Hebrews: Why Go to Church?
Pastor Fletcher preaches from Hebrews 10:19-39 about why we go to church. Discussion points: We go to church to be reminded of who God is and draw near to him, we draw near to God together as a community, we go to church to encourage others and be encouraged in our faith.
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Scripture reader: [Hebrews 10:19-25] The full assurance of faith. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through His flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful, and let us consider how 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.
This is the word of the Lord.
Preacher: Our nation is currently experiencing the largest religious shift in its history. Over the past 25 years, 40 million Americans have stopped going to church. That's not saying 40, there's 40 million Americans less going to church. That's saying there are 40 million Americans at home right now, who used to be at churches right now. It is a daunting statistic. Everyone here knows someone who used to go to church, and who no longer does, right? And the question that we're left with is why? Why are people leaving the church in droves such as that?
And there's a book called The Great De Churching by Jim Davis and Michael Graham. And these are authors who do a sociological study into the reasons why people are leaving the church. And their findings are actually quite surprising. What they found is that what most of us expect to be the reason why people move the church, leave the church would be. Because they had some negative experience with the church. They had some crisis of faith. They have some doubt. They decided to walk away from their faith. But what they actually found is that is not the reason why at all.
Instead, the number one reason why people have stopped going to church is because they moved. And they just never got back in the habit. You see, maybe it has more to do with the fact that our society moves more often now than it ever has in its past, than it does with actual change in belief that we have. This is what they say. Listen to this quote, roughly 3/4 of the people who left the church did so casually. For pedestrian reasons, including moving, the inconvenience of attending kids' sports activities or family changes like marriage, divorce, or having a new child.
Another assumption that we might have about why people leave the churches, maybe they went to one of the secular universities and they got educated and then they all of a sudden were doubting that their faith, but actually what the findings say is kind of the exact opposite.
While most people, there's about 16% of Americans who left the church, you know, 16% of people who are no longer coming, only 3% of those, those who are those who have graduate school degrees. And so education actually inverse correlates with leaving the church. The more educated you are, the more committed to the church you tend to be. Which is something I see. I see that people are, it's not that they're coming in blind faith. People are inspecting the evidence of Christ and finding it satisfying and deciding to come to him.
So with all this in mind, I just want us to take a moment this morning to consider. Why are you going to church? I mean, you're here, unless you're not, and you're online. But why are you coming to church? Why did you show up this morning? I recognize that some of you might be asking the same question right now. Why did I show up this morning? Why did I get out of my warm bed and come over here, where I might risk losing my parking spot at my house? To go somewhere where there is no parking, and I have to steal someone else's parking spot to come in, or I have to ride a shuttle. I rode the shuttle this morning, it wasn't too bad, guys, and kind of enjoyable actually. Or you have to get on the T, trek through the snow.
If, if one of your non-churchgoing friends asked you, why, why do you go to church, what would you say? Are you prepared for that question? I think a lot of us would say, well, I go to church because I'm a Christian. And then what if they say, well, can't you be a Christian without going to church? Well then, that's kind of a fair point. Like maybe isn't being a Christian about belief in Jesus and not about church attendance? Maybe you might say, I go to church because I find it enjoyable and encouraging. Much better answer, but still not completely inspiring. Lots of people do things that I don't enjoy to do. It's not necessarily that I'm going to do that. Lots of people enjoy bungee jumping. That's not. It doesn't mean I'm gonna go sign up and bungee jump.
Couldn't you say, my church has good coffee. When it's not too cold and the coffee maker freezes. None of these reasons feel quite satisfying. Why do we show up for church? And so I wanna look at God's word this morning. I have 4 reasons from Hebrews chapter 10 as we continue our series on Hebrews, for why we might want to be involved, join, go to a local church. So let's dig in here.
First, let us look at what God has done. Let us look at what God has done. Our modern culture says that there are only two things worth doing, and you feel this, I'm sure. But those two things are on the one hand, things that improve myself. That are maximizing my personal efficiency and on the other hand are things that I enjoy. And so, on the one hand, you might play video games because you enjoy it, you don't play that because you're improving yourself. On the other hand, you, which I enjoy. On the other hand, you might work out because you see personal improvement and most people don't do it because they enjoy it.
Church is one of the few things in the world where you walk in. And though we try to make it hospitable for you, but you come in here. It's not for you, though. You know, our world is completely me centered. What do those two things have in common? I'm gonna do things that I enjoy. I'm gonna do things that improve me, me centered. The church is meant to be God-centered. Everything we do here points us back to what he has already done, and that's how we see Hebrews starting. In fact, in this passage, in fact, every time in the Bible, when you see God tell people what to do. He always starts with what he has already done.
Look at the 10 Commandments. You think about the 10 Commandments, the great 10 list of what we should be doing, top 10 list. How does it start? I am the Lord your God who rescued you out of slavery. Therefore, 10 things. It always starts with what God has done before it talks about what you should do. And so right now, we're coming to the conclusion of the author of Hebrews doing this long explanation of what God has done, that he is our great high priest, that he's opened up a way through the curtain that we get to have intimacy with God, not because we we've drummed it up, but because of what Jesus has already done for us. We've been doing this since Hebrews chapter 4, and now the author is wrapping all of that up and moving on into the practicals, the application.
Here's how he's wrapping it up, OK? Let's let's look at the passage first, verse 19. Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh, and since we have a great high priest over the house of God. Listen to that again, he says, here's what God's done. He's opened up the holy places by the blood of Jesus. Jesus is the new and living way that he's opened. The curtain is open. God did it through his flesh. God did it.
And since we have a great high priest, it's all about what God has done before he tells us what we're to do. And this is actually bookending what he started in Hebrews chapter 4. And so when you look at chapter 4, I'm actually gonna give you a little diagram here so you can see it. In chapter 4, we have this little passage in verses 14 and 16, where he opens up this whole section about Jesus being our high priest. And he says, therefore, since we have a high priest who's gone through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess, then let us approach with confidence. And then he includes all this information and he sum. Summarizes it with basically the same thing. If you've ever taken a public speaking class you've learned, tell them what you're gonna tell them, then tell them, then tell them what you told him. And that's what this author is doing.
In fact, Hebrews was meant to be read in one sitting. It's meant for someone to get up here and read the whole thing to a group of people so that they can take it all in. It's meant as a sermon. And so as we look at this, we see, OK, argument completed. We have not a chasm. OK? We've become very familiar with chasms. This is called an inclusio, where you have something at the beginning and something at the end and a bookends, and inclusio is the bookend argument to where you can see what's happening. And you see how the lines are connected, how this verse connects with chapter 4. So here the before the author of Hebrews tells us what we need to be doing, we're told of what God has done. We have confidence to enter the holy places of God because of the blood of Jesus, which he describes as the new and living way that he opened for us.
It's new because it was previously unavailable. Previously they thought about just the sacrificial system and the sacrifice of animals and the purification rites. But now we have a new way, which is through Christ and that way is not a dead way, even though it's through his blood. He has died, but he has been risen to new life, so we have a living way to come to God. We wake up early on Sunday mornings, we get together to worship, we trek through the snow, we steal people's parking spots, because God has done something in history. God has done something in history. What we believe is true, it happened. What we're doing here this morning, it's not just good vibes, it's not meant just to encourage you. It's meant to remind you of a historical thing that happened, which is God sent his son to pay our penalty that we might go through the curtain and we might have intimacy with him. And so we need to be reminded of truth. We go to church to be reminded of who God is.
Second, let us draw near. Let us draw near. I go to church because I desire to draw near to God. Verse 22, let us draw near. After we see what God has done, we say this, let us draw near with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Look how it starts. Let's just look at the first little sentence, OK? It says, let us. It doesn't say, you go and draw near. It says, let us, when the Bible talks about drawing near to God, it almost always talks in the collective that the church does this together.
When when the authors wrote these letters, they were to churches. And so the assumption is that the church does this together. We draw near to God. It's a special thing when we gather as God's people. He's present with us. The Bible describes the church as a body. And that when one member hurts, the whole body hurts. Coming together in worship gives us the opportunity to draw near to God together. What does it mean though to draw near to God?
I think that many of us experience this in different ways. You might be more of an intellectual kind. I talked to someone one time and I was talking about experiencing the presence of God and someone very heartfelt, very dedicated to their faith came up to me after the service, just like, I don't know if I've ever experienced the the presence of God in that kind of way. And I'm like, well, how do you think about experiencing the presence of God? Cause it's pretty plain that we're supposed to draw near to him. And he was like, you know, sometimes I read my Bible and I get very excited about what I'm reading. I'm like, yeah! That's it. But some of us do it very differently. And when I think about this language drawn near to God. I think about a young child climbing up into the lap of his loving father. And that is what we have the opportunity to do as God's children. We get to draw near to who he is. We get to experience the power and presence of the Lord, and it just looks different for each person.
I can't describe what it looks like for you, but I can tell you that earlier this week, I was feeling. You know, a noisy heart. Have you ever had a noisy heart or just, you know, you can't concentrate, things aren't right. And I just said, I'm gonna pray, I'm gonna sing. I turned on the song, I sang, and it was a song I didn't even like that much, and it was a, but it was a worship song, and I, just was overwhelmed with gratitude and had a moment to weep and and before the Lord. Each person, it's gonna look different. I don't wanna make it sound like it looks the same to each person. But the invitation is open to draw near. And we do that together.
You see, one reason why we come together as the church, is because we get to see other people drawing near. It's because we get to do it together, and when you're here, we draw near in a special kind of way. It's an opportunity for that. Hebrews adds two clarifiers that we draw near with a sincere heart and full assurance of faith. And that we draw near with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Now I've heard some people do some kind of exegetical Olympics here and gymnastics they might have here, and they talk about how your body being sprinkled clean. It's talking about baptism and maybe. But really what I think he's trying to say is what Jesus has done is taking over for the purification rights that we used to look to.
And so now we draw close to God, not through the sprinkling of blood of an animal, not through the purification rites of washing your hands, but through what Christ has done. And I think that that's the point that he's making. So we show up to church, and we keep showing up because we want to draw near to God. What are we doing if we don't want to draw near to God? That is why we're here.
I want you to think about this sentence. I heard a preacher say this a few months ago, and I've been ruminating on it. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm gonna give it to you. God goes where he's wanted. God goes to where he's wanted. And I think there's some reason to support this from Scripture. James chapter 4 verse 8, draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. God goes where he's wanted, and where else can you experience God than go into a room where we are wanting him together.
Church, when we come here, we don't come here begrudgingly, because we're supposed to. We come here wanting God. And the more that we are coming here saying, I'm hungry, I'm thirsty, would you give me something to drink? And Jesus says, I got some living water. The more he's going to show up. And so we come with a sense of expectation.
I took a sabbatical a couple of years ago. Actually, this was the sabbatical before the last, and we went to a few churches. And what I was astonished by by one of these churches is that. We got there right on time, and we had a hard time finding a seat. Because people wanted to be with God. They came in, first song, no warm up, hands were raised. I was like, all right, let's go. People were wanting him. And may that be us. Now I know for me, a lot of times I need a moment to wake up. I need a moment to get here, have a little bit of coffee, get my soul lined up, feel like I'm saved again, and. That might be you too, but I think that God does go where he's wanted, and we draw near, that's one reason why we come.
The third thing, so first we come to be reminded of the truth of the gospel. Second, we draw near to God with our brothers and sisters. And third, we hold fast to our confession. We hold, let us hold fast to our confession. Verse 23. Let us hold fast in light of everything that God has done. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. To hold fast means to grab onto something and not let it go. I saw a video earlier this week, maybe you saw this too, of a woman who had almost fallen off of a ski lift. And she had just reached up and grabbed and her friends were grabbing her, and that's what it means to hold fast. That's nightmare fuel to like dangle from a ski lift all the way up, but she's holding fast. You better believe it, because it's all that she's got to keep her alive until she gets to the top.
Over the years, I've met a lot of people who have wandered away from the faith, who have not held on to their confession. And some of them started having doubts while they were in the church. And then, but I will tell you that the majority of those who walk away from the faith, walk away from the church first, not second. Their faith is fine until they wander from the church, and they're not surrounded by the people of God, reminding them the truth, and then all of a sudden their grip starts to loosen on their faith. Now, that's not to say that you can't have doubts. We hold fast to our confession. This is a church where we want you to vocalize your doubts. We want to talk to you, to process this, because we believe there are actually real answers to our real questions that we have. You will not be demonized for having doubts here. But we also want to encourage you to hold on to your faith, unwavering.
You see, when you're not actively involved in a church, week in and week out, it's much easier for your faith to waver. I feel this. When I went on sabbatical last summer, we went to church every week, but when I have missed church on occasion, when I'm on vacation or whatever it might be happening, man, it's just the faith wavers. It's not quite the same when you're not with God's people, week in and week out. We worship God to be reminded of the truth. This means that our beliefs, our confession, it matters. This is why we put the word at the center. We have to hold on firm to the confession of our faith. We put the word at the center because we believe that through the word God speaks.
Let me just give you a simple, another reason to be here at church. We're here to hear. We're here to hear from God. We believe God speaks through his word, and we respond. God does it. We live, we worship, we respond to what he has done. We do this because God is really among us.
Lastly, we come together each week to encourage one another. Number four, let us encourage one another. Verse 24, let us consider how 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. This is the final nail in the individualism coffin that we often think about church, because when we think about church, we often just think about me coming in, finding my seat, engaging with God, hearing the sermon, then heading out. But this passage says that there's a lot more to church than just what you're getting out of it. But it's about encouraging one another, being with God's people, being arm in arm, speaking to one another, encouraging one another, worship together makes our worship powerful.
Every Sunday morning this happens to me. I come in here, with a lot of things going through my head, OK? this is my job. I am full time at the church. I'm always thinking about all the things that are going wrong. I'm trying not to open my phone to like jot down the things that I'm noticing. It's like all these little details and everything. I'm coming in here worried about the heat, worried about kids, worrying about all the different things. And a lot of times I'm not ready to worship. And then when we start, I see, you know, a dear sister raising her hands in worship. Or I see a brother with tears streaming down his face, or I see someone sitting and kneeling and praying. And all of a sudden I'm reminded that God is moving in each person's life, and it's encouraging to me. Your mere presence is encouraging to other people in the room. Now you're not meant to be doing that performatively, of course, it's meant to be genuine, but your mere presence here encourages the other brothers and sisters here, and you know, even just hearing each other's voices, so encouraging to hear the truth sung. Not to mention all the words of encouragement that happen. In the back in the hallway. The conversations shared over bagels that turn into longer conversations shared over lunch or dinner, that turn into friendships that last a lifetime.
This regular coming, it's important, you know, I, I don't remember where I read this, but many years ago, I read someone's theory about what was wrong with our political system, and it kind of sounds potential. But what they said is that in the 90s, led by the Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich, many of the Republican and Democrat senators and congresspeople were encouraged to live in their own districts instead of living in DC. You see, before that time, they would all move to DC and then visit the districts, and now he's saying, hey, live in the districts and visit DC. Which is a good idea in theory, because in theory, you're more in touch with the needs of your people, you kind of know what's going on more back in your home district, you're not separate, just the DC elites or whatever.
But what actually happened is the senators stopped seeing each other in casual situations. They stopped seeing each other at their kids' Little League games. Because let me tell you, it's harder to get up on a pedestal and demonize someone on the other side of the aisle when you gotta show up on Tuesday evening and watch their kid play against yours in softball. Or when you bump into someone in the grocery store or at the, or at the. What, down the street, whatever you might be doing. You see, living in a community, having those little interactions, it builds up relational capital that allows us to have this relational lubricant that makes unity stronger. It's easier to compromise with someone when you see that they're a fellow human or a parent, whatever it might be.
And so this passage tells us that we're not to neglect meeting together. The word that they use here for neglect, it's actually the same Greek word that Jesus uses on the cross when he says, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? So neglect and forsake, and it means to give up on completely. I think it's an unreasonable expectation for us to say you never miss a Sunday. But you don't give up on the gathering together of believers. And if it's within your power, you're there because you need those reminders. Now I'm preaching to the choir, you're the ones that showed up here on Sunday morning. I need to like somehow find all the people that that aren't doing that and tell them this.
When I was in seminary, I had a, a friend who I was traveling one Sunday morning. I ran into him Sunday afternoon, and we're living in the dorm. This is before I got married and I'm just living with all the single dudes. And the dorm, I kid you not, was called Manly. it was named after someone named Basil Manly, and, but they put all the men in there, and it was a manly place. And I bumped into my, my friend, his name was Gary, and, Gary. I just gotten back into town. I was like, hey, what's going on, Gary? Where are you, what you, what's going on? And he's like, yeah, I'm getting ready to go to church. I was like, I thought your church met this morning. He's like, oh yeah, I was traveling. I'm gonna go to this other church.
And being the young seminary student, you, if you think I speak my mind a lot now. You didn't know me back then. I, can be a little forthright at times, and I just said, why? Probably with that look of disgust on my face also. Why? I have resting disgust face. I'm sorry. that's what my wife says, at least. So I say, why? And, and he's like, because like, we're in seminary? Like, shouldn't I go to church? You told me I shouldn't go to church. And I'm just like, well, I mean, you should go to your church, but if you've missed your church, why, why go? Because like, you're not gonna know anyone there. It's not gonna be the same and you're not gonna be able to live out the commitments that you've made to other people through the, through being a member at a local church where you're supposed to encourage one another. And he was like. All right, man. Cool, I'm going to church.
So it, I actually look back on that I'm like, oh, that was a little too aggressive. there's nothing wrong with visiting a church if you missed your church service. But I do think that the point kind of stands where the point isn't that you come and you get something, but it's that we come together and we draw near to God together, and we're encouraging one another. And the point is this, this, that church is not something something you simply go to. In fact, stop doing that. It is something you are. I remember at at during that same time, when I was in seminary, I was going to a church and someone got up, and the first thing they said was stop going to church. Start being the church.
And so if someone asks you, why do you go to church? Probably the best response is, it's not just something I go to. I just am the church. I just am committed to these people. It's part of what God has called me to. Now you might not say it all like that, a non-church friend, but you'll find a way. It is something that you are. This is why the term virtual church is an oxymoron. Church means assembly. It means you get together with other people. We have to come together.
Now, there's nothing wrong with watching a church service online. I've watched plenty of church services online. I've listened to hundreds and hundreds of Tim Keller sermons online. But online church cannot replace. The experience of being a part of a body. You need to be in the room if possible. I know some, it's not possible. They might be sick or elderly, whatever it might be. But the reality is that you need relationships because encouragement can't happen in isolation. The point is not that attending a church makes you a Christian. But the point is that attending church is something that Christians do.
And I want to end with this. That I don't want you to give up on the power of gathering together. It can be discouraging when you hear that statistic. 40 million people have walked away from church. And when I saw that statistic of 40 million people walking away from the church, I assumed that the majority would be in my generation, the millennials, because we are the burnout generation. We're the generation that has crashed and burned. We're ready to leave. That's not the truth. Sorry, that was a little too close to home for some of you. The, the truth is, the group that's actually left the church the most is the boomers. And what's actually happening is that the younger generations are coming back to church. They're coming back to the Lord.
I sat next to someone on the airplane a couple of weeks ago. I was taking a quick trip to preach at a church, and there was a sports team that got on the airplane. I ended up getting sat right next to one of the members of the sports team, and I don't really try to have much of a conversation. I said hello and whatnot. It was like, hi, how are you doing? You know, where are you going? What do you do? Oh, OK. And then wait for them to ask me. If they don't ask me, if they ask me, I have to tell them I'm a pastor, and then it's like, all right, you know what we're doing here. But if they don't ask, I'm like, cool, I'm just gonna, you know, read or, work on my sermon in this case, I needed to finish my sermon. And I'm halfway through this flight and I look over and she pulls out a book and she starts reading The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard.
And I'm like, Whoa, that book's like 30 years old, first of all, it's older than you. Second of all, Dallas Willard's like one of my heroes. That's like the last thing I would have expected you to pull out of your bag. So I just lean over, I'm like, are you reading Dallas Willard? And she's like, yeah, and he's one of my heroes. Are you a Christian? Yes. How'd you, like, did you grow up in church? She, she went to Pitt, not like a super Southern Christian staple Christian school. It's just University of Pittsburgh. And she's like, you know, I just started reading the Bible. I got interested. And then a friend invited me to church. I was like, is that like common? She was like, Yeah, A lot of us on the sports team, we go to church and we go to FCA. Guys, God has not left us. He's not forsaken us.
If I think about the best analogy, it might be more like Gideon. Where he's stripping away all the things that we can say, we did this. And he's shown us that he's gonna leave us a true remnant, and that when revival happens, it's because of him. When he brings people back, it's not because just the church had power, it's because God has power, and he's saving people. And friends, that can start right here. Where else would it be better to show God's glory than to start that type of movement in a place like Somerville, Boston area?
Why go to church? We need to be reminded of the truth. We draw near to God, we hold fast to our faith, we encourage one another. Which of these do you need to focus on? Just pick one this week. Pick one. Maybe you need to draw near to God. Maybe you need to hold firm to your faith. What essential question about your faith do you need to get an answer to today? I can't promise I'll be able to give it to you, but I can try. And maybe you need to find someone to encourage. God has you here for a reason.
In just a moment, we're gonna practice the sacred meal. And with this meal, we're being reminded that God is with us in a special way. That he's with us as the body of Christ. And that he took on the night that he was betrayed, he took a loaf of bread, and he took it and he tore it. He said, this is my body broken for you. He took a cup and he said, this is my blood spilled for you. Do this in remembrance of me. And so each week we practice this sacred meal where we come and receive the elements. We're reminded that God's body was broken with for us, and his blood was shed for us, and we're reminded of those truths in a physical kind of way. So would you stand as we pray, prepare our hearts to come to the table and respond to him.
God, we thank you for your word this morning. And now we pray that you would bind us together as a church family. Help us to experience your grace and your truth more and more. Help us to not be individualized in the way that we think about our life, but help us to think about your body, your kingdom, and you, and what you've done for us. As we prepare to come to this table, God, we pray that we would encounter you in a real kind of way. That our hearts would be drawn near to you, that we would experience your warmth and your kindness once again. I ask that anyone who hasn't experienced that within the sound of my voice might experience it tonight, today. In Christ's name we pray, Amen.