The Mark...
Notes
Transcript
Greetings once again, as I sit behind my computer and recording this message. Truly this is not church as any of us would have imagined it 2 months ago, and yet, here we are. You’re there, perhaps you’re alone or you may be with loved ones - either way the Scriptures assure us that, “where two or three come together in My name, there am I with them.”
So wherever you are, I’m glad you’re here and know that Christ is here with us. With that in mind, let’s pray:
God of all glory, on this first day you began creation, bringing light out of darkness.
On this first day you began your new creation, raising Jesus Christ from the darkness of death.
On this Lord’s Day grant that we, the people you create by water and the Spirit, may be joined with all your works in praising you for your great glory.
God, we pray for your blessing on the church in this place - we recognize the church is not a building, it is your people. So we pray for your blessing on us your church right where we are:
Right where we are may the faithful find salvation, and the careless be awakened.
Right where we are may the doubting find faith, and the anxious be encouraged.
Right where we may the tempted find help, and the sorrowful comfort.
Right where we are may the weary find rest, and the strong be renewed.
Right where we are may the aged find consolation and the young be inspired;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen .
Not What I Expected
Not What I Expected
You know it is true that our lives are never what we think they will be. Even the best made plans can change drastically as we have seen in the past 9 weeks.
It was 9 weeks ago that I called a special meeting of our elders for the purpose of discussing Communion. You see, though our congregation has had a tradition of not celebrating Communion during the season of Lent only 3 weeks prior we had made the decision that this year we were going to do things differently and celebrate it. Then came this virus called CORONA VIRUS 19, or COVID-19, and an advisory from the denomination NOT to do Communion by intinction - which is how our congregation normally celebrates the Lord’s Supper.
And so it was 9 weeks ago we gathered, being cautious about shaking hands or touching our faces, a bit skeptical of anyone with a cough, and wondering what this would mean for the church. Eight weeks ago, we gathered in person for the last time as we became more aware of just how contagious this virus was. Your elders made the difficult decision to not meet together as a congregation.
At that point we were 3 weeks into our Lenten series. And that’s a series I want to pick up again today.
The series was called, “Vital Congregations”
There is a question that must be asked by every congregation today, and that question is:
What makes a congregation vital to a community in a post-christian culture?
What makes a congregation vital to a community in a post-christian culture?
In other words...
What is a vital congregation?
What is a vital congregation?
Its a great question! It’s an easy question AND it’s a difficult question.
It’s easy because we have a source that tells us what we are representatives of God’s Kingdom. So we can see ourselves that way.
It’s difficult because we tend to see ourselves with…what’s a kind way of saying it…rather rosy glasses? We tend to see ourselves better than .... you can fill in the blank. And we do the same in the way we see ourselves as churches. And in the midst of that positive light God invites us to take a serious long look at our congregations and ourselves as individual parts of that body under the Holy Light of God.
So as we reflect on who the church is supposed to be, we are also taking some time to self examine and see how we are as individuals within the church, and as a body of believers that we call the church.
Our work here in determining if we are and determining to be a VITAL CONGREGATION is to look at 7 areas of vitality.
The 7 Areas of a Vital Congregation are:
Lifelong Discipleship Formation
Lifelong Discipleship Formation
Lifelong discipleship formation lies in direct contrast of complacent “Christian” piety, simply teaching good morals; or offering the latest programs. This is all about daily life. It’s about how we claim and proclaim our identity as followers of Christ.
This is about how we practice, grow, cherish and share our faith in the world. Beyond mere words, how do people know we are disciples of Jesus Christ?
Lifelong discipleship formation is about how we live into a right relationship with God, with all God’s people, and all of creation. It’s about the call to daily take up our cross and follow Christ.
Intentional Authentic Evangelism
Intentional Authentic Evangelism
This is not a bunch of “Christian” hypocrisy; or the idea of committee responsibility.
We all have good news to share of things that are happening in our lives. We don’t have to be trained to share about the new job, the new baby or grand child, or a new puppy! We simply share what is beautiful and dear to us. It’s authentic, not pretentious.
Intentional authentic evangelism is connected to our lifelong discipleship formation. It is through intentional spiritual practices in the faith community that we meld God’s story and our story, and we share that story with people in our daily lives because it is a part of who we are.
Outward Incarnational Focus
Outward Incarnational Focus
An outward incarnational focus contrasts and inward institutional survival mindset. An outward incarnational focus is about not limiting where and to whom we share the Good News. We are the gathered community of Christ sent out! We go, not because we have a new member recruiting strategy but because we have a Savior who commanded us to be on God’s mission.
We go because God’s saving love in Christ, cannot be inwardly contained. I think of Jeremiah 20:9
But if I say, “I will not mention his word
or speak anymore in his name,”
his word is in my heart like a fire,
a fire shut up in my bones.
I am weary of holding it in;
indeed, I cannot.
It is intentional, but it’s just as much a part of who we are!
Fourth we have Empower Servant Leadership
Empower Servant Leadership
Empower Servant Leadership
This is the recognition that everyone of us has a gift meant for the building up of the church. As we are all gifted, we are called to serve the Lord, to do our part in membership of the body of Christ.
EVERY part is necessary.
Sometimes we forget that God has called all of us. Every pastor I know has had that experience where they arrive late to a church dinner only to find no one has eaten because they were not there to give the opening prayer. It sounds silly, but it’s true. We are all called, I’m called as your pastor, but we believe in the priesthood of all believers.
Spirit Inspired Worship
Spirit Inspired Worship
This is in contrast to self gratifying worship, or stale ritual divorced from meaning. A worship service is not a show, it is not consumer entertainment.
I believe it was Soren Kierkegaard who said, “At the end of a worship service we should not ask ourselves ‘How was it?’ but ‘How did I do?’” How did I do in worshipping our Creator God?
Six days we toil and labor and on this Holy Sabbath day we get to come into the presence of God; we get to encounter the awesome mystery of the God who longs to be known in relationship with us!
Caring Relationships
Caring Relationships
Remember the show Cheers!? And it had that catchy theme song that referred to the place as “Where everybody knows your name.” Way back in the Creation narrative we hear God saying, “It is not good for Man to be alone.” You and I are created for relationship. First and foremost to have a relationship with our Creator God through our LORD Jesus. And secondly through our relationships with one another.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
The seventh and last mark of a vital congregation is:
Ecclesial Health
Ecclesial Health
That’s sort of a scary sounding one, because it uses a very churchy sounding word. Basically it is saying “Church Health”. Are we a healthy family together?
Ecclesial Health is about: 1) Why we gather as a church community and 2) How we practice being church together. It causes us to continually ask ourselves, “are we who we say we are?”
VITAL CONGREGATIONS
VITAL CONGREGATIONS
Each of these marks deserves and will get a full treatment to itself in a sermon. The first three I’ve already covered, and I want to spend the rest of our time together reflecting on what we’ve learned about them. I will encourage you to go back and review the previous sermons online. You can find them at
Faithlife.com/MissionWoodsChurch
or on our Facebook Page - Facebook.com/Mission-Woods-Church
So, for the time we have left, let’s look at a particular passage from the early church. Let’s look at Acts 2:42-47.
And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts, praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
They devoted themselves to:
Apostles’ teaching
The fellowship
Breaking of Bread and prayers
This is discipleship right from the inception in the early church. They are dedicated to what the apostles are teaching. What do you suppose that was? What was it the Apostles would have been teaching after they had watched their teacher and friend though innocent be pronounced guilty,
...though innocent to not fight his captors,
...though innocent he was executed, he died and was buried.
It seemed like the end, but no. Three days later they would encounter their teacher again ALIVE!
The apostles did not understand at first, but Jesus had explained it to them. Now they knew about WHY he had to die, and by dying he conquered each of their sins. Now they knew that in rising again he conquered their very deaths as well, that as he rose, they too would rise one day. THAT is good news, they now understand that God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him! (Jn 3:17)
This is so in direct contrast to how the world believes - so it is important that they gather together. They need one another’s encouragement. They need to learn more. They need to grow in their understanding that they…each one of them…is the “disciple Jesus loved.”
They break bread together - we talk about this as being a simple meal, but our common vernacular has trivialized the meaning of this euphemism.
The bread is broken in the celebration of the Passover - a meal that was celebrated since the Israelites left Egypt in memory of all that God had done for them. Jesus, takes that memorial meal and changes it, add to it, and make it even more salvific. He proclaims that the bread that is broken is his body, which is given for them. And the wine he tells them is the cup of the new covenant in his blood. And he tells them, “Do this in remembrance of me.”
The early church devoted themselves to remembering, and celebrating all that God had done from the beginning to Jesus dying on the cross for them.
And all who believed were together and had all things in common. And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.
They did not limit this to themselves, but they looked outwardly. Knowing what God had done for each of them, sinners that they were, they extend love and grace to any who had need. The all mentioned here is not those within their little party - it refers to their community - not the small band of believer, the community at large!
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
and I love the next phrase:
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
Were they intentional in their evangelism.
Let’s define evangelism: First lets go with it’s suffix, -ism. An - ism is a belief. They had a belief in something, what was it. evangel - which comes from ev - which in greek means “good.”
-angel- means news.
They had a belief in the good news - that is what Evangelism is. If you have good news, you share it, right? People saw their enthusiasm, and their charity. What they saw was their changed hearts.
The early church was not inwardly focused - they were not trying to just survive. They wanted others to know the type of love they had received, so they lived it out, and the whole while they praise God.
I want you to look at the very last sentence there.
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
It wasn’t the people who added to their number, it was the LORD. Too often we see other people’s salvation as being up to us, it is ultimately up to God. YET, we are called to be disciples
The first three of our marks are encapsulated by the word discipleship.
Disciples
Disciples
So how’s your discipleship?
Are you experiencing your life as “the disciple Jesus loved?”
Are you devoting yourself to the Good News, the fellowship, and the breaking of bread and prayers?
In this time while we’re apart, perhaps we aren’t able to have physical presence with others, but we can still be in contact. We can still share the wonderful things that God has done and is doing in our lives.
As a church we’ve just begun a journey of reading through the Gospels by Pentecost Sunday. I’ve divided this up into 5 readings per week, so it makes it pretty easy to catch up if you get behind. It’s about 3 chapters each day, and it’s just a simple way of being in God’s Word. I hope that you are taking up the challenge.
As you read, I want you to note not what you should be doing or not doing (which you will naturally see anyway), instead I want you to focus on what God has done and is doing. God does not change. Note God’s actions towards you. As you see them, I know you will be changed.
You are the disciple Jesus loves!
Let’s pray:
Lord, in your mercy:
hear our prayer .
For your Church in every place, that we may worship and serve you faithfully . . .
For leaders and people in every land, that they may know your way and do your will . . .
For justice throughout the world, that there may be peace and plenty for all . . .
For the earth you have made, that it may flourish in beauty and show your glory . . .
For all those who hunger and thirst, that they may be filled with good things . . .
For those who are ill or close to death, that they may know your loving care . . .
Receive all these prayers, O God,
in the tenderness of your mighty hand, and strengthen our hands to serve you; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen .
Go out into the world in peace; have courage;
hold onto what is good;
return no one evil for evil;
support the weak;
help the suffering;
honor all people;
love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen .