CRCF””7-19-09
What does America need from the Church?
Introduction””Adolphus was “a young black man with a wild, angry look in his eye” who began to attend LaSalle Street Church in Chicago. “He had spend some time in Vietnam, and most likely his troubles started there. He could never hold a job for long. His fits of rage and craziness sometimes landed him in an asylum. If Adolphus took his medication on Sunday, he was manageable. Otherwise, well, church could be even more exciting than usual. He might start at the back and high hurdle his way over the pews down to the altar. He might raise his hands in the air during a hymn and make obscene gestures. Or he might wear headphones and tune in rap music instead of the sermon. As part of worship, LaSalle had a time called ”˜Prayers of the People”™. We would all stand, and spontaneously various people would call out a prayer””for peace in the world, for the healing of the sick, for justice in the community around us. ”˜Lord, hear our prayer”™, we would respond in unison after each spoken request. Adolphus soon figured out that Prayers of the People provided an ideal platform for him to air his concerns. “Lord, thank you for the big recording contract I signed last week, and for all the good things happening to my band!”, prayed Adolphus. Those of us who knew Adolphus realized he was fantasizing, but others joined in with a heartfelt “Lord, hear our prayer.” Regular attenders came to expect the unexpected from Adolphus”™ prayer. Visitors had no idea what to think: their eyes would snap open and their necks would crane to get a look at the source of these unusual prayers . . . Adolphus had already been kicked out of three other churches . . . A group of people in the church, including a doctor and a psychiatrist, took on Adolphus as a special project. Every time he had an outburst, they pulled him aside and talked it through, using the word ”˜inappropriate”™ a lot. ”˜Adolphus, your anger may be justified. But there are appropriate and inappropriate ways to express it. Praying for the pastor”™s house to burn down is inappropriate.”™ We learned that Adolphus sometimes walked the five miles to church on Sunday because he could not afford the bus fare. Members of the congregation began to offer him rides. Some invited him over for meals. Most Christmases, he spent with our assistant pastor”™s family . . . Against all odds, Adolphus”™s story has a happy ending. He calmed down. He started calling people in the church when he felt the craziness coming on. He even got married. And on the third try Adolphus was finally accepted for church membership . Grace comes to people who do not deserve it, and for me Adolphus came to represent grace. In his entire life, no one had ever invested that kind of energy and concern in him. He had no family, he had no job, he had no stability. Church became for him the one stable place. It accepted him despite all he had done to earn rejection. The church did not give up on Adolphus. It gave him a second chance, and a third, and a fourth.”
(Yancey, Church: Why Bother?, 34-36)
“All across our world, millions of troubled people are trying to find a way to get through another night, another birthday, another season of life””and assuming the church of Jesus Christ could care less. They think we”™re mad at them. They think we despise them. They think we think they”™re no good, and we have a big black Book to prove it. What they don”™t know is that the Book actually says, “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Phil. 4:5). (Sinners in the Hands of an Angry Church, 73-75).
Without question, beyond any debate””our nation is in crisis in a variety of ways today. Perhaps the first thing to come to even OUR minds here this morning””America is in an economic crisis, which is hitting home for many of us right now. Truly, the economic crisis is the only new crisis we face today. After all, we”™ve been in a governmental crisis for, I believe, decades””with corrupt politics having devoured all parties, so that no matter who controlled the White House and Congress, we”™ve not truly been able to tell much difference on the streets, nor have we been able to claim that our party (whichever one it is) is completely upstanding and effective. I believe, based on reading unbiased history that even since the founding of the nation, with the rare exceptions of times of national revival, we”™ve been in a moral crisis.
What Does America Need from the Church?
The answers to that question could be as many as the number of church people you wanted to ask. But I believe God”™s Word lays it out fairly clearly for us.
We saw last week that . . .
America needs for every local church to know . . .
Our IDENTITY (Part 1)
From God”™s perspective, who are we, His church, to be?
We are to be humble servants to our world, showing them Jesus”™ love.
Yancey: “The Body of Christ becomes an overarching new identity that breaks down barriers of race and nationality and gender and makes possible a community that exists nowhere else in the world . . . We are charged to live out a kind of alternative society before the eyes of the watching world.” (Church: Why Bother?, 38).
Archbishop William Temple: “The church is the only cooperative society in the world that exists for the benefit of its non-members” (ibid., 31).
America needs for every local church to live in true . . .
COMMUNITY (Part 2)
We must show the world true community
that only Jesus can build.
Ronnie McBrayer: “koinonia: Communion by participation, together. Translated as community, fellowship, partnership, communion ”“ koinonia is a way of life, produced by God, that stands is stark contrast to a world that is only out for itself. The Christian life ”“ and any form of church that is worth holding on to ”“ is communal. It focuses on others. But to take hold of this, we must let go of what we have held on to: The corporate-commercial model for doing church. A major reason for the decline of Christianity in our country is due to the fact that we have adopted, sanctified, and blessed as our own, the corporate model for doing business. Churches have an addiction, an incessant drive to build spiritual Wal-Marts and shopping malls, rather than organic, Spirit-led koinonia. ”
What will it look like? What can our world expect to find in this true community, this Spirit-led koinonia?
Right up front, there will never be a perfect church””one that does it all right!
Eugene Peterson: “The church is composed of equal parts mystery and mess.” (ibid., 45)
But . . .
God”™s design for true community among His people includes the following 4 elements:
1. You and I need a community of Honest Acceptance.
Romans 15:7””“So accept each other just as Christ has accepted you; then God will be glorified.” (NLT)
The Message: “So reach out and welcome one another to God”™s glory. Jesus did it; now you do it!”
Ephesians 4:1-3””“ Therefore I, a prisoner for serving the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of your calling, for you have been called by God. Always be humble and gentle. Be patient with each other, making allowance for each other”™s faults because of your love. Make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.
We all want to be accepted and welcomed just as we are by a community of people.
Toby Keith song, “I Love This Bar”
“We got winners, we got losers
Chain smokers and boozers
And we got yuppies, we got bikers
We got thirsty hitchhikers
And the girls next door dress up like movie stars
Hmm, hmm, hmm I love this bar
We got cowboys, we got truckers
Broken-hearted fools and suckers
And we got hustlers, we got fighters
Early birds and all-nighters
And the veterans talk about their battle scars
Hmm, hmm, hmm I love this bar
[Chorus:]
I love this bar
It’s my kind of place
Just walkin’ through the front door
Puts a big smile on my face
It ain’t too far, come as you are
Hmm, hmm, hmm I love this bar
I’ve seen short skirts, we got high-techs
Blue-collar boys and rednecks
And we got lovers, lots of lookers
And I’ve even seen dancing girls and hookers”
The reason bars stay in business is not primarily the fact that some people are alcoholics and like to get drunk. Rather, the honest acceptance of the local bar often meets the heartfelt need of folks. At a bar, people let their hair down. Folks take off the mask and sit around and talk to other people about who they really are. They share secrets, hurts, struggles””albeit sometimes due to the influence of alcohol. Satan will always counterfeit what God created. That”™s what he does in bars!
Churches need to be more like BARS! But, we”™re the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ can do it better!
Have you ever had a member of your physical body reject another part and act as if it was superior to that other part? Because of Jesus”™ gracious acceptance of us, we ought to delight in honestly accepting others just as they are!!
With the influence of the Holy Spirit at work, Jesus wants us to provide a community where people can come and get real with each other and with God.
If local churches would be intentional about providing a community of honest acceptance, then many would come and be satisfied by Jesus”™ love/grace.
But in the meantime, so many settle for the honest acceptance they get at the local bar, which cannot begin to compare with the kind of love/acceptance that Christ-followers CAN give””if we only will!
Oh, to hear folks in Ellijay say of us, “I love this church, it”™s my kind of place”, as they describe the myriad of people who have come to know Jesus through the honest acceptance of His followers””me and you!
Our attitude toward others every Sunday morning (and every day, for that matter) ought to be: “No matter what, I”™m glad you”™re here and Jesus loves you.”
We must work to make sure our world knows that they are welcome just as they are and that they”™ll be honestly accepted when they”™re around us””all because of the love of Jesus!
And, by the way, I think our church is really growing in this area””and I”™ve got the testimony of folks that have come in and felt honest accepted to prove it! So, keep up the good work!
2. You and I need a community of Helpful Dependence.
Romans 12:10-11, 13””“Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Never be lazy in your work, but serve the Lord enthusiastically . . . When God”™s children are in need, be the one to help them out. And get into the habit of inviting guests home for dinner or, if they need lodging, for the night.” (NLT)
Paul Tournier: “There are two things that we cannot do alone: one is to be married and the other is to be a Christian.” (Yancey, Why Bother with Church?, 37)
Philippians 2:3-4””“”Don”™t be selfish; don”™t live to make a good impression on others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourself. Don”™t think only about your own affairs, but be interested in others, too, and what they are doing.” (NLT)
Yancey: “I came away from the ”˜midnight church”™ impressed, yet also troubled that AA meets needs in a way that the local church does not””or at least did not, for my friend. I asked him to name the one quality missing in the local church that AA had somehow provided. He stared at his cup of coffee for a long time, watching it go cold. I expected to hear a word like love or acceptance or, knowing him, perhaps anti-institutionalism. Instead, he said softly this one word: dependency. ”˜None of us can make it on our own””isn”™t that why Jesus came?”™ he explained. ”˜Yet most church people give off a self-satisfied air of piety or superiority. I don”™t sense them consciously leaning on God or on each other. Their lives appear to be in order. An alcoholic who goes to church feels inferior and incomplete.”™ He sat in silence for a while, until a smile began to crease his face. ”˜It”™s a funny thing,”™ he said at last. ”˜What I hate most about myself, my alcoholism, was the one thing God used to bring me back to him. Because of it, I know I can”™t survive without God. I have to depend on him to make it through each and every day. Maybe that”™s the redeeming value of alcoholism. Maybe God is calling us alcoholics to teach the saints what it means to be dependent on him and on his community on earth.” (Church: Why Bother? , 51)
Churches need to be more like AA! By the way, it”™s no accident that the founders of AA were Christians””more about them in a minute. But again, the Body of Christ can do it better!
We are all in the same boat””sinners who can”™t make it without Jesus! And as we live our lives together, we need each other to remind each other of that and be there for one another, for Jesus”™ sake!
Galatians 6:1-3””“Dear friends, if a Christian is overcome by sin, you who are godly should gently and humbly help that person back onto the right path. And be careful not to fall into the same temptation yourself. Share each other”™s troubles and problems, and in this way obey the law of Christ. If you think you are too important to help someone in need, you are only fooling yourself. You are really a nobody.” (NLT)
Yancey: “According to historian Ernest Kurtz, Alcoholics Anonymous came out of a discovery Bill Wilson made in his first meeting with Doctor Bob Smith. On his own, Bill had stayed sober for six months until he made a trip out of town, where a business deal fell through. Depressed, wandering a hotel lobby, he heard familiar sounds of laughter and of ice tinkling in glasses. He headed toward the bar, thinking, ”˜I need a drink.”™ Suddenly a brand new thought came to him, stopping him in his tracks: ”˜No, I don”™t need a drink””I need another alcoholic!”™ Walking instead toward the lobby telephones, he began a sequence of calls that put him in touch with Dr. Smith, who would become AA”™s cofounder. Church is a place where I can say, unashamedly, ”˜I don”™t need to sin. I need another sinner.”™ Perhaps together we can keep each other accountable, on the path.” (ibid., 52)
1 Corinthians 12:12-26””“ The human body has many parts, but the many parts make up one whole body. So it is with the body of Christ. Some of us are Jews, some are Gentiles, some are slaves, and some are free. But we have all been baptized into one body by one Spirit, and we all share the same Spirit.
Yes, the body has many different parts, not just one part. If the foot says, “I am not a part of the body because I am not a hand,” that does not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear says, “I am not part of the body because I am not an eye,” would that make it any less a part of the body? If the whole body were an eye, how would you hear? Or if your whole body were an ear, how would you smell anything?
But our bodies have many parts, and God has put each part just where he wants it. How strange a body would be if it had only one part! Yes, there are many parts, but only one body. The eye can never say to the hand, “I don”™t need you.” The head can”™t say to the feet, “I don”™t need you.”
In fact, some parts of the body that seem weakest and least important are actually the most necessary. And the parts we regard as less honorable are those we clothe with the greatest care. So we carefully protect those parts that should not be seen, while the more honorable parts do not require this special care. So God has put the body together such that extra honor and care are given to those parts that have less dignity. This makes for harmony among the members, so that all the members care for each other. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it, and if one part is honored, all the parts are glad.” (NLT)
We are part of one another, in Christ, and we NEED each other!
Yancey: “A family of God emerges, one in which unity does not mean uniformity and diversity does not mean division” (ibid., 30).
St. John of the Cross: “The virtuous soul that is alone . . . is like the burning coal that is alone. It will grow colder rather than hotter” (Yancey, ibid., 23).
We need each other”™s help in this journey of following Christ! The Holy Spirit uses YOU to help others and OTHERS to help you!
Yancey: “I like to think of the church as one of those Emergi-Centers: open long hours, convenient to find, willing too serve the needs of people who drop in with unexpected emergencies” (ibid., 55).
I want our community to view us as a spiritual Emergi-Center!
We must continue to get to know each other so that we have real relationships where this kind of helpful dependence can be lived out! Again, I say “continue” because I think this group does a good job depending on each other and helping each other out.
3. You and I need a community of Forgiving Love.
John 13:35””“Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are My disciples.” (NLT)
Yancey: “ . . . it grieves me to see local churches that run more like a business institution than a family . . . failure does not cancel out membership . . . A healthy family builds up the weakest members while not tearing down the strong . . . Family is the one human institution we have no choice over . . . Church calls for another step: to voluntarily choose to band together with a strange menagerie because of a common bond in Jesus Christ.” (ibid., 63-65)
Forgiving love really is unique to the those of us who know Jesus””because it is HIS forgiveness of us that gives reality to our forgiveness of others.
Ephesians 4:31-32””“Get rid of all bitterness, rage, anger, harsh words, and slander, as well as all types of evil behavior. Instead, be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you.”
Ronnie McBrayer: “But the one thing that church did, and every dynamic church generation since has done, was live life together as the family of God. They knew each other, loved each other, took care of each other; and the best witness they had was their very existence.”
1 John 3:16””“We know what real love is because Christ gave up his life for us. And so we also ought to give up our lives for our Christian friends. (NLT)
We must be a community full of forgiving love! We are never more like Jesus than when we forgive someone who”™s wronged us! And the gospel is never made more attractive to those who need it most when they watch us forgiving someone who”™s wronged us!
Remember Adolphus?
Wouldn”™t it be awesome if folks in Ellijay knew us because of how gracious we are to anyone we come in contact with, anyone who comes to one of our meetings?
Once again, be encouraged””I see our church growing in forgiving love! By the grace of God, ya”™ll don”™t let the little things be “burs under your saddle”. Rather, you extend grace to each other and focus on your oneness in Jesus more than our human differences!
4. You and I need a community that is Christ-Centered.
A Community that . . .
a) Declares “Jesus is Savior and Lord”
Matthew 16:13-18””“When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”“Well,” they replied, “some say John the Baptist, some say Elijah, and others say Jeremiah or one of the other prophets.” Then he asked them, “But who do you say I am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus replied, “You are blessed, Simon son of John, because my Father in heaven has revealed this to you. You did not learn this from any human being. Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ”˜rock”™), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it.” (NLT)
The truth of who Jesus is, is the unshakeable foundation for His church. Jesus builds His church! But He uses US as we get the Gospel out to those around us!
Yancey: “God has chosen . . . to dwell in ordinary, even ornery, people like you and me . . . God now reveals himself . . . through the mongrel collection that comprises my local church and every other such gathering in God”™s name.” (ibid., 68)
Yancey: “The Christian basis for community, the reconciling love of God, transcends all differences of nationality, race, class, age, and gender. Our commonality comes first; the issues that divide us come later” (ibid., 30).
b) Imitates Jesus in sacrificial love/service/holiness
This is really what we talked about last week””“washing feet” in our world like Jesus did, making sacrifices in order to show love for others””all because of our love/devotion to the Father who wants us to bring glory to Him!
1 John 2:6””“Those who say they live in God should live their lives as Christ did.”
We must live in community in imitation of Jesus””toward one another and toward those in our community!
c) Celebrates God”™s grace in Jesus through the
Lord”™s Supper regularly
1 Corinthians 11:26””“For every time you eat this bread and drink this cup, you are announcing the Lord”™s death until he comes again.” (NLT)
The Lord”™s Supper is a tangible reminder, a physical exercise with great spiritual nourishment in Christ, that we all need regularly!
Above all, we MUST be known as a Christ-centered community. It”™s all about HIM! Now, all that we”™ve talked about this morning (REVIEW)””each of these things is part of Who Jesus is. So, if we become this sort of community, then our world WILL see Him””and then HE”™LL draw folks to Himself!
Conclusion””
Ronnie McBrayer: “There comes a time in the life of a caterpillar when it wraps itself in a cocoon. It is a time of death. The caterpillar dies, in order to be transformed into a butterfly. Kestin Brewin says this: “We don”™t need more caterpillars. We need butterflies.”
“We need churches, Jesus tribes, communities of faith that will reject business as usual, letting it all go and letting it die, that something breathtakingly beautiful can emerge. And little is more beautiful that a community of Christ-followers who have rejected the power, programming, and devices that lead to fatter caterpillars for the communion found in the words of Jesus: “They will know you are my disciples by the love you have one for another.” It”™s all about community.”