This morning, we are going to move to our eleventh Article of Faith, which is:
XI. The Church
Here is the description of this 11th tenet of our faith:
We believe in the Church, the community that confesses Jesus Christ as Lord, the covenant people of God made new in Christ, the Body of Christ called together by the Holy Spirit through the Word. God calls the Church to express its life in the unity and fellowship of the Spirit; in worship through the preaching of the Word, observance of the sacraments, and ministry in His name; by obedience to Christ, holy living, and mutual accountability. The mission of the Church in the world is to share in the redemptive and reconciling ministry of Christ in the power of the Spirit. The Church fulfills its mission by making disciples through evangelism, education, showing compassion, working for justice, and bearing witness to the kingdom of God. The Church is a historical reality that organizes itself in culturally conditioned forms, exists both as local congregations and as a universal body, and also sets apart persons called of God for specific ministries. God calls the Church to live under His rule in anticipation of the consummation at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God has always had a people. His people. It began the day that He chose Abram from the myriads of people that lived on the earth at the time. He made the covenant with Abram, whose name meant High Father, and changed his name to Abraham, which means Father of Multitudes. The Hebrews, the direct descendants of Abraham, his son Isaac, and his grandson Jacob, became God’s chosen people. God continuously restated His covenant with each generation of Abraham’s offspring, and renewed it again when Moses led the people of Israel out of slavery in Egypt toward the promised land of Canaan. God has always had a people.
God also told Abraham that by his offspring, all nations would be blessed. That blessing came through Jesus Christ and all of those that have accepted Jesus as their Savior are those that have been blessed because of Abraham’s obedience. These people, as a group, are called ‘His church.’ This is the church universal. The first time that the church is mentioned is in Matthew 16:18. Peter has just spoken the revelation that Jesus was the Son of God, the Messiah. Jesus replied:
And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.
When I first came here to CCCN, just over one year ago, I told you that it was not my job to build the church. That is Jesus’ job. He said that it is His church and He will build it.
The church universal is also called the Body of Christ, in the NT. The Apostle Paul was explaining to the Christians in Rome, the way that the church is supposed to work (Romans 12:5):
so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.
As Paul goes on to describe the way that the church is supposed to operate, he talks about each of us using our skills to enable the church to function at its optimum level. As pastors, we tend to use this passage of scripture to describe the operation of the local church. While it is true that each local congregation of local churches should utilize the skills of its members and each member should use their skill to further the work of the local church, I believe that this formula can be used on the church universal as well.
This church cannot do some of the things that Harvest or Crossroads can do. We do not have the finances or the amount of people it takes to operate many of the programs that they are adept at. Harvest has been, and will likely continue to be fantastic at evangelism. We, however, can thrive by personally caring for each other and by having in-depth study of the Word. Imagine what could happen if all of the Christian denominations were to work together, helping each other to accomplish the things that each of them excelled at and fortified the areas that the others were weak at? I think that there are inklings that things are changing for the better when it comes to things like that. Harvest Crusade uses many churches to help with their massive events. Lifeway Worship, although it is a Southern Baptist entity, is being used by many denominations across the world. There may come a day when all Christians, of every denomination, will band together for the work of the church universal.
Jesus tasked the church to preach repentance and the forgiveness of sin to the entire world. The Great Commission is one of the most important works of the church. One of the things that I am most proud of is that the Nazarene church has taken that task to heart from the moment of its inception. Phineas Bresee began our denomination by reaching out to the homeless, the drug addicts, the alcoholics, and the prostitutes on skid row. He helped lead them to Christ and a better life and his vision for a church that reaches out has not diminished today. The Nazarene Church ministers in 150 world areas, has nearly 30,000 local churches and there are more Nazarenes outside of the US than in it. Through the work of our missionaries and through the funding from our budgets, the Nazarene Church is continuing to reach people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ, teaching them how to be disciples of our Lord in a torn and broken world. Will it ever be done? Doubtful. This is a work that will be ongoing until the day of His return.
But what about our local church? What about Canyon Community? What are we doing and what are we supposed to be doing? Are they the same? These are questions that each of us should be asking ourselves all the time. Why should we ask ourselves that? Remember, Paul talked about each member being given gifts for the building up of the church. When some people work in the church all the time and others neglect their gifts, it is a detriment to the church as a whole and to those that work tirelessly to keep CCCN working.
I told you when I came here that fixing sprinklers and doors were not my gift. I am only mildly handy around the house and am very aware of my inadequacies. I work within my giftedness. God gave me the ability to sing, play, preach, and teach, so those are the things that I work on daily. My dad taught me to love people, so I use that to help you in your times of trouble. Unfortunately for you, my dad also taught me his sense of humor, which I use freely as well.
All of you have gifts. Whenever you don’t use those gifts to help the church do its work, the church does not function the way that it should. If your eyes refuse to do the job that they were created to do, you won’t be able to see. That is the way it is in church. Paul said (Romans 12:6-8):
We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.
You may think that your gift is insignificant, but if you use it in His service, it is not.
A guy drives into a ditch, but luckily, a farmer is there to help. He hitches his horse, Buddy, up to the car and yells, "Pull, Nellie, pull!" Buddy doesn’t move. "Pull, Buster, pull!" Buddy doesn’t budge. "Pull, Coco, pull!" Nothing. Then the farmer says, "Pull, Buddy, pull!" And the horse drags the car out of the ditch. Curious, the motorist asks the farmer why he kept calling his horse by the wrong name. "Buddy’s blind," said the farmer. "And if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn’t even try."
(example)
Here’s another thing. If you choose not to use the gifts that God gave you, He can take them away as easily as He gave them. Years ago, I was playing in a band and we played the Eagles’ music for different Holiday Inns. Then I was offered the chance to play in a band at the Palomino club in LA. One night, I had a dream that my hand and arm was riddled with leprosy (very similar to what happened to Miriam, Moses’ sister). It was rotting off and God told me that He could take my gift of music as quickly as He gave it to me if I refused to use it for Him. That was the last time that I played in a secular setting.
God has called this congregation to make disciples, just as He has called every local church to do. I am discipling you and you should be finding someone else to disciple. I told you that I won’t grow this church. My job is to grow you and you go out and grow the church. If you’re excited about this family that we call CCCN, tell others about it. If you’re excited about what God is doing in your life and how He is changing this church, tell others about it. If you want revival to happen, be a part of it. Don’t withhold your gifts. Dig in and git ‘er done.
God has always had a people. It’s you. And you. And you. And you. You are His people. He is not through with this church and He is certainly not through with you. I think there are great things ahead for Canyon Community. I think God is going to bless us if we are willing to use the gifts that he gave us. We are the Church, the church triumphant and we are alive and well.
(Invitation)
(Prayer)
*All scriptures are in NRSV unless otherwise stated.
* Humorous illustration from SermonCentral
