INTRODUCTION
Ernest Hemingway said once
When you love, you wish to do things for. You wish to sacrifice
for. You wish to serve.
Turn to PSALM 84
Here we see the love the psalmist had for the house of God he says:
- the house of God is Beautiful, nothing is more lovely
- he longs to be there, he didn't withhold any part of himself from the courts
` (Jewish ways of thinking said the closer you were to the house of God the closer you were to God)
- he considered it his home, a place to spend time
- he says blessings come to those who attend in verses 4-5
- in verses 6-7 joy and strength come to those who attend
- verse 10 says it all READ
(EXPOUND)
WE LIKE THE
PSALMIST NEED TO LOVE THE CHURCH!!!!!
Turn to 2 JOHN 1-6
Before we read this there are 2 views of what this passage means:
One view on this passage is that the letter is written to a actual women and here children to encourage them to walk in love and truth.
Another view is that the lady is actually the church and that the children are the christians in the church. Reason being throughout the New Testament the church is refered to as the bride. But the message is still the same. Yo encourage them to walk in love and truth, This is the veiw I hold.
- John writes in this letter that
he loves the church and her children in the truth.
CHRISTIANS
WE LIKE JOHN ARE TO LOVE THE CHURCH!!!!!
Who and What makes
up the church expound on the church?
READ PSALM 92:12-15
Again we see the Psalmist
refering to the house of the Lord. The verse says if we plant
ourselves in the house of God we will flourish in the courts of
our God and bring forth fruit in old age. If we make the church
the center of our life God will bless us beyond our wildest dreams.
Now when I talk about the church I am refering the body of Christ
through out the world and locally. Specificly our part of the
Body, Bible Weslyan Church.
WE SHOULD
LOVE THE CHURCH
A. What is it about the Church,that we wshould love it so much?
1. The church is the institute of God. Matthew 16:18
- Christ was sent by the Father to build His church. Unlike a certain doctrine out there that claims it was built on Peter, the Church is built on Christ. When Christ says I will build my church upon this rock he is refering to Himself not Peter. The word Peter (Petros) actually means a little peice of rock. Whereas the rock Jesus says he will build upon is (Petra) a larg rock, a bed rock.
- The church is being built by Christ through his Saints to continue the work that Christ came to do.
- The church is not a man's invention or is it built by mans strengnth or grace But it is Put Together By God Himself.
- Don't you think Something that God has instituted and Christ
is building through the Saints should be loved by us. I do!!!!!
Trans: Not
only is it an institute of God but ,
2. Christ gave himself for the church. Turn to Eph 5:25
- Christ and the church are compared to a husband and wife. This is the kind of Love we should have for the Church.
- Christ died for the Church John 15:13 " Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends"
- Christ loved the church like
a husband loves his wife and he laid down his life for it, don't
you think we should love it too. Again I Do!!!!
Trans: Jesus
loves the church because,
3. The church is the bride of Christ. 2 Corinthians 11:2
- Paul compares the Church to a virgin and we should treat it as so.
- speak kindly and gently to and about her
- treat her gently and lovingly in deeds and actions
- remember when you meet that special person how you treated
them. With the gentlness and loving actions you would do anything for them.
- something that the God compares
to a virgin and even as the bride of Christ,
don't you think it is something we should love to.
** from time to time people forget
their love for the church or never even had it. They drag the
church around and say do this, do that your supposed to be there
for me. Thats not the way God intended for us to treat something
he established.**
Trans: Now
that we have seen reasons why we need to love the church, How
do we express it.
B. HERE ARE 4 OF MANY WAYS TO EXPRESS THE LOVE YOU HAVE FOR YOUR CHURCH.
.
1. We should Attend Church and spend time at church
Luke 4:16 (read)
Jesus attended His local assembly as was His custom and wow He participated!!!! But thats a whole other sermon.
Today we seem to be so glad to
see someone show up for church that we forget that it is their
responsibility to come to church. If they love Jesus then they
should love the church and should want to attend church. Now that
doesn't mean if someone dosen't show up that they don't love the
Lord. But when we would rather be doing other things it's time
to check your heart. When some one is faithful to attend the house
of God you Know they are in love with the church. Someone who
comes that dosen't have the right heart will stop comming soon
enough.
We should attend church as often as possible. If our house is in order than their is nothing wrong with being here all the time. But remember your family life should be in order before you spend 24/7 in the church. There need to be a proper balance.Besides right now we are only having 2 services a week. You should be able to make them.
Remember your not required to be
here but if you do love the church than you will want to be here.
And when someone is not here they should get a phone call from
all of us because if you love the church you should be concerned
about them.
- Some say I don't need to attend
church to worship. I can do this whereever I am. I can worship
God out fishing out on the beach out on my sail boat or anywhere.
But you know as well as I do that they are not worshiping God
while they fishing or on the beach the sailboat or even in their
own home. Where the Lord of their home the T.V. has there attention.
Ya you could even be watching some christian station but you are
probably doing the dishes dealling with the kids or what ever.
The idea is you are not putting your focus on God!!!!
Trans: Not only
will our attendance at church show our love for it, but telling
others about her will too.
2.
Show you love the church by telling others about her.
Ephesians 5:25-27 (read)
We should love the church like christ did as the picture we get of the husband and wife.
-remember when you met your spouse how every one knew it, cause you told them.
-you talked lovingly about him/her and when you where with them you talk lovingly to him/her. If you saw someone you knew you would eagerly introduce them to your mate. Then when you said you were going to get married evryone knew. I even told MOM. even though I new it would be trouble I still told here. Cause I loved my wife. This is the way Christ wants us to feel about our church.
-you don't have to agree with everything
-you don't have to think the church is perfect cause it s not its
-made of imperfect people so how can it be perfect
We don't like some of the things
our spouses do but we don't get up and get divorced over
them and if we are looking for a way out we are in sin.
** If you feel like you can't invite people or tell people about your church you need to get your heart right and examine yourself to fix the problem. If after this you feel the love isn't there find a church that you can love Because if you can't invite people to your church than your effectiveness to win people to the Kingdom is drasticlly reduced.
** The preacher may be long winded or even dull and some of the people may be wierd or difficult, but our love should go beyound that just as your love for your spouse does.
Trans:
We need to show our love for the church by telling others about
her and by supporting her financially.
3. SHOW YOU LOVE THE CHURCH BY GIVING FINANCIAL SUPPORT
Mal 3:10 (read)
Reagular giving of tithes and offerings finance the work of God in the church. God's house needs to be supported financiaally for it to function. In the old testament men and women would bring of the fruit of the land or the grain of their flocks and herds because thats what they worked for in their trade. Today the way we support ourselves is by a paycheck, money. This is also the way God supports his work today. The church needs our tithes to go on or else she insnt going to be worth loving much longer.
Not one of us here today would think about going to a resturant and sitting down and eating a meal then leaving without paying. But people thats exactly what happens when you don't tithe. You rob from the church and from God when you don't give tithe.
Nothing is worse than an old lying cheating stealling spouse that dosn't bring home the money for the bills, but they have plenty of money for booze and drugs and whatever they want to do.
You show your love for your spouse by bringing home your paycheck to support your family, but you won't show your love for the church by bringing the tithe to the stoehouse.
When you love the church you truly will deveelop a desire to be faithful in the tithe and offerings.
2 Corinthians 9:6-8 (read)
Generous support leads to blessings not always material blessings as most of think. God will allow things to last longer, give examples.
You reap what you sow. You either are going to give your tithe to the church or its going to the world mech, shoes, and such.
Neh 12:47 (read)
????
Matthew 23:23 (read)
Here we see that tithe was an
already established practice. But if you still say Jesus never
told us litterly to tithe thats fine then lets just look at what
they did in the new testament church. Acts 2:44-46 Believers
gave it all everything the whole kit and kaboodle. they sold all
they had to support the church. Me personally I think that 10%
is a good place to start.
Trans: Not
only can we show we love the church by supporting it financially
but we can also work around the church to show our love.
4. SHOW YOU THE CHURCH BY WORKING AND HELPING AT THE CHURCH
Galatians 6:9-10 (read)
We must do our parts in the church everybody can do something. Don't let the same person do everything!! Paul here is refering to those who are doing the work of the church, telling them that their benifit is coming soon. I beleive the reason these people were getting weary is that there was a portion of the church that sat and did nothing. Which caused the rest to get weary!!
A mathematician named Pareto who
came up with a principle that shows to be true most of the time,
said that 80% of your accomplishments come from 20% of your goals
or plans. If we transfer that to the work at the church then it
says that 80% of the work is being done by 20% of the people.
In this church that would mean that only a couple of us here are
pulling our weight.!.!.!.!
You say what can I do? Well let me tell you.
Church cleaning - get here 45 minutes or so early make sure its clean or even the night before.
Building sand grounds upkeep. There is a million and one things that can be done.
Somebody can offer to watch the
kids during the sermon.
Witnessing, if every body invited 1 person a day then this church would be filled in less than two months just by doing the statistics not counting the effectof the Holy Spirit.
Just do something your Pastor
can't do it alone.
TELL STORY OF HURICANE TRIP
YOUR SERVICE IS A TESTAMONY TO OTHERS
OF YOUR LOVE FOR THE CHURCH, AND HERE MAKER JESUS CHRIST.
CONCLUSION
1. What do your actions show about the way you feel about the church?
How about telling and acting
like you love the church.
2. Spend timebuilding the church
not time tearing it down
3. Speak good things to other to
bring them in not things to push them out
4. Support the church in your finances don't hold it back
5. There is something everyone
can do its just up to you to do it.