A lot of people in the world have a messed up idea of what the church is.
Some think that the church of today is a place where people can go and meet with their friends, a kind of social club. Some view church as a place they can go so they can feel better about themselves. Some view church as a place that will help them justify their sinful lifestyle and then pacify the guilt of their sins because they were in church.
Then there are the thoughts of a really shallow Christian.
RUN CLIP
People can have some really messed up thoughts about church.
Today I am beginning a series of sermons that will hopefully show us what Jesus intended the church to be.
As we learn what God intended the church to be then we will get a better idea of the direction that PFC should be going in the future.
PRAYER
Father, open my eyes to see Your Word.
Open my ears to hear.
Open my mind to understand.
And open my heart so I may receive Your Word today.
AMEN
What is the church?
The church is people. It is not the building we meet in, it is the people who meet in the building.
The church is made up of all the people throughout the world and throughout history who have accepted Jesus Christ as their personal Savior.
The Apostle Paul calls the church the Body of Christ in Ephesians 1:22-23 and Colossians 1:18. We see in these Scriptures that the church is an organized entity.
Some confusion is associated with this term since we often call the buildings we meet in churches.
Many times their confusion comes to the conclusion that we don’t need to attend weekly services to be a part of the church.
I disagree with that conclusion and I contend that we need to get together as much as we need anything.
If we look at the first church as a model of all churches that followed then we can understand that the church is something that Jesus established and we can understand the importance of the church, us being a part of it, and supporting it.
Getting together with like minded people was a no brainer to Jesus and it was a no brainer to His disciples. They got together often to learn, to pray, to worship, and to change their world.
Jesus didn’t have to tell them to meet together; it was something that they understood as being important. The reason it was important was because when Jesus was alive He was always meeting with them and with others.
They understood that once Jesus was taken back to heaven that meeting together was going to be a part of what and who they were.
And that is just what they did. They got together and they encouraged each other, they helped each other, they exhorted each other, they shared with each other, they did things together, they worshipped together, prayed together and learned together.
The church was so important to the Apostle Paul that he agonized about staying on the earth and going to heaven.
We rarely see that kind of dedication today. David T. Olson, in his book, The American Church in Crisis, cites current church attendance for all churches in the US at about 17%.
Simply put, our society no longer sees church attendance as necessary to live a good life, or be a good citizen. Add to that fact, the increasing pluralism of our nation which is the fact that there are so many different beliefs in our world so you can “choose your own spirituality.”
The secular has replaced the sacred at the center of our lives. It has been noted that Christians are right back where they started, as a minority in a culture hostile to what we believe and the way in which we live.
We have people asking, “Why should I go to church?” When we should be asking, “What can I do to help build the body of Christ?”
One Sunday morning a married couple woke up as usual to get ready for church. She was ready to leave when she noticed that her husband was not dressed. So she asked, “Why aren’t you ready for church?”
He replied, “Because I don’t want to go.”
“Why don’t you want to go?” she asked.
“I have three reasons why I don’t want to go,” he responded. “1. The people are cold hearted. 2. No one likes me. 3. I just don’t want to go.”
She wisely replied, “Well honey, I have three reasons why you should go to church. 1. The people are warm hearted. 2. There are some people there who like you. 3. Because you are the pastor!”
My point is this, if the church was what Jesus intended the church to be then even the pastors would want to go to church.
What did Jesus intend for the church to be?
The kind of church Jesus intended was for the church to be something that would change the world.
You may think that this is a no brainer, but somehow the church lost its focus.
Nearly 2000 years ago there was a group of believers that was lead by 12 men and all they had was the Gospel message and this group of people turned the world upside down for Jesus.
This group was a bunch of ordinary people just like you and I who made a decision to live their lives by what Jesus Christ taught them.
They began in an obscure upper room. They did not have the benefit of mass media advertising, television, news papers, radio, or the internet. They did not have a sound system or a multi-media projector. They did not have Women of Faith, Promise Keepers, Youth Camps, or Billy Graham.
And yet the first church not only survived but it flourished! In one day it grew from 120 to 3000 and it continued to grow daily.
The first church was attacked spiritually and physically and still this group of people took the message of salvation that God offered through Jesus to the world. They performed miracles, they helped others, and they made a difference.
You might think that this first church was full of radicals, a group of people who were willing to go to extreme measures to get their message out.
One commentary stated, “What we consider to be radical behavior was nothing more than a sincere attempt to live obediently to the commands of Christ.”
Their behavior was normal behavior.
Sadly, the church of today does not act the same normal way.
Listen to what the people of Thessaloncia said when Christianity was introduced to them.
“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”Acts 17:6b NKJV
This was not a compliment. This was an accusation, it was criticism. The Christian message was upsetting the normal.
They were changing the way people looked at religion.
They were changing the way people looked at God.
They were changing the way people looked at politics.
They were changing the way people looked at worship.
They were changing the way people looked at personal relationships.
They were turning the world upside down and in turning the world upside down they were actually making it right side up.
The first church was attempting to bring the world back to the place God desired the world to be since the time of Adam and Eve.
But their opposition was loud and large and they inflicted a lot of pain and suffering on the early church.
Not much has changed in 2000 years.
There are still people in this world who are resistant to the Gospel message.
As Christians we want to see the world turned right side up but who are the ones making the most noise right now in regards to change? It is those who support same-sex marriage and those who support abortion and those who support a multiple religion society.
The church today is not operating in God’s upside down, right side up principles. Most will agree with what Jesus taught but they will not teach it or preach it in their churches.
Today in many church you have what I like to call a “Gospel light”. Instead of preaching that God should be first, instead of preaching take up your cross, instead of teaching sin is sin some have compromised the message of the cross and as a result have sent mixed messages to the world.
That is not the kind of church God desires for the church to be.
To fully understand what kind of church Jesus intended the church to be we need a Biblical description of the church. This is found in Acts 2:42-47. 2X
42They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. 43Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. 44All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. 46Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, 47praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. Acts 2:42-47
This was the church that was upside down according to the worlds standards. It was a church that was operating fully upon God’s kingdom principles. It was a church that was rooted in the Word of God. It was a church that was founded upon Jesus Christ. It was a church that was full of the Holy Spirit.
It was a church that was not afraid to stand up with Godly morals and principles. It was a church that loved others, loved each other, and took care of the needs of the people.
How did they do it and can we do what they did?
First, the church devoted themselves to the teaching of the men whom God had ordained to be the leaders of the church.
These were men who had spent time with Jesus and they were teaching the very things that He taught them. He taught them the truth of God and they taught that to the people.
Secondly, not only did they devote themselves to the truth but they also lived it out. They put into practice the very things that Christ commanded them to do.
They put God first.
They put the needs of others before their own needs. They helped others when others had a need.
They met together regularly to learn and to pray and to worship.
They met together regularly to fellowship.
The result of the first church putting these things into practice was that God added to their numbers daily.
In our world with mixed messages between the different denominations we need churches that are going to put into practice something that is proven to work.
What has proven to work throughout history? Preaching the truth of the Word of God and living out those principles in our lives every day.
That is the kind of church Jesus had in mind. It is this kind of church that makes a difference in the world.
In Revelation 3:6-8 the Lord said, “See I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut…”
We are living in a time of unprecedented opportunity. God has opened the door for us to make a difference in this world and even locally in the greater Bis/Man area.
Today the church has a greater opportunity to reach more people for Christ than at any time in history. We have the technology to project the Gospel message around the world.
The door is open for us to reach people around the world as well as in North Dakota.
The problem with the church as a whole in years past is seen in Revelation 3:8 when the Lord continues to say, “I know that you have a little strength…”
The church as a whole has been sick, it has not been operating like it should but she is starting to get better. The church is starting to focus more on what it should be focused on. It is getting stronger.
God is calling the church to penetrate the world with His principles. He is calling us to take the life changing message to the world. He is calling us to be the church He intended the church to be.
The door is open for us to be the kind of church Jesus had in mind. Let’s resolve today to make Prairie Family Church that kind of church.
PLAY At our church video.
Can we be the church Jesus had in mind? Yes, we can.
CLOSE
Father, as we go through this series we ask that you would help us be open to the pattern that You have set forth be the example of the first century church. Help us to understand that church is more than this building and it is more than just a service on Sunday. Help us to demonstrate You love 7 days a week. Help us to show that You are active in our lives and passionate about us. Help us to walk the talk. Help us to step out of our comfortable zones. Help us to love each other as we do life together. And God, help us to turn our world upside down and right side up as we unleash Your love and compassion upon our communities. Use us God to be the church you want us to be.
AMEN.
