What Does a Good Church Look Like? (2)
What Does a Good Church Look Like • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Please turn to Romans 1. Last week was our introduction to a question we will explore over the next few months, and that is, “What Does a Good Church Look Like.” Remember, this question is designed to help us get on the same page as we begin our ministry together. Not only do we want to explore what a good church looks like, but we also want to explore what a good church member in the context of community.
Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,
This is a call to God’s people to return to authentic worship, to love God.
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
This is a call to righteous living, to live right toward one another, to love the least of these as ourselves. This is the responsibility of a good church.
We’ll use the letter to the Romans as our guide.
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures,
concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh
and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
through whom we have received grace and apostleship to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among all the nations,
including you who are called to belong to Jesus Christ,
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
What Does a Good Church Look Like?
1) A Good Church Believes All Are Loved By God.
We see that in verse
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Interesting how often, we who have experienced God’s love need to be reminded of this truth. We can forget it, become complacent, too busy, too distracted … whatever. Maybe we don’t believe it. But God loved the world that He gave His unique Son! A good church will the bastion and the champions of God’s love.
And so a good church will keep this truth alive. A good church will keep reminding each other that God loves everyone. A good church will spur one another on toward love and good works. A good church will keep telling the world that God loves them.
Question –
How is this church a champion for God’s love in our community?
In what ways do you/we communicate or express God’s love for all?
That’s something we need to answer ….
2) A Good Church Believes All Are Called By God.
Curious,
Do you know you have a calling? Do you know what your calling is? Have you responded to God’s call, or ignored or rejected it?
To clarify, I’m not talking about the call to salvation. Yes, everyone is called to salvation, but the call we’re talking about goes beyond that. So, let’s explore this a little. Ever since the beginning,
God has called (invited) His heavenly hosts (spiritual beings) and humanity to participate with Him in overseeing His creation.
We see this in the spiritual realm (in Psalm 82, Deut. 32). God has a divine council (sons of God) whom He invited to help oversee humanity. We see this with Abraham, Moses, David, etc. Jesus called men and women to follow Him and participate with Him in changing the world. God continues to invite.
This invitation or calling is part of God’s relational nature. God enjoys “teamwork.”
And a good church understands this.
So, we are all called – every one of us. But we are called to be what? Saints. Paul says,
To all those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know that if you have trusted in and confessed Jesus Christ as your Lord, and you believe that He died for our sins and rose again from the dead, you are no longer called a sinner? In Christ, you are called a saint. “Sainthood,” if you will, is not reserved for special people – it’s for all who are in Christ.
What is a saint?
Understand there is a difference between the title saint (being saved) and living saintly. Here’s the difference.
The word saint comes from the Greek word hagios (ah-ē-ōs), which means holy or holy one.
Holy can mean moral or ritual purity, but most often it means consecrated, devoted, or set apart.
You’ll see this a lot in the OT, especially with the Tabernacle and Temple. When objects such as the lampstand, the table, altar, utensils etc. were created, they were created for a particular purpose, and then set apart for that purpose, and when they were used for that purpose, they were holy. See, when an item was merely set aside, that did not necessarily equate to holiness.
But when that item that was set aside was then used for the purpose for which it was made, it was holy.
Maybe an item wasn’t quite perfect. Maybe it had some dings and scratches because it got dropped on the floor too many times – but if it was set apart and used for its purpose, it was holy.
It’s the same with God’s people. We are His creation. And He invites us to be saints, to be set apart for Him, set apart for a purpose. And when we set ourselves apart for God and we allow Him to use us for the purposes for which He has called us – that’s being holy and that is a saint.
For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
So, when we respond to God and walk in, which means to live in, to go about our day in the good works He created for us to do – that’s being a saint. Curious –
What good works has God created for you to participate in?
You may not be able to answer that right now … that’s a conversation worth having.
So, we see holiness and purpose and calling and being set apart all go hand in hand. We are all called to be saints, which means we all have a purpose and place in this world, and we all have a purpose and place in this church. (Why is suicide so prevalent among young people? They’re told there is no God, they come from monkeys, and they have no purpose).
Listen, we are not set apart or called to be holy just to come to church on Sunday mornings or just to go to heaven.
Being set apart implies that we will discover how to partner with God in His redemptive plans and purposes.
What do we mean by redemptive purposes? I like how N.T. Wright states this,
“The resurrection of Jesus is the beginning of the final putting-to-rights of all things.” ~ N.T. Wright
The cross was the final stage. This world is a mess, but God is continually working with His creation to bring peace, justice, truth, love, reconciliation, hope, healing, and to bring the Kingdom of God into our world and to ultimately bring us into His Kingdom. A good church understands this – that we have to work to do, and that work is to work alongside God. (Just asked to board to pray with me for a
Pray for a Vision to Pursue and a Promise to Believe.
Being set apart implies we will partner with God in His redemptive plans and purposes.
You do not exist for yourself.
– and neither do I. You were not put on this planet just for you. Likewise, the Church does not exist for itself, nor do congregations like this. Klamath Falls Nazarene does not exist for itself.
We exist for God and for one another.
What are you existing for?
If we really want to get down to the nitty gritty, look at
Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God,
Set apart for the Gospel, the good news about Jesus Christ. If you are not set apart for the Gospel of God, it’s either because you don’t know Jesus Christ, or you haven’t prayed for it and pursued it. We’re all called to be set apart, but that will look different for each of us.
What’s this good news and why is it so good? Well, it's simple. In the beginning God wanted a family - so He created humanity to have relationship, but that was ruined by a thing called sin, this rebellious nature against God. And sin destroys relationships. Sin separates us from God and creates death – spiritually and physically, here in this world and eternally. And because of sin, we can never attain God’s original moral standards for humanity. But God didn’t give up – He still wanted and still wants a family, so He created a way for our sins to be forgiven and our relationship with God to be restored. And ultimately that was accomplished through the suffering and sacrifice and death of Jesus Christ God’s unique Son.
What must we do to have a restored relationship with God? We don't do anything - we believe and have faith. We believe the truth about Jesus Christ, that God loved us and sent His Son into this world to die as a payment for our sins and whomever would believe in Him would not perish but have everlasting life. And the only way to receive this gift is through grace by faith. Grace being undeserved favor.
And this is what separates Christianity from every other religion in the world. We cannot earn our own salvation; we can only receive it as a free gift from God. We can have new life now. And that is the Gospel – the good news.
As we close, a few questions:
Have you believed and confessed Jesus Christ as Lord? If not, would you like to believe now?
If you have confessed Christ as Lord, what are you set apart for? What are you going to do about that question?
So, what does a good church look like?
Tithes
Blessing: Romans 15:13, 33 May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen.