THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS AND THE LOCAL CHURCH
(Part 1)
Mark 12:28-34
Sermon Objective: The great commandments provide MOTIVE, MANDATE, MISSION, AND A MEASURABLE PROCESS for the local church.
Supporting Scripture: Acts 2:42-47; Matthew 28:17-20; Ephesians 4:1-32
INTRODUCTION
He traveled to every hamlet in Essex County. His passion was to start churches, encourage the saints and teach people the word of God. Cyrus Comstock was born in December 1765 and lived his life in the Champlain valley.
Cyrus was also an inventor. Are you familiar with the “buckboard wagon?” It was originally designed as sold as the “Comstock Wagon” and was the most comfortable method of transportation across the rocky terrain of the North Country.
The tall, somber man was a school teacher by trade and his passion to see people learn made him a natural for ministry. He bought a farm in Lewis Center and used it as his home post as he preached in the school houses and remote settlements of the county. He eventually planted and pastored a church in Elizabethtown.
Father Comstock preached and pastored long before Sunday School was invented but, being a teacher in his early years, he knew the need for children to be educated properly and the Word of God seemed like a natural tool to him. So he published a book on Religious Instruction for Children and each page carried the motto “Feed my sheep.” In 1827 he published a second treatise for adults.
(From Lewis N Powell’s book, “Out of the North Country: Christian Pioneers of Northern New York”)
Father Cyrus Comstock was a man of love. Love for God and love for his neighbor. He considered everyone in Essex County to be his neighbor and parishioner. He would probably have echoed the famous words of John Wesley, “the world in my parish.”
Father Comstock was a missionary. He visited every hamlet in the county and planted churches to boot. The people lived in hard times (this was immediately after the Revolutionary War) and people needed encouragement. Father Comstock felt that the Gospel and Christ’s church were the two proper mediums for giving such encouragement.
THE GOSPEL AND THE LOCAL CHURCH
We don’t always look at Jesus’ great commands from this perspective but I am sure you would agree with me when I say these instructions must, indeed do, inform the DEVELOPMENT, DEPLOYMENT, and DEPORTMENT of the local church.
Cyrus Comstock ministry would indicate that he grasped this too.
Listen to the text.
The Greatest Commandment (12:28-34)
28One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, "Of all the commandments, which is the most important?"
29"The most important one," answered Jesus, "is this: ’Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’31The second is this: ’Love your neighbor as yourself. ’There is no commandment greater than these."
32"Well said, teacher," the man replied. "You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. 33To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
34When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God." And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.
Do you mind if I just ask some questions today? These questions are related to the “The Great Commandments and the Local Church”.
I
DO YOU SEE ANYTHING INHERENT IN THESE COMAMNDS
THAT SHOULD INFORM THE LOCAL CHURCH’S MISSION?
In other places Jesus states it somewhat differently (i.e. Matthew 28:17-20) but I think these commands not only summarize the law and the prophets but the mission of the church too.
It does not take a very creative imagination to extract principles like worship, fellowship, and evangelism from these verses.
For example: loving God with your whole being is indeed another way of worshipping him. A couple of weeks ago at “Food For Thought” we discussed a Biblical understanding of worship. One of the things I showed the others was how many words are used and translated as “worship” in the New Testament. Some of those words specifically relate worship as being acts of service and feelings of devotion to God. Words like: “sebein” (Mark 7:7; Acts 18:3, Acts 19:27) which stresses the feeling of awe or devotion or “latrueo” (Phil. 3:3; Acts 7:42; Hebrews 10:2, Romans 12:1) which means to worship via religious service or homage inform this.
Loving your neighbor as yourself certainly goes far in instructing the local church to nurture fellowship and to engage in evangelism.
But might I see more here than general marching orders and directions for the church?
Let me ask you another question.
II
HOW WOULD THE ACTIVITY IN THE LOCAL CHURCH CHANGE IF EVERYTHING DONE WAS FILTERED THROUGH THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS?
> WOULD ANYTHING WE DO CHANGE?
> WOULD ANY OF THE EXPECTATIONS THAT YOU HAVE OF THE LOCAL CHURCH CHANGE?
> WOULD YOUR ENGAGEMENT LEVEL IN LOCAL CHURCH MINISTRY CHANGE?
I have spent a lot of time and scribbled on a lot of pieces of paper thinking through the mission of the local church in light of the great commands.
I notice, for example, how easy it is to evaluate the activities and the ministries we undertake. I find it refreshing to be able to look at each one through this grid and say “Yes that is serving Christ’s cause well” or “No, that one needs to be replaced or repaired or even removed.”
Shouldn’t everything we do somehow help people’s love for God to mature or be expressed?
Maybe it would do us good to look at each ministry in the church and determine where it fits and what it accomplishes.
LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART
Some ministries and activities we do naturally fit here. The WORSHIP SERVICE is one. I think, once again, of the New Testament words that are translated “worship” (especially those that have a public or corporate connotation to them) and I see a direct connection to the heart … the seat of emotions and the place where decisions/actions begin to form.
Do our worship services draw us to Christ? Do they turn our heart towards God? If worship is intended to do anything it is intended to do that!
Sometimes the issue is not the worship service per say; sometimes the worshippers are not prepared. They have not opened their hearts to receive the ministry of the Spirit.
There are many “x-factors” but the bottom line is that our worship service should stir us and steer us towards the great commandments.
LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR SOUL
Some ministries and activities we do naturally fit here. Our PRAYER MINISTRIES would be an example. They are an element of our corporate life that we desire to define us; and rightly so. God’s people have always been at their best when they were defined by prayer.
When love for God is present within the body, gathering for prayer will become the norm. You have many opportunities to choose from here at the Naz. There is a virtual prayer group that meets 5 days a week. There is a women’s prayer on Thursday morning. There is congregational prayer on the first Sunday night of each month. The truth is everyone says “we need to pray” but few of you gather with us and do so.
When I first started talking about the greatest command I contrasted it to the parable of the soils. You know, “things” got in the way and the plants did not come to fruition.
Prayer has always been an evidence of fruit and a local church that is loving God with all its soul would at least include that.
LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR MIND
Some ministries and activities we do naturally fit here. Our DISCIPLESHIP & CHRISTIAN EDUCATION ministries are certainly qualified. Every church is designed and intended to “make disciples” and transforming the mind to think “Christianly” certainly fits the mission.
LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH
Some ministries and activities we do naturally fit here. SERVICE MINISTRIES, for example. All those ministries that take “place behind the scenes;” often these are the “quiet ministries.” Ministries like secretarial, custodial, multimedia, IT, etc. Also activities like stewardship, workdays, maintenance, etc. belong here. They are essential but not high profile. They are also tangible expressions of a local church that loves God.
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF
Some ministries and activities we do naturally fit here. Any ministry that actively engages in EVANGELISM, COMPASSION, MINSSIONS, OR EVEN PURE AND SIMPLE FELLOWSHIP can be classified as loving your neighbor. These ministries are inherently Christlike.
For a local church to say it loves God and yet its members fail to engage in ministry is … just talk.
Mark 10:42-45 reminds says "You know that those who are regarded as rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many."
WRAP-UP
I) DO YOU SEE ANYTHING INHERENT IN THESE COMAMNDS THAT SHOULD INFORM THE LOCAL CHURCH’S MISSION?
II) HOW WOULD THE ACTIVITY IN THE LOCAL CHURCH CHANGE IF EVERYTHING DONE WAS FILTERED THROUGH THE GREAT COMMANDMENTS?
The greatest commandments are anything but abstract. They do indeed inform the DEVELOPMENT, DEPLOYMENT, and DEPORTMENT of the local church.
Our congregation has an acronym that we use to describe our mission: F*A*M*I*L*Y.
I like it and it works.
It stands for
Focusing on Christ and His Word (Acts 2:42)
Affirming each other as we grow in grace (Acts 2:46)
Magnifying God through lives of worship (Acts 2:47)
Imagining the nations won for Christ (Acts 2:47)
Loving people (Acts 2:45)
Yoked together in love (Acts 2:44)
But I find the Great Commandments to also be a wonderful way to define and explain our mission. It is also easy to remember, easy to apply, and purely (and simply) Biblical.
It seems to me that if there is something we are doing that does not fit within the rubric of the Great Commandments then it just might not be worth engaging in.
It also seems to me that if this is the local church’s mission, then every sub-ministry under the church’s watch should also be evaluating itself in light of this. You see, just because it has the potential to do one of these does not mean it is accomplishing its task; and, if it has an agenda other than the agenda of the local church, then it actually competes with rather than compliments the local church ministry.
He who has ears to hear
Let him hear.
FOR CONSIDERATION:
† How would ministry and activity at a local church change if everything done was filtered through and judged by the great commands?
> Would any of the expectations that you have of the local church change?
> Would your engagement level (involvement) in local church ministry change?
This sermon is provided by Dr. Kenneth Pell
Potsdam Church of the Nazarene
Potsdam, New York
www.potsdam-naz.org
