The Cap (or The Roof) (cont.)
The Purposeful Preparation of God’s People John 1:29-37
Part 5 in the Series
THE PURPOSE OF THE CHURCH
Last week we studied the principle of evangelization of the lost. I mentioned during the sermon that in its’ preparation I realized that there was another aspect of evangelization that I noticed in the passage of scripture just prior to my text. Let’s read this passage together.
John 1:29-37
29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, "Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!
30 This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'
31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."
32 Then John gave this testimony: "I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him.
33 I would not have known him, except that the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, 'The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is he who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.'
34 I have seen and I testify that this is the Son of God." 35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples.
36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, "Look, the Lamb of God!"
37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.
I mentioned last week that it may seem a little fickle of the disciples of John the Baptist to up and leave John to follow Jesus. It may seem that way, but, what if…; What if John taught his disciples that, “I am here to teach you about the messiah, so that when you meet the Messiah, you will accept him and serve him.” What if John knew that we must have a Purposeful Preparation of God’s People?
The key verse today is that 37th verse in chapter one: “When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.”
We must understand something that the American Christian Church did not have to understand 30 and 40 years ago. We have to understand that the average non-church going individual is not necessarily failing to go to church because they hate church; it is because they don’t know anything about Jesus Christ.
I put on a pair of roller skates for the first time at the age of 27. Prior to that experience I knew nothing about roller skating. I lived in many towns including my home town of Guilderland and I could not tell you where a roller skating rink was in any of them until 1981. From 1981 until now I can tell you where a skating rink is in relation to every place I have lived. Why? I learned to skate and I loved it. I was good at it and when I put on a pair of skates it made me feel good. I have often wondered if I might not have been a pro if I had started as a young teen. I had a gift for it.
Blank Screen
If you have never heard the gospel, or all you know of the Christian religion is what you hear on regular television, you wouldn’t know anything about Jesus Christ and the wonderful promises he has given us.
When I was a teenager and in my early 20’s this was not the case. The reason we could stand on the proverbial soap box on the streets of Cincinnati and people would actually listen to what we were saying is that what we were saying to them resounded in their hearts. They had been taught when they were younger and what we were telling them was not new, it was something that they knew but had buried away. God would use individuals in their lives to cause there to be a remembrance of things they were taught as children.
This Rob Bell video shows what happens today. (Show Bull Horn) allow 12 minutes (Bill let it go to the end.) I will start talking before it ends that is ok. There is a part of me that identifies with Bull Horn Guy. He was doing something, but he failed to adapt and find a way to effectively reach others.
We need bull horn guys and gals in the church that have taken the time to learn an effective way to reach people in the name of God’s love. People today will just walk by someone preaching on a sidewalk. There is a saying “If it works don’t fix it.” But you can extrapolate from that saying, “If it doesn’t work, maybe you would be wise to find something that does work.” Go Back to Power point
I have told the story of how I turned away from the church in 1980 because of an event that happened in my local church. I turned my back on the church, and ultimately on God. I can look back and recognize that I had been far from God long before this event. Because of the wonderful teaching I had received as a child, two years later the gentle calling of God’s Holy Spirit began again to woo my heart and caused me to seek God once more. It was then I entered for the first time in my life a Nazarene Church in Fishkill NY. About six weeks later I gave my heart back to God and have been serving Him since. Now understand this, Rev. James Baker did not have to teach me about the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made that I might find love and freedom. He did not have to teach me that I had a promise that if I would accept the gift of salvation from Jesus Christ I would have eternal life and avoid the rightful punishment of Hell.
All Rev. Baker had to do was convince me that I could be forgiven for having turned away and that I could have another chance.
In most cases today we do not have that luxury. Here is one of the fundamental problems the older holiness churches have. How do I reach out to a person with the life saving Gospel of Jesus Christ when they don’t even believe that they are in danger?
(As I write this on Wednesday morning I have thought in my mind, Rich, what a can of worms you are opening right now. To answer that question may require some hard work on the part of the church.)
Tuesday I sat in the seminar “Actual Holiness” given by Dr. Thomas A. Noble. As I listened to him wonderfully unfold Wesley’s theology of Holiness, I could not help but think, “How can we begin to get the people in Penn Yan to want to live lives that are holy when so many of them live lives that are good, and therefore in their minds they have no need of God’s Holiness?” Our theology teaches of a crisis moment when, drawn by the Prevenient Grace of God, men and woman are drawn to the atoning forgiveness offered through the sacrifice made by Jesus Christ. For most of the good men and women of our communities, they heard this voice at some time in their lives and refused to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit so now they just walk through life asleep to the Gospel. It is our job, our purpose to find a way to wake them up.
Frankly the majority of people both in the church and out of the church could care less about articles of faith or doctrine.
Doctrine is for the maturing Christian that has been taught enough of the love of God to then want to understand the law. Dr. Noble said one thing that really rang out to me. He said; “In the Nazarene church most people joined the church not because of our adherence to a theological doctrine, but because of the love that was shown to them when they came to a service.” Love must come before law. Love will by nature bring with it the law of Christ.
Not spoken but on the ppt.: For this reason we affirm the
Wesleyan-Holiness understanding of the Christian faith and seek to remain faithful to its principal teachings:
God's prevenient grace and
the means of grace, repentance, faith,
the new birth, justification, entire sanctification, assurance, the Christian community and its disciplines,
and the perfection of love.
I am about to make a bold statement here. Are you ready? It really does not matter if an un-churched person goes to any one of the many biblically based churches here in Penn Yan, Dundee, Benton, or you name the town, as long as when they go to that church they are enveloped in the genuine love of Jesus Christ. To think otherwise is to have this narcissistic self righteous belief that our way is the only way.
Do I have a problem with the theology of some of the other churches in town? Of course; that is why I am a Nazarene. But, just because someone else has a difference of interpretation of a passage of scripture than I do, does not even come close to meaning that they are lost and have not in their own lives sought and received the forgiveness of Jesus Christ. Here is the underlying, foundational cornerstone of the church. DO THEY HAVE AT THEIR FOUNDATION THE LOVE OF CHRIST?
I am here this morning to tell you, each of you that want to win souls for the kingdom of Heaven that you don’t have to know the 16 articles of faith of the Nazarene church to win souls, but you do have to be able to demonstrate the love of Christ. It is also helpful to know and understand scripture for you see; when people see Christ’s love in us, they will ask questions and that is when we will want to know how to answer them.
I believe that John the Baptist spent much of his time preparing his disciples to leave him and follow Jesus because he knew that was his purpose, to prepare the way.
This is why he said; 30 This is the one I meant when I said, 'A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.'
31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel."
We have to become discipler’s to the un-churched in our lives. We have to gently prepare those who we know to be ready to accept Jesus when they are introduced to him.
May I make a note here, not only do we have to prepare those we know, but this means we have to actively seek out people who are not yet our friends. It should be our desire to give the gift of eternal life through Jesus to as many people as we can in our lifetimes.
Let me close by giving you an example of testimony to un-church but religious first century people.
Acts 17:22-23 (NIV) 22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said: "Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are very religious. 23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. Now what you worship as something unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
Today is not so different than in that day. Statistics show that our society considers itself to be very religious. It is the church that they have rejected and the perception they have that the church is full of hypocrites, but in their souls they want to know of and serve a true god. Right now their god is lower case, we need to introduce them to the uppercase God; Jesus Christ. I want you to listen with your ears, eyes closed focused on Paul’s words as he continues;
Acts 17:24-31 (NIV) 24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us. 28 'For in him we live and move and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.' 29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone--an image made by man's design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead."
We need to search ourselves, plan ahead, and know what we are going to say if the question is going to be asked. We have to Purposefully Prepare so we can reach others for God. I want us to think about this for a week or two and then have a meeting to hear from each of you and determine what we as a church will do to purposefully prepare to reach others for God.
Next week we enter the house.
