“The Church’s DNA: Behavior”
Series: The Church’s DNA
Highlighted words tell the pastor that word/statement appears on a PowerPoint slide on the screen. The underlined words are for note taking for the congregation.
We started a new series of messages last week called, “The Church’s DNA.” We are looking at what the church should be like in 2006 based on distinctive traits (spiritual DNA) we have inherited from the New Testament church. Last week we tried to reconstruct, draw an image of what that first church looked like. We have no “Kodak moments” of those people so like a sketch artist we came up with a picture of our spiritual “mother” by what the Bible says. This is what we came up with; by the way, our church should have some resemblance of that church even though we live in a different time. This is all REVIEW from last week. First of all, the N.T. church looks like common people doing everyday jobs at work and at home. They are business people and self-employed; they were married, single, widowed; they are young, old, middle age. Those folks, then, looked like you and me today.
The church is made up of common people from all walks of life. However,
God’s people (the church) have an uncommon Spirit about them, the Holy Spirit of God. The Bible says that the same Spirit that lived in the first church lives in each and every follower of Jesus Christ today. Third, we found out that when you looked at the church then, you didn’t see a building as you see churches today, they met in homes all over the city. So,
The church today ought to be a scattered church, meeting and influencing the world they live in. We understand Sunday to be our “huddle time” when we get together as a large group to get the “plays” or directions from our God, our coach, and then break the huddle and go home to do life with our fellow believers. Finally, last week, in the picture we drew of the church, we also figured out that the church looked larger every time you looked at it. In other words, God kept growing His church week after week. We’ve inherited that trait too, so, even though a couple of thousand years have passed since that N.T. church existed, the church today should resemble that.
The church today should be a growing church. That’s us, Lakecrest, the church on this side of Lake Washington, a group of common people with an uncommon, extraordinarily powerful Spirit of God who lives in us. We are a group of people who scatter all over the community during the week reaching out to people as we try to connect the unchurched to God. That’s what the church looks like, today let’s look at how the church acts, distinct characteristics of the N.T. church and the church in 2006.
Crime scene investigators try to figure out what the suspect was like, not just what he/she looked like, physical characteristics, but what was he/she like. The victim may describe him, “he walked with a limp” or “she was acting really nervous” or “he had a certain accent.” When I call people on the phone they know its me before I tell them. My caller I.D. is my accent. It gives me away. I think I’m shaking it, though. Right? It used to be really rough and sounded funny. Thank God those days are over. I talked the way latino islanders talk when they are new in America. Anyway, let’s check out some distinct traits that were present in the church then and should be part of church life today. I’m not sure if to call these peculiar traits because when you and I think of peculiar we think of something that’s weird or odd.
Check out these “peculiar” pictures on the screen…(the pics are funny, odd pictures of people, and things that are “weird”; this is a good light hearted time).
Those are odd, the church is not odd!
I’m sure some unchurched people may think that you’re a weirdo because of what you do but I’d rather call what we do as church, distinctive, different than the world.
Jesus told Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world…is from another place” (John 18:36). And think about it, the church, born again believers follow God’s kingdom practices, whatever that may be. God made it clear that He and this world do not operate in the same way. The prophet Isaiah put it this way,
“I don’t think the way you think. The way you work isn’t the way I work” (Isaiah 55:8 Msg). It’s no wonder, then, that the church has some distinct ways about it. Let me share with you some behavioral traits of the N.T. church that should be found in us, two of them today, a few more next week.
1.Believer’s Baptism.
In those days, followers were put under water (that’s what the Greek word for baptism means). Anyone who chose to believe in the resurrection and follow Jesus Christ as their Savior was baptized because Jesus had set the standard for them. He was baptized himself. Check this out, when the Lord Jesus started his ministry there was a guy known as John the Baptist. He was preaching and telling people that the Messiah was coming, “Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to be baptized by John.” (Matthew 3:13). Jesus set the pace for his follower. He was baptized so a Christian follows his example. Being baptized is something you do because you have made up your mind to believe, you have turned your life over to Him. When I was a baby my parents had me baptized in a church. And, though I’m sure it was a beautiful thing to those who attended, it was not something I was doing because I had given my life to Jesus Christ. I had not yet even learned how to speak; I was a little “bambino.” My baptism as a baby was pretty but not practical. When you follow the historical practice of the N.T. church in the book of Acts, you read over and over again that,
Baptism always follows a conversion experience (Acts 8:36-39; 9:17-18; 10:47-48; 16:31-33). If you are a believer and have never been baptized, the question is, why not? In the very first church sermon ever preached, Peter said to the hearers,
“Repent (change your views and purpose to accept the will of God in your inner selves instead of rejecting it) and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ.” (Acts 2:38 Amplified; see also Acts 2:41). There are some of you here that have made a conscious decision for Jesus Christ but have decided not to follow through with baptism. You’ve got to settle that issue today! Is being baptized odd? Maybe, but Jesus did it and so do his followers. Remember that to be a Christian is to be Christ like.
[Get a volunteer to the stage and go through the mechanics of what happens during baptism, after that, ask for people to check the box in their programs so we can schedule a baptism time] Baptism is a distinctive trait of the church. Another trait of the N.T. church is
2. Giving Tithes To God
A tithe is a tenth of a person’s salary. Giving is something God wants the church to do. “On every Lord’s Day [Sunday], each of you should put aside some amount of money in relation to what you have earned and save it for this offering.”(1Corinthians 16:2 NLT). Christians look at this and say, “What’s up with that?” I mean, tithing is not what we’re used to but it is what God wants.
We are right now thinking about paying taxes to the government. Uncle Sam has his hand stretched out in your direction, look at how relevant Jesus is to our culture. During the tax season of his day, he simply said, “Give to Caesar [government] what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” In other words, submit yourself to your government and do what it requires of you and submit yourself to God and do what he asks for. However, many believers do not give. Maybe it is because we live by grace and not “law” so people figure, “Hey, I’ve been saved, baptized, and on my way to heaven; skipping tithing is not going to send me to hell.” Or they say, “You know, God understands my situation.” Mostly, though, I think the problem is that Christians are scared of tithing.
Did anyone read the story of Molly the cow earlier in the news? At the packing plant, the 1,200-pound cow jumped the fence and ran for her life… (go to msnbc news and on “search” look up “molly the cow escapes”, it happened in Great Falls, Montana, and tell the highlight of the story)
Show pics of Molly the cow escaping going to the slaughter house… Here’s the deal, many Christians think tithing is God’s slaughter house for. However, God does know you’ve got bills to pay and a lifestyle to maintain but he has promised that if you put him first in your life, He’ll make sure you don’t go without.
Some thoughts about giving that came to mind:
a. Good thing God didn’t ask for ninety percent instead of ten. Dude, that would be tough. It’s like God saying, “You ‘all down there on earth, keep the big chunk and give me the pocket change.” He actually could have kept it all if He wanted but God wants you and me to manage His resources well. Remember this, tithing is not a “church thing” but a God thing. And, its not as hard to do or as bad as you may think. For example, let’s say your salary a week is $300. Your tithe for that week would be $30. Thirty dollars equals a cheap dinner for two and a movie (without popcorn and soda). There might be a week that you have to choose, "do I go on a cheap dinner and movie date or do I give God his tithe? Or $30 is as much as getting Gap jeans on sale or ladies getting a pedicure/manicure combo or guys buying a used PS2 game. You and I have to choose, do I do some of these things on any given week or do I put God first. All those things I mentioned are great to do, not the pedicure for guys of course, but if it came to which to do, we have to put God first!
b. God doesn’t need our money, but giving is God’s calculator of faithfulness and obedience. A friend of mine, Jim Henry, said to me years ago, “Jorge, you’ll know how much your people love Jesus by how they give.” When you and I tithe is like saying to the Lord, “This is how much I love you.”
c. Giving is the best investment I know about. We check the letters of the stock we invest in to see if its producing and multiplying our money. Well, God pays back in huge quantities, sometimes He pays back one hundred percent what you gave to Him or better. But, in order to find out what only God can do, you’ve got to give him a chance to prove himself to you.
d. Giving and faith go hand in hand. Giving is never easy, however we’ve got to go at it the Philippians 4:13 way, “I can do everything God asks me to with the help of Christ who gives me the strength and power.” (LB)
e. God always has your best interest in mind, He wants to take good care of you.
When you and I give God, not just our money but our lives, He always comes through for you. Here are some,
Descriptive Tidbits about how God gives back to you:
“to overflowing”- Proverbs 3:9
“so much…you will not have room enough for it” Malachi 3:10
“I’ll put you in charge of many things” Matthew 25:21
“gold, silver, costly stones” 1Corinthians 3:12
We could go on for a while. One of the distinct traits that we’ve inherited from the first church is giving of tithes. Today, we’ve talked about baptism and the giving of tithes, a trademark of the first church and today’s church. Are you a tither? Have you been baptized after you gave your heart to Jesus Christ? These are the ways of the N.T. church and the church of today but beyond that, they are matters of faith that when you and I are willing to do and follow bring happiness and blessing beyond compare.
Let’s pray.
