Why Come To Church (part 3) - Fellowship In Our Faith

So far we have talked about coming to church in order to Celebrate God and to highlight or mark times in our lives. This Sunday we are celebrating World Communion Sunday and we are starting our regular collection for our Neighbors in Need offering. The focus today is outward. Why do we come to church? For Fellowship In Our Faith.

There are two stories in the Book of Acts that caught my attention this week. They are stories of Paul’s travels.

Acts 16:11 – 15
We set sail from Troas and took a straight course to Samothrace, the following day to Neapolis, and from there to Philippi, which is a leading city of the district of Macedonia and a Roman colony. We remained in this city for some days. On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there. A certain woman named Lydia, a worshiper of God, was listening to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and a dealer in purple cloth. The Lord opened her heart to listen eagerly to what was said by Paul. When she and her household were baptized, she urged us, saying, "If you have judged me to be faithful to the Lord, come and stay at my home." And she prevailed upon us.

Acts 20:2 – 12
When Paul had gone through those regions and had given the believers much encouragement, he came to Greece, where he stayed for three months. He was about to set sail for Syria when a plot was made against him by the Jews, and so he decided to return through Macedonia. He was accompanied by Sopater son of Pyrrhus from Beroea, by Aristarchus and Secundus from Thessalonica, by Gaius from Derbe, and by Timothy, as well as by Tychicus and Trophimus from Asia. They went ahead and were waiting for us in Troas; but we sailed from Philippi after the days of Unleavened Bread, and in five days we joined them in Troas, where we stayed for seven days. On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with them; since he intended to leave the next day, he continued speaking until midnight. There were many lamps in the room upstairs where we were meeting. A young man named Eutychus, who was sitting in the window, began to sink off into a deep sleep while Paul talked still longer. Overcome by sleep, he fell to the ground three floors below and was picked up dead. But Paul went down, and bending over him took him in his arms, and said, "Do not be alarmed, for his life is in him." Then Paul went upstairs, and after he had broken bread and eaten, he continued to converse with them until dawn; then he left. Meanwhile they had taken the boy away alive and were not a little comforted.

It is true that we have a personal relationship with Jesus and that we pray directly to God. Even so, we are not alone in our faith. We congregate every week to celebrate our faith together. We join our voices, minds, hearts, and spirits in praise and worship to God. We have more than just our personal relationship with Jesus and individual idea about God – we have a communal relationship and understanding. Jesus gathered people together. He sent out the twelve to do great miracles, but then after they returned, according to the Gospel of Luke, he “appointed seventy others and sent them on ahead of him in pairs to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” Whenever they entered a town and its people welcomed them, they were to eat what was set before them; cure the sick who are there, and proclaim that, "The kingdom of God has come near.”

In order for Jesus to send out 72 people there had to be at least that many who were following him.

Jesus references the Kingdom of God over and over. The kingdom of God is like this and like that. In the old testament and the new testament, there is an expectation that people of faith want to gather together. Last week we read the teaching that the Sabbath is made for us humans, not us humans for the Sabbath. Likewise, church is meant for those who gather together as a community of faith. We don’t gather together as a community of faith for the sake of the church. The church supports and strengthens our faith walk. There is a church because we want there to be a church. We want to be in relationship not only with God, but with each other.

Coming to church should offer us support in our faith, in our families, and in our lives. Not just the act of coming to church on Sunday, but the relationships that we develop which last throughout the week. As people of faith we have a particular way of looking at life and dealing with situations. Church is our network of support to help us be who we feel called to really be, especially when faced with obstacles or temptations to go with the flow rather than living into our core values of love, compassion, mercy, and generosity.

In our first story about Paul it says, “On the sabbath day we went outside the gate by the river, where we supposed there was a place of prayer; and we sat down and spoke to the women who had gathered there.” Paul and his companions expected there to be a place of prayer on the Sabbath. There was no church steeple to beckon them. They knew the habits of the people and they wanted to gather with them. Paul took on the role of a teacher, as he often did. But afterward Lydia offered fellowship to Paul and his companions, asking them to stay at her home. We don’t know how long they stayed with Lydia and her family, but it was long enough to forge strong relationships.

If we continued reading that chapter we would hear the story of Paul and Silas in jail. After some pretty amazing things happen, the story ends in verse 40, “After leaving the prison they went to Lydia's home; and when they had seen and encouraged the brothers and sisters there, they departed.” Paul and Silas went to Lydia’s home – the home of their friend and sibling in faith. The others of their fellowship gathered in Lydia’s home upon hearing of Paul and Silas’ release. Together they encouraged these sisters and brothers in Christ, and then left for Thessalonica.

In our second story we see that once again Paul is encouraging believers before he leaves for his next destination. Place after place, when they arrive at their destinations they continue their pattern of meeting on the first day of the week to break bread and fellowship in the faith. When Paul holds his all night session it is because he can’t stay long with this group of believers. He wants to share everything with them that he can. Paul’s goal is to build a strong foundation so that when he leaves they are equipped to continue.

Paul doesn’t just set up communities of faith and forget about them. He keeps in touch via letters and sending messages. He lets them know where he’s been and what he’s doing. He also lets the communities know what is going on with each other. He tells them to pray for each other and to be generous when there is need.

Those of you in this building, look around. (Those of you listening on the radio, close your eyes and envision yourself here in this building.) We need each other. We need to love each other and talk to each other about our faith. We also need to lift up our eyes and see our neighbors in need – those in our city and those all across the world. And then we need to lift up our spirits and remember that we are siblings in Christ with believers everywhere. The connection is real. The fellowship we share is real.

Paul laid the foundation for so many communities of Christians. All the work that Paul and the other apostles did live in the churches that gather today. We do not believe in isolation. We do not worship in isolation. And we do not break bread in isolation.

As we prepare our hearts for the sacrament of Communion, let us recall Paul’s words to the Corinthians in his first letter. He says that we are to “discern the body.” This has a double meaning. We are to bring to mind the body of Jesus. We are also to bring to mind the body of Christ. The body of Christ is the church … the whole church. There are several references to this metaphor. Among them are:

Romans 12:4 & 5, “For as in one body we have many members; and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.”

And

Colossians 1:18, “Jesus is the head of the body, the church.”

We are members, one of another. Today we celebrate partaking of the body of Jesus as Christ’s body throughout the world. We have many articles from various places on our Communion Table. Clothes, plates, crosses, drinking vessels and more. We will also be hearing various language translations of the words of institution. Open up your hearts to one another and receive the blessing of being in a worldwide fellowship of faithful Christians.