Go to Church

 “What church do you go to?” It’s a question we often ask as Christians, but it’s not the right question. Church isn’t a weekly event we attend, but a spiritual family we're a part of. It’s a partnership and community where we grow as followers of Jesus and devote ourselves to becoming more like him.

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Guys, if you are visiting with us today, welcome. We are so glad that you're here. Uh, my name is Ryan, by the way, one of the pastors here at Impact, and uh we are finishing up a series today. Uh, and that's okay. She's gonna get better. She, now that she's dedicated, she's gonna cry much less, by the way. It'll be great. Uh but but we've been going through a series that we're finishing today that we have called God Never Said That. And we've been looking at certain sayings, expressions that that we're very familiar with. Oftentimes we'll even repeat and share to other people, and we almost repeat it as if it's biblical truth or something God has said in his word, only to discover not only has he not said many of these things, but that he said quite the opposite in many instances. And so today we're wrapping that series up and we're gonna talk about one last thing that God never said, and yet we find ourselves saying often. And here it is, you ready? Go to church. Go to church. Now, you guys are at church, so you're already confused. And yet God has never told us to go to church. And this is one of those things that we hear often as a Christian when you find out you you have a friend or a neighbor or a coworker, and all of a sudden you learn that they're a Christian too, right? We get excited, we have a moment, and one of the one of the first questions we ask them is what? What where do you go to church? What church do you go to? And we know the heart behind this. We just want to know where they fellowship, right? Where they they worship together, but it subtly suggests that church is an event that we attend. You guys follow me on this? Right? It's an event that we attend, a place that we go to you know, once a week, maybe once every couple weeks, once every month or so. And it's something that we we attend or or go to. God, however, actually says something very different in his word. That church is not something we attend. Church is something we are. It is something we belong to. We're family. And the family is the family of families, God's family, where he is our heavenly Father, where we look around at this room and everybody around you. And as followers of Jesus, we are brothers and sisters in Christ. Right? It's this family analogy that God employs so often in his word, helping us understand what this is supposed to look like. Now, when we talk about our church family, we may use that phrase and we say it, and it's easy to mentally agree with, right, that we have a family, a spiritual community or family to which we belong. But we really need to step back and ask ourselves if we really see all of this as our family, or if it really is just more of an event that we attend on a consistent basis. Consider for a moment how you describe either impact or maybe a church that you've gone to in the past. How do you describe that church to others if they ask you about it? Right? We've got certain things. And when they say, Oh, well, tell me about your church. And typically we'll talk about the ministries, we'll maybe talk about the teaching, talk about the music or the worship, the kids' programs, the different outreach things that we do. And what are we pointing to? We're pointing to services and ministries and the events and gatherings that we have as the church. But but when you talk about your family, we don't answer the same way, do we? My middle daughter, she's an RA up at Cal Baptist, and they've been going through training this entire month as students are getting ready to come back to school. And at the end of their training, they they had kind of a free day, so she invited all 12 of her friends and co-workers from her area and dorm unit all to our house on Friday. And so uh we we kind of try to just open the door and be hospitable, and and it was great getting to know some of those friends and co-workers. But if my daughter is talking with her friends and they were asking her, well, tell me about your family, right? My my daughter would not start with things like, well, the house is pretty comfortable, the beds are nice, the food is decent most of the time, you know, it's pretty close to some shopping areas, and the school district is ranked pretty high. She's not gonna talk about those things, right? Because that's not describing her family, that's describing an Airbnb. When you're talking about family, what is her description going to focus in on? What's it gonna hone in on? It's gonna be like, well, my mom is amazing, she's like superwoman and is beautiful and does all these different things, and she uh he works at the church too, and she she keeps a perfect home and and and is just uh amazing and hospitable. You're gonna see my dad, he's bald, he's a little weird, tells really bad jokes, but please laugh at them, otherwise, he gets his feelings hurt. Right? My brother, you know, he's he's taller and he's senior in high school, he's not around a lot because he's so busy right now. And my my oldest sister, she's she's married now, so she's not living at the house. So, what is her focus gonna be? It's gonna be the people, right? It's gonna be the relationships she has in our family unit. That is what the family is for her. And yet, think about how we describe our church family. It's all about services provided. Because I can't tell you what a blessing it is to go and meet with other pastors from the area. And as we sit down and they'll ask that question, how are things going at impact? To immediately not think about all the different programs that may be happening here at the church, but to tell story after story of what Jesus is doing in and through you. Your lives, the testimonies of God's faithfulness in your life, using you even to bless and bring awareness of his faithfulness to others. It is such an incredible thing. This is what family is meant to be. And my prayer is that each of us, when anyone asks about impact, we can't stop talking about Jesus and about the people, about our brothers and sisters in Christ. Acts chapter 2. I wanted to just kind of bring this series home today by being reminded of who the church is supposed to be, who we are called to be, by looking back to the first church, the early church in the book of Acts. After the gospel is preached, and we talked about that even a little bit last week. Peter preaches the gospel, and in that moment, 3,000 souls are added to the church. And then we hear this immediately following, verse 42 of Acts chapter 2. And they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles, and all who believed were together and had all things in common, and they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people, and the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved. Can you imagine being a part of a community with this kind of unity, this kind of identity where we are truly functioning and operating as a spiritual family, that we are in this together, so much so, having all things in common, that we are literally sharing, distributing, doing whatever we can to meet needs amongst us. Guys, imagine if right now I said, Hey, I've got a few more announcements, by the way. Announcement number one, we have a lot of families that are in need. They need vehicles, they need food, they need clothing, they need housing. So, what I'm asking for all of you as a church, I need all of you guys to donate your vehicles. And if you don't have a vehicle to donate, can you sell other possessions of yours and bring the funds so we can actually take care of people? And then announcement number two, uh, we are not just gonna be having worship services on Sunday anymore. It'll be Sunday, also Monday through Friday. Every day of the week, we want you guys here. We expect you guys to be here looking forward to seeing you six days a week. And also, by the way, we've got an amazing home church movement going on right now, trying to cultivate and grow these home church communities, meeting house to house and eating together and fellowshipping together, and we are going to be meeting in your home. How many of you, after those three announcements, would go, you know what? We gave it a good run here at Impact. Made some good memories, we'll take with us to our next church. Why? Because we, in our nice, independent, individualistic, autonomous society, where it is all about the individual, not about the family. It's about what's best for me, and don't let my family stay in the stand in the way, we can't even comprehend what it means to live in that kind of community and spiritual dynamic. And yet, what we see here in this context is these early church believers in such a relationship because of the Holy Spirit, because of the work of Christ in their lives and hearts, that they are doing these things willingly, joyfully, and gladly each and every day. That they were consistently practicing and participating in. The first of these, as we read, is the the apostles' teaching. And let me be clear here. The apostles' teaching is not my teaching. We good with that? Let's just take that pressure off right now. The apostles' teaching is right here. We still have the teaching of the apostles. Capital A, those who walked with Christ, who heard him teach the truths of the kingdom of God, who watched him hang on that cross and rose again three days later, who were there as he ascended back into heaven. And the Holy Spirit that he gave then came and inspired their pen to be able to write the truth of God and reveal it to us. We have his truth and we have the apostles' teaching here, and we need to, as church family, be devoted to it. Because are we in his word regularly? Are we in it on a consistent basis, not just learning from it, but living it out, maturing in our understanding of the truth of God's word through practice and obedience. When you look at studies that have been done, it's not surprising. For example, there's a study that was conducted by the Center for Bible Engagement not too long ago, and they found, guys, hear this, that engaging in God's word on a regular basis has profoundly positive impacts on our lives. We needed a study for that. How much money was spent conducting this study? I guess it's good to get certain information because what they did learn is that those that were engaging in the word, now that could be a sermon, that could be, I guess, some podcast where you're unpacking scripture, that could be, Lord willing, hopefully, opening it yourself and letting the Lord speak directly to you about who he is and about your life and all that he has for you. And how he's called us to live as his followers. But when we're engaging once, twice, even three times a week, there is a negligible difference. You know what the the sweet spot was, apparently? When someone is engaged four or more times throughout the week. Now, this is not some magic number. All it does is indicate the majority of your week you are spending here and engaged in the Word of God. To know Him, to let Him speak to you, not to check off a little to-do list and to say, okay, I got my Bible reading, my Jesus fixed, I'm good. But to say, Lord, I want to become more like you. I want to connect with you and engage with you. Speak to my heart. And I'm not leaving here and I'm not closing this until I know I've met with you. This study found that those who are engaged in Scripture four or more times a week indicated significant decrease in negative thinking, loneliness, bitterness, insecurity, anxiety, feeling spiritually stagnant. There's also a huge decrease in certain sin and destructive behaviors, things like overeating, sex outside of marriage, pornography, lying, drunkenness, gossiping, overspending. And then there's a great increase in sharing our faith and giving generously and even making disciples of other people. There's this direct correlation, a direct connection between the time we spend with the Lord in his word and the transformation of our hearts and our lives. As be a community, be a family who will not only spend time here, but also encourage each other to live in accordance with this. That will come alongside you. We live in a world where everyone just wants to be your friend and no one wants to offend, right? Because we're terrified of offending anybody. Everybody's offended by everything today. And so we walk around and just keep our mouths shut. And we hear sayings like, Well, preach the gospel, and if you have to, then use words. In other words, just let your life be an example of who Jesus is. Only have to say something when it's necessary. Guys, our day and age today, the day and time in which we live, our world, it is necessary to speak. We need people in our lives, brothers and sisters, who will come alongside us and will see us doing things that are that are just knuckle-headed things to do. See us walking a path that is walking away from the Lord, following our own sinful and selfish desires. People that will love us enough to come up and say, Ryan, I see what you're doing here and I see what's going on, but I love you so much. Knock it off. This is not what God has for you. It's not what his word says for you in your life. Why are you doing these things? Are we being that kind of supportive community for each other, speaking truth when it needs to be spoken? Hebrews chapter 10, verse 24. The author writes, let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, or the the in the Hebrew, in the Greek is the noun form, by the way, the meeting together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the day drawing near. All the more as we see and know, Jesus, you are coming again. You're gonna make a new heaven and a new earth, and that day of judgment is coming. And I have friends and family that I love and I care about, and yet I've been silent, watching them waste their lives, watching them just pitter it away on their own selfish and sinful pleasure and indulgence. And I haven't loved them enough to say, Do you know what God says? Do you know what He He says about you and His heart for you and the life He has for you? Can I share that with you today? Because who do you have in your life that speaks that truth to you? Who can you speak that truth into? John Wesley, he was a Methodist pastor and preacher from the 18th century. And the story goes that he created these discipleship groups and bands. And I don't have time to unpack all that was involved there, but they were just devoted to the Word of God. They were devoted to growing and maturing in their faith, to becoming more like Christ. And so they were bringing people into these different groups that were focused on discipleship. And the questions they asked someone that they had to agree to before they could come into these discipleship bands? Guys, let me read a couple of these questions. Number one, do you desire to be told of your faults? I'm tapping out right then. Anyone with me? Number two, do you desire we should tell you whatever we think, whatever we fear, whatever we hear concerning you? Question three, do you desire we should come as close as possible that we should search your heart to the bottom? I read these questions, I started sweating. Who would willingly enter in to a group that is that invasive? Because isn't that how we see something like this? When it comes to a group that is all up in what's going on in your life, we want to let everyone know that our name is Nanya, right? Nanya business. Like you stay in your lane. Quit worrying about me. You let me live my own life, and yet what we see here are those that are growing in their devotion to Christ and Scripture are willing to open it all up and say, I need to know because I have so many blind spots in myself. Let the word of God cut through the hardness of my heart, the callousness toward him, and lay it all bare before the Lord. And so share with me the things that I need to hear. Jesus, change me. Spirit of God, change me. They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching. They devoted themselves to fellowship. If you've been in church for any amount of time, I'm sure you're familiar with the Greek word here, koinanea. Koinania means a partnership. It is active participation, it is a mutual contribution. It carries the idea of shared ownership. We are in this together. If one suffers, we all suffer. If one is joyful, we are all joyful and celebrate with him or with her. We are shared owners in this and what the Lord is doing here. Guys, owners care so much more than customers. Don't they? I mean, customers care. They love being critical and pointing out everything that's wrong. So I can go into a restaurant, and if things aren't the way that I want them to be that I think they should be, I can criticize and point out what is wrong. But what I don't realize is chances are the owner of that establishment is probably aware of the things that I saw, and they're also aware of about a thousand other things that are also wrong that I never saw. Because owners are in the mix. The difference is that they don't just come in to be critical and point things out. Owners see the problems and they want to be a part of the solution. It's the shared responsibility of going, I'm in. I'm carrying the weight that I'm supposed to carry. That's how healthy families operate, or at least how they should operate, isn't it? That everyone does their part. That we do not have those that are just catered to and sit around and contribute nothing. And I know you all have a name in your head right now. Just put that away. It's not what this is about today. Because we know that healthy families, everyone is shouldering the load. If one person is struggling, the others come alongside and prop and pull them up. That's what a family is supposed to be. As followers of Jesus, we are family. We're not customers of an establishment or organization. We are shared owners who take personal responsibility in doing our part. I'm so thankful for those of you here that call impact home where you take this very seriously and you do your part consistently. I know how crazy your lives are, and yet you still prioritize using the gifts God has given to you to serve the body of Christ, to build up the church. Thank you guys for that. And yet I also know that there are some who have made that decision to go, okay, impact is church home. This is our church family, and you're in, and yet you're not yet in. You know what I mean? You're still finding every reason of why you can't necessarily now, but maybe in a few months, things are gonna settle down. Can I just kind of like let the air out of the balloon here? It's not gonna settle down. Your crazy life is gonna stay crazy. There's a reprioritization that needs to happen to see the value of what God has called us to. That even as church leadership, our job is not to do all the ministry for you to come and receive from it. Our job is to equip you to do the work of the ministry, to build up the body of Christ. Guys, for some of us here today, it's time. It is time. God has gifted you, called you. We need you. We are better with you as a family. Step up, get involved, be a part of this thing that God is doing here. You can use that little tap thing on the chair in front of you, you can use a connect card, you can go to the connect center. All you gotta do is put down your name and serve. Question mark, we will call you. And find out where the Lord has you getting involved. They had a shared ownership of fellowship, and let me hit these very quickly. They broke bread together. They were devoted to the breaking of bread. This refers both to sharing a meal and to receiving communion, right? The Lord's table, the reminder of his sacrifice, the cross. And this matters, right? Jesus said, As often as you eat of this bread and drink of this cup, or drink the wine, do it in remembrance of me. Keep in mind, these were table staples for those that were listening to him at that time. Bread and wine was at every dinner, every supper, and so this was a Common thing. The idea is that as often as we eat together and dine together, we are remembering the sacrifice of Christ. We're remembering the cross. And this is so vital because without forgiveness, without the gospel, without grace, there is no family. Forgiveness is necessary to family. And so to readily extend grace and forgiveness to those who hurt and offend us, we have to be reminded first of the forgiveness we have received, of the reason the sacrifice of Jesus was necessary. Guys, two key truths, feel free to write these down. Number one, church is filled with annoying and frustrating people. And number two, you are people. No one wrote down the second one. What's going on? Is this accurate? But we're blind to that. We don't see it often. We forget it. We need that reminder. So as we break bread, we're reminding ourselves of the grace we've received, of what Jesus has done for us, how he laid his life down for us so that we might live. Who gave us this favor we never deserve? So how can we withhold it from other people? So when they're frustrating, when they offend, when they when they let us down and disappoint, and it's gonna happen, those are the moments where we say, Jesus, thank you. I can forgive as I've been forgiven. And the last thing they devoted themselves to here, as we see, is the prayers or prayer. As who do you have in your life that fights for you in prayer? That wages war against the principalities and spiritual forces of evil and wickedness in this world? Who do you have that comes alongside when you are struggling and doesn't just say, Oh, I'll pray for you, but prays for you. Right then, right there. I'm so grateful for my dad and the example he has always provided for me in this area. If someone is struggling, it can be a server at a restaurant or it can be me as his son. If he sees someone struggling, or the Lord prompts his heart that something's going on, he'll stop right then. How are you doing? How are things? And when he hears what's going on, tearfully with compassion, he'll stop right there and he'll just start praying. And it catches you off guard because you're just sharing, pouring your heart out, and he's like, I'm so sorry to hear that. Let me pray for you, Lord Jesus. And you're like, you know, like trying to catch up. It just comes out of nowhere. But it means the world because it's not a Christian platitude of I'll be praying for you, and we have no intention of doing that, and we walk away, maybe even wanting to, possibly. But then life happens and we forget, we get busy. Just take the moment, even then and there, to say, can I pray for you right now? We got a prayer tent. We invite people to the prayer tent every Sunday. Did you know you didn't have to go to a tent? I mean, those prayers are very intense. You're welcome. You're welcome. But you, church, can pray for one another. Even as we dismiss here, you can look around and see who it looks like they may need prayer. And walk up. Can I pray for you? Can I pray for you? And pray for one another. That's what it means to be church, to be family. Not to just to attend something. We're receiving the service of prayer. See the difference? I know that these attended the temple together, but what's interesting is you as you look at this and you go, oh, well, they attended the temple. See, they attended church. The word for attending here is the same word in the Greek used in verse 42, where we translate that they devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching, the fellowship, breaking of bread, and to prayer. Same word. So what we really see is these early church believers remain devoted to going to the temple to worship the Lord, which is encouraging. It doesn't mean we're shutting down all of our Sunday services because we're not an event. No, this is a part of what we do. It's a part of what it means to be spiritual family. We gather together for the purpose of worship. But if this is all we're doing by coming and attending, and it doesn't extend beyond that, guys, we are missing out on family. We're missing out on community. I know the Lord wants you to experience that today. Parents, last encouragement. I know some of you may be wrestling because you don't want to force your faith on your kids, impose your beliefs on them, and you don't want them to grow up being bitter toward the church. And so there's kind of this open-handed thing where we have our seven-year-olds going, I don't want to play, go to church. I just want to stay at home and play video games. And we're going, okay, well, I don't want to force my faith on them. Go ahead and stay home and play video games. Can I encourage you, parents? It is not a get up, get dressed, we're going to church, otherwise, you're grounded. But it is a reminder for your children. We're a family. And as a family, this is what we do. Being a part of the sharp family means on Sunday mornings we go gather with our spiritual family and we worship our Heavenly Father. So that's just what it means to be a sharp. You're a sharp. Get dressed. Let's go. It's what we do as family. Devoting ourselves to these things. Guys, can we stand together? Lord Jesus. We don't want to go to church anymore. We want to be the church. We want to belong to your family, the family of families. God, change our hearts, change our minds the way we think about you, the way we think about each other. God, I pray that we will be willing today to take whatever step we need to take to offer ourselves to become community. Lord, it may be starting to serve and helping share that ownership. God, it may be becoming a part of a home church group. It may be leading a home church group or hosting a home church community where people can come, we can break bread together and encourage each other in Christ. God, stir our hearts. And today may we not leave without saying, We're in. We're in. We want to belong. Thank you, Jesus, for your sacrifice that makes this family possible. We pray it all in your name. Amen.