back to index2020-8-30 Reach Out
00:00:00.000 |
Alright, if you can turn your Bibles with me to Hebrews 10, we're going to be focused 00:00:09.420 |
on verses 24 and 25 this morning, but we want to read it in the context that we were at. 00:00:14.860 |
Remember, we were at the end of the inclusio, this kind of meant to be an exclamation mark 00:00:19.880 |
of the text that we were in, starting from chapter 4. Remember, an inclusio is something 00:00:24.360 |
that starts with the same phrase and ends with the same phrase, and so it was meant 00:00:27.860 |
to be taken as a unit, and so we're at the end of that, and so we're going to be looking 00:00:32.480 |
at verse 19. I'm going to read from 19 to 25, but focused on 24 and 25. Okay? Again, 00:00:39.840 |
reading out of the NASB, "Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the holy 00:00:43.320 |
place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he inaugurated for us through 00:00:48.000 |
the veil, that is his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 00:00:53.440 |
let us draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith, having our hearts 00:00:58.240 |
sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water, let us 00:01:03.080 |
hold fast a confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 00:01:08.040 |
Let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our 00:01:12.040 |
own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another in all the 00:01:16.880 |
more as you see the day drawing near." Let's pray. Heavenly Father, we ask for your guidance, 00:01:24.480 |
we ask for your Holy Spirit to open our ears, help us to understand and apply the very things 00:01:30.040 |
that you have for us. May this time be pleasing in your sight, in Jesus' name we pray, amen. 00:01:35.120 |
Alright, so as I mentioned, that this is the end part of the inclusio where he, it was 00:01:42.240 |
meant to be taken as an exclamation mark of all the things that he's been saying about 00:01:45.880 |
what Jesus has done. And this is at the backbone, this is at the core of what you and I profess 00:01:51.800 |
to believe. And so we are not to take this lightly, we are to take it seriously because 00:01:57.800 |
of what it leads to. So the point of all that he's been saying, the author has been saying, 00:02:02.440 |
is not simply, "Do you understand who Jesus is?" That wasn't his ultimate goal. His ultimate 00:02:07.760 |
goal is, "If you understand who he is, then how will you live?" And his primary concern 00:02:14.280 |
wasn't a lack of Christology, even though that was the root cause of them drifting. 00:02:20.080 |
His primary concern was people were beginning to drift out of the church and go back and 00:02:24.080 |
revert back to their old life. And he recognized the reason why is because maybe they forgot 00:02:30.200 |
who Jesus is, or they needed to be reminded the supremacy of Christ, that he is above 00:02:35.040 |
everything that they're being tempted to drift back to. And so that's why he took all this 00:02:39.960 |
time going over details of who Jesus is, that he's greater than the angels, greater than 00:02:45.120 |
Moses, greater than the prophets, greater than the sacrificial system. He himself is 00:02:50.680 |
the sacrifice. He himself is the high priest. And as a result of that, he says, there's 00:02:55.080 |
three imperatives. And these imperatives are not unique to this text. In fact, every imperative 00:03:00.400 |
in the New Testament will fall into these three categories, drawing near to God, persevering, 00:03:07.400 |
and reaching out to others. And the way that I phrased it last week was reach up, reach 00:03:11.160 |
in, and reach out. So every imperative, every doctrine of Christ, every doctrine of the 00:03:16.680 |
gospel leads to one of these applications, that we are to draw near to God, to persevere 00:03:23.920 |
in our faith, and to reach out to other people. So last week, we looked at drawing near to 00:03:28.400 |
God and to persevere, to hold fast to our confession, right? And so, and it needs to 00:03:34.080 |
be in that order. Because if we draw strength from reaching out to other people, and that's 00:03:39.760 |
our primary reason why we do what we do, eventually, you're going to get burnt out. If your primary 00:03:45.400 |
feeding and energy is coming from serving other people, eventually, when people disappoint 00:03:50.680 |
you, you will also burn out as well. That's not where we're supposed to get our sustenance. 00:03:56.040 |
That's the application of the sustenance that we get from Christ. And so the first order 00:04:01.300 |
of things that God teaches us always is to draw near to Christ. Where are you with Christ? 00:04:06.720 |
Not just theologically, right? Not just do you have the right answers, but are you walking 00:04:11.840 |
with Christ? Are you communion with Christ? Can you say that you are in love with Christ? 00:04:16.160 |
Is, is having intimate communion with Christ your primary pursuit in life? And secondly, 00:04:21.640 |
if that's the case, are you persevering? Are you swerving? Are you being distracted by 00:04:25.960 |
the things that are going on around you? Are you running to other people for sustenance? 00:04:30.040 |
Is Christ your center? And are you not swerving? Are you persevering in that? And only those 00:04:35.960 |
people who are being fed and strengthened in Christ, we can be led to the third application, 00:04:42.240 |
which is to reach out. And this is so important because it gets to the core of why we gather, 00:04:49.680 |
why we're sitting in the hot sun doing what we're doing. Because especially right now, 00:04:55.840 |
you know, the churches are debating one another back and forth online and even among pastors, 00:05:00.440 |
maybe even among your friends. Why are you going, why are you, why is your church gathering 00:05:04.840 |
together? Now, why can't we just stay online? What's the big deal? Why is your church so 00:05:10.120 |
worried about this? And there's a back and forth going on between the churches that are 00:05:13.800 |
open with the churches that aren't open as to if this is necessary or not necessary. 00:05:21.260 |
And so all the more why this text is so important for us this morning, because it has, it has 00:05:25.460 |
direct application of what's happening. So I want to jump in this morning, as he says 00:05:30.880 |
to let us draw near to Christ, let us hold fast to our confession. And then third and 00:05:35.920 |
finally, let us consider, let us consider how to stimulate one another toward love and 00:05:41.940 |
good deeds. The first thing I want to look at is to let us consider, to consider carefully 00:05:46.560 |
contemplate, to deliberately think about, you know, in Hebrews chapter 3, 1, the letter 00:05:53.640 |
started by challenging us to consider Jesus. Partakers of heavenly calling consider Jesus 00:06:00.360 |
the apostle and high priest of our confession. Right? So let's, let's take our minds of all 00:06:06.280 |
of our distractions and think about who Jesus is. And that's how the letter started. And 00:06:11.880 |
so now at the end of this inclusio, this doctrinal part of the, of the Bible, of the book of 00:06:17.200 |
Hebrews, now he says, now that we have considered Christ, let us consider carefully how to stimulate 00:06:22.860 |
other people. Let us consider how we are going to provoke and stimulate other people. Now, 00:06:29.560 |
this is so important because again, you and I live in a generation where we just don't 00:06:35.280 |
think. We don't have time or space to think, you know, and sometimes I think maybe I'm 00:06:41.440 |
just getting old, but you know, I go to coffee shops and I just can't hear myself. You know, 00:06:45.760 |
the music is blasted, you know, you're in the car and then the car is blasting, you're 00:06:50.640 |
by yourself and the phone is on. So there's very little time to actually sit down and 00:06:55.160 |
contemplate. You're almost constantly being told what to think and what to feel. And that 00:07:00.280 |
we may not be doing that deliberately, but our society around us, it created an environment 00:07:05.760 |
where we don't sit and contemplate and think through deep things. We just go from one thought, 00:07:11.600 |
one entertainment, one show, one clip, just one blog, you know, one, and we just go from 00:07:19.200 |
one to another. The very first thing we are told to do, he says, to consider carefully, 00:07:25.240 |
to think through, contemplate. You know, as sinners who've been saved by the grace of 00:07:32.080 |
God, our natural inclination is to be self-centered. What about me? What is God doing for me? What 00:07:40.800 |
are they doing for me? Are they reaching out to me? When we are me-centered, it naturally 00:07:47.040 |
leads to ingratitude. It naturally leads to ingratitude. It naturally leads to discontent 00:07:54.200 |
because other sinners don't live up to your desires because they're also sinners, because 00:08:00.520 |
they're also thinking the same thing, because they're also self-centered. So if you have 00:08:04.420 |
a room filled with self-centered people, if you're sitting next to a self-centered person, 00:08:08.900 |
that person is probably thinking the exact same thing that you're thinking. Why is that 00:08:12.440 |
guy not reaching out to me? Why does that guy not care about me? So our natural inclination 00:08:19.480 |
when we are self-centered is to think about how everything around them affects me. And 00:08:27.000 |
we naturally become judgmental if that's the case. In Matthew 7, verse 3, it says, "Why 00:08:30.680 |
do you look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in 00:08:35.400 |
your own eye?" Why do you look at the speck that is in your own eye? Look meaning that 00:08:40.520 |
you're examining other people to see what's wrong with them, and you're so gracious to 00:08:45.280 |
yourself, but so critical toward other people. That's usually the result of being self-centered. 00:08:52.520 |
Galatians 6, "Brethren, even if anyone is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, 00:08:57.640 |
restore such a one in the spirit of gentleness, each one looking to yourself." In other words, 00:09:02.080 |
examine yourself carefully so that you too will not be tempted. Apostle Paul says in 00:09:08.280 |
1 Corinthians 8, 12, "Therefore, if food causes my brother to stumble, I will never eat meat 00:09:13.200 |
again so that I will not cause my brother to stumble." In other words, he says, "I 00:09:17.120 |
have the freedom. I can eat this meat. I can eat that food." He says, "But his life isn't 00:09:22.720 |
about just himself." A self-centered person always stops with, "I'm okay with it. I have 00:09:31.440 |
the freedom. Don't judge me." But Apostle Paul says, "I have the freedom." But he says, 00:09:37.960 |
"But if my actions cause someone else to stumble, his life standard is not himself. It's about 00:09:43.560 |
how his life is lived for the sake of other people." Now again, in 1 Corinthians 9, 22-23, 00:09:48.080 |
"To the weak I became weak that I might not, I might win the weak. I have become all things 00:09:53.600 |
to all men so that I may by all means save some. I do all things for the sake of the 00:09:58.640 |
gospel so that I may become a fellow partaker of it." Even though he was free, he's the 00:10:04.600 |
one who teaches us about the freedom that we have in Christ. He's the one who argues 00:10:09.060 |
against the Judaizers who's saying that you have to do this on the Sabbath and you, you 00:10:13.320 |
have to do this and you have to do that. And he says, "If you want to compare credentials 00:10:18.120 |
of who's the greatest legalist," he says, "I can outdo all of you." So he's the one who 00:10:22.480 |
teaches us about the freedom in Christ and yet he says he does, he does all things for 00:10:28.640 |
the sake of other people. The first and foremost thing that we are called to do, if there is 00:10:34.200 |
any affection in Christ, if we've been affected by the gospel in any way, he says first and 00:10:39.040 |
foremost, what does he say in Philippians chapter 2? Right? "Do nothing out of selfishness, 00:10:43.960 |
of self-centeredness. Consider others better than yourselves," he says. And so that we 00:10:50.040 |
may live our lives not in us-centered but in other-centered. Again in Romans 12, 15, 00:10:56.800 |
after 11 chapters of teaching us about the intricate details of the gospel, the application 00:11:02.480 |
that we saw, remember when we're going through Romans chapter 12, 15, it says, "Rejoice with 00:11:06.760 |
those who rejoice and weep with those who weep." See the problem with a self-centered 00:11:12.240 |
life is we don't even know who's rejoicing. We don't know who's weeping. Other than our 00:11:17.720 |
immediate friends, other than the few people that we've allowed into our circle, we can't 00:11:23.440 |
weep with those people because we just, we've never cared beyond our, our, our little bubble. 00:11:29.400 |
So we don't know who's rejoicing. And then it's like, oh, when we see it online, it's 00:11:32.760 |
like, oh, how come I'm not invited to that? Oh, we're not in their circle. And we're not 00:11:37.280 |
able to weep with other people because we don't know what's going on in their lives 00:11:40.520 |
because we've lived in our little bubble, because we've lived in a self-centered life. 00:11:47.240 |
You can't practice church online. You can't practice church online because you will never 00:11:53.960 |
know what's going on in people's lives. If your whole Christian life is about you listening 00:11:59.180 |
to a sermon and dropping off your offering, if that's your whole idea of Christianity, 00:12:03.800 |
yes, you can do that online. But what the church is called to do to consider how to 00:12:09.800 |
stimulate one another on toward love and good deeds, you can't do that from a distance because 00:12:14.960 |
you don't know what's going on in people's lives. So first and foremost, the imperative 00:12:19.620 |
that he calls us to do is to think and contemplate who are in need, who, who needs to be encouraged, 00:12:27.880 |
who needs to be provoked. Church was never meant to be practiced from a distance. So 00:12:34.240 |
the first thing he says, let us consider carefully contemplate deliberately. What are we to do 00:12:39.840 |
to consider stimulate one another on toward love and good deeds? You know, this word for 00:12:44.980 |
stimulate in Greek is a very strong word. In fact, the closest word to English would 00:12:50.140 |
be to provoke, to provoke. When we think of provoke, at least the way we use it in our 00:12:56.160 |
language is, is usually negative, right? Somebody is always doing irritating things and you 00:13:02.940 |
get provoked, right? If you have younger siblings at home, right? Your older siblings, you know, 00:13:09.400 |
say your younger siblings, you'll say, oh, he does and she, what she does provokes me, 00:13:14.400 |
right? In other words, if you're provoked to anger, maybe you have road rage, somebody 00:13:19.160 |
cuts you off and you just instantaneously you're provoked. So when somebody is provoked, 00:13:24.340 |
it's not calculated. It just happens. Someone else's behavior, someone, what someone else 00:13:29.400 |
is doing causes a very intense, strong emotions to come out. That's the word provoke when 00:13:35.720 |
it is used in a negative way. Here's it's used in a positive sense to provoke that our 00:13:41.840 |
behavior, what we say and do causes another person to be provoked to love almost involuntarily. 00:13:51.880 |
If you've ever been around people like that, who they're just life is just constantly in 00:13:55.980 |
serving other people. You just automatically become more serving. You understand? Do you 00:14:00.340 |
know what I'm talking about? Right? I would say like as a group of people, and this may 00:14:05.140 |
not be true of every single mother, but as a group of people, I think moms generally 00:14:11.680 |
are just serving is embedded into their lives because that's what, that's what they just 00:14:16.340 |
do. I don't know if you've ever been at a dinner party with a bunch of moms, biggest 00:14:22.500 |
feast ever, right? Because that's, they just do that. They just, it's just embedded. They 00:14:27.220 |
don't have to think twice. They get together. They're almost fighting each other to do dishes. 00:14:31.580 |
They're fighting each other to clean up. You know, that don't happen in most crowds. When 00:14:36.020 |
the dads are gathered together, we're usually just tired. You know, when moms are together, 00:14:40.540 |
they're like fighting each other to serve. And there are people, there's groups of people, 00:14:45.060 |
there are people that if you're around them, you just naturally are provoked by their actions 00:14:51.220 |
to be more serving, to be more generous, to be more giving. That's the idea that he has 00:14:56.140 |
here to provoke. Now, I could say that every Sunday, my desire is to provoke you with my 00:15:02.820 |
words and there is a place for that. And I think it's very important because the word 00:15:08.260 |
of God, when we hear it, it provokes us to action. But for most of us, you know, the 00:15:16.380 |
provoking happens through action. Usually action begets other action. You know, our 00:15:24.020 |
church is run by volunteers, right? And so things are not done professionally. It's not 00:15:31.660 |
done professionally because people are not getting paid to do that. Now, we have the 00:15:36.320 |
finances to hire maybe five or six more full-time staff, maybe five or six part-time staff, 00:15:42.220 |
and we can get a full-time janitor, we can get a full-time, you know, like whatever. 00:15:47.700 |
And we have the finances that we could do that. But part of the reason why we don't 00:15:52.060 |
do that is because we want to give the opportunity for the church to serve. And so as long as 00:15:57.540 |
it is being run by volunteers, there's different levels of maturity. There are some people 00:16:02.420 |
who will volunteer and they are very faithful. If they get on a task, you know it's going 00:16:08.140 |
to be get done. It's going to be, it's going to be done excellently and they're going to 00:16:11.940 |
keep doing it until they aren't doing it anymore. And then there's a lot of people who are well-intending. 00:16:18.260 |
They're the first ones to volunteer, but they're also the first ones to flake, you know? And 00:16:23.340 |
it's frustrating because certain things don't get done the way we want it to get done. But 00:16:28.740 |
whenever you work with volunteers, that comes with the territory. So we can make it look 00:16:33.500 |
very professional by hiring full-time staff and pay them to get it done. And we can come 00:16:39.180 |
to church and enjoy the fruit of the labors of people who've been paid to do it. Or we 00:16:45.220 |
can do it the biblical way. Okay, now you know what I'm talking about. Okay? We come 00:16:49.580 |
to church and God has called each one of us to serve, to serve voluntarily as an act of 00:16:56.260 |
worship. And so because there's different levels of maturity, different levels of discipline, 00:17:02.220 |
some things get done excellently, some things are done poorly. But the purpose of the reason 00:17:07.140 |
why we do that is because God has called the church to build the church. Just because we 00:17:14.020 |
have finances, it's not a good idea just so that we can make it look better. See, our 00:17:21.300 |
church is filled with people who are volunteering as an act of worship. And so the calling is 00:17:27.180 |
let us consider, think carefully how our lives and our behavior and our speech can provoke 00:17:32.460 |
other people toward love and good deeds. So when you're surrounded by people who are serving, 00:17:38.460 |
like it's naturally, naturally it provokes other people to serve. And that's what we 00:17:42.700 |
desire in the church, right? Not to make you feel guilty about serving, but to provoke 00:17:48.540 |
you to serve, to want to serve. So when new people come to church and they see a church 00:17:53.780 |
filled with people volunteering, coming to church early to set up, to clean afterwards, 00:17:58.780 |
and they might be thinking, "Oh, how come the other church that I was at, they hired 00:18:02.180 |
all these people to get this done and it's done so well." And then they might sit here 00:18:07.900 |
and just kind of like enjoy, you know, everything's running so well, but just enjoy the church. 00:18:14.140 |
So we are called to live in such a way that others are to be provoked. Every morning, 00:18:20.740 |
if you show up here early, as early as 6.30, 7 o'clock in the morning, probably 6.30 or 00:18:25.140 |
earlier than that, there's a group of people here who comes every Sunday who sets up the 00:18:29.660 |
AV. Our prayer team comes earlier than everybody else every single week and they practice for 00:18:35.540 |
hours, right? And then there's people who come, set up the chairs, they sanitize, you 00:18:41.700 |
know, these tents would look much better if we hired people to do it, right? But we had 00:18:46.580 |
professional pastors who did it, so it doesn't look as nice, right? But we have people in 00:18:51.820 |
the church and part of the reasoning behind that is because we want to provoke people. 00:18:55.900 |
You know, I was thinking about this this week and the biggest and the latest example that 00:19:00.180 |
I could think about is our brother and sister, Rachel and Andy Wong, you know, when they 00:19:04.860 |
volunteered as soon as we went online, you know, they started contemplating and thinking 00:19:09.620 |
like how can they provoke a church, how can they encourage a church? And remember, they 00:19:13.780 |
came up with the idea of service fair and they asked if it was okay. So this was not 00:19:18.420 |
started by the church leaders, it was not our idea, they had an idea, like we're online, 00:19:24.260 |
let's make the most of it and they asked if they can do it. Of course you can do it, you 00:19:27.940 |
know, we're not going to stop you, you're going to make money for the church and for 00:19:31.340 |
the causes. Not thinking anything's going to come out of this, you know, especially 00:19:35.700 |
me. I don't know about other pastors and leaders, I was very skeptical. I was encouraged by 00:19:40.420 |
what they wanted to do, but I was very skeptical. Like people are afraid to come out of their 00:19:45.020 |
house, who's going to volunteer to serve and who's going to ask, you know, these disease 00:19:51.040 |
infected people to come to their house? That's what I was thinking, right? At least at the 00:19:54.620 |
beginning, right? Well, I mean, obviously you guys know what happened, it started and 00:19:59.140 |
then you had all these people in the church volunteering, you know, gourmet meals, piano 00:20:04.700 |
lessons to take pictures, boat rides, dental services, eye care, you know, free sunglasses 00:20:12.100 |
and all these things and then, you know, off-road camping and raised over $10,000, you know, 00:20:20.140 |
in the church. And all the while just volunteering, you know, not initiated by the church or church 00:20:26.540 |
leaders and the church got involved and we raised more money than we've done in any other 00:20:32.060 |
activity. We can have like three seasons of softball tournaments and not raise that money, 00:20:37.460 |
right? And I was thinking, "Wow, that was easy. We should just let them run it." And 00:20:44.020 |
it was just, again, it's because a couple just thought that, "How can we, how can we 00:20:49.220 |
provoke the church?" And our whole church was affected by it, right? And even now when 00:20:54.700 |
I think about it, man, that was, that was not, it wasn't just a good idea, but the fact 00:21:00.020 |
that, you know, the couple decided like, "Oh, they want to make the most of the situation 00:21:05.660 |
that we're in," while everybody else may be thinking, "What are we going to do?" And maybe 00:21:10.460 |
we were thinking that. And as a result, the whole church was provoked. We raised money 00:21:14.860 |
for good causes, you know, people were volunteering, they're paying for four $500 meals, crazy, 00:21:21.100 |
right? Going off-road and spending three days with people you don't know, you know, and 00:21:26.420 |
then building relationships. We were all provoked. You know, see, you can't do that from a distance. 00:21:35.340 |
You can't do that simply online. The church gathers together. Even when we were offline, 00:21:40.620 |
they were working toward, "How do we do this? How do we provoke each other on toward loving 00:21:45.140 |
good deeds?" And that's what he was saying, that we ought to contemplate and think and 00:21:50.580 |
to consider and to apply, "How can we build a church where just being a part of the church 00:21:57.900 |
provokes other people to love and to commit their lives to good works?" He says to do 00:22:06.260 |
this, "Not forsaking our own assembling together." The reason why he's saying that is because 00:22:12.140 |
that's what was happening in the early church. It's not just coming out of nowhere. Part 00:22:17.360 |
of the reason, part of the ramification of people drifting was that they were beginning 00:22:22.020 |
to neglect their assembly because that's usually what happens when people are not doing well 00:22:26.260 |
spiritually. One of the first things that you see is that they don't gather. They feel 00:22:30.780 |
guilty, they feel shame, or they're disgruntled, and one of the first thing that is is they 00:22:35.340 |
don't see the importance of the gathering. So some people were just beginning to drift. 00:22:42.340 |
And again, that's the reason why this is written, is to get them back to church, to get them 00:22:48.360 |
to gather together. But the other reason why is because the persecution was intense. Maybe 00:22:55.240 |
for the first time, there were physical consequences for their gathering. And that's the reason 00:23:01.440 |
why he keeps saying, "All the more as you see the day drawing near." He didn't say, 00:23:07.120 |
"Oh, let's gather together as long as it's safe. Let's not drift as long as everything 00:23:12.360 |
is good." He said, "All the more, all the more as it becomes dangerous, all the more 00:23:17.640 |
as the world becomes more hostile to the Christian faith." He says, "All the more not forsaking 00:23:22.960 |
our own assembling together." The church, 1 Timothy 3.15 says, "It is the household 00:23:30.200 |
of God." It was never meant to be done from a distance, through letters, through online. 00:23:38.400 |
Now obviously there are periods of life where we have gone through, where we may temporarily 00:23:44.240 |
not be able to gather together. Maybe there's some young parents who have children, or sometimes 00:23:49.120 |
you're sick, or you may be out of town. But he says, "Not forsaking our own assembling 00:23:54.600 |
together as it is the habit of some." Meaning, they don't see the high value of the gathering 00:24:00.840 |
of the church. So every time it becomes inconvenient, every time there's a little bit of danger, 00:24:07.480 |
every time there's even a little bit of cost, first thing that they forsake is the assembling 00:24:12.280 |
together. Let's make this very clear. When the church first shut down, secular government 00:24:20.520 |
said, "We're going to keep what is essential open, and non-essentials shut down." We, from 00:24:27.960 |
the very get-go, we were very cautious about abiding by that, because a secular world cannot 00:24:33.640 |
tell the church what is essential. Of course it's not essential to them. They don't believe 00:24:38.200 |
in God. They reject the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. They don't have the hope 00:24:44.360 |
of eternity in Jesus. So for them, living and eating and surviving is, and whatever 00:24:51.880 |
causes that, is essential. Everything else is not essential, because they think of religion 00:24:57.560 |
as a security blanket. And you don't need that. You can have the security blanket at 00:25:02.280 |
home. You can hear comforting words on the internet. You don't have to be gathered together. 00:25:08.520 |
That's a perspective coming from a non-Christian world. My concern is, again I'm not saying 00:25:15.160 |
that all churches have done this for this reason. My concern is, Christians have too 00:25:19.800 |
easily accepted the standards of what is essential and non-essential from the secular world. 00:25:26.920 |
Let me make this very clear. The church is essential, because the very nature of the 00:25:31.320 |
word "Ekklesia" means the physical gathering of people who are called out. So when a Jew 00:25:38.520 |
in the early church heard even the very term "church," they understood that as a physical 00:25:44.440 |
gathering, because that's the meaning of the word. Assembly of people who are called out. 00:25:51.000 |
It's an assembly, not simply a meeting. But the physical assembly, "Ekklesia." Church was 00:25:58.760 |
never meant to be done in a distance. In fact, the church is so important in 1 Corinthians 3, 00:26:04.200 |
16 and 17. Apostle Paul says, "Do you not know that you are a temple of God?" You know the "you" 00:26:10.200 |
here is in plural, not singular. There's another part in Corinthians where he uses the singular, 00:26:15.880 |
but here in 1 Corinthians 3, it is "you" is in plural, meaning the assembly. "Ekklesia" are the 00:26:22.840 |
temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you. If any man destroys the temple of God, 00:26:27.560 |
God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy and that is what you are. 00:26:31.880 |
It is the church that Jesus came to die for. It is the church that God called us to serve. 00:26:38.920 |
We cannot practice Christian life outside of the assembly of the local church. Jesus says, 00:26:46.520 |
"I will build my church and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." 00:26:53.320 |
Where do you practice lordship? In the church. Where do you practice the ordinances that God 00:27:01.080 |
deems so important that some people not participating in an honorable way were 00:27:07.160 |
actually falling asleep, meaning that they were disciplined directly from the Holy Spirit. Some 00:27:11.080 |
were actually falling sick and dying because they weren't practicing the ordinances in a way that 00:27:17.080 |
honors God. Where do you practice ordinances outside of the physical assembly of the church? 00:27:23.160 |
How do you practice your spiritual gifts? You don't practice that in your living room. 00:27:26.920 |
You don't know if you're a good singer or not by yourself singing in the closet. 00:27:31.080 |
You don't know what your spiritual gifts is, whether it's in teaching or serving or 00:27:35.400 |
administration. You don't know any of that. You find that out in the assembly of the church. 00:27:40.440 |
You cannot practice obedience to the scriptures outside of the physical assembly of the church. 00:27:48.120 |
How do you provoke one another on toward love and good deeds from a distance? 00:27:52.040 |
How do you keep each other accountable when you don't know how they're doing? 00:27:55.320 |
You don't know they're suffering. How do you rejoice with them when you don't know 00:27:59.560 |
what they're rejoicing over? How do you weep with them when you don't know what they're suffering? 00:28:04.040 |
How do you have union with Christ if the church, the physical assembly of the church, 00:28:09.960 |
is the body of Christ and He is the head of the church? When we are physically separated, 00:28:15.480 |
how do we proclaim to have union with Christ if we are away? See, the church was never meant to be 00:28:21.800 |
practiced from a distance. If our understanding of a church is just simply attending and listening 00:28:28.840 |
to online sermons, then yes, you can practice that. But the biblical understanding of church 00:28:35.800 |
that is described briefly here, again this is not comprehensive, cannot be practiced outside 00:28:42.120 |
of the physical assembly. And that's why he says, not forsaking. Consider how to stimulate, 00:28:46.840 |
provoke one another, untoward love, loving good deeds, not forsaking the assembly as it is the 00:28:51.400 |
habit of some, but encouraging one another all the more as you see the day drawing near. 00:28:57.240 |
To encourage, to call, to exhort, to beseech with strong force. There is a priority of urgency for 00:29:06.120 |
the church to gather, especially now because he says all the more, all the more, because the church 00:29:15.720 |
is meant to be a light, right? He says what good is light, right? If it loses the light, what good 00:29:23.560 |
is the salt if it loses its flavor? All then to be thrown to the ground and to be trampled. 00:29:28.440 |
If God calls us to be a light, when is the light the most needed? Not in the middle of the day, 00:29:35.080 |
right? You don't turn on the campfire in the middle of the day. You don't turn on lights in 00:29:39.800 |
the middle of the day. You turn on the light at night. The darker the world becomes, the more 00:29:45.800 |
it necessitates the church to be brighter. And that's why he says all the more, all the more 00:29:53.480 |
why the church needs to gather, all the more why the assembly of the church is essential. 00:29:58.680 |
Because our very nature requires us to be a greater light, to come together, to provoke 00:30:06.440 |
one another, to draw near to God, to persevere in our faith, so that this world who is lost, 00:30:12.520 |
thinking that if they can just change the president, if they can change the politics, 00:30:17.480 |
if they can change the economy, if they can get rid and get some vaccine, that everything will be 00:30:23.480 |
good. And you and I know that that's not the case. They can fix all the problems in the world 00:30:31.320 |
and at the end all have still sinned and fall short of the glory of God. While the world is 00:30:38.280 |
searching in darkness, looking for answers, the church needs to be the light. That's why he says 00:30:44.680 |
all the more. As it is getting dark, the church needs to gather. First Thessalonians 5, 2-7, 00:30:52.200 |
"For you yourselves know full well that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. 00:30:57.080 |
While they are saying, 'Peace and safety,' then destruction will come upon them, suddenly like 00:31:01.400 |
labor pains upon a woman with child, and they will not escape." He says that the characteristics 00:31:08.040 |
of people who are going to be caught off guard by the second coming of Christ 00:31:13.160 |
are people who are primary goal in life is to seek peace and safety. 00:31:18.280 |
Peace and safety. Everything that we do is so that we can have some peace 00:31:24.600 |
and that we can have some safety. We put some money away in the bank so that we can have some safety. 00:31:28.600 |
We avoid certain things. We don't do certain things. We prioritize all of it based upon peace 00:31:35.400 |
and safety. He says while people are pursuing and saying peace and safety, destruction will come 00:31:42.120 |
and they will be caught off guard like a thief. A thief is something that is unwanted that's 00:31:47.160 |
breaking into your house. So in other words, people are not going to want Jesus to come. 00:31:53.400 |
When we're living a life that is self-centered and all we are doing is pursuing our own happiness, 00:31:58.920 |
we don't want Jesus to come. Because He's breaking into my pursuit. If He comes tomorrow and 00:32:06.840 |
everything that we're pursuing today, we have to scratch. That already tells us that we're pursuing 00:32:13.640 |
the wrong things. We're going the wrong direction. He says, but in verse 4, "You brethren are not in 00:32:21.240 |
darkness, that the day would overtake you like a thief, for you are all sons of light and sons of 00:32:26.360 |
day. We are not of the night nor of darkness, so then let us not sleep as others do, but let us be 00:32:33.320 |
alert and let us be sober. For those who sleep do their sleeping at night and those who get drunk 00:32:39.080 |
get drunk at night." He says, in other words, let us wake up all the more as we see the day drawing near. 00:32:46.520 |
As the world is running toward one direction, we run toward the other, because we want to be a 00:32:51.960 |
greater light. I don't know about you, but because of what's going on, the opportunity to share the 00:32:59.400 |
share the gospel with the non-christian has multiplied. Because everybody is thinking, 00:33:05.400 |
they may not be searching for God, but they're searching. You know, yesterday they had the gospel 00:33:10.440 |
night and I know we had it online, so it was easier for people to come. But I also think that a lot of 00:33:16.600 |
people showed up because of what's going on. They're looking for answers. What's going on? 00:33:22.040 |
Even though they may not know that they're searching for Christ, they're searching for 00:33:27.400 |
something, because they realize that the world that they trusted is falling apart. 00:33:32.280 |
So, they're looking for something. So, if the church is asleep and we're just like the rest of 00:33:39.480 |
the world, concerned about peace and safety, then we're going to lose the opportunity to be a light 00:33:44.600 |
in this world. When people are asking, where, why is this happening? Why is this happening? What is 00:33:49.720 |
going on? That we would be sober and alert to be able to point to scriptures and say, Jesus said 00:33:55.080 |
this is going to happen. Jesus said, he predicted and point to the passages and be able to share 00:34:00.680 |
with them that this is what Jesus said is going to happen. And to be able to share the gospel. 00:34:07.000 |
We are not like those in the dark who are asleep and just living day to day like the rest of the 00:34:12.840 |
world. Living for the weekend, go to church, work, live for the weekend. The next thing you know, 00:34:21.560 |
a year, a decade, and a life passes by and that's all we've done. 00:34:25.400 |
Right now, the church has been shut down, at least generally. A lot of the churches have 00:34:33.240 |
been shut down since March. And I've already shared this with you. They said that half of 00:34:37.800 |
the millennials, that's millennials or whoever's 40 and younger, at least that's how they categorize 00:34:42.440 |
it. Half of the people who are regularly attending church have already dropped out. 00:34:46.920 |
And those are the people who have just physically, completely dropped out. That's not 00:34:50.680 |
considering the people who are drifting away from Christ, just on and off, maybe online. 00:34:55.640 |
It has had a huge effect in the church. Now, we can say God is sovereign and he's using that to 00:35:03.080 |
prune the church and maybe at the end of it, the true, true Christians are going to remain. Maybe 00:35:08.040 |
we could say that. And in God's sovereign plan, he is completely in control. But God has called 00:35:14.760 |
the church to be responsible for the souls that he has given us in this generation. He told us to go 00:35:21.160 |
make disciples, right? To baptize them, name of the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching 00:35:25.720 |
them to observe all that I have commanded you. And he commanded the church to do this. 00:35:31.400 |
So to see half of the young people who have already gone. And in the last two decades, 00:35:38.920 |
the greatest concern that every church planter, every church leader had was that we were losing 00:35:45.240 |
this young generation. You know, our church was kind of an anomaly because we have a large 00:35:50.680 |
gathering of young people. You know, when I talk to my pastor friends in Orange County, 00:35:55.480 |
in the Southern Baptist, 95% of the churches are slowly decaying and dying. Average age is 75 and 00:36:02.840 |
older. And so the young generation is, is being lost. We work so hard and we're not, I'm not just 00:36:10.360 |
talking about us. Our, my, our generation of pastors have worked so hard to reach the young 00:36:14.600 |
generation and just in an instant, half of them are gone. And for the church to sit back and say, 00:36:22.680 |
everything is good. It is a tragedy that you and I need to stay sober. All the more, 00:36:32.840 |
all the more as the churches are struggling, all the more as the world is lost, all the more 00:36:38.440 |
as the politicians are fighting each other, the church needs to be the light. This is why we need 00:36:43.800 |
to gather, that we need to consider carefully how we may live our lives to provoke each other 00:36:49.320 |
on toward loving good deeds, not forsaking our assembling together as it is the habit of some. 00:36:54.520 |
So I want to conclude with, with this, with homework. 00:36:59.480 |
And so the homework is to first consider carefully, right? You know, typically we have a 00:37:09.000 |
circle of friends that we're comfortable with and, and whoever's not in that circle of friends, 00:37:13.960 |
we, we're oblivious and we're okay with that for the most part, right? Because I practice love with 00:37:19.800 |
those people. I practice accountability with those people. And you know what I noticed was when our 00:37:24.520 |
church started to grow beyond 200, I saw an attitude change in the church that was very 00:37:30.760 |
disturbing to me, where people were beginning to ask me like, at what point are we going to stop 00:37:36.120 |
growing? Meaning like, maybe if we just kept on sending people out, the church will stop growing. 00:37:41.400 |
And part of the reason was there was a concern that the church wasn't like the way it was before, 00:37:47.320 |
you know, come over to my house and have dinner, we can have fellowship, we all knew each other, 00:37:51.480 |
and everybody knew what was going on, but it became harder after about 200. 00:37:54.920 |
And I know I, again not everybody, but I know why some people were asking that, because fellowship 00:38:01.080 |
became more difficult. And so they just wanted a small group of friends and 200 was, it was 00:38:07.240 |
maximum. Ideally it would be 100, right? But 200 is maximum, but beyond that it almost felt like 00:38:13.960 |
people were starting to say, you know, I have enough people in my life, and so all the new 00:38:19.240 |
people you guys deal with, and then we're just going to insulate ourselves, and then, you know, 00:38:23.240 |
our circle of influence and friends just stop with that group. So when people ask me like, hey, 00:38:30.760 |
Pastor Peter, how big do you want our church to be? I say, I used to say six billion, 00:38:36.360 |
right? And then now I say seven billion, because God called us to the world, right? 00:38:43.640 |
God called us to make disciples of all the nations, so there is no number. So if God sends a 00:38:52.280 |
thousand people, we are responsible for those thousand people. God sends a hundred thousand 00:38:57.400 |
people, we're responsible to do our best for the hundred thousand people, because we are called to 00:39:02.840 |
be the light. Now again, obviously our relationship isn't going to be the same with a hundred thousand 00:39:07.640 |
people, obviously, but if we start to have this mentality that I have enough friends, and outside 00:39:14.840 |
of that little bubble that I have, that I don't really care about anybody else, that is not a 00:39:19.800 |
biblical attitude, right? God called the church to gather together, to consider carefully, and so 00:39:26.440 |
outside of your bubble, the homework is, are there people in your life that maybe you haven't talked 00:39:32.920 |
to in a while, you don't know where they are spiritually? Maybe there's some people that you 00:39:37.000 |
don't know at all, and you see them every single Sunday, you've been at the church five, six, 00:39:41.160 |
seven years, and you've never even said hello to them, because you're like, they're not part of 00:39:46.520 |
your little circle. So my challenge to you this morning, to consider, to think carefully, to 00:39:56.040 |
consider how you're going to provoke, so find out what's going on in other people's life, give them 00:40:01.160 |
a call, text them, you know, whether they respond or not, to find out what are the needs, who, who 00:40:07.000 |
should you be rejoicing with, who should you be weeping with, to find out who needs encouragement, 00:40:14.280 |
who is drifting, who's doing well, consider who, and then think carefully about what, 00:40:20.040 |
how can I provoke them, right? Now, whenever we make application, and you make it too broad, 00:40:27.480 |
you usually end up not doing it, right? You hear a sermon about prayer, saying, I'm going to be a 00:40:32.360 |
prayer warrior, right? And then you wake up next morning, you're tired, you have to go to work, 00:40:38.360 |
and then you come back, you're tired, then you go through the same routine, 00:40:41.800 |
always the back of your mind, I'm going to be a prayer warrior, but tomorrow, 00:40:44.600 |
right? And then it just kind of passes by, say, I'm going to be a better Christian. 00:40:48.760 |
Well, what does that mean? So whenever we make application, and you make this broad 00:40:54.440 |
stroke of application, it never gets done. So my challenge to you is to consider carefully, 00:41:00.200 |
find out what's going on, maybe make a list of people that maybe you need, even just to find 00:41:04.520 |
out what's going on, and then to make an application, how are you going to provoke them, 00:41:09.160 |
right? Maybe what you what you may consider doing may not be as like, largely impactful as what was 00:41:16.280 |
what we did, you know, with the service fair. But even small things, you know, I get provoked every 00:41:21.480 |
single week, when I drive up here, you know, I usually get to church about 730, or 715. And 00:41:27.080 |
it's already set up, the AV team is going, there's people here practicing, you know, and there's guys 00:41:32.200 |
doing parking, you know, and setting up chairs and doing all this, every Sunday, I come to church, 00:41:37.720 |
and I get provoked. You know, I get provoked, because there's people serving, you don't have 00:41:41.880 |
to do grand things, you don't have to be up in the front, doing grand things to provoke people, 00:41:45.800 |
you know, just your simple act of service, of being unselfish and serving other people, 00:41:51.800 |
considering others better than yourself, right? What can you do individually to encourage those 00:41:57.560 |
people? And what can you do collectively, or individually as a church? Now, I already said, 00:42:03.320 |
we need people to volunteer for chair set up, for the, you know, for the scanners, and to various 00:42:08.280 |
things, and, you know, I get so encouraged when I see young families strapped with their babies, 00:42:13.320 |
you know, out in the hot sun, serving, and, you know, doing parking, because I know how much work 00:42:17.640 |
that is, just even, just even have the kid near you, right? Just so encouraging to see, you know, 00:42:23.320 |
how can I provoke somebody on toward love and good deeds? So that's our homework. So next week, 00:42:30.680 |
when you come, I'm going to check to see if you're, if you've done your homework, okay? So today, 00:42:35.000 |
sit down, and to contemplate, to think, make a list, and then to apply these things. 00:42:39.800 |
Imagine what the church will be like when the church is filled with people coming to provoke 00:42:45.640 |
one another toward love and good deeds. Instead of a church filled with people asking themselves, 00:42:51.800 |
what about me? Imagine how miserable of a place a church would be, when every person that comes 00:42:59.400 |
to church is irritated with the person sitting next to them, because they didn't get enough 00:43:03.880 |
attention. What a miserable church that would be. But again, on the other hand, what a powerful 00:43:11.960 |
witness we would be, if the church gathered together, unlike the rest of the world, 00:43:17.400 |
because of what Christ has done, because of of the motivation and the work that Christ is doing in us, 00:43:25.480 |
that every person that comes to church is contemplating and thinking, how can I be of 00:43:30.200 |
service? Imagine the impact that we would have in this world, like the kind of light that God 00:43:35.880 |
called us to be. So again, as an application, I hope, again, and it doesn't have to be big, 00:43:43.320 |
it doesn't have to be grand, and no one needs to know about it, but again, my encouragement is to 00:43:49.800 |
make that challenge to yourself, and do something small or big, that we may build up this church. 00:43:56.520 |
You don't have to be here, you don't need a title, you don't need to join some service team, 00:44:00.280 |
even just something small. How can I, in the unique way that God has gifted you, build up the church? 00:44:08.680 |
All the more, right now, right? All the more. If there is any time that I can remember that I've 00:44:16.360 |
been a Christian, where the world needs to hear the clear presentation of the gospel, it is today. 00:44:22.280 |
Because they are lost, right? Instead of falling into despair, 00:44:27.240 |
let's look to Christ, the author and the perfecter of our faith. Okay, let's pray. 00:44:31.960 |
Gracious and loving Father, we pray that your word, that you've implanted in our hearts and 00:44:41.960 |
in our minds, will not return until it has accomplished the purpose that you have ordained it, 00:44:47.000 |
help us truly to be a church that draw nears to you, that hold fast the confession that we have 00:44:52.920 |
made, and that we may carefully consider how to provoke one another on toward love and good deeds. 00:45:00.040 |
That we would not forsake the assembly of our brothers and sisters, Lord God, in the church, 00:45:06.040 |
as it may have become a habit of some, but all the more as we see the day drawing near, 00:45:14.360 |
as the world becomes darker, I pray, Lord God, that you would help us as a church to become 00:45:18.920 |
brighter. May Christ, in his name, in his gospel, in his glory, be magnified through this.