Prayer-
Introduction-
This morning I want to talk a moment about the church.
I say by sermon title the church of God because there are churches out there that I believe never ask God what He thinks about decisions that are made in His church.
I believe there are churches that are nothing more than social meetings and feel good stations that miss what the church is suppose to be and if they would ever start being the church that God intended the church to be, there would be many people that would leave “disappointed that the church is changing”
Blood, Sweat, and tears in the church of God- it is a unique sermon title, but not unique to operating a church under the direction of Jesus Christ our Lord, the one who founded the church of God.
When you think of the term, blood, sweat and tears- Besides a 70’s rock group, you immediately think of someone who has put everything they have into the accomplishment of being successful at a particular thing.
By definition, it would be hard work and effort in a hard situation.
Some believe that this phrase was first used by Sir Winston Churchill in a 1940 speech to the British people warning them of hardship facing WWII. He said “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat.” Others believe Oscar Wilde of England, and Mark Twain in the USA used the phrase first.
I think it was lived out much earlier in the life of Jesus Christ when He went to Calvary to shed His blood, sweat and tears for the church and each one of us.
The church that is operating under the blood, sweat and tears of Jesus Christ cannot be stopped! Hear me when I say it again, the church that is operating under the blood, sweat and tears of Jesus Christ is unstoppable.
I want you to see this- Exodus chapter 29- Moses directing the people of Israel and they are being told to consecrate themselves and be “set apart”- to be the people of God and accomplish the things that God intended for the people of God.
(v1) “This is what you are to do to consecrate them, so they may serve me as priest.”
It involves blood, the sacrifice of a perfect animal put on the altar of God.
The killing of one so that the other may be under the anointing and blessing of God.
For us, on this side of the cross, the bloodshed was the blood of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Because of his sacrifice, we are able to come to a Holy and perfect God and be forgiven for our sins and have a relationship with God Almighty!
We are not perfect… He is perfect.
We share His holiness because we as believers are under his blood of atonement.
We are consecrated to God because of His shed blood.
Hold this thought- We are only saved because of the blood of Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice, and we must be under the blood of Christ.
Meaning, we are not perfect in ourselves, we are only acceptable to God because of what Christ did for us.
Second thought- We as believers are called to action.
We are not called to sit in these chairs and just gather on Sunday morning and not make an impact to those that we come in contact with. Sure, we are called to be discipled, to learn God’s Word, to gather together those of like-minded faith in prayer and worship.
We are asked to be sensitive to others needs and use our resources to help make this place a better place to live.
It is not just a few that are called. It is not just the pastors, the leaders, those with special talents, it is each one of us doing our part to build the kingdom of God.
There is no age limit on who can be used of God.
God calls us to sweat equity in his church.
He is wanting the church of God to move into a community and change it to the image of Christ.
To move into a community with such love that they cannot separate the two- the church and what Christ intends to do through them.
Third thought- we are called by God to have compassion on those that we come in contact with.
We must be willing to shed a tear and be praying for the lost that are all around us.
This will mean at times we are to extend our hand in love and resources and at other times, to be the warning device God uses to bring people back to him.
Whichever we are at any given moment must be done in the love of God and the ultimate goal to see restoration.
Blood sweat and tears-
First lived out in Christ and must be lived out in God’s people- Being conformed to the image of Christ, his life, his mind, his mission, his promises, his passion.
Now let’s look at His church-
The church at times gets a raw deal- if we do not reach out to those around us, we are accused of being inward and not outward.
If we become too outward, we are accused of being too pushy and people are hypocritical because they have this self-made image that people in church pretend to be perfect though God’s Word says that sinners should come so that they might receive salvation from the Lord.
So what should the church look like and act like?
The church is not a building. The church building is just a place that the church people meet. The church is each believer because Christ dwells in us.
We are not perfect, we are striving that the image of Christ is reflected in our lives once we have committed our lives to Him. Be ye holy as God is holy-
The church that God intends us to be is a church that has believers making an impact to those that are around us, reflecting Christ should draw people to a relationship with God. If they do reject us, it is not us they are rejecting, it is Jesus Christ that is living in us.
We are not to take it personal of rejection if we are living out what the church should be.
The church should be bringing new people into the fellowship of believers, it is everyone job to spread the gospel and be a witness for Christ.
The church should be discipling those that are in the body of Christ- there should be Bible Truths taught and lived out in the people who attend.
It is a place of encouragement- you being encouraged and you should be personally encouraging others.
It is a place where people of like-minded faith gather together to strengthen and grow in our personal relationships with Christ.
Life is messy and life is hard.
Every day, people are gobbled up by life situations because they feel they have to do it alone or feel no need for God or his church. The church is designed to help each other when we are going through those gobble up moments of life.
We do not have to go through life by ourselves. As a believer, the church family should be there for those times. We cannot pay all the bills, we cannot change the loss we have, but we can be a strength to help go through those times.
If you think the church is only a place to get help when you need it, you are only experiencing half the church. The other half is where we get involved and actively become a part of the living church that reaches out with time, energy, resources, and becomes hands extended to someone. If you are doing one and not the other, you are only half receiving the blessing of the church.
Listen to some of these verses of the church and see what God says the church universal should look at.
Romans 12:4-5
For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another.
1 Corinthians 12:12
For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ.
The church to be the true church of Jesus Christ is to be under the Lordship of Christ and following his teachings, and reaching out to others.
Each member being a part of evangelism, each member being a part of encouraging those who enter through these doors.
Each member playing his/her part, and each part is of value, each one of us is called to do something for the kingdom of God once we are a part of the kingdom of God.
Have you ever heard the term blindspot?
A blindspot by definition is an “area where a person’s view is obstructed.”
I think it has two purposes.
Negative side of a blindspot is not seeing things because they are out of your view.
A blindspot while driving is the area that is not picked up in your mirrors and you purposefully have to move your head and visibly look at that area so a car does not come up alongside of you and you don’t know it.
To hit someone in your blindspot would still be your fault because you are to be aware of that area and take the precautions to not hit a car there.
A positive side of a blindspot is someone preventing you from seeing all that is around you and protecting you from harm.
We do that a lot of times with our children as they are growing up. We prevent them from harm or danger by shielding them from seeing or experiencing things they should not.
I think God does that for us at times and then other times want his children to grow up and see and be aware of blindspots and take the right actions to prevent troubles.
Amish people put blinders on their horses so that when they are running in the street, they are not frightened by the cars that are only a few feet away from them.
I shield my dogs eyes when he is in the truck with me when I see a dog being walked (I pet him, I distract him) so that he doesn’t act all crazy.
I prevent him from seeing the dog and then he won’t act out of the character that I want him to act.
Before the last point, recap the church- Blood, Sweat, and Tears-
The church under the Lordship of Christ
Everyone actively building the kingdom of God and desiring themselves to be disciples and living in the truths of God’ Word
How can we know that the church of God universal and or on a smaller level our local church is doing what God intended it to do?
Listen to these verses where Jesus had conversation with Peter and the disciples-
Matthew 16:13-19 read from the Bible
There are clear directions of what the church should be and must be from this conversation the Lord had with those that call him Lord.
“Who do the people say the son of man is”?
John the Baptist
Elijah
Jeremiah
Prophet
All great tributes- but they are not right.
What about you? Who do you say I am?
“You are the messiah, the son of the living God”!
I want you to see something very important- put on your listening ears!
Jesus must be the foundation of the church- Jesus founded the church and gave the church it marching orders.
He empowers the church with the Holy Spirit of God to accomplish the impossible.
The church under the Lordship of Christ is unstoppable!
Simon who became Peter- Simon means “peeble” in Greek- his name was changed to Peter “the Rock”!
Yes, Jesus the rock, but if we are to be the church we must be, we must graduate from peebles to become rocks in the kingdom of God.
I’ll prove it to you-
He says that you did not learn this by man’s ways- it was shown to you by God the Father.
He says that he will build the church on Jesus Christ being the rock and foundation, but also that the peebles become rocks and begin to do amazing things in Jesus name!
He says the gates of hell will not prevail- you want to see if the church wither local or church universal is doing what God wants- it should prevail- Hell will not be winning.
The difference between whining and winning is attitude and who is in charge.
Numbers are not the only way of seeing growth- is the church winning or is the church allowing hell to prevail?
I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail- period.
I will give you the keys! To the kingdom of heaven here on earth- He only gives the keys to his church who are operating under the authority and power of Christ.
He talks about binding and loosing here. The church operating on the authority and power of Jesus Christ will bring down darkness.
This world may be going downhill but the church of Christ will be making an impact on those that they come in contact with.
We will be binding the enemy and people will receive the blessing and power of God and the gates of hell cannot win!
Culture does not run the church of God- Jesus Christ is head of the church.
Do you want to see more great things happening, then, we must take the authority we have in Jesus Christ and win the community for Jesus Christ.
If he devil Is not nipping at your heels, then we are not doing enough for the kingdom. He will leave us alone unless we begin to invade the darkness and start to see God move in ways that are way beyond what we could do ourselves.
Close-
Blood, sweat and tears church-
We are the church! Stop backing up and apologizing- we are coming into the darkness and bringing the light of Christ- we are doing it in the power of Christ and not of ourselves.
Amen.
