Church is More than a Sunday Morning Sermon

When you hear the word “Church” what image pops into your head? A sanctuary full of pews? Pews filled with people? People with their Bible’s open listening to God’s Word? “Church” is most commonly used to describe the Sunday morning sermon and accompanying service. You go to Church in order to hear a sermon.

But the Church is so much more than a Sunday morning sermon. In fact, if you equate Church to a worship service between the hours of 10-12 am, then you are going to miss out on a lot of the joy and excitement that the Church is. In this post, I give you a three “mindsets” to develop. Each will help expand what you think about when you hear the word “Church”.

1. The Body Mindset

The Church is a dynamic gathering of Saints

You might have heard the phrase “the Church is not the building, it is the people.” Someone could also say “Church is not the Sunday morning sermon, it is the people.” Men, women, and children who are redeemed by Christ, united by the Holy Spirit, and who have covenanted together in a local assembly. When you drive to Church on Sunday, you are driving to gather with that “body” of people.

Having this “body mindset” keeps you from what I will call “movie theater mindset.” When you go to see a movie, you come in and sit together with a bunch of total strangers. This random group made up of different families and individuals watches the movie together but then leaves to return to separate homes without ever interacting or acknowledging each others’ existence. “Movie theater mindset” is coming to Church to listen to the Pastor preach alongside a bunch of strangers who you do not know and who you do not interact with after service is over.

In contrast, the Church as laid out in Acts is a completely different type of gathering:

⁴⁴ And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵ And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶ And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, ⁴⁷ praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Acts 2:44-47 ESV, emphasis added

You don’t “go to Church”; if you are a Christian you are a part of the Church, this dynamic body of believers. This means you gather together with fellow Saints past 10-12 am on Sunday morning. It means you see yourself as a part of their lives and realize each Church member is an important part of your life. You have to fight “movie theater mindset” and seek to know those in the pews next to you.

Thinking of the Church as a body changes how you come to Sunday service and how you plan your weeks.

2. Warfare Mindset

The Church equips the Saints to do ministry

Passive listening is the enemy of Christian preaching. I have written about getting more from your Pastor’s sermon and created tools to help you stay engaged during a sermon. Why? Because a sermon is not a motivational speech, a lecture, or entertainment. Preaching is training grounds for the spiritual battle you face each day of your life.

Paul says in Ephesians 4 that the Church “equips the saints for the work of service.” One of the main means God uses to equip you is the Sunday morning sermon. But “equipping” implies not just a passive listening to preaching. It implies that you go out an apply what you learned to your life as you go throughout the week.

Each time you go to Church, God is arming you to go out and fight the good fight of faith the rest of the week.

This simple shift in thinking will completely change how you approach Church. You aren’t driving to an old building on a Sunday morning while scrambling to get kids fed and in the car merely to have a few “positive thoughts” before starting your week. Equipping, not entertainment, is the goal of preaching. Equipping you as a Church member to leave Sunday morning service ready to serve the Lord wherever He calls you that week: at home, at work, with family, interacting with unbelievers. Go into Church to prepare for going out and ministering to others.

3. Eschatological Mindset

The Church is the bride of Christ from every tribe, tongue, and nation

The whole reason I write on this website is because I love the local Church: the average Christians who live their lives week by week seeking to glorify the Lord in their specific, small corner of the world. But sometimes a local Church mindset can lead you to imagine the Church is small. It isn’t. Your little local Church is one piece of a much bigger puzzle. And you see how the puzzle fits together in one of the greatest passages in the whole Bible:

After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,

Revelation 7:9 ESV, emphasis added

You need an “eschatological mindset” when you come to Sunday service. This means you see clearly that your local body is a part of God’s plan from all eternity to save a group of sinners through Christ for His glory. Sure, there are problems and difficulties within your body. I am sure it is a struggle some Sundays to get to Church or stay awake during the sermon. Maybe your Church is small and seemingly insignificant. But remind yourself that there is nothing insignificant about a part of God’s plan.

It does not matter if your local congregation is small. It is a part of God’s infinitely wise and glorious plan.

Coming to Church knowing that each Sunday is fitting you and your fellow Church members for an eternal weight of glory puts you in a much more worshipful state than if you come to Church merely thinking about the here and now. Open your eyes to the beautiful Scriptural truth that God is sovereignly saving sinners from every corner of the earth for an eternity with Him. And you, as a Christian, get to be a part of that plan in your little Church.

Conclusion

To summarize, come to Church with these three mindsets:

• Body Mindset-you aren’t there to just listen to a Sunday morning sermon, you are there to interact with a dynamic body of Saints
• Warfare Mindset-you go to Church to get equipped by the Word of God to go out and live for His glory throughout the week
• Eschatological Mindset-your Church, no matter how small, is a part of God’s cosmic plan of redemption

As you cultivate these perspectives, you will find how you think about Church will change from something static and dull to something glorious and exciting.

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