The Church has left the building
I remember when I was still pretty young, Elvis was all the rage. In fact I remember my mother loading up with some other women and going to the airport because Elvis was on a plane leaving. Everyone gathered. I also remember begin in the vicinity of that airplane when it turned the corner to take off. Its jet engine turned towards us and anything that wasn’t nailed down, including us, was blown away. Dirt, paper, rocks, and I think even a little of the concrete was blown into our faces as we quickly ducked and ran for cover. A phrase that became very familiar to Elvis fans at the height of his cultic popularity was, "Elvis has left the building!" It is a phrase that was often used by public address announcers following Elvis Presley concerts to disperse audiences who lingered in hopes of an Elvis encore. Al Dvorin, a concert announcer who traveled with Elvis throughout the performer’s career, made the phrase famous when his voice was captured on many recordings of Elvis’ performances.
It was originally used by promoter Horace Lee Logan on December 15, 1956, to plead with concert goers not to leave a concert hall to try to see Elvis as he left, and instead remain to see the other acts on the bill. The full quotation was "Please, young people... Elvis has left the building. He has gotten in his car and driven away.... Please take your seats." Former Houston Oilers coach, Jerry Glanville , popularized it in the early 80s (to refer to his team’s imminent victory over its opponents).
I would like to interrupt this sermon to make a special announcement: Play sound
The Church has left the building
Many of the churches-- and by churches I mean Christians-- have forgotten that the church is meant to thrive outside the walls of the church by serving others and by being a means of God’s Grace. When we read about the life of Jesus in the Bible, we see an extraordinary thing. Everywhere Jesus went lives were transformed: Peter, Andrew, James, Phillip and John were ordinary fishermen; Matthew was a tax collector; Paul was a Jesus hater; John the Baptist was a nomad; one man was a leper; a little girl was demon possessed; another was lame; yet another man was blind; and Thomas was a doubter. After their encounter with Jesus, they were transformed. Paul went from Jesus hater to Jesus lover. John went from being a nomad to being on a mission. Peter went from hothead fisherman to passionate disciple. The lame walked, the blind saw, the unclean leper was healed and cleaned, and Thomas believed.
None of these encounters with Christ happened in a church building. As these people’s lives were transformed, they became witnesses to Christ. After Christ left He left them His Spirit. When His spirit indwelt them, they became the Body of Christ. As the Body of Christ, together they formed the church. They only visited the Temple once per year and the synagogue is where they worshiped. They worshiped by reciting prayers. These prayers, often with instructions and commentary, are found in the siddur, the traditional Jewish prayer book. Observant Jews are expected to recite three prayers daily and more on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays. While solitary prayer is valid, attending synagogue to pray with a minyan (quorum of 10 adult males) is considered ideal. (I want to point out that the ideal situation was for groups of people to be praying.) Once they completed their worship they left the building. This is where they encountered Jesus.
Upon foretelling His death, Jesus comforts His disciples by telling them that “another counselor” is coming (John 14:16 NIV). He even tells them that it is to their advantage that he leaves so the counselor can come (John 16:7). Think about that. Jesus said it was to our advantage that He leaves in order that we could have the Holy Spirit. More of an advantage than having Him in the flesh? That seemed a little strange when I first thought about it. But the more I thought about it, it’s true. I would much rather have Jesus’ Spirit in me, than to have Him in the flesh. When He is in me, I know His thoughts, I know His will, I know him more intimately than I could ever know Him in the flesh. Watch what happens to the disciples when Jesus leaves and the His Spirit comes.
In Acts 1:4-5 He tells His disciples to stay in Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit. The disciples obeyed, but had no idea what they were waiting for. They had never experienced the Holy Spirit before. When the spirit finally arrives in Acts 2 He transforms the entire room. After receiving the Holy Spirit, Peter goes out and converts 3000 men. (I get excited when I have 1 man walk in the church. If I saw one get saved in here you might have to call the paramedics, much less 3000). But none of this happened in the synagogue or temple. These were people who lived in Jerusalem. (Acts 2:14)
Sometimes we in the church have been guilty of assuming we are a landmark for site seers. Come and see our worship, come and see our Savior, come and see all of our great people, come and see the sights and sounds of our church. Someone once said, "We are all called to be fishers of men, not keepers of the aquarium." The reality is that most people are not converted in the church. More prayers of salvation are said in a home, or a car, or even a park than in a church building.
The church is most effective when we follow Jesus and seek to be a servant in the community. We should be helping to feed the poor, share the love of Jesus, and be a means of grace to everyone. By building new relationships and modeling God’s love, we don’t just do church, we BECOME the church.
Once more allow me to interrupt my sermon to make the announcement:
The Church has left the building.
In Matthew 4:19 after Jesus had been ministered to by the Holy Spirit in the wilderness and had been tempted by Satan and tested by God, He began his ministry. He began to preach, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is near."
Since the church has left the building that just leaves us in the wilderness to be tempted by Satan and tested by God. We cannot become the church unless we have Christ’s Spirit in us. Remember Jesus said it was to our advantage that The Holy Spirit (The Spirit of Christ) dwells in us.
“In” is a small word but it is one of those words that carries with it significant meaning. I found this in reference to the definition of “in” on the internet.
The specific signification of in is situation or place with respect to surrounding, environment, encompassment, etc. It is used with verbs signifying being, resting, or moving within limits, or within circumstances or conditions of any kind conceived of as limiting, confining, or investing, either wholly or in part. In its different applications, it approaches some of the meanings of, and sometimes is interchangeable with, within, into, on, at, of, and among.
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With reference to space or place; as, he lives in Boston; he traveled in Italy; castles in the air.
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With reference to circumstances or conditions; as, he is in difficulties; she stood in a blaze of light.
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With reference to a whole which includes or comprises the part spoken of; as, the first in his family; the first regiment in the army.
Paul tells us in Romans 8:9-11:
9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit,* since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit* is life because of righteousness. 11If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ* from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through* his Spirit that dwells in you.
God is Holy. It is difficult for us to grasp holiness. Holiness is a state of being. It has nothing to do with what we are doing. Holiness is not avoiding sin. Holiness is not reading your Bible. Holiness is not feeding the poor. Holiness is being Holy. God’s nature of Holiness is unchanging. He is not more Holy today than He was yesterday. He will never be more holy the next day, and He was not more Holy in the Old Testament. When He sent Jesus it’s not like He felt bad that all these people were dying and going to Hell so He decided to lower His standards. By His Nature, God could not overlook our sins. It would have been inconsistent and therefore He would not have been God. So He literally had to become flesh and blood and be the one to die for our sins in order for our sins to be reconciled. It is the only way we could be saved.
Once God was gone, He left the Spirit of Christ to dwell in us in order that we may now be Holy. It is not something we earned, it was given freely by Grace and we receive it in faith. Once His spirit in dwells us, we are changed. In fact we are transformed from the inside out. At this point we cannot help but crave the things that are Holy. We cannot help but live in a Holy way. Holiness is a state of being that results from the in dwelling of the Holy Spirit in us which we accept freely; not through coercion of any form. The result is compassion for the lost. We no longer see a drunkard but we see a child of God with unrealized potential. We no longer see a drug addict, we see a Child of God with unrealized potential. We do not see sinners, we see potential members of the body of Christ who are not fully functioning. Our reaction is to reach out, just as God reached out to us as a result of His Holiness and love for us. Just as He first loved us, we are to first love others. That’s tough.
We must be emotionally, physically, and spiritually ready when we reach out. That is why we come to the building. The building provides a central location for us to gather together in worship of God which helps us grow spiritually and emotionally. The praying together strengthens us and the exposure to God’s word prepares us spiritually. Community is vital to living lives that are intimate with the Spirit. It is the community that intercedes for us while we are in the midst of the battle. It is the relationships formed in those communities that help sustain us emotionally. Most often God works through other people.
You cannot give what you do not have. You cannot “fake it ‘til you make it” in kingdom living. Those outside of Christ will smell a fake a mile away. The unchurched public is to the point that microwave religion is not going to work for them. They have seen the convenient Jesus--the one who we keep on a shelf or in the closet until the moment of crisis—and it doesn’t work for them. The psychologist or counselor has taken the place of that convenient Jesus.
The unchurched public is not looking for coping mechanisms, they have those too. They are not looking for the Jesus who simply punches their “Get out of Hell ticket,” nor are they looking for the boogie man God who is waiting for them to mess up so He can give them the smack down. They want genuine transformation. They are not looking for the feel good platitudes that have been so flippantly tossed around in the past by the church. They are asking difficult questions: Where is God when terrorists kill 3000 people? Where is God when children are living in poverty? Where is God apparent in my life? Where is the church when the hurricanes rip through our cities? We have answers. When we are there at their point of need we become the answer to their questions. We are there for you helping to rescue from the flood, praying or you when you are sick, feeding you when you are hungry, and clothing you when you are naked. In that moment God is working through us. Quite often the healing of God comes through the people of God.
In order to be ready to reach out, the church must ask the question of itself: do I desire truth more than acceptance from others? Am I willing to change what I believe if it is found to be a bad interpretation after careful examination? Because the people outside the church are asking the tough questions we cannot hide behind our folk theology that Dean talked about last week. We have to even look beyond our denominational distinctions for the purposes of outreach. Once they are in the church they can decide if the doctrine is for them or not. But on the street, kingdom theology rules. God is light and love. He loves us, He first loved us. But He also shines the light in our darkness. He will give his opinion whether we like it or not. He is not a Santa Claus in the sky that comes once per year, He is a daily savior, creator of the universe who sustains moment by moment.
Do you care about seeking truth and living in truth and His will in the Spirit? We need strong biblical orthodoxy-Committed to exegetical living. We must be radical. Radical is defined here as willing to do and go wherever the spirit leads. Spirit living is a commitment to live uncomfortable lives. The truth is I can guarantee you that the Holy Spirit will lead you somewhere you do not want to go or will ask you to do something you do not or would not normally do. Prior to my life in the Spirit I would not normally preach. Prior to Dean’s life in the spirit he would not normally move his family all the way from Indiana to Alabama. The Spirit will lead in the path of the Cross just like He led Jesus to the path of the cross, and that is definitely not a pretty or a safe place to be. We sometimes say Jesus suffered and died so that we did not have to. Jesus suffered and died so that we would not suffer eternally. His suffering then had nothing to do with ending suffering here and now. Zechariah 4:9 speaks of the kingdom to come. That is the kingdom to come not the kingdom now that Acts 1:6-7. Do not mistake what I’m saying. A holy life -A life of holiness is not a destination. Sometimes we will talk about sanctification and say I’m entirely Sanctified-Another word for whole. That does not suggest it is like salvation where it is a onetime event. In Philippians 3:1-11 the term used means ongoing. Yes there is an instant where God comes in to our lives and begins that process of making us whole. But it doesn’t mean that once we get there we sit back as if we have just climbed Mt. Everest and have now completed our bucket list (things to do be done before we kick the bucket). The longer we serve Him the deeper He probes us, the more He will require of us. The Holy Spirit will mold you into the person you were created to be. That is often a painful process.
In the book, “The Voyage of the Dawn Treader” by C.S. Lewis, there is a powerful example of this. The boy, Eustace, becomes a dragon. In order to become a little boy again he must undergo horrific pain as the process of returning to his original form involves peeling the dragon skin away from his body. Just as it is true the longer we walk with God the more we are transformed into His holy image, the longer we are involved in sin, the more we resemble its image of evil. Sometimes the sin we become involved in becomes such a part of us that it requires the same ripping of its skin, and scales to free us. God, The Holy Spirit does not seek to hurt us, but He does seek to make us Christ like and that can be painful.
We can be honest with the Holy Spirit. Tell Him your fears. He is strong enough to handle any burden we place upon Him regardless of how insignificant we may think it is. I used to think God doesn’t care about little things, but the longer I serve Him the more I know He cares about anything I care about, and the longer He dwells in me, the more I care about what He cares about.
My mother is fond of telling people I am fearless. I wish that were true of me, but true to the nature of a mom, she sees me through eyes of a mother. It is true I left Columbus to start a church. I came here not knowing if I would make enough money to survive. There have been other times I have stepped out in faith and from the outside looking in it may have appeared as if I were fearless. But I promise you without the Holy Spirit by my side I would have never been able to take the first step. One such time was with Hayden. I can honestly say the journey has been worth it. The tears I shed when I held that 7lb child in my arms for the first time knowing that she was simultaneously an answer to prayer and a miracle are all worth it, but if in the beginning God had shown me the roller coaster ride of the mother saying she was leaving the man and the courts moving trial dates and the appeals process, and the back and forth with DHR and the frustration of dealing with an overwhelmed, sterile, bureaucracy that seemingly makes up things as they go along, I am not sure we would have ever embarked upon the journey. If I had known all of the pain and the tears I would have to shed to get to this point in my Christian journey in the very beginning I’m not sure I would have ever surrendered my will to the Holy Spirit. But looking back on the journey and knowing the peace, freedom and joy that‘s involved in sharing in the very nature of the creator of the universe it was worth every tear, every scale that was and continues to be ripped from my body is worth it.
God wants to release us. He wants to make us whole-perfect us-complete His work in us. We love to talk about the freedom living in the spirit gives but we live like we are in strait jackets because we are afraid to let go. I hear so many desperate prayers of people in and out of the faith. Esse quam videri. To be rather to Seem. Be the church. Do not just do church. We love the idea of holiness and intimate relationship with Christ but when it comes to letting go of the baggage we picked up along the way often we just don’t it. We can do it, but we refuse. We find some excuse, and often we can pick scriptures out of context to support our thought. I have heard homosexuals try and justify their lifestyles with scripture. This is what I’m talking about when I say we must live biblically orthodox theological lives. Look through the prism of Scripture, Biblical tradition, experience, of the Body of Christ, and the tradition of the church and see if it the scripture you are standing on to support your unwillingness to submit to the Will of His Spirit is really saying what you think it says. I promise you God is consistent in every way. He will not call you where you are not needed. He will not ask you to do something just because. Everything about God has a purpose; that includes His will for you. Let God remove the dragon scales from your body. If there is something standing in your way, move it. If you can’t move it pray it away. If it’s a spouse then you pray for God to change the spouse, but in the meantime you live for the kingdom. If it is a boyfriend or girlfriend and he or she is hindering you from Christ, drop him or her like a hot potato. The last thing you want to do is get involved with someone who drags you kicking and screaming out of the kingdom after God brought you kicking and screaming into it. If it is a job, God can handle that too. Nothing is too big that God cannot handle it, but I can tell you this. To seem holy rather than being holy is not holiness. You are living a lie, and do not call yourself a Christian for you are living in willful transgression against the known will of God, if we want to be the church. Seeming is not being. Wearing a mask will burn us out of the kingdom fast.
Begin song-Empty me.
I remember when kids were, Kim and I were in a Christmas parade. She dressed like an elf and I dressed like a gift. To the kids we may have seemed like an elf and a gift, but at our core we were still Jeff and Kim. The great thing about allowing the Holy Spirit to make its residence inside us is that at our core we become Holy like God, for it is His Spirit that lives in us. What about you? Who are you at your core? Are you doing church? Or is the Spirit of God dwelling in you and at your core you are the Holy living spirit of God? If not, I invite you today to allow God to transform your life from the inside out. If you are tired of doing, I invite you to be. God is inviting you this morning to empty yourself of everything in this world. Empty yourself of the pain from past experiences. Empty yourself of everything and allow the Holy Spirit to fill you this morning. Sometimes people get just enough light in their life that they had a brief period of knowing abundant life. But there is a point where God will not allow us to remain static. We either move to the next level with Him, or we become miserable.
We will be looking for you as we seek to follow Jesus into the community.
