Matthew 16:16-19
The Church on the edge
Last week we talked about being the church on the edge and how to get there. What it show us even though it might be scary or way out of our comfort zone.
We talked about how the church has no walls. We can not worship the place we meet at but we can worship at the place we meet.
We talked about not owning the church¡Xit is Jesus¡¦ Church
We also talked about knowing where we were in Christ- in Him, clothed with Him
But today I wish to talk to you about what we are on the edge of.
First off I would like to talk to you about what we are not on the edge of.
A. We are not on¡K¡K
1. The cutting edge-
If we were on the cutting edge we would follow every trend and fad that came along, changing every three to six months. The trends and fads would direct and lead us to where it would want to go, not necessarily where Jesus would lead us. Jesus said to follow me (Matthew 4:19, Mark 1:17), not follow the fads and trends of today, or even yesterday. He wants us to only follow Him.
2. The edge of town.
We may be on the edge of town, that is our building is, but the church is not there, only when it is assembled there. Like Sunday morning, Sunday Evening, Wednesday night at 6 or some other times, only then is the church there. So we are not the church on the edge of town
3. The edge of cultural evolution.
Marian Guinn’s soul was the issue, church leaders say, when elders of the Collinsville Church of Christ denounced her for adultery before the congregation and forbade 120 members to associate with her.
But privacy was the issue in Marian Guinn’s lawsuit against the elders in state district court. She sought $1.3 million, alleging invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Ms. Guinn, 36, is a nurse and divorced mother of four children.
Her suit says that in October, 1981, three elders publicly denounced her for "the sin of fornication" and ordered church members to avoid her.
In depositions and pretrial hearings, Ms. Guinn has acknowledged her relationship with Pat Sharp, a former mayor of Collinsville.
"It doesn’t matter if she was fornicating up and down the street," her lawyer, Thomas Frasier said. "It doesn’t give the church the right to stick their noses in."
But Truman Rucker, Jr., attorney for the church leaders, said the ban was an internal church matter. "Withdrawal of fellowship was an action of discipline within the Church of Christ," he said.
If we are driven by the evolution of our cultural then we would allow the culture to lead us and direct us into what is acceptable in our teaching, preaching and we would become just like any other group, like the Lions club, eagles club, not that is anything wrong with them as clubs or organizations, but they are not the church!
An old preacher friend told me once this story.
Growing up on the Atlantic Coast, He said, I spent long hours working on intricate sand castles; whole cities would appear beneath my hands. One year, for several days in a row, I was accosted by bullies who smashed my creations. Finally I tried an experiment: I placed cinder blocks, rocks, and chunks of concrete in the base of my castles. Then I built the sand kingdoms on top of the rocks. When the local toughs appeared (and I 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.
What are we on the edge of then?
B. We are on the edge of¡K
1. Eternity.
When we are
A. Anticipating the return of our King, the Lord Jesus the
Christ of God. The first century was anticipating Jesus¡¦ return every day, John even says in Revelation even so Come.
In Rev. 22: 7 It says Behold I come
In Rev. 22: 12 It says Behold I come
In rev. 22: 17 It says The Spirit and the bride say ¡§Come!¡¨ Everyone who hears this should also say, ¡§Come!¡¨
Frantic man on the phone: "My wife just left me, I lost my job, I need surgery, and my spirits have hit bottom! Pastor, you’ve got to help me. What’s the difference between pre-, post-millennialism
ƒÞ Cartoonist Doug Hall, Leadership, Vol. 7, no. 4.
What was he worried about? His problems in this life? Or when Jesus might return?
"I can stand in front of the Lord and say I gave it my best shot," failed-prophet Edgar Whisenant said after Sept. 1, 1989, came and went without any evidence of a rapture. After running up a 0-for-2 record in rapture predicting, the retired NASA engineer who lives in a one-room shack outside Little Rock, Arkansas, says his job is now done. His book predicting this year’s rapture sold only 30,000 copies in contrast to his book predicting the rapture last September, which sold 4.3 million.
How could so many believers fall for this age old problem of date setting that Jesus clearly warned about in Matthew 24:36?
So Many people want to know the day hour or month, year or second Jesus will return so they can be ready then and not necessarily before
This is the revelation of Jesus Christ. God gave this revelation to Jesus, to show his servants what must soon happen. And Jesus sent his angel to show it to his servant John. John has told everything that he has seen. It is the truth that Jesus Christ told him; it is the message from God. The one who reads the words of God¡¦s message is happy. And the people who hear this message and do what is written in it are happy. The time is near when all of this will happen.
From John, To the seven churches in the country of Asia:
Grace and peace to you from the One who is and was and is coming, and from the seven spirits before his throne, and from Jesus Christ. Jesus is the faithful witness. He is first among those raised from death. He is the ruler of the kings of the earth.
He is the One who loves us. And he is the One who made us free from our sins with the blood of his death. He made us to be a kingdom of priests who serve God his Father. To Jesus Christ be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
Look, Jesus is coming with the clouds! Everyone will see him, even those who stabbed him. And all peoples of the earth will cry loudly because of him. Yes, this will happen! Amen. Rev. 1:1-7
During his 1960 presidential campaign, John F. Kennedy often closed his speeches with the story of Colonel Davenport, the Speaker of the Connecticut House of Representatives. One day in 1789, the sky of Hartford darkened ominously, and some of the representatives, glancing out the windows, feared the end was at hand. Quelling a clamor for immediate adjournment, Davenport rose and said, "The Day of Judgment is either approaching or it is not. If it is not, there is no cause for adjournment. If it is, I choose to be found doing my duty. Therefore, I wish that candles be brought."
Rather than fearing what is to come, we are to be faithful till Christ returns. Instead of fearing the dark, we’re to be lights as we watch and wait.
Henry Heintz, Troy, New York. Leadership, Vol. 5, no. 2.
If we are waiting with Anticipation then we will be found busy and ready for Him.
Anticipating is looking forward with excitement. Are we really excited and looking forward to his return? I pray it be so!!!
We are on the edge of¡K
Eternity When we are¡K
B. Expecting Jesus return.
Years ago I read in Barna¡¦s research that the amount of Christians that were expecting Jesus¡¦ return in there life time was only about or less that 4% and the sad part of all this report was preachers were included in the count. I do not remember the exact stats but they went something like this.
75% did not believe the coming of Christ was going to be in there life time.
15% said It was likely but did not put too much on that fact.
6% said they believed it but it did not matter they were saved and was not worried
4% said they expected Jesus at any given time and were trying to stay ready and waiting and watching for Him.
If this is still true today you can understand the preaching of today that does not include the necessity of being ready for Him. Or the urgency to get ready and get as many people ready for it. No need to tell anyone about Jesus because He will not return soon.
Our absent Lord has given special commendation to those who not only WAIT for His return, but also earnestly WATCH for Him. The difference between these terms is illustrated by the story of a fishing vessel returning home after many days at sea. As they neared the shore, the sailors gazed eagerly toward the dock where a group of their loved ones had gathered. The skipper looked through his binoculars and identified some of them: "I see Bill’s Mary, and there is Tom’s Margaret and David’s Anne." One man became concerned because his wife was not there. Later, he left the boat with a heavy heart and hurried up the hill to his cottage. As he opened the door, she ran to meet him saying, "I have been waiting for you!" He replied with a gentle rebuke, "Yes, but the other men’s wives were watching for them!"
From bible ILL. Index 1348
Are we Expecting Jesus to return soon, even today? Our lives will show!
But the day the Lord comes again will be a surprise, like a thief. The skies will disappear with a loud noise. Everything in the skies will be destroyed by fire. And the earth and everything in it will be burned up. In that way everything will be destroyed. So what kind of people should you be? You should live holy lives and serve God. You should wait for the day of God and look forward to its coming. When that day comes, the skies will be destroyed with fire, and everything in the skies will melt with heat. But God made a promise to us. And we are waiting for what he promised¡Xa new heaven and a new earth where goodness lives. (2 Peter 3:10-13)
Expectation=that what is expected and looking forward to.
If we were expecting Him today we would have a place ready for Him. We would be and do our best, waiting for His arrival. That is the Church on the edge. Praise God!!!
We are on the edge of¡K
Eternity When we are¡K
B. Rejoicing at the idea of His return.
"It is a blessed thing to know the Savior and to feel that your soul is safe. If you have been in a ship when it entered the harbor, you have noticed the different looks of the passengers as they turned their eyes ashore. There was one who, that he might not lose a moment’s time, had got everything ready for landing long ago, and now he smiles and beckons to yonder party on the pier, who in their turn, are so eager to meet him that they almost press over the margin of the quay. But there is another who gazes with pensive eye on the nearer coast and seems to grudge that the trip was over. He is a stranger going among strangers, and though sometimes during the voyage he had a momentary hope that some friendly face might recognize him in regions where he was an alien and an adventurer, no such welcoming face is there, and with reluctant steps he leaves the vessel and commits himself to the unknown country. And now that everyone else has disembarked, who is this unhappy man whom they have brought on deck, and whom, groaning in his heavy chains, they are conducting to the dreaded shore? A felon and a runaway, whom they are bringing back to take his trial there, and no wonder he is loath to land.
"Now, dear brethren, our ship is sailing fast. We shall soon hear the rasping of the shallows and the commotion overhead, which bespeak the port in view. When it comes to that, how shall you feel? Are you a stranger, or a convict, or are you going home? Can you say, "’I know whom I have believed’"? Have you a Friend within the veil? And however much you may enjoy the voyage, and however much you may like your fellow passengers, does your heart sometimes leap up at the prospect of seeing Jesus as he is, and so being ever with the Lord?"
ƒÞ James Hamilton, D.D. Bible ILL. INDEX 1932
John Newton credited his wife with being the inspiration that enabled him to leave the slave trading in Africa and
find salvation in Jesus Christ. They were married for forty years. When she died Newton preached on this text from Habakkuk 3:17: "Though the fig tree does not bud, and there are no grapes on the vines ... yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior."
ƒÞ Robert C. Shannon, 1000 Windows, (Cincinnati, Ohio: Standard Publishing Company, 1997).
Passing by a table in a local restaurant a preacher noticed a gentleman who was to be celebrating his 100th birthday the following week eating with some of his family. He stopped and said to him, "you’re out celebrating a little early, aren’t you?" He looked at him and asserted, "At my age, son, every day is a celebration!"
ƒÞ Dan Soman, Livingston, WI. Christian Reader, "Lite Fare."
Then I heard what sounded like a great many people. It sounded like the noise of flooding water and like loud thunder. The people were saying: ¡§Hallelujah!
Our Lord God rules. He is the All-Powerful. Let us rejoice and be happy and give God glory!
Give God glory, because the wedding of the Lamb has come.
And the Lamb’s bride has made herself ready.
(Rev. 19:6&7)
Let us rejoice in the Lord always again I say rejoice for He is able to deliver us.
Are you a part of the church on the edge?
IN CLOSING:
Let all of us get on the edge of eternity.
ALL WE HAVE TO DO IS BE ATISAPATING AND EXPECTING AND REJOICEING THE LORDS RETURN.
Many have chosen between Heaven and Hell. But now we must decide between Heaven and earth.
