Kingdom Climate 1
I. Introduction
We confuse climate with weather. They are not the same thing. Climate is in fact defined as "a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years." So this is more than weather! Climate is in fact what sets weather into motion. Climate controls weather. Climate dictates what the weather will be like. Climate can be a great destabilizing force. So some of you are fighting storms, trouble, difficulties and you only seem to get temporary relief or respite. Then those same challenges show up on the horizon again! We expend all of our energy on fighting weather when if we would spend the same efforts on controlling the climate the storms, patterns, cycles would change! We have a tendency to react to the patterns and never do anything to address the climate that is causing those patterns. Some of you have been fighting the same fight new versions for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years and you rail against the weather but never deal with the root which is the climate that produces the weather.
So we began by saying that climate change must be preceded by climate control. Some of us are asking for climate change but we are unwilling to control the climate so the climate dictates no change. We talked about the fact that climate control dictates dismissal. There are folks in your life that have made a profession out of celebrating the death you are living through. They will try to talk you into believing that something is dead that is in reality only asleep. Until you dismiss them you will have no miracle. Then last week we said that the climate we allow/operate in will forecast our future. We talked about the fact that waves depends on wind. Who do you have in your life that can identify the wind and you make the changes so that the wave will stop?
So today we shift gears. I think it is essential if I am going to confront the climate of our lives, then I must also try to outline and call on a new climate to be a reality in our lives. I want to see our lives change for the good. I want to us blessed. I want to us successful. I want to us prosper. So it is my responsibility then to define and our responsibility to establish and work for the climate that will produce that weather!
The climate we are going to talk about absolutely flies in the face of and is absolutely opposite of our society's culture and unfortunately even most church cultures. I need to tell you that individually you have got to get this established as the climate of your life to see weather change. But I also want you as Passion to understand that if we can ever get this climate established and grow in it this climate will literally set us apart because it is seldom you see groups of people that live like this! It requires a climate change!
So we are going to a passage of Scripture and instantly you will see the first step to climate change which is to address the way you think. However, we stop at the end of that passage and never see how the climate of different thinking will play out practically in our lives. In other words, if we don't change how we think we won't see this climate change. Or if we learn to think different then our lives change!
II. Text
Romans 12:1-2
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
We have heard this before. We recognize that our climate is in large part dictated by how we think. But let's go forward and what we will discover is that Paul actually lists for us the climate that should be established in our lives to produce better weather. He begins to establish a Kingdom Climate. This isn't just about being nice. This is a entirely different climate! (I don't even have time because the truth is this climate actually keeps being outlined and detailed in Chapters 13-15. However, I think we will have enough to deal with and try to establish just from this chapter. If we can see this stuff set into motion, then maybe one day we can move further.) This isn't easy. This requires intentional effort. This will require a choice to refuse to think, act, and believe like the climate we have become so comfortable in up to this point. I am calling you to do that kind of hard work. I am asking you to purposely lay down society's climate and any church climate you were in prior.
We can't deal with it all today so I am just going to take sections and we will work through it. If you need to read it as a unit go read Romans 12:3-21. However, to kick this thing off we will focus on:
Romans 12:4-8 (I will come back to verse 3 later):
4For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
Kingdom Climate is established/apparent and dictates that we are:
a. Connected
Listen to verse 4-6 in the Message.
Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we’re talking about is Christ’s body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn’t amount to much, would we?
Paul is telling us that in order for you to establish Kingdom Culture, which in turn will impact the weather of your life, you must be connected to the body! Why? Paul knew that the climate of isolation produces the weather of loneliness, paranoia, suspicion, and makes you vulnerable to the accusations and temptations of the enemy. You are incomplete apart from being in the body. Your connectedness is a life source for you.
So this is more than just a local pastor trying to build his attendance. This is about climate! Who you are connected too will dictate climate which will dictate weather. Many of us are more connected to our office mates than we are to the body members! By the way, this goes beyond just attendance. You are not connected just because you attend. Attendance is first base in connection. Attendance is beginner level. Attendance is entry level. Some of us never reap climate change because we only sow attendance. If we want the full fruit of connectedness we must become involved in each other's lives. Serve together. Sit together. Share life together.
The Lone Ranger was a great TV show but it is a horrible model for Kingdom Climate. We have bought the lie that being in a room once a week equals connected and will suffice. Our society assigns friendship to a surface level connection that really reveals no genuine relationship (just look at Facebook). You were never intended to travel this road by yourself. Jesus sent His followers out and into the world 2 by 2 not 1 by 1. Your connectedness determines your strength. It determines your effectiveness. Some of you go all week with no connection and then when I talk about being connected your initial response/thought/excuse is "well, nobody checked on me!" Here is the climate change . . . Who have you checked on? What you sow you reap! You have to sow a climate of connectedness to reap connectedness.
Some of you are facing weather that you would not face if you were connected! Some of you are falling to weather that you would easily defeat and survive if you were connected!However, because you are all by yourself you are swamped!
b. Serving
In fact, Paul even gives us a litmus test to reveal just how connected we are. He says your level of connectedness is shown by whether you serve. Are you using your gift? It doesn't matter what your gift is Paul says we should serve with it!
I am telling you this stands in direct contrast to the the climate of most churches and communities of faith. We bring the climate of our culture into the body rather than establishing Kingdom Climate. So we end up having hundreds of diners and a hand full of servers. We show up as consumers and the question reveals the climate we have established. "What can you do for me?" And if you can't do for me, then I'm out. When Paul says that Kingdom Climate dictates that this gathering isn't about me or about getting mine. It is about giving my gift so that others get theirs and the byproduct is I get mine out of serving! According to Paul, Kingdom Climate is I show up thinking about your's first!
What I see in most church climates is the opposite of this. I have discovered that those that serve the food don't normally complain about the food. It is only those who only show up to eat and have no investment in the process required to prepare the food that want to complain because we have ditched body life and made this about church services. Do you know who complains (and thankfully we don't have a lot of complainers) the most around here? Those who show up ONLY on Sunday, don't give any time, don't help, don't sow financially, and aren't relationally connected in a small group. We are simply an option and they want us to treat them like a priority! It is all about them. They make absolutely no deposit but then expect to reap a withdrawal and if they don't they will exit to the next place and wonder why they aren't fulfilled/fed there either! (They take their climate with them!) Paul says that is not Kingdom Climate. Get connected and serve to produce the change you want! I can't do something every week! Here is the truth we don't want you to! We want you to have the opportunity to sit, enjoy, get fed. But our lack of Kingdom Climate means that some folks never get that opportunity because too many of us sit on our gift not only week after week but year after year. You have a gift and there is a role for you! If we can get a Kingdom Climate, then we would be able fill every role easily and do so without killing a select group of people.
Paul concludes this teaching on the climate of serving by saying serve with joy. Cheerfully. In other words, if Jesus' yoke is easy and light you should serve gladly and with a spirit of joy. In other words, if you are greeting there should be a smile on your face. It is wrong that Walmart has more Kingdom Climate than some communities of faith. If you usher you should move people cheerfully. Every role should be marked with joy. Worship team should worship cheerfully. This impacts climate! I could name every role! Cheerfully! This isn't a drudgery it should be a delight. This shouldn't make life harder it should make it easier. Your service establishes a climate that is about others.
It as you serve that you become connected and protected!
Examine your own life . . . are you establishing Kingdom Climate or have you settled for culture climate? The weather you are facing is a direct result of this climate. What if everyone was as connected as you? What if everyone served as much as you?
PODS, ministry opportunities, eat together next week. Connect and serve!
