Word of Salvation – Vol. 23 No. 04 – October 1976
Gathering Together To Celebrate The Work Of Jesus Christ
“IN OUR WORSHIP SERVICES WE COME TOGETHER TO CELEBRATE THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST”
Sermon by Rev. P.G. Van Dam on Hebrews 10.19-25
Scripture Reading: 1Peter 2.1-10
Psalter Hymnal: 116:1,3; 129 (with law); 493 (with creed); 243, 1,2,4; 414
If you were asked the question: “WHY did you come to church this morning/evening?” what would you say?
And another question is: “HOW did you come to church this morning/evening?”
How many of us would have a READY answer to these questions? How many of us would really give the CORRECT answers? These would be very good questions to be asked and discussed at home visitations! For they are not answers which could be given in just one or two words. For not even the answer: to hear God’s Word preached would be sufficient. True, to listen to the proclamation of the Word is indeed the most important part of the worship service, for in the preaching we hear God Himself speak to us! (Even if at times we might forget this, or think it convenient to believe that we hear merely a minister speak his opinion; for in that case we could either accept or reject it.)
But back to our questions: WHY and HOW did you come to church this morning/tonight?
Well, the answers to these questions are in the Scriptures where we read them this morning/tonight. We came to church “to enter the sanctuary”; that is: to enter into the presence of God Himself. And in so doing we remember that it is Jesus Who came to open for us this ‘new and living way’. And to remember HOW He did this.
At the same time we read in vs.25 that we must do this TOGETHER. TOGETHER we must come into the presence of God. TOGETHER we must remember the work Jesus Christ did for us. Scripture teaches that for that purpose we must ALL come TOGETHER to that ONE place where we all SHOULD be.
First then a few words on the question: WHY we came to church? And we already know: to enter the sanctuary; that is: to come into the presence of God Himself.
The ‘sanctuary’ was the ‘holy of holies’ in the O.T. tabernacle and temple. It was in the ‘holy of holies’ that God dwelt in the midst of His people. But His people could NOT THEMSELVES come into the presence of their God, on account of their sinfulness.
But when Christ came, He paid for their sins, took their guilt away, and made them true children of God again. Once He had completed the payment for their guilt – when, on the cross, He said: ‘It is finished’ – the curtain which separated the ‘holy of holies’ was torn in two. And the meaning of this was that now the barrier of sin and guilt between God and his people was taken away; now the people THEMSELVES could enter the holy of holies’, the ‘sanctuary’.
Christ had opened the ‘new and living way’! His people may now THEMSELVES come into the presence of their God! And this is precisely what we are doing in coming to church!
At this moment we too have entered the sanctuary; we ourselves have now entered into the presence of God Himself! And this we MAY do, and CAN do, and MUST do because Jesus Christ has paid for our guilt and has opened this way to us. And so we have come; we, the people of God, into the presence of their God; of their covenant God. ALWAYS REMEMBERING, THOUGH, that this is the GRACE of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who cleansed from us the dirt, and the guilt of our sins so that indeed we may now enter the sanctuary of our God ‘with a heart sprinkled clean from an evil conscience’.
And so this is in fact then WHY we came to church; that THERE, in the sanctuary of our God, in His presence we should CELEBRATE!
Yes: CELEBRATE! As often as we come; AS OFTEN as we CAN come! CELEBRATE the work of our suffering, dying and risen Lord. CELEBRATE HIS agony on the cross in payment for OUR sins. CELEBRATE His victory over Satan. CELEBRATE that we are God’s own children again!
Yes, CELEBRATE! And celebrate IN THE PRESENCE OF GOD! To praise Him, our God and Saviour! Yes, CELEBRATE, with all our heart and all our soul and all our mind and all our strength.
Well then, to CELEBRATE – is that why we came? Can we see that the answer to this question, “WHY did you come to church?” is not an answer of just one or two words? But that it is a matter of the CONFESSION of our faith? A matter of self-examination?
And then there is that other question: “HOW did you come?”
Well, if we have really understood WHY we come to church, then the answer to the ‘how’ is not so difficult anymore, is it? NOT REALLY?
For how else would we come but with HUMILITY, joy, gratitude, obedience to the call of our Lord and Saviour? Ready to express the fellowship, the oneness, with Him. The fellowship in which He speaks to us in His Word and in His blessing. And in which we speak with Him, in our singing, in our prayer, in our giving. The FELLOWSHIP in which we SPEAK with one another. Yes WE! For note how our passage speaks of ‘WE’ and of ‘US’. And this is another thing we must remember. We do not come to the Lord’s house, into His presence, merely as individuals. On this point the world and worldly thinking have always done much damage to the church, and to its faith. And to the faith of its members. Damage in the way of INDIVIDUALISM.
We know this ourselves: in many ways we are by no means as concerned for each other’s well-being as we were – say – twenty years ago. And this is not doing the church much good. Often criticism and indifference have taken the place of mutual love and of the warmth of true fellowship in Christ.
Individualism: it is the thinking which says: I am a person in my own right. It is up to ME to decide what to do or what not to do. No one can tell ME; the church (which really means: the LORD of the church!) not either. What matters is what I get out of anything, out of the church and out of the church services (and, of course, if my heart is not open to the Lord I will not get anything much out of them). And so, if I come to church, I want to hear what I think I should hear. And if I don’t then I have the right to stay away, or go somewhere else. And no one has the right to say anything to me.
Individualism: the church is not looked upon as the BODY which CHRIST has gathered. And the sermon is not recognised to be the Word which GOD HIMSELF speaks. Let alone is there any recognition that coming to church is entering the sanctuary through the ‘new and living way which Christ has opened’ for us. For individualism is: not GOD and not HIS Word and not HIS church are in the centre; but I, and MY rights and MY opinion. Not my salvation but MY OWN RIGHTEOUSNESS!
How different is the teaching of Scripture! I have not joined the church! Of my own I would not even have wanted to! I am not a member of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ in my own RIGHT, but BY HIS GRACE alone!
CHRIST gathered me unto HIS church! HE has made me part of it! Part of HIS body. It is true that there are many Christians who believe that the confession that the Church is the work of Christ really applies to the invisible church which to them is the only true and real church. But that thinking is not Scriptural AT ALL! For on Pentecost day CHRIST HIMSELF through the work of the Holy Spirit instituted the church ON EARTH. Or rather, on Pentecost day Christ Himself made HIS church VISIBLE ON EARTH. The visible church on earth, therefore, is no less than the visible manifestation of the body of Christ. Scripture does not say that the one is less important than the other: it is the SAME church! The confession of the church that it is the work of Christ holds for BOTH its visible and its invisible ‘form’ alike! We may not at all make ANY SUCH DIFFERENCE here! Christ has made me part of His body; THEREFORE ALSO of the manifestation of His body in the visible, the instituted church on earth. Of that body I am a member. That is my PRIVILEGE; that is also my COMMITMENT.
I, too, must come INTO THE SANCTUARY, THERE TO CELEBRATE, with all Christ’s people, with His body, the work of the Saviour, the ‘High- priest over the house of God’, as our text puts it. Yes, THAT is where I belong. Because He has made me a part of His body! Of the ONE body of the ONE Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, of the ONE body. For no more may there be the reign of sin which divides! It is the will of our Saviour that we SHOW that oneness, as a mark of our victory over sin in Him. So, if we are to truly celebrate His victory then this celebration must first of all be marked by our oneness! ONE body, because we all partake OF THE SAME LORD JESUS CHRIST (1Cor.10.16,17).
I must be where the body of Christ meets and manifests itself! THERE, in the sanctuary! in the presence of God Himself! That there ‘with all the saints I (too) may have power to comprehend what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’ (Eph.3.18,19).
Yes, but also there that ‘speaking the truth in love we are to grow up in every way into Him Who is the Head, into Christ, from Whom the whole body, JOINED AND KNIT TOGETHER by EVERY joint with which it is supplied when EACH PART is working properly makes bodily growth and upbuilds itself in love’ (Eph. 4:15,16).
Yes, when ‘EACH PART is WORKING PROPERLY’. I am such a part of the body of Christ!
We must come together, that we should know how ‘to stir up one another to love and good works’ says the text.
We must come together. The text says: we may not neglect to meet together. A further study of these words would teach us that what they really say is this: you must not deliberately stay away from THAT particular place of meeting where YOU OUGHT TO BE.
See, you are a part of the body of Christ. But you cannot live as a part of the body when not actually attached to the body. Then you will die. People who make light of coming to the place where they should come to meet with the body have a meaningless faith; they may die spiritually,
But there is also this warning: the body can ONLY function PROPERLY if all its parts function properly and are healthy! I would be RESPONSIBLE for the failure of the body to function properly if I would not be there!
I, too, must be there where the body of Christ manifests itself. I, too, must come to and be at that particular place where the BODY IS SHOWN.
No, that is NOT JUST any church. For we must worship God in spirit and IN TRUTH. And this also means that I must find the fellowship of the saints there where THE WORD OF GOD IS PREACHED FAITHFULLY, For I cannot be one with those who do not uphold His word FAITHFULLY in ALL its teachings.
Why do I come to church?
I come to church that there with the body – as a member of the body of Christ – united with His people – I should celebrate with them, in one accord, the victory of our Lord and Saviour, Who has opened for us all the ‘new and living way’, through His blood and through ‘His flesh’, says the text. That is to say through His suffering and dying in payment for our sins.
And celebrate, UNITED with His people. Show, manifest His victory in the manifestation of the oneness of His body. United with all His people, to encourage one another, as the text tells us.
Why do you come to church? To CELEBRATE, WITH THE BODY OF CHRIST, of which He made me a living part.
If I truly understand from our text what the purpose is of coming to church: to celebrate the salvation of myself and of all my brothers and sisters, then the whole question: “Why come to church twice?” would not even come to my mind! That question would miss the mark completely; I have not understood what Christ has done for me! I would also FAIL to ENCOURAGE my brothers and sisters!
I would NOT be a LIVING member, but an indifferent individualist! Indifferent to the love of Christ, to the needs of the body, and to my own needs!
But, in that case, what about the ‘Day which is coming nearer’, according to the text? If often it would be too much for me to meet with my Saviour and with His body HERE and NOW, how could I in all honesty expect the coming of my Lord to take me up to the place where He is, that where He is I might be also (John 14). THERE to worship and glorify Him with ALL the saints FOREVER AND EVER?