The hitch hikers guide to the church.
From the 1970’s all kind of hitchhikers books emerged guiding people around Europe, new Zealand and darkest Africa – There was also a radio series called The hitchhikers guide to the galaxy which follows the destruction of earth as we know it.
At the end of the book of Revelation we read of a coming event that involves the passing away of earth and the creation of a new world centered on God and which is of such incredible beauty that the mind can scarcely comprehend it.
Between the amazing scenes that God paints for us in splashes of living colour is the church.
Listen to these amazing words from the book of revelation:-
Revelation 21 Good News Translation (GNT)
The New Heaven and the New Earth
21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth disappeared, and the sea vanished. 2 And I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared and ready, like a bride dressed to meet her husband. 3 I heard a loud voice speaking from the throne: “Now God's home is with people! He will live with them, and they shall be his people. God himself will be with them, and he will be their God. 4 He will wipe away all tears from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more grief or crying or pain. The old things have disappeared.”
5 Then the one who sits on the throne said, “And now I make all things new!” He also said to me, “Write this, because these words are true and can be trusted.” 6 And he said, “It is done! I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end. To anyone who is thirsty I will give the right to drink from the spring of the water of life without paying for it. 7 Those who win the victory will receive this from me: I will be their God, and they will be my children. 8 But cowards, traitors, perverts, murderers, the immoral, those who practice magic, those who worship idols, and all liars—the place for them is the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
The Golden Gate Bridge is a suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate, the one-mile-wide (1.6 km) strait connecting San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean. The structure links the American city of San Francisco, California – the northern tip of the San Francisco Peninsula – to Marin County, carrying both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 across the strait. The bridge is one of the most internationally recognized symbols of San Francisco, California, and the United States. It has been declared one of the Wonders of the Modern World by the American Society of Civil Engineers.[7]
The bridge between where you are now and the heavenly Kingdom with all the qualities we read about in Revelation is spanned by the bridge to life called the cross – But the golden gate to that bridge is the church - It is truly one of the modern wonders of the world! - But imagine the cross as a bridge with no ramparts leading onto it no foundations under it – The cross and the church are mutually interdependent in order to help bring as many as possible across the bridge into the Kingdom of God.
Jesus said – I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it. Matthew chapter 18 verse 16
The word church in the Bible comes from the Greek word ecclesia, which means called out company or assembly. Where ever it is used in the Bible it refers to people.
There has been a tendency in the modern age for people to withdraw from the church and to retreat to small groups of one or more but I have observed these groups do not grow – the new testament model is for the church to be organised into a way of eldership and discernment that allows the church to move forward and grow.
The Bible tells us we need to attend church so we can worship God with other believers and be taught His Word for our spiritual growth (Acts 2:42; Hebrews 10:25). Church is the place where believers can love one another (1 John 4:12), encourage one another (Hebrews 3:13), "spur" one another (Hebrews 10:24), serve one another (Galatians 5:13), instruct one another (Romans 15:14), honour one another (Romans 12:10), and be kind and compassionate to one another (Ephesians 4:32).[6]
I think all the denominations across the spectrum were all attempts to fulfil the call on us to be together in an assembly called church. At it’s best the church has been and is a pulsating living gathering that draws people into the love of God. At it’s worse it has dropped off important biblical calls and added in politeness and irrelevance and the result has been a failure to reproduce.
And I tell you that you are Peter.Peter is bestowed an awesome honour he is to be the rock on which the church is built. There are all kind of theories on this but I came up with this question what if we – collectively are the current rock on which Christ longs to build his church????
If we are then the gates of hell will not prevail against us!!!!!!!!
(sermon central Jerry Shirley.)after WWII a cathedral in England which had been bombed was rebuilt. They found a marble statue of Jesus in pieces...they pieced it back together. They found all the pieces but the hands. They thought about fashioning new hands but were afraid they couldn’t match the work. Then they thought about discarding the statue but didn’t. They made another choice, which was to put this inscription on the statue which remains today: “He has no hands but ours.”
The church is the body of Christ, of which Christ is the head. We are His hands, His feet, His voice. We are the mechanism He chooses to use in this dispensation.
The only Jesus people will see in this age is in you and me, the church!
What is the purpose of the church? It’s 3 fold:
• To magnify the Lord thru worship and the Word.
• To move believers to maturity and ministry.
• To make Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations.
I got to thinking about this and wondered what the church would look like if in fact we were to reinterpret it in light of the ministry of Jesus. Your church's organization and structure should provide an effective and efficient way for your church to pursue its mission.
We can not possibly redefine the church here this morning in a complete form but I would like to take the three points mentioned and expand on them to see how they might better equip us to be the church in the modern age.
1. To magnify the Lord thru worship and the Word.
John chapter 4 verse 23 …22You worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23But a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such as these to worship Him. 24God is Spirit, and His worshipers must worship Him in spirit and in truth.”…
spirit and in truth.”…
the heart of worship is the heart – when one heart is engaged with God in worship it is a glorious thing – but when many hearts are engaged with God together something amazing is raised up – it is the place of engagement it is the place of release of the Holy Spirit –
Truth is the word of God – so church gets together to celebrate the goodness of God and to get the word of God
2. To move believers to maturity and ministry.
Much of what Paul is doing in the bible is to move the church on to maturity – Maturity is evident when life begins to flow out of the church not just into the believers.
In Colossians 1:28-29, Paul writes, “Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. For this I toil, struggling with all His energy that He powerfully works within me.”
Ralph Spalding Cushman said:
Set me afire Lord,
Stir me, I pray!
While the world perishes
We go (on) our way,
Purposeless, passionless,
Day after day.
Set us afire Lord,
Stir us, we pray!
We hear a lot in our day about revival. Some churches are beyond the point of a revival ...what they need is to be resurrected! This is not the role of any pastor or leader alone – this is the role of the church if you are committed baptised and in yo need to be working together with your fellow believers to fulfil this role. It is a bumpy road and many avoid it because of the challenges.
A little boy was leading his sister up a mountain path and the way was not too easy. "Why this isn't a path at all," the little girl complained. "Its all rocky and bumpy." Her little brother kept on up the mountain, pausing just long enough to call out "Sure, but the bumps are what you climb on."
3. • To make Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations. Maturity is good but only as it is applied. There is nothing more sad than a learned and mature adult who has never even begun to reach their full potential.
I was reading a post on the internet of a nonbeliever who had wasted his life. Here is what he said:- WAS I THINKING? Rationalizing everything, making excuses to put things off. Excuses. Procrastination. It all leads to one thing, nothing. I rationalized that financial security was the most important thing.
I now know, that it definitely is not. I regret doing nothing with my energy, when I had it. My passions. My youth. I regret letting my job take over my life. I regret being an awful husband, a money-making machine.
I regret not finishing my novel, not travelling the world. Not being emotionally there for my son. Being an emotionless wallet.
If you're reading this, and you have a whole life ahead of you, please. Don't procrastinate. Don't leave your dreams for later. Relish in your energy, your passions. Don't stay on the internet with all your spare time (unless your passion needs it).
Please, do something with your life while your young. DO NOT settle down at 20. DO NOT forget your friends, your family. Yourself. Do NOT waste your life. Your ambitions. Like I did mine. Do not be like me.
This man backbacked around New Zealand as part of his journey – a Christless pointless existence.
There is a point to the great commission each of us have been given and that we have been given collectively – even successful projects are pointless without Christ.
The point of hitchhiking is you set off not knowing what is going to happen – Christ propels us on a journey of love and faith. Do not wait until you have put so much in your information pack that you can not move because of the weight on your soul.
The church is to be upwardly mobile
3 points.
• To magnify the Lord thru worship and the Word.
• To move believers to maturity and ministry.
• To make Jesus known to our neighbors and the nations.
When we are the awaited revival haopens and we are a force to be regarded.
