isn't about do I feel like it do I have the time for it will I
be comfortable it is about the fact that God says this is what you need to do
because it is a means of grace that I have established and for some of us it
simply has to be a priority it is what we do because God says that is what we
do now as I said we can talk all about the fact that you know if we just go out
of habit that's not a good thing but going out of habit is better than
I'm going at all because it provides an opportunity you see for God to break
through and to speak to us corporately in the deep places of our lives besides
that it's fascinating when you look at the ministry of Jesus he went to the
synagogue out of habit Luke 416 Jesus went to Nazareth where he had been
brought up and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue as was his
custom the Apostle Paul and his missionary journey same thing Acts 17 -
as was his custom Paul went into the synagogue as was his custom you don't
want to have to decide every Saturday night or Sunday morning is this
something that we're going to do no this is our default position and unless
there are seriously extenuating circumstances that is where God calls
me to be because maybe just maybe he's got something for me in the context of
corporate worship that will help me grow up in him so we need to avoid bad
habits we need to build good habits and then we need to understand that one of
the reasons for building good habits is that one of the primary purposes of
getting together in this context is to encourage each other read the verse
again let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of
doing but let us encourage one another let us encourage one another now as you
know there are many reasons for getting together and worship I mean we're here
to acknowledge God as the center of our universe we're here to bring him our
praise and our offering and to receive from him his grace and his wisdom as
insight but in the context of this particular passage one of the reasons
for getting together is for the purpose of encouragement to help each other on
our spiritual journey people ask the question sometimes you may have to go to
church in order to be saved and the answer is no of course not we're saved
by grace through faith I'm sure there will be people in heaven that haven't
darkened the door of a church in God knows how long but I'll tell you
something chances of coming to full maturity in Christ without being part of
a corporate community are next to zilch and I'll tell you why when you came to
faith in Christ you were not only baptized into Christ you were baptized
into community a lot of us don't understand that Paul puts it this way
one Corinthians chapter 12 we were all baptized by one spirit into one body and
one of the reasons for that is that as a body we not only express the fullness of
the character of Jesus we are his hands and his feet here upon the earth but
we're also here to help each other on that journey together let me put it this
way when we're joined to Jesus we become part as you know of God's kingdom we are
positionally seated with Christ in heavenly places we are focused on who
God is on what it means to love him what it means to obey him and what it means
to serve him we're looking forward to the day when God's will will be done on
earth as it is in heaven that's what it is to be converted to belong to Jesus in
doing that we are part of the family of God who shares that journey together now
here's the problem you'll notice the two circles overlap and the reason the two
circles always overlap is because while spiritually we're seated with Christ in
heavenly places God is our priority loving him is our first priority loving
our neighbor is our second priority the reality is we live in a world where
Satan is still the god of this world and there isn't a day that goes by for any
one of us but we are barraged with the idols of this world the principalities
and the powers that are trying to draw us away from God put that back up for a
moment if you please and so the temptation to power the
identity of relationship the idolatries of money pleasure knowledge false
spirituality or trying to live forever they're present with us every day and if
you don't believe that watch how quickly in the course of the week your Sunday
morning inoculation wears off isn't that true all you have to do is rub
shoulders with the people you work with be cut off in traffic by a very nasty
driver and you discover how much carnality is left in your life not to
mention all the rest of the world and so before you know it what happens is that
we drift away by virtue of of the tide of life God's provision is to put us in
community so that in community we can challenge each other we can exhort each
other we can help each other on that journey and one of the primary tools
that God gives for us to do that is the corporate setting of worship well you
say how does the corporate setting of worship help me to walk out my calling
in Christ faithfully well there's many many different ways let me just quickly
run three by you because there are three you might not even think of very
regularly the first is just by showing up regularly now the chances are when you
are at home debating whether or not you're gonna go to church in Sunday
morning you never think about the impact that your presence or your absence has
on the rest of community isn't it true that most of the time you just think
well you know place is big people would even know whether I'm here or whether
I'm not here and so it's all about me in those kind of places but you see a
community is composed of individuals who gather together and we all know that a
crowd draws a crowd and we all know that when somebody that we're looking to be
here is not here or is not here on a regular basis there is a sense of loss
so don't ever underestimate the importance of just being here and
sitting here because your presence is an encouragement to other people does that
make sense and for those of you that are here regularly I take my hat off to you
because you are a tremendous source of encouragement not only to the rest of
the community but also to me because just for the record you may think I
don't see you but I know if you're here if you're not and that may not bother
you but if you want to bless me be here so if you don't do it for yourself or
for your spouse or for your kids if you're in a really good moment and do it
for me because I like it when you're here I've never said that in all my life
just for the record
another way in which we encourage each other is by participating actively we
all know the difference when we're sitting next to a person who is like
this I don't want to be here don't bother me or a person who comes tuned up
to God anxious to connect with other people and who brings life into the
community and I'm not suggesting you stay home if you're in a bad place
because if you're in a bad place you really need to be here but you know there
was a time years ago in our tradition that people took preparing for Sunday
far more seriously than we do today I mean mother would peel the potatoes so
they didn't have to be peeled on Sunday and all the kids took their bath on
Saturday nights so they didn't all have to smell on Sunday and in all that kind
of thing and the spiritual preparation was part of that well today to a very
large degree for a lot of people that have just gone out the window you know
we live our lives we're busy we go to bed late we we roll out of bed Sunday
morning and try to put our best face on and and then we're here and it's better
to be here like that than not to be here at all let's just make that clear but
better yet if we come in tune with God filled with the spirit and we have
something to contribute to collective worship you know Steve is serving elder
today he's sitting beside me he forgot that he was sitting beside me so after
the handshake he went back to sit with Deborah but we often joke when Steve is
sitting behind me here that he's got my back and that means more to me than you
might think because Steve and Deborah are strong singers I'm a fantastic singer
but I'm always off key and it helps me to know that they're behind me and they
are actively engaged in the worship of God I cannot begin to tell you how
powerfully that communicates to me and how that encourages me to step out in
worship some of you are really good singers some of you not so good but
those of you that are good singers you need to sing out and those of you that
are not such good singers you need to find some good singers that you can sit
around so that collectively you can let the praises of God rise to fill the
rafters of this place because we can do that we can do that and part of the key
to that is to be together rather than scattered and I'll say something else
that I've never said in the course of my life since I'm on a roll today and I
know this isn't gonna make an iota of difference because there are three
things in life that are impossible or almost impossible one is to step over a
fence that is leaning towards you the second is to kiss a girl who is leaning
away from you and the third is to get people to come forward in a church to
sit in the front of the building well somebody help me understand why at a
rock concert everybody crowds at the front and why in church is just me and
healthy in the front here help me understand that get your bodies down here
and be together come on how many of you here have ever built a campfire what's
the key to building a good campfire kindling drywood why is dry wood
important because to keep a fire burning you've got to have a hot enough
temperature to sustain combustion isn't that true and that is the reason why if
you take a log however nicely it is burning out of the fire how long does it
burn not very long it dies down because you see God has created corporate
community so that in each other's heat our zeal for God can burn with passion
quickly one third reason and then we need to go on and that is to care
passionately because you see any given Sunday we've got people here from all
walks of life and some of us are in a good space but you know some of us have
just really had a bad week we've had bad news everything has gone wrong our lives
are falling apart and there is nothing worse than being lonely in the middle of
a big crowd what all of us need is a smiling face that can look me in the eye
and with appropriate sensitivity and wisdom just love me where I am because
at the end of the day it's God loving his people through his people and it
doesn't mean we have to be wonder workers and it doesn't mean we have to
be able to solve everybody's problems did you know that one of the most
difficult things for single people in a context of community is even to know
where to see it so that they're not all by themselves and how little effort it
is for us to understand that about each other and to extend an invitation and to
say come sit with me let me share my heart let me share my life with you
really let us not neglect meeting together as is the habit of some but
encourage one another all the more so as you see the day drawing near I wanted to
talk about that but I think we've probably said enough the context here is
the coming day of God's judgment and because there is coming a day of
judgment what God wants us to do is to get our lives in order so we don't fry
in the fire Peter says since all these things are thus to be dissolved what
manner of persons want you to be in lives of holiness and godliness waiting
for and hastening the coming of the day of the Lord why do we gather because
history is moving towards a climactic end when the fullness of time has come
Jesus comes in the clouds of heaven he's going to gather all nations before him
he's going to separate the sheep from the goats and he's going to say to the
to the goats depart from me you workers of iniquity into the eternal fire
prepared for the devil and his angels and he's going to say to the children of
God come blessed of my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before
the foundation of the world that day is going to come without warning it will
come with terrific horror and fire and terrible judgment because the mercies of
God will have been exhausted and the question is what are you and I doing to
get ready for that day because that day can come in an hour when you don't
expect it and when you least anticipate it I shared with you earlier the story
of our daughter-in-law's father's sudden death at the age of 57 I didn't say a
lot about it at the time but he's not known to have been a believer and one of
our daughter-in-law's attempts over all the years and part of her prayer was to
pray for her father to come to faith and every time she tried to approach it with
him it turned into a fight so that after a while she just recognized the little
time they spent together you didn't want to spend it fighting and so she let it
be never knowing nor did he that he would drop dead at the drop of a hat and
it's very easy to sit here and to say well you know the day of the Lord is a
far thing away and maybe it is maybe it isn't but the day of the Lord happens in
many ways including our own deaths and the question is are we availing
ourselves of the means of grace to be where we need to be for facing God head
on because a lot of people have phony ideas of how God's love will just cover
everything despite it all and it's not biblically true we need to be in Christ
and scripture says we need to be doing what we can to be in a place where we
look forward to his coming and a good test of our spirituality is to ask
yourselves the question do I look forward to the turn of Christ do I look
forward to the coming of God's kingdom because where your treasure is what's
the rest of the verse there your heart will be also so thank you for hearing me
out as I share my heart with you this morning let's avail ourselves as much as
we can of God's means of grace because you never know you never know when the
time runs out and when we're called to give account of who we are and what we
done
you