Breaking Free
Part 1: A People with Purpose
Pastor Ryan Akers
Starting a new 3 week series today called Breaking Free. This is not about breaking free from things like worry or addiction or anything like that. This series is all about the church and about us breaking free of the stereo types and misconceptions that are out there about what the church actually is, what it does and what our role as believers are within it. The Lord has laid 3 messages on my heart to share with you and I will tell you they will be challenging for all of us including myself which is why I fought God on them but He won so here we go.
If you’re reading through the NT you have probably noticed a trend. The church is talked about a lot! With all that is spoken about within the text it has made go back and ask myself some questions like, “What is the church? What should it look like? What makes a local church successful?” “How does the church today compare to the church of biblical times?” Lots of people have lots of answers to those questions and over time many stereotypes, misconceptions and false expectations about the church have been formed from Christians and non Christians alike. Outside the church the stereotypes are church is boring, pastor always ask for money, full of hypocrites and bible thumping fanatics, it doesn’t offer me anything worthwhile, on and on that list goes. Within the church there tends to be a theme of impossible expectations. You must dress this way, talk this way, music must be this style, church must have these specific ministries, liturgical prayers and hire these specific people. I’m not really sure where this mentality began (be it upbringing, false interpretation of scripture or something else) and I’m not saying everybody has some extreme unrealistic mentality about church but all of us absolutely have unspoken expectations about what we think the church should be and what our roles in the church should be or how involved in the church we think we should be.
Now, when I say all of this today I am speaking of the church in general not harping on Sand Lake specifically by any means. I’ve been a part of enough churches to know that every single one of them have people who have unspoken expectations and if you don’t live up to those expectations they will leave the church and go somewhere else. Whether you realize it or not there is a definite mindset that says people will only come to church as long as what they want is met. But once something happens they don’t like which could be anything from changing the color of carpet to service times or conflict with another person in the church they are gone. I’ve had my fair share of people get upset over something I did or the church did or something I was no longer doing and leave.
I had a family in my last church leave because I didn’t say hi to them one Sunday. Another person left because I didn’t visit them at the hospital (out patient). I’ve had people get upset at me and threaten to leave because I’ve preached too long or because I don’t honor God by wearing a suit. One man left my church because no one called him when he was in the hospital even though no one even knew he was there because he never said anything about it. I’ve even had people leave my youth ministry, kids and parents complaining because I preached from the bible too much. No I’m not kidding. You could just blame pride or spiritual immaturity as the culprit and you’d be right to a point but also I firmly believe the mentality of our entire culture has played a big part in forming these unrealistic expectations about what the church is and what our part in it should be. Let me explain what I mean.
70% of our economy today is built on consumerism. Meaning if you don’t buy stuff the country will collapse. Because of this media and advertising has done an incredible job of instilling in us a mindset that says we deserve our hearts desire. We deserve the best and we deserve it right now. Don’t believe me watch TV. Commercials, movies, video games, music, sports all bombard us with advertising and false messages that we must have this thing. We need to buy it, own it, love it, charge it because we’ve worked hard and deserve it. Burger King says you should have it your way. Society says the customer is always right. We, the consumers, have the power because we hold the money and so we believe we deserve to be treated well, own the nicest things and have people suck up to us if they want our business because if we don’t like it we won’t keep shopping there or eating there etc. Believe it or not that same I deserve it my way mentality has found its way into the church. Jesus has become a billion dollar business and churches have found themselves having to do whatever it takes to attract you to come to their church. This means that pastors have to spend way more time appeasing people, holding hands, playing nice, putting out fires because if he doesn’t these people who tithe might leave and that hurts the ego and the vote when it comes up to keep him or not. Success is based not on how many people are being saved and discipled but rather it’s based on the size of your church. If you are only 50 then you are failing but if you are 2000 you are a great success. Publishing companies have struck gold marketing children and youth curriculum that is loud, interactive and exciting because there is now a mindset that says if you just have kids read the bible and they aren’t engaged in loud, exciting and interactive ways they won’t come to church and instead they’ll go up the road to the competition. Youth ministries have become more focused on attracting teens through cool hang out rooms, video games, twitter, face book and talking about principles and shallow talks on sex, peer pressure and money rather preach from the Word of God and teach them how to live out their faith in their daily lives.
Church marketers say you have to have church branding, cool sermon series graphics and titles like Breaking Free and Simply Jesus in order to attract today’s visually driven culture. Logos, business cards, mass mailers, events that draw the masses and show how cool we are, music that appeals to all audiences, activities that attract the unsaved like golf groups, paint ball groups, quilting groups, book groups, Team Edward vs. Team Jacob Twilight groups . And don’t forget we need single ministries, college ministries, youth ministries, children ministries, 50+ ministries, moms ministries, men’s ministries, women’s ministries b/c if we don’t people won’t come because we aren’t meeting their needs. It makes you want to pull your hair out when you think about all the church is doing today to make itself as attractive as possible to as many people as possible. From pastors preaching shallow sermons that tickle your ears to having a mindset that says without a café and starbucks in the church nobody will come. Let’s be honest, we won’t participate unless your needs are met. “If you want me to come to that class or attend this event make it at a time I want and take care of my childcare for me or else I just won’t go.” If you want me to serve make sure it’s on a rotation schedule I can agree with meaning once every 8-12 weeks because heaven forbid if I had to help two weeks in a row. That just doesn’t fit in my schedule. Whether you want to believe it or not the church today is much closer to being like Burger King with a have it your way mentality than it is to what God wants for us. Instead of challenging people to live holy lives we would rather say, “just come and enjoy the service. No pressure, no expectations, no responsibilities. If you’re happy we’re happy. We’ll take care of your children and all your needs.” And the pastor has become much more like the manager of the store for people to whine and complain to when they don’t get their way or like how things are done rather than the one who is there to provide spiritual guidance, counseling, accountability and truth through preaching God’s Word. I told you this would be a tense message today.
Not all people by any means, but many people, ended up joining the church they’re in not because of how God was moving there and because of what they could offer to make it a better church but because of what that church could offer them. And here’s the truth: The more time we spend trying to make the church attractive to get people into the doors and the less time we spend out in the world being witnesses for Jesus through our lives the worse the church is going to become. We will always feel a pressure to one up ourselves and do more shocking things to get more people to come here instead of going to another church up the road and we will continue to compete and compare ourselves to other churches rather than working with them for the glory of God. Why do I think this way? Because I’ve been guilty of all of this. I’ve been guilty of thinking if we don’t do this and this no one will come or if we do offer this and this more people will come or if I don’t do this and this people in the church will get upset, complain and maybe leave and I want to say to you this morning I was wrong to think like that. I’ve been sinfully guilty in the past of working harder to please people and build the numbers rather than just preach biblical truth, love people and let God handle the rest. Now please listen, none of the ministries or tools I’ve mentioned are bad in and of themselves. They are actually really good things, tremendous outreaches to have if done in the right way, with the right motives and can be powerful tools that help lead people to positive relationships, spiritual growth and most importantly Jesus. What I am saying is that if these programs are the only reason you come to church or it’s the only reason you remain at a church then you don’t really understand what the true church is about. Who we are, what we do and what we represent at Sand Lake has to be about more than just a program like student ministries and has to be about more than just attracting people by meeting your wants. The moment we turn the church into a what rather than a who we’ve missed the point. I’ve been guilty of turning the church into a what, an organization designed to meet the needs and wants of people in order to get them in the door and make them happy and I’ve removed the truth that the church is ultimately and without question a who. The church is a people not a building, not a program, not a music style, not a potluck dinner or a cool event or fancy sermon series with cool mass mailer flyer and shocking sermon title or topic. The church is not a baby sitting service or a place to be entertained. The church is us. Whether we meet right now in this building or meet out in the field on Tuesday afternoons we are still the church. None of us actually go to church. You don’t wake up and go to church on Sundays because you are the church 24/7. You can’t go to what you are. You can gather together with the church but you can’t go to church. The bible says that where 2 or 3 of God’s followers are He is there. Let me define the church another way that you can write down: The church is a people whose purpose is to live a life centered on Christ. The church is a people with purpose. And that purpose is to live our lives obeying, being driven by, the great commission and the great commandment. The great commandment is found in Matthew 22:37-40 and it says we are to love God with all our heart soul mind and strength and love our neighbor as ourselves. Love God, love people. And the great commission which is found in Matthew 28:18-20 says, we are to go and make disciples of all nations. Teach them to obey all the commands Jesus has given us.
Ultimately what you will find when you search the scriptures is that we the followers of Jesus are attractive to the unsaved not because of sermon series, facilities, ministries and technology but rather we are attractive because of our authenticity, humility and love for God and people. We are attractive because in a world that is lost and searching for meaning we hold the truth in our hearts and hands which is the Good News of Jesus. When we finally get that we will be what God wants us to be as His church. Open to Acts 2. This is the early church. The ideal church. Not a perfect church. There is no perfect church because there are no perfect people. No doubt this is a passage you’ve heard many times, read many times but I am hoping to shed new light on it this morning. Acts 2:42-47. Acts 4:32-36. Do you see from these scriptures the vast difference between church then and church now? The early church was built not on programs, tt wasn’t designed to be attractive or appease the crowd. These were a rag tag bunch who had nothing but Jesus, each other, humility and love. They didn’t read books on how to get people through the door they just were the church. They took what they had and they went and did some incredible things for God. Thousands came to be saved, no one in the church went with need for anything, miracles were common place. It wasn’t perfect. Paul wrote most of his letters fixing the problems that would arise with disagreements or false teachers or when sin invaded the church but it was still a people who understood their purpose was Jesus, living a life centered on Jesus and that they all had a part to play within the larger body for the glory of Jesus.
Essentially the early church had 3 vital components to it that we must also have if we want to be what God desires for us to be. 1. People set free by grace. This is obvious. We have many here who have been set free from the slavery of sin and who are now striving to live holy and blameless lives centered on Christ. And that’s something we can rejoice in. Ephesians 2 says, “God saved you by his grace when you believed.” This isn’t of our own doing but rather it was a work done by God in us. Just as people in the early church were saved by grace so are we 2000 years later. Phil. 1:1 says, “This letter is from Paul and Timothy, slaves of Christ Jesus.” We are not our own we who are saved still belong to someone but we belong to God as his children who are saved by his grace rather than belong to sin which held us in bondage. The church isn’t the church unless it’s made up of those who have truly repented of their sins and believed in Jesus as their Lord and Savior. 2. Empowered by the Holy Spirit. The moment we are justified or forgiven or set free by God’s grace from the bondage of sin we are empowered by the Holy Spirit. We are reborn, regenerated, made new. We have a new mind, new drive, new nature about us. The church in Acts were a people empowered by the Holy Spirit. And because of the Spirit in them they were different than anyone or anybody had ever seen. Because of the Spirit they witnessed many miracles. We also witness miracles. Healing doesn’t happen in everyone nor should it but definitely the healing work of God still happens today. We also see the miracle of provision in our lives, the miracle of answered prayer, the miracle of wisdom and spiritual growth that happens when we read God’s Word and discuss God with other believers or listen to God’s Word preached by pastors and teachers. All of those miracles happen because of the Holy Spirit at work within us. The Holy Spirit also gave spiritual gifts to every believer in the church. These gifts were used for the purpose of loving God, loving people and edifying the church.
The use of our gifts is so incredibly important because when we focus on edifying the church through the use of our gifts rather than worrying about our personal agendas and wants being met the church will be much healthier and we will be much happier and our lives will be much more meaningful. Paul has a ton to say about the importance of spiritual gifts in the church. Romans 12:4-8, 4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other. 6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly. The entire chapter of I Cor. 12 speaks of how the body is made up of different parts and each part has a role to play. Not one part is better than another but rather every part is of equal importance. Every one of us is needed to make this thing called the church work because we are the church. We are a unified body. A family. When one of you suffers we all suffer. When one of you isn’t living out your calling using your gifts we all suffer because someone has to pick up your slack. When one of you is struggling and needs help we all need to take part in fixing that. That’s how the early church functioned and that’s what we are called to do today. There was a set leadership structure but everyone had a role to play within the church. There were no free passes and no place for selfish wants and personal agendas or I want it my way or I won’t come attitudes. They gathered together to glorify Christ, encouraged each other and they got their hands dirty doing the work of ministry. Church wasn’t something added to the peoples lives like your kids baseball league. The church was the center of their lives. And they did whatever they needed to to make it work and they did it together as the body not a just a few people doing all the work. It was 100% of the people working together. Let me say that again, the church isn’t something you add to your life. The church is your life. You aren’t my job you are my life. The question is not do I have time to serve, should I serve in the church the question is where can I serve and when can I get started? It’s not can I fit church in with my kids school, sports, hunting, vacations it should be will those things fit around my church and my time with the Lord? Our consumerism mentality has made us all backward making us believe God is just something else we do and if we have time or feel like it we’ll spend time with him or go to church. God isn’t just an item on our list to be checked off he is the list. He is all that matters. Everything else is detail. For many this goes against the modern day thinking that says, “Come to church watch the show and go live life how you want.” Or the mentality that says, “I don’t need to help because someone else will do it.” Or my personal favorite, “Isn’t that what we pay you for?”
If you claim Jesus but don’t think you are needed in the body to help with the work you are dead wrong and if you claim to be a Christian but expect the guy that gets paid to do it all you are dead wrong and don’t understand what the church is about. If you want to know what my job description is according to the bible then go to Eph. 4:11-13,16. It says, 11 Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. 12 Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. 13 This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ… 16 He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love. My job is not to do what you don’t want to do or are too lazy to do or unwilling to do because it doesn’t fit your schedule. My role is to teach you the Word of God and equip you to do the work of ministry. I am here to oversee and nurture the body according the scriptures. To encourage you, love you, challenge you through tough sermons, hold you accountable one on one and spur you on to greater things. I’m not here to hold your hand, make sure your wants are met, you get your way, or to suck up to you because you have the money. I play no favorites. I’m here to love you to the cross be it in a gentle or tough love way, to help you grow in grace and mercy, to show you how to use your gifts for God’s glory and to keep us the body of believers unified and on a path that brings honor to Jesus. The fact is if you don’t use what the Spirit has gifted you with for the building up of the church you are missing the whole point of what being a Christian is all about. For those of you who dedicate your time selflessly to this body to make it better I want to say thank you! Without you we would come to a quiet, empty building every week. There would be no music, audio/video, nursery, children or youth ministries, small groups, office help, coffee, or bulletins. Our grass would never get cut, payroll would never get done without the committed who are using their gifts for the glory of God. None of you who help are forced to help you help because 1. You love Jesus, 2. You can’t help but help. It’s who you are. Good works and a desire to help the church come as the result of our faith. We are saved by grace and equipped to do good works. Our works prove our salvation. Our drive to love Jesus by what we do and how we live proves that God is in us. Living that way forces us to do a complete 180 mental change that went from it’s all about me and what I want to it’s all about Jesus and what he wants from me. One more thing the early church had. 3. Driven by Love. It’s all about love. I Cor. 13 is all about love. I John 4 says God is love. John 3:16 says God so loved the world…Love is the engine that makes the car move. Without love behind everything we do we are nothing but loud gongs and clanging symbols. We don’t serve and worship, and sell our possessions and preach, and hold each other accountable to get something out of it. No, we do it for love. The church is about loving God, loving people. You will find that when Chrsitians help one another in love life will have meaning. The church working at its best gives meaning and purpose to all who are a part of it. When we are what God wants we will be more joy filled than we ever thought possible.
I am thankful for a church that is not far off. You’ve been through some tough battles but you’ve stuck together. But our work is only beginning. We need to do more to be the church and I believe God has given me this message to serve as a warning for us to stay on course, don’t get lazy and not to allow ourselves to become a me focused congregation where the pastor spends his days putting out fires and conflicts rather than ministering and the people spend more time complaining about carpet color and music style rather than loving, growing, serving and going for Jesus. To help keep us on the right path that will allow us to truly be the church and keep building momentum I have some exciting announcements for us.
1. Staff: The leadership is focused on us doing whatever it takes to be the church and to break any misconceptions that people have that because we pay you you should do it all. We want to become a body where everyone is working together to make the ministry happen not just a few picking up all the slack. To help with this the leadership and myself have unanimously decided to not hire a youth pastor or a children’s pastor. Instead we will be hiring an associate pastor who’s full time role will be to recruit, equip, motivate and empower this body to oversee and run the ministries. He will be the go to person who helps ensure that our 5 core ministries, youth, children, outreach, small groups and Sunday services are run by well trained and committed believers whose heart and passion is to do whatever it takes to see that this church succeeds for the glory of God. He will also be in charge of connecting new families into this body. This is not a job we created by pulling it out of thin air this is what we believe the biblical role of a pastor should be according to the scriptures. Equipping the body to run the ministries of the church. I will be taking myself out of the position of lead pastor and instead will now be called the teaching pastor. My primary function will be to teach and preach on Sundays and in the small group setting as well as concentrate on pastoral care in counseling, hospital calls, weddings, funerals etc.
The fantastic news is we already have a great head start with the amount of people already committed to specific ministries like greeter, usher, music, youth etc… But this will require that even more step up and be a part of the body. We need major help in children’s ministry which seems to be a given in every church. This fall we will be partnering with CEF to begin a Good News Club at Sand Lake Elementary. This will allow us to take the Gospel outside the walls and into the school. I have 1 but I need at least 4-6 more people who will dedicate an hour and a half once a week right after school to help bring the Gospel to the children at Sand Lake who would others wise never set foot through our front doors.
Taylor will be taking over Adventure Church this summer along with Wednesday nights. She will need committed men and women to help her disciple our kids in their relationship with Jesus. On Wednesdays we will offer the same curriculum we use at the Good News Club for kids who can’t go to the GNC. We need a team who will run the Wednesday night program. For Sundays we will be beginning a new curriculum called Kids Bible Max. The only book used is the bible. Kids will study the bible like never before and we need people who are passionate about seeing the next generation know Jesus and grow in their faith. Our kids ministry is not a baby sitting service. We are in the business of making disciples and we need your help.
Our youth ministry will be changing to be small group driven. Each Wednesday starting this fall our kids will come together for corporate prayer then they will break out in their small groups where the youth leaders will invest in the kids lives and help them grow in their faith. These smaller groups will allow for questions to be asked, the bible to be opened, experiences to be shared and prayer to be given. Our mission will be to teach our kids how to live out their faith so they can take it into their homes, schools, works and sports teams. We want to see our teens leading their friends to Christ, not just expecting them to invite their friends and come to a youth that is focused on being cool. The last Wednesday of the month will be like traditional youth with worship, games, message etc. Our youth leaders are excited and ready to see this happen.
We will also be adding more small groups this fall so that all of you have an opportunity to gather with the body in smaller fellowship groups to learn, grow, pray, share, and build relationships.
Not every question has been answered but we are in some exciting days at Sand Lake. We are on the right path, building momentum and becoming the church God wants us to be. But I will say it again, it won’t work if you won’t do your part. Everyone is important. Everyone is needed. Help is needed everywhere. Grab your bulletin and write your name down and where you will serve. At some point we have to stop coming to church and we have to start being the church. We have to quit moochin and we need to start scoochin. No longer can it be 10% doing it all, if you come here there is an expectation that everyone who calls themselves a Christian and calls Sand Lake their home will be involved somehow someway using your gifts for the glory of God and the edifying of the church both in the church and outside these walls in your daily life. We all have a part to play. We all have a role to fill. If you think you don’t then you don’t understand what the true church is. It’s about humility, love, serving, grace, accountability. It’s about fulfilling the great commission and the great commandment. It’s about getting outside these walls and reaching the unsaved for Jesus. But most important it’s about a people with purpose living our lives together, centered on and around Jesus. Meeting needs, making sacrifices.
Our best days are yet to come and so I say to you who are ready to get your hands dirty hang on because you haven’t seen anything yet.
