Introduction: Change within the unchanging ‘story’ of God’s promise and purpose.
This past week our ministry staff has been at the Vineyard’s national Pastor’s Conference… a time of reaffirming much of what I feel and see as we go forward as a church into the 21st century here on the Westside.
Reminded that we are truly “a movement”… something about us that is naturally in motion… going forward.
· Expanding into new places and cultures…. Over 100 new Vineyard churches being birthed in the current 12 months… including several Hispanic…moving outward into world… in just ten years… 70 countries … as fellowships like ours partner to help raise up new fellowships in places like India.
· Whole new generation is on the move…. nearly half were under 30 or 35.
· Like the wind which so often reflected the movement of God… so there is a constant sense of movement, motion, mission.
Not just in what we’re doing… but in how we’re doing it.
Taking a journey into a changing culture… the 21st century brings with it changes in the common worldview, basic assumptions about what is and should be,… causes many who love the church to be afraid.
Not afraid. Why? > Because the problem of relevancy isn’t that of Christ in this world, it’s the understanding the church….of what it means to be his followers in this world. The church as the people of God have simply reduced the reality of God to narrow forms, to politics… popularity.
> So we’re entering a time of openness… in terms of discovering “what it means to be Christians, to be the church, to be authentically spiritual … for the sake of the world.” (Todd)
· Not a sense of changing our calling or the core values which God has raised up in us… but rather how we live it out.
· It’s a great time to be the church… God’s people.
· If you’re seeker, there’s a place for you. …. If your one who’s trying to make sense of a faith long held but unconnected to a community of faith, there’s a place for you. If you’ve shared this journey, as part of this Vineyard community, there’s a place for you.
> We live amidst change within the unchanging hand of God’s story / promise.
One of the central themes of this national gathering was that of community… and in particular, the significance of understanding the story we share… namely God’s story (history = ‘his-story’).
We live in a time in which we face the crisis of reaping the intense individualism we’ve sown.
> We have sought to try to find identity only in our individuation and the result is isolation.
We need to recover the reality that at the core we are a community rooted in a common story.
I want to draw upon the framework which Don Williams shared this week to help us connect with our common story… and then touch upon it’s significance.
Ephes. 2:11-13, 17-22 [NIV]
Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called "uncircumcised" by those who call themselves "the circumcision" (that done in the body by the hands of men)-- [12] remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
STOP > … Repeat that statement with me…“without hope and without God in the world.”
You had no part in what God was doing
That’s where our story begins. Why ? > Because we were “excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise.”
Imagine what a Jew living under the calling of God felt.
· Their very heritage was called into being by God… to bless the world.
· Connected to God by an unchanging covenant… initiated by God.
· Such a connection to God was in your blood… marked your body… your burden as a community called out from the world by God.
[13] But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near through the blood of Christ.
…. He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. [18] For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
[19] Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, [20] built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. [21] In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. [22] And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
> We have become God’s people… the new Israel… through Christ.
Romans 9:3-9, 25 [NIV]
For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, [4] the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. [5] Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
[6] It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. [7] Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." [8] In other words, it is not the natural children who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. [9] For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
….As he says in Hosea:
"I will call them ’my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ’my loved one’ who is not my loved one,"
Israel was rooted in a promise… that transcends natural heredity.
Our calling as a community is grounded in that promise… calling us to live in covenant with God as the new Israel.
Galatians 6:15-16
Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, even to the Israel of God.
We have been made a part of God’s chosen people… the new Israel… to redeem the world. As the People of God we are part of the unchanging ‘story’ that involves:
4 elements which constitute our story as God’s people… each of which Paul refers to as part of Israel in verse 4…. and are now extended into our life as a community.
1. Deliverance from the power and judgment of evil… including death. (Passover / Cross)
· Called out… adopted… by a covenant made with Abraham.
· Included being delivered from the power of evil that oppresses and destroys…. Most notably… bondage in Egypt.
o From the idolatry of Egypt… finally from death (judgement over all).
· Yet the people again disobey and end up in exile and finally under Roman rule…. Looking for a king.
> Christ as the messianic king – sums up all of Israel and her history in himself
· His baptism – “my son in whom…’ / glory (Spirit) upon him.
· As Israel spent first 40 years in the desert… so Chrsit 40 days in the wilderness.
· Jesus reconstitutes the 12 tribes of Israel in establishing 12 apostles.
· He became the deliverer… cross… victory over sin
· So now we can enter that deliverance through baptism… our exodus.
· We enter the Passover… through the Lord’s Supper.
· We bring good news to the poor, deliverance to those oppressed, and proclaim the time of liberation that’s at hand.
2. A redeeming order for life …to restore humanity (Law / Living Word of God)
· Law was given to restore humanity… the 10 Commandments simply reflect what life was meant to be – personal wholeness and social justice.
· Israel is unable to fulfill the Law. But as God had declared long ago, a new covenant was at hand… the law would be written in their hearts.
> Christ… the Living Word… fulfills the Law… teaches… sends spirit to guide the inner transformation God had intended.
3. The presence of God…. and true worship. (Temple / Living temple)
· First the tabernacle… then temple… where the people come before the presence and glory of God.
· The temple isn’t kept holy… Jesus subverts the temple and speaks judgment upon it.
· Forgiveness would now be met in him….
· He is the temple which will rise in 3 days… the presence of God would now be in him… the risen Lord among us.
· In this way… we are a part of that living body of Christ… the true temple.
Eph. 2:21-22
“In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.”
4. The blessing of inheritance (Promised land / Kingdom reign of God…Spirit as deposit and resurrection to come)
· Promised land…. “flowing with milk and honey.” = rest and reward.
· So Jesus announces the ultimate blessing of inheritance… eternal life with God… kingdom of God.
This is the story to which we’ve been called into. As we find ourselves a part of this story, we discover that…
1. We are bound as community by this common story.
> There is no individual story… only a common story manifest in individual experiences.
"Christian brotherhood is not an ideal which we must realize; it is rather a reality created by God in Christ in which we may participate." -Dietrich Bonhoeffer+
2. We are grounded as a community by this decisive story.
When you watch the news, do you wonder if human history is simply unraveling.. with no meaning or direction? Do you feel your life is simply blown where it will until you die… with no real purpose or destiny?
God is writing a story and through Christ you can be a part of it… a story that is eternally rooted. It’s the drama behind all drama we may see… the constant in the midst of change.
As Jack Hayford describes,
Consider the one thing this world which you and I can touch that has "eternity" written into its fabric. It’s the Word of God. Every time I take a Bible in hand, I hold eternity, because the life-force inherent in that Word exceeds all time and space: "Heaven and earth will pass away, but My Word shall not pass away."
3. We are given significance as a community by this ongoing story.
We are by nature living witnesses of this ongoing story. It’s a living story, as God seeks to draw all can hear it to enter it.
1 Peter 2:9-12
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. [10] Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
[11] Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul. [12] Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us. [NIV]
Closing story….
STORY OF WOMEN DISCOVERING CO-WORKER WAS HER BIOLOGICAL MOTHER
When she turned 21, Tammy Harris from Roanoke, Virginia, began searching for her biological mother. After a year, she had not succeeded. What she didn’t know was that her mother, Joyce Schultz, had been trying to locate her for 20 years.
According the a recent Associated Press story, there was one more thing Tammy didn’t know: her mother was one of her co-workers at the convenience store where she worked! One day Joyce overheard Tammy talking with another co-worker about trying to find her mother. Soon they were comparing birth certificates.
When Tammy realized that the co-worker she had know was, in fact, her mother, she fell into her arms. "We held on for the longest time," Tammy said. "It was the best day of my life."
Each week we rub shoulders with people whom we may barely notice. But if they share a birth in Christ, they are our dearest relatives. How precious is the family of God!
-B.Paul Greene, "Leadership" fall 1994+
