Welcome to a new sermon series! Today we start a three-part sermon series called “God Has An App For That”.
As many of you know, the word “app” is short for application. An app is something you download to a smart phone or a tablet or some other electronic device. It lets you do something, or it helps you do it better. There are all kinds of apps. There are apps that help you figure out where you are or how to get where you’re going, there are apps that enable you to communicate with people, there are apps that let you follow sports or listen to music, there are apps that let you play games, there are apps for--well, just about anything you can think of. And if you do think of something there’s not an app for, there probably will be pretty soon, because they come out with new apps almost every day.
Now, I know some of you may think this whole deal about apps for tablets and such is a new thing, but it’s not. It’s talked about in the Bible. God invented the tablet thousands of years ago. God created two of them, carved ten apps on them, and gave them to Moses on Mount Sinai. After all, God always has the latest technology.
But in this sermon series, what we’re going to look at are some of the ways, some of the apps, God has given us to get closer to God and to strengthen our faith. And the one we’re going to talk about today is the church. God has provided the church to us as a way of getting closer to God and strengthening our faith.
Now, it’s not going to come as a big surprise to anyone that a preacher is going to tell you that you should go to church. But that’s not really what I’m talking about today. I mean, yes, I do think people should go to church. I certainly hope you find some value in coming to a worship service on Sunday. I hope you find that it does help you get closer to God and that it does strengthen your faith. But we all know that, as they saying goes, going to church does not make me a Christian any more than sitting in the garage would make me a car. So when I talk about the church being one of God’s apps, I’m really not talking about going to church.
What makes God’s app of the church work is not just walking through the door on Sunday morning. What makes it work is when we actually become part of the church. What makes it work is when we become part of a group of believers who care about each other. What makes it work is when we work together and pray together and love each other and then extend that love to others.
We read from the gospel of John today. Think about what was going on at that point in John’s gospel. Jesus has been killed. The disciples don’t know what’s going to happen next. In fact, they don’t know if anything is going to happen next. They don’t know what to do.
The women have come back from the tomb and said they’ve seen the risen Jesus, but the disciples could not go by that because, after all, these were women. Seriously, that’s how the disciples probably looked at it. At that time, a woman was not allowed to testify in court because the law said a woman’s testimony was unreliable. So when these women come and tell them what, to be honest, was a pretty unbelievable story, they may very well have just dismissed it as a bunch of foolishness from a bunch of women.
So, there are the disciples. Sad. Confused. Scared. And what did they do? They came together. That’s what the first verse we read said: “On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together.”
They came together. Because they knew that, whatever was happening, whatever was going to happen, they could not face it alone. They needed to be there for each other. They needed to support each other. They needed to encourage each other. They needed to help each other. Whatever they were going to face, they needed to face it together. When you think about it, that really was the first meeting of the first Christian church: ten sad, scared, confused disciples locked in a room somewhere in Jerusalem, not knowing what would happen, but knowing they needed to be together. Not exactly a bold, brave start to the church, is it?
But yet, somehow, it’s kind of fitting. Because that describes all of us at some point in our lives. Whether we’re Christians are not, that describes us. We have times when we’re sad. We have times when we’re confused. We have times when we’re scared. We have times when we don’t know what’s going to happen next to us, or even if anything is going to happen next. And we don’t know what to do.
And God has an app for that. And that app is the church. When we feel that way, when we feel sad, or scared, or confused, that’s when we need to come together. Because at those times, whatever is happening, and whatever is going to happen, we cannot face it alone. God does not want us to face it alone. God wants us to be there for each other. God wants us to support each other. God wants us to encourage each other. God wants us to help each other. Whatever it is that we’re facing in life, we need to face it together.
That’s why God created the church. If we could do it by ourselves, there’d be no need for churches. But we cannot. Maybe we can sometimes, but not always. No matter how strong we are, no matter how self-confident we are, no matter how self-sufficient we are, at some point in our lives each one of us is going to come up against something we cannot handle by ourselves. We need each other. That’s why God allows us to be a part of a church: so we can have loving, caring people who will be there for us when we need them.
Now, some of you may have noticed that I said the first meeting of the Christian church was ten scared, confused disciples. And you may have thought, wait a minute. There were twelve disciples, not ten. Well, you’re right, but remember, this after Jesus was killed. So, Judas was no longer with the disciples, which cuts the number to eleven. And then, remember, one of the disciples was not there. Thomas.
Thomas was not with the other disciples at that first church meeting. We don’t know why. We’re not told where he was. But whatever the reason was, it means he missed out on what the other ten got. He did not have people who were there for him, at least not at that moment. He did not have the support of the others. He did not have the encouragement of the others. He did not have the help of the others. He had to face the sadness, and the fear, and the confusion, alone.
And what happened? His faith got weak. He doubted. When the others told him what had happened, how they’d seen Jesus, how he had been raised from the dead, he would not believe it. He could not believe it. He refused to take the word of the others, because he had not been a part of things himself.
And that’s what can happen to us when we’re not part of a church. That’s what can happen to us when we don’t have people who are there for us, when we don’t have the support and encouragement and help of others. Our faith gets weak. We start to have doubts. We don’t believe. We cannot believe. We refuse to take the word of other Christians, because we’re not a part of things ourselves.
God knows that you and I could never keep our Christian faith solid on our own. And God has an app for that. God’s app is the church. Not just going to church. Being part of the church. Being part of a group of people who will be there for us when we need them. Having their support and their encouragement and their help. Knowing that, whatever we have to face, we will not have to face it alone.
I’m glad that you’re here in church today. I hope you find that it helps you get closer to God and that it strengthens your faith. But what I hope most of all is that you’ll be part of the church. That you’ll be there for others, and that you’ll let other be there for you. And then, that we’ll all join and bring other people in, so that everyone can take advantage of God’s app, the church, and face whatever life brings us together.
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