Shaped by Imitation
October 1, 2006
Experiencing God #3
I’ve printed a quote by a Pastor on the back of your bulletin. A Pastor writes, "I don’t serve well if I merely oversee a church that continues to serve only itself."
To be true to his task
to be faithful to his calling as a pastor he cannot oversee,
give his seal of approval, cheer on, be pleased with his church if it serves
exists
tries to satisfy only itself.
A church full of people that exist for the sole purpose of serving each other is not a church but a club. Such a group of people are not loving with one love of God but selfish and conceited.
The Church - this church - Clear Lake Baptist Church - Christ the King Church each and every church is at its best when they are not primarily concerned with and focused on themselves but have a different focus.
An external focus
A drive to love God deeply and live out that love to those who surround them.
A Church at its best seeks not to primarily abide by its constitution.
A Church at its best does not listen to the agenda of the few.
A Church at its best does not seek to satisfy
-the most vocal
-the highest givers
-the most frequent attender
-nor the best dressed.
The Church when it is at its best lives not in response to loud and ever present and changing demands, longings and needs of those within it but instead a Church is at its best when it lives responsively to God’s leading and guiding.
This kind of a Church
A Church made up of people being attentive to, alert for, expectant of God and His work is one that is brought into the purpose that our God has for it.
A Church at its best has people in its worship services, Bible Studies, Sunday School who are continually being responsive to God’s work around them and who according to their abilities join Him in that work.
When this happens-
When this is the behavior of a Church, the people of that church are brought into a love relationship with our God and as a result begin to do the very work of God in their Community.
Think about this - Jesus left his followers, those who were his closest and most faithful listeners with all the responsibility to carry on in the work He began. But He left them no book or manual to read. He gave them no strategic plan to follow. He didn’t set up a Board of directors. He did none of that.
Instead what he did in part was to invite them to be responsive and attentive to His Spirit’s ongoing work and as they were- they would be led.
One day
One decision
One circumstance at a time.
Jesus invited them to be responsive to Him. Jesus Christ no doubt knew that often plans, programs; procedures often got in the way of us being obedient and faithful. So by leaving nothing to follow. No program to implement. No 10-year plan this caused his followers to trust with abandon the teachings and words of Jesus, to continue on what He began, sharing meals and material possessions, to worship together regularly and as a result "the Lord added to their number daily." (Acts 2:47)
Now let me clarify something early on to put some of you at ease. I’m not angry with any of you. I am not claiming that I am overseeing a Church that serves only itself. Sometimes we do, other times we don’t.
I begin this way this morning because I recognize in my own life a continual behavior and attitude that wants everything mapped out ahead of time, before I eve take a step of faith.
I begin this way today because I can identify within myself a propensity to want to have everything figured out ahead of time.
Though I know God does desire to use me and has the ability to somehow use me for his work over and over again I in a sense put on the brakes and put up speed bumps or act unresponsively to my God’s invitations to join Him in his work because of who I believe myself to be or not be and -
-I as a result limit God.
-I do.
-I do not permit God the opportunity to use me.
It is me saying no to God’s invitation.
Me excluding myself.
Me missing out on what God desires to do in me and through me.
And as a result I don’t grow deeper in my relationship with God and others aren’t blessed.
My friends our God invites us to join Him in His work. Any takers?
Jesus the Great Shepherd, knows about our navel gazing tendencies. Our ability to listen to the unholy trinity of me, myself and I. Our resemblance to sheep and gives us an invitation.
An open invitation.
An invitation to live into the life he intentioned for us.
An invitation that can rescue us from ourselves, redeem our broken lives and restore
us to a life lived in relationship with our God.
And for those who respond,
For those who begin the journey and seek to be faithful on it.
Their lives are given a foundation to stand on.
Truth to trust.
A friend to give comfort.
A purpose other than themselves.
My friends - our God invites you and me to become involved with Him in His work.
Any takers?
Wednesday night my boys were in Hog Heaven for that afternoon one of our neighbors stopped by with his dump truck to see if they wanted to go pick up a load of mulchy stuff. It didn’t matter that it was nearly nap time. It didn’t matter that they were currently enjoying what they were doing. When the invitation came, they jumped or climbed up into his truck - road with him to the pile of mulchy stuff. Morris invited Luke to drive the excavator and to fill up the truck and putting his hands on the levers. Then they got to ride back home and dump the load in our neighbor’s field. But Morris wasn’t done with his offer. Then they got to spread it around in the corral with a big scoop on the tractor. My boys will remember this past Wednesday afternoon for a long time. They were invited into something larger than themselves. Something their dad could never provide for them. Morris invited them to join him in his work.
Earlier in the week I had a conversation with a woman I had never met before. It was one of those "holy" moments that we are given from time to time by our God.
In our conversation she began by telling me she was a follower of Jesus, had become so through the invitation of a pastor down South. This woman was involved in "hooking, drinking and druggin." This pastor somehow got to know her and simply invited her while she was in that condition to make coffee at the church. She took him up on the offer. And slowly, ever so slowly, she came to learn of god’s love for her and accepted his invitation to become a child of His. And her life has been restored. It is a beautiful story. A story she tells frequently to help others.
These kinds of stories are what is contained in the Bible. Stories of God’s invitation. God’s work in his world through people who responded yes to God. Henry Blackaby writes. The Bible is the record of God’s activity in the world. In it He reveals Himself (His nature), His purposes and plans, and His ways. The Bible is not primarily a book about individual persons and their relationship with God (Abraham, Moses, or Paul, but rather the activity of God and His relationship with individuals. The focus is on God and His activity.
It isn’t about you.
It isn’t about what you can or can’t do.
It has nothing to do with measuring up to a standard
making the grade
become acceptable
or qualifying.
No - No - No. The Church when it is at its best is made up of people who recognize that it is God who has given them the opportunity to know Him.
A Church at its best is made up of people who recognize that it is not their faithfulness but God’s that has used them in Clear Lake for nearly 104 years.
A Church is at its best when they live in response to God’ invitation to join Him in His work.
Any takers?
A Church at its best is made up of people who are continually being shaped by God’s invitation.
So here’s the deal.
You age doesn’t matter.
Your ability doesn’t matter.
Samuel was an infant.
Mary a teenager when they accepted God’s invitation.
Abraham was 75.
Noah was 600 when the flood came.
Age doesn’t matter.
Ability or dis-abilities don’t either.
Moses stuttered.
Isaiah cried out, Woe is me, at God’s invitation.
Jeremiah said, "I don’t know how to speak."
Ezekiel tried to convince God that his past disqualified him.
But God would have none of it.
In a sense saying "I don’t call.
I don’t invite the qualified.
I qualify the called.
I support, am behind, make myself present in those who respond to my call.
Any takers?
My friends, you and I are invited in to the very work of God right here in Clear Lake, in your home, neighborhood and work place. This is our God.
Now notice, in each of the 1st 3 realities that we have studied, God is the subject.
God is always at work around us.
God pursues a continuing love relationship with me that is real and personal.
God invites me to become involved with Him in His work.
God is in charge.
God makes this happen.
We just have be willing to respond.
Any takers?
Our God believes in us. Are you hearing this?
A girl writes-
I grew up knowing I was different, and I hated it. I was born with a cleft palate, and when I stared school, my classmates made it clear to me how I looked to others; a little girl with a misshapen lip, crooked nose, lopsided teeth, and garbled speech.
When schoolmates asked, "What happened to your lip?" I’d tell them I’d fallen and cut it on a piece glass. Somehow it seemed more acceptable to have suffered an accident than to have been born different. I was convinced that no one outside my family could love me.
There was, however, a teacher in the second grade whom we all adored--Mrs. Leonard by name. She was short, round, happy-a sparkling lady.
Annually we had a hearing test . . . Mrs. Leonard gave the test to everyone in the class, and finally it was my turn. I knew from past years that as we stood against the door and covered one ear, the teacher sitting at her desk would whisper something and we would have to repeat it back-things like "The sky is blue" or "Do you have new shoes?" I waited there for those words that God must have put into her mouth, those seven words that changed my life. Mrs. Leonard said, in her whisper, "I wish you were my little girl."
(As quoted by John Ortberg, Love Beyond Reason, p. 148, 149, From the book, The Whisper Test.)
Friends, clean out your ears.
It is time to take a hearing test.
Lean forward - listen closely.
Our God is always at work around you. He is. Our God pursues a relationship with you that is real and unique to you. He invites you to join Him in His work. He wishes you and I were completely His.
Now, if you’ve heard this and if you believe this would you stand and grab the hand of the person beside you.
And say - God, I accept your invitation.
God, I accept your invitation.
I don’t want to exist to serve only myself.
