Investment Tips For A Healthy Church
9/23/07 Ecclesiastes 12:1-7 Matthew 9:35-38
Today we look back and recognize the 45 years God has blessed this particular part of the body of Christ known first as Glenville Presbyterian Church and today as Glenville New Life Community Church PCUSA. As your pastors for the past 18 and ½ years, we can say that it has been an incredible blessing to be involved with the legacy of this church. When we see the people who have come through these doors through the years, we know that we have been blessed by our God.
45 years after our start, we are a church still seeking to enter into a right relationship God to be equipped for the ministry of Jesus Christ to make a difference in the lives of others. We are a church that values our love for God. A church where men and women, young and old and all in between serve as co-partners in doing the work of God. We work together as a leadership team in making decisions. We have no qualms about letting the world know that this church believes that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, the Bible is the inspired word of God, and that God is in the business of changing people’s lives.
All churches matter the same to God and are equal, yet we are grateful for this church, and the people that God has called to be a part of it during its 45 year history. Isn’t it amazing, that before the Romans built the Roman Empire a couple of thousand years ago, God already had plans for you to be a part of this church. Now that’s what we call advance planning. It is amazing how God plans, and then invites us to be a part of the process to see if we will work together with Him, to change a part of the world for the cause of Christ.
God has allowed us to have had a small measure of success in the ministry that He has given us a church. Let us help you to see what we mean by success. We’ll ask you a sea of questions, and if at the end you can say” I am among that group we want you to stand and give God a measure of praise.”
Is there anyone here who has been beaten up by life or made some serious mistakes and you found God’s grace here and discovered that God is not only the God of the second chance, but the third, the seventh and the eleventh chance? Is there anyone here who came through these doors and did not know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior but now you do? Is there anyone here who did not know how to pray or what to pray, but because of this church now you do?
Is there anyone here who was going through a personal crisis, a loss, or a grief and you found a family that stood by you? Is there anyone here who had not heard there was a Holy Spirit but now you have and you’re using your spiritual gift to make a difference in the lives of people? Is there anyone here who went through the pain of a divorce, but you found God’s love and reconciliation here that got you through it?
Is there anyone here who thought their marriage would not make it, but because of the God of this place, your marriage is still intact today and it’s getting better? Is there anyone here who know what it was like to be addicted to drugs and alcohol, but discovered a God who could deliver you?
Anyone here who needed wisdom and guidance for a decision you needed to make and God provided it for you. Is there anyone here who knows that the God in this place has changed them from what they use to be to what they are now? If you can say, I’m in that crowd stand on your feet and give God the praise.
Let us ask you this, who do you know that does not need this kind of a God who can make such a tremendous difference in their lives. 45 years of ministry has brought us to a crossroad as a church. We have so enjoyed God’s blessings, that it may be possible that we have forgotten there is a huge group of people who do not know what God has available for their lives. They do not even know that it is s possible to live differently. They have never come through the doors of any church, and they have no plans to do so anytime soon.
Nearly two thousand years ago, when Jesus walked the face of this earth, Jesus was preaching the good news to people and healing every kind of disease and sickness. As he looked upon the crowds, he had compassion on them for they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.
If we walked through Glenville at some time other than Sunday morning, and we saw that the people who live here, what would we see. If you came at 2:30 in the afternoon and saw the youth pouring up and down St. Clair leaving Glenville High School or FDR, what would you see? If you went up E. 105 and saw guys hanging out on the corner what would you see? If you drove up and down the streets of this neighborhood, some with senior citizens buildings, some streets with brand new homes, some with boarded houses every third house, and some with well manicured lawns what would you see? Are you able to say, wow what an opportunity God has given to us with an abundance of people who need to get saved?
Every now and then, God sends us a person with eyes to see what Jesus sees. One such person was Joseph Lanton. Joseph was a young man who came to us while preparing to become a lawyer. After graduating from law school, he wanted to work in Cleveland, but could not find a job here so he left. God opened the door and he came back to Cleveland. He became leader of the Men’s Association.
When Joseph saw the men and young boys on the streets at night, Joseph saw what Jesus saw. He saw people who had been harassed by life, who were like sheep without a shepherd. Joseph said, “we need to go and get some of these guys.” That summer we as men went up and down E. 105 to share the gospel.
Joseph had a vision to reach young guys for Christ. Then one night as he was preparing to come to Life-Sharing, a blood cot traveled from his leg to his heart and he was dead before Life-sharing that night was over. It was a tremendous loss for us as a church. A part of us slipped away with him. We never went out as men again on East 105th Street after Joseph’s death. We do not see with the eyes that he saw and as a result, we have not since had the same kind of passion.
After Jesus had been resurrected from the dead and was speaking the eleven disciples, he said “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.” You would have expected a statement to follow, like, “now I am going to knock the daylights of Satan, and we’re going to rule this world like it ought to be ruled.” But he did not say that. He said, “therefore go and make disciples of all nations.” So Jesus received all this authority and power for us to go and make disciples. Jesus really expected us to be equipped for ministry.
Jesus does not tell us to he received all this authority and power for us to build great buildings, enjoy each other with fellowship, take care of ourselves and pay others to go spread the good news. The cross roads we face today, is “will we go and make disciples.” The Greek for go here can be translated as, “as you are going make disciples.” How many of us are going somewhere everyday? How many of us are encountering people who have been harassed by life? How many of us have knowledge inside that could help people, but we choose to keep it in.
Did you know that almost 90% of the people in the world are facing eternity without Christ? Who make up the 90%. Some are our families, our neighbors, our co-workers, our classmates, and the strangers that God send across our paths. They are like sheep without a shepherd. They do not know the God we serve and the God they need.
90% of us as Christians have been unwilling to tell them about what God can do in their lives. There are two kinds of churches in the kingdom of God when it comes to lost people. There are those churches that talk about the lost. They speak of all the sins that those people are doing and the church gets excited with that kind of a sermon. Then there are churches that talk to the lost. They seek to have compassion on those without a shepherd. What kind of church do we want to be at Glenville?
Jesus talked to the lost. He did not get mad at them. He did not say the community would be safer if they got them off the streets. He did not put the people down because of their clothes, their doo rags, of their sagging pants. When Jesus saw all these people, he immediately thought the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few.
Jesus had looked at a group of people that moments earlier he had described as harassed by life, which means they were people with all kinds of real problems in life with bad behaviors, and smelly odors and he gets excited. He said “the harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore to send out workers in his harvest field.”
We look at our community and are tempted to say it’s the devil’s playground out there. That’s now what Jesus said. Jesus said it was the “Lord’s harvest field.” The world does not belong to Satan. It is the Lord’s harvest field.
When God established this church 45 years ago, God did not set up an outpost in the devil’s territory. God set up an outpost in his field in order to produce more workers for the harvest. Quit believing the lie that everyone who is under Satan’s influence wants to stay there. Many y simply do not know there is an alternative. Stop saying nobody wants to hear the gospel, and nobody wants to hear the truth or you will start believing that lie.
Are you among those who say, Pastors, I’d like to talk to the lost but I do not know how to get started. Then the most important bible study you can attend in your life is this week in our series Sharing Jesus Without Fear. You will learn how to simply ask questions to see if God is at work in a person’s life and how you can take that first step in a non offensive manner.
This entire series on Sharing Jesus Without Fear is for us to move beyond talking about the lost, to having compassion in them as Jesus did. You will know how to be obedient to Jesus’ command to go and make disciples without being afraid. God did not give this commandment to just a select few, we are all called to be ready to give an account to others for the hope that we have in us.
How much is it worth to you to make this series, Sharing Jesus Without Fear, a priority. You can watch your favorite tv show, or you can learn how to make a difference in a person’s life for all of eternity. God did not save us to come to heaven by ourselves, but to do all that we can in bringing as many people as possible with us. How many of you want people in heaven, coming up to you and saying, “I’m here because of what you told me about the gospel?” How many of you know that will make all the rejections you heard worth it? It does not happen unless we say “yes, I’m a worker willing to go into the field.”
How many of you remember the movie the “Field Of Dreams.” In that movie, Kevin Costner gets a vision of building a baseball field in the middle of a cornfield. He barely has enough money to pay for his mortgage on the farm. But he then here’s this voice “if you build it they will come.” He builds this baseball field and people come from miles around just to sit and watch in the stands and they pay money to do it.
A lot of times we fall into this thinking in the church. If we just do this, then the unsaved will come pouring into our doors. If we add a handicap ramp, if we remodel the classrooms, if we fix the bathrooms, if we change the seating, if we remodel the sanctuary, if we add this ministry or that ministry, surely they will pour into our churches. Though all these things are good, they do not cause the unsaved to come knocking at our doors.
What causes a church to become healthy and grow is one person in that church who loves Jesus who decides to try to impact someone else’s life for Jesus by sharing the gospel with that person. It means sometimes hearing the words no, sometimes being rejected, sometimes persevering with a person for a long period of time without giving up. It means that we keep on going to other people and sharing the gospel with them and inviting them to come to our church.
We learned last week in Sharing Jesus without fear that success in witnessing, is 1) living out the Christian Life, 2) sharing the gospel and 3) trusting God for the results. Success is not bringing someone to Christ. That’s the Holy Spirit’s job. We do not have to make people accept the Lord. We only provide them with the opportunity.
A healthy church is a church made up of people who are bold enough to pray, “here I am Lord, send me into the harvest.” We get rejected all the time in life over things that affect us for a lot longer period of time and we get over it. Why not suffer a little rejection for the cause of Christ? It’s the doorway to making a difference in the lives of others. God wants to raise up a group of people with a heart of compassion who are willing to say, “I will go to the harvest field and work.”
We are 45 years old and we need to look at the fruit we are bearing. It is easy for us to confuse activities with being alive. Being alive as a church has little to do with the kind of music we sing. Being alive means through our ministry, people are getting saved. It means people’s lives are being transformed. It means we are more willing to make sacrifices for God today than we were last year. It means I have more compassion for others and I’m less selfish with what the Lord has blessed me with. It means I am striving to become more like Jesus. It means taking our faith beyond our building.
Our activities should have the goal of leading someone to Christ or someone in a deeper relationship to Christ otherwise they are simply activities and not life. We as a church will not become all that we can be by simply hoping for it or dreaming about it. We need to develop a strategy to have compassion on those who haven harassed by life and are like sheep without a shepherd. That is why it is critical for the leaders of our church to be present for our Leaders meeting the third Saturday in October.
The next 45 years of ministry which comes from this place will still have Jesus at the center of it, but let us add more love and more compassion for those who do not yet know the Savior. Let’s give them a higher priority. Let us see our community as the Lord’s harvest field ripe for the harvest. Let us see that we have the workers in our midst, if we would but go. The reason Jesus received all that power was to transform lives. He ended his command for us to go into all the world “with the words, and surely I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”
After 45 years of ministry are we willing to risk believing that we can do great things for Jesus Christ. As our denomination goes through its troubles, what a witness it would be for us to become the largest Presbyterian Church in Ohio of what Jesus can do in changing people’s lives. Let’s start with becoming the largest in the city of Cleveland. Jesus said the Harvest is ripe.
You may say but we have never been larger than 236 members. Jesus only had 12 to work with. We believe 200 is more than enough to start bringing in the harvest. You may say, but what if we fail and do not reach our goal. Is it possible for us to fail. It most certainly is. The longer we pastor this church, the more aware we are of our own inadequacies and short comings in building a great church for God. We can’t build a church but God can.
God is not nearly as interested in our failure as God is in our heart’s longing to do His will. Do you know what our failure would like if we were to give God our best. In the midst of our failure it means, somebody is going to get saved by us going into the harvest field. Somebody is going to be set free . Somebody is going to find hope. Somebody is going to know there’s a better way of living. Somebody is going to grow in Christ. Somebody is going to say, thank God for a group of people who had a vision to try something greater than themselves.
One day Jesus came walking to the disciples during the night when the waters were raging on the sea. All the disciples saw him and were afraid. Jesus said, “Don’t be afraid, it’s me.” Peter said, “Lord if it us you, tell me to come to you.” Jesus said “come.” Peter got out of that boat and started walking on the water. When he took his eyes off Jesus he began to sink. The others in the boat remembered when Peter started to sink. Peter remembered the feeling of what it was like to walk on the water. Which feeling would you rather have for yourself. A feeling of launching out in an adventure with God, or a feeling of just sitting in the boat being scared. 45 years ago our charter members got out of the boat and walked toward Jesus. We have been here ever since. Today we face a new challenge.
Jesus is walking through the storm raging out in our community. The reality is, most of us in our churches are afraid to get out and walk with Him. Let us be the church that says, “lord if it is you, call us to come.” Jesus is already saying “come.” We do not have to stay in the boat where it is safe with our fear.
Let us become overcomers for Jesus Christ going forth to make a difference in the lives of others. Let us give God these next few weeks to learn how to bring others to Jesus Christ. It is the most important thing we will accomplish in view of eternity. Your church needs you more than ever to join to participate in the harvest that is coming. Will you stand with us in this challenge with our determination to Share Jesus Without Fear.
