❖ Video
❖ Audio (Message)
This is not a church!
(Matthew 10:1, 5-8, Mark 6:30,31, Luke 10:38-42)
Andy Nagahara
I am very happy to say that we have had an increase in the number of people who are new to Your Church or have not been here for a long time and have joined us again in worship together, so this morning I would like to talk about how we value the way we are as a church.
Of course, we would also like those of you who have been here a long time to take this opportunity to double-check, so please listen carefully.
A. Worship service and Mini-church
1. Where is Your Church?
Let’s start by reading Matthew 10:1, 5-8.
He called his twelve disciples to him and gave them authority to drive out evil spirits and to heal every disease and sickness. … These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: “Do not go among the Gentiles or enter any town of the Samaritans. Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel. As you go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.
This place is not Your Church. This is the building rented by Your Church. This is where Your Church holds worship services on Sundays. Church is not a place we go to. The church is us ourselves.
Your Church is us. Your Church exists wherever we are, not just in this building. Even if the other members are not together, if Jesus and you are there, Your Church is there.
The essence of the church is not a place or a building. The church is the community of Jesus and his followers.
Jesus came into the world to save, help, heal, comfort, and strengthen people, and He uses the church to do this. To be part of this community is to take on the work of Jesus. It’s about caring for different people in different ways.
There are only two people called pastors in Your Church, but in reality, anyone who follows Jesus is a pastor. Pastor Mari and I are not your customer service representatives or complaints handlers. You are not the customer.
We pastors are your supervisors in caring for people. If you are a teacher at school, you are the pastor to the students in your class. If you are an office worker, you are the pastor of the people there. When you are at home you are the pastor of your family. It doesn’t matter if you are the youngest in your family or the newest in your office. You can pray for the soul of a person, or listen to them, regardless of their age or status, whether they are above or below you.
At the end of each Sunday service, we are sent off with a benediction. “I will send you where you are sent by God!” That is the most primary place for you as Your Church, not here.
2. Why are you gathering here on this precious Sunday morning?
So why do we gather here once a week for just an hour and a half of worship service?
No matter how high performance a car is, it cannot run if it runs out of fuel. The same is true for us. The worship we offer together on the first day of the week is a gas station for our souls, giving us the energy to keep going through the week. But it’s self-service. The station staff won’t fill it up for you.You hold the nozzle and inject it yourself.
It doesn’t mean that we simply have to be here, but that we must open our spiritual mouths and ears and set everything aside to worship sincerely. Then, we are filled and we go to where we are sent.
The Gospel of Mark records Jesus’ command to the disciples who were sent out and returned.
The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.”
３. Who will provide my care?
But just as a car needs various kinds of maintenance in addition to fuelling, our souls need maintenance as well. Where can you receive that?
It’s a mini-church. Jesus promised that where two or three people who believe in Him and follow Him are gathered together, He will be there too – that’s a mini-church. Mini-churches exist even in places where they are not actually recognized as mini-churches. If you ever meet with someone from Your Church to talk and pray with them, it is essentially a mini-church. Here we take care of each other’s needs.
Why have we continued to emphasize mini-churches for 30 years? This is because without mini-churches in addition to worship services, we cannot fully fulfill our role as pastors to the places where we have been sent. And we ourselves are vulnerable people who need to be prayed for, encouraged, and listened to.
B. How to Identify a Good Spiritual Gas Station
1. Are they providing pure fuel?
We are sometimes asked if it is possible to have a mini-church type gathering on Sundays. Indeed, many churches have gatherings on Sunday afternoons that serve as an alternative to mini-churches. But we don’t actively intend to do that as a church meeting.
If you get together with like-minded people for lunch and chat, that’s a mini- church. If you go home right away after the service, have meal with your family, and chat about the story you heard about Jesus today with them, there is a mini-church, too. I think that’s much better.
Let me tell you why. In the church where I first became a member after believing in Jesus, there were many young people of my generation. They were enthusiastic about a variety of activities. But it didn’t make it to the next generation. So it just seemed like the average age of the church was getting a year older every year. Yet those who were there were increasingly eager to support the work of the church in a variety of roles. Especially on Sundays, they would dedicate time to various meetings after the service. As a result, Sunday was the most tiring day of the week.
I eventually became one of the pastors of that church and did everything I could to help restore the church’s health. I visited churches that seemed healthy and tried to discover the secret to their health. The discoveries made through these efforts became the starting point for what would become Your Church. It means putting everything else aside and focusing on worship. It is the kind of worship we offer now.
Today there are many churches in Japan that hold similar services, but back then many people said, “This is not a worship service.” But I am convinced that there is no worship service that brings us closer to God in such a realistic way. That conviction has not changed in 30 years.
But as I said earlier, this is self-service. Nothing will happen if you just sit there and do nothing. Let us worship the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.
2. Are they selling anything other than fuel?
People whose first church was Your Church can’t feel any doubts, but for those who know other churches, they may wonder if it is okay to have a church without “Bible study group,” “prayer group,” “youth group,” “women’s group,” “evangelism committee,” “treasurer committee,” or “cleaning duty”? It is understandable that they might wonder.
At Your Church, we don’t celebrate birthdays on Sundays. As an exception, last year the rules were changed to only celebrate those who turn 100 years old. There are no Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, or Children’s Day celebrations. There’s basically nothing going on on Sunday afternoons. And we have been offering the same kind of worship every week, nothing new.
Why do you think that is? This is because we want to avoid, as much as possible, anything that might get in the way of you and Jesus spending time together intimately.
There are many terms that are commonly used in Christian churches, but are rarely heard at Your Church. For example, “service.” The idea is for everyone to share the work within the church, but this is not only tiring, but it can also be a nuisance as it can lead to criticism and dissatisfaction. Many people come to Your Church feeling exhausted from serving from their previous church, but I once had someone tell me, “The church I go to now doesn’t give me any opportunities to serve.” I was a little hesitant, but I answered honestly, “At Your Church, there are no ‘opportunities for service,’ and even no concept of service at all.”
If “service” means serving Jesus, then, as I mentioned earlier, the place of “service” is where we are during the week. Sunday is also supposed to be our Sabbath. Wouldn’t it be strange to feel exhausted on the Sabbath and start your week off feeling blue? In that case, there is no way you would be able to fulfill your duties as a pastor to the place where you were sent.
Therefore, we believe that it is our duty as pastors to keep the work of maintaining the church building and organization to a minimum, so that each member can work energetically in their own position. How would you feel if you were only there to get gas, but then you were stopped at the gas station and had to stay there all afternoon for a lunch or social gathering with the station staff and other drivers? I’d go to a different gas station.
３. To keep worship service from becoming a disappointing gas station
Why is church so tiring on Sundays? This is because the focus is on people and not on God. Let me read Luke 10:38-42
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42)
We should sometimes ask ourselves: is our faith Mary-like or Martha-like? “Who am I coming to see on Sunday?” “Who do I want to be recognized by here?” “Who do I want to have a friendly conversation with?”
If the answer to all of these questions is not the Lord Jesus, you will not be satisfied with Your Church. Your Church stays alive by focusing on Jesus on Sundays and caring for one another in mini churches.
I don’t expect you to get to know everyone in the church well and become friends with them. That takes a lot of effort. It’s the worst when you spend so much time interacting with people in Your Church that you don’t have time to spend with other people, especially those who don’t have faith.
Therefore, at Your Church, a mini-church fellowship and a few like-minded friends are all that is needed. There are many different people who attend Your Church services. It is such a joy to see that. People who don’t know Jesus, people from other religions, people who have been exhausted at other churches or have had experiences where their way of being was not pleasing, will be fine here.
However, there are things that each of us must be careful about in order to ensure that our church remains a welcoming place for everyone. People tend to judge others based on their own standards.
People with common sense assume that others should also behave in a common sense manner, and so tend to blame others for their lack of common sense. For example, it would be common sense to be able to greet everyone with a smile before and after worship. However, even those who are unable to do so for various reasons can come to Your Church’s services with peace of mind. Those who come and don’t enter the chapel but choose to lie down on the couch and worship through a monitor are also welcome to attend the service. Please be aware that if a church encourages people to “smile and greet everyone after the service,” some people will not want to come.
All you people of common sense, please be proud of the Sunday service at Your Church, where you can worship together with people who are different from you and who you don’t particularly want to be friends with. If a church only has people like you, then it’s not Your Church but Our Church.
To all of you who feel like you can’t do things the same as other people in many ways, please rest assured that you are here. You don’t have to get along with everyone. You don’t need to be interested in everyone. It’s okay if some people are hard to approach. Worship at Your Church is for you to walk with Jesus.
We are a connected community, but our connection is based not on trust in one another, but on trust in Jesus. There may not be any man-made unity, but there is unity through Jesus. Let us rejoice in this holy disjointedness with one another
(Prayer) Dear God, we are here to worship you.Pour out your Spirit into our souls, as you did on the day of Pentecost.May our souls be directed only to you.We worship you with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind, and with all our strength.Please let me hear your voice and understand your wisdom.And please guide us this week so that we may fulfill our ministry wherever you have sent us.
Thankfully and hopefully, we pray in the name of Jesus Christ.
Summary
We should sometimes ask ourselves, is our faith Mary-like or Martha-like (Luke 10:38-42)? “Who am I coming to see on Sunday?” “Who do I want to be recognized by here?” “Who do I want to have a friendly conversation with?” If the answer to all of these questions is not the Lord Jesus, you will not be satisfied with Your Church. Your Church stays alive by focusing on Jesus on Sundays and caring for one another in mini churches.
For Discussion
1. What is a church?
2. What kind of unity is required in the Church?