Church series - # 5

REVIEW – A True Experience, the Real Deal!

Last week our text urged us to be introspective, to evaluate our growth and maturity in Christ.

2 Cor. 13:5 says: "Test yourselves to make sure you are solid in the faith. Don’t drift along taking everything for granted. Give yourselves regular checkups. You need firsthand evidence, not mere hearsay, that Jesus Christ is in you. Test it out. If you fail the test, do something about it." - The Message

A. Focus on what Christ has done for you, not your efforts to be good!

Is my full hope set entirely in Christ and His sacrifice for sin,

and in the Resurrection as evidence of His completed work?

B. Take a look at the ways you act and react!

If you are born of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, you will act like your Father! John also says that when a person is born of God, that person becomes part of the family and begins to love his brothers and sisters!

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An organization that loses sight of its mission and purpose begins to drift, often rapidly, into irrelevance and usually, into failure.

A few years ago Jim Collins wrote a fascinating book called, Good to Great. He studied current well known companies in the United States, trying to determine why some were growing and successful, while others that were once prosperous had fallen onto hard times. He pointed to six components of corporate success -

∙ Selfless and focused Leadership,

∙ Teams of the ‘right people’ put in place to implement vision,

∙ Unwavering optimism that is matched by equal honesty about practices in the company,

∙ Understanding of the Core reason for the company to exist,

∙ A culture of discipline where people do the right thing without constant monitoring, and

∙ Constant adaptation of methods that use evolving technology to serve company purposes.

A thread that is woven throughout Collin’s observations is one involving purpose and mission. When a company and her leaders accurately defined and clearly understood why they existed, the other factors that contribute to sustained success more readily fell into place.

A church that wanders from the mission and purpose that her founder stated will become irrelevant and die. So I want to speak to you about our mission and how each of us helps to fulfill that purpose!

What should my church be doing in this world?

God’s ‘company’ for saving this world from destruction is the church! He designed the church, called it into existence, established the goals and priorities of the church, and expects that we will ‘do church’ in a way that He can bless and approve. We don’t like to use the word, “success,” about church because it has so many attachments in our culture to money, fame, and/or power. But, God wants the church, and those who are called to be part of it, to be a success!

We must be careful how we define ‘success.’ Simply posting bigger numbers in our reports does not mean we are approved by our CEO!

In my recent messages, I have taught that God is looking for a church that is full of the life of the Spirit, which is evidenced by increasing quantity and quality of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control" (Galatians 5:22-23, NIV) in the lives of those who are in His Body. The stakes are truly ‘life and death!’

We cannot be content to just ‘show up’ every Sunday, say some nice things, sing some songs, count noses and dollars, and go home! God desires that His people be passionately engaged with holy purposes, that we pursue Him and His purposes with a love that makes all other love pale in comparison!

What are those holy purposes? What should the church be doing in the world?

TEXT - Acts 2: 42-47

From that text, I glean concepts that can be stated in five words:

Teaching, Fellowship, Worship, Ministry, and Evangelism.

These are the purposes of every church, in every age, for every culture!

The ‘what’ is universal; the ‘how’ will vary. Local congregations will find various ways to do what God calls all of us do.

EX: - Our church has a strong emphasis on Teaching

Our motto is “Teaching People how to say “yes” to God’s plans for their lives.”

We do that in various ways –

Preaching and Teaching here at this site,

In our Christian school and preschool,

in our Girls Ministry and Royal Rangers,

in Children’s Church, and

with a website that reaches outside of our walls - just to name a few.

Do we also do the other things besides teaching? Yes! We have worship times. We feed the hungry. We reach out to those in prison. We attempt to strengthen relationships between Believers.

Every church, if she wants to know the blessing of God, will be doing what God designed His Body, the Church, to be doing!

So let’s take a closer look at each of these functions of the Church.

Teaching

Acts tells us that the Believers ‘devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching.’

God has always made the proclamation of Truth a high priority for His people. The covenant of Moses was not simply built on a few rituals and some feel- good experiences! It was a way of life! That Law was taught carefully to successive generations as God’s way, as the way to please Him, and to live to full potential in God’s purposes.

The Psalm says, "How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path. Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." (Psalm 119:103-105, NIV)

When Jesus came to this earth, He made teaching a priority! Luke tells us that the people who heard Him " were amazed at his teaching, because his message had authority." (Luke 4:32, NIV)

The teaching that happens in the Church must have the authority of God, as He has revealed Truth in His Word and made that truth live by His Spirit. When teaching happens in that way, lives are changed.

Darkness and confusion are dispelled by the Light. Deception is exposed.

One of the reasons that many churches are nearly empty today across this nation is that there is little or no Truth proclaimed. Preachers who lack knowledge of the Word and the inspiration of the Spirit cannot challenge people who have missed Gods’ way to repent and experience transformation. Churches that concern themselves with being ‘relevant’ without a commitment to Truth wander into strange practices and/or philosophies of the mind that cannot transform the heart! The warning of the Scripture is strong! "See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the basic principles of this world rather than on Christ." (Colossians 2:8, NIV)

So we must be a church committed to Truth, to proclamation and teaching!

Fellowship

Acts tells us that the church was marked by fellowship. We tend to equate ‘fellowship’ with having a cup of coffee in the café or attending a dinner in the Fellowship Hall. That might be a part of it, but it isn’t the ‘it’ of fellowship, at all. Chuck Colson is eloquent on this point. He writes, “The word for ‘fellowship’ in the New Testament Greek, ‘koinonia’ means neither punch and cookies nor cookie-cutter Christians. It conveys something much richer. Literally it means a ‘communion,’ a participation of people together in God’s grace. It describes a whole new community of Believers.” Being the Body

In our text we see that ‘fellowship’ involved a serious commitment! These people didn’t get together on Sunday mornings, when the sun was shining, and nothing else was on the calendar. They gave themselves and their possessions to each other. They met daily! They ate together, and not just the symbolic meal of Communion, either! They supported one another, their lives joined in a mutual love of Jesus and His Church.

Some suggest that the only way to be a church with real fellowship in our day is to pull together people who like each other, who have similar educations, economic status, race, and experiences.

But that is not Biblical ‘koinonia.’ The Church is not a group of people who just ‘like each other!’ They are people who share one common bond - the love of Christ! Black and white, rich and poor, doctor and illiterate, old and young - love each other because they are loved by Jesus! This is koinonia!

Ex;- It is what brings together Tony Wood, a guy who came out of a Philly neighborhood and Jerry Scott, a farm kid from Iowa. We couldn’t be more different, yet we are brothers.

We must be a Church that practices real community!

Worship

We read that the Church gave itself to ‘prayer... meeting every day in the temple courts.’ A key purpose of the Church is to provide an experience of the Presence of God, to call people to greater devotion, which is what worship is. We say we come together for a ‘worship’ service here on Sunday mornings. And, my prayer is that there is some worship, but because we cram so much other ‘stuff’ into our gatherings, I wonder sometimes how much ‘worship’ actually happens.

Do we really expect or even desire that God will enter our lives, or do we just settle for a religious experience that is a kind of substitute for worship?

Genuine worship is not just singing songs or being anointed at the prayertime or even taking the Lord’s Supper. Real worship happens when we touch the Lord and He touches us, connecting us to eternity! Without worship, our spirituality will be reduced to an intellectual exercise, assent to a doctrine; or to some ritual acts aimed more at appeasing God than having an encounter with Him.

If we want to truly worship God, we must come with humility to Him! Pastor Rick Warren writes, “The heart of worship is surrender! .... it the natural response to God’s amazing love and mercy. ... We can only experience true worship when we offer ourselves completely to God.” Purpose Driven Life

Jesus told of two men who came to the Temple to pray. One was pious, religious, and did all the right things for social approval. His prayer reflects a complete lack of surrender. He said, "God, I thank you that I am not like other men—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." (Luke 18:11-12, NIV) The other man, a social outcast, also prayed, but with a difference. "He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’" (Luke 18:13, NIV) Did you come here today to recommend yourself to God or simply to enjoy the approval of your friends or your family? Then you’re not a true worshiper.

Yes, Believer, I pray that we will be a church that knows the real meaning of worship - that humbly invites God to walk among us - that we might know our need of His Presence.

May God help us to be a worshiping church, where men and women experience something more than an emotional lift, or some positive preaching. Let’s aspire to be a place where Heaven and Earth intersect as we surrender ourselves to God in Worship.

Ministry

Acts tells us that the Church was a serving church! I am critically concerned that the focus of our church would shift from serving others in God’s name to serving ourselves. Gordon MacDonald, who was a pastor in several different churches, over 40 plus years, observes that “church is not a club organized for the convenience of the insiders but a cooperative where people come together ... to prepare themselves for Christian living and service to the larger world.” Who Stole My Church? Nelson, 2008

The One who is our model "came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”" (Matthew 20:28, NLT)

I’m the Pastor of this church, but I am not her only minister! All of us are ministers, which is simply another way to say, servants! Let’s be a serving Church.

Evangelism

As I read and re-read our text today, I kept coming back to the same conclusion - {Re-read v. 46-47}

If we as a Church are committed to the Truth, discipled by gifted teachers;

are loving each other deeply and experiencing genuine Fellowship;

gather for genuine worship and invite God, the Spirit to be among us; and

spend ourselves to Serve in Christ’s name;

People will look us up and want to drink from the fountain that is so refreshing to us.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ does not need to be sold. It just needs to be demonstrated!

If we’re promoting a club membership, we’re going to have to learn to make a great case. And we’re not going to make many sales, because most Americans are already over-committed!

But, if we’re offering living water, without hype, demonstrating that it really works by the way we live in good times and bad times - God will add to the church! I’m not suggesting that we do away with organized outreaches, that we stop intentionally inviting people to come to Christ. However, unless the Church is alive and well spiritually, we’re going to be largely frustrated in our efforts.

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So these are the functions of the Church -

They will Teach for the purpose of creating disciples,

they will Fellowship with each other to build strong relationships,

they will Worship together to have an experience of the Holy Spirit of God,

They will Minister (serve) in ways that God equips, and

They will Evangelize, bringing others into the Family of God!

The church, the Body of Christ, is designed by God to save the world! He loves the Church, cherishes her, and calls her His Bride. He gave His life for her and will, in eternity, bring the Church to live with Him in Heaven!

How then can so many of us treat her with such contempt?

I want to close with words penned by Chuck Colson in his book, Being the Body.

“God, the Holy Spirit, descended to empower His Body - the Church - to do more than Jesus could accomplish as just One Person. In light of this awesome truth, it is scandalous that so many Believers today have such a low view of the Church. They see their Christian lives as a solitary exercise - “Jesus and me,” - or they think that the church is a building or social center. They flit from congregation to congregation - or they don’t associate with any church at all. ... It is within the church that our Christian character is shaped and our spiritual gifts developed and exercised. It is the family whose ties cannot be broken. It is the training camp that equips Believers to be God’s people who are against the world and for the world. If we don’t grasp the importance of the church, we are missed the very heart of Jesus’ plan.”

Believer, love your church!

Pray for her to stay on purpose, to fulfill the mission, so that God will see her as fruitful and pleasing, and so that He can ‘add to her numbers daily those who are being saved.’

Amen.