A Letter from Jesus to the Church called Mainline:
"You know me; I love to make the oldline new. If you will stick with me, I shall give you a future, new wineskins, and all that. I am Lord of Life, not death. I shall move you from cynical decline to life. I still have plans for you. You’ll be smaller, but small can be good. Ask the Mennonites. You will no longer be in charge of the nation, if you ever were. Remember, the national church thing was your idea of church, not mine. Get back to the basics like worship, service and witness. Don’t mourn the downsizing of your bureaucracy. You were once good at mission. Now that much of North America has never heard of me, it’s about time to start thinking of yourselves as missionaries. Letters Jesus might write to churches today," Christianity Today, October 25, 1999, 69.
Last week we marked the beginning of a journey, a journey away from “culture Christianity” toward authentic faith… real “Christianity;”
God invites us to share His compassion and Grace demonstrated by Christ with our brothers and sisters…. Right where they may be, whatever their circumstances. And when we participate with God, oh how our hearts are filled to overflowing with such a sense of joy and love as only God can provide. And… we discover, we know Him more.
As we go forward in a new year of ministry, God shows us the way He intended His church to become… to encourage us to “go and make disciples” to go, taking His light with us and participating with Him in our community and the world drawing a hurting people to His love and grace. What a privilege to receive this invitation.
(MOVE)
Reader’s Digest tells of two seminary students who decided to go door-to-door sharing their faith. At one house, they walked through a gauntlet of screaming children and barking dogs. A tired mother opened the door. "We would like to tell you how to obtain eternal life," they said. She hesitated, and then looked around for a moment before she replied, "Thank you, but no thanks. I don’t believe that I could stand it.
So much for seminary training. And while at least they had the right idea, to go to the people, perhaps they would have done better to follow Jesus example…. First to love the people where they are… then let God do the work to bring them to Himself.
Some of you may be thinking you are not equipped to be a disciple. You don’t’ have the theological training, never been to a seminary and so, you think are off the hook. At least that sounds like a reasonable excuse for not responding daily to the invitation of God.
In today’s scripture, God just blew up your excuse.
(Re-read Acts 4: 13)
So, who were these men…Peter and John? Looking back at last week’s scripture, we remember that Peter, once called Simon, was a fisherman and was initially brought to Jesus by his brother Andrew. Reading further in that same section of scripture, we learn that Jesus, after calling Peter and Andrew, continued walking along the seashore of the Sea of Galilee. In verse Matthew 4: 21, Jesus calls two more fisherman, James and John.
Fishermen. The first four Disciples Christ calls are fishermen! What kind of training did these men have? What qualified them to be Disciples of Christ?
Who could have foreseen that lowly fishermen of Galilee had the potential to become fearless apostles: Or that simple peasants could leave their nets behind to become founders of the church? Impossible… unthinkable…unless they came under the influence of that One Solitary Life, Jesus Christ. Jesus qualified them. Look again at the second half of verse 13…”they took note these men had been with Jesus.”
Even Peter and John’s enemies had to admit that the secret of these courageous, unschooled, ordinary men was that they “had been with Jesus.”
With His call to follow came His grace to enable them to make a difference in the world and two thousand years later we still feel the impact of their lives.
The same can be true of your life. You can make a difference. You can make difference!
“Cultural Christianity” would have us believe without money or power we can’t change anything. God proves that we can!
God doesn’t wait to call those who are “equipped.” God will equip those He calls!
(MOVE)
Look at our culture today. Look at those running for president. Every one of them is a multi-millionaire. There was a time when you didn’t need a fortune to run for office. Is that true today? Perhaps for local office, but when it comes to a national office, money counts. Do you think our culture reflects the value system God intended?
Our culture has caved into those who said we can’t have God and prayer in school because they find God offensive! That we can’t have the Ten Commandments posted in a courtroom!
We pay professional athletes millions of dollars when at the same time we pay our teachers, our police officers, our health care providers, a fraction of that amount. Charities are in trouble with inadequate funding to care for the poor and the needy.
Does that sound like the world God intended?
Are we going to come here every Sunday, as we have every Sunday for as long as many of us can remember and do nothing more? Are we satisfied with “cultural Christianity?” Are we buying into the myth, the lie that this is how God wants us to live?
(MOVE)
Last week we said that God was pleased that we come here every Sunday morning we are able. I believe that to be true. I also believe that while it is wonderful that we are here, God is asking more from us. More than a “cultural Christianity.”
Why do you think God draws us here week after week? Do we not feel God tugging at our heart to know Him better? We are not here by chance. Praise God we are here because God believes in you and me! Because God invites you and me, like Peter and John, and Andrew, and Phillip, those first four “fishermen Disciples” regular folks, the common man to become one with Him in Jesus Christ though the Holy Spirit!
God is POURING out His love on this congregation. To us, His people, His church. He is inviting us to join with Him to bring about change. God is inviting you and me to be the light in this dark world. To take to the people God loves the love of Jesus Christ and share that love with them, whoever and wherever they may be.
Just look at where He has taken us so far. He smiles each time we respond to His urging. We are reaching out to our community! He smiles when we have a clothing give away, He smiles when we host a community dinner. However, He is filled with joy when we reach out to a family with love and join in relationship with them and see them drawn to God… by God and we get to see Him at work!
You see! You can make a difference! It’s your words of kindness; it’s your taking the love of Christ to those whom God is calling. It’s holding up the light of Christ in the darkness.
(MOVE)
When you hear the words “go, make disciples…” are you a bit terrified of what that means. Do you envision a “disciple” as someone who stands on a street corner proclaiming God’s love at the top of his or her voice? Do you think that to be a disciple means you must go door to door as did our two young seminary students…. As some denominations do today? Do those images, those concepts make you feel you simply can’t do those things?
I have good news. You don’t have too. It seems to me we have made becoming disciples for Christ way too hard. We tend to shutter at the thought of doing some of the things I just mentioned… and for the most part, who wouldn’t. Also, though I haven’t done any scientific research on the topic, I just don’t believe the door to door thing works too well.
Being a disciple is not hard. It’s something you probably do each day without thinking about it. As we just talked about a moment ago, it’s your words of kindness; it’s your taking the love of Christ to those whom God is calling. It’s sharing a cup of coffee with your neighbor or a friend. Something you may already do. Now perhaps, you will be intentional, more aware of your words and actions.
Please understand this don’t mean sharing that coffee with the clear intend of preaching the Word to that friend or neighbor. Don’t we all have a friend or neighbor we are concerned doesn’t know Christ? We love them and we care about them. But whenever we intentionally bring Christ into the conversation, without invitation, we can see the wall go almost instantly up…. conversation over.
Being a disciple is as simple as carrying that light that love of Christ with you and let them see it in everything you do. It is your words, your actions, your life.
Think about this. On any warm summer evening, when you turn on a light outdoors what happens? All kinds of “critters” are drawn to the light.” What did you do to draw the critters? All you did was make the light available. The light attracts them. Without bringing the light into the darkness, no amount of calling or yelling or shouting or preaching will bring them. It is the light.
So too it is with the Light of Christ. The light Christ invites each of us to carry with us when we are one with Christ. Simply carry the light and watch God do the work. The invitation is there, from God, and God opens their heart when the time is right to ask you something like “what is it about you that give you such peace”… and then…then you can experience the joy of participating with God, watching Him at work… you are His disciple!
(MOVE)
Go, make disciples of all nations… go take my love and share it with the lost and watch me work. Go and feel the joy when you see me bring the lost to me. Go, to the homeless, to the poor, to the hungry to those I prison. Go and I will give you joy that surpasses understanding! Go, and when they have come to Me, they will come to join you in praise and worship of Me on these precious Sunday mornings.
And this is but a glimpse of what God is calling us to.
(MOVE)
…”they took note these men had been with Jesus.”
That’s what the people saw in Peter and John. That’s what God desires the people of our culture to see in each of us today.
For the past year, we have been working toward spending more time with God. I understand some have been more successful that others.
We need to understand this truth: If we want to see God at work and if we want to glorify His name in all we do, we must be with God and we must be with Him in the morning. Before we ever leave our homes and go out into the world. We must spend time with Him, in His Word, and simply, with Him. If we don’t, how can we expect to see Him and how can we expect Him to move through us to others?
When we seriously take the time to consider all God has done for us, isn’t it ludicrous that we have to be encouraged to study the Bible? The Bible itself speaks words of challenge to us. 1 Peter 3: 15 for example says…“Be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.”
People who take the time to be in the Word and spend time with God speak of the immense value of such effort. People right here in this congregation. Yet, though many have a Bible on the shelf in their home, for most, the content of the Book remains a mystery.
The sad result is that in the “Christian” world of this country, too many have learned to settle for a “cultural version of Christianity that is far from the real thing. Understand that I am not talking about unbelievers, but those who say they believe the Bible is the Word of God and who claim to have committed their lives to Jesus Christ.
In reality, they have given in to a nominal, a compromised, cultural faith. They agree with statements such as, “it doesn’t matter what you believe; it is how you live that counts” and “It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere in your belief.”
(MOVE)
What we believe determines how we live.
This is one reason why diligent study of the Bible is so important. It is here God gives us the instruction we need to be able to tell right from wrong, truth from error.
Can you begin to imagine how different our culture would be if our system of morality were based on the Bible instead of the standards devised by cultural Christians?
Surely, we have to wonder what God thinks about all of this. One day, we will have to give an account of how we have lived and what we have done with what God has given us. Is it so hard to conceive that because God is concerned about these issues that surely He will hold us accountable for our steward ship of all the potential instruction we might have taken advantage of to learn the truths of authentic faith?
Understanding Christianity is not something that comes without effort. Just about every example in the natural world teaches us this principle. The very way we must exert effort to enjoy all the good things God provides illustrates this lesson.
No one expects to reach the heights of success in education, the arts, finance or athletics without a great deal of heard work and perseverance. How often have we heard the expression “You have to really want it!”
Growing in our faith requires the same. Christianity is based on a revelation from God, filled with information the natural mind could never imagine. We can’t expect to master this knowledge without diligent effort.
When we carefully study the Bible, God reveals our ignorance to the truth. God challenges us to reject a superficial understanding of Christianity and impress on us the imperative not so simply be religious, or moral, but to understand the Bible intellectually, incorporate it’s principles into our lives morally and put into action what we have learned practically.
It is here, in the Bible that God has given us the instruction we need to be able to tell right from wrong and truth from error. Remember, authentic faith requires honesty of mind, constant use of the means of knowledge and instruction, that being the Bible and spending time with God, and humility that fosters a desire to receive instruction and an open mind to what this study reveals.
Always know God fulfills His promises. Remember what we learned last week; if we seek and keep on seeking, we will find; if we ask and keep on asking, we will receive; if we knock and keep on knocking, the door to truth will be opened, and then, then you can make a difference.
If God equipped a group of fishermen, surely He will equip you as well. Ask and you will receive and you will make a difference!
Cultural Christian… or Real Christian…. God offers the invitation. The choice is yours.
