Becoming An A.C.T.S. Church p.3
Jesus’ Command, Our Mission
Matthew 22:37-39; Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 2:42-47
INTRODUCTION:
Last Week, I ended my message with a story that I wish to begin today’s message,
There is an old story about a lighthouse keeper who worked on a rocky stretch of coastline. Once a month he would receive a new supply of oil to keep the light burning so that ships could safely sail near the rocky coast. One night, though, a woman from a nearby village came and begged him for some oil to keep her family warm. Another time a father asked for some to use in his lamp. Another man needed to lubricate a wheel. Since all the requests seemed legitimate, the lighthouse keeper tried to please everyone and grant the requests of all.
Toward the end of the month, he noticed his supply of oil was dangerously low. Soon it was gone, and one night on the light on the lighthouse went out. As a result, that evening several ships were wrecked and countless lives were lost. When the authorities investigated, the man was very apologetic. He told them he was just trying to be helpful with the oil. Their reply to his excuses, however, was simple and to the point: "You were given oil for one purpose, and one purpose only - to keep that light burning!"
A church faces a similar commission. There is no end to the demands placed on a church’s time and resources. As a result, the foundational purposes of a church must remain supreme."
(James Emory White, Rethinking the Church (Baker Books, 1997), 27-28.)
Proverbs 19:21 says,
‘Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.
Plans, programs, and personalities don’t last. But God’s purposes will.
Nothing precedes purpose. The starting point for every church large and small, rural and city, is the question
WHY DO WE EXIST?
Until you and I know and believe what our church exists for, we will not have a solid foundation or direction for ministry.
We have been taking the last several weeks rediscovering once again what the church is, our mission as a church, and today I want us to see how are we to function as as the church.
First of all, let’s discover again what the church is,
The church is a divinely called, Christ centered COMMUNITY of believers who are united in mission and ministry together.
The church is a CALLED OUT community, it is a Christ Focused community, and finally it is a MISSIONAL community
In our first week of study we searched the New Testament and looked at all of the verses where ‘church’ was mentioned. Of all the verses which describe what the church is to be and do, Jesus summarized it all in two statements: The Great Command and the Great Commission.
Matthew 22:37-39 (English Standard Version)
37And he said to him, (A) "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and , 39And(B) a second is like it:(C) You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The Great Commandment was given by Jesus in response to a question. One day, Jesus was asked to identify the most important command. He responded by saying, ‘Here is the entire Old Testament in a nutshell’
Jesus took 613 laws which the religious leaders had imposed on the people, and reduced them to two simple yet powerful statements
Love God and love others as yourself.
Not too long afterward, Jesus would gather his followers together and give them their final command. We have called this the GREAT COMMISSION. Just before He would ascend into Heaven, Jesus gave these instructions to His followers,
Matthew 28:18-20 (English Standard Version)
18And Jesus came and said to them, (A) "All authority(B) in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19(C) Go therefore and(D) make disciples of(E) all nations,(F) baptizing them(G) in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20teaching them(H) to observe all that(I) I have commanded you. And behold,(J) I am with you always, to(K) the end of the age."
Now all of this is familiar to us. We have all attended missions conferences where we were made to feel guilty about the need to evangelize our world. In response we would open our wallets and give our money in order to send OTHERS to do the job.
But I do not believe it was Jesus intent for us to simply give so SOMEBODY ELSE COULD DO THE JOB.
We have been raising money and sending people for over two thousand years, and the need remains as great as ever. It is especially needful in our own community. This was expressed on Wednesday night, when I overheard one child ask their leader,
When we die, don’t we come back as animals?”
We cannot fool ourselves any longer. It is time to take our collective heads out of the sand, and admit two things
1. We live in a community that is lost without Christ
2. They need a visible example of what a follower of Christ is
3. We have been called by Christ to impact our community for His glory.
The question remains HOW!? We know what the great commandment and great commission say, but what does it look like?
One year ago I had the privilege to spend a week in Isreal. When I came back I showed you snapshots of my journey. With those pictures you were able to see the incredible sights along with me. With those pictures you knew that I indeed did travel to Isreal and visit the places Jesus visited. The pictures were proof that my story was true and real.
You and I are the visible snapshot giving proof that our message is true and real.
I believe we have been given a snapshot picturing what a missional community looks like. Just 40 days following Jesus ascension, 120 followers of Jesus were gathered in an upper room in Jerusalem.
True to Jesus words, as they were praying they were all filled with the Holy Spirit. Peter preached the inaugural sermon introducing the Church to the world, and the result was that 3000 men plus women and children received Christ as their personal Savior.
Luke records for us how these early believers functioned,
Acts 2:42-47 (English Standard Version)
The Fellowship of the Believers
42And(A) they devoted themselves to the apostles’(B) teaching and the(C) fellowship, to(D) the breaking of bread and the prayers. 43And awe[a] came upon every soul, and(E) many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. 44And all who believed were together and(F) had all things in common. 45And(G) they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. 46And day by day,(H) attending the temple(I) together and(J) breaking bread in their homes, they received their food(K) with glad and generous hearts, 47praising God and(L) having favor with all the people. And the Lord(M) added to their number(N) day by day those who(O) were being saved.
From these passages we discover a snapshot of the functions every church of every community of every nation should perform.
ADORATION= Worship
COMMUNITY= Fellowship
TEACHING= Discipleship
SERVING= Ministry
GOING= Evangelism & Missions
The PROCESS:
Let’s unlock these five biblical purposes, and then seek to find application to our church in Havelock. The biblical process always begins with…
1. ADORATION: The word that best describes this purpose is, Worship.
The church exists to worship God. Jesus said, our fist priority as His followers is to love the Lord with all your heart. How do we do this? By worshipping Him. It does not matter the size of congregation, culture, or nationality. When we express our love to God we are worshipping.
The Bible says, ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’[a]” (Matt.4:10, NIV).
Before anything else we are to worship. This is our first and primary priority as a called out, Christ focused community of believers.
Sometimes we get so busy working for the Lord, we don’t take the time to express our love for Him through worship.
Throughout the Bible we are commanded to celebrate God’s presence by magnifying His name. Psalm 34:3 says,
3Oh,(A) magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!(ESV)
Worship is more than a liturgy we perform, or a style of music we enjoy it is something that ought to flow from our personal and joint relationship with Jesus Christ.
Jesus reminded the woman at the well that the focus of worship cannot be contained in a physical location or tradition. Jesus said,
a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.” ( John 4:22-24, NIV)
We shouldn’t worship out of duty; we should worship because we want too. We should enjoy expressing our love to God.
Following worship is the second function in the process.
2. COMMUNITY: This is best expressed by fellowship.
Rick Warren states, ‘As Christians we are called to BELONG, not just BELIEVE.
We are not meant to be lone rangers. Instead we are to belong to Christ’s family and be active members of His body.
Why is belonging to a community essential to your faith?
It has been said that the five greatest needs of the human personality are significane, support, stability, stimulation, and self-expression.
The best place to be connected and see these needs satisfied is the church. God has wired us for connection and community. So just as the church of Acts met together, ate together, so it is God’s will and intention that our church body be connected to each other.
You and I achieve more when we are connected in community. Connecting to others through relationships creates opportunities for evangelism, fellowship, and ministry and so fulfilling the three functions of the Acts 2 church.
Think about this question: Why do most people who start attending church, drop out?
BECAUSE THEY DO NOT FEEL WANTED!
Even though we can call our church the friendliest church in Havelock, if people are not made to feel connected with a community they will go elsewhere.
The church exists to provide community and fellowship for others.
Fellowship and community provide the opportunity to not only belong but to GROW in your faith. Jesus gives us the THIRD purpose,
3. TEACHING: Discipleship
‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations…and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’
Discipleship is a learning process and you can’t learn anything if you aren’t taught something! That something we are called to teach is God’s Word! We are not called just to teach the Word for knowledge sake—we are called to teach God’s Word so that believers can apply its truths to their lives and in turn live each day for Jesus.
Christ’s church needs to be helping people discover God’s Will for their lives and that discover begins with studying God’s Word.
The key to learning is putting our knowledge into practice. We call this
4. SERVING: Ministry
Ministry is what we do for others as a result of what Christ has done for us. Ministry is reaching out in love to those around us. The Bible says this in Eph. 2:20, “We are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do”. The word workmanship means we were designed and molded by God for a purpose. We were made to make a contribution in life. God made us to make a difference. How we live is much more important than how long we live.
One of the consistent questions I hear from believers,is “How do I find my place n the church?” or How do I know if a ministry is God’s will?
God uses five things to shape us. Spiritual gifts, Heart, Abilities, Personality, and Experiences. That spells ‘SHAPE’. Those five things make you, and God uniquely shapes you, different from anybody else in the world, for a purpose. And that purpose is to serve Him.
1Pet. 4:10, “Each of us should use whatever gift he’s received to make a lot of money”. Oh! That’s not what it says! It says we’re to use whatever God’s given us to do what? Serve others! Your talents are not for your benefit. Your purpose in life is to be what God made you to be. And He gave you gifts and talents and abilities and background and experiences and all these things for the benefit of other people, to be used by serving others.
“Our fourth purpose as a church is to serve God by serving others.”
Finally, the last purpose for the church is to be a community ON THE GO
5. Going: Evangelism & Missions
In Matthew 28, the Lord gave but one command to His church. What I’m about to give you is not new. There are four parts to the commission found in our text, but there is only one command. GO .
We cannot reach people if we never get where they are. However, too many of the Lord’s churches have accepted the Wendy’s mentality of, "If you build it they will come." But as one man rightly commented,
"Jesus did not command the whole world to go to church. Jesus commanded His church to go to the world."
I received this article this week that has been both an encouragement for me as well as a challenge. Listen to this challenge by Carlos Whittaker.
If We Build It, Will They Come?
by Carlos Whittaker
"We have to stop thinking that our Sunday services will reach America," says Carlos Whittaker.
It is relatively new. To a degree.
I mean, the stained glass windows of the churches of yesterday were created by amazing artists and, I’m sure, in somewhat of a hope that it would allure people to worship their God more intensely.
But I’m not sure that people came to a church service in order to stare at the windows for an hour.
Somewhere in the last 20 years, a slew of churches have grabbed a hold of a new “outreach” strategy.
If we build it, they will come.
So we create attractional services to attract people to see God for the first time.
Which…happens.
Which…works.
I can’t help but imagine what would happen if we took the “attractional service” budgets and began to dump them into the “attractional Christ follower” budget.
I think some HD projectors might disappear.
I think some subs might disappear.
But in the end, I think that having 200 “humans” outside the walls of a church building who are more attractional than any programmed hour could provide literally multiplies your efforts 200 fold.
Or am I crazy?
I’ll answer that.
I am.
But Islam is not the fastest growing religion in America because of their services.
It is because of its followers.
We Have To Stop Thinking That Our Sunday Services Will Reach America.
They will reach part of America.
A very small part.
And the rest of America will be reached by the Christ followers we build in our churches.
CONCLUSION:
So, what about our church? It is one thing to talk about God’s purpose for His church universal. It is easy to look at other churches and make excuses as to why we are not seeing the growth other churches have been experiencing.
In the remaining time we have, I would like each of you to rediscover the purpose God has called HPC too.
I would like you to consider the five purposes Jesus has called His church towards, and answer the following questions
1. What are we doing well?
2. What needs to be changed?
3. What needs to be added?
