I'm Not Sure I Need You

Austin White · Tidal Church Moncton · March 19, 2023 · Dear Church, I Like You, But... series

Austin White teaches from Matthew 8:18-22 and other Scriptures on why we need the local church. He warns against do-it-yourself faith and shows that we can't opt out of, deconstruct out of, or delay joining community, because Christ's family needs every member.

More from Austin White · The Dear Church, I Like You, But... series

Topics: Relationships, Mission & Outreach, Discipleship

Transcript

[0:00] The year was 2017. My wife Jess and I had recently moved to the States to do a pastoral internship. Eventually, I was offered the position of both First Impressions pastor and working with our young adults in the church, and I met a guy named Caleb on our Saturday evening service. Now, I was really impressed with Caleb. He was a local businessman and really impressed with his level of leadership and the way that he interacted with people, so I invited him out to a young men's Bible study that I ran every Saturday morning at 8 a.m. So I invited him to this Bible study, and eventually what came up was, I had somebody that asked to have a pastoral conversation with me that Saturday morning, and it was urgent. So I reached out to Caleb and I said, hey, Caleb, I know this is your first time coming to this Bible study, but I was really impressed with your maturity and your leadership. Do you mind running the Bible study for me? It's really simple. The small group Bible study: read the passage, ask people what stood out to them, how they're going to apply it, and then pray, have somebody pray at the end. And he said, sure. Little did I know that a couple weeks later, Caleb would accept Jesus Christ.

[1:18] He wasn't a Christian at the time, but he agreed to do this small group Bible study. It's pretty cool how God can work in people's lives through His church and through small groups. Now, fast forward a number of months after that. I was in a rough spot. If you've been here for a couple months or years, you've heard a little bit of my story, which is that mental illness has been a part of my journey and how God has protected me and grown me through that. But in that specific instance, I was at a very low point in my life, and I sat across from Caleb in that same coffee shop where he led a Bible study with me, not knowing that he wasn't a Christian yet. We sat in that same coffee shop when I said, Caleb, I've never felt more alone than I am right now.

[2:07] I've never felt more alone. And he looked at me and he said, Austin, as long as you've got me and your other brothers in Christ in this small group, you will never be alone. And it was in that moment, as a pastor for almost a year at that point and Bible college educated, that I truly not only knew in my head but in my heart the importance of community, church, and having brothers and sisters in Christ. Today, I want to talk to you from the title, Dear Church, I like you, but I'm not sure I need you. Dear church, I like you, but I'm not sure I need you. You know, you might be a little bit like me, and sometimes those lengthy titles are tough to remember. So I came up with a helpful acronym for you this morning.

[2:57] Here it is: D-C-I-L-Y-B-I-N- S-I-N-Y. Turn to your neighbor and tell them that. No, no, no, I'm kidding. I'm kidding. Here's a shorter title that maybe will stick out in your mind a little bit. And if you're taking notes, which I would always encourage you to do, feel free to have this as your title at the top of your notes: Why do I need church? Why do I need church? Turn to your neighbor and ask them that question: Why do I need church? One thing that I'd like to share is much of this sermon was inspired by pastor and biblical scholar called John Mark Comer, and if you're interested in some further listening and reading on this topic, all you need to do is Google John Mark Comer, and he did a four-part series on this very question called Community. And if you Google that, you can see it. And I leaned heavily into his insight, because believe it or not, even once you get the title Pastor, it doesn't mean that you've got it all figured out. Okay, so I wanted to make sure that I leaned into some good scholarly wisdom. Why do I need church?

[4:02] The reality is that both outside the church and inside the church, we ask this question, whether we do it out loud or internally, or through our time and our finances. The truth is that since the 1950s, church attendance has cut in half. That's not a mistake. Since the 1950s, church attendance has cut in half. That's not a typo. That's not me missing it. The truth is that with this being cut in half since the 1950s, with church in decline, sometimes we can get pessimistic about that. But the truth that this is true in all facets of society. An author called Robert Putnam, in his book Bowling Alone, said that all forms of community are in decline, especially forms of community that require commitment.

[4:57] Especially forms of community that require commitment. So whether it's bowling clubs, rugby clubs, whether it's the Rotary Club, regardless of what it is, membership and attendance is down. But here's the truth today, as we see people being in community less, one Harvard study said this: in the US, and in Canada, I believe, loneliness rates have doubled since 1980, with 35% of people saying that they are chronically lonely. Chronically lonely. Would anybody agree that we live in a world where we see people that are chronically lonely? Now, I know what you're thinking, Austin, why are you being so cheerful this beautiful Sunday morning? Sometimes I think it's important for us to look at the problem so we can see God's plan and His purpose through this.

[5:48] The truth is that cultural anthropologists describe our culture and our society as one that's characterized by radical individualism, radical individualism. One went so far as to say this, that we are extremist in our individualism, that we are extremists in how we say me, me, as a culture. This is summed up in one of the most famous poems in the world that some of you might have heard before. It's William Ernest Henley. He says, I'm the master of my fate. I am the captain of my soul. For the Christians in the room, can you think of any statement that is more antithetical and different than what we believe this morning? He said, I'm the master of my fate, and I am the captain of my soul. But isn't our culture tied up in that truth, my truth is my truth? That's what the culture says, is it not? I am the master of my fate. I'm the captain of my soul. But the truth is that even though the Bible says something absolutely opposite, our culture, and I would argue even Christians, perhaps some of you in this room today, believe that perhaps we've bought into the lie of our culture that it's all about me. I think this is summed up by the great prophet Justin Bieber. He said this: You don't need to go to church to be a Christian. If you go to Taco Bell, that doesn't make you a taco.

[7:14] Now listen, I had to be honest with the worship team and the tech team this morning. I said, just because I'm showing this quote, please do not think that I believe that, okay? So if you walk out after the service and say that Pastor Austin is quoting Justin Bieber, and he was talking about tacos and all these confusing things, please, please do not walk out with that. But I have a tough question in asking that of some of us here this morning, whether in person or online: Are we living our life a little bit more like Justin Bieber than the words of Jesus? We might look at that and say, that's a foolish statement. But are we living our lives and living our discipleship to Jesus a little bit more like Justin Bieber, saying church is optional, when the words of Jesus are so much more life-giving, which is, church is a part of your health.

[8:12] Of your spiritual health, of your mental health, of your physical health, church is a necessity. It is not a non-essential business. Church is the hope of the world. Church is where you can find meaning, purpose, belonging, and it is one of the best ways that God forms each and every single one of us. So what we're gonna do is we are not going to take heed of the words of Justin Bieber. We're going to take heed of the words of Jesus. So we are going to Matthew 8:18, that'll be one of our main passages. But what I want to do is I want to answer that question. I want to answer the question of why do I need church? What does the Bible say about church? Let's dive right in. Verse 18. And this is Matthew 8. This is the Word of the Lord. Heed it well. When Jesus saw the crowd around Him, He gave orders to cross to the other side of the lake. Then a teacher of law came to Him and said, "Teacher, I will follow You wherever You go, Jesus. I'm all in. I want to follow You. I want to be a Christian."

[9:12] Verse 20. Jesus replied, "Foxes have dens and birds have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay His head." Another disciple said to Him, "Lord, first let me go and bury my father." Then Jesus says some of the most challenging words in the Gospel of Matthew. He said, but Jesus told him, "Follow Me, and let the dead bury their own dead." We've got to understand how controversial the statement was in Jesus' day. Family was above everything. It was unimaginable for somebody to forsake their family and go to Jesus. But what He was trying to do in this time isn't saying that family. He's not saying that family isn't important. But what He's saying is the cause for Christ is the most important family that you can ever be a part of. And the same is true in 2023.

[10:03] Same is true in 2023. So we're going to unpack why do you need church, but before I do that, let me go ahead and pray. Father God, I just ask that You would be glorified this morning. I ask the Holy Spirit, You would flow through this place, that, Lord, it wouldn't be my wisdom. It wouldn't be my thoughts. It wouldn't be my insights, but, Lord, You would speak to each and every single one of our hearts. Lord, we thank You that we're not alone. We thank You that we've got a family, brothers and sisters in Christ, that we can call home. So Jesus, we thank You for the fact that we love because You first loved us. And we ask that You would do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine. Work in our hearts, transform us, and help us to walk out of these doors changed and ready to not only attend church, but be the church. We pray this in Your powerful name, and everybody who wanted to said, "Amen." Amen. Let's start with the problem. I'm gonna address three things that I think sometimes our pitfalls and can be things that we get hung up on as Christians. So I want to introduce a concept called DIY Christianity, do-it-yourself Christianity. I think, unfortunately, we are sometimes afflicted with formation of Christianity that focuses more on our thoughts, our opinions, our mentality, versus the mentality of Christ and the mentality in Scripture.

[11:34] This is a term coined by some scholars called post-church Christians. This is summed up in a quote by Lenny Bruce. He says, "Every day people are straying away from the church and going back to God." I can't think of a statement that's more opposite of what the Bible says about church. What the Scripture says in Ephesians 5:25, Revelation 19:7, 2 Corinthians 11:2 is that the church is the bride of Christ. Bride of Christ. So that with me in three, two, one: bride of Christ. The church is the bride of Christ. Scripture says it repeatedly. I could have put 10 verses up on the screen that allude to the fact that the church is the bride of Christ. We can't abandon the church. There's no such thing as Christianity without the local church. Almost all of the Epistles that we read, they weren't written to me. They weren't written to an individual. They're written to a body of Christ.

[12:30] For hundreds of years, the truth is that you couldn't even have a personal time of devotions because the Scripture was read out loud. It was in community. It was absolutely in community. What we see from this specific passage that talks about the bride of Christ in Ephesians 5:25. It says, "Just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself for it." It's describing the church as the bride of Christ, and I think the truth for us is that if we are talking and you believe about the church, if we are abandoning the church, if we don't have an emphasis on the church, if the church isn't a priority for us, I think that we've got a problem with the bride of Jesus Christ.

[13:22] And I think that that's something that this morning we've got to take very seriously. It reminds me of a concept that for us if we're speaking negatively about the bride of Christ, about the local church, it's kind of like if somebody were to insult my wife, Jess, and then afterwards ask me for coffee. It's like if somebody were to come up to you, for the married men in the room, and if they were to just dis or disrespect your wife and then ask you to go play pickleball afterwards. I don't think it would go very well. The truth is that for us, we've got to have a high view of the church. We have to have a high view of the church. Number one is post-church Christians. That's our first problem. The second is post-Bible Christians.

[14:08] Another term coined by biblical scholars is that people are engaging in a concept called moral therapeutic deism. Moral therapeutic deism. What that means is that people are saying, you know, the Bible is a great set of morals. It's good for my soul care. It's good for my self-care. It's a part of my routine. I think that the words of Jesus are good amongst other religious teachings. What they do is they pick some good things that in Scripture that make them feel good, that sound good. They might hang it up on their wall. But in reality, it's just a therapy book for them. It's not ruling their life. The question that I have for each and every single one of you today is, is your Christianity led by radical submission to Jesus and His words and Scripture, or is it just a feel-good thing for you?

[15:05] Does your Christianity challenge and convict and make you feel uncomfortable? Otherwise, I fear that we're going into moral therapeutic deism, where we're just saying, "I follow Jesus because it makes me feel a little bit better." The truth is that following Christ looks like picking up a cross every single day, and we cannot go anywhere else than towards the cross when we're following Jesus. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says, "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Scripture is non-negotiable, every single letter and word.

[15:51] The truth today, post-Bible Christians is number two. Number one is post-church Christians, and I just want to make a point that I hope up on the screen. It puts quotations. Okay, when we use the word Christians because that leads me to my third thing, which is post-Jesus Christians. If you don't believe in the local church, and if you don't believe in the authority of Scripture, it is very difficult to follow in the way of Jesus. I would argue impossible. When you don't believe in the local church, when you lose the authority of Scripture, ultimately it means that we become post-Jesus Christians. Now, I want to make a quick note and say this: that if this is a hard teaching, I hope that the Holy Spirit is working through that.

[16:39] My hope is that this won't just be a sermon that causes the warm fuzzies, but rather this will be a sermon that maybe cuts to the heart and says, "Man, maybe there's some things in my life that I've got to spruce up. Maybe there's that portion of Scripture that I disagree with, and maybe I've been sweeping it under the rug, and maybe I've been living the me-me way versus the Jesus way." When it comes to following Jesus, the local church is the hope of the world. I call it the Jesus-and gospel. The Jesus-and gospel, what it looks like is, I believe in Jesus and something else. I believe Jesus and left-wing liberalism, I believe in Jesus and ultra conservatism, I believe Jesus and other religions, I believe Jesus and individualism, I believe Jesus and my substance abuse or my addiction, I believe in Jesus and money. The truth is that Jesus makes it ultra clear that we cannot serve two masters. He must be the one and only Master and Lord and Savior in our life. That is it, ladies and gentlemen.

[17:49] That is it. Now, I want to make a note. I feel like in some ways I'm preaching to the full followers of Jesus and calling you to a higher standard. The truth is, there's dozens of people in this room that maybe you're on the fence about Christianity. A number of weeks ago it was talked about the fact that we are not called, as Christians, to hold non-Christians to the same standard that the Bible lays out for us. So the truth is, for you, if you're hearing judgment and condemnation in these words when you're on the fence about Christianity, what I want you to know is I'm talking to the Christians here in the room. About this, this is our standard. This is the expectations. This is who we are, but my hope for you is you look at that and you realize that as we set that standard, as we set that expectation, that what happens is we get to experience the fruit of the Spirit as Christians. One of the things that I love as I see people in crisis, but when they're going through a crisis, they're following Jesus Christ, and you see the joy of the Lord on their face.

[18:59] You see the love, the joy, the peace that surpasses all understanding, even as they're going through the shadow of the valley of death. I think of somebody even recently that was going through an absolutely terrible ordeal, but over and over and over again, they said, "God be praised, because He's doing miracles in our life and in our family." So that's the truth for us today. Galatians 1:6 says, "I'm astonished that you're so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel, which is really no gospel at all. Evidently, some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ." So if you fall in the camp of saying, "I want the gospel, period.

[19:47] I want Jesus, period. Not Jesus and, not the gospel and. I want to be a full follower of Jesus," I hope you'll listen as we continue and as I unpack three reasons why we need church, so we're not post-church Christians, we're not post- Scripture Christians, and we're not post-Jesus Christians. Here's the three reasons that you need church today. Number one, it's because you can't opt out of community. You can't opt out of community. Turn to your neighbor and say, "Don't opt out." Don't opt out. The root word for church in the Bible is ekklesia. Ekklesia in Greek. This means gathering of those summoned. In ancient Greece, there was an assembly of citizens in a city-state. Its roots lay in the Homeric agora, meaning the meeting of people. It was a group of people. It wasn't a building. It wasn't something that you just did on Sunday morning, but rather it was a thriving, loving community, a people called to be a family. Scripture refers to the church as a family over one hundred times. We are a family. We are a family. Turn to the person next to you and say, "I need you."

[20:59] Tell them, "I need you." Turn to the person that you didn't say that to and say, "I need you." We need one another. You know, the community that we are, the family we are, reminds me a little bit of a farm and the truth about some farm animals. Some of you might know that I have a hobby farm. We've got four pigs, way too many chickens and ducks. We just got some quails. We've got a bunny, Inch and Chill, a lot of animals. But what happens is sometimes myself or my wife, Jess, are perusing Kijiji, and what we see is we see an animal that we have not yet obtained, and that is a cow. Okay. So we see a cow and we think, "No, we cannot do it. It's high maintenance, it's difficult, it bills all of the above." But one interesting thing about cows that you might not know is that they did a study of thousands of cows, and they found that cows that had a name and were called by name produced far superior milk than the ones that didn't have a name.

[22:05] I think the truth is the same for us, church. We need a place that calls us by name. You need a small group that knows your name. You need a place that knows you by name, that knows your story, that knows your struggles, that knows the things about you that you're not going to know if you come into church, sit up in the balcony, and as soon as we say, "God's love changes everything," you zip out the doors. You're not going to be as healthy. You're not going to be thriving as much as if you're in a place that knows you by name. We've got to know one another by name. The truth is that we even see this in God's nature. If there was anybody that could do it alone, in His omniscience, in His omnipotence, in His all- knowing, all-powerful being, don't you think God could have gone it alone?

[23:01] But what we see in Scripture, Genesis 1 verse 26, "Let us make mankind in our own image." God in and of Himself is a communal God. He is a relational God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Even God needs community. So why are we any different? Are we putting ourselves above God if we say we don't need community? If we say we don't need the local church, even God needed community. He needed relationships. So number one is you can't opt out of community. Number two, you can't deconstruct out of community. Deconstruct. There's an author, Alisa Childers, who defines deconstruction as the process of systematically dissecting and often rejecting the beliefs you grew up with. I wish I had more time to dive into deconstruction. This one hits pretty close to home for me because it's a trend that many young adults are engaging in, which is the process of systematically dissecting and often rejecting the faith that you grew up with.

[24:10] I know that we're a place that, instead of you needing to deconstruct your beliefs. This is a safe place where you can express your doubt. You can express your struggles. You can express the things in Christianity that you're wrestling with and instead of walking away from your faith. You can make your faith your own. That's why Youth's mission is helping teens find a faith of their own that lasts. We don't want people to walk away from the faith that is life-giving, life-changing, and world-altering as a faith in Jesus Christ, but rather we want to be a place where people have thriving, loving relationships with one another and with God first. 1 John 4:1 says, beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is a very common thing right now, is deconstruction. Can I just get a raise of hands? If you've ever heard of the term or the movement deconstruction, anybody's heard of that before? I see a couple hands. Absolutely, especially amongst young Millennials and Gen Z.

[25:18] It's something that's very popular right now. The truth is that deconstruction, its pillar is this: From Friedrich Nietzsche. He said this: there are no facts, only interpretations. So for many young people today, they're reinterpreting their faith. They're post-scripture, they're reinserting their faith. But the truth is, just like 1 John 4 encourages us, we cannot believe everything that we hear. Friedrich Nietzsche, he wrote that saying there's no facts, only interpretation. Your truth is your truth and my truth is my truth. But do you know what happened to him? Just a couple years later after writing this influential doctrine that's indoctrinating our teens and our young adults. He said this, and then a couple years later in 1889, he had a mental breakdown, writing to the Pope saying, I think that you should be locked up, and saying, I am the creator of the world.

[26:13] So this man who came up with deconstruction and coined this, what I would argue, very toxic concepts, we see that for him, he was not well. But what we do as a culture, in many young adults, is we eat up his philosophy, even though we know that he was not well. Church is the best thing for you instead of deconstructing. I hope that you'll bring your doubts, bring your struggles, and realize that instead of deconstructing, which I would argue 90% of the time it ends up in deconversion instead. You'll meet with myself or one of our pastors, and you'll talk and say, I'm wrestling through this portion of Scripture. You said this on Sunday, and I just want to ask you a little bit more about that. Don't leave church.

[27:00] Find a family, find commitment. Don't be scared of commitment, but come into community. Dwight L. Moody said this. He said, Church attendance is as vital to discipleship as a transfusion of rich, healthy blood to a sick man. We need church. My third and final point is you can't delay getting into community. You can't delay getting into community. Don't delay. Say that with me in three, two, one. Don't delay. Don't delay. 1 Corinthians 12:12-15 has this great advice. Verse 12: Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body. So it is with Jesus. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body, whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free, and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

[27:52] Even so, the body is not made up of one part but of many. The truth is that if you don't get involved in church, if you opt out of community, we're worse for it. Community and church isn't just for you. But the truth is that when you sit on the sideline, when you're on the bench, when you don't get in the game, we are worse off for it. There are people that are hurting in the city that need you to get plugged in. There are people whose lives have yet to be transformed by the power and the presence of Jesus Christ that they need you to get off the bench and get in the game called the local church. We need you. You cannot delay getting into community. How many of you have ever watched a junior soccer game, or some call it Timbits soccer? I know that some of you have seen that. We all know the Timbits soccer. They're on the same team, but don't they just look like a swarm of bees? They're all, they're all chasing the ball around. It's controlled and sometimes uncontrolled chaos. You've got like 20 kids running around the soccer ball, and then there's one kid off to the side who's just twirling around and doing his own thing.

[29:06] The truth is that if you don't get involved in community, I would argue that it's a little bit like the kid off on his own twirling around doing his own thing. I would argue that when we're not unified under a vision and mission and a banner of a local church, that we're like Timbits soccer. We might have a goal, we might have a purpose, but we're not unified around it. We're just a bunch of toddlers running after a soccer ball, pretending to be on the same team. So the truth for you today is you've got to get off the bench and onto the team. I don't know what that looks like for you. But I hope that the Holy Spirit is highlighting those areas in your life.

[29:51] I think of the Christians who may be straying away from community. You're following Jesus, but you're not plugged in. Maybe you got out of the habit of coming to church during COVID. It's time to get back. Maybe you've been church shopping and hopping for way too long. I'd encourage you to find a local church that you can give your life away to. And listen here, this: I think that I can speak for all of the pastors here and say we want to make sure that you find a church home that you can give your life away to. And for some of you, that might be a different church, if you just have moved to New Brunswick, and maybe you're looking around, and we want to make sure that we serve you and find the place that you can give away your life to. Number two, maybe if you're a non-Christian just discovering community. I hope that you'll stick it out with us. You might not agree with everything that we say. We might rub you the wrong way sometimes, but I hope that you'll ask one of our pastors or one of our small group leaders or key volunteers out for coffee and just ask us some questions and get to know us better and we get to know you better.

[30:57] And then finally, maybe some of you are listening to the sermon and you're like, you know, I can check off a lot of those boxes. I'm serving, I'm tithing, I'm doing all these things. My hope for you is, I think that each and every single one of you can think of somebody right now, and I just pray that the Holy Spirit gives you a name or names. You know somebody right now who this doesn't describe. Maybe they've strayed away from faith. Maybe they're not a Christian. Maybe you haven't seen them in years at church. Please, please shoot them a text. Give them a call. Drop by their house. Invite them to church this Easter. Invite them to church next week. Get them plugged back in. How are you serving? How are you giving? How are you tithing? I think of the teens here in the building. We are incomplete without you here on a Sunday morning, just like a body has many parts. If our teens aren't here on Sunday and on Wednesday, we are incomplete. When I think of the young adults for you, if you're church hopping and shopping and you haven't gotten plugged in one area. We are incomplete without you here. I think of those that are parents, who are in kind of the middle portion of their life.

[32:08] If you're not here and giving of your time, your resources, and your love, we are in- complete without you. For our beloved super seniors, I know so many of you are praying for the next generation and praying for this church. We are incomplete without you. Colossians chapter 3, verse 15 says this: "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful." Notice that it says that you experience the peace of Christ since as members of one body you were called to peace. The truth is, today, that you can't find peace without God's people. At the beginning, I talked about my friend Caleb. He helped me through a tough time, and now he's planting a church down in the States.

[32:55] Because he believes in the local church, because he believes in this, he believes in community, and he knows that you cannot find peace without God's people. I hope that you'll get plugged in. I hope that you'll fill out this connect card and let us know how we can serve you. Because, again, you cannot opt out of community. Let me go ahead and pray for us. Father God, we thank You so much for this community. We thank You so much for the fact that we are better together. So, Lord, help us to not neglect community. Help us to get plugged in, Lord, whatever You're speaking to each and every single one of us, whether it's serving, giving, attending, or joining a small group, Lord. Help us to move not just to information but to transformation. Help us to take action. We pray this in Your powerful name.