Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church

My dear friends in Christ,

I received this picture in my e-mail. It had been forwarded a number of times before I received it from a friend. The e-mail said, "Cara Winship sent this out. It's called 'God's Hands.' I took this picture on Hwy 30, traveling to London, Kentucky. It has given me strength in times of trouble. I feel I should share it with the rest of the world. It just goes to show what we already know. We have a God and he's watching over us."

It's an amazing picture. It's a beautiful thought. God really is watching over us, and this picture is just one more proof, right?

When I want to figure out whether one of these forwarded e-mails is true or not, I head to a website called Snopes.com. They research the background on many of these myths, and post the results—true or false.

Snopes.com discovered that the picture was not an original, but someone had doctored this original photo. It took the person 2 minutes to use Photoshop and create the "hands of God".

Why are we so quick to believe an urban myth like this? Because there's usually a grain of truth somewhere in the story that makes it believable. The original picture is awesome, so why not manipulate it a little bit and make it look even more "heavenly"?

We're going to take a look at a little different kind of urban myth this morning. You might have heard this one before. "I don't need to go to church to get to heaven." It's the kind of statement we hear in conversations, usually with people we haven't seen in church for a while. That always makes us stop and think, doesn't it? "I don't need to go to church to get to heaven." It's true, isn't it? Or not?

There's a place where we can go that will give us answers. It is available on the internet. We can also find it on our bookshelves. It's the Bible!

There is a grain of truth in this urban myth, and as we look at the Bible, we'll see that we don't need to do anything to get to heaven. We'll also see that the Bible tells us we do need to go to church.

Ephesians 2:1 will help us understand that we can't do anything to get to heaven. "As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins."

1. What is a dead person able to do? Nothing

2. If we are dead in sins, what can we do to get to heaven? Nothing.

There's the grain of truth. Going to church doesn't get us into heaven. Nothing we do can get us there. The Bible says, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matthew 5:48). We haven't been perfect. Remember, we're dead. We have done nothing to make ourselves perfect. The penalty is clear. The Bible also says, "The soul who sins is the one who will die" (Ezekiel 18:20). We are in trouble!

Our brains tell us that if we go to church, we should get into heaven. We have to do something, right? The problem is, we're still dead in our sins. We can't do anything! Even going to church every Sunday, every service, for the rest of our lives won't help us. What should we do?

We can't do anything. God can, and did. Let's look at Colossians 2:13. "When you were dead in your sins … God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins" (Colossians 2:13).

3. What did God do when we could do nothing? He made us alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins.

God brought us back to life when Jesus rose from the dead. Our sins died with him on the cross. Our sins were buried with him in the tomb. He took back his life on Easter Sunday and brought us along. Our sins are forgiven. How much did we have to do? Nothing!

God has a word that covers the idea of doing nothing for our salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9).

4. How are we saved? By grace through faith.

5. What is grace? It is the gift of God!

6. Why does God save us by grace? He saves us by grace so that no one can boast, so that no one can say, "I can go to heaven because I have gone to church every Sunday."

God's grace—the gift of faith, the gift of new life in Jesus, the forgiveness of sins—is the reason why we get into heaven. That's what will make heaven even more joyful. We didn't earn it. It's the greatest gift God could ever give. Listen to the way John described it in Revelation 21:2-4. "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away'" (Revelation 21:2-4).

Heaven is the absence of sin—no more hurt feelings, hospital visits, or funerals. Heaven is the presence of perfection and joy—everything that God has given to us—grace!

So, our friend is right, isn't he? I don't need to go to church to get to heaven!

Remember our urban myth—the hands of God? Even though the picture had been manipulated, the original is still a pretty amazing picture, isn't it?

When someone says, "I don't need to go to church to get to heaven," they are missing out on the beauty of the original—of going to church in the first place. Let's go back to the Bible and see why God says we need to go to church.

Exodus 20:8-10 says, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates." (Exodus 20:8-10).

7. What does "Sabbath" mean? Rest.

8. What did God demand from Old Testament believers on the Sabbath?

God's requirements haven't changed over the centuries. He still wants us to set aside time for him. The Sabbath is no longer Saturday, a day that we're required to do absolutely nothing. God does want us to take the time to listen to his Word and worship him. He emphasized that in the Old Testament when he came to his people. When Moses led the Israelites through the wilderness, he had a special tent that he set up outside the camp. "Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke with Moses. Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to his tent. The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend" (Exodus 33:8-11). Moses would come back and tell the people what God had said. God wants to meet with his people and talk to them.

I had a good friend in Houston who grew up in the Southern Baptist church. Over the years, he came to our WELS congregation because he was convinced that he had found the truth being preached and taught. He did have one thing he didn't like. He didn't like it when I talked about people going to church. He was raised "going to meeting." When people went to meeting, the first thing they did was meet with their Lord.

That's why we need to go to church. The Lord still wants to meet with us. He wants us to hear his voice as we listen to the readings and the sermon. He wants us to hear his voice in the framework of the liturgy. Here at Salem, God's Word permeates our services. As you read through your Bibles, almost every phrase used throughout our liturgies comes directly from God's Word. It doesn't matter whether it's page 15 in Christian Worship, or page 1 of a printed insert. God has come to meet with us and talk with us because he comes through his Word.

What is God looking for when he comes to meet us? Listen to Psalm 32:5, "Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord”— and you forgave the guilt of my sin."

9. What does God want to hear from us? He wants to hear us confess our sins so we can hear the good news of our salvation.

Listen to this passage: "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you" (Deuteronomy 8:10).

10. What else does God want to hear from us? He wants to hear us praising him for all the blessings he has showered on us.

There's one more thing. Psalm 5:2 says, "Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray."

11. What else does God want to hear from us? He wants to hear our prayers, including requests for ourselves and for others.

Going to church is all about meeting God, hearing him speak and responding to everything that he has said and done for us. It's not something he forces us to do. It's something Christians are excited to do. It's like King David said so long ago, "I rejoiced with those who said to me, 'Let us go to the house of the Lord'" (Psalm 122:1). Jesus' incredible love moves us to come to church, to confess our sins, to bring our worship and praise, to offer our prayers. We don't need to go to church to get to heaven. We need to go to church to meet God.

There's one more reason why we need to go to church. "Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching" (Hebrews 10:25).

11. Why do we need to meet together? So that we can encourage each other, especially because we know that time is short and Jesus will be returning soon!

We need to meet here at church because we belong to Jesus. We are part of his body, that he calls the church. When we worship together, we strengthen that connection. We strengthen friendships. We confess our sins together. We hear God's promise of forgiveness together. We praise God together. We listen to his Word together. We receive the Lord's Supper together. We work together with our Savior so that others can hear the message of salvation. When we come together, Jesus makes this promise: "For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them" (Matthew 18:20). He wants us here to meet him and each other. In him and in each other we find the strength that we need to make it through another week.

This urban myth is more than a myth for a lot of people. It's reality. It's not our job to judge why they feel this way. They may have experienced a church that had all kinds of rules to follow in order to be a good Christian. They may have asked their pastor questions about the Bible that he couldn't answer, or refused to answer. They may have come from a family where this urban myth was reality every Sunday because they never went to church.

When we hear a friend or neighbor say this, we can let them know that we have a place they can go and experience all the blessings that God has to offer. We have those blessings here at Salem—more than we can even count. We have fantastic people that God has built into a solid congregation. We have a school where our children hear God's Word every day during the week. We are accomplishing ministry not only here in Stillwater, but also in Somerset, New Richmond, and across the world through our congregational mission offerings. God has given us some great reasons to invite someone who needs to meet the Lord regularly. Share the Word and your faith with them. It makes a difference!