WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:12.419 Amen. What we normally do, isn't it, on these Tuesday lunchtime talks is we go through a passage sequentially and see what the word is saying in the Bible. 00:00:12.419 --> 00:00:27.560 I wanted to do something slightly different today with you. I wanted to talk to you about church. I realise that a lot of you are at different stages in looking into the Bible and Christian things. 00:00:27.719 --> 00:00:33.179 You might not even call yourself a Christian today. You might not even go to church at all. 00:00:33.179 --> 00:00:48.399 But as we think about church and why church is important and the role that it plays in the Christian life, I want you to look into the church and to see why it's important and why it matters. 00:00:49.019 --> 00:01:00.799 And if you are part of a church and you're a regular member and you're part of a church community, it is helpful, isn't it, to have a refresher on why church community is important. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:04.019 And so that is what I want us to do today. 00:01:05.239 --> 00:01:09.959 I want you to decide this afternoon in your minds between two options. 00:01:11.399 --> 00:01:19.079 Which is better, out of these two options, which of these words feel better in your minds? 00:01:20.920 --> 00:01:23.420 Ours or mine? 00:01:24.539 --> 00:01:27.200 Us or me? 00:01:28.479 --> 00:01:30.780 Together or apart? 00:01:30.799 --> 00:01:34.679 But which of those words sound better for you, I wonder? 00:01:36.000 --> 00:01:40.679 Those words are not a simple choice, are they actually? 00:01:41.640 --> 00:01:45.560 Because we've got a funny relationship with relationships. 00:01:46.920 --> 00:01:56.599 And as we think about church, we realise that as a society we are more connected with each other than ever before. 00:01:56.599 --> 00:02:01.239 And we instantly think, no, us is the right way, isn't it? 00:02:01.939 --> 00:02:05.579 It's why someone invented the share button on your mobile phone. 00:02:05.679 --> 00:02:09.719 It's why we flock to use social apps all of the time. 00:02:09.719 --> 00:02:16.240 But at the same time, we're more isolated as people than ever before, aren't we? 00:02:16.280 --> 00:02:18.419 They tell us that loneliness is increasing. 00:02:18.419 --> 00:02:24.059 And all the while we're encouraged to consider ourselves as individuals. 00:02:24.060 --> 00:02:33.460 I am who I am who I am because of some personal characteristic of what I do or how I feel or what I want to think about myself. 00:02:33.460 --> 00:02:35.900 I even choose who I am, don't I? 00:02:36.420 --> 00:02:44.180 Without needing to think about family or community or nation or a world. 00:02:44.180 --> 00:02:53.920 So whilst we think us, together, ours sound like good things, they are not good things, are they? 00:02:53.980 --> 00:02:59.540 When they impinge on my individual decisions and preferences. 00:03:01.120 --> 00:03:11.600 And so underneath all of the rhetoric about community is the desire for life actually that is about me and myself and I. 00:03:11.599 --> 00:03:20.159 And if you think that's a bit harsh, just think for a moment, for a second, about the person in this room who matters most to you. 00:03:20.259 --> 00:03:21.539 Just think about that person. 00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:25.539 Imagine them there, visualise them sat in this room. 00:03:26.240 --> 00:03:31.319 Who is the person in this room that you've spent most time pleasing in the last week? 00:03:31.939 --> 00:03:37.180 The most time that you've spent keeping happy and caring for their needs? 00:03:37.180 --> 00:03:41.939 It is one person, isn't it, who you've thought most about in the last week? 00:03:42.640 --> 00:03:45.200 The answer is, of course, me. 00:03:46.400 --> 00:03:48.060 Or if you're asking, you, isn't it? 00:03:49.140 --> 00:03:56.200 We're often more excited, if we're honest, about me things than we are about us things. 00:03:56.199 --> 00:04:03.259 But the Bible teaches that when you're a Christian, when you're a believer in Jesus, that changes. 00:04:04.819 --> 00:04:13.339 And what it means to be a believer in the New Testament and in the Old is a group picture to be a Christian. 00:04:14.620 --> 00:04:17.860 It is to be a nation under one king. 00:04:18.620 --> 00:04:21.439 It's to be a flock under one shepherd. 00:04:21.439 --> 00:04:25.480 It is to be a building with one cornerstone. 00:04:26.060 --> 00:04:30.579 A body, Paul says, under one head. 00:04:32.000 --> 00:04:35.439 So you could say, couldn't you, well, we're kind of talking about church. 00:04:35.620 --> 00:04:37.600 Going to and being part of a church. 00:04:37.720 --> 00:04:39.899 That doesn't make you a Christian, surely. 00:04:40.139 --> 00:04:41.540 Well, in a sense, that is right. 00:04:42.420 --> 00:04:44.579 But we've got to ask, which is better? 00:04:45.879 --> 00:04:47.459 Us or me? 00:04:48.579 --> 00:04:49.800 Mine or ours? 00:04:49.800 --> 00:05:02.920 And I want to give you three reasons this afternoon why us, corporately, is really better than just me when it comes to the Christian life and to following Jesus. 00:05:03.520 --> 00:05:11.879 Why trying to do faith alone in Jesus is a foolish, nonsensical kind of thing. 00:05:11.879 --> 00:05:21.420 And why being committed to one local congregation of Jesus' people is his design for you. 00:05:21.560 --> 00:05:23.259 And actually for the world, really. 00:05:24.300 --> 00:05:26.040 Three reasons why it's better. 00:05:26.159 --> 00:05:33.339 Number one, living in church community helps you to trust God more. 00:05:34.139 --> 00:05:34.959 That's the first thing. 00:05:35.079 --> 00:05:38.939 Living in church community helps you to trust God more. 00:05:38.939 --> 00:05:44.060 I was chatting with someone the other day and they said, I do believe in Jesus. 00:05:44.379 --> 00:05:47.019 I'm a Christian, but I don't really do church now. 00:05:47.519 --> 00:05:52.360 I don't really meet up with other churches, other members of a church regularly. 00:05:52.560 --> 00:05:58.439 I do believe, but I just prefer to stay at home and do worship at home. 00:05:59.060 --> 00:06:01.279 And nowadays that's really easy to do, isn't it? 00:06:01.279 --> 00:06:06.979 It's really easy to pretend that we can do church on our own and we can be Christians on our own. 00:06:07.079 --> 00:06:09.500 We can download a sermon off the internet. 00:06:10.399 --> 00:06:14.179 We can sing along to Matt Redman or somebody, can't we? 00:06:14.219 --> 00:06:17.479 We can pray on the sofa at home on our own. 00:06:18.479 --> 00:06:21.799 And of course we can commune with God anywhere, can't we? 00:06:21.799 --> 00:06:24.039 We can pray on our own alone. 00:06:24.899 --> 00:06:29.139 There is nothing magic about being in a church building that helps us to do that. 00:06:29.139 --> 00:06:30.599 He is with us everywhere. 00:06:32.000 --> 00:06:41.219 But I want to say that church community is a place designed by God as the special setting 00:06:41.219 --> 00:06:47.159 in which Jesus increases our faith in him in a special way. 00:06:48.300 --> 00:06:53.039 Living in a church community helps us to trust God more in a special way. 00:06:53.040 --> 00:07:01.580 And he does that in ways there in a church that he won't normally do when you're on your own. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:09.540 The means that he uses to do that are only things that you can get in a local church. 00:07:10.580 --> 00:07:13.660 They've been called the corporate means of grace. 00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:20.460 Things like preaching and the sacraments, the Lord's Supper and baptism. 00:07:20.459 --> 00:07:22.819 Of corporate prayer. 00:07:23.579 --> 00:07:24.739 Of corporate singing. 00:07:25.639 --> 00:07:26.919 Of corporate worship. 00:07:28.159 --> 00:07:28.879 And we know that. 00:07:28.959 --> 00:07:29.739 That is true, isn't it? 00:07:29.739 --> 00:07:33.159 There are some things that we just can't do on our own at home. 00:07:33.259 --> 00:07:36.339 We can't have our own little communion service at home, can we? 00:07:36.399 --> 00:07:37.919 You know, give ourselves a bread and wine. 00:07:38.099 --> 00:07:40.819 We can't baptise ourselves in the bath. 00:07:41.659 --> 00:07:47.139 There are things that Jesus has given for us to do corporately that we just can't do on our own. 00:07:47.139 --> 00:07:54.519 And Jesus has given us those things to build our faith up together in a community. 00:07:56.599 --> 00:08:03.159 It's always strange when people say to me, I don't want to come to church this week because I don't feel that God loves me enough. 00:08:04.560 --> 00:08:08.159 I feel a bit spiritually low, so I'm not going to come this Sunday. 00:08:08.160 --> 00:08:17.939 Today, someone said to me a while ago, I'm lacking in assurance of faith, so I'm not going to come to communion this Sunday. 00:08:18.660 --> 00:08:22.080 But that is just to totally misunderstand what those things are for. 00:08:22.700 --> 00:08:31.300 You're basically saying, I feel discouraged, I lack assurance, so I'm not going to come to the place that Jesus has given me to feel assured. 00:08:31.300 --> 00:08:33.460 And to gain encouragement. 00:08:35.220 --> 00:08:41.560 Because there are things in church that help us to trust God more, corporately in a church community. 00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:47.879 Secondly, living in a church community helps you to enjoy God more. 00:08:48.940 --> 00:08:50.940 Helps you to enjoy God more. 00:08:50.940 --> 00:09:06.960 There is a sense where fellowship with God is experienced and seen differently, almost, I want to say, in a fuller way, in a church community and in a church body. 00:09:08.180 --> 00:09:17.740 Through the Bible, we see that God is present in a special way in the place and in the act of congregational worship. 00:09:17.740 --> 00:09:29.700 And think of Moses, speaking of the place that God dwells, in the sanctuary of the tabernacle in Exodus 20. 00:09:30.419 --> 00:09:33.740 Where God places his name. 00:09:35.139 --> 00:09:41.100 Psalm 46 says, God is in the midst of Jerusalem, the city of God. 00:09:41.100 --> 00:09:54.600 And so the living temple, the church, as a corporate people, when they get together, really is the place where God dwells by his Holy Spirit in a special way. 00:09:55.519 --> 00:09:57.580 The collective body of Christ together. 00:09:58.600 --> 00:10:02.779 When it comes together, something different is going on there with God. 00:10:03.779 --> 00:10:08.320 Jesus says, doesn't he, where two or more are gathered, I am there in the midst of you. 00:10:08.320 --> 00:10:17.000 He meets with us as individuals when we're part of a body and we do things that he tells us to do together as a church. 00:10:17.360 --> 00:10:20.780 In a different way than if we were on our own. 00:10:22.640 --> 00:10:26.440 And so I want to say, if you try to do the Christian faith solo, 00:10:27.920 --> 00:10:33.140 you will, in a sense, and I want to be careful, but in a sense, you will get less of God. 00:10:33.139 --> 00:10:39.939 You won't enjoy him as he meets with his people in a special way. 00:10:41.539 --> 00:10:43.720 Now, that's a bit topsy-turvy, isn't it? 00:10:43.740 --> 00:10:47.559 Because normally when you share something, you get less of it, don't you? 00:10:47.659 --> 00:10:54.299 Imagine I brought a cake with me and we shared the chocolate cake out amongst us all. 00:10:54.299 --> 00:11:00.419 And as more and more people come in through the back door, each portion gets smaller and smaller, doesn't it? 00:11:00.899 --> 00:11:05.359 The more people, the less the share is that each of us have. 00:11:06.399 --> 00:11:09.059 But with God, it is not like that. 00:11:10.539 --> 00:11:18.319 There is a sense that the more we share God corporately, the more we get of him, not the less. 00:11:18.320 --> 00:11:22.660 The writer C.S. Lewis illustrates this really well. 00:11:22.780 --> 00:11:26.520 He says, imagine the same in human relationships, in human friendships. 00:11:27.480 --> 00:11:36.260 He says, you enjoy the company of one friend more, not less, when other friends are also there. 00:11:37.280 --> 00:11:40.540 He says, think of what it's like in a group of friends. 00:11:40.680 --> 00:11:42.360 Imagine three friends. 00:11:42.360 --> 00:11:51.720 Often, he argues, it's the case that if one friend leaves that group, then you won't get more out of the remaining friend, but less. 00:11:52.720 --> 00:11:55.080 Imagine three friends, Tom, Dick and Harry. 00:11:55.840 --> 00:12:06.480 If Tom leaves, Dick doesn't only lose Tom and his part in the conversation, but Tom's role in Harry as well. 00:12:06.480 --> 00:12:13.080 In each of your friends, there is something that other friends bring out, isn't there? 00:12:13.620 --> 00:12:16.180 You'll have friends, won't you, when you're on your own with them. 00:12:16.300 --> 00:12:18.379 They're really great and it's a good time. 00:12:18.759 --> 00:12:24.740 But bring in another friend or more friends and there are things about that one friend that come out in a different way. 00:12:26.420 --> 00:12:34.759 And he says, this is the kind of love that we share in friendship and with God, where to divide is not to take away. 00:12:34.759 --> 00:12:43.259 Where we possess each friend, not less, but more as the number of those with whom we share them increases. 00:12:43.480 --> 00:12:45.340 And it's the same, he argues, with God. 00:12:46.620 --> 00:13:03.519 It is like heaven itself, where the multitudes of people worshipping God add to the, he says, the fruition that each person has of God as an individual. 00:13:04.759 --> 00:13:12.799 And what he's saying there is that me, myself and I won't get more of God if I keep myself to myself. 00:13:14.319 --> 00:13:29.500 Because to divide him with others is never to take away from God, but rather to increase the fruition or to increase the realisation that I have of God as an individual. 00:13:29.500 --> 00:13:40.860 And so in a church community, in a church body, there are things about God that actually only some other Christians can bring out for me. 00:13:40.860 --> 00:13:49.860 I'll see his character in ways much more in the light of other Christians' relationships with God. 00:13:51.159 --> 00:14:00.800 And as I listen to the word and I worship with others around me, God will become clearer to me than he is on my sofa sat alone at home. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:11.779 And as I see other people's struggles and other people's joys and other people's temptations and other people's lives worked out with the Lord. 00:14:12.219 --> 00:14:21.439 As God himself reveals his plan for their lives and his character in their lives, I am more able to enjoy him in my life. 00:14:21.440 --> 00:14:27.500 With God, you see, with God, you see, it really is the more the merrier. 00:14:29.680 --> 00:14:41.780 And you can't get that, can you, by just church hopping and not being involved in people's lives, not being committed to a church congregation, 00:14:41.780 --> 00:14:47.720 to one Christian community with a group of people to enjoy God with. 00:14:47.720 --> 00:14:49.800 You just won't have those opportunities. 00:14:51.940 --> 00:14:58.060 And so living in church community helps you to trust God more as the means Jesus gives us for growing in faith. 00:14:58.160 --> 00:15:00.060 Helps you to enjoy God more. 00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:07.980 And thirdly, and I think most importantly, living in church community helps you to glorify God more. 00:15:08.940 --> 00:15:11.120 Helps you to glorify God more. 00:15:11.240 --> 00:15:14.180 And this really is the most important thing of all, isn't it? 00:15:14.179 --> 00:15:26.859 Because the whole purpose of the Christian life and the whole purpose of church is not first about what we want, is it? 00:15:27.679 --> 00:15:33.839 And about what makes us happy and about what we enjoy, necessarily. 00:15:34.599 --> 00:15:40.519 It's not about our preferences, what music we like, what sort of songs we want to sing. 00:15:40.519 --> 00:15:44.620 But actually the whole thing is for God. 00:15:45.919 --> 00:15:47.639 And it's about what pleases Him. 00:15:48.899 --> 00:15:54.519 The goal of church and of the people of God is God Himself. 00:15:55.579 --> 00:15:56.559 It is about Him. 00:15:57.220 --> 00:15:58.759 Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 00:15:58.759 --> 00:16:10.799 And there are qualities about us that bring praise to God's glory which are simply beyond each one of us as individuals. 00:16:12.879 --> 00:16:19.460 Now the reason that we read this passage in Ephesians 1 is that Paul teaches that here in this passage. 00:16:20.319 --> 00:16:22.200 Paul talks about the church, doesn't he? 00:16:22.500 --> 00:16:24.240 He calls it the body of Christ. 00:16:24.240 --> 00:16:32.980 And he speaks about how the body of Christ reflects the glory of the Lord Jesus. 00:16:33.639 --> 00:16:34.779 Raised from the dead. 00:16:35.460 --> 00:16:37.879 Seated at the right hand in the heavenly places. 00:16:38.340 --> 00:16:40.799 Far above all rule and authority. 00:16:41.039 --> 00:16:42.159 He is glorious. 00:16:42.440 --> 00:16:45.399 And there's nothing that we can do to add to His glory. 00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:48.019 The Father has raised Him. 00:16:48.519 --> 00:16:51.320 And given Him the name that is above every other name. 00:16:51.320 --> 00:16:53.440 And Paul says, 00:16:53.580 --> 00:17:01.400 And the Father has given Him as head over all things to the church, which is His body. 00:17:02.500 --> 00:17:08.120 The fullness of Him who fills all in all. 00:17:08.900 --> 00:17:10.160 At the bottom of your sheets. 00:17:11.779 --> 00:17:12.900 Do you see what he's saying? 00:17:12.900 --> 00:17:26.759 The only appropriate expression of a God who fills all things is a universal body of many, many people. 00:17:27.840 --> 00:17:29.800 Not of just one person. 00:17:31.480 --> 00:17:34.440 You can't use big language like that, can you? 00:17:34.440 --> 00:17:40.120 You can't use filling all when you're just talking about one individual Christian. 00:17:40.119 --> 00:17:42.099 I can't say, can I? 00:17:42.159 --> 00:17:42.859 Hi, I'm Chris. 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:46.219 I am the fullness of Him who fills all in all. 00:17:47.539 --> 00:17:57.799 One Christian believer cannot embody or reflect the glory of Jesus and His grace sufficiently on their own. 00:17:57.799 --> 00:18:05.379 God the Father has decided to glorify His Son by giving Him a people. 00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:10.799 Not just a person to worship and reflect Him. 00:18:12.500 --> 00:18:15.899 And we know on the ground in reality that that is so true. 00:18:16.019 --> 00:18:23.480 As the world watches on, it is through the church, through us, the body that the glory of Christ is best known. 00:18:23.480 --> 00:18:31.900 Now, of course, I'm not saying that we can't witness the greatness of God, can we, in our lives as individuals. 00:18:32.299 --> 00:18:37.599 We can't do that with our workmates and our neighbours and our family members on our own. 00:18:37.819 --> 00:18:43.240 And there have been great missionaries who have done great things, haven't there, in history, who have worked on their own. 00:18:43.240 --> 00:18:52.140 But scripturally, I think corporately, the witness, sorry, the witness is corporate, is much more common. 00:18:52.299 --> 00:18:53.120 It's the norm. 00:18:53.279 --> 00:19:00.019 And if you try and think that you can be a lone ranger in evangelism, 00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:07.200 there will come a point where you'll find actually that your resources to reflect Jesus' glory just run out. 00:19:08.779 --> 00:19:15.359 Where you are not sufficiently able to do that on your own for the one who fills all in all. 00:19:17.319 --> 00:19:20.539 Jesus speaks to His disciples in Matthew chapter 5. 00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:21.680 He says to them, 00:19:21.680 --> 00:19:41.500 The interesting thing in that passage is Jesus speaks to the disciples as a group. 00:19:42.900 --> 00:19:46.840 The you in Matthew chapter 5 is plural consistently. 00:19:46.839 --> 00:19:53.480 So it's not really this little light of mine, is it, on its own. 00:19:54.379 --> 00:20:00.899 But it's my little light, plus everyone else's little light, on a massive 4K TV screen, 00:20:01.279 --> 00:20:05.639 full of millions of little pixels, that reflect the glory of Jesus. 00:20:07.059 --> 00:20:13.859 And there is something about the body of Christ, corporately, that is especially powerful as a witness to the world. 00:20:13.859 --> 00:20:20.579 When we live in a Christ-like community, when we love one another and we serve one another, 00:20:20.719 --> 00:20:26.599 when there is a real community, when it's us, worshipping, living together, and it's not just me. 00:20:28.159 --> 00:20:34.699 Where church isn't just another ball that we kind of juggle in a variety of activities that we do in the week, 00:20:35.459 --> 00:20:42.539 or just one of many plates that we spin along with our leisure time and our work time and our family time. 00:20:42.539 --> 00:20:51.240 It is a community that defines who I am and gives Christ-like shape to my life. 00:20:52.099 --> 00:20:59.039 Where I think of myself in relationship to a family and to a body and to a nation. 00:21:00.920 --> 00:21:02.899 And so I'm not a lone ranger. 00:21:02.900 --> 00:21:13.440 If that is true, then we need to think about this, don't we? 00:21:13.460 --> 00:21:16.480 We need to think about our commitment to our local church. 00:21:17.580 --> 00:21:24.900 When people see and experience this body, it will change society, won't it? 00:21:24.900 --> 00:21:26.860 It's true. 00:21:26.860 --> 00:21:30.620 If you want to change society, give them another society. 00:21:32.800 --> 00:21:34.480 And so this is why church matters. 00:21:36.960 --> 00:21:41.980 Most people I know who are Christian believers, who are strong in the faith, 00:21:42.720 --> 00:21:47.540 and are sure of the gospel, are people who have stuck with a church. 00:21:47.539 --> 00:21:56.099 And they've stuck with a church that preaches and practices the Bible properly and faithfully. 00:21:58.220 --> 00:22:04.099 And so let me just say that if you're kind of hopping around churches this afternoon, 00:22:04.220 --> 00:22:10.079 if you've not found a church like that that preaches the gospel well and lives it out, 00:22:10.079 --> 00:22:14.319 you need to find one and you need to make a decision and stick with it. 00:22:15.539 --> 00:22:22.699 It brings no glory to God and is of no help to you if you're not in a church like that. 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:26.119 Now no church is perfect, is it? 00:22:27.079 --> 00:22:30.339 It will be a mess, but it's a mess worth making. 00:22:31.619 --> 00:22:34.259 Because most people who I know, certainly, 00:22:35.399 --> 00:22:38.579 who know more of God and enjoy Him more, 00:22:38.579 --> 00:22:42.059 are those same people who found a Bible-preaching church, 00:22:42.599 --> 00:22:43.519 and have stuck with it. 00:22:45.500 --> 00:22:49.960 It's true, being part of a church doesn't make you a Christian in one sense. 00:22:50.779 --> 00:22:54.779 It's not even saying being a Christian means you have to be part of a church. 00:22:55.419 --> 00:23:00.839 But actually the truth is, being a Christian and knowing Jesus means you get to be part of a church. 00:23:02.740 --> 00:23:05.240 And if you're not a Christian, if you're not a believer this morning, 00:23:05.240 --> 00:23:08.559 this is what Jesus is calling you to, 00:23:08.680 --> 00:23:12.579 a community that is like nothing else on this earth. 00:23:13.680 --> 00:23:15.000 It's not just some club. 00:23:16.200 --> 00:23:18.440 It is a community in which Jesus, 00:23:19.500 --> 00:23:21.839 the God who made the world and who made you, 00:23:21.920 --> 00:23:22.799 is present, 00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:24.539 blessing, 00:23:25.000 --> 00:23:26.319 and who is enjoyed, 00:23:26.819 --> 00:23:28.480 and is glorified together. 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:32.259 And so, ask yourself this afternoon, 00:23:32.420 --> 00:23:33.240 which is better? 00:23:34.279 --> 00:23:34.720 Me? 00:23:35.500 --> 00:23:36.579 Or us? 00:23:38.700 --> 00:23:40.039 And if you are a believer, 00:23:40.180 --> 00:23:42.539 then consider yourself part of the family. 00:23:44.140 --> 00:23:46.360 It is Jesus' way that you might trust, 00:23:46.920 --> 00:23:47.700 and enjoy, 00:23:48.599 --> 00:23:50.240 and glorify Him more. 00:23:51.059 --> 00:23:51.880 Let us pray. 00:23:51.880 --> 00:23:51.920 Let us pray. 00:23:51.920 --> 00:23:51.940 Let us pray. 00:23:51.940 --> 00:23:51.940