1. Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation of our hearts, be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word today is taken from Hebrews 10:11-25. It’s entitled, “The Gathering of the Body of Christ,” dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. A Church goer wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper and complained that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday. He wrote: "I've gone for 30 years now, and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons, but for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think I'm wasting my time, the preachers are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all". This started a real controversy in the "Letters to the Editor" column of the newspaper. Much to the delight of the editor, it went on for weeks until someone wrote this clincher: "I've been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I can’t recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!" Thank God for our physical and our spiritual nourishment! As Jesus said in Matthew 4:4, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
3. As we see in our Epistle lesson from Hebrews 10 today, the imagery of a worship service in Scripture is not one of consumers being entertained, but of God’s people being gathered around the Throne of the Lamb, joining the heavenly chorus of saints and angels to sing God’s praise and receive Christ’s benefits. What is the point of gathering for worship? What is the role of the Church at all? Why can we not just watch the service online? What difference does it make if we are gathered in a building? These questions become important as we are witnessing the “Great De-Churching” of our society.
4. How do we view church attendance here at Grace? Would you say our worship attendance numbers are back to what they were before April of 2020? Or have many of our members decided they prefer “participating” in online services and remain away from in person worship to this day? Or, have they completely fallen away from the habits and rhythms of a life of worship altogether? After all, why get dressed up to sing a few songs and be entertained in worship when you can wear your PJ’s, grab a bowl of Cap’n Crunch, sit on your couch, and watch a screen... or just go golfing instead?
5. The Church has a tough time with these questions, due in no small part to cheap catchwords about church attendance which have become full blown doctrinal stances. This week’s reading from Hebrews 10 gives us as the Church a chance to correct such flimsy cliches like, “The Church is not a building, but a people;” “Don’t go to church, be the Church;” “My faith is not about rituals, but a personal relationship with Jesus.” Such sentiments fail to grasp the profound importance of God’s sheep gathering as one body around His Word and altar to be served by their Good Shepherd Himself. After all, if gathering for worship is not foundational for what it means to “be the Church,” why does the Holy Spirit admonish us to, “Stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25)?
6. Despite the nonsense spewed forth by some online theologians (I once actually saw a Facebook post saying the Bible never tells us to go to church), the Scriptures depict the Church as “people gathering” for preaching, praying, sacrament, and service. Acts 2:42-47 says, “42 The believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43 Everyone was filled with awe at the many wonders and signs performed by the apostles. 44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need. 46 Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47 praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.”
7. The imagery of a worship service in Scripture is not one of consumers being entertained, but of God’s people being gathered around the Throne of the Lamb, joining the heavenly chorus of saints and angels to sing God’s praise and receive Christ’s benefits (Revelation 4-7). Hebrews reminds us you can’t “be the Church” unless you go to church. Why do we go to church? Well, it’s quite obvious, so we have a church to go to. Going to church, after all, is more about what Christ does for us than it is about what we do, do not do, or even are. To be the Church is nothing else than to be sheep fed and nourished by Jesus our Good Shepherd. The life of faith depends on Christ feeding us with His Word and Sacraments. In worship, Christ our Good Shepherd gathers the flock of His sheep to Himself. Hebrews reminds you cannot “be the Church” unless you go to church.
8. Hebrews 10 says we should, “not neglect meeting together, as is the habit of some” (Hebrews 10:25). Hebrews shows us how Christ distributes the forgiveness won on the cross to the saints in the worship service. For example, when someone says, “I don’t have to go to church because Christianity is about a relationship, not a ritual.” In response to that, Hebrews tells us to, ‘draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water’ (Hebrews 10:22). Such sprinkling takes place when Christ’s forgiving body and blood are placed on your tongue. It’s a relationship established by the ritual reception of the Lord’s Supper. In fact, in 1 Corinthians 4:1 the Apostle Paul refers to himself and his colleagues as "stewards of the mysteries of God." That means that Pastors are entrusted by Christ the Chief Shepherd to give the gifts of Word and Sacrament to His flock, and this takes place in the worship service. A Pastor can’t be a proper steward if he doesn’t see the people receiving the Sacrament of the Altar, if they are trying to take Lord’s body and blood virtually. How can proper church discipline also take place virtually as to who should receive the Sacrament and who shouldn’t? In fact, the Sacrament of the Altar was never intended by Jesus to be taken outside a physical space.
9. The Lord’s Supper was instituted by Jesus with words and actions spoken and carried out by him in the direct presence of his disciples (Matt. 26:26-28). Throughout history, the church has sought to be faithful to Christ’s practice in this regard. Pastors speak the words of institution in the presence of the congregation, giving assurance that we are “doing this” as our Lord has instructed us to do (Luke 22:19). Whenever the actual words and actions of the celebrant in consecrating the elements are intentionally separated (by time, distance, or technological means) from the distribution and reception, no assurance can be given that our Lord’s instructions are being heeded and that the body and blood of Christ are actually being given and received for the forgiveness of sins and the strengthening of faith.
10. “Why do we go to church?” The first part of the reading from Hebrews 10:11-18 points out how Christ, who has “offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:12), distributes His forgiveness through all time in the preaching of the Church. It is in the worship service, through the preaching, that, “The Holy Spirit also bears witness to us.” Through Christ’s atoning work God “will remember their sins and their lawless deeds no more” (Hebrews 10:15, 17). Second, Jesus our Great High Priest “draws us near” to His Father in Heaven by sprinkling our hearts clean and washing our bodies with pure water (the Lord’s Supper and baptism). There, Jesus sanctifies us by His blood, perfected for all time (Hebrews 10:14) to present us to God. Finally, we gather to be strengthened in the confession of our hope and to encourage one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:23-24).
11. The author of Hebrews preaches Christ for us; past, present, and future. He begins our Epistle reading by discussing the sacrifice of Jesus in the past, “once for all” for the forgiveness of sins. The emphasis is on the substitutionary atonement, where Christ’s death on the cross 2000 years ago (past) covers all our sins. Thus, there is no need for any more sacrifices. “Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin” (Hebrews 10:18).
12. So, if Christ’s work is completed in the past, why do we need to go to church in the present? Because it is there where Christ exercises His rule from God’s right hand (Hebrews 10:12). He sends His Holy Spirit in the preaching of the Word to distribute the forgiveness earned in the “once-for-all” sacrifice (Hebrews 10:15-17). What is more, Christ will return in the future when “His enemies should be made a footstool for His feet” (Hebrews 10:13). But, as we “see the Day drawing near” (Hebrews 10:25), we are beset by trials, temptations, doubts, and fears. Christ has given us His Church not only to deliver forgiveness to us, but to sustain us to the end with our brothers and sisters. Remember how God said in the beginning, “it is not good that man be alone (Gen. 2:18).” We are the communion of saints. In the church, as one body, we once again confess our hope and encourage one another to love and good works (Hebrews 10:23-24).
13. We are not to neglect this gathering because it is within the Body where Christ, who paid the full atonement price with His blood, reigns and distributes His gifts which sustain us into life everlasting. Gathering before the Altar of God, with our brothers and sisters, is the very work of God to sustain us into life everlasting. That is why we go to church. Amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.
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