Christ's Gathering

Why are you here this morning? I don't ask that as a question of philosophy of whether any of us really here for, but what brought you to this particular gathering at this time this morning? No doubt some of you are just here out of habit. This is what you do on Sunday mornings. You wake up and you come to church. Some of you are here to see and visit with your friends. Some of you are here to sing with the saints, to pray with the saints, to hear God's word preached. Some of you may be here this morning out of obligation. A parent made you come or your child made you come or a friend invited you and you didn't feel like you could say no. Maybe some of you are here out of guilt because you're weighed down with something this week and you thought, I need to go to church today. This is an important question, why we're here, because that's what we're talking about this morning. We're talking about Christ's gathering as we assemble as the people of God. This isn't just a gathering like a Rotary Club or a political rally. This is a unique thing that's happening here. It is forward-looking. It's actually like a time machine. As we gather as the saints, we are doing something that will take place for all eternity. And so we are rehearsing and participating in that even now. For those of you who are joining us, we are continuing a series through the church. So far, we've heard three sermons. First, from Ephesians 4, where we heard about Christ's body, this kind of guiding, governing image for the series. Christ is the head, and his people are called to walk worthy of him, to grow up in maturity in him, with each part working together, fulfilling this calling of the gospel. We heard in 1 John how the way that we do that is by having this Christ-like love for one another. Just as Christ has set his love on his people, demonstrated that love in sacrificing himself for them, so too God's people are called to live with one another in that way, sacrificially loving and serving each other. We heard last week from Philippians 2 for this goal of working together, cooperating for the faith, and by following Christ's example, the only way we can do that, the only way we can be what Christ has called us to be is if we all follow his example of humility, of laying down our own personal preferences, ourselves, our own desires for the good of one another. And so that leads us to this week's message on the gathering, thinking about what is this meeting? What is this hour and a half or so that we set aside every week? What is this about? We're going to be in the book of Hebrews chapter 10 verses 19 through 25. It's on page 1007 of your pew Bible. So if you don't have a Bible, we welcome you to take the Bible there in front of you with you as a gift to you. Take it home and read it. It is God's word. And as you're finding Hebrews 10, let me just give you a little bit of background about this text. It's actually a book that we don't know a lot about. We don't know who wrote the book. We don't know who originally received the book. But we do know that it seems to be a sermon written as a letter to a group of Jewish Christians. Even though we don't know a lot about the background, the message of the book is very clear. The author is writing to Christians, telling them that Jesus is the only right object of worship. Jesus is supreme and therefore utterly worthy of worship. He's writing to a group of Christians who are struggling, maybe because of persecution, maybe because of just apathy or ignorance. They were wavering in their faith and they were on the verge of falling away. And so the author is very concerned He's very concerned to write to exhort them and to warn them not to fall away, to hold fast to Christ, never to turn away from worshiping Him. Persevere in trusting Christ and Christ alone. And so with that in mind, I'm going to pick up in Hebrews chapter 10, beginning in 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 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 to 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. So what I hope for us to see this morning is that worship, true worship, is about responding rightly to who Jesus is and what he has done for us. And we see three particular ways we'll do that by drawing near, holding fast, and encouraging each other. So in the first three verses of this text, we see the author really summarize everything that he has said up to this point in the letter. 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. So I want us to think about this, two particular things that Christians have. Two things Christians have, and then we'll think about three things Christians do. So two things Christians have. First, Christians have a great priest. We're going to look at verse 21 first. So Christians have a great priest. And this is referring to the person of Jesus Christ. So what is a priest? What does a priest do? A priest is someone who mediates between God and his people. It's somebody who represents God's people in his presence. And the whole point of the book of Hebrews has been to demonstrate why Jesus Christ has a particular greatness and a particular fitness to serve as our high priest. So at the very beginning of the letter, right out of the gate, there's no hiding it, the author begins by showing us very clearly that Jesus is God. He is the creator and the sustainer of the world. He was the very instrument of creation. He upholds the universe by the word of his power. Only God does that. It says he's the radiance of the glory of God. He is the exact imprint of his nature. So just as light and heat come forth from the sun, so the sun proceeds from the Father. He manifests the glory of the Father. He makes it known. So to see or to know Jesus is to see or to know God. He also says that he's seated at the right hand of the majesty on high. This is the position of all power, the throne of the universe. That's where Jesus resides. The author says he is superior to the angels as the son of God. He is glorious, exalted. Jesus is God. But he's also man. He tells us that he partook, God partook of flesh and blood. He was made like his brothers in every respect. So Jesus is God and man, fully God and fully man. And because of that, he has a priesthood like no other. The author goes on to explain that he's greater than Moses. Moses was God's servant in his house. Jesus is God's son in his house. Jesus is better than Aaron, and he's better than the whole Old Testament Levitical priesthood established under the law. He's better than all that because he's an entirely different kind of priest. He is the king. He's seated there at the majesty on high with all power of heaven at his disposal. Says he's a priest forever. He alone has the power of an indestructible life. He died and was raised to live forever. He is a forever priest. The author tells us that he reigns with an oath from God. So rather than inheriting the priesthood because he was of a certain tribe, he was a certain genetic qualification, he is established because the very word of God has declared it to be so. He is the priest forever. He also tells us he is the mediator of a new and better covenant with better promises. As we'll see in just a moment, his work is better because it's spiritual and eternal in nature. Jesus performs a heavenly ministry. He doesn't perform his service here on earth, he performs it here in heaven, in God's presence. His priesthood is completely different because of his nature. So the author says he is holy, innocent, unstained, separated from sinners, and exalted above the heavens. He's the kind of priest that sinners like you and I need. The author summarizes this way, now the point of what we're saying is this, we have such a high priest, one who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister in the holy places, in the true tent that the Lord set up, not man. Jesus is a great priest. And we see his greatness displayed in his work. And that leads us to the second point. We have confidence. So Christians have a great priest, and Christians have confidence. We see that in 19 and 20. 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. So these verses are telling us about the work of Christ. As the great high priest, he made the great sacrifice for sin. Under the Old Covenant, daily and monthly and annual sacrifices were made requiring something like 1,300 animal deaths each year. And that doesn't count all the individual sacrifices that people would make for their own sin and for Thanksgiving and all the other kind of offerings. That's just the national sacrifices. This is something that God had put in place to remind the people that He is holy and that they are not. They only relate to God by something dying in their place. As the author of Hebrews says, under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. And without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. So shedding of blood was required, but that was happening. Blood was literally running constantly at the temple. So what's the problem? He goes on to say, for it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sin. That's the problem. That's the problem. The blood of bulls and goats can't take away sin. It's impossible. No number of animal sacrifices could actually take away sin. And this shows the eternal nature of sin. No animal sacrifice can account for the crime of man, those who were created in God's image. The fact that we have sinned and rebelled against him. There's nothing that we as man can do to make ourselves right with God. So the author tells us this old covenant was set aside because it was weak and useless. Because it made nothing perfect. But making things perfect is precisely what Jesus does. He says, for by a single offering, He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. And this is why His priesthood is so different. Every priest stands daily at His service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices which can never take away sins. But when Christ offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, He sat down. at the right hand of God, waiting for that time until his enemies should be made a footstool for his feet. Jesus' single sacrifice was himself. So the author says, nor was it to offer himself repeatedly as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for sin, once for all. Jesus was without sin. He was fully man so that he could stand in the place and represent man. He was fully God so he could bear the eternal wrath of God against sin. And by his perfect sacrifice, by dying on the cross, Jesus actually takes away sin. He makes us fit for God's presence, fit for heaven. The author says, Christ has entered not into the holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Friends, there is one way to God, and it is through the great high priest, Jesus, and through his work. There was once an earthly temple divided up into sections, only certain holy people could get so close. And then the inner section, only one person could go, only the great high priest, only once a year could he go in to make a sacrifice for the sins of the people. A huge curtain hung at the entrance of that to separate, to keep everyone else out, to show no one else was welcome in God's presence. But the author says that Jesus has opened that way, opened that through his flesh. When Jesus died, that curtain was torn into as a symbol that God's presence had now had broken into the world. This is the new reality that has taken place. God's presence is no longer confined to that sacred holy of holies inside the temple. It is everywhere where God's people are. All of us have access through Jesus. The author says that we have confidence to enter the holy places, into the very presence of God. Friends, this is the gospel. This is the gospel. We were hopeless and helpless in our sin, but God graciously intervened. He came to us. He sent his perfect son into the world to live the life of obedience that we owed, to die the death that we deserve for our sin, to offer himself as the sacrifice, dying in our place, to be buried, to be raised up, to be exalted into heaven, to intercede now on our behalf. This is the truth about who Jesus is and what he's done. Everything that once stood in the way for you and me to have a relationship with God has been accounted for in Jesus's life and death and resurrection and ascension and intercession. The only proper response to that message is faith and repentance. It's turning away from our sin and our rebellion against God and our apathy toward Him and our attempts to be right with Him because of the things that we do and turning to Jesus in whole dependence, absolute trust. He is King. He is the ones for all sacrifice. We follow Him. We are dependent upon Him and Him alone. This text says Christians have confidence to enter the holy places because of what Jesus has done, because he is a great high priest. That's what Christians have. Now here's what Christians do. Number one, Christians draw near. So verse 22, he says, let us draw near with a sincere, with a true heart and full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and with our bodies washed with pure water. So again, there was once distance between us and God. We couldn't draw near. Israel trembled at the base of the mountain while Moses went up to commune with God. If anybody touched the mountain, they were to be killed. In the tabernacle, in the temple, in the Holy of Holies, one high priest went in once a year to make offering for sin. Everybody else was kept at a distance. But Jesus invites us and ushers us into the very presence of God. The author is saying, the door is open, there are no barriers, let's go in, let's enjoy this fellowship that we have. When we come into the presence of God, friends, the only response is worship. We see it all throughout scripture, really. When people come into God's presence, they fall down in worship. They are overcome with His holiness. They acknowledge His greatness, His power, His sovereignty. They acknowledge their own inadequacy, and they surrender. God, whatever you say, I will do. And friends, that's the right response. And that's not just true while we're here, while we're gathered. This physical place that we meet in is no nearer to God than anywhere else in this world. It's our relationship with Christ, it's our union with Him that makes all the difference. We are always in God's presence when we are united with Christ. So realize that worship isn't just something that it's confined to this hour and a half when we're together, or it's only the singing. It is every minute of your life. Everything that we do as Christians is to be done in the conscious reality that we live united with Christ, redeemed by him, set apart for God's presence in his service. The author tells us to draw near with a true heart, with full assurance of faith, with hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience, and with our bodies washed with pure water. I want us to think about that last phrase for a minute, because that seems to be a reference for baptism. And I think baptism actually captures everything that he's talking about. We demonstrate our union with Christ. We demonstrate that we're dead with Christ and we're raised with Christ. We demonstrate that we're cleansed from sin, that we declare to the world that we are no longer who we once were. We're no longer following the rebellion against God. We are now aligned with God. And we declare our identification with God's people, not just universally, but locally as we're baptized into membership at local churches. That's why we as a church insist on baptizing only believers, only for those for whom this reality is actually true. Baptism represents all of these other realities, a true heart and full assurance of faith. Now those are lofty terms. Who here really feels like they have a true heart and full assurance of faith? But the author is not talking about how you feel at any given moment. He's talking about what Christ has objectively done in his sacrifice. By his death, Jesus really did remove all of the sin for those who believe in him. All of our sin. He cleansed us on the inside and on the outside. And so we can stand before God absolutely accepted and loved, holy and righteous, because Jesus stands for us. He stands in our place. Brothers and sisters, I really, really want us to believe that. Not just to give assent to it when we hear somebody preaching about it, but to really believe it and practice it every day of our lives. When we sin, when we sin, are we more likely to run away from God and hide or run to Him in repentance? Too often, I think, our inclination is to run away, to withdraw, to hide from God. But this text invites us and it beckons us to go to God. To come to Him repentant, to come to Him confident because Jesus Christ has atoned for our sin. When your conscience condemns you at some level, it's right. It's right. You are guilty of sin. You deserve separation from God. But if you're in Christ, that guilt is atoned for. So don't stay away from God because you're too ashamed. Christ's sacrifice declares your sinfulness, it confirms it, and then it covers it with His blood. So let's be faithful as a church to Christ by being honest about our sin. When we do this, it actually allows the gospel to have its cleansing power and sanctifying power. If we're walking around as a church, acting like we're basically good people, that we pretty much have it together, we just, we're good on our own, our relationship with God is sort of established because we're basically good people, that makes light of Christ's work. Let's be people who are honest about our sin, our sinfulness, but who are also constantly reminding each other of Christ's perfect sacrifice to cover that sin. So when you walk into a conversation with someone. You ask them how they're doing. Let's think about answering that question. Somebody asks you how you're doing. Don't say fine. Don't say good. Don't say okay. If the real answer is, I am a slave to pornography. Or I'm holding on to bitterness. I cannot forgive this person for what they've done. Or our marriage is terrible. You see, sin thrives in the darkness. Sin's power is at work not just to entice us to do the things we shouldn't do, but to then lay on the guilt and the shame when we do, to hide, to run away. And what that does is makes us useless and ineffective for the work of Christ. But when we expose that sin, When we have the courage to say, this is who I really am, then we open up the power of the gospel to come in and say, that is who you are, but this is who you are in Christ. He has forgiven that sin. He has covered that sin. He has enabled you, empowered you to turn away from that sin. The power at work at our disposal is multiplied exponentially when we invite other people in to fight with us instead of fighting it on our own. And brothers and sisters, many of you have seen that power at work as you have shared your struggles with one another and you have come along those who are struggling. So friends, let's accept the reality that Christ has opened for us, that the curtain that once separated us from God has been torn, that we are welcomed and ushered into God's presence. We can approach God with confidence because of what Jesus has done with a true heart and full assurance of faith. So brothers and sisters, stop focusing on the things that would keep you from God and start focusing on Jesus who brings you to God. Let's be a church that celebrates and boasts in the work of Christ. Let's rehearse now to ourselves, to each other, what we will sing for all eternity. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain. As the author says, we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And again, consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them. This invitation is based on everything that the author has been saying. Jesus is a merciful high priest who intercedes for us. So let us draw near to God by constantly living in the gospel reality that we have unhindered, uninhibited access to God through Jesus. So Christians draw near. Second, Christians hold fast. He says, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. So he urges us to hold fast to the confession of our hope. And I think if, if for a lot of us reading that we would think it would be, it was going to be confession of our faith. That's what we're used to saying, talking about the doctrine, the body of doctrine, the faith once for all delivered to the saints. And that is true. Our faith is built, the Christianity is built on those historical events of who Jesus was and what he did. But it's also forward looking. And so the author's calling us not just to look back, but to look forward, to remember the future, the certainty that everything that we're talking about is going somewhere because of those historical events. And so he says, just as it is appointed once for man to die, and after that comes the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. So the question for us is, how eagerly are we waiting? How intensely are we holding fast to the hope that is ours in Christ? the author of Hebrews was concerned that the body he was writing to was in danger of losing the gospel and turning back to the old covenant, to its laws and sacrifices. And I don't think that's where most of us are this morning, but I do wonder how consciously and how tightly are we clinging to the promise of eternal life in Jesus? You see, we can gather and we can confess all the right truths, but are those truths really shaping every single aspect of our lives? Are we living differently because of what Jesus has done and will do? And of course, the answer to that must be yes, right? We're all here, we're all doing something differently because of Jesus. But are our lives drastically, dramatically changed by Him? Paul tells us we're supposed to live in a way that would be pitiable if the resurrection is not real. Would someone from the world, would an outsider look at your life and say, how sad, how pathetic, what a wasted life if Jesus does not return? See, brothers and sisters, I fear that those muscles that we use to hold fast can get very soft and very, very weak without us knowing it. it looks like it's about to get really hard for us to be faithful Christians, even in our country. We need to be preparing for that now, training for that now, resolve to hold fast together, no matter what it costs us. And so just to jump the gun a little bit of why our time together is so important. Our corporate worship is the focal point of hope's sustaining power in the midst of a world that is hostile to our faith. This is the hour that we step out of the world, that we step into our heavenly reality, that we remind ourselves of what will be true and that spurs us on to keep fighting, to keep resisting, to keep holding fast to that hope as we wait for Christ's return. So the author says, therefore, we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution, how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? The salvation offered in Christ is greater than the angels. It's greater than the prophets. He himself has spoken. He said, I will return. And he who promised is faithful. He will deliver on all of his promises. Hold fast, brothers and sisters, to your hope in him. Number three, Christians consider how to stir up one another. There's really not a good way to make that simple. Christians consider how to encourage each other. 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. And so now we get into the heart of the sermon. Let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works. What does it mean to stir up? The word here is often actually used in the negative sense. So it's one of the things that love doesn't get stirred up. It doesn't get provoked. But here in a positive sense, it is to provoke, to stimulate, to arouse, to get worked up and excited about something. So what we're called to do, we're called to get each other excited about loving and doing good works. And so there's something that doesn't happen naturally, right? It's not a function of your personality. It's not that when you become a Christian you're happy all the day and it just happens to you. Christians need to be stirred up. And brothers and sisters, what stirs us up? It's the gospel, right? The gospel. The gospel is what stirs us up when we're reminded of who Jesus is and what he's done for us. We're reminded that we have access to him. We're reminded to hold fast to him, that he's returning. Christians are provoked, we're stirred up to love as we've been loved by Jesus, to forgive as we've been forgiven by Jesus, to serve as we've been served by Jesus. That's what gets us excited. The author says the way that we do this is by not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another. He seems to have in view the regular gathering assembly of the church, this meeting that we are at right now. Some were forsaking that meeting, whether it's because of persecution or whether because of neglect or drift or wavering, they just weren't coming. So I want us to think really specifically and really practically about this this morning. I'm gonna be talking mainly to the members of this church. So if you're here, you're a member of another church, we're glad you're here. I hope this challenges you as you think about your relationship with your church. If you're not a member of a church, I hope this challenges you to think that you ought to be, you ought to commit to a particular body of believers. So members of Jefferson Park, your absence from this regular meeting is discouraging. That doesn't necessarily mean that you're wrong. You may have a good reason, but your absence is still discouraging. It means we don't get to enjoy your fellowship that particular day. And the author talks about this being the habit of some. Some are habitually, regularly neglecting to assemble with other Christians. That's really discouraging. A habit demonstrates something much deeper. It shows that the assembly of the saints is not really a priority. It shows that something else takes precedence over that regular gathering of the church. And when that happens, something's wrong. There's a growing trend in evangelicalism that's something that, I don't know if they call this, I call this three-fourths members. Those who are here three out of four Sundays a month, often enough to sort of seem regular, but also gone pretty regularly as well. And I would ask this morning, if you fall into that category, that you're usually here most of the time, kind of, what is it that keeps you from being fully committed to this body? If some other commitment or priority is regularly pulling you away from this body, I fear that that may be a symptom that your heart is also slowly being pulled away from Christ. Gathering with the saints should be a habit. It should be something that we are so committed to that we do without question. We call this the ministry of presence, of just being here. This is important. Your presence here in this body is encouraging. When you are here because you're committed to this body, that's encouraging. It shows that the things that we're doing here are important. It reminds everyone that these things are important. It shows that the people that are here are important. The priority of one another is demonstrated in faithful attending, week in, week out, being here. There's nothing like looking out into this room when it's full. Gathering has to be our habit. Hopefully it's much more than a habit, but not less. So we want to start with having a ministry of presence, of just committing to being here. But the author's actually talking about much more, a ministry of meaningful presence. So the controlling verb in this section is consider. So he's telling us we should be devoting mental energy, considering, thinking about how to motivate one another with the gospel. Now to go back to the beginning of the sermon, is that why you are here this morning? I really want us to think about this and understand it. A lot of people think about corporate worship as the time to come and be stimulated. Maybe especially with the times of singing or the times of prayer, to be aroused and affected and shocked into worship by what's happening around us. But notice that's not what the author is saying. He's saying that we are to consider how to stimulate others, how to do that for others. Every member of this church has a job when we gather. Some of you have many jobs when we gather, but everybody has at least one when we gather, to encourage the people around you. So is that why you came? Is that why you came? How much time did you spend thinking this week about who you were going to see today. Maybe somebody that you only see today and you never see throughout the rest of the week. How you could encourage that person's faith in Christ. To help that person once again draw near and hold fast to Christ. If you're like me, not a lot. Not a lot. We come to church as consumers. To take, to receive from this time. We come as if this gathering is really about us. We become more aware of who failed to contact us this week than who we can encourage today. See, the author of Hebrews is talking about an entirely different kind of gathering. One that's radically outward in nature, that's focused primarily on others and not on ourselves. It's not that we don't get encouraged, hopefully we do, but that the primary command for us as we gather is not passively be encouraged, but actively encourage others. Now in God's wisdom, he's given us all the stuff that we need to be encouraged. As we gather, we're commanded to read the word, sing the word, pray the word, preach the word, administer the word in the ordinances. That's what the Holy Spirit uses to stimulate us, to jolt us into action into doing God's will. There are two especially important and unique things about this gathering, this, what we're doing right now in this room. One of them is that we're all here, right? So we do a lot of things as a church as separate groups and smaller groups, and that's fine. But in this meeting, we're all here. This is where the church most reflects the future gathering of God's people from every tribe and tongue and nation. This is where young and old and rich and poor and men and women and introverts and extroverts and drum lovers and organ lovers and hoos and Hokies all gather together as one people, set aside all the things that might otherwise divide us in favor for the one surpassing thing that unites us all, Jesus Christ. We don't get that any other time in our lives and we desperately need it. The other thing that's unique about this time is that this is where we practice the ordinances. Christ has commanded the church to observe baptism and the Lord's Supper as a body. As we thought about baptism earlier, where the church acknowledges the profession of an individual and welcomes that person, not just again into the assembly of the church as a universal entity, but as a local church. Next week, we'll think about the Lord's Supper, the regular, tangible reminder of Christ's sacrifice, His death and resurrection for us. The fact that it's so important for us to do it together, that we should wait for one another to do it. You may have all kinds of fellowship throughout the week, intimate Bible studies and prayers and things, but those things do not replace the significance of Christ's ordinances. They are His means for growing in grace. So as you think about this ministry of encouragement that all of us are called to do, a simple, really easy way to do it is to go up to someone after the service and just ask what they took away from our time together. What spoke to you in the sermon this morning? What encouraged you in the service? How can I be praying for you this week? How's your relationship with Christ? Sometimes it's awkward to have those conversations, but let's just acknowledge that sin keeps us from doing the good thing that we ought to do and get over it. That begins to create the kind of culture that the author is talking about. And that's why it's good for you to commit to being here even when you don't feel like being here. This is where we are putting into practice the means that God has ordained for his people to grow in grace and knowledge, to be stimulated together. So a few practical things I want us to think about as a church, how we should come to our gatherings. What is your mindset as we gather here? And there are five E's, so it's hopefully easy to remember. So first, come equipped. Come equipped. So first, equipped physically. I don't know what your Saturday looks like, but Lindsay and I try to do everything we can on Saturday, make every decision we can make on Saturday so that that doesn't happen Sunday morning. So what we're going to wear, does it need ironing, does it fit, the kids' outfits, what are they going to have for breakfast, is their stuff ready, all of those things we do on Saturday night so that The worst doesn't happen on Sunday morning where nothing fits and it all needs to be ironed and all of those things. We try to get all the preparations done Saturday night. It means a lot of times we don't do other things Saturday night because we're getting ready for this gathering. Spiritually, come equipped. Read the passage in advance. Think about it. Prayerfully consider what God might say. So come equipped and then come expectant. If you come equipped, you're expecting, you're reminded that God works in his people by his word. So if you've read the passage, you've prayerfully considered it, come expecting God is going to speak to me and to our church this morning. Come engaged. Come engaged. Commit to this time together and be here 100%. So come on time. Make it a point to be here on time, to get the most out of our time together. Resist the temptation that nobody would have said 100 years ago to check Facebook and email while you're here. Just be here. All those things will be there when you leave. Take advantage of this time together. Be mindful of the things that distract you and others during the service. So if you have noisy or busy children, we have a nursery and we have a training room. Feel free to use it. The intent of those places is to train the children to actually come in here and engage in a meaningful way during the service. So feel free to use those. Don't get up excessively during the service. Don't use this side entrance if you can help it because this is really distracting. Come in and out through the back and sit in the back if you need to be up and down. Also, try not to be easily distracted when you're here. If somebody sneezes during the service and that ruins your morning, that problem is on you and not them. Fourth, come eager. Come eager, so maybe after you get down, getting here on time, maybe even get here early. Come expecting to participate, looking for an opportunity to serve, and maybe not even the way that you expected to serve. So nursery workers sometimes go down, they have kids that get sick, they get sick, whatever. Are you eager to step into that role, to fulfill, to facilitate the gathering and encouraging of the saints, whatever way that looks like. Come happy to do what needs to be done. and then find, come to encourage. Come with the mindset that this gathering is about building up the other members of this church. So one practical application is for everyone to devote time this week in that kind of preparation. Come next week ready to encourage one person who you don't see any other time during the week. Think about how you can encourage that person next week as we gather. So let's start there and then let's build out from there. Notice this isn't the job of the professionals, the elders. This is a job for all of us. This ministry belongs to one another. The guy standing here doing what I'm doing is kind of expendable. I'm not denying Keith or Ben's uniqueness or gifting, but all of us are replaceable. If we stop preaching the gospel, you can run us out of here, you can hire somebody else, you can keep right on going without a hitch. This ministry that I'm preaching about this morning requires all of us. So brothers and sisters, imagine with me what this body would look like. If we really took this ministry seriously, if we really owned this, if all of us made the decision together to go all in, if we really took ownership of one another's maturity in Christ, if we invested all of our gifting and our energy and our time into this local body, what would we be like? How healthy would this church be if that were the case? How united would we be? How mature would we be? What would our budget look like? What kind of things would we be doing as a church? How many people would we have trained up and sent out for ministry? How many churches may we have planted? How many deep and meaningful church planting and pastor training partnerships would we have in places that desperately need them? Brothers and sisters, I want that for this body. Imagine what 182 of us committed to that task together, arm in arm, working for that purpose. Imagine what God could accomplish through us. It is not too far. It starts with each one of us as individuals making that commitment to go all in, to give ourselves wholly to this body. Now with that vision in mind, look around you. Like five people looked around. Look around you. Does that deflate the vision? I'm just being honest. It's easy. It is so easy for us to get hyped up and consider all the things we might do, but it is really hard to do it because it's messy. Because as we look around, we see each other as barriers to our holiness. We are more aware of each other's sin and shortcomings and differences in life situation and how they parent and what their schedule is and what they like, all those things, than what really unites us. We can like the idea of being loving and humble until we actually are confronted with it in a local church. But it's here, it's here in the local church. especially here, where we are once again taken back to the foot of the cross, to the message that we heard last week, to Jesus' example of humility. And it's only there, it's only in Christ, at His cross, where we can find the willingness to set aside all of our preferences and hold fast to the gospel and enter in and get messy. It's the way that Jesus served us, not because of what we had to offer him, but simply because he loved us. And it's how we must serve and love one another. You know, wildflowers are beautiful. It's wonderful this time of the year to be out and to see a field that's full of vibrant color. And wildflowers are really easy. You can buy a bag of seed and just kind of throw it out and wait, and you'll get wildflowers. They'll bloom. They may be in bloom all summer, and then they're gone. But contrast that with a garden. Having a garden is hard work. It requires you get your hands in the dirt. It requires dirt on your fingernails. It means being out in the heat and getting sweaty and sunburned. It means planting carefully and watering and mulching. It means dealing with bugs and weeds and drought and frost. But there's nothing like a well-cared-for garden. The bigger and more diverse the garden is, the better. Not only is it beautiful with things in bloom year-round, but it's also productive. It gives food and it gives life. Brothers and sisters, I want our church to be like a garden. Yes, it's messy. Yes, it's hard. Yes, it requires commitment, but it is infinitely worth it. That displays Christ's glory for one another to the watching world in a way that nothing else can. The author calls us to persevere, to persevere in this all the more as you see the day approaching. The day is coming when Christ will return to rescue his people, to judge all who remain. This is the final lap, he's saying, the fourth quarter. The summit is in view. We're getting to the end. And he says, don't lose sight of that. And don't let each other lose sight of that. Leave no one behind. That's what we're called to do. Cast off all the things that inhibit us and restrict us and distract us and single-minded, full focus on the goal and on the end. That's what the church is about. A lot of you know that the word church means gathering or assembly. But that's not the word that the author uses here. The word that he uses here refers to the end time assembly of God's people. Militant, victorious, triumphant. It's the time when Christ is exalted and his people share in his reign. And friends, that's the kind of gathering, that end time gathering that is taking place right now. He's saying that we have the opportunity and the privilege to participate in that now, to experience Christ's victory now as we wait for it to be fully consummated. And we do that by gathering and reminding each other what Jesus has done and what he will do. So brothers and sisters, in light of that, let us draw near, let us hold fast, and let us commit to being together to encourage each other. and all the more as we see that day approaching. Let's pray. Our Father in heaven, we thank you this morning for Jesus. We thank you that he is our great high priest. We thank you that he and he alone could make the sacrifice that actually removes our sins, that does it eternally. We thank you that on the basis of his work, we can come to you as our Father. we can approach you with confidence. So we pray that we would be a church characterized by drawing near, by living in that gospel reality every moment of our lives, by reminding each other of that gospel reality as we are together, that we would hold fast and that we would hold fast together, that we wouldn't let each other loosen our grip on the goal. And we pray that we would encourage each other, make us a people about the gospel and about the gospel as we relate to one another. Grant us perseverance until Christ comes and restores us and brings us into your presence, into your kingdom. We pray in his name, amen.