REINVENTING CHURCH, part 4
Philippians 1:9-11
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We have been hearing about how we need to REINVENT the Church in the community we live today.
The first reinventing principle is this:
We will no longer be a
“Come and get it” Church but a
1. “Go and get ‘em” Church! WE GO OUTSIDE THE CHURCH TO THEM! We want to be a church without walls!
The second reinventing principle is this: We will no longer be a “Silent” Church, but a “Story” Church! WE SPEAK FROM OUR HEARTS ABOUT CHRIST! We want to tell our community and the world about JESUS CHRIST.
The third reinventing principle is this: We will no longer be a “Shrink-wrapped” Church, but a “Connected” Church! “LOVE” means BEING in right relationship with God and others! We want to know our community so well, that if our church ceased to exist, our community would miss us!
But to be able to love one another we need to KNOW more about each other!
What are things you pray for when it comes to our church?
Read along with me what Paul prays for believers Phil. 1:9-11
And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
And this is my prayer:
that your love (agape)
may abound more and more (to be over any given measure; to go beyond; when everything looks to be used up, when it comes to AGAPE LOVE, there is always more available; the word is used of a flower going from bud to full bloom!)
1. in knowledge (epignosis) precise and correct knowledge of things ethical and divine; the ability to recognize something to be so; this knowing comes from researching, investigating and verifying. If there was a case brought against you, and you were not guilty in the least, you would want to hire a lawyer who would EPIGNOSIS you right out of court! Your lawyer would need to research, investigate, and verify all the facts and the truth about your actions. Paul prays for your love to be that way first!...then…
2. depth of insight, (aisthesis) made from two words the prefix AIS and the word THESIS. It is the habit of the mind that weighs what it sees and makes a judgment about it before it decides what to do.
Paul said, My prayer is that your AGAPE LOVE may come to full bloom over and over again for each other recognizably and decisively. Paul’s prayer is for believers to have a well thought-out LOVE CAMPAIGN!
Listen, I love my wife. I even agape-love my wife, but if all I have is love without wisdom, my love never gets out of the starting blocks, it never gets out of the barn! It never makes it any further than the feelings I have right here in my heart—it is kept to myself. Or worse.
I try to express that love in foolish ways, without understanding, making mistake after mistake after mistake and never correcting them! I’d just keep cooking her coconut cream pies and taking them to her without wisdom, and think it was the loveliest thing in the world. But if I never realize coconut cream pies grosses her out, I am a fool! And probably due for one of those pies in the face!
Paul has better hopes than that for believers., and prays that way!
So why does Paul pray this? What good is wise love? What does it do for us? Two things…
So that you
1. may be able to discern what is best
Wise love is shown by the quality of what we do. Discerning what is best means, after examining all that’s on the table, every scenario, all the information gathered, WISE-LOVE makes it possible for you to decide the best course of action to take: what to keep and what to get rid of, what to do and what not to do, what to say and what not to say!
So what does that do? What does WISE-DECISION-MAKING –LOVE do for me? I want to know, where does this wise, discerning love lead to?
If you look at a fruit tree and saw buds, then blooms, what do you know to be next on the tree’s agenda? Fruit! Keep that bud-blossom thing in mind…
2. so that you may be PURE and BLAMELESS FOR the day of Christ,
FILLED with the fruit of righteousness
that comes through Jesus Christ—to the glory and praise of God.
What kind of fruit do you like? With or without bruises? Ripe or unripe? Infested or non-infested fruit?
What Paul is praying for and what I am praying for, is for we who are believers, to not have just love buds growing on us, but that our love for one another and our community to come to full bloom over and over again and move on to complete fruitfulness as we express well thought-out LOVE towards each other as we gather information about one another, investigate areas where love needs to be applied and then apply love there skillfully; where we consider what is the best for each other and be passionate about seeing it happen here and now. The kind of LOVE Jesus Christ generates in the life within which HE lives. THAT kind of love is going to bring God semi-loads of praise and glory both now and when Christ returns!
Take a look at that ONE CHURCH, FOUR GENERATIONS handout again. Let me explain the last two groups of people and hopefully it comes across as KNOWLEDGEABLE and INSIGHTFUL and as you seek to apply your discernment to it, see if the Holy Spirit of God leads you to imagine WISE-LOVING someone in our community who are like them.
The BUSTERS & BRIDGERS
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Let’s again make this an interactive time…what does what you’ve just heard have to say about God?
What does it tell you about you?
What does it say about our church today?
Take a look at the new scorecard in your bulletin that hopefully you’ve filled out. Is there anything you’d like for us to celebrate with you about?
Is there anything you’d like more prayer about?
YOUR NEW WEEKLY SCORECARD
1. How many hours did you spend in ministry where you:
a. Work _______ hrs.
b. Go to school? _______hrs
c. Participate (club, shop, walk, etc.)? _______hrs
2. What have you discovered about yourself this week you need to learn: ____________________________________
Keep putting your FAITH IN ACTION! Keep yourself accountable! Put your name on the top, and just hand those to me on your way out today!
