- Well, all of you have probably been closely watching the presidential campaign over the past several months. And probably most of you have already made up your minds as to who you are going to vote for whether that be Bush, or Gore, or Nader, or Buchanan. And some of you may have even watched the debates that have taken place over the last three weeks. Now I am not going to get political on you, I assure you of that. But, what I do find interesting is that in all of those debates, and in all of their campaigning what the candidates are doing is trying to tell us what America and the World needs.
- Better education, better Social Security, better tax plans, better social reform, a better environment and on and on the list goes. But in all the things they talk about. They have not, and will not talk about what the world really needs. What America really needs, what people really need. And what the world needs more than anything else is the Church. People need the church as it is described, and pictured and seen in the Bible. What the world needs is the Church!!
- That's what our focus is gonna be on over the next several weeks. We are going to take a look at the Church, and what the church should be. And remember, the church is not a set of walls that decay. The church is not a building, the church is you. The people are the church. We are the church, not this building. This is just a convenient place we gather together to have worship, and study, and fellowship time. What the world needs is not another church building. What the world needs is the church, that is... you and me, as God's people living like God's people.
- And this morning, our focus is this... the world needs a relevant church. A relevant church. So let's start by asking, what does it mean to be a relevant church? Well in my Webster's New World Dictionary, the word relevant is defined as:
"relating to the matter under consideration" or "pertinant"
- In other words being relevant means you have something to say, something to offer that matters, that makes a difference. And that is what the church should be more than anything else in this world. We should matter, we should have something, be able to offer something that makes a difference in people's lives. Unfortunately for many churches, they have become irrelevant. In other words, they have nothing to offer to today's world. They don't matter.
- I have heard it said, "Christians are a whole lot like maneur, you spread us around we do some good, pile us up and we just stink."
- And so instead of making a difference, instead of being relevant, and offering that which matters to people. Many times the church just sits around talking their own language, going through their own motions, pleasing themselves, doing what they are comfortable with. But, the church is not intended by God to just sit around in our nice little comfort zones. The church is intended by God to go into all the world, to make followers of Jesus Christ, to reach a dying world with a relevant message of hope and forgiveness.
- What the world needs is a relevant Church! What Ipava needs is a relevant church!
- That's why our purpose statement is what it is... "BCC exists to create a loving community, with the purpose of equipping and encouraging Christians to share God's RELEVANT message of hope and forgiveness to lost people."
- After all, the message we have for the world is relevant. The message has not changed for 2000 years. The message is perfect just the way it is. Our message of hope and forgiveness that is found only in Jesus Christ... that message can and does make a difference. God's message is relevant for all people. But, sometimes the way we deliver that message is not always relevant. And that is what we, as a church, must avoid.
- Listen to the way Charles Swindoll explains it in "The Bride"...
- That's our challenge, we must be willing to leave the familiar without disturbing the essentials. In fact, that's the very challenge that Paul lays out for us in I Corinthians 9:19-27.
- Well, let's back our way into this text. Paul finishes our passage by using a sports image, which is something I can resonate with, certainly. He says that all runners who run in a race, run with the intention of winning the prize. Now in Paul's day, a time when the Olympics were just beginning in Greece, they didn't have Gold, Silver and Bronze medals. In fact, there was no 2nd or 3rd place. You either won the prize or you didn't win the prize. And the prize for the winner of the race was a wreath that he wore on his head. And the boxing matches of Paul's day were much different than ours. They would ruthlessly beat each other with their knuckles which were bound with leather thongs. But, the beating, the pain, the strict training, was worth the prize received at the end.
- But, Paul says, that we as Christians, we as the church run to win a different prize. We as Christians, as the church, box with a different prize in mind. A prize that will last for all of eternity. And what is that prize. What is the prize that we as a church should be reaching for, striving for, working for.
- It's people. People who don't know the Lord. People who are searching for hope, who are searching for forgiveness. It's your neighbors, it's the people you work with, the people you go to school with, the people who live in your house, who are a part of your family. People who need to have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. That is the prize for which we reach for. To see people come to know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. That is a prize that will last for all of eternity.
- The reason we exist is for.... Tommy Branson, Andrew Easley, Kurt Chenoweth, Danny Buswell, Sara Porter, and today, Nancy Sears. These are people who have gotten baptized in the last year or so. They are why this church exists, they are why this church must continue to exist. The church does not exist for those who are already members, the church exists for those who are not yet members.
- And the only way that we can make a difference in the lives of those who are not yet members. The only way the church can make an impact in a community where there are more people sleeping in on Sunday Morning than going to church. The only way the church can find itself filled to the brim with people who are learning about Jesus Christ, is if the church is relevant. The message is relevant, but the way we deliver it must be relevant as well. And why must it be relevant? So that we can win the prize of seeing lost people come to Christ.
- And so Paul says to the Corinthian Church. Although I am free, I make myself a slave. To the Jews, and those under the Jewish Law, I make myself a Jew so that I can be relevant, and win as many Jews as possible to Christ. And to those who are not Jewish, to those who are Gentiles, then I become relevant to them, in order that I might win as many Gentiles as possible to Christ. And to those who are weak, in order to be relevant, I become weak to win as many as possible to Christ. To all men, I become all things, so that by all possible means I might save some.
- In other words, Paul is saying, despite my background, despite what I am comfortable with, despite what I like and am used to, I will do whatever it takes to make sure all people hear God's message of hope and forgiveness. The relevant message stays the same, but the way I deliver it becomes different depending on who I am trying to reach. And that is our call. To share God's relevant message in a way that the people of this community and beyond can understand and accept it. What our community needs is a relevant church. And how can we be relevant.
- We can have Relevant Worship. We can sing songs, and organize our services in such a way that anybody can come here on Sunday morning, and be lead to a place where they can worship and praise a worthy God. You know, the songs we sing every Sunday, and the way the service is organized is not something that just happens by accident. It's not something we just lackadazically throw together without any thought. Every song is chosen for a reason, the order of the service is put together for a reason. And the reason is so that the entire service will be relevant. Will make a difference in the lives of those who come and take part in it. We want the songs we sing to matter, to make sense, to lead you to worship. I want the sermon to matter, to make sense and to lead you to a better relationship with God.
- Martin Luther understood the need for relevant worship. When Luther was ministering, the churches for the most part were singing Gregorian Chants, and the people didn't understand them and didn't like them, and so Luther knew he needed to do something. So do you know what Luther did? He went to the bars, and he listened to the music they were listening to, and this is what he heard...
Have Kathy play chorus to "A Mighty Fortress"
- And he put Christian words to it, and he called it "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God", and he figured when they stumbled in from the bars to church on Sunday morning, they would be familiar with the tunes. In fact, many of the old hymns were bar room tunes with Christian words. You see, when the hymns were first written, they were on the cutting edge, they were contemporary, they were relevant, they made sense. Probably, there were some people sitting in church on Sunday morning over a hundred years ago saying, these young people these days singing these newhymns. Why, they're becoming just like the world. But they were wrong, when the hymns were written a century ago, they were being relevant to the people they were trying to reach out to.
- And we need to continue doing the same thing today. We need to have relevant worship. Worship that matters, that makes sense, that people understand, that makes a difference in people's lives. And so when you come, and worship, come expecting God to make a difference in your life. Come expecting God to comfort you if you are afflicted, and afflict you if you are comfortable. And when talking to others about worshipping with us, let them know that worshipping with God's people can make a difference in their life. It can make a difference in their troubled marriages and relationships. Worshipping with God's people can make a difference when their hearts are hurting. Worshipping with God's people can make a difference when they are searching for hope and answers.
- How else can this church be relevant? We can have Relevant Ministry. The work we do in this community must make a difference in people's lives. The question we must constantly be asking ourselves is what can we do to be most effective in sharing God's relevant message of hope and forgiveness to the people of Ipava and beyond. What is the most effective way of sharing the gospel message with the children, with the adults, with the families of Ipava. We certainly can learn from the past, but we must live in the present and strive for a future of relevant ministry.
- A wonderful example of Relevant Ministry is Charles Colson. Once an aid to President Nixon, he was sentenced to serve jail time due to the Watergate Scandal. While in jail, he found Christ and became a Christian. And upon being released he began a ministry that has spread throughout the country entitled "The Angel Tree Project." It is a ministry that collects Christmas presents and has them delivered to children who have a parent serving jail time. I took part in this ministry while in Colorado. And talk about making a difference, about being relevant. I will never forget the faces on those children when they received a half a dozen Christmas presents, probably the only presents they will receive that year. And it was all done in the name of Christ. That is relevant ministry. Ministry done with the love of Christ, ministry done that makes a difference in people's lives. That is the kind of ministry we need to continually take part in, in our community.
- Which leads us to another way this church can be relevant. We must live Relevant Lives. We must live our lives in a way that makes a difference in people's lives. That reaches out to people the way Christ reached out to people. Ask yourself... Who is your life relevant to? Does your life make a difference for Christ in other people's lives? Are you loving people, caring for people, reaching out to people in a way that shows them the love of Christ? Does your life matter? Is it pertinant? The greatest way this church can be relevant, is when the people of this church live relevant lives on a daily basis... when we live our lives in such a way that people can see Christ burning brightly in our hearts.
- After all that's the way Christ lived his life. His life made a difference in people's lives. From the outcast leper whom he touched, to the adulterous woman whom he showed grace. From the despised tax collector, to the zealous Jew. From the blind, crippled, and lame to the Samaritan, Jew and Gentile. All were impacted by the life of Jesus. His life mattered to people. But, even more than his life, his death truly made the difference in my life, and in yours. Such a relevant Christ demands a relevant church. A church that is willing to share God's relevant message of hope and forgiveness in such a way that this community and beyond can not ignore it. So let's go live relevant lives.
