In It To Win It—We Are The Church—Building Up The Church
Matthew 16:13-20 1 Corinthians 3:1-15
We are starting a new series today called “In It To Win It.” Some of you may remember a couple of years back, a despised and rejected by many basketball player made a decision to return to Cleveland to play once again for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He came to back to Cleveland with the single focus of winning a championship title. It was nice to win the division title, but it wasn’t enough. It was good to win the Eastern Conference title, but it wasn’t enough.
It was good to win some games in the finals. But it wasn’t enough. It wasn’t until, they won game 7 of the NBA finals that the team was satisfied. You see they had been “in it to win it.” There was a time when they were down 3 to 1, a position no team in the finals ever overcame to win a championship. Some of their own fans said “its over”. They won’t win on the on Golden State’s home court. But they did it, because they were “in it to win it.”
New Life At Calvary, I want you to know that we are in the playoffs for the cause of Jesus Christ, we are down 3 to 1. What do we want to do in the coming year. Are we going to be “In It To Win It”, or are we just going to show up to play in some games and be satisfied with just being a team in the league on the corner of e. 79th & Euclid..
Can I tell you something, LeBron had JR, Love, & Irving at his side along with his other teammates. We have something even more awesome. We have God the Father, Jesus Christ The Son, & power of the Holy Spirit along with our teammates called the church. Don’t you know if the Cavs could rebound for a sensational victory, that we as a church can rebound and win.
How many of you know people who like to do a lot of smack talking about their team? If you’re going to do a lot of smack talking, you better have a team that’s willing to back you up with some victories or you are going to be embarrassed in the end. You might not know this but Jesus did some smack talking about us.
Before he start talking, the first thing he wanted to know was “who do you say that I am?” If someone were to ask you who do you say that Jesus is, what is your response going to be? Is Jesus simply someone in your past who died for you and rose from the dead for you so that you might have life? Or is Jesus a living reality who controls your ideas and shapes the way you live and view the world today. So that you are so committed to Him, that you are in it to win it when it comes to this Christian walk.
The disciples said to Jesus some people think you are John the Baptist, some Elijah, and still others Jeremiah, or one of the prophets. But Then Jesus said, “who do you say that I am?” You see all those answers looked back to the past to define who Jesus was. But Peter saw that it wasn’t a matter of who Jesus was, but who is He now. Peter said, “You are the Messiah the Son of the Living God.”
Jesus said, “Blessed are you Simon, because My Father revealed this to you.” When God reveals to us, the reality of who Jesus is today, we are blessed because we become part of the foundation upon which the church is built. Now here is where Jesus does some smack talking.
He has a group of followers made up of twelve leaders or apostles all who are going to forsake him in his time of need, one who is going to betray him. Jesus himself has no political power. He preached one sermon, and got so many people angry at him that thousands of them turned away and quit following him. He knew that he was going to be arrested and nailed to a cross and most of the followers who would be brave enough to be at the cross would be a group of women.
Against all these odds, Jesus says to Peter, “I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” That sounds to me like Jesus was in it to win it. After Jesus rose from the dead is when the church began. It was just a tiny religious sect in the Roman Empire. It’s early leaders were arrested, thrown in jail, and some executed but it survived. It’s members were thrown to lions, some dipped in tar to be set on fire as street lamps, some beheaded, some stripped of all their possessions all because they were bold enough to proclaim that Jesus is Lord.
The church has been persecuted by governments throughout its 2100 years of history and this little rag tag group of disciples that Jesus did his smack talking about is still going strong because it has been made up of people who were “in it to win it.”
Brothers and sisters we have inherited the church from those who have given their lives and everything they owned to guarantee that we got the chance to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ. You will find, that every time the church has been attacked from the outside, it has grown stronger in its testimony for Jesus Christ. Part time believers get out of the church when there is persecution from the outside.
What weakens a church is internal division. When the people in the church decides that some subsection of the church is more important than the call of Jesus Christ on their lives, the church starts to lose its power.
Let me tell you about three very gifted leaders. There was Peter who was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus and a top leader in the church in Jerusalem. He was the guy who walked on water.
There was Paul, a guy who had been a big somebody before he came to know Jesus. He had tried to destroy the church, but then he met Jesus and got saved. He risked his life time and time again for the gospel.
There was Apollos. This guy is a brilliant debater and speaker. When he spoke, people kept trying to get him to say more and more. All three of them passed through the Corinthian church and blessed them with their ministry. Christ gave them as a gift to the church for a while and had them move on.
Do you know what they started to do? They started to set up little camps in the church based on which leader they liked the best. One group became the Apollos group, another the Peter group, and another the Paul group. Then it got to the point of becoming jealous of the other groups getting more alleged attention than the other groups.
We know how this starts. It starts with a conversation very innocent. Which pastor do you like to hear preach? Then you build a coalition around you and your favorite pastor? Which service do you like best. Then you build a coalition around you favorite service? The problem is, you block yourself out from seeing what God is trying to do, because you’ve made up your mind how God is going to speak to your heart.
Paul says, realize that all three speakers or all three services are just servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned to each his task. There is something Pastor Toby. & Pastor Kellie, have to give to you that I can’t give. There is something that the other two services have to offer to you and to others that this one does not. Paul says, but the point isn’t the speaker, the leader, or the service, the point is that it is God who makes things grow. One plants, one waters, one weeds, but God gives the increase.
The Corinthian Church had started out as a church that was “In It To Win It.” The opening of the letter to Corinth says, “I always thank my God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus. For in him, you have been enriched in every way—with all kinds of speech and with all knowledge.” They started with a vision that was going to put them in the place to be used by God. But somehow they yielded to the temptation to look at themselves rather than to continue to look to Christ.
Paul is saying, come on church. Remember how we started with a handful of people who came to Corinth because the Emperor Claudius kicked all the Jews out of Rome. You got here and discovered Jesus Christ because of my preaching about Jesus Christ. You know how the Jews kicked us out of the synagogue and even had me arrested for telling others about Jesus Christ. Even though we were scared to meet together, we met anyways. We accepted God’s call to reach this huge city of Corinth for the cause of Jesus Christ. We knew there were people that needed Jesus Christ. We were in it to win it, because we were determined to spread the message. We had in our hearts the promise from Jesus Christ, that he was going to build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it.
Paul is saying really, when you divide yourselves up did you forget that it was not Peter, Paul or Apollos who died for you. His name was Jesus. When you were baptized, did you go under in the name of Peter, Paul or Apollos? No it was Jesus. If you are here at New Life At Calvary, do you know who saved you? Do you know who’s name you were baptized in? Do you remember who you pledged to surrender your life to?
When the Corinthian church turned in on itself, it lost the power it had to keep winning people for Christ. The divisions allowed jealousy and envy to creep in. This led to immorality being accepted in the church. This went on to people thinking they were better than other people in the church because of spiritual gifts that they had.
The church had to be reminded of the need to give financially for the support of the body of Christ. It got to the point of people abusing communion and eventually some were even denying that Jesus Christ had risen from the dead. This great church was brought to its knees by a few of its members building groups around it. You talk about being down 3 to 1, they were down 3 to 0. They were going to have to win 4 straight games against an opponent that was determined to destroy them.
The church had to decide, if they were going to be in it to win it, or just be content being a little church in Corinth doing their own thing while the city went to hell. Would they put Christ back at the center of their lives? Would they repent of their open sin? Would they choose to love each other and see each other as partners rather than competitors? Would they seek after God? Would they change their giving patterns? Would they build the church or continue on with small ideas of how they wanted things to be.
Well if you read 2 Corinthians you will find Paul telling the church, “I’m going to be honest with you, I felt bad about having to tell you the truth about yourselves, cause I know I hurt some of your feelings and I stepped on some toes. I called some of you out on the carpet. But I don’t regret what I did, because it led you to a genuine sorrowful repentance before God.
You had such an earnestness to make things right with God and with each other. You were so eager to deal with your sin and you confessed it to receive God’s forgiveness. You have shown your desire to put Christ back into His church as Lord of all. You even changed the way you were giving and I hear you’ve promised a large offering to help out the church in Jerusalem that is undergoing a famine in the land. You even told Titus to let me know of your love for me and that you were praying for me in the midst of the trials I am going through.
Paul then tells them to keep on examining themselves to see if they are in the faith. That’s how you know if you are in it to win it. If we were to examine ourselves we would ask questions like: This thing I’m about to say, is going to build up or tear down the church? This item I’m about to purchase is it going to take away from my support of the church or build it up? This decision I am about to make is it going to build up or tear down the church.
Am I working with Jesus to make sure I am standing with him in his smack about the church, or am I working against it by siding with the gates of hell.
Very few believers who are following Christ intentionally seek to destroy the church. They simply do not make the connection between their actions and their words and the health of the church. Today we would have been kicking off our “We’ve Got You Covered Campaign.” The Campaign has been postponed because so many of us have chosen not to be in it to win it with our giving and with our presence. Even though we’ve postponed the campaign, you can still give toward it.
Our goal for the campaign was going to be $70,000. I believe out of 280 members, there are at least 40 of us who have a $1,000 we could give because its already sitting in the bank, there is another 40 of us who could give $500, and another 40 who could give $250, and another 40 who could give $100 and another 40 who could give $50. That still leaves 80 members who can’t give because of being in nursing homes, children, or have no income at all. All it takes is a desire to be in it to win it to make it happen.
You know Lebron and the Cavaliers showed up for the regular season games, and they showed up for all the playoff games. Even the fans, packed out the place nearly every game. Even when they were in another city, the fans packed the Q to be with each other to cheer them on. They were all in it to win it. What would happen if Jesus had those kind of fans? What would happen if NLAC was made up entirely of covenant partners who were in it to win it.
I’ll tell you, our financial problems would cease because our church would consist of tithers. If all of us tithed from now to the end of the year. There would be no deficit. There would be no talk of getting rid of a pastor. There would be no discussion on cutting salaries. There would be no discussion on ending coffee and food at coffee hour after church. We would be trying to decide when would be the best month to put in the carpet and we would not need a campaign to do it.
We would be talking about what new mission programs we could start that would reach more people for Christ. We would be discussing at session, what’s the most we could send to Haiti after this latest Hurricaine. We would be looking at, what ways do we need to enrich each service to make the 500 Campaign a reality. We would be wondering, what alternatives can we provide for young people that would make the streets less attractive and Jesus Christ more appealing.
We would be asking how do we enlarge the body of Christ, rather than disengaging ourselves from the work God has called us to do.
Our influence for Christ is growing. We are still in the seed planting stage for our growth. We need to keep planting and to keep watering until God sees fit to cause us to grow. Instead of focusing on what might happen that’s bad in the future, let’s trust God with the ability to provide for our needs, when the time arises. Let’s be so in it to win it, that we’re willing to risk everything to reach others for Christ. Let’s remember Jesus said, “ I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.” NLAC covenant partners, can we count on you to be in it to win it for the cause of Jesus Christ.
