Message for THE LORD S DAY EVENING, August 4, 2013 Christian Hope Church of Christ, Plymouth, North Carolina by Reggie A. Braziel, Minister Though We Be Few In Number Matthew 18:20 (NKJV) Please turn with me to tonight s scripture text in Matthew 18:20. Matthew 18:20 (NKJV) For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. P R A Y E R I N T R O D U C T I O N Picture this scene: You walk into Church. (It can be Sunday morning or Sunday night) You chat with a few people in the foyer. You make your way into the sanctuary and find your seat. You scan over the bulletin to see if any new names have been added to the prayer list. Its time for the service to begin and you look around and ask yourself or the person seated next to you: Where is everybody? (repeat) Typically summer time is very hard on many Churches. In the summer months the Church often takes a backseat to vacations...ball games...or weekends at the beach. And there are those who simply choose not to assemble with the Church each week out of sheer laziness, apathy, or lack of commitment. And of course there's always those who are physically unable to be in Church due to sickness or being shut-in or there's been a death in the family.
Preachers have a name for this time of year. We call it the summer slump. I've had three preachers ask me this week, How are things at Christian Hope? And my response has been, We are in a bad summer slump. And they said, We're going through the same thing! It is of little comfort to know other Churches are going through the same thing is it? Because no matter how much we try to act like it doesn't bother us, the truth of the matter is EMPTY PEWS have a very profound effect upon a Church. EMPTY PEWS are discouraging to those who have put forth the the effort and made the commitment to be in the Lord's house when the Church doors are open. And yes, EMPTY PEWS are discouraging to me, your preacher. Each week when I prepare the messages I prepare as though I will be preaching to a house full, and when half, and sometimes even less than half of the Lord's House is full, it is very discouraging. I have never understood why people who claim to be Christians have to be told time and time again to be in the Lord's house on the Lord's Day. I mean isn't that the most basic commitment all Christians should keep? No Christian should ever get up on Sunday morning and have to decide whether or not to go to Church. That decision should have already been made the day one walked down the aisle to accept Jesus Christ as one's Lord and Savior. The BASEBALL stadiums are full! The NASCAR stands are full! The BLEACHERS at youth league ball games are full! The BEACHES are over-crowded! And soon the FOOTBALL stadiums will be packed! While in the Lord's House, many pews sit empty, causing the few who are there to scratch their heads and ask, Where is everybody?
This week I sensed the Lord's Spirit compelling me to prepare a message to encourage you who have made a commitment to be here this evening. I have entitled tonight's message, Though We Be Few In Number. Jesus said, For where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. First let me explain what this verse DOESN'T MEAN. -For one thing, it doesn't mean its OK for a two or three Church members to go rogue and separate themselves from the rest of the Church. Sometimes a small group in a Church will become disgruntled with the rest of the Church and start having their own private services. ILLUSTRATION: When I was ministering in Illinois we had a family in the Church that went rogue and started having their own Church services. And to make a long story short, these people started having a bad influence on other Church members and we lost about 36 people as a result. And the ironic thing about it was this group that separated themselves from the rest of the Church never started a Church of their own. Most of them simply stopped going any where. -For another thing, this verse is NOT saying that the LORD isn't with you when you worship by yourself. In Matthew 6:6 Jesus talks about the importance of private worship. But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut the door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. The scriptures command both private and public worship Both are necessary for our spiritual growth and maturity. Some people claim they don't need to go to Church on Sundays. They claim they can worship just as well on the golf course or out in a fishing boat as they can in a Church building. The funny thing is, I have been around for 58 years now and I have yet to see the first person worshiping with a 9 IRON or a fishing rod in his hand.
Hebrews 10:25 commands us NOT to forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encourage each other all the more as you see the Day approaching. Let me ask you something. If someone who professes to be a Christian is physically able to go to work every day, and able to go to the grocery store or to Wal-Mart, and they are physically able to do pretty much anything else they want to do, don't you believe they ought to be able to be in the Lord's house on the first day of each and every week? (PAUSE) As we think about what Jesus is saying in this 20th verse, let's consider some of the blessings we receive even when we are few in number. First of all there is... I. The Blessing of Sweet FELLOWSHIP With ONE ANOTHER (v.20a) v. 20 a For where two or three come together in My name. 1. Throughout the gospels we read accounts where Jesus met with thousands upon thousands of people at one gathering, like the day He fed 5,000, and the day He fed the 4,000. 2. But there were also times when Jesus met with only His twelve disciples; and quite often He would meet with just Peter, James and John to explain the deeper truths of the kingdom. 3. I don't recall ever having only two or three people show up for a worship service, but I do remember one Sunday evening when I preached to just seven people, and one of those was my own brother. Aside from the smallness of that gathering that night, the thing I remember most about it was the intimacy we had in that hour of worship.
I remember all seven of them sitting together on one pew. And rather than preaching from behind the pulpit, I came down and sat on the back of a pew in front of them. Those seven people sang their hearts out that night. And we all joined hands during prayer. And they listened intently to the message, and we went home. Now I would be lying to you if I told you I wouldn't have rather had a house full that night, but though we were very few in number, we were blessed with a close, intimate fellowship with one another. 4. I believe we make a big mistake when we measure success or failure in a Church solely by attendance. I mean think about it: Does big attendance always equal success? Does small attendance always equal failure? ILLUSTRATION I remember the first couple of Sundays after the terrorist's attacks on September 11, 2001 our Church pews were packed. And yet within a couple of weeks, most of them stopped coming and were never seen in Church again. That was a case where larger numbers didn't translate into closer fellowship. ILLUSTRATION But by the same token, I can remember many times over the years in various ministries I have had when we would have a small crowd show up for a Sunday morning or Sunday evening worship service. And just about the time I was ready to write those services off as a lost cause, we would have one or two people come forward to be baptized or to re-dedicate their lives to Christ.
5. What is the source of our intimacy when we come together? It is our relationship with Jesus Christ. Where two or three are gathered together IN MY NAME. You see, even if there are very few of us here, if we have come together in the name of Christ, to worship Christ, and sing our praises to Christ, then we share an intimate bond with one another, because we're all here for a common purpose. Another blessing that often comes when there are few in number is... II. The Blessing of Sweet FELLOWSHIP With THE LORD (vs. 20 a,b) For where two or more are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. 1. In every congregation I've served over the past thirty six years, there has always been a handful of people you could count on to be in the Lord's house every time the Church doors were open. It didn't matter if it was hot or cold outside. It didn't matter if it was sunny or rainy or there was three inches of snow on the ground. You could count on those people to always be there. 2. In this verse, Jesus is giving us a wonderful promise that when two or more are gathered together in His name, we can count on Jesus to be there! Aren't you glad Jesus didn't say, For where two or three hundred are gathered together in My name or For where two or three thousand are gathered together in My name, I will be there. Jesus promised, For where two or more are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.
3. Even when we are in a terrible summer slump Jesus promised He would be here! Even when half the pews are empty, Jesus promised He would be here! Jesus is the One we can ALWAYS count on to be present when His people have gathered together in His name. ILLUSTRATION When I was a senior in High School about seven or eight of my classmates and I would meet at my home church each week for a time of worship. We would sing choruses and study God's word and spend time in prayer. Although we were few in number we could sense a close fellowship with the LORD. ILLUSTRATION Early in my ministry I was asked to conduct a workshop at the Southern Illinois Christian Convention. My topic was Ministering In A Small Rural Church. I worked for many weeks to prepare my thoughts for that workshop. When it came time for the convention only four preachers showed up for my workshop...four preachers who were discouraged and facing many of the same challenges I was facing in my own ministry. As we talked about our struggles and encouraged each other, we could sense the comforting presence of GOD with us, though we were few in number. 4. When you come to worship and you see a bunch of empty pews, it is very easy to dwell on who isn't here. What if instead we focused on The One Who is here? 5. Right at this very moment we are in the presence of the One Who loved us so much He was willing to leave His home in heaven and come here and offer His own life as a sacrifice to save our souls. Right at this very moment we are in the presence of the One who made the lame to walk and the blind to see and the deaf to hear. We are in the presence of the One who calmed the sea and raised the dead back to life again.
6. Don't look at the empty pews. Fix your eyes upon Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising its shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. C O N C L U S I O N What can we take away from a message like this? For one thing, I pray that this message has underscored how important it is to be in the Lord's house on the first day of each week. That isn't a suggestion, it is a commandment. May all of us renew our commitment to be faithful in keeping this command. I also pray that this message has reminded all of us just how much each of us are missed when we're not here each Lord's Day. Its like having a family gathering and all the family isn't there. Satan uses empty pews to dampen the spirit of the Church. On the positive side, we have been reminded in tonight's message that even when we are few in number, all is not lost. We are blessed to have sweet fellowship with the few who have joined us; and we are especially blessed to have sweet fellowship with Christ Himself, who promised He would be present. For where two or more are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them.