OPEN: About 100 years ago, Edgar Guest wrote the following poem:
"Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
But he with a chuckle replied "maybe it couldn’t",
but he would be one who wouldn’t say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin on his face.
If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing, that couldn’t be done
and he did it.
Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that;
At least no one ever has done it"
But he took off his coat and he took of his hat,
and the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin, without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing that couldn’t be done,
and he did it.
APPLY: This is the last in our series about faith
We’ve talked about how important our faith is.
We’ve talked about how we can develop a stronger faith in God
And we’ve discussed how our faith should influence our giving
This week I want to look out how our faith should effect how we “do” church
I. Many churches don’t really function on the basis of faith
They function as a Church:
they sing the songs, collect the offerings, offer communion, preach the sermons and so on… but when it comes to exercising faith as a church, they often stumble because they aren’t geared toward faith.
Many churches are geared toward… survival. All their decisions are based – not upon growth – but upon simply existing.
ILLUS: We had a sister church up north that had a building fund of $40,000. Whenever they made an improvement to their building they would scramble to bring that fund back up to the original $40,000. Now – not only did that reflect a lack of faith in God. It reflected their mind set of desiring to survive
Now - of course - survival isn’t a bad thing. But when a church gets into (what I call) a survival mode it’s not healthy.
ILLUS: A denominational church sent in an annual report that read like this:
Number of members added by baptism 0
Number of members added by letter 0
Number of members dismissed by letter 5
Number of members who have died 3
Amount raised for home missions 0
Amount raised for foreign missions 0
The note at the bottom of the report read: “Pray for us, brethren, that we continue faithful unto the end.”
Now… was that church being faithful? …. No!
They had developed a “survival mode” mentality. They saw faithfulness as simply being able to survive… to exist.
But Jesus doesn’t call that faithfulness. Jesus said: "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. John 15:1-2
What Jesus is telling us is this: having a “survival mode” mentality is not pleasing to God.
God’s church is meant to produce fruit. And the prophecy in Isaiah was trying to tell us how God planned for the Church to accomplish that growth.
Look again at Isaiah 54:2 "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes.”
Someone might ask… “how do you know this prophecy in Isaiah is referring to the church?”
Well 2 reasons, actually.
First, we know that the previous chapter (Isaiah 53) dealt with Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. Isaiah 53 is famous for the words we recite every Easter: “Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.” Isaiah 53:4-6
The reason Jesus died was to establish the Church. And Isaiah 54 is simply describing what this church would be like.
Secondly, we know Isaiah 54 is talking about the church, because the New Testament tells us so. In Galatians 4:27 Paul quotes the first verse of this chapter and says that it was prophesying the influx of Gentiles into the church.
So the words in Isaiah 54 describe God’s game plan for how the church was to grow:
Enlarge the place of your tent,
stretch your tent curtains wide,
do not hold back;
lengthen your cords,
strengthen your stakes
II. So, what is God telling us is this:
1st … He EXPECTS us to grow… we must bear fruit! (John 15)
2nd … He expects us to PLAN for growth (according to Isaiah 54)
Isaiah 54 is telling the woman (the church) to
enlarge her tent
lengthen her cords
strengthen her stakes…
And all of her preparations are based upon THE PROMISE that she will have children.
She doesn’t have the kids yet
She (the church) is to makes her plans because she BELIEVES
In other words – the church has to have faith (now… isn’t that a novel concept).
The church has to make it’s plans based upon faith.
As the Apostle Paul put it: “We live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7
III. So, why do some churches struggle with faith.
Why do they go into “survival mode” mindset?
They do so simply because acting on your faith can be a very scary thing sometimes.
Most often churches will not act on faith (they’ll not plan to grow) because they’re afraid.
ILLUS: In one church I heard about, the building was packed on Sunday Morning. If they were going to grow they had to do something. But the only option seemed to be – going to 2 services in the morning. But the leaders were unwilling to do this because they were “afraid” that it would create “2 churches.” They were “afraid” this would be difficult to sell to the congregation. They were “afraid” … well, you get the idea.
That’s why Isaiah 54:4 tells the church this: “Do not be afraid.”
Then Isaiah says: “Do not fear disgrace”
Don’t fear disgrace? Why say that? Because one of the fears of a church is that they’ll be humiliated. They’re afraid of looking foolish. They’re afraid of going too far in their planning and then failing. The disgrace would be more than they could bear.
"Do not be afraid; you will not suffer shame. Do not fear disgrace; you will not be humiliated…. Isaiah 54:4
God is telling his bride:
“Don’t look at what might happen if you fail. Plan for success – don’t plan for failure.”
Act according to faith
Plan according to your desire to produce fruit
Because in the end… God isn’t going to ask if we “survived” as a Church. He’s going to ask if we were faithful. He’s going to ask if we have produced fruit
IV. So… what kind of church do we have here?
Are we a church that is faithful? Do we have a church that plans to produce a harvest?
Well, let me introduce you to the philosophy of the leadership here at the Church of Christ.
The philosophy of the elders and staff here at Logansport can best be summed up in the words of a man named – Wayne Gretzky (the great hockey star). Someone once asked Gretzky what he thought the key was to his success. He replied, “Oh, that’s simple. I skate to where the puck is going to be.”
Our objective here at the Church of Christ at Logansport is to skate to where we believe the puck is going to be. It is our goal to anticipate where God wants us to put our resources. How does God want us to spend the tithes and offerings we receive and how would He want us to invest our time and talents as a congregation?
THAT’S WHY – last year – we made some bold decisions:
· We started an 8 am service and have had a fairly healthy attendance: 20 to 40 each week.
· We hired Gregory Peck as a part–time children’s minister
· Jack Hight took on the leadership of creating a worship team for Sunday Mornings
· We had a outreach activities like
o Friend Sundays
o Trunk Or Treat
o Christmas Play
And that’s why - this year - we started an Evening Worship to meet the needs of people who work 3rd trick or had to work on Sundays (24 people were there last week – and one of those present joined church)
Every decision and every move we made was intended to produce fruit for Jesus Christ. Those decisions weren’t always comfortable for us - but then, God didn’t call us to be comfortable did He?
God called us to be faithful
God called us to produce fruit
V. So… have we (because of our prayers and our faithfulness) produced fruit?
Last year we had 15 baptisms and 17 transfers
And this year already we’ve had 2 baptisms and 1 transfer
Many churches our size never have that kind of response. In fact, I don’t think we have ever (since I’ve been here) seen that kind of harvest.
What about Greg Peck’s ministry (elementary Kids – J.A.M.)?
Almost from the moment Greg was hired, our Wednesday Nite youth group took off
Before Greg came on board we struggled to have an elementary youth group of 5 to 10 kids.
And our VBS programs usually had only 25 kids or so.
By contrast:
Last Spring we had an average Weds. Nite attendance of about 40 kids
Our Summer VBS reached 87 different children
This Fall and Winter our Weds. Nite attendance has been around 25 (with a high of 37)
That is a dramatic increase from what we’ve experienced in the past.
Now, what about Brad’s ministry with the Senior High?
Because of Brad, we have an extremely vibrant Senior High Youth Group. He and Beth minister to 25 highly committed youth. The lives of many of the youth have been changed – many of the kids have improved spiritually and academically (6 of them have gotten on the honor roll at school since joining the youth group). One of the teachers there at school has even called Brad and commented how much improvement she’s seen in many of the kids.
These Sr. Highers not only regularly meet on Sat. Nites but are actively involved here at the Church. Several of the youth have a ministry of moving chairs & setting up for activities like JAM. Many of the boys have escorted people in from the parking lot when it was icy. Sometimes the youth group boys outnumber the men at our Men’s Prayer meetings.
And Brad has succeeded in getting a strong involvement of families to help
(I listed several of the individuals and families who’d been working regularly with Brad)
That’s a powerful ministry folks.
So we HAVE born fruit. And we’ve produced fruit because we have stepped out on faith
CLOSE: The last lines of Edgar Guest’s poem are as follows:
There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you… one by one…
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a bit of a grin
Just take off your coat and go to it.
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing that "cannot be done,"
and you’ll do it."
Now, ordinarily those lines might seem to be simply “optimistic” hopefulness. And if we weren’t applying them to the church… I’d agree. But as a church, we have one significant advantage over anyone else who would cling to these lines for their hope: we are acting upon the promises of an Almighty Father. A God who has made promises to us. And when we step out on faith, as a congregation, we do so with the knowledge that we are doing what God desires of us.
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES
· God of the Box = Mark 6:30-44
· More Than Enough Faith = II Kings 5:1-20
· Standing Up For God = I Kings 17:1-16
· More Than Enough Church = Isaiah 54:1-5
