This sermon was preached on Sunday 26th January 2025 at St Peter and St Paul Church, Langham.

Bible Readings: Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10; 1 Corinthians 12-31a; Luke 4:14-21

Do you ever ask yourself why you come to church on a Sunday? I’m not asking you this flippantly. I want you to turn to the person next to you for 30 seconds and discuss, ‘Why do you come to church?’ If you don’t have an answer, that is okay. Once everyone has finished discussing, I will come around and hear some of the reasons people have given. Is everyone clear on the task? Then please begin discussing with your neighbour, ‘Why do you come to church?’ 

Discussion time

So, let’s hear some of the reasons why people come to church, and also if anybody is unsure why they come to church.

You may be wondering why I asked you all that question. From my point of view, these sorts of questions and discussions can backfire if people realise that they don’t have a reason to go to church, and I consequently do myself out of a job for next Sunday. Now, I’m glad that no one seems to have come to the conclusion that they are better off ditching church (though we will wait and see for next week). Though all joking aside, I think this is a serious question. Not because any of us are foolish or wasting our time by coming to church. But as said in my last sermon a couple of weeks back, church can so easily become a habit that we forget why we came in the first place. Or if we first came to church because we were brought by our parents or grandparents, why did we decide to stay as we got older? If we remember why we come to church, this knowledge will ground and root us in our Christian faith, including our membership in the body of Christ, the church. 

We see this in other parts of our life. If we know the reason why we are doing something, it energises and focuses us on our endeavours. For example, running a marathon is incredibly difficult, but if you know that you are running a marathon to raise money for the British Heart Foundation or Cancer Research or whichever cause you choose, it drives you in your efforts, and as a result, you perform better in running your marathon. Now, I know that not everyone is a runner. But maybe think about when you work hard at a job you might dislike, doing extra hours so you can look after your family, or maybe take the kids on that once in a lifetime trip to Disneyworld. Knowing why we are doing something motivates and drives us in what we do. 

To be clear, coming to church is more than just something we do, and being a Christian isn’t just a to-do list. Have I prayed? Have I read my Bible? Have I given to church and charity? Have I told a non-Christian friend about Jesus? And so on… But we recognise that knowing and understanding why we believe in God and come to church sets deep roots for living out our faith.  

So, with that in mind, I want us to dive into looking at our three readings, which all centre around a gathering of believers, and look at some of the reasons these believers were gathering together. 

Jesus in the Synagogue

I want to start by looking at our gospel reading. Jesus is at the beginning of his ministry. Filled with the Spirit, he has begun ministering in Galilee. After this, he returns to his hometown of Nazareth. On the Sabbath, as was customary, he goes to the synagogue for worship. Whilst in the synagogue, ‘He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour.”’^[1]

In this scene, we see Jesus proclaiming good news to the congregation present. He speaks of the good news God is doing among the people: that the Spirit of the Lord has come upon people here on earth and dwells among us. God is going to bring relief to those suffering from poverty and hardship. He will release people from their captivity and restore sight to the blind. God has come to bring freedom to His people. This moment from Jesus reminds us that we gather as a church to hear the good news of God afresh for our lives. The Jews present in the synagogue had all heard the words from Isaiah a thousand times over, yet on this occasion, there was a greater power behind those words as they spoke prophetically of what God was doing through Jesus. 

When we gather as a church, we come to hear the good news of God afresh for us. We come to hear and know more of what God is doing to bring freedom to our lives. No longer are we held in captivity, but as Christians and the church, we are set free to live new lives with God. As a church, as we gather, we learn more about the freedom we have in Christ and understand more of what it means to be a part of God’s family. Think about what you take away from meeting together at church. Think about what it means to you to sing the moving hymns, to pray and worship, to know the love of God in the peace and fellowship of your fellow Christians you share in coffee and cake. Who knows, you might gain something from the sermon, but I can’t promise anything. As we gather as a church, we learn more about God and his power and presence in our lives. This is what we take away from this scene of Jesus. 

The Reading of the Law

Next, we are turning to our Nehemiah reading. Nehemiah was a Jewish governor after the Jewish Exile to Babylon when the Jews returned to Jerusalem to rebuild it. The Jews rebuilt the temple, and now Nehemiah led the people in rebuilding the city walls. After completing the walls to surround Jerusalem, Nehemiah and the priest Ezra called the people together, and ‘All the people gathered together as one.’^[2] I want you to keep this image in your mind: all the people in the community, like we aspire to do at church, gather together as one body of people. With the people all gathered together, Ezra opened up the book of the Law of Moses, that is, the first five books of the Bible, and he read them aloud to the people, ‘and the ears of all the people were attentive to the book of the law.’^[3] And Ezra didn’t read a little bit, but he read on from early morning until midday. So, if you ever thought I was going on a bit, just be grateful that Ezra isn’t your priest. 

But why the long reading? Nehemiah and Ezra called the people together to mark a new season of spiritual renewal as the people of God had a new temple and restored holy city safe in its resurrected walls. They were to enter into this spiritual renewal by gathering as a people to hear God’s instructions on how to live as his holy people. Nehemiah writes, ‘So they read from the book, from the law of God, with interpretation. They gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading.’^[4] The people came together to hear God’s word, to hear interpretations, i.e. to hear sermons about what God was saying in these passages, so that the people could understand what God was saying to them. 

When we come to gather as a church, do you hope to understand more of God’s word? I assume, or perhaps I hope, the answer is ‘yes.’ As a preacher, I share your desire and hope that the sermons will help us understand more about what God’s word is saying to us. But more than just hearing Bible readings and sermons, we can learn and understand more of God in the way he meets with us as a collective, as God meets with us in sharing bread and wine, and in the fellowship of coffee and cake. I know I learn more about God through each of you in your faith and the way you share God’s love and presence. 

I’m going to embarrass one of you, and this person isn’t going to like this, but I’m sure you all agree. I really love and admire Pam. Sometimes you can be quiet, Pam, but your life, your love, your care, your deep faith, your wisdom, and your joy tremendously show us more of Jesus. I have things to say about each of you and how your faith inspires me, but to prevent this sermon from becoming a dawn till noon affair, I hope you forgive me for just mentioning one of you. But I am sure I am not alone in this. I’m sure each of us could think of a way in which each person here in church shows us more of Jesus through them. We gather at church to share in this time of learning and deepening our understanding of God and his presence in our lives. 

One Body, Many Parts 

Hold this thought in your head as we turn to our epistle reading from 1 Corinthians. In this reading, Paul is talking about the people of the church using the metaphor of a body. A body is made up of many parts – arms, legs, eyes, hair, pinky toes, etc. – and the body functions best with all its various body parts working in unison. Without each part of the body, even the small pinky toe, the body doesn’t function at its best. Try walking without your little toe, this small toe makes a huge difference to the way you walk and balance. 

What Paul is trying to get across to the church in Corinth is that each member of the church plays a part in the body and life of the church. However big or small, everyone matters and brings something to the body. As I said a moment ago, we gather as a church to share something of Jesus through what each of us brings, and that is what Paul is stressing to us. I know most of us can feel that we have very little to offer at church and that no one would miss me if I were gone. But that is just false. God intended for the church to be an amalgamation of all gifts, skills and talents of the diverse people that he has made. 

It’s important to note that Paul talks about each of us having a different part to play. He says it would be no good if everyone was an eye, otherwise, how would you hear? You need both the eye and the ear to see and hear. You cannot have all of one and the same. If we all brought the same gifts to each other, we would get a lot from it as a church. If the church was filled with only people who could make savoury food, then where would the cake be? 

Each member of the church has a gift to bring to the shared body. Paul lists a few examples. ‘God has appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds of tongues.’^[5] This list is not exhaustive, but gives a few examples of gifts that you bring, but there are so many more gifts that each person brings to the church. 

This week, I want you to think about the gifts you bring to the church. It doesn’t have to be big; it can be small, and it’s okay that it’s different to other people’s gifts. That is a good thing and how God intended it to be. My challenge to you is that as we chat over tea and coffee, could you tell the person you are chatting with just one thing about them that you see as a gift to the church? I’ll give you an easy win to start off with: thank the person who made the cake for their gift of baking. Tell them how much we are blessed by their gift. We each have a particular gift to share with the church. And God doesn’t limit our gifts to be shared only within Langham church, but God invites us to share our gifts with the worldwide church. Wherever we are, we have gifts to share with others. Can we share our gifts in our families, in our workplaces, and in our communities? This is how the people of the church can bring more of Jesus to other people. Each of us brings something of Jesus to the church body.  

So Why Do We Come to Church? 

I’ve taken you around the houses today, but I’m coming into land. At the start, I asked us to think about why we came to church. We shared some of our reasons, and we examined some of the important messages about gathering as a church that we see in our three Bible readings. We see how we gather to learn from one another, how we benefit from what we do together, and how we see Jesus in the lives and gifts of others. As we gather, we are strengthened and renewed as the people of God. I am moved by how when Ezra gathered the people together, they responded by lifting their hands to bless the Lord, and ‘Then they bowed their heads and worshipped the LORD with their faces to the ground.’^[6] Gathering together led them deeper into the worship of our Lord God. Essentially, we come to church because it leads us closer to God through his word, his presence, and the gifts of his people. Is that why you come to church? If it isn’t, that’s fine. But I would encourage you to see all the gifts that God has for us when we gather as his church. 

Amen.  

---

^[1] Luke 4:16-19 [NRSV]. 

^[2] Nehemiah 8:1 [NIV].  

^[3] Nehemiah 8:3 [NRSV].

^[4] Nehemiah 8:8 [NRSV]. 

^[5] 1 Corinthians 12:28 [NRSV]. 

^[6] Nehemiah 8:6 [NRSV].