40 million churchgoers in the US have stopped attending church. Researchers call this “The Great Dechurching.” I’ve heard of this phenomenon some time ago; but recently, I learned a surprising fact: many “dechurched” people are still Bible-believing Christians.
“Dechurched evangelicals are still largely orthodox in their faith. …68 percent of those we surveyed still believe in the Trinity, 64 percent believe in the divinity of Jesus, 65 percent believe Jesus’ death on the cross paid the penalty for the sins of those who believe in him, 67 percent believe in the resurrection, 62 percent believe that Jesus is the only way to God, and 61 percent believe the Bible is a reliable document for all matters of faith and practice.”1
This data shows that not all who left the church left because they’ve stopped believing in the gospel. But it reveals sadly that many professing Christians no longer prioritize attending church.
Maybe some of us here are also wondering: Is the church service really important? Do we need to gather for worship? Why should we go to church every week? Today, we will begin a sermon series in the Book of Philippians. The apostle Paul wrote this letter to the Christians at Philippi. This letter was read out loud during their church gathering. In the same way that we gather today as a church to hear God’s word, these Christians at Philippi also gathered together to listen to Paul’s divinely inspired letter read out loud for them. From the first two verses, God was already reminding them who they were and what they were called to do as a church. From this text, we will learn three purposes for gathering together as a church.
Purpose #1: To Follow Christ.
Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, (Philippians 1:1a)
Paul is the author of this letter. Timothy accompanied him. Notice how they described themselves: “servants.” This is a surprising title. Why? Paul was a famous religious leader. God was doing extraordinary miracles through him (Acts 19:11-12). Paul became so famous for his miraculous power that some people even tried casting out demons “in the name of the Jesus whom Paul preaches” (Acts 19:13). But the demons would reply to them, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know about, but who are you?” (Acts 19:15-16) Even the demons knew about Paul and were afraid of him! Despite all his power and fame, Paul called himself a servant.
The true leaders of the church are not celebrities, rich business owners, or charismatic influencers. The true church leaders are servants. Throughout Paul’s ministry, people attacked his credibility and questioned his teachings. You know how Paul defended himself? He didn’t talk about his miracles, his powerful sermons, the amount of money he raised for ministry, nor the number of people attending his events. Paul talked about his suffering (2 Corinthians 11:21-29). Why did Paul talk about his suffering to defend his ministry? Because his suffering proved that his ministry was authentic. How did his suffering prove that his ministry is authentic? His suffering showed that he is a true servant. He was not serving himself. He was serving a Master worth suffering and dying for. The true church leaders are not masters, celebrities, or kings. The true church leaders are servants.
If church leaders are servants, that means they should give us whatever we want, right? No. The leaders of the church have a responsibility to serve the people. But they are not primarily our servants. What does the text say? “Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus.” The leaders of the church are Jesus Christ’s servants. Jesus is the Lord over the church.
There is a mantra in business: “Customer is king.” To succeed in business, you need people to buy your product. For people to buy your product, you must give them what they want. So, to succeed, you must give everything your customer wants. “Customer is king.” This philosophy works well in business; but not in church. In church, customer is not king. Jesus is king! If we communicate to the world that we’re here to please them, rather than Christ, that may work for a season. We may attract people with all the love, care, and affection we show them. But what happens once they no longer “feel” like attending church? If “customer is king,” then attendees will eventually sense no obligation to go to church when they don’t feel like it.
Does this mean that church leaders should guilt-trip people into going to church? Not at all! People should come willingly because they want to honor Jesus as their King. In the same way that “customers” are not the kings of the church, pastors and leaders are also not the kings of the church. We have only one King—Jesus Christ. Rather than force people to go to church, church leaders must design the worship services, not to please people and entice them to come, but to glorify King Jesus. If people want to join us in honoring our King, our church doors are wide open. This is the first purpose why we gather as a church. We gather to follow King Jesus.
Purpose #2: To Be Made Holy.
To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons: (Philippians 1:1b)
Earlier, Paul described himself and Timothy as “servants.” This is because the church of Jesus Christ is led by Christ’s servants. Now, he is addressing his audience—the Christians in the church at Philippi. Notice the word he used to describe them: “saints.” This word means “holy ones.” Paul is describing the Christians at Philippi as people who are righteous, pure, and sanctified. Why? Is it because they were good to Paul? The Philippians have been supporting Paul’s ministry. Paul wrote this letter to thank them for their continuing support. They were practicing commendable righteousness. One might say they truly deserved the title of “saints.”
But notice what Paul wrote. How did these Philippian Christians become saints? Where did they gain their righteous and holy status? “To all the saints in Christ Jesus….” These Christians at Philippi were not saints in themselves. They did not become holy through their own merit. They weren’t declared as righteous saints because of their good deeds supporting Paul. Instead, how did they become righteous saints? They became saints by being “in Christ Jesus.”
Church, we don’t become holy by trying to be good. It doesn’t work. All our good works are like filthy rags that can never cleanse us to be worthy of even just being in God’s presence. We become saints only by being in Christ. It is only through our union with Christ that we can achieve a righteous status. The Bible says that we unite ourselves with Christ by believing in Him as our Savior and Lord. As soon as we place our faith in Jesus Christ, we receive a righteous status. We become holy. We become saints. But after receiving this new status, we must then grow in our faith. Why? So that we can become who we truly are in Christ. So that the gospel that saved us can continue to transform us inside our hearts and manifest in our outward lives. The gospel did not just save us when we first believed. It continues to transform us.
This is the second purpose why we go to church. We go to church to be made holy. We can’t grow in righteousness and holiness on our own. We need the church to help fix our eyes on Christ. Paul wrote: “To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi….” Location matters. Christians since the first century have always gathered with other Christians in their locality. How did they gather? Notice the next line: “To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons….” The churches were organized. They had a structured leadership. Having this leadership structure in place meant that they gathered as a church intentionally.
Some people don’t like leaders. We don’t like the politics and the abuse of power that leadership often involves. But leadership in the church is important. Why? So that we can get organized. So that we can be intentional in gathering together. If we believe that the worship service is where we meet with God to receive his holiness, then we need faithful pastors and leaders who would serve us by making sure that our church gatherings are spiritually edifying.
Purpose #3: To Celebrate the Gospel.
Why do we go to church? First, we go to church to follow Christ. Second, we go to church to be made holy. But how does going to church make us holy? This leads to the third and final purpose of why we go to church.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:2)
Paul declared two blessings to the saints at Philippi: “Grace and peace to you.” What is grace? Grace is an unmerited favor. It means to receive a gift that you don’t deserve. What is peace? It means to not be at war with someone. We go to church to receive grace and peace. But what kind of grace and peace are we talking about? Notice how Paul described it? “Grace and peace to you from God our Father.” Grace and peace are gifts we receive from “our Father.” God is not an impersonal force. He is not a computer program in the sky that computes how many good deeds and bad deeds we’ve done. No. God is a Father. He loves us like a father giving gifts to his kids.
We receive peace from God. Why is this important? We need peace with God because, before, we were at war with him. Ever since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit in the Garden, humanity has been living in rebellion against God. As a church, we gather to celebrate the peace we have with God. But notice how we achieved this peace. Look at the text: It doesn’t say, “Peace with God our Father.” It says, “Peace from God our Father.” Peace is not something we earn. We receive peace with God from God. We don’t gain peace by doing good works. We receive peace because God forgives us of all the sins we’ve done against Him.
But how does God forgive us? The passage says that the grace and peace we receive in church come from two places: “Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.” It wasn’t just the Father who saved us from our sins through his grace and kindness. It was also the work of the Son. Jesus Christ, by dying on the cross and paying the penalty of sin in his human form, became the Lord over everything. This is how we receive grace and peace. We receive grace and peace through the finished work of Jesus Christ. We gather as a church every week to celebrate this good news.
I went to my parents’ place this week and wanted to grab a drink from their refrigerator, so I parked my car near the elevator and went up. As soon as I came back, I saw the wheel of my car clamped. The security guard was telling me I should go to the security office and pay three thousand pesos for the violation. I went to the office and was crying the whole time as the security guard was explaining this to me. I wasn’t crying because of the money. Although, it was a lot of money for me. The pain didn’t go away even after my brother-in-law kindly offered to help me pay the fine. I was crying because I felt so guilty and ashamed because of my violation. I felt so stupid and exposed for doing what I did.
You know what I thought about as I was driving home? “I want to go to church.” I want to come to the home of my loving Father in heaven. I want to sing worship songs to Jesus Christ with my brothers and sisters in Christ—my fellow forgiven sinners. I wanted to receive the grace and peace that I can never earn for myself, but can only receive from God. I wanted to celebrate the cross of Christ and his resurrection, which gives me true forgiveness, strength, and power. I wanted to be renewed and filled with the Holy Spirit once again.
CONCLUSION
Why go to church? What’s our purpose for gathering? We gather to follow our only King—Jesus Christ. We gather to be made holy, so that we can become the saints we’re called to be. We gather to celebrate the gospel of Jesus Christ which saved us and continues to save us.
Imagine if our weekly worship services can be a place where we follow Christ and not the world. Imagine if our weekly worship services can be a place where we seek to be made holy and not to be entertained. Imagine if our weekly worship services can be a place where we always celebrate the gospel, what our Savior accomplished on the cross, and not our own human achievements. We probably won’t become a megachurch. That’s fine. But we will surely gain something much greater. We will grow in maturity in the faith and please our Father in heaven. We can’t do it on our own. We need each other. We need to gather and follow Christ. We need to gather and seek holiness together. We need to gather and celebrate the gospel of our salvation.
[1] Jim Davis and Michael Graham, The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back? (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2023), 27.