We Are The Church
Notes
Transcript
So today will be a little different.
I really feel like I need to talk to the family and tell you where my head is.
FBC implemented last year the biggest change maybe in the history of the church
But certainly the biggest since the CBF/SBC controversy in the 80’s and early 90’s.
If FBC had made any other decision during that controversy than it did
Many - maybe even most - of us wouldn’t be here.
It was a hard time.
It cost members and staff.
But the church did the right thing, they followed the Lord, they weathered the storm and here we are.
Fast forward to 2024 and we implemented Elders and Deacons.
The scripture plainly teaches a plurality of Elders to lead the church and a group of Deacons to serve the church.
Nothing really stood in the way of that decision, except for the fact that for over 100 years, Baptist churches ignored the Bible for a man made model.
A hundred years is a long time.
Changing something that has been in place for 100 years is a major change.
We’ve been through a major change.
Why bring this up?
Because I need all of you to know where my head it.
On April the 1st, the date isn’t lost on me - April Fool’s day
Austin and I went to the Georgia Baptist Mission Board’s reTool conference at Northway church.
We both knew that Dr. Jeff Iorg was going to be the speaker.
Dr. Iorg used to be the president of the SBC’s Gateway Seminary in California.
But now, he’s the president of the Executive Committee of the Southern Baptist Convention.
For those that don’t live and breathe SBC, the president of the SBC leads the annual meeting and basically is the cheer leader for the SBC.
The Executive Committee runs the SBC year round and Dr. Iorg is the leader.
He’s the most powerful man in the SBC.
When we walked into the room, they had a book of Dr. Iorg for each of us.
The book is titled, “Leading Major Change in Your Ministry.”
I thought out loud actually, “A day late and a dollar short.”
But I was very, very wrong, because as with everything with God, it was right on time.
We are going to look at a lot of scripture today so get ready to move around a bit.
We’ll start with Matthew 9:9-15 so go ahead and be looking that up.
Kids, we are going to talk about the church and what we do.
Please pay attention as best you can.
Short of being at home with your mom and dad, the church is the most important place you’ll go.
You need to know why you are here and what to do once you get here,
So you can want to be here, do you follow me?
Your worship guide is designed today to help you follow what we do and why, so work with me, ok?
Your three words you are listening for are Jesus, Church and Mission.
Now, normally I read our scripture here - but hang on one second.
I want to read another scripture first
Hear now the Word of the Lord from the lips of Jesus from Matthew 4:17
From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
This is the words of Jesus Himself.
Let us pray:
In Jesus’ name, Amen
Not too long ago, we finished studying the book of Exodus
And you will remember that during the Exodus is when Yahweh started giving the Law.
It started with the 10 commandments and then He added others.
And then those priests that Yahweh put in charge, starting making rules to help them not break the other rules.
Rules upon rules.
613 rules - that everyone had to follow, every day to be a good person.
Those rules were in place for hundreds and hundreds of years.
They explained how to live, how to be holy and what they thought the kingdom of heaven was going to look like.
Then Jesus comes and tells them, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”
And it looks nothing like what they expected.
Jesus lead the most major change in the history of the world.
Think about what He did.
People talked for 100’s of years “this is who God is and how God operates.”
And Jesus comes, 30 years old, born in a carpenter’s house and Jesus says, “Not exactly.”
The people reacted to His change the same way we react to change today.
That where Matthew 9 comes in.
Read with me Matthew 9:9-15
As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.
And as Jesus reclined at table in the house, behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and were reclining with Jesus and his disciples.
And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”
But when he heard it, he said, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick.
Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”
Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”
And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.
This is the word of the Lord, thanks be to God.
Jesus is getting started - He’s implementing the change.
And here he meets Matthew.
Matthew is the example of the first way of dealing with change.
What does the Bible say?
“and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.”
Now think about this for a second - Matthew wrote this book.
Matthew didn’t give us anything about what he was thinking, he didn’t give us anything about what anyone around him was saying or doing.
It obviously didn’t matter - whatever Jesus had said that Matthew heard, whatever he saw that Jesus did - Matthew was convinced Jesus was right.
“And he rose and followed him.”
Now notice - no comment at all.
Matthew’s actions simply said, “Let’s get after it.”
That’s the first way of dealing with change.
The second way of dealing with change is like the Pharisees.
What they had studied and practiced, handed down from their daddy and their daddy’s daddy and their daddy’s daddy’s daddy and on and on
Was being challenged by this 30 year old itinerate preacher who right off the bat is hanging out with “tax collectors and sinners.”
He’s eating with them and touching them and that makes Jesus “unclean” according to their rules.
Who did He this guy think he was?
If you remember from your Big Bible Reading, they asked Jesus that very question before the crucifixion.
They don’t like it and they don’t like it one bit.
They don’t see a reason for it.
Everything is working just fine, why mess it up?
That’s the second way we handle change.
And the third way of dealing with change is John’s disciples.
Now here is the thing about them - they are the early adopters.
Before Matthew, before Jesus ever started preaching, John the Baptist is leading the charge.
Remember Matthew said this in chapter 3 verse 3 Matthew 3:3 “For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah when he said, “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; make his paths straight.’ ””
So John’s disciples were already engaged.
They were fasting and praying and couldn’t for the life of themselves understand why that
If Jesus is the man, why aren’t the disciples doing what they were doing?
“You guys are behind.
“By now we should be way down the road and you’re just now learning?
“What’s your problem?
Here it is - the third way of dealing with change
“You aren’t moving fast enough.”
Now, here’s the big point.
They are all in the same boat.
And the storm outside the boat is raging, all kinds of people believing all kinds of things
Angry people, dismissive people, ridiculing people, powerful people.
Who would love to see the boat sink and take all three of us down with it.
Do you believe that?
Do you understand that the world hates the church when it’s being the church?
Jesus said it would, “John 15:18-19
“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.
If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
The world hates us - we have to understand or we are going to miss our mission.
Now, FBCG has all three of these groups in it.
We had a major change
Major change causes us to feel all kinds of feelings
And this is why I was wrong about the conference.
Doctor Iorg made several statements.that woke me up.
He said “Brothers, grow a spine and lead your churches to change.”
He said, “Brothers, make up your mind to see the change to completion.”
And then he dropped the big bomb - “Brothers, remember, ‘The mission matters most.”
The mission is not the change.
The change was to make it possible for the mission to continue for as long as the Lord will allow.
If the boat is to stay afloat, the vast majority of us have to keep our eyes on the mission.
So that begs the last big question: If mission matters most,
What is the mission of FBC Gray?
What is the mission of FBC Gray?
We say, “Be the Church”
We say, “You are the Church”
We say, “Make Jesus known.”
What does all of that mean?
What does it mean to be the church?
Three things.
We gather to worship
We gather to worship
I want to state straight up, our goal is to come to Sunday groups and worship every Sunday.
Every Sunday.
And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,
praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.
See what the early church did?
Everyone wants to say they did home church - but did they only do home church?
Nope, “And day by day, attending the temple together….”
They didn’t quit going to the Church building.
The priests still expounded the Old Testament texts and the people could hear Jesus all in those texts.
So they went - day by day
And THEN they went to groups at each other’s house.
I almost wrote that our goal is to come to Church as often as we are able but I caught myself.
That’s a cop out.
The goal is to be here every week that comes. Period.
Now I know you have a million things, I get that for sure but let me say this about that.
Just as Dr. Iorg told Pastors to grow a spine and lead church, some of you need to grow a spine when it comes to the other things in your life.
Listen, the groups that are plaguing our country right now with disruption and terrorism - they aren’t the majority.
They are a small group with a loud voice.
Less than half of Americans supported the American revolution.
9.3% of Americans identify as LGBTQ+ and do you see the changes they’ve made.
They redefined civil marriage in the United States - that’s one of the biggest changes ever.
I believe we could change the system if enough Christian parents whole-heartedly signed on to the mission of the church.
We’re going to read this in a few months: Hebrews 10:24-25
And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works,
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.
We’ve always preached verse 25 without dropping back to verse 24.
Why do we not neglect to meet together
Because we can’t stir one another to love and good works, that includes your children, we can’t encourage one another if we never see one another.
Which brings us to the second part of the mission of FBC
Act like the church
Act like the church
So first, acting like the church means we come to worship and study so we can grow and help each other grow.
Got that.
What else?
The Lord gives us a good summary in Isaiah chapter 1.
Isaiah 1:16 “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil,”
Realize who we are and repent.
If we are involved in unGodly, unsavory things, stop it - “cease to do evil.”
We are good people - everyone person in here is a good person.
The community looks up to us - they expect good things from us.
And sometimes we believe our own press.
Paul says in Romans 3:12
All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
Jesus says in Luke 18:19
And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.
Seems they know us - that we all believe our own press sometimes that we are that good.
It’s like this preacher I read about this week that had a gentleman come to this office and tell him his sermons didn’t make him feel good.
He went on to say that the preacher had used the word sin over 30 times the previous week
And he didn’t come to church to be told how bad he was, he came to church so he could leave feeling better.
Is that is you,
Can I share something with you?
If you will realize that you aren’t all that and a bag of chips when it comes to God
And you realize what it took for the Lord to choose to love you
And chose He did, and Jesus died for you because you are that unlovable
And Jesus was resurrected from the dead for you to prove God’s power
And you realize He did that for YOU - for me that brings a whole new level of good feelings.
God loves me.
Jesus is sitting at the right hand of the Father right this moment pleading my case to the Father.
Because He is my brother and He wants me to be with Him at the new heaven and the new earth.
I don’t need to be good in any one else’s eyes.
We don’t need for any preacher to tell us nice things about ourselves.
The nicest thing that will ever be said about any of us is, Matthew 25:23
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’
Beyond repent though, what else do we do to act like the church?
learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.
Every one of those will require us to grow a spine.
Every one of those things are things we do for someone else.
In fact, even worship points towards someone else.
Nothing points towards doing things for us, yet - it will in a moment.
Point number three of the mission of this church is
Make Disciples
Make Disciples
You’d have to be dead to not see this coming.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
We don’t need to expound this right?
We’ve heard it over and over.
Now, here’s the deal - all of this sounds like we are doing everything for someone else.
We are all inherently selfish - it’s the chief sin of all humanity.
All of this doing for others is great, but the question still remains,
What’s In It For Me?
What’s In It For Me?
That’s a valid question and the Lord addresses it in two ways and he doesn’t make us feel guilty for asking.
First, just a few weeks ago, one of our elders left the worship service jazzed to no end.
He practically yelled, “The Holy Spirit was MOVING in that place today.”
He was excited.
He was happy.
He was feeling good.
Now, think with me
Was anything designed specifically so he would go home feeling good?
No - of the over 100 hours the staff and volunteers put in for the worship service each week, not a single minute of those 100 hours had this one individual in mind.
Instead, he came looking to see the Lord and He did.
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Listen, it’s not a chore to be a witness for Jesus when you can’t shut your mouth about Jesus.
It’s not a chore when you are so excited you can’t sit still.
That’s reward number one.
Reward number two is a little further off
According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it.
For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—
each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done.
If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward.
If anyone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Judgement is real.
One day, we will stand before Jesus and everything we’ve ever done will be revealed
Did you hear it, “Because it will be revealed by fire”
And all of our off mission junk will be burned to ashes.
But our on mission work will survive
And - did you catch this - “He will receive a reward.”
A young lady said to me a few weeks ago, “I don’t care anything about receiving a gold crown or necklaces or anything like that.”
And I’m with her 100%.
I simply want to hear Jesus say to me, “You done good boy. It’s time to come home.”
Next week is Easter.
You have friends, neighbors, and relatives who are going to die and go to hell.
And you will feel awful when they do.
Invite them for next week.
Pray for the Holy Spirit to open their eyes.
And if He does open their eyes, tell me how you feel then.
Let’s keep our eyes on the mission.
We are in this boat together.
The Mission Matters Most.
Let’s keep our eyes on the ball.
Let’s remember to be the church.
Let us pray.
