"INWARD"
January 25, 2009
with Jeff Martin
INTRO:There was a poor traveler who had a long journey ahead of him. He had been walking for days and still had days to go when he happened upon a small country church. He knocked on the door and explained his dilemma to the pastor. He asked the man of the cloth if he had any transportation he may borrow to finish his journey. The pastor said that all he had was a donkey that had been left to the church by an old farmer’s widow. The pastor said he would be glad to give it to the traveler. Full of gratitude, the weary man thanked him and climbed aboard the animal. “One thing”, the pastor told him, “the widow was a very pious woman. She taught the donkey to only obey words of praise. To get it to begin moving, you must say ‘Hallelujah’ and to get it to stop you must say ‘Amen’.” The traveler nodded in understanding, tipped his hat to the pastor, and said “Hallelujah”. With that, the old donkey began lumbering along the road. Several hours later, the gentle sway had caused him to fall asleep. After almost falling off, he awoke with a start. He looked up to see that he was coming toward a footbridge that crossed a deep gorge. The closer he got, he realized that the several of the planks were missing. They wouldn’t be able to cross safely. He pulled back on the reins and said “Whoa!” but the donkey kept going. He pulled harder and shouted “Stop” but the animal still kept plodding along. Getting closer to the bridge, the man panicked and began praying. “Lord!”’ he cried, “I know that you are in control of all things!” They began crossing the bridge. “I know that this is a godly animal that responds to words of praise, but I can’t remember the words the pastor told me!” They were getting closer to the missing planks. ”Please stop it from trying to cross this old bridge that surely would cause us to fall to our death! In Your heavenly name I pray, Amen!” The donkey immediately stopped just inches from the gaping hole in the bridge. Sweating and his heart beating a mile a minute, the traveler wiped his forehead and said, “Hallelujah!”
The moral to that story is to listen to everything your pastor tells you because it might save your life.
Today, we finish this short series on “What Kind of Church is This?”
A few weeks ago, Matt spoke about The Orchard loving “outwardly” as an “organic relational community”. His point was that we are an ”unscripted” church- no five points to evangelism, no programs or tracts, just loving people where they happened to be- in coffee shops, living room, and with families. Although I didn’t get to hear his sermon that day, when I did read it on the blog, I realized that the times that were most memorable to me also were when they just happened. Hanging out with some of the teens in our old youth group, just listening to them sharing their struggles with life, and allowing me to tell them why Jesus matters. Having lunch with a friend who has lost his job and is struggling to find another one and letting me encourage him that God is still in control. And recently, at one of our men’s meetings, hearing their struggles as men, husbands, and fathers, and being able to pray for all of us to be the men that God wants us to be. Those are the “unscripted” moments that I’m sure we all have had.
Last week, Adam spoke about loving “upwardly”, allowing the Holy Spirit to have control over our life. In the chaotic, everyday stuff that is life, we must make sure that we are doing everything to the glory of God and His kingdom. In order to do that, we must love inwardly as a church, using the Bible as a guide, building each other up, and making disciples- mature Christians who are strong in their faith.
That’s where we start today. The last three letters of our name- A-R-D stand for “Answers”, “Relationship Building”, and “Developers”. First “Answers”.
The first passage of Scripture I’d like to read is 2 Timothy 3:16 and 17. A better translation of “inspired by God” could be “God-breathed”. Sometimes God gave the Bible writers the exact words to say, as He did to Jeremiah, but more often He used their minds, vocabularies, and experiences to make His will known. It comes out as the perfect, inerrant, Word of God. Scripture gives the answers to life’s questions. It is a guide to our walk with Him. One of the issues with saying that the Bible is our book of answers, some people will have a question that cannot be answered by the exact words of Scripture. For example, “Is abortion wrong?” Nowhere in the text are the words “abortion is wrong”, but in Exodus 20:13, we find the words “you shall not murder”. In Psalm 139:13, it says that God knows us while we were still in our mother’s womb. The Bible gives the complete and total divine truth that is necessary for the life He has planned for us- a life full of godliness. Paul says that God is so identified with His Word that when Scriptures speak, God speaks.
The next passage I’d like to read is Hebrews 4:12. Scripture exposes sin so that it can be dealt with confession and repentance. It not only rebukes wrong behavior, it points us the way back to godly living. It helps restore us to our proper condition- righteousness. It gives us positive training in godly behavior, not just rebuking and correcting. The Word is comforting and nourishing to those who believe. It is also a tool of judgment for those who have not believed. It’s because in their minds they hear God’s words, but their hearts do not commit to them. Scriptures shines a light on their shallow beliefs and false intentions.
The next passage for “Answers” is John 1:1-5. John tells us that Jesus was here from the beginning of time with God. He was the agent in God’s creation. And just as Jesus shines in the darkness of the world, Scripture, or the Word, shines in the darkness of sin and wrongdoing. By the Word, Jesus Christ, we have the words, examples, and illustrations of the never ending love of God and how we can show that love to others.
The next letter, “R”, stands for relationship building. It’s the way we care for and lift one another up to give confidence to the Body to do the work of the Orchard. The list is similar to what Matt said a couple of weeks ago when he spoke about the first “R”, relationship doing- doing for others as commanded by God. The biggest difference in the two is that first "R" stands for loving outwardly, toward the community. The second “R” stands for loving inwardly, toward the body of believers.
The passage I’d like read is Ephesians 4:11-16. This is a partial list of spiritual gifts granted to us by God in order to build up, edify, and nurture the body of believers. Unity of the body comes from the truth of Christian teaching, especially the Gospel message. We can only achieve oneness and harmony among the faithful when it is built on the foundation of sound doctrine. This happens when a deep knowledge of Christ comes to each believer through prayer, faithful study of the Bible, and being obedient to His commands. We can do this through relationship building.
God wants each of us to grow spiritually and manifest the qualities of His Son. By building relationships with other believers, we learn what they have learned. We learn to be obedient to God’s commands. We learn the sound doctrine necessary to be an effective evangelist. We learn to allow the Holy Spirit complete control over our lives. Godly, biblical church growth results from every member of the body using his or her gifts to gain confidence to do the work of His Church. All of this happens in our tree groups. In our small groups, men are building up men, and women are building up women. The mature Christian gives counsel to the younger believer.
It’s been almost nine years since I was diagnosed with neuropathy in both feet. One of the doctors told me at the time that it would be difficult to treat and it may never go away. That was really hard to hear. The first couple of years were really tough. I listened to all of the doctors and did everything they told me to do because I wanted to get better. Nothing worked. I was on so much medication that I slept all of the time and when I was awake, I was mean and nasty. I didn’t want to do anything- especially go to church. A dear woman noticed my hope had been slipping away and asked me if she could help. She said that I wouldn’t make it if I only came to church once a week. I needed something every day. She enlisted six men to call me, one each day, to talk to me and encourage me. For the next several months, once a day these men called, prayed, and encouraged me that I could make it through this trial. They encouraged me to read Scripture so that I could understand fully God’s will in my life. During that time, I began to realize that there was a purpose for this illness and with God’s help- not doctors or therapists- but God’s. I realized that I had become too reliant on me and my own thinking. I wasn’t relying on God’s perfect wisdom. I had thought of myself as a failure, unable to support my family, not being a good husband or father. God told me that I was more than a conqueror and through the saving grace of His Son, I was a success. Everything that the doctors were telling me wasn’t the truth; I am more because of Christ in my life. It was with that newfound confidence that my brother Adam and I prayed that God would heal me of this disease, that it wouldn’t consume my thoughts, and that I would be able to function without medication. Two out of three isn’t bad. I’m not Jeff who has neuropathy and can’t work, and by the way has a wife and two sons. I’m a Christian, who is married to his wife Rhonda for almost 17 years, who is a father to two young men, Jeffrey and Jonah, who is a brother in Christ to everyone in this room and beyond these walls, and who gives his best to the people he loves because he has this thing with his feet, and my name is Jeff.
I hope you can see the difference. I had become “me” first. Now, first, I am a believer. It was because of those relationships that built me up and encouraged me to find answers in Scripture that have gotten through it so far.
This leads in to the last letter of our name. “D” stands for developers- developers of the community. We believe in leadership that builds up, supports and serves. Adam has described it before as an upside down pyramid. Just as in the world the biggest side of the pyramid supports each layer until it reaches the top, our upside down pyramid starts with the leaders supporting the rest of the body.
The final Scripture this morning is Titus 1:5-9 and 2:1-8. God's standards for all believers are high. His requirement for leaders is to set those standards- and then to model it. His leaders aren’t qualified on the basis of natural ability, intelligence, or education, but on the basis of moral and spiritual character. It’s based on the ability to lead as the Spirit has equipped them. The term “above reproach” doesn’t mean sinless perfection, but to a personal life that is beyond accusation and scandal. He is faithful to his wife, devoted to her as Christ was the Church. If he has children, he has brought them up in the way of the Lord. He believes that the Church is God’s and the developers are accountable in every aspect of their service to Him. Leaders aren’t “holier than thou” here to put you in your place for not doing something. We are here to walk along side of you, to pick you up when you fall, to rejoice when you rejoice, to cry when you cry. We try our best, but we’re definitely not perfect.
I’ll try to sum it up this morning in one sentence: Loving outwardly as an Organic Relational Community and loving inwardly by finding our answers in the Bible, by building up others in the body, and by developing leaders to support and serve all cannot be done without first loving upwardly and giving complete control over our life to the Holy Spirit.
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