The Engine of the Church 11 Oct 09 2 Corinthians 4:1-12

The Engine of the Church

Reading: 2 Corinthians 4:1-12

Intro re Synod…………… Synod has made me really think again. What is church really all about?

What does the church actually exist for? Some churches can feel just like a really nice club to belong to, nice and comfortable, and friendly. But there is of course much more to church than that.

What is the church?

A good place to start is always the Bible. What can we learn about the church in the Bible?

We often have a mindset that the church as a building - or somewhere we go on Sundays.

The apostle Paul doesn't agree. In Ephesians 1:22-23, he says the church is the body of Christ.

What does this mean? Paul says that it is Christ's believers who are the church. He doesn't say anything about a building. It is all of Christ's believers worldwide, who only by playing their individual parts - but doing that together - are able to carry out the mission of Christ. He said the church should make up the full expression of Christ - to be as Christ.

So that simply is what the church of Christ is.

It is each one of us - along with all Christ's disciples, together as one body, being as Christ.

What does the church exist for?

Paul tells us in Ephesians 4 it is to prepare and build us up to maturity so that together we will do the work of Jesus, and share his gospel with others.

First of course Jesus taught his message to his disciples. He showed them how, and then he sent them out to put it all into practice. It is the same for us, and his message isn't at all difficult. It is all about love! (Jn.13:34-35). Jesus' love for us - our love for him - and our love for others. And then others will know we are his disciples!

So the gospel is very simple isn't it?! And the role of the church, and us as members of the body, is therefore very straight forward too.

Now Jesus actually commissioned us to undertake that role - so we are very privileged to be part of his plan. (Matt.28:18-20). He left that responsibility to us, as individuals, and as members of his body of believers, his church. He even told us how are we to carry out that commission (Acts 1:8). We are to start at home, and go wider and wider afield. But note that Jesus said we need the Holy Spirit to empower us to do this. No matter how gifted - no matter how motivated we are - unless we operate in the power of the Holy Spirit we won't be fully effective. So here at CPAC, we are part of the body of Christ and his work.

That should excite us!

Another consideration of what being the body of Christ means is covered by Paul in 1 Cor.12. Describe function of body …not fully effective if one part doesn't do its job.

God has gifted each one of us to contribute to the completeness of the body of Christ, the church. Each one of us is an essential part of the total body to enable it to function fully. We need to play our part - but work together in unity. It is only the total church body worldwide that can be as Christ - spreading the gospel right across the world. And then only by the empowering of the Holy Spirit is this even possible.

So that is what the church is for. It is not just to care for our own, although certainly that is part of its role. It is not just somewhere to go on Sunday, even if it is genuinely to join together to worship God. It is to be Christ's presence in the world 24/7. And if we are, then we will bring worship and glory to God all the time - not just on Sunday - and not only in a building.

Now we could debate whether you call this Evangelism or Mission. To me Evangelism is sharing the gospel in various ways, whereas perhaps Mission is being sent out to do that. But they go hand in hand. Whatever word you use, it is outward looking - and it is what must move the church in the way it should go. You could say it is the engine that drives the church.

The Engine of the church

Why do we need an engine? If we think of CPAC as a car …then we have a pretty nice model - when visitors come here they feel a warm welcome, and feel at ease. And that is great and absolutely the way it should be. But is it enough?

Certainly God is right into good relationships. He delights in each one of us having a personal relationship with Him. But it is His heart that EVERYONE should have the opportunity to know and enjoy such a relationship. So that is always the way God wants us to go - to give as many people as possible that opportunity to have a relationship with Him.

Now it is of no use if a nice looking car doesn't have an engine to make it useful ………and so it might as well be an old run down wreck that can no longer be used for what it was designed.

Therefore we must use what God has given us to be what He wants us to be. We do need an engine to get us moving.

In our reading from 2 Cor. we are told we have a treasure in jars of clay. We are the jars of clay - fallible human beings - but we contain a great treasure - the love of God and Jesus in our hearts. What a treasure we have! Ideally then all we think of or do should be motivated and driven by a burning desire - that the love of God in us will flow out to others. It should underlie all our plans and dreams. It is that which must drive us - it is that is what must be the engine that gets us going forward. It is the gospel of Christ - however we each are called to proclaim it. We each in our own unique ways are called to spread the gospel as members of Christ's church.

That is Evangelism - and that is our engine. Unfortunately evangelism usually hasn't cried out loud enough for attention - so it often has a low priority in the church. It needs to be in our DNA so that it naturally effects how we think and plan and move - so everything is done with that intent - not just for the sake it - but intentionally outward.

Don't go to Church, be the Church

It is not so much what we do, it is who we are. We must be the church - each one of us as a member of the body of Christ.

I really sense there is a widespread growing recognition of the need to really be Christ's mission to the world …to be what Jesus wanted his church to be. And that is exciting!!!!!

And evangelism is the engine that will drive us. God will even provide the fuel for the engine …the Holy Spirit. Jesus said we can do nothing effectively without him - that we need him to provide the power.

When this service ends, that does not also signal the end of church for the week. The last words spoken in the service are - "Go now to love and serve the Lord. Go in peace."

And our response is - "Amen. We go in the name of Christ." Do realise that in saying that you are actually committing yourself to go out from here continuing to represent Christ wherever you are? When we go out from here and hop into our cars we will all end up going in different directions ……Tawa, , Johnsonville, Newlands, Churton Park, the city, etc. ……radiating out to our particular place in the world.

That is church! Each one of us, as members of Christ's body going out being part of his body, the church, wherever we are. That is how Jesus planned for his church to spread the gospel.

How well we play our part in Christ's body depends on our willingness. How willing are we to use the particular engine of evangelism God has given us? We each have our own particular people who God wants us to connect with for Him. God has given us the Holy Spirit to help and empower us to connect in the appropriate way.

Let us go from here with that assurance and confidence.

And when we do, God will bless us ……and bless others through us ……by being His church.

“What is God doing around the world?” 4th October 2009

CPAC sermon 4^th October 2009

From this weeks Winepress comment:

One of the scariest things in life is not failure, it is regret! My personal mantra in recent times is this: "It's time to take a risk for and with Jesus!"

If I fail it's not a big deal, I'll simply try again, but at least I gave it a shot, with no regret.

At a water theme park in Dubai I was challenged by a wild, crazy ride called “Leap of Faith”! ….. show slides… and explain…

This leap of faith was equivalent to a bungy jump for me!....

I had to surrender myself to the ride.

I was not in control – I had to trust the designers of this ride that what they had constructed would be absolutely safe.

I literally put my life in the hands of the designers because if anything happened to me they would be liable.

The spiritual equivalent to this is dying to self.

It is putting our lives into the hands of God…. trusting Him who said,

“I know the plans I have for you. They are plans for good

and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope”.

(Jer 29:11)

The theme of our service today is

“What is God doing around the world?”

It shouldn’t surprise you that He’s actually doing the same thing he is doing at Churton Park, Wellington New Zealand!

“He is searching the hearts of all people examining their

motives” , as Jeremiah 17:10 reminds us.

CS Lewis said, “I didn’t become a Christian to get happy. I always knew a bottle of port would do that!”

Lewis knew that he could fully trust God.

He knew that when we surrender our lives to God we carry a power within us that can only be from God.

Romans 8:11 “The Spirit of God who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you!”

It takes supernatural power to raise the dead.

That’s the kind of power in you, not to be overcome in your life but to be overcomers!

The trouble is that Christians can be people walking around with saved souls but lost lives.

So we must continually ask ourselves:

What is God’s heartbeat now?

What do I see Him doing that I might join Him in that work?

What was my original encounter with Jesus that made me say,

“Count me in Jesus. I’m on your team!” ?

Sometimes we get so side-tracked in life, we forget why we signed up, or we get disillusioned and give up.

That’s why Habbakuk reminded us that

¹⁷ Even though the fig trees have no blossoms,

      and there are no grapes on the vines;

   even though the olive crop fails,

      and the fields lie empty and barren;

   even though the flocks die in the fields,

      and the cattle barns are empty,

¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord!

      I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! (Hab 3:17-18)

We must always have vision or sight to see beyond our natural circumstances. We must die to self and look with eyes full of hope and trust in our God who says,

“I am your God and you are my people. Trust me, follow me, obey me.

Don’t be afraid for I am with you”.

The key is to get low, to get humble before God.

However, the sin of pride is humanity’s downfall and greatest stumbling block because the biggest sin we could ever commit, I believe, is the sin of self righteousness… which is an attitude of believing “I am right and you are wrong, end of story”!

The danger here is that the self-righteous doesn’t believe or even consider they may be in the wrong. They aren’t willing to negotiate or even consider other options or points of view. This self-serving, self righteous attitude is based on power and control. Hence nation will war against nation, group against group, individual against individual in the community, the workplace, in the home and yes, in the church.

Rev 3:19 says, “I correct and discipline everyone I love. So be diligent and turn from your indifference.”

A self righteous person will never turn from their indifference.

Such a stance is the root cause of all conflict causing stubbornness, bitterness, and an ever-increasing hardened heart.

Such pride is an abomination in God’s eyes who will bring down the proud but He will exalt the humble.

Our best model for humility is of course Jesus who came to serve, not to be served, and who emptied Himself of His divinity (Phil 2:6-8).

Note that Jesus didn’t need to be baptise, in fact, John the Baptist was very reluctant to do it but Jesus said he had to do it “to fulfil all righteousness” (Matthew 3:15). And, Abraham was counted as “righteous before God” because of his faith, trust and obedience to God (Genesis 15:6). Humility, being righteous, was the key here.

Righteous is a big word in the bible.

To be righteous is to die to self and to totally surrender oneself to God.

It’s begins with one’s heart posture.

With God’s help such a posture is always possible, bringing change from the inside-out.

Clean hands and a pure heart (Psalm 24:4) ensure we are like soft clay in the Potter’s hands being made more and more like His precious Son in nature and character.

Then, God delights in, and can help such a person take amazing leaps of faith! ….for…“He is searching the hearts of all people examining their

motives” … (Jeremiah 17:10)

Linda and I want to show you a few more slides from our trip now…..

SEEING GOD IN THE EVERYDAY 30 Aug 09

SEEING GOD IN THE EVERYDAY

Drama: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7_pCZp9UHI

There once were two little brothers who were excessively mischievous. They were always getting into trouble. If any mischief occurred in their town, the two boys were probably involved.

The boys' mother heard that a preacher in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys. The preacher agreed, but he asked to see them individually. So the mother sent the younger boy first, planning to send the older boy to see the preacher in the afternoon.

The preacher, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, "Do you know where God is, son?" The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open.

So the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone, "Where is God?!" Again, the boy made no attempt to answer.

The preacher raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, "Where is God?!" The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.

When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, "What happened?"

The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, "We are in BIG trouble this time. GOD is missing, and they think we did it!"

But seriously, how often do you feel that you’ve lost God? Many of you will have been taught it is important to set aside some time to spend with God everyday – such as a quiet time. Obviously this is important, but if you are anything like me it often seems as if this time is connived and artificial, and that sometimes God seems to be missing.

We come to church on Sunday and then off we go and carry on the rest of the week with little 5 minute God times fitted around our busy schedules. We try all sorts of things to try and make this God time suit us – devotional readings, music, prayer focus, psalms and often nothing we do seems to actually bring us closer to God.

· Where is God anyway when we are trying to connect with him?

· Why does it have to be so hard?

· Why does it seem as if other people get Words of Wisdom all the time and we are still struggling to make any sort of connection or even just to focus for more than 30 seconds on praying?

I am sure many of you will find these complaints familiar. Yet we often feel as if we are the only ones who feel this way. It always seems so much better for other Christians.

Over the past few months I have been spending a lot of time focussing on directing my spiritual life. I have looked at various different ways of meeting with God and to be honest not many of them seem to work well, BUT some do, often in surprising ways and I have learnt to focus on the ones that do.

In order to meet with God we firstly have to recognise what we are looking for. What is our image of God like?

As the activity earlier showed, there is a large range of variations on this theme. As we look at others perceptions we might think ‘how does that work?’ Yet we are all made individual and we all have unique ways of thinking. God knows you better than you do yourself and he deliberately and consciously made you that way. If you need reminding of that read Psalm 139.

God knows who you are deep inside. He knows what makes you tick and how to get that ticking going.

As we looked at that drama, how many of you felt a connection? We seem to spend a lot of time trying very hard to make a connection with God.

We try to be ‘holy’, listen up for a ‘word’ or tune in to what God is saying to us and come up blank.

· So how do we connect with God?

· Can we all meet with him everyday? in real and practical ways?

I believe the key is in understanding ourselves and recognising who God is for us. If you are an extrovert like me then being quiet and reflective is hard work. That doesn’t mean I can’t do it, it just takes more effort. It is certainly not something I feel comfortable with doing every day. But I need to connect with God every day so I have to develop ways I can relate to him that are meaningful according to who I am. Recognising that God wants to be part of my life in every possible way is helpful in establishing that relationship. God really is interested in everything I enjoy. He is eager to be with me when I walk to work, when I drive the kids round to their various activities, when I sit down to dinner and when I am sewing. If this makes me feel uncomfortable then it is probably more my problem – is it because of what I am doing, thinking, watching on TV or ...?

It is important to recognise that God is there even if we don’t recognise him, or want him round. He is definitely there when life is tough and more often than not he is carrying us through these times – like it says in the Footprints poem which many of you will be familiar with.

I have found it helpful to acknowledge that no one else’s spiritual life will be quite like mine. My relationship to God is unique in every way. He has taken time to craft a special friendship with me that would suit no one else – he loves me that much! He has also done that for you. You are the only one preventing that relationship from blossoming. God is able to reveal himself to you in a way ideally suited to you and all you need to do is recognise his presence.

· Consider what you like best.

· What makes an impression on you?

· How do you best connect with others?

· Are you quiet and reflective or do you prefer action?

· If quiet is hard then consider background music as you try to tune into his presence.

· Take a walk with your iPod if sitting still is difficult.

· Write your thoughts down in a journal.

How you meet with God is between you and God. By all means try a variety of ways – it may well be through trial and error that you establish the most meaningful connection, but don’t be afraid to explore.

Your task is to meet with God in every moment in a way that is meaningful for you (not for your friends).

Take time to offer yourself up to God and seek his guidance as you develop a 2 way relationship with him. Think on Psalm 119:73 – ‘You made me; you created me.
Now give me the sense to follow your commands.’

It won’t necessarily come easily but God’s word is full of advice on relying on his wisdom and guidance. Come before him in humility and with a desire to meet him and I am sure you will not be disappointed. Our own attitude is a key to being perceptive to God’s presence. Ask God to train your attitudes, thoughts and desires towards his laws and be receptive to where he leads you.

If you desire a closer relationship with God and want to be more aware of his presence in your life, I have a list of foundational truths which you may find helpful.

God wants to share everything with you. And he created you so he knows you best and is willing to steer you on a path that will experience his presence in unique and special way.

FOUNDATIONAL TRUTHS (‘Closer Than You Think’ by John Ortberg)

· God is always present and active in your life, whether or not you see Him.

· Coming to recognize and experience God's presence is learned behaviour which you can cultivate.

· Your task is to meet God in this moment.

· We are always tempted to live "outside" this moment. When we do that, we lose our sense of God's presence.

· Sometimes God seems far away for reasons we do not understand. Those moments, too, are opportunities to learn.

· Whenever we fail, we can always start again right away.

· No one knows the full extent to which a human being can experience God's presence.

· Our desire for God ebbs and flows, but His desire for each of us is constant.

· Every thought carries a "spiritual charge" that moves us a little closer to, or a little farther from God.

· Every aspect of your life--work, relationships, hobbies, errands--is of immense and genuine interest to God.

· Your path to experiencing God's presence will not look quite like anyone else's.

· Straining and trying too hard do not help.

Tania Roberts-Thomson