Last night at Midweek I continued our series, What is the Local Church? Last night was part two of the series, "The Church is a Community." If you'd like to listen to or watch the talk, go to the Crossroads website, hover over "Services" in the top right hand corner, then click on "Wednesdays." You can then choose either video or audio options. These Midweek talks are usually up by Thursday afternoons and will be available for one week. For those who would like to read my sermon notes from last night - here they are! Click below where it says "Continue Reading" to see the sermon notes.
The Church is Community - 08.20.08
Video Transition – short video “Change is Good” from Granger about pony express messaging.
Introduction – Tonight we continue our series, What is the Local Church? As we’ve been reminded in the video, technology has changed so much of how we live. When it comes to sending a message we can email, IM, Facebook, blog, and the newest fad Twitter, where you let the internet world know what you’re doing 140 characters at a time! I use all of them and I love it. This past weekend we took Jillian to Cedarville and attended several seminars designed for parents. One was named, “Parenting from Afar,” where the speaker told us that students LOVE receiving hand written letters. So I bought stationery and mailed a letter to Jillian via snailmail!
Discontinuous Change is the reality of our life. This week I’m reading a book, The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World. The authors distinguish between continuous change and discontinuous change.
Continuous = change happening the way we’re used to change, change out of what has gone before and therefore can be expected, anticipated, and managed.
Discontinuous = disruptive and unanticipated; creates situations that challenge our assumptions. Doesn’t happen often. Transforms culture forever.
Example #1 - Exodus from slaves to God’s people.
Example #2 – the advent of the printing press
Now – Internet, computers, and the shrinking of our world.
How does the church respond to Discontinuous Change? Naïve to believe that church doesn’t change. The church was never the same after the printing press. Two extremes of church response:
Extreme #1 – Become so involved in the technology of what the church can be and can do that she forgets what she is supposed to be and supposed to do. What do we do with TV church, Multi-sites, Internet church? (I’m not judging yet, just asking.) Estimated that Multi-sites now have 2,400 congregations BUT WILL SOON EXPLODE TO OVER 30,000 CONGREGATIONS!
Extreme #2 – Become technophobic – avoid anything that smacks of new change or technology. Church sign – “We are a 1st century church in a 21st century world.” Bothered me but I didn’t know why. I know what they’re getting at – be a Biblical church. But there are two problems with the concept of a 1st century church:
Problem #1 – Which 1st century church? It’s not like there was only one. It would appear that there were many differences.
Problem #2 – God has placed us in the 21st century for a reason! We are to reach 21st century people, using 21st century technology to worship a TIMELESS ETERNAL GOD!
Understanding History – In some ways the church has always adapted to the world around it.
1st century – getting the word out.
2nd & 3rd century – persecution, definition
Post 3rd century – Constantine, official state religion
16th century – reformation / printing press.
Our question is this: “How do we combine church history with discontinuous change to understand how to be the local church?
ANSWER: We look for Biblical Principles of how to be the church.
TRANSITION: Working Definition – The local church is a community of confessing believers in Jesus Christ, who obeys Scripture by organizing under qualified leadership, who gathers regularly for preaching and worship, who scatters to evangelize and care for people everywhere. They observe the Biblical ordinances of baptism and communion, are unified by the Holy Spirit for mission in the world and discipline to live out the great commandment and the great commission to the glory of God.
TRANSITION: Tonight we want to talk about “Community of Confessing Believers.”
I. The church is a ___COMMUNITY_____. Whenever the Bible talks about the church it speaks in terms of community, in terms of plural. The church is one, but made up of many. We see this over and over again in Scripture. Let’s examine a few:
5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession. 1 Peter 2:5, 9a
Plural: Make sure you notice how this is talking about “you” always in the plural: “you yourselves” … “a people for his own possession.”
But One: The stones become a house. The church is describe as a race, a priesthood, a nation.
II. The church is made up of ___CONFESSING BELIEVERS______ We learned this past weekend that confession is to speak agreement. We think of confession in regards to sin. But also in regards to speaking the truth and agreeing on our faith. We confess that Jesus Christ is our Savior and our Lord. That Jesus is God – the second person of the Trinity. He lived in human form (Incarnation) 2,000 years ago, died, was resurrected 3 days later, lives today, sent His Spirit to live in and through us, and that we now possess eternal life, even though we die, we will be resurrected!
TRANSITION: What does this look like? When we see something that calls itself “church” how can we tell if it is or not?
Five Descriptions of the Church as Community:
1. The church as ___ASSEMBLY_____. The Greek word, ekklesia is used 108 times in the NT for our English word “church.” However, its classical Greek meaning was simply “assembly.” We can see in the Bible Acts 19:32, 39, and 41, Ephesus Riot, where this same word is used in its classical meaning of assembly. “The assembly was in confusion.” “It shall be settled in our regular assembly.” “He dismissed the assembly.” It has the sense of the New England Town Meeting. It only had Christian meaning by end of 1st century. Clearly the concept was one of Christians “assembling” together, gathering… meeting.
Legitimate Question: How will technology change our concept of assembly? Can we “gather together” with the same social connections meant by ekklesia without physically being in the same place?
24 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:24&25
Scripture teaches us to meet together so that we may encourage one another. In fact, this is one area that is supposed to change – “all the more as you see the Day drawing near!”
2. The church as ___FAMILY_____. From Acts 1:14 through Rev. 22.9 the word, brother, is used 247 times in 236 verses. It does not mean only men, but was used for the plural “brothers and sisters”. It was another way of referring to Christ followers. It is the #1 descriptor for a very good reason. The church is a family. We are to love one another as brother loves brother and sister loves sister. If you haven’t had a great sibling relationship, don’t let this concept throw you. Family in the human sense is not always positive, because we don’t have perfect parents or perfect children. But the family of God is different – We are brothers and sisters to one another for one simple reason. We are all children of God, adopted into His family.
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, - Romans 8:14-16.
Because we all together cry, “Abba! Father!” we have family in common. We have one Father – God the Father. We all have the same adopted brother, Jesus – God the Son. And we all share the same Spirit. This makes us family. You’ve heard it said that blood is thicker than water – Family before Friendships. Remember that we are brothers and sisters for one simple reason – Christ’s blood shed for us. Blood is thicker than water!
3. The church as ___BODY__. The Bible talks about the church as being many members but one body:
4 For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, 5 so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. – Romans 12:4,5
This is the principle of diversity. We don’t have to be identical to one another. God gave us our uniqueness so that we might serve one another. He told us in 1 Corinthians 12:27 that we…
are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
Here we see the combination of the plural and the one. There is a good reason for this, because we have a common purpose…
4. The church as ___ARMY___. This is quite timely in terms of the political debate taking place right now. Should faith based organizations (that’s political speak for “church”) receive public funding to accomplish social objectives that the gov’t cannot? For us this question is academic. We should not worry about whether or not we receive funding, because God has provided and will provide all the help we need if we’ll only do what he has asked us to do.
4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. 5 We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, - 2 Corinthians 10:4-5
In Other Words, the church is purposeful, always about the LORDS’s business!
5. The church as ___BRIDE____. We are waiting to be united with Christ forever. We worship Him now as best we can, knowing that it will be so much more later. The closest we can get to the description is that we love Him (and He loves us) as intimately as a wife loves her husband!
7 Let us rejoice and exult
and give him the glory,
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
and his Bride has made herself ready;
Don’t miss the community aspect in v. 6 – “the voice of a great multitude, like the roar of many waters!”
Close with checklist. When you see something calling itself a church, ask, “Is there an assembly?” “A family?” “A body?” “An army?” “A bride?”
Pray.
