DAILY DEVOTIONAL – April 27, 2021
“A Fish Out of Water”
Prayer: Lord Jesus, you have called us out of darkness and into the marvelous light of Your salvation. You have graciously made us the people of God. Lord, in Your mercy, lead us in living a life “called out” of this world. Amen.
Scripture: Hebrews 10:24-25
“24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
Devotional – “A Fish Out of Water”
The story is told of a certain church goer who wrote a letter to the editor of a newspaper complaining that it made no sense to go to church every Sunday.
He wrote: “I’ve gone for 30 years now, and in that time I have heard something like 3,000 sermons, but for the life of me, I can’t remember a single one of them. So, I think I’m wasting my time. The preachers are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all”.
This started a real controversy in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ column of the newspaper.
Much to the delight of the editor, it went on for weeks until someone wrote these words that brought the controversy to an abrupt halt:
“I’ve been married for 30 years now. In that time my wife has graciously cooked me some 32,000 meals. But, for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals. But I do know this: They all nourished me and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me these meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourishment, I would be spiritually dead today!”
How many times have you heard someone say, or how many times have you said or thought to yourself, “I don’t need to go to church to worship God or love Jesus.” Well, that’s technically true, and a fish doesn’t have to swim to be a fish either, nor does it necessarily have to be in the water to be a fish. But, you know what happens to a fish if it doesn’t swim or if it stays out of the water too long? Yes, it dies. Why does a fish swim and stay in the water? Because it’s a fish, that’s why. Why do Christians go to church? Because they are Christians, that’s why.
Do you know how Christians got the name Christian? We didn’t give it to ourselves. The name was given to us. In Acts 11 Luke tells us that it was because non-believers saw the veracity with which followers of Jesus gathered together for teaching and fellowship that they began to call them Christians. In the Greek, “Kristianos” literally means “followers of Christ.”
If in fact we are followers of Christ, then we should first look to Him and follow Him. So, then, where was Jesus on the Sabbath (or on Sundays in our modern day)? The answer to that should be obvious: He was perfectly fulfilling the 3rd commandment of God that says, “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” How do we know this is what Jesus did on Sundays? Luke tells us very plainly in 4:16, “And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day.”
How do we keep the Sabbath holy as God commanded? Not by anything we do. We are not holy, but sinful. We keep it holy by coming to the place where God has promised to do His holy work in our hearts, minds, and souls in a unique way; in His Word and Sacrament ministry that He has given to His church, and only to His church. It is in the midst of God’s people assembled together that God has provided the means for His word to be rightly preached, taught, heard, and believed, and His holy Body and Blood in, with, and under the Bread and Wine of Communion to be distributed and received, and our fellowship with Him to be experienced through the fellowship of God’s “assembled people”, which is literally what church means in the Bible. It is not in the home, or on the sports field, or at the grocery store, or anywhere else that God has promised to do these unique and special holy works in our lives. It is in His church, as defined by where His people assemble, that God has always and still does His work of keeping us holy through faith in Jesus. This is why Jesus, even at 12 years old, told His mother and father when they were filled with panic after not being able to find Jesus for three days, “Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” Where was Jesus when they finally found Him? Luke tells us in chapter 2, “After three days they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.”
Don’t be deceived by the empty imitation of Biblical truth that is the lie, “you don’t have to go to church to be a Christian.” If you are a Christian, then you are a follower of Christ and a believer in the Word of God which says clearly in Hebrews 10, “19 Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, 20 by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, 21 and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22 let us draw near 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. 23 Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. 24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.”
You see friends, as Hebrews says, we are saved and made followers of Christ and are made to be members of His Church only by His blood shed for us, and because we are Christians, not “in order be Christians,” we go to where God’s people assemble in order to “draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith” by “not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some.”
Don’t be deceived by the vain janglin’ you hear today when people say that “the church is not a building.” No, the church is not a building, but it is the assembly of God’s people together in one place. If you want to assemble together as a church in a park or on a mountain top or in a river, that’s fine, but from the very first Tabernacle that God commanded the Israelites to build to the Temple that Jesus told His parents was His Father’s house, the church has assembled in a building.
As individuals, we are sinners, not the church. You don’t bring the church to people in your workplace, you bring people in your workplace to church. Don’t be deceived by those who make excuses for their own lack of church attendance by saying “don’t go to church, be the church.” That’s not a Christian teaching you find in the Bible. You don’t have to go to Church to “be” a Christian, but if you are a Christian you will gladly confess that that is where your Lord was, and is, and wants you to be.
Our Lord Jesus bled and died for His church, for His forgiven and assembled people, and He has given us the promise in Matthew 16:18, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
Even if it will be the 3,000th sermon you sit and listen to, I pray we get to assemble together, in church this weekend.
Thanks for joining me for another daily devotional, and remember, that God has forgiven yesterday, is with you today, and has already taken care of tomorrow.
