We’re right in the middle of a very exciting study here called, Come to the Water. The first week we looked at preparation and commitment, because that’s what primes the pump. Last week we talked about prayer, the drawing the water. When we commit ourselves to God through prayer, we experience renewal and transformation.
Today we’ve come to the next commitment in our study -- the commitment of our presence, our church attendance. Weekly worship not only is an important way that we connect with God, but it’s also how we connect with each other, whether we are online or in-person.
I’d like to look at five things today concerning what it means to be committed to presence and making worship whether it be online or in-person a weekly habit.
To be committed to weekly worship means that we are willing to jump into the water with both feet. This is our image for today. Jumping in with both feet. Our goal is to be completely committed to be God’s people, rather than just dipping a toe in the water and not fully taking the plunge.
Weekly worship is how we all pull together. Being a team is very important. We’re brothers and sisters in Christ, and we’re all in this together. We’re family.
The Bible describes the gathering of believers as the community of faith, and the family of God -- the church. And actually, the word, “church” in the Greek language means “an assembly.”
Each of us is called by God to do our part through our worship life together. I want to share some things about what it means to be part of a church by supporting it with our presence.
First and foremost, God invites us to be part of his family. That’s included in God’s design and plan. God created us and God loves us. And God desires for us to be a part of his family.
In 1 Peter 1:3 we’re told, “God has given us the privilege of being born again,” so that we are now members of God’s own family.
In Ephesians 1:5, Paul said, “God’s unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.”
The church is important because it’s God’s family. It’s God’s desire for all of us to be a part of that relationship, and to be a part of a special family, a congregation, a worshipping community. God has adopted us and we become members of his family
Second: the church is God’s family on earth. In 1 Timothy 3:15, Paul said that God’s family “is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth.”
In Colossians 3:15, we’re told, “For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.” God came into the world and lived and died and rose again to redeem us so that we might be a part of his family. His family is the church here on earth. So the church is extremely important.
Third, consider the example of families who meet together regularly. It’s important for people in a family to connect with each other.
There are a lot of characteristics that form a healthy family instead of a dysfunctional one, and getting together is a big factor. It’s healthy for us to commit to being in attendance often, and to be an active part of the people of God. This creates a healthy relationship among family members.
The psalmist said, “I was glad when they said to me ‘let us go to the house of the Lord’” That’s the attitude we are invited to have toward being part of a church family and participating.
Jesus had that attitude. One of my favorite passages of Scripture is when Jesus went into the Temple “as was his custom” The key phrase is, “as was his custom.” The habit of Jesus was to be in the place of God for worship.
Here are some reasons why it’s valuable for healthy families to worship together. It helps us to set our priorities.
There was once a great Methodist preacher named Sam Jones. He was as prominent and respected in the late nineteenth century as Billy Graham was. I once read a story about how Sam Jones noticed a couple of farmers and a little dog walking to town one day. For a little while, the dog walked beside one of the farmers, then he walked alongside the other farmer.
Someone nearby questioned, “To which farmer does the dog belong? He seems to be with both of them.”
Sam Jones replied, “Well, there’s one way you can tell. When the two men get to the fork in the road, one of them will go to the right and the other will go left. Then you’ll know to which farmer the dog belongs because he can’t go both ways. He’ll follow one farmer or the other.”
Making a commitment to be involved and participate in weekly worship is an important way that we make God more of a priority in our lives. Worship is a visible expression of how we are part of God’s team.
Here’s an interesting fact about teams; this has been demonstrated at both the college and professional level over the years. The teams that have won the national championship and the teams that have won the Super Bowl aren’t necessarily the teams with the greatest individual players.
Instead, the teams that play together have won. Some call it chemistry, but it’s also called teamwork, and it’s all about people coming together.
Two great baseball players who retired from baseball several years ago are Alan Trammell and Lou Whitaker. They played for the Detroit Tigers and were instrumental in helping the team win the 1984 World Series. They also established a record that has not been broken and probably won’t be for many years.
Trammell and Whitaker played for Detroit together for nineteen years, setting the record for the most games played with a teammate in American League history. Over their years as players, they had opportunities to leave the team and each other, but they never would. They knew the value of teamwork, loyalty, humility, and staying together for the long haul.
The church is a team, a family, a community. Healthy teams and families make meeting together a priority. Let me share some things that come from meeting together regularly. One is that we can help each other. Each of us is in need of help, and as a church, we can begin to do that.
In the fourth chapter of Ecclesiastes it says:
Two people can accomplish more than twice as much as one; they get a better return for their labor. If one person falls, the other can reach out and help. But people who are alone when they fall are in real trouble. . . . A person standing alone can be attacked and defeated, but two can stand back-to-back and conquer. Three are even better, for a triple-braided cord is not easily broken.
We can help each other.
There are times that some of us might be on a mountaintop and others might be in a valley. But at times like those, we can reach our and help each other. Sometimes, it’s the other way. We might be in the valley and others might be on the mountaintop to help lift us up.
There is no institution in the world that is better constituted in its mission to help each other and to reach out and to support than the church, especially when it functions with passionate, prayerful people who rely on God and each other for support in living.
Another reason we are called to meet together is to encourage each other. The word “encourage” literally means “to put courage into.” Regardless of who you are, there are times when each of us needs encouragement. The church is a healthy, functioning unit when we do just that.
Hebrews 10:24–25 tells us to think of ways to encourage one another that lead to outbursts of love and good deeds. Those verses say, “and let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near.”
I love worship on Sunday, and see people connecting, and offering words of encouragement. A healthy church is one in which people are constantly offering encouragement to one another.
Not only do we help and encourage, but we also can teach each other. This is important. Colossians 3:16 implores: “Let the words of Christ, in all their richness, live in your hearts and make you wise. Use his words to teach and counsel each other.”
The best teachers are those with whom we associate all the time. The best lessons are not those that are taught in front of a class, but those that are actually experienced. Sidewalk teachings are the best sermons. We learn from each other, and we also teach each other.
One other reason that healthy families meet regularly is to celebrate. As a church, we can worship God and celebrate God’s goodness together.
I always like to watch the end of any great sporting event, be it the World Series, Super Bowl, or the Final Four. I like to watch the winners celebrate. When a team wins, they celebrate together and it’s contagious! It lifts everyone’s spirits!
Worship is a time of celebration. In Ephesians 5:19–20, the Apostle Paul said: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
One of my favorite worship services with you as your pastor was in February of 2017 when we held our first worship service in our newly renovated sanctuary. The placed was packed and the whole service was so inspiring. We gathered to celebrate what God was able to do through us with all of our building improvements.
And by the way, I think it’s interesting that this was the first time we were able to worship back in our sanctuary after five months of needing to worship down in our Fellowship Hall. Our congregation knows a thing or two about improvising for worship like we have been doing these past six months with our online worship recordings due to COVID19 concerns.
That Sunday back in February of 2017 was a worship service to remember. We even had several former pastors join us that day along with our District Superintendent and his wife following that worship service as you can see in the photo. That was a special day!
But it’s not just on those special occasions that we celebrate. Every Sunday is an opportunity to celebrate and worship together. Every time we come to worship, we can celebrate the life, the death, the resurrection, and the coming again of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. That’s important.
Think about some things that might keep us from gathering together as a family besides a global pandemic.These are some hindrances, some walls, that we have to overcome.
We might say, “Well, I’m just too busy.” Now if we’re too busy to worship, we might just be too busy.
What if our most important appointment we need to have is to worship God?
In Luke, chapter 10. Jesus came to the home of Mary and Martha. Martha was busy taking care of the guests and the household work, but Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to all he said. Upon Martha’s plea for Mary to help, Jesus said to her:
Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.
We can get so busy that we miss what is really important in life. Watch out for being too busy for God.
Another reason people might not worship regularly is because someone said something that hurt their feelings. Well, as long as you have the church, you’re going to have people. As long as you have people, folks are going to get their feelings hurt.
If we’re willing to jump in with both feet, that means we will probably need to also be willing to ask for and receive forgiveness with others.
In Colossians, the third chapter, Paul said: “You must make allowance for each other’s faults and forgive the person who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you forgive others”
Sometimes, we don’t’ make worship a priority because we feel like the church isn’t meeting my needs. This is a tough one because I know how hard the church works at providing for people’s needs but if that becomes the primary purpose of the church, we’ll fall short of what it means to be the church.
Paul wrote to the church at Philippi:
“Don’t be selfish. Don’t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don’t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they’re doing.”
I think it’s interesting that when we’re meeting the needs of others, our own needs get met as well. I’m reminded of a middle-aged woman who moved to a new city without knowing anyone. She joined a church, but that church didn’t specifically have a ministry for singles or older adults, so making friends was difficult for her.
This person saw a need in the church for help with a mid-week meal, and she began serving and cleaning up after the meals. Soon she was in charge of the Wednesday night meals, and she met other volunteers and workers. Before long, she had lots of friends.
She didn’t set out to get her needs met, but God knew what she needed and she received so many blessings by serving in that ministry. For this initially lonely woman, her unselfish service to her church became life giving for herself and others.
Another reason people decide to not make worship a priority is that they see their faith in a very individualist and private way where they don’t see how other people can help them grow in their faith.
Every single member of the church family is valuable. No one is considered unnecessary. In 1 Corinthians, chapter 12, every part of our body is individually noted—fingers, hands, ears, eyes, feet—but each part also contributes to the team, creating the unity of who we are and what our body does.
Just think if we all jumped in with both feet in making worship a priority. As commitment primes the pump and prayer draws on all the strength and power that God offers, our presence puts us in a community of faith where we have so much to give and so much to receive. We work together as a team. Worshiping together is what helps us to encourage, help, teach, learn, and celebrate on a weekly basis.
In addition to prayer, it’s another way that we come to the water and experience transformation and new life.
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