BELIEVE Week 6 “The church” 10/2/16 RUMC

BELIEVE Week 6 “The church”

10/2/16

RUMC

It was the spring of 311 AD. Constantine and his 40,000 soldiers were headed for Rome to confront an army of 160,000.

 Constantine saw a vision in the afternoon sky. He saw a bright cross with the words “By this sign conquer.” In one account, Constantine said that Christ himself told him in a dream to take the cross as his standard into battle. The next morning he had his soldiers marked their shields with the now familiar Chi-Ro, the first two Greek letters in “Christ.”

Constantine won the battle, and became the first Roman emperor with a cross on his crown. Several things happened under the first Christian emperor.

•       Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

•       Christianity was given full religious freedom, which ended the period of Great Persecution.

•       All the land confiscated as part of the persecution, was to be returned.

•       In 323 when Constantine built Constantinople, construction began on the first buildings in which Christians would assemble. Until now, they had met in homes, sometimes even secretly because of persecution. Until this time, the word church only identified a group of people. Now it became a building

I’m not sure that’s what Jesus had in mind when he pointed to Peter and told the disciples, “…on this rock I will build my church.”  Sure, I admit it is nice to have a roof over our head and pews under our butts, but when Jesus talked about building in his church, he did not have bricks and mortar in mind. And through the ages, the church has been comfortable and secure… too comfortable and too secure behind the walls of these special buildings. The church has often experienced ecclesiastical amnesia, forgetting where it came from and why it is here.

 A book called UnChristian came out a few years ago. The book reported on a survey asking unchurched people what they thought of the church. The results were shocking. Their answers in order were:

•         Hypocritical,

•         Focused only on getting people saved

•         Anti-homosexual

•         Sheltered or inward focused

•         Too political and

•         Judgmental.

Clearly, there are some uninformed stereotypes reflected in that survey. However, stereotypes may be exaggerations and overgeneralizations, but they almost always start with a grain of truth.

 What has happened? The survey didn’t say anything about faith or service, or helping people, or the hospitals and school we built, or the justice work we do, or making a huge dent in malaria deaths. The church described in the survey doesn’t look much like the church Jesus launched with the words, “Go therefore into all the world and preach the good news baptizing them in the name of the father, the son and the Holy spirit.”

Is it any wonder that today many people say, “Church, who needs it?”

 Our key belief for this week is found on page 92, as always the first page of the chapter. “I believe the church is God’s primary way to accomplish his purposes in the world.” To put it in terms we have used before, God uses the church to transform the world for Jesus Christ.

Really? Us? Look at us. Does God really expect this motley crew to accomplish his kingdom work in the world? The frightening answer is yes. So how do we answer those who say, “The church… who needs it?”

There are three answers in today’s scripture.

  Who needs the church? First, God does. Not that God isn’t sufficient unto himself. But God chooses to do his work through the church. In that sense, God needs the church. When we read Paul’s words, we realize that we are not JUST a bunch of amateurs. We are God’s amateurs. God is our source and our strength. And we are God’s hands and God’s feet.

Compared to the lions club, or the PTA or the girl scouts; the church is not, fundamentally, a human institution. We are a divine institution. Created by God and powered by God, to do God’s kingdom work in the world. If it weren’t for the Holy Spirit filling the church, transforming the church, leading the church, empowering the church, an enabling the church; all hope would be lost. But there is hope, not because of what we do, but because of what God CHOOSES to do through us. The church is not our doing. It is God’s doing. “God is above, all through all and in all.” Who needs the church? First, God needs the church to carry out his plan.

 The second point follows close behind that. I have to start with a confession. I don’t like to make dramatic confessions from the pulpit, they rarely end well. But there is something I have to admit today. I may be an ordained minister; I may have gone to seminary. Sure, I have 24 years of experience as a pastor in a church, but I have to admit something to you. I am not very good for much of anything.

What can I really do for Jesus?—not a whole lot in the grand scheme of things. I am quite aware of that.

Before you judge me, let me ask you… What can you do for Jesus—if you’re honest in the grand scheme of things, you have to answer the same way I did. None of us, individually, can do a whole lot. But here’s the thing: you can do something and I can do something. Maybe not much, but we can each do something. And together we can do great things. Jesus promised the disciples that they would do even greater things than he did. How is that possible? Because a spirit filled people called the church can move mountains, gather in the lost, end hunger, fight evil, and transform the world for Jesus Christ.

The Calgary Stampede is one of the premier rodeos in the world. One of their most exciting and anticipated events is the Heavy Horse Pull. It is just like a tractor pull except with horses. The story is told of the year when a horse pulled 9,000 pounds, while another pulled 8,000 pounds. At the end of the event, the owners of the top two horses decided to see what the two horses could do working together. Teamed up, you’d expect them to pull 17,000 pounds, right? Wrong. When harnessed together, they pulled 30,000 pounds! Almost twice as much as they each did alone.

That is kingdom math 9,000 + 8,00= 30,000. My little bit that I can do, added your little bit that you can do does not equal two little bits in God’s church. We have to add them together and then raise them to the power of God. That’s what the church does. I can’t bring the kingdom. Neither can you, but all of us together raised to the power of God… we can transform the world for Jesus Christ.

Let me add a couple of observations before I move on the next point.

Because of God’s math, not being able to do a lot is no excuse for doing nothing

Let me say that again, not being able to do a lot because you are busy, or old, or travel a lot, or you’ve done that before, or you’ll have to miss your favorite TV show or whatever your reasons might be, is no excuse for doing nothing. Sitting by and watching others do the ministry of the church, watching someone else pay for the ministry, letting someone else do the outreach, letting someone else invite people to church is worse than being dead weight… it is being unfaithful. It is violating the trust, which God has placed in the church. There is no excuse for doing nothing. Every person must be in ministry because of Jesus.

Finally, after we wrestle with the fact that because of God’s spirit above us, through us and in us, the church is very different from a herd of cows. After we admit that even doing a little, when God adds all of our little offerings and stirs in his divine power, God can make a big difference.

 We finally come to the truth that so many people do not want to admit.

Who needs the church? The world does. I am not talking about the world collectively, but each and every individual in the world, needs the church.

Look at the pain around us: floods, hurricanes, earthquakes, refugees, sickness, death. Who are some of the first on the scene and the last to leave, the church. Who else is going to do it? How many people went to church for the first time right after 9/11?

Look at the broken world in which we live: The way people treat each other, the way people fight among themselves, the way we kill each other. Who is going to stand up and say ENOUGH! If not the church?

Look at the struggle around us. Families in conflict, marriages falling apart, poverty, joblessness, suicide, fear. Who will take the time to sit down with someone and hurt with them, or even weep with them? Not our politicians unless it’s a great photo op. No, it is the church… it is left to each of us who are there to pick up the pieces when our neighbors lives are crumbling.

Salvation comes by Grace through faith in Jesus, right? Who is going to introduce them to Christ if not the church. Not the schools, not Wal-Mart, only the church.

Though many would reject the idea… I say with absolute confidence today the world needs the church.

 Who needs the church? God does in order to accomplish his plan, we do in order to multiply our efforts, and the world does to be the hands and feet of God for a world lost and in pain.

What does all this mean and what difference does it make? It means the Church is not about buildings but about building people. Church is not a place you go but a people you are. Church is not about us but all about Christ. Church is not about power and bigness but about resurrection power through weakness.

That is the church we celebrate today- the worldwide church of Jesus Christ under every flag, worshipping in every kind of location, speaking every conceivable language, dressed in ways we wouldn’t believe… but all partaking of the one cup, and the one loaf. That is what it means to be the church.

Who need the church? I do, and so do you.

AMEN