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9-20-26 "Asking For A Friend" How Can I Effectively Express Attending Worship As A Priority · Pulpit to Pavement

• Rich: is from First Corinthians twelve, verses twelve through twenty seven. The text will be on the screen or you may follow along in your Bible. If you do not have a Bible, we'd love to give you one as a gift from us. Just raise your hand and we'll see that you get one. Just as the body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts from one body, so it is with Christ. For we are all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part, but of many. Now the foot should say, because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body. It would not be for that reason to stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, because I am not an I, I do not belong to the body, it would not be for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an I, Where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts of the body, every one of them just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, I do not need you. And the head cannot say to the feet, I do not need you. On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable. And the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable we treat with special modesty. While our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put his body together, giving greater honor to those parts than lacked it. So that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. If one part suffers Every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, then every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ. Each one of you is part of it. This is the word of God for the people of God. Kayla: Thank you, Rich. We are still in our Asking for a Friend series. We took a slight pause last week because I was at the walk to Emmaus, and I want to give thanks and appreciation to Tom Johnson for leading worship last week. He brought a great message. If you missed it, you can actually go back to our website and listen to that to that message. We're gonna have one more question next week, and then we're gonna move on to a new series. But when we do launch the podcast fully. We are going to make Asking for a Friend a monthly installment of the podcast. So I need you to continue submitting questions so that we can keep building content. And if you submitted a question, I appreciate you for doing that. Even if you did not submit a question, I hope that you got something out of this series. And if you submitted a question and it has not been answered in this series, look for that to show up somewhere in the near future in our podcast. So today we're gonna ask for a friend: how can I effectively express the importance of prioritizing worship? So if I understand this question correctly, this person likely has friends or relatives that church isn't at the top of their list of priorities. Now it might seem ironic to talk about why you need to be at church to a room full of people who are already at church. But this question is worth our time because I think we all have loved ones in our lives that we would love to see in church. But the challenge is helping them fully understand why it is worth their time, why it matters in a world that demands so much of our time and energy. So, just for a few minutes, I want us to think about the common reasons people give us for not coming to church. Some say Sunday is my only day off. I work hard all week. I should be able to spend my Sunday how I want to spend it, you know, or or they say Sunday is my only day off, and I need that day to catch up on things around the house. We've probably heard that. Let me first say that how they spend their Sunday. It should be their choice because we do not want to force that relationship. But something to think about. God created the world in six days, and he rested on the seventh, and we call that seventh day the Sabbath, right? God made the Sabbath and He made it holy. And what does that mean? That He made it holy? It means He made it to be different. So it was meant to be a day in which we stop, we take our hands off, we take time to delight in the things that bring us joy rather than exhaust us. And most importantly, we take that time to remember and give thanks that God is God and we are not. Right? it is supposed to be a day of rest. From all that the world demands of us, and yet so many of us spend our Sabbath trying to complete that never-ending list of things that spills over into the weekend. I gotta cut the grass, I gotta finish the laundry, I gotta clean the garage. And I think we can all agree that if we were to say, I'll stop and rest and worship God when all the chores are done, we would never get there. Because the world is always chasing us down and dragging us back, and we let it. Instead of depending on God for our acceptance, instead of depending on God for our identity, instead of depending on God for our joy and our peace, we depend on ourselves, we depend on our jobs, we depend on our retirement. And God knows how prone we are to becoming workaholics. to becoming materialistic, to becoming distracted. That's why he created the Sabbath, so that we could live different from that. So, what is the remedy to all the craziness that characterizes our day-to-day lives? Well, it's not, you know, couch surfing and watching TV all day or scrolling through Facebook, which by the way is full of content that says, you need this, you need that, you need to go to work so that you can buy this and own that. It's not just sleeping in, you know, even though rest is part of Sabbath. And I'm not saying it's wrong to do those things. Just don't do it instead of coming to church. You know, do it after you come to church because here's the real remedy. And Jesus lays this out in Matthew chapter 11. He says, Come to me. Come to me, all you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy to bear, and the burden I give you is light. So in this broken, sinful world, there will always be forces at work trying to take God's people back. So unless we resolve to stop and lay everything aside and go to the house of the Lord to find rest for our souls, to let Jesus teach us to take the burden off our shoulders, we'll always get sucked back in. In the Exodus story. After ten refusals, after experiencing ten plagues, Pharaoh lets the Israelites go, right? He releases them from their harsh labor to leave Egypt, to be their own people, to worship their God. But as they're vacating Egypt, Pharaoh has this moment of regret: wait a minute, what have I done? I have just released our entire workforce. Now our cities, our structures are never gonna get finished. I gotta get them back here to finish the work. And so he sends his soldiers and his chariots to try to hunt the Israelites down and drag them back to continue the work. That's what the world does to us. It chases us down, it drags us back. Fine, you can have your hour on Sunday, but the other hundred and sixty seven hours of the week you belong to us. That's what the world does. Does the world offer to take your heavy burdens and exchange them for rest? No, it does not. It demands more. Does the world promise a yoke that is easy to bear and a burden that is light? It definitely does not. Right? The world does not care how hard life is for you as long as you keep serving the world. That's Pharaoh. So now let me ask you this, because we're asking for a friend, right? Why is it we would rather steal one Sabbath day from God than take one workday from Pharaoh? We need those rhythms in our lives. Right? We are given six days to work, and then we are to stop and rest and worship. And even still, we need rhythms in our daily lives where we stop in the middle of our crammed, chaotic schedules for Bible reading and prayer. And even still, we need rhythms in our lives where we leave the places that are prone to distracting us and come together with others to give thanks. And praises and prayers to God and learn from Him together. We need that. Now some might say, Well, I can worship God anywhere. Right? I don't have to go to church to worship God. I can worship God on this trail. I can worship God on this lake. I can worship God from my couch. And that is true. You can worship God without walking into a church building. But will you? You know, people say, I'm not going to a gym and spending a bunch of money and fees when I can work out at home for free. That's true. You can work out at home and you can get similar results at home as you would in a gym. But will you really work out at home? How many of you have a home gym, a treadmill, hand weights, dumbbells? When's the last time you used them? Our intentions are good, right? I'm gonna spend 30 minutes on the treadmill today. I just have to get these things done first. And we start working through that list and we start contending with distractions. And before we know it, it's eight o'clock in the evening. Now we're too tired to get on the treadmill. Better luck tomorrow. Only tomorrow it's gonna be the same thing. Now, if they go to the gym. They're going to work out because the only thing to do at the gym is work out. Same thing. You can worship God outside the church, but you are far more likely to get swept up, right? And the daily distractions and demands and to-dos, your housework, your kids' games, your hobbies, those are all good things. But if they regularly take you away from your worship, you would do good to realize that you're choosing the captivity of activity over what God says and wants for you. Also, we live in a world that has steadily embraced an isolated lifestyle. We shop online rather than go to brick and mortar stores. Online classes are becoming the norm. We text more than we talk. We connect on social media rather than in public. Going back to the creation story, when God created the heavens and the earth, he said, he declared that it was good. When God made the lights in the sky, he said it was good. When he made the birds of the air and the fish of the sea and the animals that walked along the earth, he said it was clear. When he made male and female, he said it was. actually, he said it was very good. Got you. Now, when is the first time God declares something not good? When God said it was not good for the man to be alone, why isn't it good for the man to be alone? Because he created us for relationship. He created us for community. Even if that community is full of imperfect people, which they are. All right, some of our loved ones say, I don't go to church because it's full of hypocrites. Now, word of caution here. Do don't say to them, that's right, and we're always looking for one more. Don't do that. That's not a loving response. Okay, if they say the church is full of hypocrites, validate it. Just validate it. Just say, yes, the church is full of imperfect people. You know, despite the image we might try to portray, church people do not have it all together. That's why we come to church, right? Because we need grace. And we need each other. We need accountability. But people expect more from church. And so when the church disappoints them, and regrettably it happens a lot, people walk away and say, I don't actually need them. I don't need organized religion. And this is what Paul is addressing here to the church in Corinth. Rich just read us the NIV version. But if you read the New Living Translation, I don't normally use the New Living Translation, but I like the way it's worded here. Beginning in verse 19, Paul says, How strange a body would be if it only had one part, which by definition would not be a body, right? Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, I don't need you. The head can never say to the feet, I don't need you. You know, people sometimes look through the windows of the church or even in society, and they see people who live and function and see the world different from them, and they think, I don't actually need them. And that's just not true. We were not created to live distant and separate. Now, some people have been hurt by the church for various reasons. And I am not, I'm not gonna try to minimize that at all. You know, maybe they felt judged by someone they should have been able to feel safe and honest with. Maybe there was a betrayal, whatever the reason, now they carry a distrust for the church. They keep the church at arm's length and say, I don't need you, because if I needed you, then I'd be opening myself up to the possibility of experiencing pain again, and I don't need that. So to keep myself pain free, I'm going to keep myself people free. You might miss out on pain by doing that. But you miss out on so much more, right? The reason you would ever experience an enjoyable, loving, celebratory relationship with someone is because you let them get close enough that if something were to go wrong, you might experience pain too. But it's worth it. Going back to my last message: why God gives us free will and doesn't do away with the evil. Remember the reason? Because love, by definition, is not forced, it is an act of the will. So God gives us free will. And sometimes we use that free will to make poor decisions. And it causes pain. It causes pain for us, it causes pain for others. Sometimes it's intentional. Sometimes it's not. But we also choose love. And God decided that love was worth the risk. Right? Love was worth the risk of pain. And so we hold those two things together in tension, joy and pain, because it's not good for us to be alone. It's not the way we were designed to function. Some say I don't get anything out of church, which is like a dagger to my heart. I do think it's important for us as a church to help people of different walks of life find something they can connect to when they come to church, and that is why we are working so hard. To continue developing our youth ministry. That is why we have a women's group, why we have a men's group, why we have a parent group. That is why we have traditional worship and contemporary worship. Because we recognize that there are diverse ways in which people feel connected. There are diverse ways in which people experience God through worship. Having said that To approach church with the mindset of what's in it for me, that is really a consumerist approach. And we need to understand that worship isn't primarily a product we consume. Sometimes we receive encouragement, and other times we are challenged. Sometimes we're here because someone else needs something we bring. Remember, the I cannot say to the hand, I don't need you. When you're absent, it isn't just the issue that you're missing something. It's also that the body is missing something too. So maybe the question shifts from what did I get out of church to what did I bring to the body today? Because whether you realize it or not, someone in this room needs your encouragement. Someone in this room needs your prayers. Someone needs to hear your story. Someone needs the gifts that God has given you. Someone needs to see you worship when life is hard for them. And sometimes you need theirs. So it's not just that you need the church, it is just as much that the church needs you. Okay, now having said all of that, here's what I recommend. How do you communicate this well to loved ones that are not currently coming to church? Rather than having a bunch of rebuttals to their reasons, which I've given you, you need to focus on being invitational because the goal is not to be convincing, it is to be compelling. So don't go to your loved one and say, Look, here's what it says in Genesis. It's not good for you to be alone. Now stop being stubborn and come to church because you need church. If you throw the book at them, they are not going to come. Okay, people are rarely argued into loving the church. Instead, let them see why worship matters to you. Instead of saying the Bible says you should go, you tell them, Listen, there are days I don't feel like going either. But I'm always glad I did. Hopefully you feel it. Right? There are weeks I walk in here and I'm discouraged. I feel defeated. I feel tired and hopeless. But when I leave, I feel renewed. I am reminded that I don't have to struggle all by myself. Also, we don't come here just because it's the right thing to do or it's what's expected of us. We come because we need encouragement. We need support. We need accountability. You know, there are places in our lives where we simply cannot see ourselves clearly. So we need people who love us enough to encourage us when we're growing, but also to challenge us when we are drifting. Proverbs 27, 17 tells us, as iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend. There is a mutual benefit in the rubbing of two iron blades together, right? In essence, iron sharpens iron simply means we make each other better people, especially when we follow the scripture and God's will and purposes together. We come to church because we need to be reminded that we are part of a bigger story. You know, all week long we are filled with messages about success, wealth, appearance, achievement, consumption, self-interest. So we need to break away from that. And gather together around scripture, around song and prayer and the table to hear again, this is who God is, this is who you are, and this is why it actually matters. We come here because we need people who are different from us. You know, church isn't supposed to be a collection of people who are exactly like me. It is supposed to be full of young and old. Right? Poor and wealthy. Conservative and progressive. If you are ultra conservative, guess what? I love you and you are my friend. If you are ultra progressive, guess what? I love you and you are my friend. If I only surrounded myself with people who think and live and act like me, I would never be challenged to grow beyond myself. But ultimately we come here because God is worth it. Church isn't primarily about us at all. It is about God and Him being worthy of our time. Worthy of all that we are. Worship doesn't just ask what did I get out of church today? It asks, what did I bring before God? My praise, my gratitude, my confession, my surrender. How do I effectively express attending worship as a priority? Well, don't begin with obligation. Begin with value. Picture a fireplace filled with burning coals. Together, those coals stay hot, they ignite one another, they keep that fire burning. But if you take one of those coals and put it off to the side Nothing seems to happen at first, right? It's still glowing, it's still warm, and you might be tempted to look at it and say, see, it doesn't need the rest. Give it time. Eventually, that light burns out, that heat diminishes, eventually what had been burning bright grows cold and dark. But if you take that coal and you put it back on the fire, what happens? It warms up again. It c becomes bright again. And friends, that's one of the reasons God gave us the church. Can you follow Jesus outside of this building? Absolutely. Can you pray at home? Of course you can. Can you worship God sitting beside a lake or on your couch? Certainly. But that's not the question. The question is: how long can a coal stay hot when it's continually separated from the fire? Because there are gonna be seasons in your life when your fire isn't burning very bright. That's just part of it. There are gonna be Sundays when you don't feel like singing. And so you will hear someone beside you sing. There are gonna be days when you struggle to believe, and somebody else here will remind you why we believe what we believe. There will be moments when you can't find the words to pray, and someone here will intercede for you. And then someday those roles will reverse. Someone else's fire will be going out, and God will use you to keep them burning. And here's what we forget sometimes about the coal. When you remove it from the fire, that piece of coal isn't the only thing that loses something. That fire becomes smaller as a result, right? It becomes less effective. And friends, that is the church. You need the body, and the body needs you. But we both come together because Christ is the head and he is worthy. Let us pray. Gracious God, thank you for reminding us that we were never meant to follow you alone. You have called us into a body, a community where we can encourage one another, carry one another's burdens, grow together, worship together. Lord, help us make worship a priority, not out of guilt, not out of obligation, but because we recognize how deeply we need you and your grace and how much we need one another. When our faith grows weak, give us people who will help keep the fire burning. And when someone else is struggling, Lord, use us to encourage them, strengthen them, and remind them of your unending grace. Make us faithful members of the body of Christ, and may everything we do together point others toward Jesus. In his holy name we pray. Amen.