The Every Member Church – The Way It Ought to Be

The Every Member Church – The Way It Ought to Be Acts 2:42-47 INTRODUCTION: Senator Robert Kennedy was running for President in 1968, but shortly after his California Democratic Primary victory, he was gunned down by an assassin in Los Angeles. In his moving tribute to his slain brother, Senator Ted Kennedy said: “Some people see things as they are and ask ‘Why?’ My brother saw things as they could be and asked ‘Why not?’” Have you ever noticed that those who criticize and complain the most are usually the ones who offer no solutions or make little contribution to whatever cause they are complaining about? What if every high-minded critic became a humble helper in the work? What if every chronic complainer became a dependable contributor to the cause? Maybe then it wouldn’t be so difficult to change the things that are to the way they ought to be. We all have a sense about - or an opinion about - really almost anything, right? Some things we have control over, and some things we don’t. • Like it ought be fallish in the fall, and wintery in the winter. • It ought to be cheaper to buy gas. • It ought to be safe to leave your house unlocked when you leave home. • It ought to be that our children could play outdoors and around the neighborhood without fearing for their safety. • It ought to be easy to find something clean and wholesome to enjoy on TV. • It ought to be that teachers, firemen, and police officers earned a better living than professional athletes. • It ought to be that those we elect to public office would actually serve the public good. • It ought to be that every person, no matter their race, gender, creed, cultural background, or social status is treated with respect and valued as a person created in the image of God. • It ought to be that the Bible and a Gospel-centered worldview are taught in every Christian home and in every church. • It ought to be that the virtues, values, and spiritual qualities that are honored and celebrated in the Bible are also honored and celebrated in our society. • It ought to be that the belief in and quest for Absolute Truth would be – as it once was - the foundation of all scientific, social, and political advancement. • • • It ought to be that on every Lord’s Day, every New Testament church is filled and overflowing with those who gather in the Name of Jesus to worship the Father in spirit and truth It ought to be that the church, as the body of Christ and the Temple of the Holy Spirit, would be a Source of Light, Love, and Life and a Force for Good, Grace, and Godliness in the world. It ought to be that every true believer, that every born-again Christian, and that every follower of Christ would be so united with Christ and his body that Satan and all his minions would tremble with fear and crawl back into the pit of darkness where they belong. The question is: When we clearly see so much in our own lives and in our community that are not as they ought to be, do we sit around and criticize, grumble, and complain, or do we do all we can to be used of God to change what is to become what they ought to be? Do we waste our lives agonizing over and complaining about things we can’t change, or do we work in the wisdom and power of the Holy Spirit to change what we can change? This month we are celebrating the 160th Anniversary of the founding of First Baptist Church of Walterboro. I’m personally excited to be here and to be a part of this significant milestone. I think the actual anniversary date is October 16th, but we’ll have an old-fashioned dinner-on-the grounds next Sunday, the 21st. So let’s just call October our anniversary month, like some people I know celebrate their birthdays! So this morning I’m beginning a new series of messages that looks at the church entitled The Every Member Church – The Way It Ought To Be. So I want to begin by explaining what I mean by: THE EVERY MEMBER CHURCH: I realize what I’m about to share with you this morning and in the coming weeks is an ideal that we may never really achieve, but it’s a biblical ideal and the standard we ought to strive for and work for and pray for. It’s like the personal standard of becoming like Christ in every way. To be conformed to the likeness of Christ is the highest ideal of human life, and we will never achieve that ideal completely. But does that mean we don’t make it our goal. No, not at all. But it is the high and holy ideal for every Christian life that we make every effort to achieve until we have breathed our last breath of earthly air, right? And, so, the same can be said for the church. Just because we are called to an impossible ideal, doesn’t mean we ought not to make every effort to achieve it until Christ comes again and the church age comes to a close. So, where do we find this church ideal and what does it look like? I suggest that we find this church ideal in the first church in Jerusalem right after the Day of Pentecost and the coming of the Holy Spirit, when 120 Christ followers were gathered together in one place at the same time and experienced the same filling of the Holy Spirit. And immediately after that empowering, Peter went out into Jerusalem and preached his powerful Pentecostal sermon, and 3000 people were converted and baptized. Something like this just couldn’t have happened if God wasn’t in it. So the passage I want us to look at is in Acts 2. Let’s look at it together. READ ACTS 2:41-47. I know this is a well-worn passage of Scripture. Every preacher I know has preached multiple sermons from this passage for good reason. This passage paints for us the church ideal. It pictures for us the way church ought to be. It shows us the standard by which we measure ourselves as a NT church – an every member church. And by that I mean several important things: 1) An every member church is a church where every member is INCLUDED. Nobody was left out or overlooked. Initially, all 120 believers received the gift of the Holy Spirit. And then in one day the church grew from 120 to about 3000 in number. Talk about a challenge, but how were these 3000 new converts included in the life of the church? Easy answer! They were baptized, immersed in water. That’s what the word to baptize means in the original language. It means to immerse, to cover something or someone with water. And I know some people think baptism is a senseless ritual, or a useless act. But here’s what I see when I look at the ideal. I see a church following the Lord’s command in the Great Commission, and beyond the significance of it spiritual meaning, it is a way of INCLUDING new people and giving people a sense of belonging to a community of faith. 2) An every member church is a church where every member is INVOLVED. Without a doubt, the early Christians didn’t see the church as an optional part of their lives. They got involved in every aspect of the church. They did everything together. They worshiped together; learned together; prayed together; served together; fellowshipped together; and witnessed together; and grew together. 3) An every member church is a church where every member is INVESTED. The first Christians invested their whole lives in the life, fellowship, and mission of the church. They invested their time, talents, and treasures in the work of the church. They bought into the mission and sold out their lives for the cause of Christ. Maybe you heard the story of the man who was new in town and called the pastor of a one of the churches to ask about membership. The pastor naturally was excited to hear this. But then the caller said that he wasn’t interested in getting involved. He just thought he needed to be a member of a local church. So the pastor told him he didn’t think his church would be a good fit for him, but gave him the address of another church he thought would be perfect for him. The next Sunday the man went to the address he had written down and found an old, abandoned church building on the edge of town. It looked like it was about to fall down; the steeple was leaning to one side; it had vines growing through the broken windows, and of course, it was empty. On the following Monday, the guy calls the pastor back and says, “You must have given me the wrong address.” “Oh, I gave you the correct address,” said the pastor. “I gave you the address of a church where the people didn’t want to be involved.” Listen. We don’t want to be THAT church. We want to be an every member church where every member is included, involved, and invested in the life and mission of the church. That’s the ideal, isn’t it? That’s the standard every New Testament church should strive for. That’s the way church ought to be. And, listen. Keeping a group of people together as one body, united in one purpose and guided by one vision, isn’t easy. It’s hard work. It takes great effort, patience, and perseverance in the Holy Spirit. And the longer the journey, the harder it is to keep people from wandering off, from drifting away, or from getting disconnected from the flock. We’re so much like sheep that way. And because people are like sheep, we have to keep the spirit of the Good Shepherd who left the 99 and went looking for the one lost sheep that went astray. Only in our church there’s more than one! In fact, our Inactive Members outnumber our Active Members. And there are a thousand reasons why people get disconnected from their church family. But there is one reason we need to go find them – that’s what the Good Shepherd did, and that’s what the Good Shepherd expects us to do. RESPONSE: It’s not the heart of Christ to write people off; to ignore their absence; to neglect their spiritual condition; or to stop striving to become an every member church. Let’s ask ourselves this question: Why would God give us new members if we are poor stewards of the ones we have? Next week is HOMECOMING. I want to challenge each of you with this: Why don’t we make next Sunday a true homecoming? Everyone of you know someone who belongs to this church family who no longer comes. You know someone who is no longer included, involved, and invested in the church. In the spirit of the Good Shepherd, let’s make every effort to reach out and bring them home where they belong. That would make next Sunday a true homecoming – the way it ought to be!