Why Should I Keep Going to Church?

am I welcoming people into my lives am I welcoming people into my home or am I closed off and pretending like everything's great on the outside everything looks great on social media everything looks great at a 10,000 ft distance but when we let people get close it's uncomfortable because they see the real us but guess what the real you is the transformed view by Jesus Christ we have been going through the book of Corinthians and 1 Corinthians and we have started this at the beginning of the year we're in week 18 and we're at the very end of this book so if you have your Bibles you can go flip to 1 Corinthians chapter 16 as we'll be diving into and kind of dissecting as we wrap up this study through the book of Corinthians but next week I'm very excited is next week is Mother's Day hopefully you have that on your calendar and some of you you know dads out there are like "Oh all right uh what does Amazon have that will be here before Sunday?" All right um good luck all right uh but it is Mother's Day but we're also excited because we're starting a new family series calling family less of the mess um anyone want a little less mess in your Well okay let's be honest you're like I want less mess in my house all right uh dads maybe a cleaning service works for next Sunday i don't know but we're going to talk about how there's messiness in our families but how God is so great and comes in and cleans up our mess despite our mistakes but today as we wrap up in First Corinthians uh we've been going through this journey and if you've been with us on some of it just going to kind of catch you up a little bit is is the book of Corinth is a unique one is Paul wrote this letter to the church located in Corinth and Corinth Corinth was like ancient day Las Vegas it was a messy town they're focused on money and focused on wealth and focused on sex and everything outside of what Jesus was getting them to focus on and Paul comes into this church that had all these issues had all these mistakes and he's lovingly correcting and pastoring them through this process and then in the last half of this book what we've talked and we've called this hey Paul is he just been answering these deep theological questions that they have in their mind and going through is what does the Bible say about this what does the Bible say about that and as we kind of start to go through here Paul kind of gets to the heart of this and I think is so important is kind of his closing statements he answers this question that I think we need to ask and let this scripture answer today is hey Paul why should I keep going to church hm you know there's a big if you look overall in America church attendance has been declining for years and years and really the pinnacle of it happened in 2020 i don't know what happened then right something happened then right um but after that like church just changed attendance was declining declining we're actually seeing some positive signs in the last uh year that baptisms were actually up in 2024 and we're seeing revival especially in the younger generations in Gen Z but people have asked these questions and these are honest questions and maybe you've never said them out loud but you've said them in your heart is like do I need to go to church every week like my couch is pretty comfortable they're streaming the service my kids aren't going to get bugs and germs and everything else they get in kids ministry and then bring back home and then it goes through your entire family know that feel that right and you're like it's it's kind of nice here i can watch it from my phone as I'm on the way to the lake or as I'm traveling he's like "Do I need to go every week like once or twice that sounds like a pretty good commitment like why do I have to show up continuously?" Well Paul today is going to give us the answer to that and and the answer we're going to start with and spend our time dissecting through chapter 16 is church attendance is not just about what you are contributing to but who is contributing to you think about that for a second a church attendance is not just about the things we do you do a lot of things if you are plugged in and serving here maybe you help kids and you wipe noses and get kids that are screaming on their end right like you're in children's ministry that's a great commercial for kids ministry right there right go serve in there um maybe you wave and you greet people you're on the AV team or you're in worship or you're in a number of ways we serve in our church family and you feel like you give you give you give but church is also about what comes back and what God is building in you and today Paul as we kind of start to go down this road is going to show us that it's not just about checking our church boxes saying "I'm doing this i'm done that." And it's not less than that but there also is more last Sunday uh we had a pretty full slate for our staff we had church and then right after we did pizza with a pastor which we do that once a month and that's where if you're new kind of check out how do you get involved and as I'm leaving uh Cheryl Kyle's wife and Kyle's our student guy he's the real loud one that we can't turn the volume down um like "Where's the volume switch on you bro?" And like he's like "God great one." Um like clearly but Cheryl's like "Hey uh she's like uh we're going to have our Bible group party and it's at a park right by my house." She's like "You guys can come if you want." And I was thinking about this i'm like "All right it's a beautiful day out." I'm like "It's at a park so our four kids can run around uh it's free food because we're not bringing anything we're just going to eat all their food that they already had planned for." Um like sold so we crashed the Gallagher Bible Group party and we got to hang out our kids ran around it was fun and just talking to families that I know in our church that serve that are involved and it was just this amazing kind of night of it's like this is church community this is doing life together this is where we just get to talk about you know what God's doing in our life and talk about the stresses we have going on talk and just have fun and enjoy each other's company and do life and you're like that is great of how church goes outside of Sunday but you'll never get that community outside of Sunday if you're not involved in contributing on Sunday morning the right way and Paul here's what he's going to show us today in this question that we're going to pose and let the scripture answer is what does going to church contribute to our lives why why do I need to show up here every Sunday morning why do I need to come to this place and sing these songs and hear these texts and wipe these noses and do all the things I do what is it building inside of me well in 1 Corinthians chapter 16 Paul actually starts this chapter and we'll kind of I'll save you the first part is first he asked for a collection to continue his ministry he's like "Hey Church of Glacia has already given some now you guys need to pony up give more money so we can go and take the gospel more places." And then in verse 5 he gives his travel itinerary he's like "I booked with Southwest a couple times they keep canceling on me but we got it sorted out." But in verse 13 here's where Paul gets into his wrap up of this book of Corinthians and all that he's been just laying down this truth after truth after truth of how do you live in such a broken context how do you be this church that is making Jesus known to the people around you in verse 13 he starts this he says "Be alert." He says "Be alert stand firm in the faith be courageous be strong do everything in love here's how Paul starts this as we kind of ask this question of what does church contribute to our lives the first thing he shows us is that when we are part of a church family when we are going to church when we are part of this things just what he's describing of here is it makes us spiritually hungry you see here's what Paul is kind of dissecting a little bit he he he's not just giving some like basic little instructions some kind of empty platitudes but listen to this he says "Be alert." He's like "Be on guard." He stand firm in your faith he says "Be courageous don't back down be strong." What he's telling them is we are in a spiritual war and he's like "And you can't do this on your own." Instead you need to do this with a church family who is also focused on these things and moving in this direction so in partners with one another we are moving closer to God and not farther away my wife and I uh we eat pretty healthy um overall and and I am not as good at eating as healthy as her and I have a really good metabolism system that's slowly starting down but I'll eat a lot of junk hit the restroom and I'm good right um and too much too far all right just trying to get that line uh but anyway so every night I don't eat a lot of sweets but every night I eat four Oreos not three not five four all right you got to keep it in there but after I eat my Oreos like I won't then go I need a few more Oreos but sometimes I'm like I need something else so sometimes I'll make a bag of popcorn and usually I would ask and then she's like uh she's like sure and I'll get two bowls out and then recently I've been asking she's like no I don't need it i don't want it it's fine so then I got one big bowl poured it all in taken and she's like "You're not going to give me any." I'm like "Is this a trap right now i don't understand." And as I was thinking about I'm like "Man I wasn't being a very good partner in eating healthy how we were supposed to go with our goal and like making sure we're you know on that path together." And see Paul is saying in this church life when we have shared values when we're both saying "How do we get closer to Jesus together?" There's this accountability that comes into it as we're showing each other what does right spiritual hunger look like how do we fall more in love with Jesus through the reading of his word through the worshiping and the praising of his name through praying through who meeting together he shows us how this works and here's I think there's some practical things we need to reflect on as we go through this text and in this first pillar and we're going to have each one of these as we go through of talking about how this church contributes the spiritual hunger to our lives here's a pulse check on are you doing it the right way and this question that I just want you to kind of write down on your notes and reflect on now and through this week is am I closer or farther away from God than last year so basic so easy but so deadly if you're honest because here's the thing if you've been a Christian for decades you you should still see some progression the Bible tells us we work out our salvation with fear and trembling meaning there is a positive momentum towards our God and we're getting closer to him and when we reflect on that say "Am I closer and more dependent and more loving and all these things towards Jesus now than I was a year ago?" And if you've been a Christian for a long time that question still examines maybe you're like "That's not me." We we baptized 11 people on Easter we have some baptisms we're going to see in just a second we have more baptisms on Mother's Day people starting their journey in Christ it's easy to answer that question now i'm like if like before you didn't know Jesus you know Jesus now yes I'm closer but continually as we go are we moving the right direction are we getting closer to our God closer to our father or farther away and here's the thing when it comes to our spiritual life there's no such thing as being stagnant we either moving intentionally closer to him or we're drifting farther away and here's the thing as I hear from people all the time like I'm a spiritual person or or I love Jesus but I don't know if I like his church right like I I love him but I don't know if I like his people very much i think they're saying that to me usually when they say that you know I don't know if I like you as much um but here's the thing is we say this at Cross Church all the time is that a Christian without a church is a contradiction we see it nowhere in the New Testament that believers were acting in isolation apart from a church family is you need other believers who are going to come around you help you focus on the right things and move in the right direction but Paul keeps going in verse 15 he says "Brothers and sisters," he's writing this to his church family as he has been doing he says "You know the household of Stephanus they are the first fruits of Aaya and have devoted themselves I love this to serving the saints i urge you also to submit to such people and to everyone who works and labors with them i am delighted to have Stephanus Fortunice and Aayas present because these men have made up for your absence for they have refreshed my spirit and yours therefore recognize such people you see Paul tells us that we keep going to church because it makes us spiritually hungry but it not only does that it also makes us radically humble you see Paul points out here and I love this household that he describes if he starts describing the household of Stephanus and he tells them a little bit about him he says "These people have made it their mission to devote themselves to serving other people they have made it their mission to not think so selfishly about themselves but to love their church family to love the people around them and he tells the Corinthian church you need to mimic this household one of the most beautiful things when you have children is when there's more than one of them and they play nicely together okay it's it's beautiful because it's rare all right that's what makes it so beautiful but it's like I I got four okay and and my two middle ones are my boys and seven and three and they're like when they play nicely it's so it's so amazing like Archie the seven-year-old will be like "I'm just playing with my best buddy." Uh like you did this yesterday i'm like "You just tried to strangle your best buddy 2 minutes ago." Like I saw it but one of the things we're working through with Archie is like sharing and he's really into Pokemon cards right now so he like sets up a fort in his room and has all his Pokemon cards on the floor and then Arlo Hurricane Arlo the three-year-old runs in and and he's like "Don't touch anything i won't share my toys these are mine these are mine these are mine." And then I get annoyed i'm like "You know what is mine this house and everything in it we go to court none of it's yours okay i own it all." Sometimes I'm wondering if God's up in heaven and be like "You know what's mine all of it." And Paul is telling us "Look at the household of Stepheness cuz I don't know about you but I can get so caught up in this is mine this is mine i got to protect my time i got to protect my resources i got to do this i got to do that i got that." And God's like "I've given it all to you you can give a little bit of it back and Paul is challenging us to be like the household of Stephanus to embrace this idea of not being so selfish but to start looking at our lives with open hands rather than closed fists and here's the amazing part about this is I think when you're in a church with radically humble people it starts to happen naturally that when people are generous around you two things happen either you want to be more like them and there's like this conviction that happens that all of a sudden like it just kind of it becomes like it it wears off on you and you're like oh I'm going to be more generous too with my time and my resources or you feel so bad and so convicted in the other way that you're like I'm going to be generous just because like Sally's so generous so I got to start being more generous right and being a part of that community there's this health in there so here's our pulse check for this is asking ourselves this question so basic so easy but so convicting am I more or less generous with my time and resources than last year am I more or less generous and here's what's really hard is right now there's a good chance that for you the economy your portfolio your personal finances we're at a better place last year than this year and when things start going south the first natural instinct is I got to protect my time and spend it all on myself i got to protect my resources and keep them at home and use them all myself and we just become more me focused where God in his word is saying "No no no live with an open hand live with saying how can I serve and submit and love the people around me rather than hoarding everything for myself?" But Paul starts to wrap up this letter in verse 19 and as he kind of gets to our last point and he closes out he says this that the churches of Asia send you greetings aquilla and Priscilla send you greetings warmly in the Lord along with the church that meets in their home he says "All the brothers and sisters send you greetings greet one another with a holy kiss." This greeting what Paul is saying what he's writing here he says is in my own hands paul if anyone does not love the Lord a curse be on him our Lord come in verse 23 he says "The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you my love be with all of you in Christ Jesus." You see Paul says that when we're part of a church the things it contributes to us is it it burns the spiritual hunger in us that we want to be closer to God and not farther away that it makes us more radically humble we live our lives more open-handed than closedfisted and lastly and and if you've been at our church you've already heard me preach this point specifically and I've been preaching it through this year but it's as Paul wrapped all this up is it makes us uncomfortably hospitable look at these verses again there's just so much relational language here the the churches Vasa send you greetings aquilla and Priscilla who are who are stalwarts within the early church send them greetings he said "The churches that meet in their homes they send you greetings." He says "All the brothers and sisters that I'm interacting they are praying for you they're loving for you they want to be a family with you." He says "Paul myself I've been yelling at you for 16 chapters to get your stuff together i send you greetings with my own hands." You see Paul is modeling and encouraging the type of hospitable community that should characterize our churches i don't know about you but I I I am pretty extroverted but when I get tired on Sundays even this will happen or like you know throughout the week and like I got a lot when once I hit that moment my natural instinct is putting the kids to bed is putting an AirPod in hooking it to my Apple TV while my wife goes shopping or doing something else and like watching shows and saying everyone leave me alone right and then I'll eat my Oreos and I'm good but but my natural instincts to rest is let me cave into myself let let me not talk to people let me just kind of like be in my own little isolated echo chamber and let me just uh watch you know um whatever show is streaming through right now i have like 10 shows streaming it's really hard to keep them all straight um I don't even know what's going on in half of them but it's like I just want to watch that and then I'm good but here's where the conviction sets in is is as I read the Bible I have yet to find the verse that Jesus sat down and watched Netflix all right it's not there okay that we don't see Jesus just sitting and and like going into and when he did isolate himself he was praying and fasting come on Jesus he's at a pretty high standard all right but inside the church he's saying that it's not about us it's not just about being comfortable it's not about hoarding it's not about getting away and creating our own community is being a part of a church makes us uncomfortably hospital because we're constantly exposed to this biblical command that we need to love other people as we love ourselves just as the same as we love ourselves that we need to care more about what other people are going through rather than just our own little kingdom and in Surprise Arizona wherever we are around uh the valley our go-to is we just want to go into our castles we want to close the door we want to lock it we want to rest and have self-care and just think about ourselves rather than engaging in loving the people around us and Paul here is showing us that's not what the successful the good the god-fearing making Jesus known churches of the first century were like instead they were greeting they were loving they were reaching out to people to engage them in the church family here's our pulse check on this basic easy could be wrecking when you're honest is am I more loving and inviting towards others than last year right now am I more loving am I more inviting in my workplace to other people am I more loving and inviting the one question I will not ask this is on the road because I am not all right i moved to North Surprise had to deal with the Grand and 303 exit and 163rd so the answer is no i am not more loving on the road um I tell people don't put a cross church sticker on your car if you're going to cut people off which is why I don't have one felt some conviction today as I met a new family in between services how did you find our church we saw a cross church sticker and decided to come check it out like oh did they cut you off and they played along they're like "No they flipped us off." I'm like "Yeah no I'm just kidding." But not really so someone you were actually nice on the road uh I'm going to start driving better and put a sticker maybe on there but anyway but am I more loving and inviting in blank am I welcoming people into my lives am I welcoming people into my home into how I do or am I closed off and pretending like everything's great on the outside everything looks great on social media everything looks great at a 10,000 foot distance but when we let people get close it's uncomfortable because they see the real us but guess what the real you is the transformed you by Jesus Christ and Paul here as we start to wrap up all of this of how do we attempt to apply this how do we walk out these doors after being kind of supercharged here on a Sunday morning how do we begin to live out this book of first Corinthians and here's how I think this happens in the life of cross church and how you are part of something greater that God's not just moving in your individual hearts but he is moving in the life of our church that will go to the life of our community the life of our city is cross church will make Jesus known by being hungry humble and hospitable you see this is not just a cheesy saying this is not just something we say because it looks cool on the back of a t-shirt but it does look cool so you can keep buying those okay but this is metrics to show us are we creating a culture where we are making Jesus known not by being kind of okay in life not by being spiritually eh not by being selfish not by being comfortable but are we making Jesus known by feasting after our Lord saying "How can I get to know him better how can I get to know him greater how can iron sharpen iron within his church family and in his context?" So we're spurring one another on towards getting closer to our Lord how do I be radically humble stop living my life so closedfisted but living it open-handed being generous with my time and my resources and how do we be uncomfortably hospital of inviting people in and seeing how God can change their life here's a couple practical ways you can do this and we've been talking about this but here here's your next step in each of these areas maybe you're like "How do I be more how do I be more spiritually hungry?" We we did a challenge at the beginning of the year saying "How what if you became an Agraded church attender?" You showed up 90% of the Sundays available to church and maybe you're thinking about that you're like "Man I've already failed." All right new semester starts today all right there's 35 and we'll give you one extra cuz the last Sunday we don't meet there's 30 so show up 30 more times the rest of this year on a church weekend and see how God starts to change your life how it doesn't just become a box you check but it becomes a lifestyle and it becomes a movement inside your heart in your life that changes what you do what if you showed up 90% of the time to be with God's family and we talk about this radically humble like where do you start with that maybe you're like man I'm not in a position financially I can give yet start small but maybe you're like I maybe you just need to give your time go volunteer at VBS man that will change you you're like I'm not that generous all [Music] right al Mhler one of the premier preachers of our day seminary president in Southern i heard him share his testimony years ago he was saved in a vacation Bible school and God forever changed his life maybe you need to pour into the next generation you need to give your time and your resources in a way that changes someone's eternity and this hospitable one I think this is the one we have beat a drum over so much and as you leave our outside our lobby you'll see some ping pong balls on a wall and what we said is we challenged our church what if every single adult once a month hosted someone either in their home or at a coffee and they picked up the bill or at a lunch what would it look like to create a culture of hospitality where we're meeting with saints sinners and strangers and we're showing them who Jesus is early on I was watching that thing fill up and I'm like I might have done the math wrong or we're really bad at this all right but we're seeing some momentum starting to happen we're on track but what if we just keep doing that we pour gas on that fire and instead of just welcoming people to the surface level of our lives we're welcoming them behind the scenes to show how Jesus has truly transformed us and here's the beauty of that when we start to do these things guys God is going to change lives god is going to reach behind the barricades people have put up in their heart because he's interacted with their people and then just as Paul closes his letter all of the sudden the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you we get to share how Jesus died on the cross for you how he raised again to defeat your sins now no longer do you have to be identified by your past by your struggle by all the junk in your life but you can have a relationship with a savior who wipes the slate clean and we'll do this as Paul is showing in verse 24 he says "My love will be with all of you." Paul's love was spiritually hungry paul's love was radically humble paul's love was uncomfortably hospitable but it was not because of Paul's power listen to this all of you in Christ Jesus it was Jesus's love flowing through him flowing through the church at Galatia through the church at Corenth through cross church so that the people around us can know who our Jesus is whose lives can forever be changed and we can see a movement in our city in all our campuses around Arizona and beyond because Jesus changes everything cuz when we make him known all the stuff is different and our world sees something greater than anything else our culture can give them church that's my prayer as just as the church in Corenth faced in ancient day Las Vegas just as we face a world that is so jacked up so messed up promising so many things it cannot deliver we get to make known to them a loving Jesus who changes it all