Spiritual Disciplines – Part 2 (The discipline of church participation)
Title: Love God – Love his body (church)... “love the head/love the body”
Text: 1 cor 3:10-17
Subject: Why does church engagement matter enormously?
Complement: since Christ has ascended – and the Spirit has been given - the church is now Christ’s body on earth – and is therefore holy. ... the firstfruits of heaven...(!)
1 Cor 3:16 “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? If anyone destroys God’s temple – God will destroy that person, for God’s temple is sacred and you are that temple.” (NIV) “temple of the Holy Spirit.”
Big idea: “We are the temple (Tabernacle) of the Holy Spirit!”
Read text: 1 Cor 3:10-17 (spiritual disciplines...)
Introduction:
Lets begin with our name – “Elim Pentecostal Tabernacle”
What does “tabernacle” mean? ? place where God dwells! (Temple)
Move #1 - Elim ? “In reach...out reach...up reach”
Mission Statement (core identity)
Worship God,
cultivate Christian community,
build bridges.
Our Vision/mission/values...
Vision Statement: (aspire to...) At Elim we see a unified,
Multi-generational church where people are
engaged and equipped to share the love of Christ
with the community.
Core Values
Elim Pentecostal Tabernacle
(May 19, 2020)
1. Glorify God (gathered worship & scattered worship)
2. Outreach – sharing the gospel of salvation in Jesus
3. Discipleship – following him
4. Excellence - Honouring God with our very best is an essential quality of Christian living.
5. Relevance - In an ever-changing world, the church must find ways to engage culture without compromising the gospel.
6. Community/Church Family – taking good care of each other//love in action
7. Generosity – time...talents...finances...
Consider Membership!!!
The strength of our inheritance and our devotion is rooted in the word and in church allegiance.
Move #2 – I’ve been thinking... “Attending church” is more than attending a hockey game/soccer game ...right!
Cooper Kupp – Super Bowl MVP (last Sunday)
– on his twitter account – “do it for a crown that will last forever.”
GAME...
• Not Entertainment...
• You are Not a spectator!
• Seats are free!
• Season ticket holders for TML – 40 games + pre-season +playoffs.
o $200/game x 40 = $8000.00
• Golf membership - The Vintage Club (CA) has an initiation fee of $250,000 in addition to an annual membership fee of $32,000.
• But the church is not made up of consumers
• You can yell at the referee... but not the pastor???
• You can’t ask for autographs!!! (I’ve never been asked...)
• You can’t buy a pizza or a hot-dog... and certainly not beer... in fact we like to give away food...
So what is the difference?... lets look at our text in 1 Cor 3...
Context of 1 Corinthians - young church...
stress of change...
old habits/biases...
now some growing pains... factions/opinions/ ....leading to some division...
Paul has to get their focus on Christ and their common identity.
• 1 cor 1:10 “I appeal to you... agree...no division...be united in mind and thought.”
• (that’s a lot to ask!)
• Personalities are some of the issue – Paul...Apollos...Peter...
• Ch 2 – Paul says “I preach Christ”
• Ch 3 – if there is jealousy and quarreling among you = worldly.
So Paul is talking about church life and community building and discipleship...
1. God Is The Architect Of The Church! V. 5-10
• OT – call of Abraham... (bless all the nations...)
• Israel is God’s instrument to reveal himself to the nations
• “A kingdom of priests”
• TEMPLE is built in stages... (“Tent” .... then a permanent structure)
• Even before this we can see Eden as a temple
• Then Abraham builds an altar to the Lord and he comes
• Moses meets God at the Burning bush – a kind of temple
• Then God gives instructions to build this portable temple
• They carry it with them
• They assemble and disable it as needed...
• Solomon builds the temple in Jerusalem
• Exile
• Temple re-built
• Upon Jesus crucifixion the cutain of the temple is torn apart – opeing the way into God’s presence for all (not just the Priest)!
• AD 70 – Romans destroy the temple
• Now... church is the temple!!!
• Now when we read this passage – we see how dramatic these words are!!!
Verse 16 “don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s Temple – and that God’s Spirit dwells among you!”
God’s temple is holy
God will protect his temple
The temple is you – us - collectively!!!
2. Christ Is The (Only) Foundation Of This Temple - Church: V. 11
The Cross
His Sinless life
The Teaching of Jesus
He is “I am”. – God incarnate!!! (relationship...)
The cross is necessary and without substitute
“If righteousness could be achieved by ourselves – Christ died for nothing!
The resurrection of Jesus makes him supremely unique!!!
No one has ever conquered death but Jesus
But notice ... by extension – we have – and will. (by Faith in him)
3. Paul Is The Building Project Manager – Likewise Pastors... V. 10
• Leadership is necessary ...
• Human leadership is always flawed
• Always needs to learn and grow into greater Christ-likeness
Thank you for honoring your leaders – and for your prayers!
People say to me... “pastor, I pray for you everyday.”
4. The Church Is Always “Under Construction”: 10-12
“someone else builds on it...
Paul speaks of the workers and...
We value serving with excellence. (Core Values)
“gold, silver...precious stones...”
*** give your best to his temple***
5. What About The Building Materials? V 12
They can be good or poor...
“wood hay and straw...” these are cheap & combustible
Gold...silver...precious stones... costly and non-combustible
We value building with excellence!
6. The Temple’s Inspection Day Is Coming... V. 13-14
God will Test the quality of our work
Some will be Rewarded!
Some will suffer loss!! .... only “Escaping through the flames”
There is a call here to give our best – since Christ gave his best!
7. What Are We Actually Building? The “Temple”: V. 16-17
• Dwelling place for God
• Holy
• Protection is on his temple
• It will never be destroyed...
• There is a warning too
• This is indicative of the spiritual battle the church is caught up in!
***Application: The spiritual discipline of church attendance+ (engagement)
Big idea: The strength of our heritage and our (future) hope is rooted in allegiance to Christ & his church.
• Many of you are highly committed – “pillars”
• This pandemic has been so unsettling for many... weariness/fear
• It's time to re-engage!!!
• Time to get back to building the temple! (tabernacle)
It's been something of a roller coaster... hopes rise and fall.
I’ve written more letters in the past two years than in the previous 30.
Now... let’s get after it once again!!!
1. In church...We experience “koinonia” ... fellowship...
participation “community”
Koinonia = “fellowship... family...participation
1 cor ____. G 2841
2. In church we are a Counter-cultural community – bearing witness to Christ in a secular or pagan society.
(L Newbiggin)
Where else is the gospel proclaimed if not in the church?
Where else is the person of Jesus our saviour taught
Where else can you find hope and purpose – if not in the church.
I like the analogy of the church as a tree
The bark is the institution
The sap inside is the liveblood of the tree.
But without the bark the tree will die – due to disease and dehydration.
Another analogy is the fireplace
What if there’s no fire – just an empty, cold collection of bricks!
What if the fire has no containment inside the fireplace? Now we have an out of control emergency.
3. As the church/temple - We are/we become family... one (Ephesians 4:1-6) “one Lord, one faith, one baptism...
a. no classes or segmentation --- no Jew/gentile divide in NT era!
b. See Gal 3:27... “in Christ there is neither Jew/Greek; male/female; slave/free.
c. Love this verse -- “now you are the body of Christ – and each one of you is a part of it. (1 Cor. 12:27)
You see...Collectively, We Are The Body Of Christ.
1 Corinthians 12:27
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
4. Collectively We Are Proclaiming Resurrection And Victory Over Darkness
a. Ephesians 3:10 “his intent is that now through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms.”
5. Collectively, We Offer A Sacrifice Of Praise
We value worship...glorifying God!!!
why Sunday?
it's Resurrection day!
Acts 2
1 Corinthians 16:1-2
Now concerning the collection for the saints, as I directed the churches of Galatia, so do you also. On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.
6. Collectively, We Are Refreshed...
we edify each other! “spur one another on to love and good deeds...” (Heb 10:24)
7. collectively, we are being formed over time to see life from God’s truth
8. collectively, we are a colony (outpost) of heaven
9. We Scatter Into The World ... On Mission...
Colossians 1: 24 Now I rejoice in what I am suffering for you, and I fill up in my flesh what is still lacking in regard to Christ’s afflictions, for the sake of his body, which is the church. 25 I have become its servant by the commission God gave me to present to you the word of God in its fullness— 26 the mystery that has been kept hidden for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the Lord’s people. 27 To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
“Just as worship begins in holy expectation it ends in holy obedience. If worship does not propel us into greater obedience, it has not been worship. To stand before the holy one of eternity is to change. ... to worship is to change.
Holy obedience saves worship from becoming an opiate, an escape from the pressing needs of modern life. worship enables us to hear the call to service clearly so that we respond, “here am I, send me” (Isaiah 6:8).
. Page 173. Foster.
Romans 16 gives us a look into the members of the church/Temple/Tabernacle in Rome...
Buildings are not necessary for Christianity to thrive, but community is, so leadership must be intentional about getting believers to connect ‘in-person’.
Back in 1930 the German Lutheran theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, remarked, “A Christian who stays away from the assembly is a contradiction in terms.”
Of course, we hear this and think in terms of church buildings with their crosses, padded chairs … and dark auditoriums with coloured lights and smoke machines. We’ve come a long way!
In the New Testament early believers gathered in public spaces (Acts 2:46) or as smaller groups in private homes (Acts 12:12) and for over 300 years, without the formal ownership of buildings, Christianity flourished and blossomed.
Christianity became the dominant religion of the Roman Empire in 313 and was decriminalized
Prior to that a church legally owning property was particularly ambiguous.!!!
When the early Christian apologist Justin Martyr (100-165 AD) was interrogated by the Roman Prefect Rusticus, he was asked, “Where do you meet?”
“Wherever it is each one’s preference or opportunity. In any case, do you suppose we can all meet in the same place? I have been living above the baths of [text corrupt] for the entire period of my sojourn at Rome … and I have known no other meeting place but here. Anyone who desired could come to my residence, and I would give to him the words of truth.”
In his baptismal formula in Galatians 3:28 expressing race, social rank and sexual equality, the Apostle Paul writes, “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.”
In other words, in the world of the first century Christians there was a universal son/daughter-ship ?
a revolutionary outcome defining a ‘new community’.
Wayne A. Meeks of Yale University writes of these early believers …
“They were willing to change their lives and to become initiated into a group which brought them only hostility, estrangement from their families and neighbours, and the possibility of persecution to the point of death.”
Why such willingness?
Because within this ‘new community’ where “all are in in Christ”, members are not disadvantaged, slaves receive dignity and status, and mutual social support flows from the command to love.
Having travelled to countries where believers meet under threat of being ‘found-out’ reported, imprisoned, even tortured, they bravely choose “not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another – and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)
Why?
Because as with the early Christians, they see the ‘new community’ accruing to them particular benefits not hitherto experienced and that faith can best be fully lived out through meaningful and encouraging relationships with other believers, one in which we bear one another’s burdens, are generous with our gifts, pray for one another and share our stories.
To grow in faith is to be influenced and inspired by living Christian examples in our daily lives. Oh yah, and did I mention the Hebrews text is a command? Christians need to connect face-to-face and the wise pastor will think and then act to make it happen. Ecclesiastical buildings are not necessary to spiritual growth and emotional well-being.
...in the midst of massive shifts, as we merge into a ‘new normal’, be careful that Covid-19 does not breed an apathy that looks to technology to ‘save the day’ … or an apathy that fools us into taking all of our cues from government officials … or an apathy that diminishes the fundamental virtue and necessity of Christians building community face-to-face.
Cooper Kupp – Super Bowl MVP – on his twitter account
– “do it for a crown that will last forever.” (on Super Bowl Sunday)
Hymn: The Churches One Foundation
“Do it for a crown that will last forever.”
