Monday, August 26, 2019
Invited to Church - August 25, 2019
OPINION?
In
Matthew, Peter tells Jesus that He is the Messiah… Jesus responds
Matthew 16:18a “And I
tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church…”
Everyone
I know has an opinion on the church… some positive… some negative…
STORY:
I can remember the first time as a teen, I invited my friend to come to church.
He was popular and a star on the basketball team. He was very hesitant… his big
complaints, the church was a bunch of hypocrites & all they ever talked
about was money… the day he came to church… the pastor got up and started
talking about a building campaign to add a new gym & education wing to the
church… he talked about money the whole sermon… and to make matters worse, when
my friend left he hurt himself (no kidding)… where there should have been
double doors/full glass panel… bloody nose… his opinion didn’t change much that
day… he never came back.
My
bet is that if I went around this morning and asked you what your opinion about
the church was… I’d get 40 different answers… I’d bet we’d hear different
things in both services …I’d even bet that your opinion has changed a few times
over the years…
·
When
NICKY GUMBEL, the
founder of Alpha was in college… he was an atheist. And, he even called himself
an angry or hostile atheist towards Christians. So when his roommates became
believers and started going to church, he said this “Oh my gosh, they were such lovely people. How can
I help them?!”
·
I
love the honesty… and I think if we polled downtown Bloom or Uptown Norm, we’d
get even more responses.
·
Abraham Lincoln said this about church: “If all the people who fell
asleep in church were laid out end to end… they’d be a lot more comfortable.”
·
This
is funny, but for some of us our view on church is filled with pain &
regret.
Today,
we are going to explore CHURCH. But I want us all to realize how ingrained our
“opinions” and perception are to what church means? And how it’s supposed to
work.
Last
weekend, Corrie opened up our series called INVITED. She explored this idea
that Everyone is Invited
to Faith… no matter your background, family, sins, or failures. Everyone
is welcome at the table to meet with Jesus. Now, for many, we believe that
Jesus likes us… we may even like Him, but many do not believe this about the
CHURCH.
Today,
we’re exploring the idea that not only are people Invited to believe, but we
are actually welcomed into the Church… there is not an “arrived” moment, but
rather we are invited to participate in the Church even if we are skeptical or
hostile. There will NOT be, nor has there EVER been someone “struck by
lightning” when they came to church.
THE
PROBLEM? The church has not done a very good job of making this a
reality. It has been hypocritical, judgmental and sometimes hostile to those
outside the weekly meetings. We need to break down this barrier and realize
even the most broken, desperate or sinful person deserves a seat at the table.
DEFINING
CHURCH
So, what did Jesus mean when he said that he’d build his church in
Matthew 16?
·
a nice country white building - potlucks -
everyone knows everyone?
·
or high church - same thing every week -
religious ceremony?
·
or spectator church - concert -
watching the show not engaging with what is actually happening that Sunday?
·
What about here? Is this church?
What did Jesus mean? Because none of these things existed in
30AD…
Webster’s
Dictionary will know right!?
·
a building for public and especially
Christian worship
·
the clergy or officialdom of a
religious body
·
the persons that are ordained for the
ministry
·
Is that what Jesus meant? A public building… clergy… something
else?
Original
intent of the word Ekklesia/Church
·
Called
out group… non-religious term for an assembly
·
For
what? For conversation!
·
The
church is simply a group of people “called into the public arena for a discussion on faith.”
·
Not
a club… not just for those who believe… rather, the church is a public place
for discussion. It was never intended to be another temple of worship...
Jesus was attempting to RE-Define his
cultures conversation about Faith.
Today,
we’re exploring the idea that not only are people Invited to Church. Everyone
is invited to participate in the discussion even if we are skeptical or
hostile… because you’re not invited to a club or organization… it’s much bigger
than that.
WE’RE
STARTING A BRAND-NEW CONVERSATION…
An invitation to Church… is an
invitation to the discussion of our Faith in Jesus.
·
When
you discover that the church isn’t the building, the clergy, or the music - you
may actually begin to like… or even love… the church.
·
For
the rest of this talk, what I want to discuss is what makes “this discussion” so
amazing & unique… and different than what people expect.
·
We
are going to look at it through the lens of the letter to Ephesus as it’s one
of my favorite letters to the church… to those involved in this new
conversation…
In this new conversation, you can
have a relationship with God.
·
In Jesus’
day, all kinds of Public Discussion (church) was taking place… and the same is
true today (social media, coffee houses, etc)… Jesus turned the discussion on
its head and made it about Him J.
·
Peter’s
confession in Matthew 16 - we are going to base this public conversation on the
idea that Jesus is the Messiah… that He is God’s son… that He is our Savior and
Lord… that He is everything that we need.
·
So,
the early church founded the conversation on the stuff of Jesus… His Kingdom,
His power, Heaven, Forgiveness, Healing, etc.
·
The
conversation was founded on our amazing God.
·
Ephesians
1:4-5 4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in
Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.5 God
decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself
through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great
pleasure.
·
What
makes this so amazing is that the conversation is wrapped up in a Lord who not
only loves us but wants us and chooses us as His very own. (even if we don’t
choose him)
In this new conversation, you can
be a part of God’s Family
·
What
makes this unique is that it’s an invitation to a family… a family discussion…
a family of faith… not just an argument in the public arena.
·
Ephesians
2:19 puts it this way…19 So now you Gentiles are no longer strangers and foreigners.
You are citizens along with all of God’s holy people. You are members of God’s
family.
·
Do
you hear what the apostle Paul is saying?
·
Race,
class, background, and personality type don’t matter in God’s family
·
Aside: we
haven’t always done a great job of expressing this… I want to apologize
·
But
the truth is… our founder, Jesus, says that those who join His church he
actually calls friends! (John 15)
·
Friends
are so important in Jesus’ church!
o
Happy
- 6 friends in 6 months or you’ll leave the church
o
That’s
why the church is made up of lots of smaller groups
·
You’re
invited to belong to this family… and once you begin participating in the
family, it’s not that the conversation is over.
·
Rather,
you’re saying, this is a conversation that I want to have the rest of my life!
In this new conversation, you can
join a worldwide family.
When
we enter into God’s family, we become a part of something so much bigger than
ourselves… and even so much bigger than our local church… we become a part of
what God is doing around the world…
·
Ephesians
4:4-6 There is one body and
one Spirit - just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call
- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all
and through all and in all.
We
are part of a giant family & in spite of what you might hear, the family of
God is getting bigger and bigger every single year… here are some fun stats for
you!
·
Since
1970 - over 1 billion people have come to faith in Jesus
·
1
church in South America averages 45,000 on Sundays &10 million online
·
In Africa
- by 1900 = 10 million believers
·
In
Africa - by 2000 there were 360 million believers
·
In China
- by 1940 there were 4 million believers
·
In
China today there are over 100 million believers
·
A
church in South Korea has 100,000 people in small groups
·
Finally,
Life Church that started in Oklahoma has 100,000 on Sundays in almost 40
multi-site locations across many different states.
When
you join the church, you’re participating in the largest public
discussion on faith the world has ever seen! And I think the reason its
impact is so great is because…
In this new conversation, it’s
about LOVE… not more religion!
·
Not
only is the church about a loving relationship with Jesus
·
But
the church is about a loving relationship with each other.
·
AND
about loving those not yet in the conversation.
·
The
church has been famous for a lot of atrocious things throughout history…
o
The
crusades to Jerusalem/ Burning women at the stake/ Bigotry and hatred
·
BUT
the church should be
Famous for its Love.
·
The
church should be less a club & more like a Hospital
o
people
finding faith... family
& friends …healing, freedom, forgiveness, etc.
·
One
pastor in the UK was trying to describe the church’s loving impact on his
country and he explained it this way in 2017…
o
The
church is Jesus to our world
o
We
spend time feeding and caring for the poor in our cities
o
We
world to nullify sex trafficking in our country
o
Over
½ of the preschool and parenting groups are run by the church in UK
o
We
are the largest group of debt-cancelors in our country
o
We
fed over 100,000 hungry people last year
o
We
are often the first responders when tragedy or natural disaster strikes.
o
Our
buildings become havens and homes for the broken communities
o
Not
to mention comfort and hope given during funerals
·
Ephesians
5:1-2 Be imitators of God, as
beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for
us, a fragrant offering & sacrifice to God.
·
The
church is a unique conversation… and should become famous for its Love.
BRIDE OF CHRIST
When you discover that the church isn’t
the building, the clergy, or the music - you can actually fall in LOVE with the
church.
Illustration:
Anyone have a friend that you struggled
to love the person’s spouse when you first met them? You loved your friend, but
you were unsure about their new husband/wife.
The
church is the “Bride of Christ.” It is the thing that Jesus loves most in this
world… despite all of her hurts and hang-ups… her flaws… He looks upon her with
love.
Ephesians
5 - look at this picture of Jesus’ love for the church:
25 Husbands,
love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself
up for her, 26 that he might sanctify her, having
cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that
he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or
wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish
Jesus
has on “love goggles” when it comes to the church friends J
Some
of us may need to fall in love with the church today…
·
Realizing
Jesus is the center of the church’s conversation.
·
Realizing
Jesus loves His church!
·
Realizing
the church is God’s family.
·
Realizing
the church is God’s instrument of love to impact our world.
For
others of you, the need is different…
·
Realize
how much Jesus loves you.
·
Realize
how much Jesus wants you in the conversation.
·
Realize
you can come with your doubts, fears, critiques, and skepticism.
·
Realize
you can be YOU in this family.
For
people in both of these groups, I believe some of you need to get baptized.
·
For
this is how we enter the church
o Faith
(only we can give this)
o Holy
Spirit (only God can give this)
o Baptism
(only the church can give this)
·
Some
of us need to publicly join the family of God today
·
I
know you’ve got excuses
o
Don’t
know enough
o
Towels
& T-shirts
o
Pictures
and video for family.
·
Take
a leap of faith… and let the church give you this gift.
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