FORMED FOR GOD’S FAMILY
(title borrow from Rick Warren’s Purpose Driven Church and Purpose Driven Life)
One day a little boy was asked by his pastor if he knew why they always served coffee after the sermon. Little boy responded, "I think I know. Is it’s to get the people awake before they drive home?"
(orignal story - Jim Cane’s sermon “Tale of two Tables – www.sermoncentral.com)
Listen to these interesting statistics and comments recorded in a well known Canadian survey about the church:
81% of Canadians surveyed agreed with the following comment “I don’t think you need to go to church in order to be a good Christian”
70% agreed with this statement “My private beliefs about Christianity are more important than what is taught by any church”
84% of those Canadians surveyed said they believe in God, however only 20% actually attend church on a weekly basis.
And here’s the clincher, 77% of those surveyed identify themselves with a Christian church.
("Canadians Believers Not Belongers" an Ipsos-Reid poll conducted in 2000 - see http://www.ipsos-reid.com/media/dsp_displaypr_cdn.cfm?id_to_view=1020)
Here’s an important question, “Why are so many people avoiding church?”
According to the statistics there are many people who are positive about God but very negative about the church.
Why?
What is it that keeps them so far away?
Let me ask you a personal question, don’t worry you won’t have to answer out loud, but think about it, “Why are you here? Why do you belong to this or any other church? I’m not asking you why you come to church, hopefully you remember why, that what we learned from last week’s sermon. This week’s question is “Why are you a member or regular attendee of this or any other church?”
Sometimes the reason why people avoid church is easier to express. So, lets begin there:
SOME REASONS WHY PEOPLE DON’T GO TO CHURCH:
“The church is filled with hypocrites” - true sometimes isn’t it? When we begin to live in ways which clearly contradict God’s calling and teaching isn’t that being hypocritical? However, we know that God’s Word calls Saints on the one hand and Sinners on the other – once again, the word “sin” in the original New Testament language means “to miss the mark” - God has called us to live one way, because that’s how we were designed to live, and when we live differently, we “miss the mark” – that’s what the Bible calls sin – Goals, priorities, lifestyles which miss the target, the reason, the purpose, for which we were originally created.
If we are honest with ourselves, there are times when even Christians miss the mark, times when we act contrary to what we believe. Sometimes there is hypocrisy in the church, but that is normal – if our objective is to reach those who don’t know God, if we are not perfect people, then there will be conflict, differences, people acting in ways contrary to what God’s Word teaches. My friends, we are on a journey, none of us have arrived, perhaps we can hang a sign outside our church which reads – PERFECT PEOPLE ARE NOT WELCOME IN THIS CHURCH ONLY THOSE, LIKE US, WHO ARE SEARCHING, GROWING, AND RECOGNIZE THEY MISS THE MARK.
“All they want is my money” - true sometimes, isn’t it? When we make money the main reflector of an individual’s spirituality. When we ignore how God has enabled people, when we neglect their spiritual gifts, talents, abilities, skills, they have no function in the church and feel relegated simply to a pew sitter and offering plate filler. When leadership ignores the biblical concept of the church, which includes the priesthood of all believers, then people get the wrong impression about church, even those inside the family get the wrong impression!
“Church is boring or irrelevant” - true sometimes isn’t it? When we fail to demonstrate the practical reality of our faith, when we fail to teach what the what Biblical purpose of the church is, when we fail to understand our times, the culture we live in and fail to be creative in building bridges which help people see the importance and validity of the church then those who are fair in their view that we are archaic, boring and irrelevant are correct in their analysis!
“They talk about love but when I went in there they were very unfriendly towards me and one another” - this has to be the worse possible indictment of the church. When the very ingredient, which is to be our hallmark, is completely void from our relationships we have ceased to be the church. Jesus himself said, “by this all people will know you are my disciples - if you have love one for another!”
I don’t stand up here today in judgment nor do I seek to make people uncomfortable. This whole subject of avoiding church is very close to my heart. I too was one who had 101 excuses why I didn’t need the church – in my early twenties I stopped coming to Olivet for a brief period, I said church was boring, I had more important things to do on my weekends – I was working to pay for my college tuition, my books, and clothes, I could work better shifts at the restaurant I was working at.
What turned me around? One Sunday morning at 11:00 a.m a couple from the U.S. showed up at the bar – the place I worked at was an elegant place, situated in the Queens Quay Terminal Building. The older couple looked to the dock with fond memories, I asked them what they were talking about, “Oh, this used to be the place we came as children every summer to catch a boat which took us to Niagara-on-the-Lake for our annual Church picnic.” I had heard about such an event. I questioned them further, “What church were you with?” The lady responded, “You wouldn’t know, it a Baptist Church in west-end Toronto.” Now my curiosity was peaked. “What’s the name of the church?”, I asked. “You wouldn’t know it, were not even sure it exists”. “Please, tell me.” I insisted. “Olivet Baptist Church.” I had goose bumps all over my body, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end. I knew God was calling me back home to my family. I said to the lady that I was a member of that church. We became like long lost friends. I mentions names like Gow, and Finlayson, but they had never heard of them and then I said, “How about Mr. Devlin.” Suddenly the man blurted out, “Mr. Devlin, Mr. Roy Devlin?” “Yes,” I answered. “Mr. Devlin was my father’s barber and my barber. He’s the reason why we started going to Olivet. Every Sunday he’d knock on our door, as he did on many others on his way to church to bring people to church.”
I knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that this was an encounter planned by God because Mr. Devlin was an important person in my life. Every single Sunday he made sure he found me and called me by name. He always asked me how I was doing, he took an interest me and I loved him very much. That evening I went to my manager and said, “Gus, if it means loosing my job then I’m prepared to loose it. You see, I can’t work anymore Sundays, I have to be in church with my family.” My manager respected my commitment and said there was no way I was going to loose my job. It was good to see Mr. Devlin that following Sunday!
There are many “valid” reasons why people chose not to go to church. According to statistics, the situation seems dismal. Does this mean we might as well quit now. Close the doors and put up a “For Sale” sign? Why DO we keep our doors open? Why DO we seek to improve? Why DO we belong to this church or any church?
If we look for an exterior motive to be our primary reason then we will be off target. Don’t get me wrong, people ought to get something out of belong to a church:
The church ought to be a place where people feel accepted and cared for.
It ought to be a place where they learn important practical truths
It ought to be a place where they are built-up, where their abilities, skills and gifts are nurtured and developed.
These and other reasons are good, however they are not the primary reason why we belong.
Last week we looked at a passage in the Gospel of Mark. A certain young scholar asked Jesus what the most important commandment was and what was Jesus answer?
Mark 12:30 (Jesus said), 30And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.’
Last Sunday we learned that loving God, bringing Him pleasure, WORSHIPPING him, valuing Him above anything else is our first purpose in life as His children, the next purpose, the next essential of our lives as followers of God is found in the following verse.
In Mark 12:31 Jesus goes on to say, “ The second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’
Our second purpose in life is very clear. We are to love our neighbour as ourselves. Jesus was saying that the natural consequence of loving God and being in a right relationship with Him will always be loving our neighbour.
You may be asking, “But what does this have to do specifically with the church?”
Everything! Fact is we cannot love from a distance or in isolation. Love requires up close relationships. God himself created the church in order for us to have a secure place to express our love and concern for our neighbour and where we can in-turn be loved and receive care.
In Ephesians 1:5 we read the following, “His (God’s) unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
What does it mean to be adopted into God’s own family? It means becoming a part of the church.
Unfortunately, many of those surveyed in the poll mentioned earlier don’t know what God’s Word teaches. As Rick Warren, Pastor of Saddleback Community Church in California and Author of “The Purpose Driven Life”, puts it, “The Christian life isn’t simply about believing it’s also about belonging.”
We belong to the church not because we want to, just as we cannot choose not to belong because of our own personal choice. We belong because God has drawn us to it and because he has said it is important to belong to it.
Being a part of the church has been a part of God’s original design since before the beginning of time. And notice that He takes great pleasure in us, our joining the church brings God great pleasure – it makes Him smile!
The church is not a man made institution, even though at times it seems that way. The church is God’s creation.
Jesus said, “I will build my church”
Did you notice the two important things about this short passage?
1.Who owns the church? Jesus said “MY church” – it belongs to him!
2.Who does the building? I WILL BUILD… once again just as the church originates with God so does its growth.
The church was so very close to Jesus’ heart that He calls her his bride. In Ephesians Paul said that Jesus loved her and died for her. That’s how important the church is to him – he loved her and gave his life for her.
How can a Christian then say, “I have no use for the church?” That would be like saying, “Jesus I love you but not your bride is ugly, she’s horrible, I can’t stand her.” You know what? If you spoke that way to me about my wife I think you might see me acting contrary to what I believe – you’d be very close to getting a bop on the nose. How can we say, “Jesus, I’m committed to you but not to her.” There is an intimate union between Jesus and His Bride – the church is also called the BODY OF CHRIST – when we say no to the church we are also saying no to Christ.
Why is it so critical that we belong to the church? Because that’s how we were designed. Inside every human being is a desire to belong, to be loved and cared for – it’s just as much a very real part of you as your heart is or the blood flowing through your veins and for that reason until you accept God’s invitation to join His church you will never be truly happy and fulfilled, and you will forever feel like something is missing, you experience loneliness, isolation, and emptiness because an important and essential ingredient is missing from your life.
You’ll be like a car running on four flat tires – it can still move but not like it was designed to run. Accepting God’s invitation to become a part of His family is like filling the tires with air – you are now well on your way to living as you were designed to live.
As I said earlier, God designed humanity for intimate community, intended to belong to His family, we were not designed to be alone and isolated, and yet that’s how some choose to live. Loneliness is a serious concern these days.
We live in day and age where people don’t need to see each other if they choose not to. With e-mail and chat-rooms, cell phones, and palm pilots we can go days without ever seeing someone. And how healthy does that make us?
Studies indicate that people are spending less time with friends and family, and more time on their computers. One Study stated "The Internet could be the ultimate isolating technology that further reduces our participation in communities even more than television did before it,"
Who cares? Why is this a concern?
One British study discovered that lonely men over the age of 45 increase their odds of premature death by 23%!!!! The older a lonely man gets the higher the risk.
Loneliness leads to all sorts of physical and emotional – certain types of cancers may be triggered the anxiety which many lonely people face, there is a high rate of suicide among lonely people.
Why does loneliness take such a physical and emotional toll on people?
To answer that question let’s go back to the very beginning - in the book of Genesis, God himself declares, “It is not good for man to be alone.” (Gen. 2:18)
The only time in the creation account that we hear the words “not good” was when God looked upon man and his aloneness. According our maker loneliness and isolation is not a good thing.
Could it be that God made a mistake? Could there be a flaw in humanity’s circuitry. Did God forget to add something? Did he go overboard on something?
If God were capable of mistakes and flaws then we should go down this road and see where the problem is however, God is perfect, when he created humanity he said it was “very good”, therefore the flaw isn’t in who we are but in our condition of being alone. The reason God declared “it is not good” is because he created us to live in community. He created us to be in relationship. We were created in His image and therefore we are social beings because God is a social being. He has always existed as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – in community!
Therefore isolation, solitary confinement, shunning, ignore a person are some of the cruelest forms of punishment and abuse we can inflict on people. They go against how we are wired. They are viruses in an environment created to live in loving and caring relationships with God and others.
It is true that people need their space; some are more introverted than others. However, to say we don’t need others, to refuse to be a part of Christ’s body, is going against God’s created order. More often, such behaviour is a reflection of ones misunderstanding, pain, or outright rebellion.
It’s interesting to note that the various words used to describe the church are living vital words. Our problem today is that we’ve associated the word church with a structure made of bricks, wood, and mortar. We’ve fallen victim to the same malaise the Israelites fell into when they could only associate the presence of God to a man made structure.
The word church in language of the New Testament days meant, “called out ones” – it is a living breathing community of people. Other words used for the church in the New Testament are:
Disciples – living people, used in the plural – implying once again a community - relationships
Bride – an intimate relationship, interdependence not independence
Body – a vital living organism made up of many parts, each one essential to the health and function of the whole.
Living stones – creating a living Temple – again emphasizing the importance that each one makes to the whole. A stone on it’s own is not much use but when it takes it’s place it helps create a wonderful dwelling for God’s presence.
Family of God – once again a dynamic vital relationship is implied.
Nowhere in the Bible do you find a description of the church, or of a Christian that implies isolation or being separate or alone. If anything, such behaviour is disapproved of – why? Because we were designed for community... for belonging.
Here are some benefits to belonging to the church:
It identifies you as a genuine believer – by this, all men will know you are my disciples if you have love one for another.
It gives us a place where we find a sense of belonging, acceptance, mutual love and care – it moves us from selfish isolation, which leads to all sorts of problems.
It’s the place where God deploys his spiritual gifts and where they are to be exercised, it’s the place God designed for us to use our talents, abilities, and resources. We grow and others grow when we use them.
You have a major contribution to make, you are needed, and the strength and development of others depends upon you!
In the midst of God’s people is where you find your purpose and mission in life – what you were designed and created to be is found in the Church.
A church family will help you stand firm and keep strong, it will help keep you from falling away from your calling and the lifestyle God calls us to live.
It is in the church that we learn what it means to love, forgive, where we learn what grace and mercy mean, it is the place where God chooses to mold us.
The church isn’t an option for God’s child - it’s an essential!
Like a single note on a piano, we are not that impressive, however when directed by our master, we become a wonderful song, attracting others to come and join.
Ultimately, when we become a part of God’s family we end up fulfilling the purpose for which we were placed here on this planet, we end up doing exactly what we were designed to do – make God smile - “His (God’s) unchanging plan has always been to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. And this gave him great pleasure.
Today God is calling us to be a part of His very own family. What will be your decision? May today be the day you say good-bye to loneliness and yes to the family Christ loves and gave himself for. May today be the day we bring pleasure to God, the day we place a smile on His face as we commit ourselves anew to HIS CHURCH.
