Manuscript - Church of the Foothills

Sermon Series: Fall Vision Refresh – Our Mission, Your Mission
1
2 Corinthians 5:18-20 “Now, what’s the point of Church?”
Pastor Brian Long: September 11th, 2016
Big Idea: The point of church is to be ambassadors of Christ
Camping and backpacking have been one of my favorite things to do over
the years. And, I don’t know about you but I think one of my most favorite
things about camping and backpacking is the time around the campfire at
night. In fact, recently I’ve planned all my back-packing trips in the late
spring or early summer for the fire restrictions take full effect. I love the campfire piece of this so much that years ago I bought one of
those back yard fire pits. But here’s the thing about campfires…you
always need to tend them…poke them….add more wood…stir them…and
when the flame dies out sometimes you have to get close and blow some
air on them to fire them up again. Now, due to allergies to smoke in my household, and quite frankly, due to
age and convenience issues, I have one of those gas fire pits. Click, bam,
fire. No smoke, no stoking, no blowing required. But, with normal fires…
they need regular stoking to keep them burning well. I think doing church together is kind of like campfires! As we go about
doing church together, there are seasons where we’re burning hot and
we’re all fired up, but overtime the fire or purpose or motivation in our
bellies can shrink down to smolder. Like campfires, the fire in our bellies
needs to be tended, stoked up if you will, and the flame reignited. On a regular basis, our fire needs stirred and stoked. We need to be
reminded:
• Why God started the church in the first place? Have we veered from
that purpose or are we on track? • What is our main objective as we do church together? • Why are we doing all this stuff that’s a part of church?
• We need to be reminded of these things so we understand more clearly
the part each of us plays in the church, so that we’re reminded how our
specific part fits into the program we’re involved with, and how the
program we’re involved with helps us accomplish the purpose God has
given the church. 2
This is why each year in September, after our summer scattering time, I
spend some time Sunday mornings to stoke the fires of our mission and
calling as God’s church. If you lose sight of what God has called us to and
why we’re doing what we’re doing then it won’t be long until your fires of
motivation to use your time, talent, and treasure in that effort will begin to
smolder. When that happens you start to lose some heat in your
motivation on why you should be a part of church at all.
Today I’m asking the question: Why church? What’s the point? Why was it
started? What is the primary purpose of church? How would you answer that question? Take a moment and think about
that. Where does your mind go first? How would Jesus answer that
question? These are worthy questions to give ourselves to because we know from
the Bible that God only started two institutions—Marriage, and The
church. So, why did he do it? What is his purpose for the church? The end of the book of Matthew and the beginning of the book of Acts
basically teach us that the first followers of Jesus were commissioned by
Jesus to take the message of his transformational love and all his
teachings into every orbit of their lives and into every place and people
their journey of life took them. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the
name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and
teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. – Jesus,
Matthew 28:18-20
This statement has been called the Great Co-mission. It’s the central
mission Jesus called his followers to. It’s the central driving calling of the
church. It is perhaps the most important mission statement ever given. 3
It’s greater and more important than what some have called the most
famous mission statement in last 60 years. Shortly before I was born, in
May of 1961 President John F. Kennedy stood before congress and said
this, {on screen}"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving
the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and
returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will
be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range
exploration of space." -President Kennedy, Address to Congress on
Urgent National Needs, May 25, 1961
Greater than the mission statement to the moon, greater than the mission
of Operation desert Storm, greater than any other mission ever extended
is the mission Jesus called his followers to. No mission has had deeper
significance and more widespread, long-term impact. Jesus mission is called a CO-mission in part because having stated his
mission, he committed the presence and power of his Spirit to them in
order to complete it. Jesus basically said, I’ve started this gathering of
followers…I’ve loved them and…taught them how to connect with God…
and allow a relationship with me to transform their lives and bring healing
to their hurts, habits, and hang ups. Now, I want you to take that good
news to all the people you’re in relationship with—at home, and in your
neighborhoods, and in all your travels and migrations, wherever you go.
But, not to worry…my power and my presence will go with you to the very
end of time. Here’s the way Jesus said it;
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and
you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria,
and to the ends of the earth.” – Jesus, Acts 1:8
This power of the Spirit then fills these followers in Acts chapter 2 and at
that point the church—this “start up of God” effectively has its official
launch, and begins to go public. Jesus effectively says, “Here’s what I’m calling you to do…and here’s how
I’m resourcing you to do it. 4
Now, not long after the church gets going, a guy named Saul gives himself
to trying to squash it all out. He’s going far and wide to try and snuff the
church out and arrest these empowered Jesus followers. But, instead of
stopping the spread of the church, God stops Saul, and appears to him,
and calls him to stop persecuting the church and instead join her efforts. Here’s how Paul came to understand the purpose of the church Jesus had
personally called him into…Turn in your Bibles to 2 Cor. 5.
Perhaps using 2 Cor. 5…our ministry of reconciliation…
“17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, {those in Christ are those who
have trusted Jesus as forgiver and are learning to follow him as
leader of their lives} the new creation has come: The old has gone,
the new is here! Boy…Saul experienced this first hand. He was
transformed from Christ hater to Christ lover and server. He went
from Christian hunter and persecutor to Christian brother, and
partner. God changed his life and as a defining marker of the new
man he became, changed his name from Saul to Paul In verse 18 Paul goes on…. All this {all this transformation, healing, and
renewal from old to new} is from God, who reconciled us to himself
through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: 19 that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins
against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.
20 We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his
appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to
God. 21 God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we
might become the righteousness of God.”
So Paul is clarifying three main things in these verses. God offers to make us new and righteous. (Read again vs. 17, 21).
I mentioned a moment ago the healing, and transformation Paul
experienced. He describes his experience in another place as one who
comes out of darkness into the light where he sees life differently now.
God makes more sense to him now. Spiritual things make more sense to
him now. Hurts, habits, and hang-ups have less, and less control his life. 5
The love of Jesus meets us wherever we are…right in the middle of all our
fears, our anxieties, our uncertainties, and our failures. He meets us right in
the middle of our mess…and he doesn’t condemn us or shake a shaming
finger at us. Instead, he offers to help us…he offers to make us new. He searches us out in the middle of our frantic, gnawing search for
meaning and significance. He finds us right in the middle of our sweaty
efforts to make life work on our own. And he offers to take our hurts,
habits, and hang ups and replace them with a covering of his
righteousness. The old becomes new!
Fixer upper show…some stories from sabbatical. At the end of the show,
they show the before and after pictures. Each of us bring our fixer-upper lives to God and he doesn’t make fun of
us or shame us. He offers to provide a completed restoration. When we
come to Jesus it’s DEMO DAY for our old worn out ways of relating…it’s
DEMO DAY for the soul-eating fear, anxiety, or anger. Those things are
removed and remodeled…and replaced with new life, new vision, new
meaning. How is this possible? How does God accomplish this?
This is possible by being reconciled to our creator – God. (18-20)
You see, before we connect with Jesus our proneness is to live for our
self-centered values, and our proneness is to stiff arm our creator and run
our own lives. This drives a wedge between our heart and God’s heart.
God wants to have relationship with us, but we ignore him and try to make
life work on our own. God sent his Son Jesus the Christ {Savior/deliverer/Messiah} to foster
reconciliation in that relationship. Verse 18 says, “All this is from God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ…” How does he do it? Verse 19
explains more… “not counting people’s sins against them.” 6
You see, Jesus comes to us and he doesn’t condemn us, or shame us or
ridicule us. Neither does he say, “You, my friend, need to get your act
together so God will talk to you again.” He knows we can’t fix ourselves. Instead, he offers love, forgiveness, and healing to us.” He offers to forgive
the sin in our lives that is driving that relational wedge between our heart
and God’s heart. He offers to take that wedge away so that we can be
reconciled—so that we can be on friendly terms—even family terms with
our creator God—our Father, who is in heaven. This is an amazing offer. It transforms our lives. It’s an internal make-over
like none other. Look at some of these before and after pix of old cars that
have been restored from the inside out. {Slide of cars}
God offers to make the old, new. He offers to take the destructive parts of
our lives and not hold us accountable for those sinful offenses and in place
of them actually apply to us his own perfection and righteousness. This exchange unequivocally qualifies us for heaven. God basically comes
to us and says, “I really, really, really, love you and I want to journey with
you in life and after that I want you in heaven with me. But, I know you and
I know you can never get there on your own because heaven requires
perfection. So, I’m going offer to take away all your imperfection, and give
you my perfection. Isn’t that amazing? That, my friends, is the Good News of Jesus. It’s an
almost unbelievable offer. But, it’s real and it’s offered to every one of us.
Now, there is one final piece Paul makes clear in this passage. This is the
news…this is the message…this is the truth God wants his church to
spread around the world!
This offer is our offer to the people around us – vv. 18-20
As we have seen already, at the end of Matthew Jesus tells his followers to
take this message wherever they go. We have also seen in the beginning
of Acts he tells his follows to be his “…witnesses in Jerusalem, AND in all
Judea AND Samaria, AND to the ends of the earth.” Now here, Paul calls
Jesus followers “Ambassadors of Christ.” 7
What’s the point of church? It’s all about being ambassadors for Christ. It’s
about communicating the transforming love, grace, and forgiveness of
Jesus with the people in our lives. He wants us to implore people to be
reconciled to God. This is the whole point of church…to communicate the
good news of Jesus through our attitudes, actions, and words…and
implore people to embrace Jesus. I want to stop right now and make sure that if you have never understood
the forgiveness Jesus offers you, or you have never made that decision to
accept his offer of forgiveness and restoration; I want to implore you to
accept that offer right now. It’s an offer to take your imperfection and replace it with his perfection and
righteousness. It’s an offer to be present with you 24/7 through his Spirit.
It’s an offer to bring healing and empowerment to overcome your hurts,
habits, and hang-ups. It’s an offer to once and for all qualify you for
heaven!
Whether you’re listening in Re:new, The Chapel, or here in LIVE, or
Online…all you need to do is call out to Jesus in the privacy of your own
heart, and with your own words…let him know you need him. You need his
presence, his forgiveness, his healing, and renewing power to take hold in
your life. If you are making that decision today, we would love to touch base with
you. Take out the tall card with the green stripe on top and fill it out and
toss the bottom portion into the basket or bucket that will come around a
little later in the service. We will get in touch with you and share some next
steps with you and answer any remaining questions you may have. © Church of the Foothills 2016