The Local Church – God’s Missionary People
CHURCH SIGNS
The best vitamin for a Christian is B1."
"Soul food served here."
"Tithe if you love Jesus! Anyone can honk!"
"Beat the Christmas rush, come to church this Sunday!"
"Don’t wait for the hearse to take you to church."
"Don’t give up. Moses was once a basket case."
"Life has many choices. Eternity has two. What’s yours?"
"Preach the gospel at all times. Use words if necessary."
"Prevent truth decay. Brush up on your Bible."
"It’s hard to stumble when you’re down on your knees."
"What part of ’THOU SHALT NOT’ don’t you understand?"
"The wages of sin is death. Repent before payday."
"Never give the devil a ride. He will always want to drive."
"Can’t sleep? Try counting your blessings."
"Forbidden fruit creates many jams."
"Satan subtracts and divides. God adds and multiplies."
"If you don’t want to reap the fruits of sin, stay out of the devil’s orchard."
"God answers kneemail."
This morning we are looking at the purpose of the local church.
If someone were to walk up to you and ask, “What is the main purpose of the Willow Vale Church?” What would you tell them?
18000 Church attenders were surveyed by the Church Growth Center in Corona, Indiana. Four questions were asked and those being surveyed were asked to pick the statement that best describes the main purpose of the church.
1. Teach the golden rule
2. Be the moral backbone of society
3. Make disciples
4. To provide a place of fellowship and show God’s love with one another.
Which one would you choose? Of the 18,000 surveyed the following answers were given:
3.4 % chose 2. Be the moral backbone of society
4.1 % chose 1. Teach the golden rule
57 % chose 4. To provide a place of fellowship and
show God’s love with one another.
35.5 % chose 3. “Make Disciples”
Jesus gave the primary purpose of the church in Matthew 28:19-20, “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
If you know the Mission Statement of our church you would know the correct answer: Our Mission is ”bringing people to Jesus, loving, equipping and sending them out to make more and better disciples.”
Our mission spells “bles” – bring, loving, equipping and sending…
The Bible uses several descriptive pictures to describe the purpose of the church.
I. House of Prayer (Matthew 21:12-13)
Matthew records that following the Triumphal entry of Jesus into Jerusalem Jesus went to the temple to do some house cleaning. Jesus made it clear that His house was not to be a place for commercialism – a place for buying and selling of merchandise.
”Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,” he said to them. “My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers.”
Jesus cast out all that bought and sold in the temple area. The temple area covered about 25 acres. Temple Courtyard vendors were dishonest in their dealings and Jesus would not have crooked money-changers taking advantage of people coming to the temple for worship and offering their sacrifices.
What picture comes to mind when you think of the church? A magnificent building costing multi - million dollars…? An organization out to take your money and make you poor…? A place to make business contacts…? -- Or a place to gather for corporate worship and prayer…?
Abraham Lincoln said this about the church: “If all the people who fell asleep in church on Sunday morning were laid out end to end…they would be a great deal more comfortable.”
More than anything else the House of God is for worship and prayer. Whether this room is used as a sanctuary for worship on Sunday for English services at 9 and 11, Korean service at 2 pm or Spanish service at 7:15 pm, or an auditorium for Christmas or Easter programs, Alpha dinners, or gathering for parents of our school children, it is always used as a place of prayer and Bible study.
II. Lighthouse
The local church also serves as a lighthouse. Jesus said: “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.” Matthew 5:14-16
Like a lighthouse the local church has a similar purpose – to shine forth for Jesus.
The Lord has blessed the decisions made by church leaders of the First Free Methodist Church in the early 1960’s. Leadership of the church decided to relocate to this location and change their name to Willow Vale community Church.
In this location we are a like a Lighthouse. Hundreds of cars pass by our church every day.
The first Lighthouse served the old world of Alexandria in 285 BC. The first American Lighthouse was in Boston Harbor in 1716.
The story is told of a lighthouse keeper who worked on a rocky stretch of coastline and who received his new supply of oil once a month to keep the light burning. Not being far from shore, he had frequent guests. One night a woman from the village begged some oil to keep her family warm. Another time a father asked for some to use in his lamp. Another needed some to lubricate a wheel. Since all the requests seemed legitimate, the lighthouse keeper tried to please everyone and granted them all.
Toward the end of the month he noticed that the supply of oil was very low. Soon, it was gone, and the beacon light went out. That night several ships were wrecked and lives were lost.
When the authorities investigated, the man was very repentant. To his excuses and pleading their reply was: "You were given the oil for one purpose -- to keep that light burning!"
God has given us the command to shine forth the good news of Jesus Christ. As a local church we are like a mission outpost. Our task is to serve others and not to be served.
The focus of the church unlike many other organizations exists for others and not primarily for the membership of the church. Someone has said that “Just as fire exists for burning, the church exists for mission.”
In John 8:12 Jesus says, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."
We are reflected light. Sun is the source of light and the moon reflects light from the sun to the earth. Jesus is our source of light and we are to reflect that light to others.
Our lives are to reflect the mind and will of God!
1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;
Ephesians 5:8-9 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth.”
III. Body of Christ (I Corinthians 12:14-27)
Throughout the New Testament the church is called the “Body of Christ.” In the church – the Body of Christ – there is unity in diversity. Each member of the body is linked by love and the church has a powerful influence for the Lord as each person does his or her part.
At a meeting of the American Psychological Association, Jack Lipton, a psychologist at Union College, and R. Scott Builione, a graduate student at Columbia University, presented their findings on how members of the various sections of 11 major symphony orchestra perceived each other. The percussionists were viewed as insensitive, unintelligent, and hard-of-hearing, yet fun-loving. String players were seen as arrogant, stuffy, and non-athletic. The orchestra members overwhelmingly chose "loud" as the primary adjective to describe the brass players. Woodwind players seemed to be held in the highest esteem described as quiet and meticulous, though a bit egotistical. Interesting findings, to say the least! With such widely divergent personalities and perceptions, how could an orchestra ever come together to make such wonderful music? The answer is simple: regardless of how those musicians view each other, they subordinate their feelings and biases to the leadership of the conductor. Under his guidance, they play beautiful music.
Jesus is the head of the church. (Ephesians 5:22) When every member takes direction from the head of the church then there is unity. When then is unity competition is not part of the church’s ministry.
Referring to the church as the Body of Christ, the Apostle Paul says: “The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts, but one body.” (I Corinthians 12:12, 18-20)
Our primary question as a church is, “What mission does Jesus, The Head of our Church have for the Willow Vale Community Church?”
Our primary mission is “bringing people to Jesus, loving, equipping and sending them out to make more and better disciples.” To carry out our mission we us all means to bring people to Jesus. Committed Christians are not interested in playing church. We don’t see the church as a country club or a place for self promotion. The church is a place to serve the risen Lord. We get involved in the life of a church because we know we can make a greater impact I the world for Jesus working together than solo. We are saved to serve. God isn’t looking so much for people with outstanding abilities as he is looking for people with availability to serve him with what abilities they do have.
A man walked into the pastor’s office and said: “I want to join the church. But don’t ask me to do anything. I don’t want any part of any organization. I don’t want to do any work. I’ll come to church when I feel like it, and that’s it.” The pastor replied: “I see. Well, you’re at the wrong address. Here, go to this address just down the road. They have exactly what you want.” The man left and went down the street until he came to the address which the pastor gave him, and was shocked to find himself at the entrance to a cemetery.
An old hymn says:
He has no hands but our hands – To do His work today;
He has no feet but our feet – To lead men in His way;
He has no voice but our voice – To tell men how He died;
He has no help but our help-- To lead them to His side.
Jesus said he would build His church and the gates of hell would not overcome it. (Matthew 16:18)
Growing up on the Atlantic Coast, a young man spent long hours working on intricate sand castles; whole cities would appear beneath my hands. One year, for several days in a row, he was accosted by bullies who smashed my creations. Finally he tried an experiment: he placed cinder blocks, rocks, and chunks of concrete in the base of his castles. Then he built the sand kingdoms on top of the rocks. When the local toughs appeared (and he disappeared), their bare feet suddenly met their match.
Many people see the church in grave peril from a variety of dangers: secularism, politics, heresies, or plain old sin. They forget that the church is built upon a Rock (Mt. 16:16), over which the gates of hell itself shall not prevail.
I’m excited about the future of the Willow Vale Church. Let’s hang on for the ride as we prayerfully seek God’s next steps and will for this His church.
