101: What is the Church (Sunday, July 17th, 2022)

OT Lesson: Exodus 19:1-11 (GNT)

The people of Israel left Rephidim, and on the first day of the third month after they had left Egypt they came to the desert of Sinai. There they set up camp at the foot of Mount Sinai, and Moses went up the mountain to meet with God.

The Lord called to him from the mountain and told him to say to the Israelites, Jacob’s descendants: “You saw what I, the Lord, did to the Egyptians and how I carried you as an eagle carries her young on her wings, and brought you here to me. Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people, a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests.” So Moses went down and called the leaders of the people together and told them everything that the Lord had commanded him. Then all the people answered together, “We will do everything that the Lord has said,” and Moses reported this to the Lord.

The Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on.”

Moses told the Lord what the people had answered, and the Lord said to him, “Go to the people and tell them to spend today and tomorrow purifying themselves for worship. They must wash their clothes and be ready the day after tomorrow. On that day I will come down on Mount Sinai, where all the people can see me.

NT Lesson: Hebrews 10:19-25 (NRSV)

Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary 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 approach with a true heart in 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 has promised is faithful. And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

Sermon

Introduction

Good morning. As you may know, Samuel is going to be four tomorrow. And there is a cake at the back of the sanctuary for celebration and for the fellowship. Hannah and Samuel are going back and forth between Lebanon and Mitchell. And Samuel knows where he is at. I went to Mitchell last Wednesday. For some reason Samuel was upset at me and said, ‘Dada, go to Lebanon!’ Many times, children say something we don’t expect. Another example is from a Presbyterian Church in Thompson, MB which is eight hours driving up North from Winnipeg. About fifteen years ago, one Sunday morning during the worship service, the pastor gave a children’s message. The pastor described something and asked the children what that would be: ‘It is this big, has a big and fluffy tail, very agile, climbs tree very well, and it loves nuts.’ Then the children raised their hands. A boy about five or six years old got a chance to answer. He said, ‘That really sounds like a squirrel. But you know what? This is a church, so the answer must be Jesus.’

This is a funny story. And I think that boy is absolutely right. A church must be all about Jesus. So today, let us think about what is the church, what are the good things of the church, and why you’d better come to church.

Church Benefits the Members

There are many good things for coming to church. You can see your friends. You can see me. You can have some cake. You can make your own list of the benefits for coming to church. And there are very many medical researches and social studies showing associations between attending church services and living longer and healthier. One of the most comprehensive researches was conducted for sixteen years and published in Journal of the American Medical Association in 2016. This medical research found that people coming to church more than once a week had a 33% lower chance than their secular peers of dying during the sixteen years of research. Other research which was conducted for eighteen years found that the regular church attendance was linked to reductions in the body’s stress responses and even in mortality—so much so that worshippers were 55% less likely to die during the eighteen years period of research.

But the length of the life is not the only thing that the church can give you. According to many other medical studies, those people who come to church regularly like more than once a week, are much less likely to suffer from the heart diseases, cancers, or many other diseases. And their quality of life is drastically increased in comparison to the secular peers in the study. So if you come to church regularly and often, then you have way better chance to live longer, healthier, and happier. And I think we have a witness for that. Mrs. Mildred Flanary is 102, and she is very healthy and happy. So this is one big reason that you need to come to church. And if you know someone whom you care not attending church regularly, you should encourage them and bring them to church. If you know some other people whom you don’t really care, then don’t bother.

On the contrary, there are many medical studies saying that the loneliness kills. When even a very healthy people is stuck at home by themselves and isolated, then their health rapidly declines, leading them to serious health problems and eventually early death. And that tendency is accelerated when it comes to the senior people. And for that, we must have more fellowship at church. Not only worshipping God once a week on Sundays, we should gather more often having more church functions and events. If the loneliness can kill us, then the fellowship can make us more lively and vibrant. That is why I wanted to have the fellowship before and after the worship service. And today, we have cake. So please stay longer and have as much fellowship as you want in the love of Christ.

And again, for that purpose, I am planning to have a regular weekly church events. One of them is the evening Bible study. The other is the senior exercise during the day time. There is a senior exercise programme which I was trained for. The exercise is mostly done while sitting on a chair, so it is safe from fall hazard. We will exercise our body. We will exercise our brain. We will eat together and have fellowship. For now, I am having a trouble finding a right space and time. But when the session and I find the right space and time, I will let you know. Then please come for your own benefit of living longer, healthier, and happier. But I have to say that the health benefit is not the only purpose of the church. If we come to church only for the fellowship, then it is not a church but a country club. But we call this place a church. That means, there is something more than the fellowship and friendship.

Church Benefits the Society

We now know that one of the core values of the church is the fellowship. Today’s NT lesson urges us not to neglect to meet together. So we need to come and gather together at church as much as possible. But while the church benefits the health and life of the members, the church also benefits the society. One of the key activities of the church from her birth until now is to help the helpless, to feed the hungry, and to provide the needs of the needy. And the church throughout the history has been doing it. That includes this very Presbyterian Church in Lebanon.

For example, the hospitals were actually from the church. You have probably heard the hospitals such as Presbyterian hospital, Methodist hospital, or some other church related hospitals. Back in the very old days when we did not have hospitals nor churches, the sick people were not really cared for. They were cast out of the town so that their sickness would not spread to other people. That is written in the Bible. Instead of taking care of the lepers, they kicked them out of town. The sick people were not welcomed. Nobody showed them the hospitality. But the church from its early days welcomed people—all kinds of people like poor people and sick people. The church fed the hungry people and cared for the sick people. Later the church separated the place of worship and the place of welcome for the purpose of efficiency. Then the church named that building a place of welcome, which in Latin, Hospitalis. And that is the beginning of the hospital. Beside the hospitals, the churches have been doing the ministries of food pantry, benevolence, orphanage, and so on.

I’d like to introduce you Horace Grant Underwood. He was born in 1859 and died in 1916. He was a Presbyterian missionary to Korea from the United States who dedicated his whole life in developing Christianity in Korea. He did so many things and there is no way that I cannot list today all the things he did in and for Korea. But let me just mention three things. One. Presbyterian is the most dominant denomination in Korea, and that is because of him. Of course he is not the only reason. There were many more missionaries. But he definitely played a huge role in there. Two. He built a Christian college in Seoul which became Yonsei University now. Of course it was not his own money but the offerings and donation of the American Presbyterians that time. Yonsei university is the top university in Korea. Very many important people in modern Korean history were educated there. For now, Angelina Jolie’s son is studying at Yonsei University. Three. He built a hospital there, again of course not with his own money but the offerings and donations from the American Presbyterians at that time. That hospital is still one of the top and biggest hospital in South Korea. So in a nutshell, Horace Grant Underwood and the American Presbyterians shaped the huge part of South Korea in a positive and constructive way—religion, education, and health care. So the church has been benefiting the society for thousands of years around the world, feeding the hungry, helping the helpless, and caring for the sick people. But if all the church does is nothing but social justice and social welfare, it cannot be a church but a non-profit organisation. But we do not call ourselves as the First Non-Profit Organisation of Lebanon. We are the First Presbyterian Church of Lebanon. If we call ourselves a church, that means, there must be something more than just the social welfare and social justice.

Church Is Where Jesus Is

When I came to America, Hannah and I were going around for church shopping every Sunday. We’ve been to many different churches of diverse denominations. They are all good in some way. They are all good people, I believe. After all those shopping for several months, we made a Presbyterian church our home. Even though all those churches were good, there was one reason I did not settle there. At one church, the preacher was talking about how to be savvy in investment and finance. Another church was talking about how to manage the time well as a soccer mom. Those are great topics to talk about. Very informative. But I felt something was not really quite right. They had everything but they were missing Jesus. The name of Jesus was not mentioned at all even once during the entire sermon. Like the little boy at a Presbyterian church in Thompson, MB said, a church must be all about Jesus. Apostle Paul in his letter to the church in Ephesus, and again in his other letter to the church in Colossae writes that Jesus Christ is the head of the church. Jesus is the head and we are His body. We are His hands. We are His feet. We are His mouth. Jesus must work through our hands. It has to be Jesus who speaks through us. Every Sunday, the gospel has to be proclaimed. Each Sunday, Jesus must be preached about.

Today’s OT lesson shows us that the Israelites arrived at the mount Sinai. That is the church. At the mount Sinai, God commanded the Israelites through Moses to purify themselves for worship. And they met God there. So the church is where we worship God. The church is where we encounter God. The church is where the body parts of Christ gather as one. The church is where we can purify ourselves. Jesus Christ shed His blood so that we can wash ourselves clean with His blood.

Conclusion

Friends, the church has many things to do. Those things that I mentioned today can be just part of it. We will gather and have fellowship. But we need to be careful not to be a country club. We will work to make the society better, helping the people. But we need to be careful not to be another non-profit organisation. We will purify ourselves and worship God. But we need to be careful not to be a group of hypocrites. God commanded Joshua, the next generation leader after Moses in Joshua 1:7, “Do not turn from it to the right or to the left.” So we will keep the balance among all the church activities. Jesus says in Matthew 23:23, “You should have practised the latter, without neglecting the former.” Jesus was talking about the justice to the group of Pharisees practising piety. Likewise, we will also do all the things we need to do as a church. But above all, let us remember each and every moment that Jesus is the answer because this is the church. In the name and in the love of Jesus Christ, our head, we will have fellowship to have longer, healthier, better life, and we will work for the society to make our town more vibrant, and we will worship our Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Amen.