Sermon Tone Analysis

*/W/**/HAT /**/M/**/AKES A /**/C/**/HURCH A /**/C/**/HURCH?/*

*/Part One: Ministry/*

 

This morning is the conclusion of our weekend assessment with our Executive Minister, Dr. Charles Revis.

Charles will be presenting a final report on Sunday morning; July 10th so I hope you’ll all be here that Sunday.

We’ll have a fellowship luncheon following the final report.

Along with all the great food we’ll get a sense of where we can go from here.

In the mean time I want us to be thinking about what makes a church a church.

Thanks to Wilma Skinner we have a picture to help us focus our minds on that question for the next few weeks.

*/What makes a church a church?/*

·        In the last month we’ve begun to test-drive a more streamlined set of by-laws with Guiding Principles.

Does an organizational structure make us a church

·        Right now we are gearing up for an intensive ministry to children again this summer.

Does a program make us a church?

·        Over the summer we’re going to be looking at improving the steps out front.

Does a building make us a church?

What’s the difference between a cult and a church?

What about other organizations such as Rotary or Kiwanis.

Why not classify them as a church?

·        They’re non-profit

·        They always have a speaker

·        They’re committed to improving society

·        They are usually trying to raise money, … and …

·        They are always having food when they get together

·        When you think about it … it sounds a lot like church doesn’t it.

But the church is so much more than an organizational structure, a program, or a building.

The church is significantly different than a cult.

And other non-profit organizations and institutions, frankly, just don’t measure up.

Over the next few weeks I’ll try to show you what makes a church a church.

To begin with I want to lay a foundation to build everything else on.

So first let’s look at the passage at the top of your outline.

When the apostle Paul tried to tell the Christians at Ephesus what the church was, he said it this way:

 

/God is building a home//.

He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building.

He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation.

Now he’s using* you*, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together.

We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home./

-------Ephesians 2:19-22  The Message, by Eugene Peterson

Two Foundational Principles:

1)    The church is *God’s* *home*

a.     God intends to reside in the church

b.

But, the church is not a building (“Here’s the church, Here’s the steeple…”)

c.      God’s game plan is to live in each of us

2)    We are the stones

a.

It doesn’t matter what our background is

b.

God wants to build His church with us!

c.

As different as we are from each other … He is fitting us in!

3)    Jesus is the foundation

a.

It isn’t church if Jesus isn’t the boss

b.

It isn’t church if Jesus isn’t our “freedom fighter”

4)    When we let Jesus be the boss, accept Jesus as the one who fought for & won our freedom from sin, & invite God into our life … & then find our place along side of others that have done the same thing … we become a church.

5)    Second Foundational Principle: The church isn’t made up of bricks and mortar … but of *Christians*!

Christians who are …

a.     Doing Ministry together

b.     Worshipping together

c.      Fellowshipping together

d.     Learning together

 

This morning I want to talk about doing ministry together.

We live in a broken world with broken people.

I am convinced that our church is the kind of place where anyone can come with any problem and be welcomed!

I thank God for that.

There are different ways that Christians can respond to a broken world:

 

1)    Sit in *judgment* on a broken world.

a.     Critical & condemning

b.     John 3:17 [NIV]

 

/“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”/

c.

We need to understand that the world is not the *enemy* the world is a *victim* of the *enemy*.

2)    *Deny* the world is broken.

a.     Positive thinking (Presbyterian: pre-ordained; Baptist: assurance of salvation; Robert Schuller type~/positive attitude: “It’s not hot & I’m not here!”

b.

We cannot deny the facts.

c.      William Bennett – Violent crime has increased 500% since 1960, the number of unmarried teenagers becoming pregnant has doubled in the last 20 years (1 in 10 get pregnant), 1 in 4 pregnancies end in abortion (We’ve aborted the equivalent of 10% of the population of the United States), Child Abuse has increased 400% since 1976, teen suicide has tripled since 1960.

/d.     /Matthew 9:36 [NIV]

/ /

/“When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”/

/ /

e.

It is not unspiritual to acknowledge that this world is in *trouble*!

3)    *Despair* over a broken world.

a.     Give up

b.     Hole up

c.

We need to do all we can to be in the world making a difference as long as God leaves us here.

4)    *Serve* a broken world.

a.     Luke 4:18f

 

/“The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim freedom for the prisoners and recovery of sight for the blind, to release the oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”/

b.

As you think about the life of Jesus, isn’t this what He did?

c.      John 17:18 [NIV]

 

/“As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world.”/

d.

Jesus never asked us to do what He was unwilling to do!

e.      Philip Yancy (CT article)

 

/“Our real challenge, the focus of our energy, should not be to Christianize the United States (always a losing battle) but rather to strive to be Christ’s church in an increasingly hostile world.”/

f.