Opening Remarks and Introduction
In the past few years, Christian churches have been rocked by problems both inside and outside the church.
In 2017, we saw a shooting at a church in Sutherland Springs, and recently a mega-church in town hit the news recently with one youth worker and some of the church youth. Some terrible things have happened inside the church.
Outside the church, culture has changed and church is no longer the center of society.
Christianity isn’t as widely accepted as it used to be. Is the church still relevant? Will it prevail against these problems? Tonight’s message is going look at exactly that by looking at:
- The Church that God Created
- The Challenges to The Church
and
- Our Role in the Church
1. The Church God Created
Before we dive into how well the church is doing, lets start by looking at the Church God created. It might help to start with a definition. What is the church? Is it the building we’re in? Perhaps it’s the campus? What about our Lutheran Church Missouri Synod? It’s all of that, and a bit more.
There are several ways that we can look at The Church. But for tonight, I’d like to define it this way as “the assembly of believers with Jesus Christ as the head.” Not just a building, but the people itself. All of us gathered here, we are the church. But, where did the church come from?
In our lesson tonight we heard a story about Jesus giving the task of building the church to his disciple Peter. Jesus said, “on this rock I will build my church.” But what is the church that the disciple was tasked to create. Look at how Paul described the church in his letter to the Ephesians. He wrote:
18 For through (Jesus) we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. 19 So then you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. (Ephesians 2:19-20, CSB)
Paul’s words show us that it wasn’t a building that was created. Instead, is was the creation of a family. People who didn’t know each other are no longer strangers, but related to each other by Christ’s blood. The church is a group of people in a relationship with each other and with God, built on the perfect teachings of Jesus as the cornerstone, and the support of the Apostles.
We join this family through the sacrament of baptism when we’re washed clean of our sins, and joined to the family of God. With the water and the Word, we become part of the congregation, and become adopted sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father. Adoption in the court-of-law places a child into a permanent family with a new mom, dad, and perhaps sisters and brothers. Baptism does the same with us joined to God in a permanent and lasting relationship. Listen to these words from Romans:
“For all those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. Instead, you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” 16 The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God’s children, 17 and if children, also heirs—heirs of God and coheirs with Christ” (Romans 8:14-17a, CSB)
In baptism, God adopts us into His family to share in the rewards of heaven as one Christian family. God didn’t create the family to fall apart. He created it to join Him one day in the heavenly realm.
Together, all of us are fellow members of God’s household. We are His sons and daughters. God did not create the church to fail. He build The Church to survive. He build it on the strongest thing He could. His own teaching, His own will, and His own Son. The church stands on this foundation.
2. Challenges to the Church
But even with a strong foundation, it seems like the church is facing a lot of challenges.
Across the nation, some churches are shrinking. For some, attendance is going down, and with a shrinking congregation, budgets get strained too. For many areas across the country, the church is not as solid as it used to be.
One of the challenges that the church faces is society and culture itself. Values have changed. If you look back just a few years, you see a very different world.
There was a time when it was almost expected that everyone would go to church on Sunday. In fact, those that didn’t might be considered outcasts.
Years ago, the Ten Commandments were considered solid statements of how to behave. Culture and society have changed. And with those changes, the attitudes of the people have changed too.
One of the things that’s changed is the definition of what is true. No longer is something always considered true. Today, truth is considered relative to how people feel about something. It’s situation dependent. Truth is an individual experience based on people’s emotions, not on facts of a situation. For some, truth can change. That idea includes even moral truth, so what’s considered right and wrong today, may not be right or wrong in the future.
Another change is how tolerance has been re-defined. We’ve entered an era where people can get offended at many things. In response, people do whatever they can to avoid offending others. This fear extends to conversations about faith, because people don’t like hearing about this thing called sin.
Jesus continued to love the sinners, even when He told them to repent and turn away from their errors. Following a confrontation with a mob that was looking to stone a woman to death for adultery. Jesus did not condone any sinful behavior. Instead he said:
“Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” (John 8:7,11, CSB)
Jesus didn’t tell people to continue what they’re doing, but to change and find a new path. To repent and sin no more. Society doesn’t want anyone, including God, to tell them to change. Yet, Jesus asked us to repent. The idea of change is offensive to some.
The idea of offending someone or being offended by someone has shaped society, including some in the church. There are members of the church who aren’t comfortable talking about their faith, about Jesus, or what grace, mercy and forgiveness means to them.
Relative truth, fear of offending others, and a movement away from the religious values are cultural reasons that challenge The Church.
3. Our Role in the Church
So with part of society moving away from the church, what can we do to ensure the church survives for our children and grandchildren? What is our role?
Let me start with this. God has a plan. Sometimes we have to let His plan play out, and sometimes we have to serve God and let ourselves be tools as part of His plan. So, lets take a look at three things that we can do to be instruments of God in building up the church:
FIRST, bring THE CHURCH wherever you go. The church is not confined to this room or even this campus. It’s wherever we are. It doesn’t require a building to be a Christian.
The Church building is a place meant to worship God. But, so are traffic jams, watching a movie, or even walking down the street. No matter where we are, we show what our faith is by where we go, what we do, and what we say. Everything about us should reflect that we are Christians.
By showing the world what its like to be a Christian… everywhere, everyday, to everyone, we show our faith through are actions and can show God’s love by doing what Jesus would do. Show our appreciation of Jesus’ forgiveness by reflecting His love onto the world. Have you ever experienced a difficult person or a difficult situation? Respond to that situation by remembering the forgiveness that God gave to you, and use that feeling of love to respond with grace, kindness, and especially love.
SECOND, when opportunity presents itself, don’t fear delivering the Good News. Leaders in the temple chose to pursue Jesus. Yet, Jesus continued to preach. He set a standard that requires us to talk about Jesus and the faith that we have in Him. Jesus said:
“Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20, CSB)
Sharing this message is sharing His love for us. Teaching allows others to understand that joy and mercy is for those who deserve to be punished, and that’s all of us. No matter what our sin of choice is, we’ve all fallen short of the glory of God. People need to hear that there is grace and forgiveness… even if it offends them.
THIRD, and most importantly, Trust God; He has a plan and is always, and completely, in control. The creator of the universe has the power to affect change across the globe. He created the world and everything in it in less than a week. He planned to rescue the world from sin shortly after Adam and Eve ate that very first apple. He had a plan from the very beginning, and He has a plan for us today. God has continued to take care of His people and His church.
When God’s messengers faced trouble, He was always there to ensure His Words got out even in impossible situations.
While Paul was in prison, He continued to write to the congregations that needed guidance and encouragement. Here’s one of those messages. Paul wrote:
“12 Now I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that what has happened to me has actually advanced the gospel, 13 so that it has become known throughout the whole imperial guard, and to everyone else, that my imprisonment is because I am in Christ. 14 Most of the brothers have gained confidence in the Lord from my imprisonment and dare even more to speak the word, fearlessly.” (Philippians 1:12-14, CSB)
Paul, while a prisoner in Rome, was able to reach the soldiers who were keeping him captive. The imperial guard no less, heard Paul’s message of Jesus and… advanced the Gospel! What an amazing place for an apostle to preach the good news. But he did. God can use any person, any event, any situation to proclaim His goodness and show the world that He loves us all. Scripture shows us just how much power God has.
When God’s messenger Moses left Egypt with the Israelites and arrived at the Red Sea, God miraculously opened the waters and let His people walk across on dry land.
When Daniel was thrown into the Lion’s Den because he prayed to God, God sent an angel to close the cats’ mouth and Daniel was kept safe showing who was truly God.
When Jonah decided to go another way, rather than proclaim His message to the people of Nineveh, God used a fish to swallow the prophet and delivered him to his missionary journey.
Nothing You’ll face today or any other day is out of His control. Trust God. God continues to protect the church and His message.
Conclusion
So, is the church going to survive? Will it prevail the attacks from culture, society and the ungodly? The answer is simple.
God built the church to succeed, even when sin challenges it. God did not put the church here to fail. He put it here to be a beacon of truth and a way for us to gather as a family of believers. He put it here to help us spread the good news that Jesus died for our sins. He put the church here for us to congregate together, strengthen our Christian bonds, and build one-another up in prayer, thanksgiving and worship.
God has a plan for everyone and everything. And this congregation, this church, THE CHURCH, are all part of that plan, and so are all of us.
Amen.
