Church of the Nazarene Core Values
Pastor Glenn Newton 10-24-99
This morning all over the World, Pastors in the Church of the Nazarene are
Preaching Sermons that Emphasize Our Core Value Beliefs. Who We Are. What We
Believe In.
And for those that might think about such things, This is not a sermon produced by
HeadQuarters in KC, They just encouraged each Church to Deal with our Core Beliefs as
we enter the New Millennium, We should be reminded of Who we are, Where We Come
From, and Where Were Going. I hope that puts your mind at ease.
Obviously, I am not going to be able to go through our whole statement of Faith,
but instead I want to share with you Three Values that Distinguish us not only as
Christians, but also a people who are called Nazarenes. (Two this morning, One tonight)
Our Values are important. Everyone of you here this morning have values for
every area of your life. Your Values are determined by how you live your life, the
decisions that you make.
For example. I just walked out of Wal-Mart, the cashier girl was a little bit
scatterbrained, and I notice she gave me $10 more in change that she should have. Your
values will determine what you do next. Will you be dishonest and try to tell yourself that
this is God’s way of helping you pay your bills, or will that Value of Honesty come to the
front and you will take it back into the cashier? What you value will be determined by the
choices you make.
Your values effect where you eat. Will it be McDonalds or Wendy’s or Subway?
Some will pick the restaurant because of taste buds, what ever tastes the best, others will
pick because of cost, what do you get for buck, others will pick based on service, is it
clean or dirty, is it fast or slow. Whatever is a value to you will help you decide where to
go.
Now a little side note: For you men who value letting your wife pick the place to
eat, Your not eating anywhere because she can’t make up her mind. I’m just kidding.
Now I value my life, so I will apologize right now for that last comment.
Obviously, our values come into play in our spiritual walk, in our commitment to
the church. Remember, our Values are determined by the choices we make. Our values
are not so much determined by what we say, but what we do. A lot of people claim with
their mouth to be a Christian, but based on what they do, the choices they make, it would
be hard to say they are living for Christ.
If I value my relationship with God, I’ll spend time with him. I will pray or talk to
him, I will read/study His Word which Reveals His Plan for my life, I will Worship him.
Those will be choices I make because I value my Relationship with him. Listen to me this
morning......When I value this Relationship with Jesus, these things are not “I have to
things....or I better or I will feel guilty things......” but instead, “I choose to, because I
want to.” That’s a huge difference isn’t it?
As a Christian, not only will I value my Relationship with Jesus, but I will also
Value fellowship with fellow believers. Coming to church to worship, coming to pray
together, coming to share your gifts and talents within the body, giving your tithe, being
committed to your fellow church members are Values that are vitally important as a
Christian.
Friends, What is it that you Value? The choices you make will point you to the
answer.
You see, this morning I’m going to share with you about what the Church of the
Nazarene stands for and Believes in, and it’s important that we know and understand that
because were Nazarenes.
But there’s two things that I want us to get ahold of this morning, First, we will be
reminded of what we believe are the Great Values that our Denomination hold high,
Secondly, and equally important, we need to determine if Our Values match up with what
we say we believe in.
Turn in your Bibles with me to Ephesians 4:1-6
The First Value that we need to be reminded of is this: We Are A Christian People.
We are united with all believers in proclaiming the Lordship of Jesus Christ. This
morning, your first obligation, even as a member is not to this Local Church or our
Denomination, But your first obligation, allegiance belongs to Jesus Christ your Savior.
We must never lose sight of that. Our Church, the Church of the Nazarene recognizes the
fact that we are one of many churches that Put Christ As Lord,
We believe that in Divine Love, God offers to all people forgiveness of sins and a
restored relationship. And because we can be reconciled to God, we believe that we are
also to be reconciled to one another, loving each other as we have been loved by God,
Forgiving each other as we have been forgiven by God.
You see friends, we are Christians First, before anything else. When Christ is Lord
of our lives, He is First in everything, and my life choices need to reflect that.
In the Church of the Nazarene, we stand arm and arm with our brothers and sisters
of Faith, and with all the people of God, we confess and praise Jesus Christ the Lord.
Eph. 4:3,4 tells us about this Great Body of believers, listen: “Make every effort
to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one
spirit...”
So Christians It is our Responsibility to keep unity of the spirit, How? Do we do
that by focusing on our differences of opinion? Do we do this by being critical if they
don’t worship like we do?
Let’s not fall into Satan’s snare and spend one minute tearing down the body, but
instead lets obey God’s Word and Keep the Unity of the Body through a bond of Peace.
The Question is how do we keep this Bond of Peace? The fact is that we know from
personal experiences that peace does not just happen, it takes work, and in this verse,
there is a present tense idea going on, in other words, it’s going to take continuous action
upon our part to keep this bond of peace.
This formula for Keeping this Bond of Peace within the Universal Body of Christ
also works for us in our local body, right here in our fellowship, so lets make sure we
understand it. Its found in verse Two of Chapter Four.
If you don’t have these three ingredients working together, constantly present in
our lives and relationships, we will not be able to have peace.
What are the Three ingredients?
First, “Be completely humble,”
Friends, to have unity within the body, we need to be Christlike in our attitudes and
dealings with people. One of Christ’s greatest attributes in my opinion, because of Who
He is was his humility, he modeled it for us, his whole life was a demonstration of
humility.
God’s Word should speak to us about this;
Rom. 12:3 “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you; Do not think of yourself
more highly than you ought; but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in
accordance with the measure of faith God has given you.”
James 4:10 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.”
Luke 22:26 “But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be
like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves.”
God’s way is totally upside down compared to the Worlds view. Do you want to
be the Greatest? Then you need to be the least, a servant. Jesus has showed us how, we
need to follow Him.
Men, Do you want to be the Leader in your home? If you want a Christian Home
don’t dare demand it, but instead be the servant in your home.
Ladies, have the heart of a servant, and God will use you not only in the lives of
your children and family, but others will see that humility and see Christ in you.
Talking about Jesus, “After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash
his disciples feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”
Again, Jesus, “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and
became obedient to death --- even death on a cross!”
As Christians, We have been bought, we no longer live, but Christ Lives in us and
through us! Make sure humility is a real part of your Christian walk.
The Second Ingredient is, Gentle:
We are to be gentle, or as some translations have it, Meekness. Very simply a
gentle spirit that reflects the Love of God, for our brothers and sisters, and for the Lost.
Yesterday morning during our Men’s Bible Study and Prayer time Nola’s Dad
made a good point about the gentleness of Jesus. So many times in Scripture, especially
when the disciples just didn’t seem to catch on, Jesus could have used those times to
embarrass, or do what we like to call “teach them a lesson”. We were talking about the
time Jesus walks on the water, the disciples are scarred, Jesus reassures them that it’s him,
not some Ghost, and he calls them to Come. Peter, the one who was always ready for
adventure was the only one who was willing to obey, and he gets out of the boat and
begins to walk on the water, and you remember the story, Peter takes his eyes off of Jesus
and begins to look at the wind and waves and he begins to sink.
As he is falling, he cries out, Lord save me. Jesus has an option. Do I reach out
and save him, or should I use his failure to teach him a lesson.
If you know the story, and if you know Jesus, you know that He reaches out and
saves Peter and they get into the boat. I’m glad for the gentleness of Jesus aren’t you?
If Jesus is gentle in His spirit and in how he lived, should I be also?
Humility and Gentleness need to be actively mixed into our relationships.
The Third Ingredient to keep the bond of peace within the body is: be patient,
bearing with one another in love.
This NIV says, “bearing with one another in Love.” another version say,
“sustaining each other in Love.” another says, ‘...put up with one another in love”. And
Phillips says, “..making allowances for one another,”
If we are going to be able to have peace within the body of Christ, whether that’s
Universal, or in our local congregation, we must be patient, and bear with one another in
love.”
This is the ability to be patient with the weaknesses of other people. It’s a social
grace. It’s also a mark of maturity. And most importantly, it’s an attribute of God. If it
wasn’t for God’s Patience, his bearing with us, we would all be doomed. But Thank God
that He never turned his back while we were doing as we pleased with no regard for Him.
In Romans 10:21 it tells of God’s Patience with the people of Israel.
“All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people.” And
friends the fact is, He’s done that for me, and he’s done that for You. So for no other
reason, we should be patient with others because of the Grace and Patience that has been
given to us.
Friends, if you don’t learn patience with people, and have the ability to bear with
them in their shortcomings, your in for a long and disappointing life. And the peace that
you will forfeit will not only be the peace between you and those people, but because of
your lack of patience, you will not have that bond of peace in your own life, because there
will be to many people who aren’t meeting your expectations, so you will constantly be
disappointed.
I ask you, Do you have these Three ingredients in your life, in your Relationships?
Humility, Gentleness, and Patience. They are the key to keeping unity of the spirit
through a bond of peace. Pray that God would help you to begin to produce these things
in your life.
This morning Our First Value says we are a CHRISTIAN PEOPLE, we have
looked at the Scripture that teaches us that “There is one body and one Spirit...”. Very
quickly I want to impress on you some other Characteristics of Christian People.
The Church is not only One, but it is also Holy. God’s People are Holy because
Jesus is Holy. The Church is both holy and called to be holy. It is holy because it is the
Body of Christ, who has become for us righteousness and holiness. The Church is called
to become holy by God, who chose us before the foundation of the world that we should
be holy and blameless. As Christ’s one Body, our life together as a church should embody
the holy Character of Christ, who emptied himself and took the form of a slave. We affirm
the holiness of Christ’s Church, both as a gift and as a calling.
Not only are we One unified body, and a Holy body, and a Universal Body, we
also devote ourselves to the teaching and study of God’s Holy Word, the Bible. The
Christian Church looks to scripture through the witness of the Holy Spirit for Truth for
Faith and life. God’s Word is God’s Revelation of Himself through His Son Jesus Christ.
Friends we are a Christian people. That means so much more than, “Yeah, I go to
church”. First it’s a relationship with Jesus Christ, and then arm in arm is also our
relationships with fellow believers and our growth in grace.
The Church of the Nazarene proudly says that being a Christian People is one of
our Core Values, it’s who we are, we belong to Christ. As members of this church, this
should also be our Value.
THE SECOND VALUE: WE ARE A HOLINESS PEOPLE.
Look just a little farther down in Ephesians 4:22-24 Read.
This week when someone who sees your new T-shirt and reads the back and it say New
Hope Church of the Nazarene, and they ask you- What is the Church of the Nazarene?
Your going to have the answer, you can give them a three point answer. First as we have
talked about, WE ARE CHRISTIAN, we believe Christ to be the Risen Son of God, and
Second, we ARE A HOLINESS CHURCH. Now I warn you, when you say Holiness that
brings alot of different ideas into people minds of what you might be talking about, so they
will probably ask, What’s a Holiness church? So you need to know and be able to tell
them what it means.
In Leviticus 11:44 God tells us plainly, “I am the Lord your God; consecrate
yourselves and be holy, because I am holy.”
And in our Passage in Ephesians, it tells us in v. 23,24 “to be made new in the
attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true
righteousness and holiness.”
So God’s Word tells us that we are created to be like God in true righteousness
and Holiness. Now let me ask you something. Would God ask us to do something if it
wasn’t possible?
The reason it’s possible is because of Christ. Let me explain. Can you save
yourself? No, only by God’s Grace have you been saved. And you accepted that Grace
by faith when you became a Christian, right?
Holiness works in the same way. Can you make yourself Holy? Can you do so
many good deeds that all the sudden you reach the state of Holiness? NO.
Friends, it’s the blood of Jesus that cleanses away your sin and unrighteousness
and in doing so God imparts His Holiness to you. It’s a result of turning your life over to
Christ. Your are not Holy because of you, Your made Holy because of Him. God gives
you this gift at conversion, but He’s not done. We also believe that God has something
more for us than just forgiveness for our past sins, The Bible teaches us that God wants us
to grow to a place in our Christian life where we are willing consecrate every area of our
life and allow Him to Sanctify us by filling us with his Holy Spirit and Cleanse us from our
Sin Nature, it’s called Entire Sanctification.
The First act of Grace is when You ask God to Forgive you of your sins, all those
things that you have done in the past. And by his Grace, God forgives you and your
saved.
And as you grow in this new relationship and begin to understand Who God is and
What His Word teaches us, you will come to Realize that He is Holy. You will realize
that He commands us to live Holy lives. And you will realize that even though you have
been forgiven of your past sins, you still are enslaved to the power, the enticement of sin.
The fact is, God has provided provided a means to be set free from the bondage of sin,
and even to cleanse your life from the Sin Nature.
We call this second work of Grace Entire Sanctification, another term that is used
is Filled with the Spirit. When a Christian goes through this second crisis, and is
Sanctified, it does not mean that you have lost the ability to sin, or even to fall from
Grace. But, it does set you free from the power that Sin had on your life, and now your
first obligation is to serve God instead of serving yourself. A shift has taken place. The
Lordship issue has been settled, Christ sits on the throne of your life, he is in his rightful
place.
We are a Holiness People, we believe that God has called us as a Denomination to
Hold up Boldly the Standard of Holiness and declare that He is Holy, and His People are
Holy.
Maybe the most practical way of understanding Holiness could be said like this,
“Holiness in the life of the believer is most clearly understood as Christlikeness.”
Everything we do is in line with the Father’s Will. We submit ourselves to the Will of the
Father, just as Christ did while he was on this Earth.
We are Christian people
We are Holiness people
Tonight I will finish this message with the third and final Core Value- We are a People of
Mission.
This morning I am going to close with a question.
I think this Question almost can encompass the majority of what I’ve talked about
this morning, and we find the answer to the question on how we live our life, on how we
order our life.
Am I striving to Know and to Live like Jesus? repeat.
If I am, it will determine many of the choices I make in life. How I relate to people,
how I love people, where I invest my time, where I invest my treasure, how committed I
am to His church, to his people, to his mission. (repeat question again)
Sometimes we need to recommit ourselves to the things we believe are true. This morning
as you have given thought to your life and your priorities, maybe you’ve decided there not
in the order that you would like. We are going to open our alters for a time of prayer, and
rededication. ARE YOU STRIVING TO KNOW AND LIVE LIKE JESUS?
CLOSE.
