This morning, I want to do something quite different for the sermon portion of the morning. Often in our country presidents will take a special time to share varioius thoughts with the people of the country. This morning, I want to do a “fireside chat” type presentation, about many subjects, that in some ways all tie in together.
Now, if you’re visiting here today, know that I haven’t done anything in the year and a half since I’ve been here, so please come back next week. We’ll have a message on “Not wasting your life” [slide - “Don’t Waste Your Life” - w/ 40 days backdrop]. In two weeks, we’ll have our missions conference, and Ernie and Donna Manges are going to be with us. In three weeks we begin going through the “Purpose Driven Life” together and we will be discovering just what is it that God has designed for our lives. So, we have a lot of good things in store.
But today, we have a few “housekeeping” type things that I’d like to share with you. If your home is anything like ours, whenever you have company coming, expecially company that might be staying for two or three days, you clean and straighten everything. Now, as we have talked in weeks past, hospitality means that whenever anyone shows up, you keep your attention on them, not on “things.” But if we have time to clean, it’s far easier to have hospitality when you feel good about the appearance of your home.
So, let me share a few things with you as a church “family”. The first thing I’d like to look at today is a question, “What is the church?” Now, the textbook answer is easy, “The church is the body of Christ, all Christians everywhere who are saved.” But on an individual congregational level, what makes a “church” a “church”? Is it the building? If so, what type of building does it need to be. We have white walls and a peaked ceiling. Some churches have ornate stained glass. Some meet in warehouses or elementary and high schools. I just received an email from Al McElheran yesterday that showed a new church they’re building. [Al Mc Pic] When we consider what some Christians meet in to worship, it makes us rethink what is truly important to us.
So, if not a building, what makes a “church”? Is it having good music, or prayers, or giving, or pews, or a sermon? When it comes right down to it, we have to admit that all these things are good, but none of them make up the church. So then what does?
I have been hearing lately about some individuals who have left established churches and ministries, and have started meeting with just a few individuals in “house churches”. They leave the comfortable and secure so they may gain the intimacy and closeness of small group relationships. And there is something very appealing and desirable about a close fellowship of a few Christians who are deeply and intimately connected to one another.
As Bethel seeks to go forward as a congregation, we must grow both bigger and smaller at the same time. I believe Bethel needs to grow bigger and bigger all the time. Not so that we may become proud or conceited in any way, but because there are many people to be reached for Christ. We live in a community where 70-80 % of the people are unchurched. We need to constantly be asking the question, “how can we reach our community for Christ?” The question is not just how can we get them to church. In fact, if we impact them but they choose to go to another good Christian church, Praise the Lord. This is more about building the kingdom that it is about building Bethel. But as we reach others, we will grow. And growth means change. But we can’t avoid growth. It would be easy to hold a tight reign on things so we never grew, and in fact we’ll get smaller and smaller until we are just a handful of people. And we won’t have to worry then about being able to know everyone.
As we go on and as we grow, you can be sure there will be changes. Not because we want change -- in fact, most people do NOT do well with change -- but we will see change because change always accompanies health and growth.
Speaking of growing, our Awana program is off to a great start. We had 68 kids here last Wednesday for Awana, in addition to however many teens were here for youth group. That’s almost double what we had last year. But to me the most exciting thing about that is that most of these kids are from unchurched families. We’re not just drawing in kids whose church doesn’t have a Wed. nite program. We’re reaching kids who don’t go anywhere to church.
Now, last year we didn’t make a big announcement about it, but we had several children pray to trust Christ during Awana. I know in talking with Ken Snyder, he shared that he had prayed with various children during the year to receive Christ as Savior. God is at work among us.
But if we are to continue to reach more and more children, we will need more workers, and more space. The trustees have already started to consider the possibilites for expansion for new classrooms.
As we go forward, we will need to grow bigger and smaller at the same time. How do we grow smaller? By building close relationships with a few people in small groups.
In Acts 5:42 we read, “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped teaching and proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Christ.” In Acts 20:20 Paul states, “You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house.” 1 Cor. 16:19, Romans 16:5, and Col. 4:15 all talk about churches that meet in people’s homes.
The early church had amazing growth. We see thousands joining the church in a small amount of time. How will they all have their needs met? They gathered collectively for worship, but they met in small groups for fellowship, accountability, teaching, and to meet personal needs.
So, if Bethel is to go forward, we must grow bigger and smaller at the same time. I want to see us become not just a church WITH a few small groups, but a church OF small groups. I believe we need to be able to open up, let down our walls, and to become transparent and open with others. We can’t do that with a hundred people at one time, but we can do it with 6-8 others that we meet with each week.
Most of your know Larry Dameron. Larry is a member of Bethel, but he has been out in other churches ministering through music on most Sundays for the last several years. Larry and Darlene have had a small group in their house now several years on Thursday nights. The makeup of the people involved has changed time and time again, but the desire for encouragement and fellowship has continued.
Let me ask you a few questions this morning. Just think about the answer. Let’s say you were having a personal struggle or a marriage struggle. Who would you turn to? And let’s say I just left the church for an early retirement in Florida two weeks ago. Do you have a close enough relationship with any others in this church that you would feel the freedom to turn to for help and encouragement? We have a wonderful family of brothers and sisters here at Bethel, but far too often it is like a family reunion. A lot of times at family reunions you see relatives that you don’t really know, you ask someone else “Who is that?” and you never really get to know them. You might get stuck close enough at a dinner sometime that you have to chit chat with them, but you never get close enough to know the hurts or pains or struggles they have.
Christians love to hold others at arms length. We put up walls and don’t let others get close. But if we are really ever to have an impact on the lives of one another, we need to let down the walls and allow others to get close. And we, each one of us, need to take the initiative to build relationship. Far too often we sit back and say, well, I’ll see if anyone really cares enough about me to take the initiative to make ME feel welcome.
We have a WONDERFUL opportunity coming up in just a few weeks. We are going to get started on our 40 days of purpose in just 3 weeks. Next week, we will have copies of the book, The Purpose Driven Life, available for you to purchase. I would like each family to have one. Their list price is $20, but we can get them for you for just $11. If you can’t afford that, let us know and we’ll get you one for what you CAN afford. If you can contribute more than the $11, it helps someone else get one who can’t afford it.
We’ll have a kickoff event on Saturday night, October 18th, at 6:00 PM. We are going to have a video presentation by Rick Warren, the pastor who wrote the Purpose Driven Life, and I ask you, PLEASE, if at all possible, please join us for this special night. Sunday, October 19th, we begin looking at the themes of the book, and we begin to read the book. The book has 40 chapters, each chapter just a few pages, and we’ll read one chapter each day for 40 days.
To help us digest all that we are reading, we are going to be meeting in some small home groups. And we need your help. If YOU can open your home up for a small group, there is a sign-up list in the lobby in the back. Please make a note to sign up on it today on your way out.
Even if you can’t teach a lesson, you can at least let a few people come to your house to discuss what you’ve been reading. We have four options for groups, and each host can pick their method.
1 - You can teach a lesson based on that week’s material in the book
2 - There are discussion questions for each chapter; you can simply lead a discussion about the questions
3 - You can simply open it up and say, “What has God been teaching you this week?”
4 - We have videos you can put in, and press “play” on your VCR.
And I believe just about everyone here in the sanctuary could do option # 4
So, back to where we started - Bethel needs to grow both larger and smaller at the same time.
But what really defines a church. There are so many things that don’t really matter, and many good things but that aren’t essential to church. But there are a few basics that really define who we are and what we are to be about.
Jesus gave two main statements that determine the church. They are the Great Commandment and the Great Commission. First,
The Great Commandment:
“Love the Lord your God will all you heart ... soul ... and mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matt. 22:36-40
The Great Commission:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to do everything I have commanded you.” Matt. 28:19-20
Five Instructions For The Church
1. “Love God with all your heart” Worship
2. “Love your neighbor as yourself” Ministry
3. “Go ... make disciples” Evangelism
4. “Baptizing them” Fellowship
5. “Teaching them to do” Discipleship
Jesus’ ministry modeled these 5 purposes: John 17:1-26
Vs. 4 “I have brought you glory on earth” (WORSHIP).
Vs. 6 “I revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world” (EVANGELISM).
Vs. 8 “I gave them the words you gave me” (DISCIPLESHIP).
Vs. 12 “While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe” (FELLOWSHIP).
Vs. 18 “As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world” (MINISTRY).
The first church fulfilled these 5 purposes:
“Those who accepted his message were baptized ... They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer ... All the believers were together ... they gave to anyone as he had need ... Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God ... And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” Acts 2:41-47
Join us tonight at 6 PM and we will begin a 6 week video series on the Trials and Triumphs of the Early Church. These early Christians had a very radical faith that affected everything about their lives. We consider a little more tonight the start of Christianity and how they gave their complete commitment to the risen Christ.
But when Jesus was with his disciples, there was one thing that he stressed to his disciples would be an identifying mark of a Christian. We find it listed in John 13:35 - “By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." The one identifying characteristic that Jesus lists is that his disciples would love each other.
Let me ask for your input today: How can we show love to one another in this congregation?
OPEN MIC - ask for specifics
Over the last year and a third, if I have learned any one thing about doing ministry and about this church it is this: I don’t love enough! I really want to be able to love you better. I find that I spend so much of my time in ministry taking care of details or putting out fires. And the more time goes on, the more I realize that what I really want to do is to get to know you better and love you more.
If you are visiting with us today, let me just say that you are among a great group of people here at Bethel. Ronda and I have immensely enjoyed serving here with you.
Part of the dynamic of how we are made is that God made us to be relational people. In Genesis 2:18 we read, “The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." God saw the “aloneness” of Adam, and saw it was not good. We function best when we are in community. But we have far too many “Lone Ranger” Christians, riding off to face the next battle all alone.
Let me sum up a little of all my ramblings today.
1. Bethel needs you! We need each one here today to do your part. We need you to let us know you and be known by you.
2. We need to take seriously God’s call on us to love Him and serve Him.
3. We will never “love one another” till we at least “know one another.” One of the best reasons for “Hospitality” as we talked about a few weeks ago, is so we may learn to know one another. How many people here at Bethel do you really “know.”? How will you get to know the rest?
4. We need to build small group relationships where we can share freely and intimately.
5. If we want to be the church that God wants us to be, we need to start by reaching out to one another. If we don’t get along with one another, how can we ever expect to reach the unsaved world.
May God help each of us to show the love of God to one another this week.
