“Becoming a Biblical Church”
Acts 2, 3, 4
Matthew 9:35-37
As we enter the New Year 2003, we find ourselves reflecting on the past year and looking forward to a joyous New Year. Many of you have made new commitments and new resolutions and set goals for the coming year. A New Year brings renewed hope. Because of the grace and love of the Lord God wants the coming year to be the best you have ever had.
At the beginning of every year I make similar commitments: read three chapters of the Bible every day, read devotional book and spend time in prayer and writing in a prayer journal. If you do not have a regular devotional time I encourage you to read three chapters of the Bible every day and you will read through the Bible in one year.
The New Year is a reminder that God wants to do new things in your life. The Lord wants to make all things new for you. The risen Lord says, “Behold, I make all things new…” Rev. 21:5 Throughout the Bible we learn about new opportunities and new things:
Old Testament
The Psalmist tells us about a new song the Lord has given
him. (Psalm 42:8)
Isaiah writes of new things to be learned and a coming new heaven and new earth. (Isa. 42:9, 65:17)
Jeremiah proclaims a new covenant and new mercies every
morning. (Jer. 31:31)
New Testament
A new birth (John 3:3, I Peter 1:3)
A new life (Rom. 6:23)
A new self (Eph. 4:24
A new commandment of love ( John 13:34)
A new creation (II Cor. 5:17)
A new heaven and a new earth (Rev. 21:1)
As we look forward to a New Year as a local church let’s make a commitment to “Becoming a Biblical Church.”
Our model and example in becoming a Biblical church is the early church in Acts. Our mission as a church for the coming year is to become a Biblical Church.
In the life of Christ and the New Testament Church in Acts we see a clear picture of the purpose of the church and why the church exists.
Jesus said He came to “seek and to save the lost.” (Luke 19:10) Jesus also gave the church two commands: First, “Go into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Teaching them to obey all that I have taught you. I am with you to forever.” (Matt. 28:19-20)
Jesus gave his final command in Acts 1:4 and 8, “Tarry in Jerusalem until you receive the promise of the Father. You will receive power after the Holy Spirit is come upon you and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and unto the ends of the earth.”
From these Scriptures and others we draw several characteristics of a Biblical Church.
I. A Biblical Church has an Outward Focus. (Acts 2)
The church does not exist for itself. The church exists for others. Jesus said: “Tarry in Jerusalem until you are endued with supernatural power from heaven.” For ten days following the ascension of Jesus into heaven the disciples waited and prayed for the fulfillment of the promise of the Father.
The promise was fulfilled in Acts 2 when on the Day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit came and filled the disciples with power to witness.
Jesus came to earth as God’s Savior and the Promised Messiah. Jesus came to call, develop leaders and sent them out to continue to work He started.
Bishop Azaiah of India once addressed a large gathering of Christian workers. He told them of the conversion of a Hindu to the Christian faith. The Hindu was a seeker after Truth. He first read the Gospels in the New Testament and was impressed with the life, death, miracles and teachings of Christ. Then he read on into the book of Acts of the Apostles. He felt he was in a new world. In the Gospels Jesus as everywhere in the foreground, but in the Acts the disciples were in the foreground. It seemed to the Hindu reader that the disciples were carrying on in the flesh from where Jesus left off. He said: “I must belong to the Christian Church for it seems to be carrying on the work that Jesus came to do.”
As a local church we want to be committed to having an outward focus and carry on the work Jesus started. We want to reach out in love and witness to our Jerusalem, our Judea, our Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the world.
A study of the history of the people of God in the Old and New Testaments reveals an interesting fact: the well being of the believing community was directly proportional to their obedience to God’s mission for them. When the people of God have a sense of mission things go well and the church is strong and healthy. When the church becomes introverted and loses its desire to minister in Christ’s name to those who are in need, problems set in.
When the church extends itself for the sake of others, it becomes healthy and grows. When the people of a church catch the vision of being a part of the answer to the hurts and needs of the world around them, they gain incentive for participating in a training program designed to equip them for this purpose. Jesus said: “…whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” When we lose ourselves in something far bigger than ourselves, name Christ’s work, we find ourselves.
The leaders of Willow Vale Church believe that the church is the hope of the world. Only the church preaches the good news about Jesus. The bottom line message of the church is that only Jesus can transform lives. Governments can help meet the physical and emotional needs of people. Education can help people develop skills to make a living. Only Jesus, the head of the Church can change lives.
Our first priority as a church is to reach our Jerusalem. People in our community of Willow Glen and surrounding areas are our responsibility. Their eternal destinies hang in the balance. The success or failure of our church affects the lives of people today and for eternity.
As a local church we want to be grounded in the Word of God. We believe that God’s Word is our absolute authority. We will not add to the Bible or take away from the Bible. We want to be true to the Word. We also are rooted in Christ. Our prayer is Jesus “what do you want to accomplish in and through this your church?” Everything we do is related to the person and work of Jesus Christ.
As a church we are grounded in the Word, rooted in Christ and related to the culture. Our message does not change because Jesus is he same yesterday, today and forever. But our methods change to relate to our present culture. As we plan to be relevant as a church this coming year we want to
1. Think like unbelievers. Listen to the needs and hurts of people in our community.
2. Focus on the felt needs of the unchurched, their emotional needs, their need for love, acceptance and inner peace.
3. Let our ministry area determine our approach---It takes all kinds of ministry styles to meet people needs. The needs of the unchuched should guide us in determining our ministry programs. Their hand-up should determine our strategy. Their culture should help us determine our style.
4. Be willing to minister outside our comfort zone. Make changes where needed because unchanging churches are dying churches.
5. Appeal to as many people as you can. We should not ask, how much will it cost? But rather, who will we reach and help.
This coming year we want to be characterized as a outward focused church.
To help us as a church prepare to reach out in love we will be offering eight training sessions starting in February. The theme of the study is “Becoming a Contagious Christian.”
II. A Church of Compassion (Acts 3)
A second characteristic of a Biblical church is a Church of Compassion. Jesus had compassion for people. (Matthew 9:35-39)
A characteristic of Jesus and the early church was compassion. Jesus looked at people like sheep without a shepherd, harassed and helpless. Regardless of a persons standing in society if the person had a need, Jesus was available to help. Wherever Jesus went He went about doing good.
Acts chapter 3 tells of Peter and John going into the temple to worship. A lame man was at the temple gain begging for alms. Peter and John said, “Silver and gold have we none, but what we have we give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise and walk.
Peter and John gave the cripple man a far greater value than money; they gave him health.
As a local church our mission is to care for those who are hungry, hurting, and in need of healing. If we care for the physical needs of people then we earn a right to tell them the good news of the Gospel.
Think of three people this coming year you can pray for and be alert to their needs. Do all you can to meet their needs and let them know you are helping and giving acts of kindness out of your love for God.
Before Christmas our ministry staff went door to door to 30 of our neighbors surrounding our church and handed out a box of cherry covered chocolates with a note attached – Merry Christmas from the Willow Vale Community Church. This is a gift to show God’s love to our neighbors. John 3:16 was printed out. Every home we went to welcomed our gift and thanked us for coming.
This coming year we want to show compassion by using our benevolent fund to help people in need. We want to encourage the recovery groups using our church as a meeting place. We want to serve our community by using our church as a voting place for the community.
We want to live up to our name – Willow Vale Community Church—A church that cares for people. Yes, the church may get messed up at times, some things may get broken, but the things can be fixed. As a church we believe people are more important than programs. People are more important than dirt on floors. Lost people matter to God. We want to do what Jesus would do.
This coming year we want our church to be characterized as a Biblical Church, A church that is outward focused and a church of compassion.
III. A Church with Faith to act. (Acts 4)
The third characteristic of a Biblical Church is a Church that has faith to act regardless of the consequences.
This coming year we want to be a church that has faith to act regardless of the consequences. Acts 4 - Peter and John are challenged by the Priests, captain of the temple and Sadducees because they were preaching that Jesus rose from the dead. Five thousand people had believed in Jesus and the rulers of the Jews were annoyed at the response.
The Jewish rulers put them in jail and asked them: “How did you heal the lamb man?” Verse 7
Peter responded: “…by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by him this man is standing before you well.” Verse 10
The Jewish leaders recognized the unusual boldness of Peter and John and that they had been with Jesus. Verse 13 They warned Peter and John to no longer speak to anyone about the name of Jesus.” In other words if you want more jail time continue to speak about Jesus publicly.
The disciples before Pentecost were like most of us today. They were fearful, timid, anemic Christians. After Pentecost filled with the Holy Spirit and cleansed from non Christ like attitudes they were strong, bold, courageous, red corpuscle Christians fearless in their witness.
Peter and John reported to the church and the church responded
with faith in action. Verses 23-24 They prayed for boldness and were willing to accept the consequences. Verse 29 This Friday night we are having special prayer at the church from 8 pm to mid-night. We want to pray for the filling of the Holy Spirit to give us boldness as we reaching out to our community this coming year.
Verse 31 we see the shaking power of God. God is saying to the early Church – “I am not only the maker of heaven and earth I am the shaker of heaven and earth.”
This coming year may the Willow Vale church be a congregation of risk takers – bold in faith committed to making blunders rather than faltering.
Like the early disciples we want to be filled with the Holy Spirit and joy. We want the joy of the Lord to shine through our lives and witness.
I like the story about 3 prospectors who found a rich vein of gold in California during the gold rush days. They realized what a great discovery they had, & decided, "We’ve a really good thing going here as long as no one else finds out about it." So they each took a vow to keep it secret.
Then they headed for town to file their claims & get the equipment necessary to mine the gold. True to their vows, they didn’t say a word to anybody. They filed their claim, bought the equipment, & headed back to their mine. But when they did, a crowd of people followed them.
And the reason was because the expression on their faces had given them away. Their faces were aglow in anticipation of the wealth that soon would be theirs. People knew that they must have found something very special. So a crowd followed them out of town. I pray that everyone that attends the Willow Vale church will be aglow this coming year with the love of Jesus.
This coming year we want to practice good principles of Stewardship to provide the needed resources to help us reach out in love to our ministry area. The New Testament Church was a giving church. The early church taught the principles of giving: I Cor.l 16:2, “On the first day of every week, each one of you should set aside a sum of money in keeping with his income.” When we fail to tithe and set aside a portion of our income for God’s work we deny the Lordship of Jesus in our life.
Here is a Biblical fact: “All you have is on loan from God. God is interested in how you manage what he has loaned you.
As we all do our part we will meet the financial plan and goal for our church this coming year. The Financial plan for the coming year has a 11% increase over last year.
We are focusing on the future with faith planning. The church Board of Administration is working on a Master Plan that includes ministry staff, ministry programs, facilities planning and financial planning. Your church leadership is planning on a productive future. Our plans are faith plans. The plans are beyond human capacity. When the goals are met we all will say, “To God be the glory, great things He has done.”
We are looking at phases: first an Administrative building, a building to consolidate all our church and school offices now scattered throughout our campus. Current offices will be converted into classrooms. Phase two may be the construction of a Family Life Center and Gymnasium.
Stay tuned and hold on to your seat and plan for an exciting new year.
As we enter into the new year as a church let’s exercise the same kind of faith that Noah had. Noah had faith in the midst of insurmountable odds.
God told Noah to build an ark and God would send rain upon the earth and cause a flood.
Noah had never seen rain. Before the flood the earth was watered from mist that came up from the ground. Genesis 2:4-6, “…In the day the Lord God made the earth and the heavens, when no plant of the field was yet in the earth nd no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the Lord God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; but a mist went up from he earth and watered the whole face of the g round.”
Noah also lived hundreds of miles from the nearest ocean. How would he get the huge ship to the water? Third how would he gather all the animals into the ark?
Noah was a man that took God at His Word. He patently worked 120 years in building the ark. He refused to quit. The faithless community around him laughed at him and criticized him as a “crazy man who thinks God speaks to him.”
God gave Noah detailed instructions of what He wanted Noah to do and Noah followed the instructions exactly as God had commanded him to do.
God has given the Willow Vale Church a mission. His mission is not just for the pastoral staff. His mission is for everyone. God says to you: “You are to have an outward focus to your life. I am calling you to seek and to save the people you know, your family, your relatives, your neighbors, your work associates. I want you to build bridges of love and become friends with people you associate with and through that relationship let them know of My Love.
God has given the Willow Vale Church a mission to demonstrate His compassion to a hurting and needy people in Willow Glen and San Jose. We are to be a hospital for the healing of human hurts. God is calling us to use our financial resources to reach out in love and compassion to our Jerusalem, our local community and city, our Judea, the Bay Area, our Samaria, assist in planting churches in other language groups, and unto the uttermost parts of the world through our missions giving and going on short term mission trips.
God is calling us to act by faith and be risk takers to advance the Kingdom of God. We are called to take God at His Word and make decisions and take actions by faith and expect God to work miracles to provide the increase. When God does it we all say, “To God be the glory great things He is doing.”
Sing in closing: “People Need the Lord.”
