The Divine Crash

Sermon audio is back up.  The podcast is online and you should be able to enjoy the fine sound of my voice through your speakers once again.  Or just read the notes on here, whatever you prefer.  You can find the audio at the bottom of this post or you can launch iTunes and download it for yourself.Today we took a week away from Jonah and talked about what it means to be a church.

I started by telling the story of how my family was kicked out of a church in the Philadelphia because my 4 month old daughter was not allowed in the service.

Then we spoke about what a church is.  It is a body of believers that come together to worship God. It is not a building.  It is where all people are welcome to worship God together.

Then we talked about the purpose of the building we call “church” it is where the church meets to worship and where they can be comforted or made uncomfortable by God who loves them.

So who is a member of a church?  All Christians are members of The Church the body of Christ but a local church congregation is a little different.  To be a member of that church requires serving Christ in the church with your prayers, presence, gifts, service, and witness.  We are not all perfect at all of them but we all are able to give our best for all of those things and by being a member you are agreeing that you will do your best in all of them.  I know shut-ins that are more present in the church than people there every week.

So when should we leave a church?  When we can’t or are unwilling to fulfill our membership duties.  When the church makes a policy that keeps kids out then you cannot fulfill your ministry of presence in that church, you should move on.  When your gifts are wasted or squirreled away in a closet then you can’t offer your gift then it is time to move on.  When you are too busy playing Golf on a Sunday morning to make it to church it might be time to move on to a different church.  It is about being honest with yourself to know what you can and cannot do.

All of this, sometimes, may seem like work but the whole thing is a big fancy church word “sanctification” to make us more like Jesus.  When we do the things we say we will, when we communicate with God in prayer, when we tell about God in witness, then we become more like Jesus which is our goal.

Sermon Audio

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