SERMON: “Why Do We Gather?” (1 Cor. 10:31)
Series: Questioning the Church #2 Text: 1 Corinthians 10:31
By: Shaun Marksbury Date: January
5, 2025
Venue: Living Water Baptist Church Occasion: AM Service
I.
Introduction
One of the interesting facts about the Greek word for “church,”
ecclesia, is that it doesn’t have strictly spiritual meaning in
literature. The word simply means “assembly”
or “gathering,” which may or may not have spiritual significance. For instance, even in Scripture, the term is
applied to a mob of unbelievers (Acts 19:32, 39, 41). Yet, when we consider that God has called
believers out of the world for a purpose, the term “church” takes on profound
and weighty implications.
Yet, what is the purpose for a local gathering of the universal
church? We’re continuing our series
called “Questioning the Church,” an introduction to what the Bible has to say
about the local church. Last time, we
answered the basic question, “What is the church?” — it is God’s gathering of
God’s people both throughout time and space, as well as within a particular time
and space.
We considered a bit about the what of church, so now
let’s consider a bit about it’s why. We
began answering that in a practical way last time, but we didn’t really get to
the core philosophy of the church. Some
people think we gather for those outside the universal gathering, and some
think we gather for those inside it. Some think we gather to experience something,
and some might say it is only for service to others. We need to understand our overriding goal in
every church meeting.
What purpose does the church fulfill? Let’s start by considering some wrong ideas
about why the church gathers. Then, we’ll
consider why the church gathers.
II.
Some Wrong Ideas for Why the Church Gathers
There’s one reason for church that instantly comes to some
Christian’s minds. Let’s begin by imagining
the church as a circle. This circle represents
the church gathered in a local spot. We
might imagine first arrows pointing away from it, out into the rest of the
world. What is the aim of that
gathering? Outsiders.
So, we might think the goal of the local church is
evangelism. In case you were somehow
unaware, Scripture does indeed give us many verses commending the winning of
souls. A couple of the earliest verses I
remember memorizing as a child from the King James Version were Proverbs 11:30
— “he that winneth souls is wise” — and Mark 16:15 — “Go ye into all the world,
and preach the gospel to every creature.”
Many people will turn to the Great Commission when talking
about the purpose of the church. Jesus
says in Matthew 28:18–20, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on
earth. Go therefore and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I
am with you always, even to the end of the age.” There are important truths here for us, like
the authority of Christ, the necessity of teaching about Christ and His ways,
baptism, and the continual presence of Christ.
Yet, we have to acknowledge one point of difficulty — this passage about
going isn’t strictly about the church gathering.
In fact, I’m going to pose a radical question: whether
evangelism is *the* goal of the local church.
It might seem wrong-headed and maybe even heretical for me to question
whether this is the fundamental aim of the local church, but hear me out. If we made this our overriding goal, then we
must change a lot of what we do.
For instance, this sermon would be out of place, and I should instead be
preaching a message to the lost. In
fact, evangelistic sermons should be the only thing I ever preach. And many SBC churches I've known through the
years have decided to do just this, preaching only evangelistic sermons every
Sunday.
We should also have altar calls here. This is something that the early church didn’t
practice, and it wasn’t introduced until the early 19th century during the
Second Great Awakening in the United States.
A revivalist named Charles Finney wanted to work people into a moment of
decision in his preaching, and he would then call mourners or the anxious
forward to sit on a bench. He would then
press them for an immediate response to the gospel rather than wait on God’s
timing for conversion. This became the
practice at all mass evangelism events, like those of Billy Sunday and then
Billy Graham. Today, many churches have
a time call for people to stop fighting God and come forward for salvation; we
find it a practice that lacks precedent in Scripture or church history, one
with the danger of producing emotional or coerced responses rather than genuine,
Spirit-wrought conversion.
Yet, if the main purpose of the church is evangelism, we
will want to take care that we don’t say anything or have any literature laying
around that might be offensive to unbelievers.
For instance, I was hearing from a pastor in a prominent NYC church (Tim
Keller), and he was discussing how he became mission-minded in his ministry to
that blue city. He said he purposefully
doesn’t teach anything political or allow pamphlets people might disagree with,
telling the story of one woman who he said would have left if she saw any pro-life
messages.
When a church becomes worried about potentially offending
people away from Jesus, we must ask whether Christians in that
environment are hearing the full counsel of God’s Word. One church pastor a few years ago highlighted
that — Steven Furtick said that once you’re a Christian, the church isn’t for
you. Churches like his have made
pragmatic choices to reach the lost, trying to target demographics (usually
younger people) by changing to cater to them.
Since non-Christians don’t like hymns, we should play hipper music with
a live band on stage; and it should look like a stage, with up-to-date lighting
and fog machines to match the thumping music.
The sermon should be styled after a brief TED-talk. The church should also signal a willingness
to shift its culture in other ways, such as hiring female pastors and LGBT+
worship leaders. All of these are
real-world examples of pragmatics in the name of attracting the world to Jesus.
Understand that I’m not slamming any church that
might seem a bit more modern or has conducted some kind of outreach. Many good churches hold special concerts,
conferences, and other events that have an evangelist or otherwise worthwhile
goal without compromising what they do on a regular basis. Some might see that as meaning that
evangelism isn’t at the core of everything they do, and that’s correct — a
biblical church isn’t one that caters to the lost.
Pragmatism is the death knell of conviction, and the church
is for the sheep, not for the goats.
Jesus says go, He doesn’t say attract them into your services. So, we must conclude that evangelism isn’t
the main purpose of the church.
So, let’s imagine our circle again, representing the church
gathered. If the arrows should not
point to the sides, aiming at outsiders, then perhaps they should be pointing
inside, aiming at the members. For
instance, Scripture commands us to love one another. As Jesus said in John 13:34–35, “A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you,
that you also love one another. By this
all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” Similarly, Romans 12:10 says, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly
love; give preference to one another in honor.”
Finally, you may remember that Hebrews 10:24–25 says, “let us consider
how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own
assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see
the day drawing near.” We’ll talk more
about this in coming weeks.
Unfortunately, this isn’t quite correct, either. Our first goal isn’t to love people,
but to love God. Jesus gave two great
commandments, that certainly shouldn’t be in opposition to one another, but
they are ordered for a particular purpose.
You cannot properly love your neighbor if you don’t have a love for God
first. So, some think that church is primarily
about what we receive from God.
So, maybe it’s about the good teaching. In fact, one of those ways we fulfill
stirring one another up is by gathering and hearing the good confession of
faith (Heb. 10:23). Yet, if good
teaching is the goal, then the church can become egotistical and insular. It can run the risk of leaving its first love
like in Ephesus.
Let’s consider that — in Acts 20:28, Paul gathers the elders
of Ephesus and warns them, “Be on guard for yourselves and for all the flock,
among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of
God which He purchased with His own blood.
I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not
sparing the flock.” In both 1 and 2
Timothy, we see Paul instructing Timothy on how to navigate those issues,
calling out false teachers.
Later, the Apostle John takes over at Ephesus, and it seems
that the message was received — a bit too well!
In Revelation 2, Jesus addresses the church and says, “I know your deeds
and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you
put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you
found them to be false; and you have
perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.” In other words, they accepted Paul and
Timothy’s challenges earlier, either before or during the Apostle John’s tenure
there, striving for doctrinal purity.
However, they lost perspective, practicing a zeal for the truth that
rivaled and surpassed their zeal for the Lord.
So, it’s possible to have an orthodox church that doesn’t
seem to reflect the love of Christ.
We’re not talking about false accusations against a local church, where
worldly people say the church is unloving because it teaches against the sin
that the world loves. Rather, this is
the kind of church where the people remain insular, in their cliches or social
clubs, averse to any way that the Lord might be challenging them. There was a otherwise commendable church we
knew like that, where almost no one greeted visitors and you saw the same
people knotted around each other at every fellowship opportunity, forming what
almost amounted to factions within the church.
Such a church might have good doctrine in the pulpit, but it’s a church
filled with people who don’t love the Lord as much as they love something else,
evidenced by the fact that they don’t love their fellow brothers and sisters in
the Lord.
So maybe it’s about the good worship. This is much closer to the mark. Churches do gather to engage in worship. Many Scripture references call for the
corporate worship of God’s people, which we’ll discuss much later. But there
are Christians who choose a church based on the worship music.
However, this can become twisted because of sin and is
slightly off as the purpose of our gatherings.
How might it be twisted? If there
is no defined meaning of worship, then people might begin to think that of
worship as an experience, for instance.
While Christians do sometimes feel something during worship, worship
doesn’t only happen when we have certain feelings (sometimes, it happens when
we don't feel anything at all!). The
music might be designed to evoke worshipful feelings (much as music in a
theater can evoke certain emotions) that may or may not indicate true worship
is taking place. If it’s just about feelings
and experiences, those in false religions who claim more powerful worship
moments might say that theirs is the true way.
No, neither what we get out of worship nor what kind of
teaching we receive are reasons in themselves for us to gather. Yet, we’ve considered the arrows pointing
outward toward the world, and we’ve considered them pointing inward toward each
other. If neither one of those is
correct, then what should be the aim of the local church?
III.
Why Does the Local Church Gather?
We began where we did for a reason. Turning back to 1 Corinthians 10:31, we read,
“Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of
God.” Gathering for church is certainly
part of what we do, meaning that it’s purpose should be to glorify God.
Let’s back up and reconsider what the church is for a
moment. Let’s turn to Matthew 16:18 for
a moment. We read Jesus saying there, “I
also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”
Now, there’s some discussion among Roman Catholics as to whether this is
the inception of the papacy, and the discussion hinges on the language behind
Peter’s name and what Jesus means by “rock.”
However, what’s more interesting is the demonstrative pronoun “this” —
tracking backwards, Peter had just confessed that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of God, and Jesus says in v. 17 that “this” is something revealed by the Father
to Peter. So, Peter might be a little
rock, but the “this” rock Jesus builds the church on is Peter’s confession, not
Peter himself.
With that out of the way, we see that Jesus is in charge of
His church. He builds it. He decides the foundation. He is the head and directs it.
In addition to Christ constructing the church on the bedrock
of His choosing, we see another image in Scripture. That is the picture of the body, and we see
that in places like Romans 12. Let’s
look at Ephesians 4:11 for a minute, though, and note something else. We see it begins “He,” and the “He” is the
one who descended and ascended, Jesus Christ.
He gives gifts — apostles, prophets, evangelists, and
pastor-teachers. He wants the body to
grow; starting in v. 12, we read,
for the equipping of the saints for
the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all
attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a
mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of
Christ. As a result, we are no longer to
be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of
doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; but
speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body, being fitted and held
together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each
individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in
love.
Christ is growing the church as He wants to, and we will
grow as we continue to bow to His ways.
Note that in this passage, we are not only likened to a body, but He to
the head of the body. In the next
chapter, this image becomes important for the husband/wife relationship in
5:22–24. In Colossians 1:18, we
similarly read, “He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the
beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have
first place in everything.” Jesus is the
head, and we are to be subject unto Him.
Some of you are already here in your understanding. Instead of the arrows in our drawing pointing
outward or inward, they should point upward toward the Lord. Now, you might say, “Didn’t you already
discuss this option?” Yes and no. If we craft worship pragmatically for the
purpose of generating experiences in the people of God, then they are the focus,
not Him. However, if we are concerned
about truly worshiping God, then we will look to His Word for instruction.
The goal of the local church should be the glory of God. This is a subtle but important difference
from any other option I gave. The church
can and should glorify God through good teaching and evangelism, but that isn’t
its goal. In fact, when God’s glory
becomes the most important, then the services are geared around faithfulness to
Him.
Let’s back up and consider this in every arena of the church
we’ve discussed. First, think about this
in terms of evangelism. Evangelism loses
all sense of pragmatism in light of Scripture.
We stop making it about numbers, counting raised hands and professions of
faith. Instead, it becomes about
disciple-making, fulfilling the Great Commission. Jesus said, “Go therefore and make disciples
of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and
the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you” (Matt.
28:19–20); He didn’t say, “Gather the people together into a room, have them
bow their heads, and ask them to raise their hands if they want to give me a
chance!”
Second, think about this in terms of loving one another. The church becomes a place for true
fellowship, edification, and encouragement in the Lord. We don’t become a place for just positive and
uplifting messages, regardless of how helpful those may be at times. We are challenged in the church by the
teaching of the Lord, and when we see something wrong, we bring that conviction
to bear. When someone is struggling in
sin, we lovingly call them to repentance and restoration, helping them along
the path of righteousness.
Think about this in terms of teaching. We don’t soften the messages to cater to
broader audiences, nor do we preach only hard messages to fulfill some sense of
pride. Instead, again, Jesus said to
teach “all that I commanded you” (Matt. 28:20), and we seek to fulfill
that. As Paul said in Acts 20:27, “I did
not shrink from declaring to you the whole purpose of God,” and that should be
the testimony of this church. We seek to
glory God by teaching everything He commanded of us.
Finally, think about that in terms of worship. If God’s glory is our focus, we will seek to
follow His Word in worship rather than pragmatism or tradition. We’ll be
properly concerned about others in worship, not making it about ourselves, but
we’ll also seek to please God in all things.
We also recognize that worship is a time when we encounter God as He
promised, so we don’t need theatrics or manipulation to help God out.
IV.
Conclusion
In a way, this is still introduction to what we’re going to
study together in the future! It’s
important, though, that we see the overriding purpose of the church is to
glorify God. There are some other
purposes that are good (and some others that are not so good), but all of it
must come into submission to what He has revealed about the church. Remember that He is the Lord of His church,
and we gather for His purposes, to His glory.
